2 Peter 1

12 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.  13 Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

The above is how I did my SOAP for yesterday's chapter reading. I tend to be somewhat of a rule-follower, so I almost didn't do it this way, even though the notes are mine and for me to read. But then, I realized, sitting there arguing with that little finger-pointer for half an hour (yes! I know! that's way too long to argue with one's self) and all that this worrying about the order in which I was noting Scripture was keeping me from learning!! So, yes, I changed the order, here's why: I read "for this reason" and wondered, hm…what's Peter talking about again? It was important and he didn't want to be negligent to remind you "of these things." What were these things? So, I looked back and found the other verses. So, in the moment that's how I came to write it in that order, just to keep it straight in my mind! Ha.

Onto the Scripture now.

Oh, wait, before we go there. I see both sets of verses I chose say "for this reason" and, you know, "also for this reason" … what is he talking about? One thing is "escaping the corruption," which is found in verse 4.  I won't go over everything, I'm not really teaching you, just sharing a few things I noticed.

Now, onto the Scripture, for real this time…

5 But also for this very reason,
giving all diligence, [careful and persistent work or effort]

add to your faith [complete trust or confidence in] virtue [behavior showing high moral standards]

to virtue [behavior showing high moral standards] knowledge [facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject/awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation],

6 to knowledge [facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject/awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation] self-control [the ability to control oneself, in particular one's emotions and desires or the expression of them in one's behavior, especially in difficult situations],

to self control [the ability to control oneself, in particular one's emotions and desires or the expression of them in one's behavior, especially in difficult situations] perseverance [steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success],

to perseverance [steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success] godliness [conforming to the laws and wishes of God; devout; pious],

to godliness [conforming to the laws and wishes of God; devout; pious] brotherly [showing affection and concern; affectionate] kindness [the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate] love [1 Corinthians 13:4-7New King James Version (NKJV) 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.].

12 For this reason I will not be negligent [failing to take proper care in doing something] to remind [cause (someone) to remember someone or something] you always of these things,

though you know and are established in the present truth.

13 Yes,

I think it is right,

as long as I am in this tent [body],

to stir you up [arouse, awaken] by reminding you,

Esther Chapter  4

1 When Mordecai learned all that had happened, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He cried out with a loud and bitter cry. 

The news was devastating! Frightening.  Was there hope?  He put on Sackcloth and ashes.  

Here is the definition for sackcloth and ashes from Biblegateway.com:  Sackcloth is a coarse, black cloth made from goat’s hair that was worn together with the burnt ashes of wood as a sign of mourning for personal and national disaster, as a sign of repentance and at times of prayer for deliverance.

He cried out with a loud and bitter cry.   It does not say that he prayed, but based on the above definition, we can suppose his crying out was to God. 

⁴ So Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them.  

I wonder why she sent garments to Mordecai.  Maybe living the way she was, in that house near the palace, she didn't quite understand?  Maybe she was young and didn't grasp the gravity of the matter?  Maybe she didn't understand the significance of the sackcloth and ashes.  

"he would not accept them."  When facing life and death or having experienced a house fire, we look at our clothes and makeup and household items and realize how insignificant they are.  We wonder why we ever thought so much of our stuff.  Why did we think they mattered?  Perhaps another reason he wore the sackcloth and ashes was to be a spectacle; so that people would see something was happening.  Maybe it is a way of announcing tragedy?   

¹¹ “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into the inner court to the king, who has not been called, he has but one law: put all to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been called to go in to the king these thirty days.”

Esther, perhaps, is thinking he doesn't understand that she can't do anything.  She may be queen, but she has no real power.  She is probably not feeling confident that the king would be willing to allow her to speak, it had been 30 days since she had seen him last!  When you live on the same grounds and 30 days goes by without a conversation, you probably don't feel very close to that person.
   
¹³ And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴ For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Mordecai lets her know that if she does not take action, she will die.  Not only that, but it would be the end of her father's lineage.  Period.  She is without hope.  He was sure deliverance would come for his people though, somehow, someway.  He did encourage her that if she takes action, there is a chance her life will be spared. 
 
