Blair Parke
He was Esther's adoptive father, mentor, confidante, cheerleader, and fellow leader to stand for the rights of their Jewish community. The life of Mordecai might seem secondary in the extraordinary st...
Valerie Fentress
Purim doesn't rank high on lists of famous Jewish holidays, but it's an important holiday that commemorates one of the most dramatic stories in the Old Testament: Esther saving her people from genocid...
Lisa Loraine Baker
We have implicit and explicit information about Xerxes from the book of Esther, but the extra-biblical archives aid our understanding about this man and how God used him. ...
Esther is the best “textbook" of the Scriptures about the providence of God, and how He works in the perfect way and the perfect timing to accomplish His purposes....
Lisa Ross
This dramatic unfolding of events moves like a novel and played like a great chess game with several life lessons....
Mike Leake
Yes, the absence of God’s name is striking in a book of the Bible. But that absence is an invitation to see His work even when it seems that He is silent or absent. In the midst of what appears to be ...
Lisa Loraine Baker
Verse length gives the reader an indication of the theme which is being laid out by the author. And, just as in common literature, long verses seek to develop an idea or truth. Our key passage’s lengt...
Ben Reichert
Maybe you've heard about the deuterocanonical books. Are these "extra books of the Bible" that people have forgotten, or something else?...
Kirstyn Mayden
We hear a lot about the male heroes in the Bible, but there are also plenty of stories of courageous women. Their bravery, leadership and faith in God can encourage both men and women today as they fa...
Barbara Latta
The Lord called for memorials and celebrations to occur on multiple occasions throughout history. Joshua commanded a member of each tribe to take a stone and set it up on the banks of the Jordan River...
Laura Lee Leathers
What does it take for us to come boldly before the throne of grace? Actually, it's not as hard as we may think....
Rachel Lehner
These women of the Bible knew the greatness of their God and had a boldness of speech to match....
Ruth Clemence
Life has a funny habit of continually moving forward whether we like it or not. Christian author and speaker Elisabeth Elliot once said, “the secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circu...
Emma Danzey
As believers in Christ, the Bible is always a popular place to go to find inspiration for a child’s name. However, maybe you or a loved one is looking for something a little more outside of the box....
Heather Riggleman
Sackcloth and ashes were an outward sign of mourning, repentance, or abasement. It was a type of cloth made of black goat’s hair that was thick, rough, and coarse material. ...
Sheila Alewine
“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands” (Psalm 90:17).Almost six years ago my husband informed the elders of o...
Candice Lucey
Lent is meant to be a time of repentance. These 40 days are set aside to praise and worship the Lord; to read the Bible more, and to pray more often. Christians who observe Lent correctly anticipate d...
Jay Ryan
There has been an increasing trend among evangelicals to shun Easter as allegedly being derived from a pagan source. Explore the history here!...
Hope Bolinger
The Bible seems to have a lot to say about adoption, but churches don’t often dive into this much beyond saying that Christians are adopted into the family of Christ when they accept Jesus as ...
Kristi Woods
The Bible uses the word “man” throughout its pages. All twelve disciples were men. Many of the stories we read center on males, including those of Moses, Abraham, Paul, David and Joshua. But what does...