I love when God casually points out something that completely rocks my world. Oddly enough this happens consistently when I read the “boring” parts of the Bible like the geneaologies.
Last week while reading Esther, God had me return to the part that shows Mordeci’s geneology.
Esther 2:6 “Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away wtith Jeconiah king of Judah,”
As I read, the name Kish seemed familiar and then I realized that King Saul’s father’s name was Kish. After some research I discovered that it is, in fact, the same Kish, which means Mordecai is the Great Nephew of King Saul. Hmmm, interesting tidbit. I was a bit floored since Mordecai is in such a humble place in life but the story shows how much leadership he had in his blood.
Somehow, I am not sure exactly what happened next, I ended up on a site that pointed out even more of the story.
Haman, the villain of the book of Esther, also has some history!
Esther 3:1 “After these things King Ahsuerus promoted Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, and advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him.”
Hamon is a descendent of Agag, the king that King Saul spared when he disobeyed God’s orders to destroy him and all his people. This act of disobediece was the final straw that led to God rejecting him king.
1 Samual 15:3 “Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
Saul chose not to obey.
1 Samual 15:9 “But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.”
This scene in 1st Samuel is just like the final scene of an incredible adventure movie where you clearly can see a perfect setup for the sequel. Saul disobeys God, sparing King Agag, and the plot of the next movie is felt even before the movie ends. The sequel is the story of Esther and Mordecai where Hamon – a descendent of King Agag, hates and wants to kill Mordecai, a descendent of King Saul. Saul’s disobedience puts the Jewish nation in jeopary and Esther and Modecai must perform heroic and death defying actions to turn around the consequences of King Saul’s disobedience.
Esther and Mordecai then triumph through a series of “coincidences” that are clearly set up by God and Haman is killed (Esther 7:7). But then, God’s initial command to completely destroy the Amalekites is also completed:
Esther 9:6, 10 “In Susa the citadel itself the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men, and also killed …..the 10 sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they laid no hand on the plunder.”
Not only was Haman killed, but also his sons and somehow the Jews even knew to ignore the plunder.
I have read Esther at least 10 times and never noticed anything. In fact, I skipped right over it when I read Esther again last week and if God hadn’t returned me to Mordecai’s geneaology I would have missed it again. The underlying mystery of the story, became even more mysterious weeks later when something was nagging at me and I read more of the story relating to Saul’s part. In Samuel 15:32-33, Samuel himself kills King Agag, which makes me wonder how it is possible, if Saul destroyed the entire city and all that was in it and Samuel destroyed King Agag, how King Agag had any descendents to then father Hamon. I searched for an answer but did not find one. Maybe God will nudge me to read another genealogy soon and He will reveal more of the story.
….this blog was originally written on April 20, 2020. Over 2 years later (November 2022) God “coincidentally” took me to a video on YouTube about the story of Esther (unfortunately, I am not able to find it again) which tells that King Agag’s wife was pregnant and she escaped Saul’s destruction, which is how his line continued. I have no proof of this but I found it really interesting that over 2 years later God gave a potential answer to my 2 year long question.
Copyright © 2024 Sherri Cowhig All Rights Reserved
Sherri, I would never even think to read or be prompted to read genealogy so closely. This is so insightful that you heard God in this way, to go back and take a closer look. Aren’t we all guilty of skimming over really important points that we often miss in the bustle of everyday life? This says a lot about obedience. It reminds of how much ease was in Mary’s obedience, even though she was frightened by the angel Gabriel that visited her. She ends up just saying I am the Lord’s servant…”may it be to me as you have said.” How powerful listening and obeying God can be. I offer my thoughts to Jesus today, to transform, speak, and give life to my life and those around me. I respect and give thanks to the power of thought. May God bless you, tell you, and keep you today!
It’s amazing that I have struggled with the God of the Old Testament. Questioning his wisdom. How could He dare say to a leader to kill all, including infants and children? Not realizing that He was protecting the Jewish people and the lineage of our Messiah!
Also interesting is that this protection was dependent upon obedience. Even the if it wasn’t from the original recipient.it does make me wonder who would my obedience impact?