Esther Study/The Good Steward

Esther Study
I just started a biblical study on the book of Esther. It is the only book of the Bible that does not mention the word God. It is one of only 2 books in the Bible named after woman, the other being Ruth. Anyway, Esther begins in a part of Persia that is in modern day Iraq. At the time Persia consisted of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and parts of the Balkans. The king named Xerxes was throwing a big party for the leaders of the Persian provinces to get them to agree To give their support in an upcoming war on Athens, Greece. All the men are told at the party to drink as much as they want. Nobody will tell them to stop. Xerxes has displayed all his best riches and now is having a big party to convince everyone to go along with the plan. Esther does not even appear in chapter 1. The queen is Vashti. A lesson for the first few verses of chapter one is that one should never try to appear better than others. By trying to be uppity we bring others low. For instance, do not gloat if you get a raise and your co-workers do not. Another lesson is to only celebrate accomplishments. Parties cannot make you accomplish things. When a person relies on rewards to feel better, the seeds of addiction are planted.
The Good Steward
When my wife and I were in New York 14 months ago, we were passed on a mostly desolate street by two guys who were talking business. Another guy from about 2 football fields behind the two men yelled out, "I voted for you senator." One of the men stopped what he was doing and turned around and yelled, "Thank you very much." I said to my wife, "This guy is famous. He is a senator. He is either Bob or John Kerry." It turned out to be John Kerry. He was genuinely a nice person. He could have acted like he didn't hear the man, but instead, he stopped what he was doing, turned around, and thanked the man. I believe Mr. Kerry is an honest person when it comes to his campaign promises. Vietnam was a mess of a war. It took a brave man to speak up and spill the beans about what actually happened. Sometimes you just have to vote for the better man in an election and not your favorite party.