Key Thought: Esther met the issue and brought salvation to her people. Converted women can play an important part in more humble positions. This, many have been doing and are still ready to do.
December 23, 2023

A. Have a volunteer read Esther 2:5-10.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What do these verses tell us about the situation of Morde3cai and Esther?
3. Personal Application: In what circumstances would it be prudent not to be open about your faith? Or should we never hide who we are? Share your thoughts..
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Why would Mordecai tell Esther not to tell others she was a foreigner, a member of the Jewish nation??” How would you respond to your relative?

B. Have a volunteer read Esther 3:1-15.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What is happening here and why?
3. Personal Application: In what ways, even now, that we might be tested, as was Mordecai? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Why did Haman want to destroy all the Jews when he was only angry at Mordecai? What did he do or say to the king that encouraged the king to grant his plan?” How would you respond to your friend?

C. Have a volunteer read Esther 4:8-14.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Why was it considered appropriate at this time for Esther to identify herself as a Jew?
3. Personal Application: When the time of trouble comes and persecution comes to the Sabbath-keepers, how strong a faith do you have to stand your ground when facing loss of income, housing, jail, and death? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states: “So Esther took the chance of being killed for going before the king without permission and being killed for being a Jew so that there may be a chance that the Jews might somehow be spared. What reasoning did Mordecai use with Esther to convince her to perform her duty?” How would you respond to your relative?

D. Have a volunteer read Esther 9:1-12.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What was the result of Esther’s effort?
3. Personal Application: Begin a journal of little things that God has done for you. Review it and pray that God will bring these things to mind when needed. Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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Daily Lesson for Tuesday 19th of December 2023

Living as they were in a foreign land, sooner or later Mordecai and Esther, if they were to remain faithful to God, might have run into trouble. This, certainly, became the case for Mordecai.

In Esther 3:1-15, we learn that King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) honored Haman and gave him a high position full of power. Everyone was told they must bow down before Haman. But we read: “Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor” (Esther 3:1-15:2, NIV). The Bible does not give the reason that Mordecai did not kneel before this man. But we know why. He is a faithful Jew. Mordecai is not willing to pay homage to a descendant of Agag, an Amalekite, enemies of his people since the Exodus (Deuteronomy 25:19). How could a faithful Jew kneel down before an Amalekite? Or, for that matter, worship anyone but the Lord?

“Then the king’s servants who were within the king’s gate said to Mordecai, ‘Why do you transgress the king’s command?’ ” (Esther 3:1-15:3, NKJV). Though we don’t know in detail how he responded, the next verse says that “Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew” (Esther 3:1-15:4, NKJV). Surely in that response, Mordecai had an opportunity to explain that as a worshiper of the God who created the heavens and the earth, he could not worship any sinful human being. No doubt Mordecai was to some degree able to witness about his faith, a faith that he adhered to so strongly that it endangered himself and, unfortunately, others.

“From Daniel and his companions and Mordecai, a bright light shone amid the moral darkness of the kingly courts of Babylon.”—Ellen G. White, Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, May 13, 1884.

When Haman wanted to destroy the Jewish people, describing them as “ ‘a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws’ ” (Esther 3:1-15:8, NIV). A people whose customs are different and who do not obey the king’s laws? A perfect recipe for persecution.

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Daily Lesson for Monday 18th of December 2023

Eventually, after the fall of Babylon and the rise of Medo-Persia, many of the Jews returned to their ancestral lands. But not all returned. Some remained where they had been living for a generation or more.

With this background in mind, we have a bit of the context for the story of Esther. “In those days when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the citadel” (Esther 1:2, NKJV). Here is where the biblical narrative unfolds, the Persian Empire under this king.

In chapter 1, queen Vashti falls out of favor with the king, which leads him to look for another queen, one to replace the now-disfavored Vashti. It’s in this context that Esther and her cousin, Mordecai, first appear.

