The Inferior Five

The Inferior Five are a comic book superhero team made up of persons who are not what one would expect of such a team. They are Merryman, a 98 pound weakling who wears a jester’s costume and is very smart; Awkwardman, who is super strong but very clumsy; The Blimp, who floats in the air rather than flying. He literally needs a wind to blow behind him. He is blown about by every wind (Ephesians 4:14); White Feather, who is a skilled but emotionally insecure archer; and Dumb Bunny, who is “strong as an ox and almost as intelligent.”

The Inferior Five always win the day. They are truly superheroes. Instead of Inferior, they might more correctly be named the Unlikely Five.

God always choses the unlikely person, the unlikely nation, the unlikely way. His ways seem like foolishness to the world.

He chose, not a powerful empire, but the Jews, to be the nation which He used to reveal and explain Himself to the world. 

He chose a shepherd boy to become the greatest king of Israel and a man after God’s own heart. This man also committed adultery and ordered the murder of a loyal friend.

He chose a woman who was essentially being held as a sex slave by a brutal king. Her assignment was to protect His people from extermination by a scheming government official.

He chose uneducated fisherman, a hated tax collector, a little boy, a cuckolded husband, the wife of a wardrobe keeper, a sheep-herder, and a cousin of the King of Judah, to become His prophets and apostles. 

He chose a Gentile trained in the science of the day to write the first history of the church which began as an exclusively Jewish movement.

He chose a vicious persecutor of His church to become its greatest intellectual and the first great explainer of Christian doctrine. 

Many of us feel that we have no talents, that we have nothing to offer. We fail to remember that God has chosen each one of us and has given each of us the particular abilities we need to perform whatever duties He has for us to perform. He has equipped us to be, and expects us to be, on His unlikely team.

Modern Names of Biblical Places

Ecbatana: Mentioned in Ezra 6:2, Ecbatana (aka: Agbatana) was probably first occupied by the Assyrians in 1100 BC/BCE.  About 700 BC/BCE, the city was the capital of the Medean Kingdom (“Persians and Medes”) under King Diokes.  The city is the site of the tombs of Esther and Mordecai and is known today as Hamadan, Iran.  The main exports of the city are leather, carpets, and ceramics.

Gerasa: The agricultural city of Jerash, Jordan (48 km north of Amman) is mentoioned in Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26 as Gerasa.  It was also known as Antioch on the Golden River.  The city was founded in 331 BC/BCE either by Alexander the Great or by his general, Perdiccas, as a retirement city for career soldiers.

Pergamum: Revelation 2:12. The name of Pergamum probably is derived from the Luwian word  “parrai” of the Hittite word “parku.” Both words mean “high.”  The city was founded by Lysimachus, one of Alexander the Great’s generals.  Under the Romans, the city had a population as large as 150,000.  The modern city, with a population of 55,000, is known as Bergama, Turkey and  produces cotton, gold, and carpets.

Neapolis: The seaport of Neapolis (Greek = “new city”) was settled in the 7^th century BC/BCE to exploit nearby silver and gold deposits.  In 168 BC/BCE Neapolis became a Roman city.  The modern name is Kavala, Greece.  The city is mentioned in Acts 16:11.

Puteoli: Acts 28:13 mentions the Roman colony of Puteoli.  The name is derived from the Latin word “putere” (“to stink”), probably because of the strong sulfur smell in the area. The Roman colony was established at the earlier Greek colony of Dicaearchia.  The city produced blown glass, marble, wrought iron, and mosaics and was a port for the Greek grain trade.  The modern name of the city is Pozzuoli, Italy.

Modern Names of Biblical Places: Susa

Susa, mentioned in Nehemiah 1:1, Esther 1:2, Ezra 4:9, and Daniel 8:2,16 survives as the modern city of Shush, Iran which had a population of 53,897 in 2006.  Ancient Susa (aka: Shushan, Susan, and Susun) was occupied as early as 4395 BC/BCE and was a city of the Elamite, Persian, and Parthian Empires.  The palace of King Xerxes and Queen Esther was excavated late in the nineteenth century.

Are You Bored With Your Life?

If we are bored with life there is something wrong with our concept of God and His involvement in our daily lives.  Even the most dull and tedious days of our lives are ordained by God and ought to be used by us to glorify Him."  Jerry Bridges, The Navigators

Every job is meaningful, every life is meaningful.  God may have you in place to perform one action in His plan for the life of one person, or numerous persons.  You may never know what you have done.  How do you know that you have not already done it?

Joseph probably was not thrilled when his brothers sold him into slavery.  He was being placed into a position in which he could save his people.  Esther probably was not thrilled to be forced to become essentially a sexual slave for a brutal king.  She was in position to save her people from genocide. Brother Lawrence was an uneducated man not suited for any monastery duties except cooking and washing dishes.  He cheerfully devoted his duties to the Lord and became known worldwide for his pious example.

