Pride and Prejudice

S: Acts 12:20-25

O: Herod Agrippa I was a grandson of the ruthless Herod the Great from the Christmas story. He seems to have been less notorious for cruelty than his grandfather, but he also persecuted the church. He had James son of Zebedee executed, and when he saw that this pleased the Jewish leaders, he proceeded to arrest Peter. That was calculated persecution: he used violence against Christ’s apostles to strengthen his political standing. Josephus, the Jewish historian, generally wrote positively about him but also noted that many people celebrated his death.

He also was familiar with the Jewish religion, and so would have known that it was wrong to receive worship like the Roman emperors did. Josephus portrayed him as a king who took Jewish law seriously. As a Jewish king whose position depended partly on maintaining good relations with his people, Agrippa had reason to respect their religious traditions.

Unfortunately, when the crowed proclaimed him a god, he failed to give God the glory, so God struck him down. Perhaps his earlier persecution of Christians was also relevant. Josephus said he died after 5 days of excruciating abdominal pain.

Luke supplies the detail that he was eaten by worms, which is ironic, because Josephus reported that worms was part of how his grandfather Herod the Great died as well. Josephus reports that Herod the Great's final illness was regarded by some as divine punishment for his impiety. In the surrounding account, Herod had executed Jewish teachers and their companions who opposed his placing a golden eagle above the Temple gate, an act they considered contrary to Jewish law.

The irony is striking: Agrippa seems to have taken Jewish law seriously, unlike his grandfather, yet he failed to give God the glory when the crowd acclaimed him as a god.

A: God opposes the proud and preserves His purpose. Therefore, we should remain humble, give God the glory, and take courage when worldly powers oppose the gospel. We may die like James ben Zebedee did, or be rescued like Peter, but in either case, we should stay true to Yahweh and trust that He is ultimately in control.

P: Father, help me to stay in Your ways. When I am tempted to do wrong, remind me. When I suffer for doing right, keep me faithful. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Note: I discussed these ideas with 2 different AIs and used some of their phraseology.

When God challenges your prejudices

S: Acts 10:1-11:18

O: Cornelius, a centurion in Caesarea, sincerely sought God, and God answered him, sending an angel who told him to invite Peter from Joppa, 50 km away, which back then in those conditions took roughly 12 hours to walk, but usually people would take two days.

For Peter, entering a Gentile home was not a small social adjustment. In our Malaysian setting, it may feel as difficult as asking a committed Muslim to enter a non-Muslim’s home and share a meal in a way that could bring criticism from his own community. That helps us feel the force of Peter’s obedience and the scandal it caused among the Jewish believers.

So God had to send him a vision – the animals on the sheet – to persuade him to go with the people Cornelius sent to invite him, and then when he got back to Joppa, the other Jewish Christians were scandalised, and he had to go back to Jerusalem to answer their charges. He managed to persuade them by pointing out to them that if the Holy Spirit accepted them by giving them the Gift of Tongues, who were the Jewish Christians to deny them?

Even after this, Paul still had to contend with the Judaizers. And even Peter backslid and Paul had to correct him (Galatians 2:11-14). So it was definitely not easy.

A: What prejudices do I still hold against people different from me? Who is in and who is out?

The Jewish Christians were demanding that Gentiles had to “masuk Yahudi” before they could become Christians and be saved. We must not make people feel that they have to “masuk” our culture before they can come to Christ. They do not need to become like us in order to be saved.

And, even before they’re saved, remember how Jesus accepted Gentiles like the Syrophoenician woman and others. What non-Christians are God calling for me to drop my prejudices against?

And we must be open to others’ correction, like Peter was to Paul even though he was the leader of the Apostles after Jesus’ ascension.

P: Father, open my eyes to see where my own practice of the faith needs to expand its horizons. And help me to be open to others’ correction. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Selalu manise

 

I like this song very much. It has a very Nusantara feel, rather than sounding like a Western Christian song translated into Indonesian. And the term “manise” is very interesting. Literally, it means “sweet” but in this song it is used metaphorically.