It seems that Mordecai, as a royal officer, was sitting at the gate of the palace and was residing in the city of Shushan with his adopted daughter, or cousin, Esther. Because of their position and living where they did, they were immersed in the Persian culture. This must be at least part of the reason Esther was chosen to be presented to the king: “Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem” (Esther 2:8, NIV).

Though the text does not say precisely why, it’s not hard to guess. As aliens in a foreign culture and religion that, we will see, could be hostile, they were wise in keeping silent about their family and people.

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Daily Lesson for Sunday 17th of December 2023

It is never easy to be expatriated to a foreign culture. It may be difficult for us today to comprehend what the Jews faced, first under the Babylonians and then the Persians.

None of us, for instance, lives in an Adventist country where the principles of our faith are, to some degree, the law of the land. But before being deported, the Jewish people had been living in their own country, where the principles of their faith were also enshrined in the law of the land.

On one level, think how easy that should have made it to be faithful to God. After all, how much easier would it be to keep the seventh-day Sabbath if, in fact, keeping the seventh-day Sabbath were enshrined in the legal codes of the nation?

On the other hand, sacred history has shown us that whatever the decrees of the land happen to be, even if favorable to faith, faithfulness must stem from the heart, from within, or else sin, apostasy, and ruin will surely follow.

“ ‘Therefore the Lord said: ‘Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men’ ” (Isaiah 29:13, NKJV).

In contrast, for those who are determined to be faithful, even the most unfavorable environment cannot keep them from obedience.

No matter who we are, or where we live, we are immersed in an environment that to some degree, either by laws themselves or by the culture, or both, can be greatly challenging to our faith and our witness. These accounts in Daniel, though always ending “happily,” reveal that even under trying circumstances people can stay faithful to God. Even if none of these accounts had turned out well, there’s no doubt these men still did the right thing.

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Inside Story for Friday 15th of December 2023

By Andrew McChesney

Sixteen-year-old Joseph Delamou was anxious. He worried that he wasn’t attending the right church in Conakry, capital of the West African country of Guinea.

“Show me the way,” he prayed. “I’ll go wherever You lead.” That night, he had a vivid dream. He dreamed that he and 70 members of his church were on a compound, making plans on how to grow their congregation. Outside the compound loomed the palace of a mighty king, the ruler of the world.

Abruptly, a unit of soldiers burst into the compound. “You need to leave,” a soldier told Joseph. “We want to train you to join our ranks.”

Joseph didn’t want to leave, but the soldier insisted. “You can’t stay,” he said. “Leave. Go anywhere you want. Just don’t stay here. After three days, you can come back and see what has happened to these people.”

Joseph left and, returning three days later, found a very quiet compound. He wondered where everyone was. Then he saw a boy hiding behind the wall of the king’s palace. The boy was bleeding and, when Joseph tried to talk to him, put a finger to his lips.

“Come over here,” he whispered.

After Joseph drew near, the boy said, “Your God is great!”

“What?” Joseph asked.

“I said, ‘Your God is great!’ ” the boy said. “How is it that you are the only person who left us three days ago? Many of us were shot and killed, but you are the only one who escaped. How?”

Joseph pressed the boy for details, and the boy led him to a mound of dirt. He said it was the mass grave of more than 40 people. “The soldiers didn’t train anyone,” he said. “They shot people and took survivors away in cages.”

Then Joseph noticed a snake lying motionless on the ground. The boy said it was the king who had lived in the palace, and he had been slain. “Let me show you the prince who has taken over from the king,” he said.

Joseph couldn’t take his eyes off the snake. “How did a snake rule the world and call itself king?” he asked. “I don’t understand how people could accept a snake as king.”

“I can’t explain this to you right now,” the boy replied.

At that moment, Joseph woke up. He didn’t understand the dream. But he sensed God was calling him to leave the church of his father. Where should he go?

Your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering on December 30 will help spread the gospel in the West-Central Africa Division, which includes Guinea. Thank you for planning a generous offering. Read more about Joseph next week.

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