God Chooses to Use Whomever He Chooses

God seems to always choose the most unlikely person. Read the post below from The Jesus Site.com.

http://www.jesussite.com/blog/2012/02/think-god-cant-use-you/

You may wonder why this is.  My understanding of this is that if God used the obvious people (kings, military conquerors, politicians, the most beautiful women in the world, men as handsome as movie stars,  the richest and most powerful people, etc) everyone would "understand" why they were successful.  God's glory is magnified when He uses unexpected people to achieve His plan, because it is obvious that the actions come from God: a small teenaged boy used to defeat a giant, a donkey used to deliver a message, a frightened concubine used to save an entire nation, a brutal pagan absolute ruler used to take Judah into captivity to cause them to depend on Him, and a hate-filled persecutor used to become his doctrinal interpreter.  If God can use any of these people to bring about His purposes, He can use you to bring about His purposes.

Non-Canonical Books Mentioned in the Bible: Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia

The Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia is a now lost secular Persian historical work mentioned three times in the book of Esther.

“And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.” Esther 2:23

“On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.” Esther 6:1

“And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?” Esther 10:2


Esther (the Persian name of the beautiful Jewish girl, Hadassah) was made the queen of King Xerxes I (Ahasuerus) who ruled Persia 486-465 BC/BCE.  The Medes were ethnic Iranians who were important in the Persian government.  They were descendants of the Median Empire (fl 726-549 BC/BCE). 

Extra-Biblical Evidences of Biblical Persons and/or Events: Nehemiah's Wall

Since no archeological evidence had ever been found to corroborate it, archeologists over the years have tended to discount the historicity of the book of Nehemiah and its account of the repairs on the damaged wall of Jerusalem.  That is, until 8 November 2007, when archeologist Eilat Mazar (b. 1956, Israel) announced that she had found it.  Her discovery is now fully recognized as the correct interpretation.  The wall fits the biblical description of the area and the site was dated by pottery found at the wall.  Pottery? Yes, it would have been used to carry drinking water for the workers and possibly food.  When a pot broke, the pieces were left where they fell.  Pottery styles are different for different cultures and are often used in dating archeological sites.

נְחֶמְיָה

Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah (Nehemiah 1:1) was a captive/slave of the Persian King Artaxerxes I (d. 424 BC/BCE).  He served as the king's "cupbearer" and was sent by the king to be the governor of Jerusalem in 445 BC/BCE.  Why would the king of Persia choose a minor, non-Persian slave to be his representative in a faraway country?  Because Nehemiah asked him to.

Think about this. It was punishable by death to speak to, or even to approach, the king unless one was summoned.  This is shown in the book of Esther, where the beautiful Jewish girl Hadassah was afraid to approach King Ahasuerus of Persia (aka. Xerxes I the Great; Khshayarsha, ruled 486-465 BC/BCE).  She was afraid to speak to him even though she had been chosen as his new queen; she was his wife.


"All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days." Esther 4:11


No wonder that Nehemiah said, "Then I was very sore afraid,"  Of course, he was afraid.  He was just a minor house servant, but he had to be a very well trusted servant.  He was in a position where he could have poisoned the king's wine, and, in order to hand the king his cup of wine, Nehemiah would have been close enough to the king to successfully lunge at him with a concealed knife or with his bare hands.


Artaxerxes obviously trusted Nehemiah; it seems that he may have even liked Nehemiah. 

"And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.  Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,  And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?  Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.  And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it." Nehemiah 2:1-5.


Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah letters of recommendation and building supplies, and appointed him as governor of Jerusalem.

Links for more information on Nehemiah’s wall:

http://www.biblicalarchaeologytruth.com/nehemiahs-wall.html 

http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=83627 

Christian Illustrators: Earnest Graham

Earnest Graham's blog features his highly accomplished comic book style illustration of Bible passages.  He is an Episcopal priest and graphic artist.  He and his wife have available a graphic novel entitled The Unlikely Chosen, an adaptation of Jonah, Amos, and Esther.

If You Don't Do It ...

Mordecai, a Benjamite who was one of the Jews of the Diaspora, deported during the reign of Jehoichin (Esther 2:5-6) was one of those brilliant and capable men who rise to positions of prominence wherever they end up.  He ended up as a trusted Persian official.

He raised, as his own daughter, Hadassah, a cousin whose parents had died when she was a child.  Her Persian name of Esther is probably from the Akkadian goddess named Ishtar, the equivalent of Venus.

After the Persian king, Xerxes, divorced his wife Vashti, he sent out an order to collect up all the beautiful young virgins in his kingdom for what is best described as a "tryout."  Esther was the clear "winner," and won the king's favor, but even she did not dare to just walk in to the king and say "Hi."

Esther was secretly Jewish at the instruction of her adopted father.  Then, when Xerxes was manipulated into issuing an order to exterminate the Jews, Mordecai asked Esther to do something which terrified her.

"When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.  But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

When Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.

So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to urge her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”

When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions." Esther 4:1-17

God's will cannot and will not be thwarted.  When you are called to act, you must choose to act or to step aside and someone else will step up to answer their call from God.  When you step out of God's plan, you are not promised protection from what may happen.