📖 Utangulizi wa Agano la Kale — Sehemu ya 6: Uhamisho na Kurudi (Ezra, Nehemia, Esta)📖 Old Testament Survey — Unit 6: Exile and Return (Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther)

"Kila mtu miongoni mwenu aliye wa watu wake — na apande." Hivyo ndivyo Biblia ya Kiebrania inavyoishia. Miaka mia nne iliyofuata ilikuwa safari ndefu ya kupanda. Vitabu vitatu, viongozi watatu, Mungu mmoja anayetimiza kila neno alilowahi kulinena — hata katika sura ambazo hataji jina lake mwenyewe hata mara moja."Whoever is among you of His people — let him go up." That's how the Hebrew Bible ends. The next four hundred years were a long going-up. Three books, three leaders, one God who keeps every word He ever spoke — even in the chapters where He never speaks His own name.

Ezra. Nehemia. Esta. Vitabu vitatu, pembe tatu tofauti za kuitazama hadithi ile ile. Ezra analijenga upya hekalu na watu. Nehemia anaujenga upya ukuta na watu. Esta hajengi upya chochote — yeye anawazuia watu wasifutwe kabisa ili wawepo watu wa kujenga upya pamoja nao. Kwa pamoja vinahusu kipindi cha takriban 538 K.K. hadi 425 K.K. — miaka mia moja na kumi na tatu ya Mungu akiwaongoza wahamishwa wake kurudi nyumbani na kisha kuwadumisha nyumbani. Twende hatua kwa hatua.Ezra. Nehemiah. Esther. Three books, three different angles on the same story. Ezra rebuilds the temple and the people. Nehemiah rebuilds the wall and the people. Esther doesn't rebuild anything — she keeps the people from being erased so there will be a people to rebuild with. Together they cover roughly 538 BC down to 425 BC — a hundred and thirteen years of God walking His exiles home and then keeping them home. Let's take it step by step.

I. Koreshi na Amri Yake — Mungu Amtaja Mfalme Miaka Mia na Hamsini KablaI. Cyrus and the Decree — God Names a King a Hundred and Fifty Years Early

Ezra 1–2Ezra 1–2

Mnamo 538 K.K., mfalme wa Uajemi ambaye hakuwahi kusoma Biblia ya Kiebrania aligeuza ukurasa wa mwisho wa Biblia ya Kiebrania kuwa ukurasa wa kwanza wa sura mpya. "Koreshi, mfalme wa Uajemi, asema hivi, BWANA, Mungu wa mbinguni, amenipa falme zote za duniani; naye ameniagiza nimjengee nyumba katika Yerusalemu… Kila mtu miongoni mwenu aliye wa watu wake wote, Mungu wake na awe pamoja naye, na apande" (Ezra 1:2–3). Miaka mia moja na hamsini kabla Koreshi hajazaliwa, Isaya alimtaja. Kwa jina lake. "Asemaye juu ya Koreshi, Yeye ni mchungaji wangu, naye atatimiza mapenzi yangu yote" (Isaya 44:28).In 538 BC, a Persian king who never read the Hebrew Bible turned the last page of the Hebrew Bible into the first page of a new chapter. "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem… Whoever is among you of all His people, may his God be with him, and let him go up" (Ezra 1:2–3). One hundred and fifty years before Cyrus was born, Isaiah named him. By name. "Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure'" (Isaiah 44:28).

Hilo linapaswa kukusimamisha. Isaya aliandika hayo karne mbili kabla ya kuwepo kwa Milki ya Uajemi. Wazazi wa Koreshi walikuwa bado hawajakutana. Mungu ajuaye mwisho tangu mwanzo alikuwa tayari amekamilisha makaratasi yote kuhusu mtu ambaye angetia sahihi amri ya kuwaachilia. Wapo watu wanaotembea sasa hivi ambao majina yao Mungu ameshayatamka ndani ya hadithi yako. Mshauri ambaye bado hujakutana naye. Mchungaji ambaye mahubiri yake yatakuokoa katika mwaka fulani ujao. Rafiki atakayekuwepo kwenye mazishi yako. Mungu anawajua kwa majina. Hajakuambia bado kwa sababu sehemu ya kumtumaini ni kutojua bado.That should stop you. Isaiah wrote that two centuries before there was a Persian Empire. Cyrus's parents hadn't met yet. The God who knows the end from the beginning had already filed the paperwork on the man who would sign the release order. There are people walking around right now whose names God has already spoken into your story. The mentor you haven't met. The pastor whose sermon will rescue you in some future year. The friend at your funeral. God knows them by name. He hasn't told you yet because part of trust is not knowing yet.

