February 8 Legacy

Esther 2:5-7 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, 6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away.
 
HERE is our introduction to Mordecai (more dah ky). There are two reasons to read this carefully. First, we learn here of his lineage. He is without question a Jew. To see the way God protects his people, we must know this is an account of a real person of Jewish descent who lived in Persia under King Ahasuerus.
    Second, on a casual reading you might understand that Mordecai was “carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah.” But if that were so, he would be about 115 years old here. Instead, let’s understand the writer to refer to Mordecai’s great-grandfather Kish as the one who was taken captive. Mordecai is the third generation of his family to be born away from Judah. He has never seen Judah, his ancestors’ homeland, the Promised Land of God. I mention this to remind us all to read Scripture carefully. And when we have questions, it is right to ask and seek true answers.
    We will see how Mordecai becomes a type of Christ, an anointed one who saves his people from destruction. How would this man three generations removed from Judah and Jerusalem qualify to act into the role of a savior for the Jews?
    Surely he had learned of God from his grandfather and father. He also would have learned from the priests and the teachers of the law who taught the Jews in this foreign land (Remember the faithful Ezekiel, whose writings we have examined, was in the first generation of priests in exile). When we see Mordecai’s righteous obedience of God’s law, we can be assured that Mortdecai’s family obeyed Deuteronomy 6:5-8 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (underline mine) 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 
     This Scripture is Moses’ admonition for God’s people to live with integrity into the ways of God. They were to make God’s commands a very real and present influence on their households and on their childrens’ lives.
    Certainly the same holds true for us today. As grandparents and parents, we must receive Moses’ teaching and Mordecai’s example as an urgent call to faithfully teach and live God’s Word for the education of the next generation. In the great gift of God’s Word, we are to bind God’s Word to our minds, hearts and hands to demonstrate the wonders and power of living in worshipful love toward our Lord.
    Mordecai knew who he was because he had been trained in God’s commands to know a heart love for God. As a result, he will literally stand up to make a great difference for his people and for God’s plan of salvation to move forward to the next generation – on to you.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for people who have spoken and lived your Word before me. Help me to be a voice to teach the next generation. In Jesus’ name, amen.