For those of you in the UK, have you ever seen Casualty on TV? If you haven't, you're not missing much. It's a drama set in a busy hospital as the medics deal with the injuries that come their way. What I find interesting about Casualty is the sheer predictability of the storylines. Is that man climbing a ladder? You can

Ionians, Parthians, Caspians, Phrygians. With so many languages and cultures, life must have been confusing in the harem in Susa. Libyans, Medians, Phoenecians, Cilicians. Yet Ahasuerus wanted the best and he had a whole empire to chose from. Arians, Arabians, Armenians, Assyrians. Young girls from 127 provinces, all compelled to vie for the King's affections. Who would he pick? Nobody knew!

We've already seen that this story is full of heartache, drunkenness, and sexual deviancy. It features some truly reprehensible characters; and God is nowhere to be seen. Yet, his fingerprints are all over it. v5 alerts us to this with six simple words: "There was a Jew in Susa". God may not be mentioned in the book, but his people

It's a well known and well loved story: a poor, downtrodden girl with a heart of gold auditions to become a princess. She meets her prince charming, is plucked from rags to riches, and they both live happily ever after. That's the story of Cinderella. It is not the story of Esther. Sure, there are some similarities, at least on the

Ahasuerus (or Xerxes as he's also known) has to do something. He has been humiliated in front of the most influential people in the empire. He has been publicly defied and he cannot risk others following in Vashti's footsteps. So what does he do? He convenes the cabinet of course! I wonder if the long list of names in v14 is

The beauty of the surroundings is in stark contrast to the sleaziness of the revellers. Perhaps you can imagine the bravado at the top table: guests boasting over the size of their houses, boasting over the clothes in their wardrobes, even boasting over the women in their beds. Of course, Ahasuerus isn't one to be outdone. You can almost imagine him

Winston Churchill was a master of memorable insults. He once said about Clement Attlee: "He is a very modest man

For the next few weeks we will be looking at the book of Esther using study notes written by Rev. Jonny McCollum. Esther is a book of surprises. It's surprising because of where the story is set: not in Jerusalem, but in Susa, hundreds of miles away, deep inside idolatrous pagan territory. It's surprising because of who is in it:

As we noted yesterday, Zephaniah's prophecy speaks of two contrasting days: a day of judgement and a day of restoration. For us today, this new day of restoration has already dawned with the first coming of Jesus. However, that new day has not come in its fullness. Jesus has not finished saving people from every nation. Christians do not currently

What a difference from the opening two and a half chapters of the book! What magnificent notes this book draws to a close with! Sing! Rejoice! Exult! (v14) 'The LORD has taken away the judgements against you' (v15) - what a clear and powerful description of what God does for the one He saves. The book of Zephaniah is placed towards