Takriban wahamishwa elfu hamsini walijiandikisha kurudi nyumbani. Hiyo ni asilimia ndogo ya Wayahudi waliokuwa Babeli — wengi walibaki. Babeli kulikuwa na starehe; Yerusalemu kulikuwa magofu. Siku zote ni rahisi zaidi kubaki mahali ambapo Mungu amekuweka ukisubiri kuliko kusonga kwenda mahali anapokuita usonge mbele. Mabaki waaminifu karibu kamwe si wale walio wengi wanaostarehe. Zerubabeli — mzao wa Daudi — anawaongoza kutoka. Ufalme ulioonekana kufa pale Gilboa, na tena wakati Yerusalemu ilipochomwa moto, unatembea tena. Bethlehemu bado iko miaka mia tano mbele. Lakini ukoo unasonga.About fifty thousand exiles signed up to go home. That's a small percentage of the Jewish population in Babylon — most stayed. Babylon was comfortable; Jerusalem was rubble. It is always easier to stay where God has put you on hold than to move where He's calling you forward. The faithful remnant is almost never the comfortable majority. Zerubbabel — a descendant of David — leads them out. The kingdom that looked dead at Gilboa and again at the burning of Jerusalem is walking again. Bethlehem is still five hundred years out. But the line is moving.

II. Hekalu Lajengwa Upya — Vijana Walipopiga Kelele na Wazee WakaliaII. The Temple Rebuilt — When the Young Shouted and the Old Wept

Ezra 3–6Ezra 3–6

Wanafika nyumbani, na kitu cha kwanza wanachojenga ni madhabahu. Ibada kabla ya kuta. Kisha wanaweka msingi wa hekalu, na Ezra 3:12–13 inaandika uwekaji wakfu wa ajabu kuliko yote katika Biblia: vijana walipiga kelele kwa furaha, na wazee — wale waliokumbuka hekalu la Sulemani — walilia kwa sauti kuu kiasi kwamba hakuna aliyeweza kutofautisha kelele za furaha na kilio. Hekalu hili jipya lilikuwa dogo zaidi. Dhahabu kidogo. Hakuna sanduku la agano — lilipotea mwaka 586 K.K. na halikupatikana tena kamwe. Vijana walitazama kile kilichokuwa kikijengwa. Wazee walitazama kile kilichopotea.They get home and the first thing they build is an altar. Worship before walls. Then they lay the temple foundation, and Ezra 3:12–13 records the strangest dedication in the Bible: the young men shouted for joy, and the old men — the ones who remembered Solomon's temple — wept so loudly nobody could tell the shouting from the weeping. This new temple was smaller. Less gold. No ark of the covenant — that was lost in 586 BC and never recovered. The young looked at what was being built. The old looked at what had been lost.

Ikiwa umewahi kuwa kanisani Jumapili moja ambapo watu waliokuwa karibu nawe walikuwa wakisherehekea jambo ulilokuwa ukiliombolezea — au wakiomboleza jambo ulilokuwa ukilisherehekea — basi umewahi kuwa katika Ezra 3. Majibu yote mawili yalikuwa ya kweli. Yote mawili yalisikiwa. Mungu hakuombi uchague kati ya shukrani kwa yale anayoyafanya na huzuni kwa yale yaliyopotea. Leta yote mawili patakatifuni.If you have ever been in church on a Sunday when the people next to you were celebrating something you were grieving — or grieving something you were celebrating — you have been in Ezra 3. Both responses were honest. Both were heard. God doesn't ask you to choose between gratitude for what He's doing and grief for what was lost. Bring both into the sanctuary.

Na zingatia hili — siku ile waliyoikamilisha madhabahu hiyo, Uzi Mwekundu ulitoka tena nyuma ya pazia. Damu iliyokuwa ikitiririka katika nyua za Sulemani kwa karibu miaka mia nne ilikoma wakati hekalu lilipochomwa moto mwaka 586. Kuanzia amri ya Koreshi na kuendelea ingetiririka tena, kila asubuhi na kila jioni, juu ya madhabahu ndogo zaidi katika ua wa hali ya chini zaidi. Uzi huo haukuwahi kukatwa. Mungu alikuwa ameuweka chini kwa muda mfupi tu alipokuwa akiwabeba watu wake kupitia Babeli. Aliuokota tena siku ile madhabahu ilipotoa moshi tena.And mark this — the day they finished that altar, the Scarlet Thread came back out of the wings. The blood that had flowed through Solomon's courts for almost four hundred years had stopped at the burning of the temple in 586. From Cyrus's decree forward it would flow again, every morning and every evening, on a smaller altar in a humbler court. The thread had never been cut. God had only set it down briefly while He carried His people through Babylon. He picked it back up the day the altar smoked again.

