Tuesday, March 26 ~ Esther Chapter 1

Quick Review

• Yesterday we began Esther. 
• Journal 27 included some questions from this study. 
• If someone asked you what your mission in life was, what would you say? How have you lived up to that mission? How have you defaulted to a shadow mission?
• When have you felt that your value, dignity, or sensibilities were threatened by someone who had greater power than you? How did you respond to that? 
• What about the reverse? Did you ever feel that someone under your authority showed blatant disrespect for you? How did you handle that situation?

Today we continue with Esther Chapter 1

Journal 28
Chapter 1

1. What observations can you make about Xerxes’ leadership? Was he vain, self-indulgent, intimidating, controlling, immoral? Explain.
2. What motives do you see in the leaders/advisers to the king? 
3. On the seventh day of the banquet, a drunken King Xerxes decides to put his wife on display. Which of the following best describes Queen Vashti’s refusal to obey the king, and why?
4. In these verses, we get a sense of the values of the people of the Persian court. What are they?

Journal 29

Chapter 2

1. Quick context search: What is a eunuch and why were people mutilated this way during biblical times? 
2. Vs.6-9, Esther won Hegai's favor. What do you think it took to win the favor of a person in the palace? 
3. What do you think they mean by a turn in vs. 12?
4. What do you think would happen to a girl if she was not chosen, given what you know about culture then?