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 Esther A Night With The King Although Esther was a Jew, it was necessary for her to conceal her identity, as Mordecai had instructed, for a period of time, for the sake of her kindred, as we will see in subsequent studies. The tradition at the time, was that as a young lady approached her turn to go in unto the king Ahasuerus, she must have undergone one year of beauty treatments, including six months with oils of Myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics. When it was time, eventually, for her to go to see the king, she would be given whatever she requested, on her way to the king, and would spend the night there, then leave at dawn, but would only see the king again if he was pleased with her, and summoned her by name. A Typology Of The Holy Spirit: Not My Will, But Yours But upon Esther's turn to see the king, she would request nothing other than whatever Hegai recommended that she took with her. Take time to consider the profound wisdom in that simple act. Consider it...
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Character probe

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 Esther A Simple Girl The Bible records that Esther was a beautiful lady. “...the maid was fair and beautiful…”, as scripture points out. She was an orphan girl who, after her parents died, was raised by her cousin, Mordecai, a benjamite who worked at the king's gate. Time had gone by, since Vashti, the last queen would not do the bidding of the king and was stripped of her royalty, so the king would have a new queen, and Mordecai would present Esther to Hegai, the king's administrator in charge of the house of the women, in preparation to be presented before the king Ahasuerus. In The Very Core of God's Will It was not Esther's beauty that granted her favour before the king's chamberlain. The decree of the king, as regards her presence in the palace, was that every maiden that was brought to the palace be a beautiful virgin, so when it came to beauty, there is a great chance that she had competition. Esther stood right where she ought to have been at that time of h...
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The Love of God

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The Loved We did a little analogy last week, and came to realize just how much God loves us, and there are many other instances in scripture, where the same unfathomable love is considered in its glory (see Romans 5:8, Romans 8:35-39, 1John 4:9-10, Psalm 36:5-7, Isaiah 54:10 etc). But it doesn't all just end in how much God loves and cares for us. It transcends the love of God for us and indulges our own love for Him. The mere fact that God has the ability to love, naturally means that He has emotions. He feels too. Hence His expectation of a reciprocal relationship between us and Him. Hence His expectation that we love Him like He loves us. I mean, He did create us in His own likeness, didn't He? To Love Like God? Love is not shown by words of mouth only, but I'm pretty sure you're reading or hearing this line for the umpteenth time. Nevertheless, the saying is true, and probably one of the truest things you will ever hear. So God created man in his own image, in the i...
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Character Probe

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 Esther The woman called Esther is quite popular in scripture, as she is customarily used as an example to emphasize the need for the child of God to be audacious, courageous, ready to die, if need be, for the cause called Jesus. Scriptures Where Esther is Featured Esther is mentioned only in the book of Esther chapter 2, 4 to 9, and not in any other book. What makes her worth studying, other than the fact that the Holy Spirit thought it necessary to give account of her story in scripture is the need to understand that like Jesus, she would give God a challenge. She would damn the consequences. She would save her people by faith. Family Dynamics Mordecai was her cousin, but she treated him as a father and he treated her as a daughter. She obeyed his every word, and so did he her every instruction, when she became queen. Family Tree Father: Abihail Mother: Not mentioned Cousin: Mordecai Uncle: Jair Husband: King Ahasuerus Key Verse Esther 2:20-22
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Character Probe

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Sampson the Sophist "Sophist" is derived from the Greek word, "Sophia" meaning, wisdom. Indeed, Sampson was wise. He was Spirit-led (14:2-4). He judged Israel for twenty years. Israel faced 3 main paradigms after they were saved from Egypt. They faced rulership from Prophets and Priests like Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Samuel and Elijah. Then, judges like Deborah and finally, Kings, starting with Saul. The 2 other edifices of governorship still had a great role to play during the third paradigm. Sampson was a judge. He devised means to save the Israelites, one of which was the famous riddle he gave in 14:12-14. He encountered a strange thing on his way to getting his wife and decided to apply it. His constant involvement in the affairs of the Philistines were all strategies to redeeming his people. God's people. Sampson's Humility   It is not recorded that Sampson ever boasted of his strength or used his power for selfish gain. He knew it was all about consecratio...
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Character Probe

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 Sampson We were taught in Children's Sunday School that Sampson got his strength from his hair. That is true in its sense. But, the real source of Sampson's strength was the Holy Spirit . His hair was a symbol of his consecration. When the Angel visited his mother, he told her not to drink any strong wine, eat anything unclean and cut the boy's hair when he is born (Judges 13:3-5). It was only when the Holy Spirit came upon him that he was able to manifest (14:5-6, 15:4-5, 14:19, 15:14 and 16:28. In the last text above, Sampson's hair began to grow again after being shaved. Only then was he able to call on God to strengthen him. The Philistines had cut his hair and kept him in prison for months. He could not do anything at that time until his hair had grown some length. This emphasizes on the importance of our consecration. It is true that your gifts and talents are from God, but He needs you to keep to His consecration. He can reveal all mysteries to you at an instanc...
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Character probe

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 Sampson Just how strong was Sampson? Well, very. He killed a lion with his bare hands, captured 300 foxes, slew many men single-handedly, took down an entire building and broke the chains which took 3,000 men to bind him with. Bible scholars did some homework and discovered that the gates of Gaza, which Sampson carried up the hill of Hebron was about 4 tons which is equivalent to 8,000 pounds! He carried those against gravity, 37 miles uphill .. about 3,000 feet. I'm sure you agree that no amount of body building and testosterone level in present day can suffice such a task! No wonder the Philistines feared him. See Jud.14:15-16, 15:4-5, 15:8, 15:11-14, and 16:3.
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