Kisha kazi inakwama. Miaka kumi na sita. Upinzani wa wenyeji, uchovu, "tutalishughulikia mwaka ujao" — maneno ya gharama kubwa zaidi kiroho katika lugha yoyote. Mungu anawatuma Hagai na Zekaria. Neno la Hagai ni laini kama kofi: "Je! Ni wakati wenu ninyi wa kukaa katika nyumba zenu zilizopambwa kwa mbao, wakati nyumba hii inakaa hali ya kuharibika?" (Hagai 1:4). Kwa maneno mengine: mmekuwa mkikarabati sebule zenu wakati nyumba ya Mungu ina magugu yanayomea katikati ya msingi wake. Zekaria anatia moyo kwa mstari ambao kila mtumishi aliyechoka lazima aukariri: "Si kwa uwezo, wala si kwa nguvu, bali ni kwa Roho yangu, asema BWANA wa majeshi" (Zekaria 4:6). Na kisha mstari mtukufu kuhusu nyumba ndogo zaidi ya Zerubabeli: "Utukufu wa mwisho wa nyumba hii utakuwa mkuu kuliko utukufu wake wa kwanza" (Hagai 2:9).Then the work stalls. Sixteen years. Local opposition, fatigue, "we'll get to it next year" — the four most spiritually expensive words in any language. God sends Haggai and Zechariah. Haggai's word is about as gentle as a slap: "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?" (Haggai 1:4). Translation: you've been remodeling your living room while God's house has weeds growing through the foundation. Zechariah encourages with the line every weary servant has to memorize: "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6). And then the magnificent line about Zerubbabel's smaller house: "the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former" (Haggai 2:9).

Mkuu zaidi? Ni dogo zaidi, la kawaida zaidi, halina sanduku la agano. Linawezaje kuwa mkuu zaidi?Greater? It's smaller, plainer, ark-less. How is it greater?

Kwa sababu siku moja seremala kutoka Nazareti angeingia ndani yake.Because one day a carpenter from Nazareth would walk into it.

Usiidharau siku ya mambo madogo. Kitu "kidogo" kilicho mikononi mwako sasa hivi kinaweza kuwa ndicho hasa ambacho Kristo atajitokeza ndani yake. Kikundi chako cha kujifunza Biblia kisichovutia chenye watu watatu waaminifu. Utii wako wa kawaida ambao hakuna anayeupigia makofi. Hekalu alilojenga Zerubabeli lilikuwa, kwa kila kipimo kinachoonekana, hatua ya kushuka chini. Kwa kipimo pekee chenye maana — ni miguu ya Nani ingetembea ndani yake — lilikuwa patakatifu pakuu kuliko vyote katika historia ya wanadamu. Hekalu linakamilika mwaka 516 K.K. Miaka sabini, karibu siku kwa siku, baada ya kuchomwa moto. Mungu hutimiza miaka yake sabini (Yeremia 25:11–12).Don't despise the day of small things. The "smaller" thing in your hands right now may be the very thing Christ shows up in. Your unimpressive Bible study with three faithful people. Your ordinary obedience nobody is applauding. The temple Zerubbabel built was, by every visible measure, a downgrade. By the only measure that matters — Whose feet would walk it — it was the greatest sanctuary in human history. The temple is finished in 516 BC. Seventy years almost to the day after it burned. God keeps His seventies (Jeremiah 25:11–12).

III. Ezra na Nehemia — Mfalme na Kuhani, Ukuta na NenoIII. Ezra and Nehemiah — King and Priest, Wall and Word

Ezra 7–10, Nehemia 1–13Ezra 7–10, Nehemiah 1–13

Zingatia jambo moja lililo rahisi kulikosa. Zerubabeli alikuwa mzao wa Daudi — ukoo wa kifalme. Ezra alikuwa mzao wa Haruni — ukoo wa kikuhani. Urejesho wa watu wa Mungu unahitaji vyote viwili. Mfalme ili kujenga upya. Kuhani ili kutakasa. Kuta bila Neno huacha ngome inayozunguka moyo mtupu. Neno bila kuta huacha kikundi cha kujifunza Biblia kisichoweza kustahimili kuzingirwa kunakofuata. Mungu hutuma vyote viwili siku zote.Notice something easy to miss. Zerubbabel was descended from David — the kingly line. Ezra was descended from Aaron — the priestly line. The restoration of God's people needs both. The king to rebuild. The priest to cleanse. Walls without Word leave a fortress around an empty heart. Word without walls leaves a Bible study that won't survive the next siege. God always sends both.

