“You Think You

Know Someone…”

“You think you know someone, and then……….” Have you ever said this about someone that you thought you knew very well, and then something happened between you, or you discovered quite by accident something shocking about the person and it changed your entire outlook concerning them? Or maybe this has happened on the other side, someone close to you had this happen to them concerning you! Perhaps you learn something about someone in Scripture that you thought you knew well, and you find out after closer study that you assumed more than you knew and didn’t really know the character that well after all. One such character, actually we may get a 2-for-1 deal in this, is Queen Esther and her Uncle Mordecai. We may have assumed that they were both blameless and godly people, living for the Lord and great examples to follow. Yet as we study the Scriptures closer and let them speak for themselves, we may find a different picture portrayed under divine inspiration than we had previously assumed. A brief example would be Ezra and Nehemiah, unquestionably godly men that were doing the hard but necessary task of breaking up unlawful relationships between Israelite men and pagan women during that period in Israel’s history. At the same time, Mordecai and Esther were planning her marriage to the pagan king and world-ruler Ahasuerus. This man reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces and was a blood-thirsty, cold, angry and hot tempered man that Esther was terrified to even approach! Through this however, we learn that God is behind the scenes determining world rulers and national powers, and that He is also behind the scenes performing faithfully in the lives of unfaithful people. In fact, there are many others things to learn about these people that God used even though they were less than perfect, as of course are we all.

If you’d like to learn more about Esther, Mordecai and others in this exciting account of God’s faithfulness to unfaithful people, the BBN Bible Institute has a fascinating free Bible course on her life, taught by BBN Bible teacher Stephen Davey, 40100 Esther. As Dr. Davey said in his teaching, this Book of Esther which by the way is the only Bible Book where the name of God is never mentioned, is not given to enamor us with Esther or any other person, but to endear us to God! If you are blessed and helped by this study, please share it with a friend.