Kerja buat Tuhan
Selalu manise
Biar pikul salib
Selalu manise

Ayo, kerja buat Tuhan, sungguh senang-senange
Dipanggil Tuhan, selalu manise
Membuang diri ke ladang Tuhan, Saudara
Serta Tuhan, selalu manise

This song is in Ambon Malay, where manise can mean sweet, beautiful, pleasant, lovely, delightful, or enjoyable. So the song isn’t saying so much that “Working for God is always sweet” but more like “serving God is always wonderful” or “serving  God is always a joy.”

The line “Biar pikul salib, selalu manise” is particularly interesting: “even bearing the cross is a joy.” The song isn't saying that working for the Lord is always easy. Rather, it expresses the joy of belonging to and serving Jesus even when that service involves sacrifice.

The Fear of the Lord

S: Acts 4:32-5:11

All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need. For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.

But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest. Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”

As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.

About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?” “Yes,” she replied, “that was the price.” And Peter said, “How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too.” Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.

O: Dishonesty and desire for praise turned a commendable thing into something that strikes the fear of the Lord in the hearts of everyone in the church.

Jim Bakker was a televangelist who led the PTL (Praise The Lord) ministries but he was brought down by a sex scandal and then later put in jail for financial fraud. Later, a Christian leader, John Bevere, visited him in jail and asked him when he lost his love for Jesus, to have committed such sins. Jim said he didn’t ever lose his love for Jesus – he lost the fear of the Lord.

A: We tend to talk about the Love of God these days much more than the Fear of the Lord. Both are true. Fear of the Lord is not just awe, though that’s true as well. But Yahweh is a just God, though He is also merciful. I find it relatively easy to trust God’s love, but I must also remind myself of the Fear of the Lord.

As C. S. Lewis puts it through Mr Beaver's description of Aslan, “He’s not safe. But he’s good.” God is good, but He is not tame. His love does not make Him less holy or less worthy of reverence. I need to remind myself of the fear of the Lord—not as a rejection of His love, but as a recognition of His holiness and authority—so that I will turn away from sin rather than take His grace for granted.

P: Father, thank You that You love us. Help me to remember also to fear You, recognise Your holiness, take Your commands seriously, and stay away from sin. Remind me of this whenever temptation beckons. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Is Esther Historical?

A big objection some people have against the historicity of Esther is that secular history doesn’t seem to mention this, though there may be some allusions to it. 

Also, the idea of Haman’s proposal goes against how Persians usually treated minorities in their empire. They generally had a policy of tolerance unless you rebel. If you are willing to submit to their rule, they generally let you keep your culture, religion etc. because this makes people less likely to rebel. However, this does not mean that persecution of a particular ethnic group by an individual official would have been impossible.

So the allegation is that there was by the time of the Maccabees this festival of Purim, and Esther was a fairy tale made up to explain it.

But the lack of clear secular corroboration is not proof against Esther’s historicity. Ancient records are fragmentary, and Persian royal inscriptions were normally propaganda, celebrating kings, building works, victories, and divine favour—not palace scandal, an attempted empire-wide massacre, or a king’s humiliating reversal of policy. Herodotus is the major surviving Greek narrative source for Xerxes’ reign, but his interest was chiefly in the Persian Wars and Greek interaction with Persia; he had no reason to record every internal matter of the royal court. He mentions Amestris, a prominent queen associated with Xerxes, and some have speculated that she could be Esther. However, that identification is far from clear and is generally considered unlikely.

However, the book of Esther, both in the Hebrew version and in the extra parts found only in the Greek version, have intimate details of Achaemenid Persian courtly life and practices that the average Jews of the Maccabean period would not know. These include features such as the king’s seven senior advisers, royal banquets, the organisation of the royal women’s quarters and eunuchs, restrictions on access to the king, the golden sceptre, royal seals, written decrees sent throughout the empire, scribal practices, and other aspects of court protocol. Several of these features have parallels in what is independently known about Achaemenid Persia from Greek sources, Persian evidence, and archaeology. 

