Hello everyone, my name is Mordecai.
You can call me M. You can find my story in the book of Esther but I wanted to take the opportunity to share it with you. My life is proof that God is amazing and cares deeply about his people.
I was born in Hamedan, Iran, many years after the Israelites were exiled from Babylonia. The exciting part of my life took place in a place called Susa. This is an ancient city which was part of the Persian empire.
The background
This story involves Esther, the King of Persia who is somewhat of a drunken pushover, and a Persian official Haman. He is the cunning villain in this story. LSo this story starts with the king throwing two massive banquets that lasted a total of 187 days. His aim was to show off his greatness and splendor.
Long story short, on the last day of the banquet the King summoned for his wife to show off her beauty but she was all “Nah no way, I don’t want to do that!” So what does the king do? He decides to run a season of the Bachelor. He gives the final rose to Esther.
Good to note at this point that Esther is my niece and she is Jewish. She didn’t put this information on her Bachelor application form though so no one knows, including the king.
Where was I? Oh that's right. So the king was so infatuated with Esther that he elevated her to become the new Queen of Persia.
My story
So back to me. One day when I was going about my day, I overheard two guards planning to kill the king. My mother always said I had good hearing. What a dilemma I was in. This was a king that wasn’t Jewish and didn’t serve the God I did. We were in his kingdom because we were displaced about 100 years ago.
I decided to tell Esther because she was close to the King. Then the coolest thing happened. I got the credit for saving the king's life!! Many years past and I faithfully served the king. Then that day happened!
Have you ever had a situation at work when a decision is made that you really can’t agree with? Well, a decree was announced that everyone should bow to Haman. You see, he was the official in the kingdom under the king. I could not do that. I refused to bow to Haman. This, as you can imagine, enraged Haman. To make things worse Haman then found out I am Jewish.
So what does Haman do? He convinces the king to enact this crazy decree to kill all the Jewish people. I think the king must have been drunk.
The plan
So Esther and myself came up with a plan which we hoped would save our people. Spoiler alert - it worked. So Esther threw a party. That's what you do when you find out you people are all going to be killed right? Anyway she invited the king and Haman. At this dinner she told the king and Haman that she wanted to provide them another dinner tomorrow night just for them.
After that first party, I was on my way home and Haman walked past me. He was totally drunk, like really smashed. I did not bow to him as he passed. This made him furious so he ordered a tall stake to be built so that I could be impaled upon it in the morning.
What a way to die.
Unfortunately that's all that I have time for today. Tune in next time to hear how the tides turn, how I am paraded around the city on a horse, how God saves my fellow Jews and how I am appointed to a high position in the kingdom.
Barry Kirby is a disciple of Jesus Christ, living in relationship with Father God, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Barry works and worships with the Salvation Army based in Wellington, New Zealand.