QT: A Fair God in both life and death Week 49: 28/11/2023. Tue
A Fair God in both life and death
https://www.esv.org/Esther8:1–2
Week 49: 28/11/2023. Tue
The fear of the LORD stems from His decisiveness and power to make distinctions between various human responses to Him, His characters and His laws.
Esther 8:1–2 On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. [2] And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. (ESV)
Today's passage corrects a frequent skewed view of the character of God—that He was only merciful always whatever the responses of humans to disregard Him. This was to the detriment of the others aspects of His character, namely justice.
The LORD's justice resulted in King Ahasuerus giving to Queen Esther "the house of Haman", and setting Mordecai "over the house of Haman". Replacement of ownership and inheritance of whatever powers or materials in this world are very much influenced by the LORD's observing eyes and justice executed.
The Canaanites lost their land west of River Jordan because of their prolonged sin, resulting in the Jews inheriting it, the "Promised Land". Yet, the Jew found themselves in Susa of Persia in Esther's time was precisely also due to their disobedience of God resulting in their subsequent loss of that same land (even though named "Promised Land") to the Assyrians (Northern Kingdom, Samaria) and the Babylonians (Southern Kingdom, Judah).
The fear of this kind of God provides motivation for holy and proper living today, as well as the motivation to invite others to embrace Him as soon as possible. Are we doing that today?