¹⁵ Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!”

She asked for all of her people to fast, giving up food and drink day and night for three days.  Not just fasting morning or night or a single meal, but day and night for three days.  She and her handmaidens would do the same.  I don't know, but I would imagine the handmaidens were not Jewesses.  Prayer is not mentioned, but prayer and fasting usually go together.  I won't go so far as to say I know they did pray, but I will say I know God knew they were fasting and why.  

She was still courageous even though her only real choice was to take action because, as it says in the previous verse, she would die if she didn't.

 


 

Monday - September 1, 2014
Day 2 of Reading Through the Bible

Esther Chapter 2 
Scripture is from New King James Version via BibleGateway.com
Definitions are from Dictionary.com


The following is not my SOAP, just some verses/phrases that stood out to me as I read through chapter 2. 


From verse 7:  "The young woman was lovely and beautiful." 

Lovely: 

adjective, lovelier, loveliest.

1.  charmingly or exquisitely beautiful:

a lovely flower.

2.  having a beauty that appeals to the heart or mind as well as to the eye, as a person or a face.

3.  delightful; highly pleasing:

to have a lovely time.

4.  of a great moral or spiritual beauty:

a lovely character.

 

Beautiful:  

adjective

1.  having beauty; possessing qualities that give great pleasure or satisfaction to see, hear, think about, etc.; delighting the senses or mind:

a beautiful dress; a beautiful speech.

2.  excellent of its kind:

a beautiful putt on the seventh hole; The chef served us a beautiful roast of beef.

3.  wonderful; very pleasing or satisfying.

 

From a quick glance at the definitions, it seems lovely may be more character related.  Beautiful seems to be more related to the senses.  But they both clearly are related.  Esther had both.  At first reading I thought, wow, God really wants us to know she was quite the looker!  Ha.  But, reading the definitions, she was more than that.    

⁹ Now the young woman pleased him, and she obtained his favor; so he readily gave beauty preparations to her, besides her allowance. Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king’s palace, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women.

I copied this verse because after learning that she is both lovely AND beautiful, beauty preparations were still given to her.  She received 7 "choice" helpers and was in the "best place in the house" of women.  This may be off topic, but I'm getting the idea that in the eyes of people we can never be lovely or beautiful enough...this concern will find its way in my prayers today.

¹² Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months’ preparation, according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women.  

A year's worth of beauty treatments?  Six months of oil and six months of perfumes.  I just copied this verse on here because it made me go "wow."  I wouldn't mind researching this a bit, but I'd need to make the time for that and I'd just be getting sidetracked.  This won't be in my SOAP notes, but someday I will look this up...

¹⁴ In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and called for her by name.

This just made me sad.  In the evening she went to him and in the morning she returned.  

¹⁵ Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.

We see here she was politically minded.  She requested nothing but what the king's eunuch advised.  Because of her political savvy, she obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.  (In addition to her loveliness and beauty she was politic also.  

¹⁷ The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

It worked.  He LOVED her.  She received grace and favor from this king who loved her.  She became his queen.

¹⁸ Then the king made a great feast, the Feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king.

She received her own holiday!  "according to the generosity of a king."  (Think back to chapter 1 in case you're wondering about his generosity during a feast, ha.)
 
²⁰ Now Esther had not revealed her family and her people, just as Mordecai had charged her, for Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as when she was brought up by him.

She was obedient. 

²¹ In those days, while Mordecai sat within the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

I just added this because I found it shocking.  For some reason I tend to think as eunuchs as peaceful.  I don't think of them as getting furious and certainly not murderous!  

²² So the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name. 

Esther informed the king, but made sure to mention Mordecai's name. 

       
 ²³ And when an inquiry was made into the matter, it was confirmed, and both were hanged on a gallows; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.

We will find later the importance of "it was written in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king." Believe me, this is important.   :)

Okay, these are some notes on Esther chapter 2.  I will be SOAPing later today.  

Be blessed as you read through the Bible where we are just learning, word by word.

Cindy