There is so much talk about the concept of season, round this time of year.
So let’s talk about season!
So let’s talk about season!
This week the new month of Tevet started, it’s the tenth Biblical month and comes right after the month of Chanukah. The rabbis often refer to Tevet as a month of reflection and solemnity, due in part to the fact that Nebuchadnezzar begun his siege against Jerusalem in this month. The siege lasted for some time (a whole year) until finally, the temple was looted and the Jewish people were carried off in to a bitter exile that lasted for 70 years. It was not the will of God that the people should descend in to one of the most bitter curses of the Torah (Deuteronomy 28 and 29), rather the people chose the path of idolatry and sin.
As the people passed through the valleys and hills of mourning en- route to the epicentre of paganism, they must have wept and lamented at the bitterness they faced. Their sins had purchased destruction and horror, just as sin always does and yet Yahweh is such a Loving God, His ways are just overwhelming.
The Babylonian empire fell to the Persians forces a few years later and the Jews were spread throughout Persia, while many had returned with Ezra and Nehemiah to their homeland, to rebuild their temple which lay in ruins, some did not return. Many Jews stayed behind and lived in the cities were their grandparents had lived as exiles. One such person was a man named Mordechai, he was a righteous man, a Jewish scribe who adopted his cousin Esther and raised her as his own child. During those days the king Xerxes declared a time of feasting and ordered that his queen Vashti, parade herself in front of his drunken hordes. Scholars suggest that Vashti would have had to parade in front of the party wearing only the royal crown, thumbs up to Vashti because she refused to do so. Her refusal however, brought her banishment and punishment, which made a way for another woman to take her place.
It seemed like dark days yet Yahweh was and always is, working behind the scenes.
Enter the woman who would save a nation.
Esther 2: 15 – 16
Esther won the favour of everyone who saw her. She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tevet, in the seventh year of his reign.
Esther won the favour of everyone who saw her. She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tevet, in the seventh year of his reign.
In the month of Tevet, Esther the Jew, was taken into the palace of Xerxes, where she found favour with the king and was chosen as queen. This event must have seemed strange to both Esther and to Mordecai, but being people of faith something inside of them must have discerned that indeed God was up to something. Six years later, Esther would risk her life, her very life to save her people. Though she did not know it at the time, Esther was placed in her royal position to one day make a big impact.
But let’s face it. It must have been dark when she entered the palace. It must have been scary, it was certainly tough and not without challenges that threatened her faith and her identity. Even who she was had to be concealed, Esther must have wondered at her fate, doubting her future, worrying about what lay ahead. Contrary to popular movie depictions of a beloved husband and wife, I somehow doubt the relationship between Xerxes and Esther was so gentle and loving. He was after all a renowned warrior, who could be cruel and change his mind at any given time. He had disposed of his first wife just because she was a little too assertive for his liking, even though he probably had loved her.
Esther’s entrance to the palace must have seemed at first rather trying. Just like the transitions and the seasons in our own lives. Many believers are facing the fiery trials of faith, seasons of trying times but also seasons of great favour. With favour however, comes new doors, new challenges and new opportunities. It requires deeper discernment and deeper wisdom. I know my life sometimes feels like Esther’s. I wander by Gods leading in to a new place, a new season where it is trying. I wonder then at how the future looks and what will be calling to me when I get there. But I am comforted with knowing that six years after Esther entered the palace in the month of Tevet, she would stand before the king to save a nation, to save a people. Esther literally saved our lives, she was used by God to save the Jewish people who would be used to bring forth the Messiah. Through her conviction to perish if that was God’s will, she rose up and stood in a place of destiny. Her selflessness purchased prosperity and salvation for her people.
Family, this season is not a season for mourning, it’s a season of great destiny. What we face will be used to mould us and take us to a place where we are better equipped to face what lies ahead of us. The training ring sometimes gets smaller but because we are getting stronger! Tevet may seem dark, but it’s a month of destiny. Like Esther we walk in to foreign journeys, or feelings, armed only with hope and belief. Who knows perhaps we have come to the kingdom for this time, most definitely we have!
Shabbat Shalom for a Sabbath filled with Hope and Glory!
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