March 15: Choose Your Own Passage
For your quiet time, choose your own passage that relates to what we have studied this week.
What is your “go to” passage for courage?
When the Spirit leads, share your verse and response in the comments.
March 15: Choose Your Own Passage
For your quiet time, choose your own passage that relates to what we have studied this week.
What is your “go to” passage for courage?
When the Spirit leads, share your verse and response in the comments.
1 Comment. Leave new
I chose an Esther passage and searched for an answer to the Chapter 10 questions I had along with several others: I asked several people why they thought Chapter 10 existed in Esther. It is so short. Three verses. And doesn’t mention Esther. Instead, it talks about Xerxes and a tax situation and then Mordecai. After a friend did some digging, watching multiple YouTube Bible studies and reading blogs … she helped me come up with some answers. Hope they’re helpful!!
1. Chapters did not exist when Esther was initially written. It was written on a scroll. Chapters were added to the Bible in AD 122: From GotQuestions.org: “The chapter divisions commonly used today were developed by Stephen Langton, an Archbishop of Canterbury. Langton put the modern chapter divisions into place in around A.D. 122.” So … we shouldn’t read the chapter in isolation. Knowing this, …
2. … I think it makes sense to read from Esther 9:20 -10:3. When I read that “as a passage” it helped me understand it better. The whole section deals with Mordecai’s rise to power AND his ongoing kindness to the Jewish people living in that land. See 9:22 and 10:3. They’re almost bookends of a section! The Xerxes comment about his far-flung kingdom and the tribute he received in Esther 10:1 may have been put there to emphasize the vastness of the Persian empire over which Mordecai had the control to protect the Jewish people within. The whole narrative shows God’s protective care of His people even while they’re in exile. Wow. God truly protected His people! (Thank You, Father, for the way You cared for Your own, even in exile. You are so kind to even Your wayward sheep and always want the lost sheep to come home.)
I hope that helps. It surely helped me “see” it better. Big thanks to my friend Amanda, who literally spent hours researching this. It fascinated her and we are the beneficiaries of her digging!