Thought from today’s Bible reading from Esther 6-10.
After Esther revealed Haman’s plot to destroy the Jews to the king, letters were issued in the king’s name that would allow the Jews to defend themselves against those who would seek to do them harm.
“In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, to destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and to plunder their spoil” (Esther 8:11).
The provision that allowed them to defend themselves was understandable. But the decree went a step further and explicitly permitted the Jews to plunder the spoil of their enemies. However, while the Jews certainly defended themselves, they did not take the spoil.
“Thus the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying… but they did not lay their hands on the plunder” (Esther 9:5-10).
The fact that the Jews did not take the spoil of their enemies is mentioned twice more in this context (Esther 9:15,16). This shows that they were only interested in preserving their lives, not in enriching themselves through violence against their enemies.
There is a principle here that is important for us to remember today. Though they were granted permission by the civil powers to take the spoil, they did not have to exercise that “right.” Civil authorities may grant us permission to do all sorts of things that are not necessarily good or right for us to do. Government may permit an able-bodied adult to take welfare checks and food stamps instead of working hard to provide for himself. A righteous person will not use this permission, but instead will work to provide for himself and not be a burden to anyone since this is what God expects him to do (2 Thessalonians 3:8-10).
We must place a priority on the commands and instructions that come from God over the “rights” and permissions extended to us by the civil authorities. We should obey God rather than practice sin that is permitted by civil law.
Tomorrow’s reading: Ezra 7-10
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