Someone familiar with the Achaemenid Persian court would have found it much easier to get such details right, whereas an ordinary Jewish writer in the Maccabean period, centuries after the fall of the Persian Empire, would have needed access to old documents or well-preserved traditions that were difficult to obtain. There was no public database, no mass printing, and no convenient library where one could simply look up Achaemenid court protocol—and, of course, no Google or AI like we have today to search for this information 😅. Records were handwritten on scrolls or tablets, scattered among official archives and elite collections, often far away and in foreign languages. Access would have required unusual connections, resources, travel, and literacy.

So while the form of Esther we have today in the Hebrew and Greek are probably from the Maccabean or Hellenistic period, the core story probably came from the Persian period. The text that Lysimachus son of Ptolemy translated into Greek probably had those details because it’s unlikely for Lysimachus to have known those details centuries after the fall of the Persian empire. In fact, Lysimachus shows his unfamiliarity with that period because he got the name of the king wrong—he wrote Artaxerxes instead of Xerxes, perhaps because of the similarity of the names in Hebrew—and yet got the Persian courtly details right. This strongly supports the idea that his source text for translating Esther had those details.

So, while from the historical evidence alone, one cannot conclusively prove Esther to be historical, I think that, given the balance of probabilities, the evidence suggests that Esther is more likely to be historical than to be a myth made up by a Maccabean-era Jew to explain the festival of Purim. Its Persian setting, courtly knowledge, administrative details, and coherent historical context are better explained by authentic tradition rooted in the Persian period.

Holier than thou?

S: Hosea 11:12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit; and Judah is still wandering with God and is faithful to the Holy One.

2 verses later, Hosea 12:2 Yahweh has a quarrel with Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.

O: At the end of Chapter 11, Judah was looking good compared to Ephraim (Israel). But was Judah really good? 2 verses later, the situation is revealed when Yahweh declares that He has a quarrel with Judah and will punish Jacob (all of Israel – both north and south). Judah may not have reached Ephraim’s depth of rebellion, but Judah too stands accountable before God.

A: Sometimes we look good when we compare ourselves with people who have done things that are more visibly evil than us. But as Jesus said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). We cannot think we are good because we’re better than someone else, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  He “does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9) so we instead of trying to condemn evil people, we need to follow God in seeking their repentance.

This is not to say that there should not be laws and government action to punish crimes, but I’m speaking at an interpersonal level. We should be seeking to draw all to repentance and to follow God, rather than revenge.

P: Father, when people upset me, it’s hard to keep in mind Your desire for their repentance rather than their death. Remind me to see other people through Your compassionate eyes that do not tolerate injustice yet extends grace. In Jesus’ name, amen.

The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor

 S: Hosea 4:14“I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes—a people without understanding will come to ruin!”

O: Along with the incident with Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38:26 God condemns the hypocrisy of going after prostitutes instead of the pimps and johns. Most of the time, prostitutes are victims of human trafficking and/or difficult circumstances, while the pimps and johns chose to victimise them.

A: We should support ministries that rescue girls from prostitution and call men to repentance. The laws of the land should prosecute the pimps and johns rather than going after the girls. Instead, the girls should be rescued and educated. From a web search, I found various ministries that minister to the urban poor, including prostitutes: Global Shepherds, KLUrban Fellowship (KLUF), Malaysian CARE, DUMC IMPACT Beyond, Grace CommunityServices, Holy Trinity Bukit Bintang — Social Action, and many others. Secular NGOs alike Tenaganita also minister to prostitutes.

P: Father, I pray for the girls trafficked into prostitution. May we have compassion on them and rescue them. In Jesus’ name, amen.