Ezra anafika mwaka 458 K.K. — takriban miaka sitini baada ya hekalu kukamilika. Yeye ni "mwandishi stadi katika torati ya Musa" (Ezra 7:6), na kilichomfanya kuwa mwandishi stadi ni mstari ulio mistari mitatu baadaye: "Kwa kuwa Ezra alikuwa ameuelekeza moyo wake kuitafuta sheria ya BWANA, na kuitenda, na kufundisha katika Israeli" (Ezra 7:10). Vitenzi vitatu kwa mpangilio, na mpangilio huo una maana. Kutafuta. Kutenda. Kufundisha. Wengi wetu tuko tayari kutafuta. Idadi ya kushangaza hata wako tayari kufundisha. Kitenzi cha katikati ndicho kinachorukwa. Wanafunzi wa Biblia wapo kwa maelfu. Watendaji wa Biblia wapo kwa makumi. Ezra alikuwa mtendaji.Ezra arrives in 458 BC — about sixty years after the temple is done. He is "a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses" (Ezra 7:6), and what made him a skilled scribe is the verse three lines later: "Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel" (Ezra 7:10). Three verbs in order, and the order matters. Seek. Do. Teach. Most of us are willing to seek. A surprising number are even willing to teach. The middle verb is the one that gets skipped. There are Bible students by the thousand. There are Bible doers by the tens. Ezra was a doer.

Anafika na kukuta kwamba watu walio na hekalu hawana Neno. Wameoana na mataifa ya kipagani yanayowazunguka — hata makuhani na Walawi, wale wale waliopaswa kuulinda ukoo. Ezra anararua mavazi yake, anaketi mavumbini, na kuomba mojawapo ya maungamo makuu ya jumuiya nzima katika Maandiko (Ezra 9). Matengenezo hayo yanauma. Jumuiya inajitenga na wake wa kigeni. Ni jambo gumu mno, na ni la lazima, kwa sababu mara iliyopita Israeli ilipoacha ndoa za kipagani ziendelee bila kudhibitiwa, waliishia Babeli. Huwezi kuurekebisha uhamisho wa pili kwa kurudia chanzo cha ule wa kwanza.He arrives to find the people who have the temple don't have the Word. They've intermarried with surrounding pagan nations — including the priests and Levites, the very people supposed to guard the line. Ezra tears his clothes, sits in the dust, and prays one of the great corporate confessions of Scripture (Ezra 9). The reform is painful. The community separates from foreign wives. It's brutal and it's necessary, because the previous time Israel let pagan marriage go unchecked, they ended up in Babylon. You don't fix the second exile by repeating the cause of the first.

Kisha anakuja Nehemia, miaka kumi na mitatu baadaye — 445 K.K. Yeye ni mnyweshaji wa Mfalme Artashasta katika mji mkuu wa Uajemi. Ndugu yake analeta habari kutoka Yerusalemu: ukuta umebomolewa, malango yamechomwa moto, watu wako katika taabu kubwa. Nehemia analia, anafunga, anaomba — kisha anaomba kwa miezi minne kabla hajasema neno moja kwa mfalme (linganisha Nehemia 1:1 na 2:1). Miezi minne ya "Bwana, mimi ni wako, lakini nataka kumwomba mfalme pale tu utakaposema naweza kumwomba mfalme."Then comes Nehemiah, thirteen years later — 445 BC. He's the cupbearer to King Artaxerxes in the Persian capital. His brother brings news from Jerusalem: the wall is broken down, the gates burned, the people in great affliction. Nehemiah weeps, fasts, prays — and then prays for four months before he says one word to the king (compare Nehemiah 1:1 and 2:1). Four months of "Lord, I'm Yours, but I want to ask the king when You say I can ask the king."

Wengi wetu, tunapotaka kitu, humwomba mwenye mamlaka anayeonekana kabla ya kumwomba Yule asiyeonekana. Nehemia aliugeuza mpangilio huo. Kufikia wakati alipofungua kinywa chake mbele ya Artashasta, jambo hilo lilikuwa tayari limekwisha kuamuliwa mbinguni; Artashasta alikuwa akitia sahihi tu kibali cha kuachiliwa. Ikiwa ujasiri wako mbele ya wanadamu ni mkubwa kuliko ujasiri wako mbele za Mungu, umeupindua mpangilio wa kiroho wa mambo.Most of us, when we want something, ask the visible authority before we ask the invisible One. Nehemiah inverted that. By the time he opened his mouth to Artaxerxes, the conversation had already been settled in heaven; Artaxerxes was just signing the release. If your boldness with men is greater than your boldness with God, you have the spiritual order of operations backwards.

Nehemia anakwenda. Anazikagua kuta usiku. Anawahamasisha watu. Siku hamsini na mbili baadaye ukuta umesimama (Nehemia 6:15) — licha ya Sanbalati, Tobia, na Geshemu. Maadui watatu, mbinu tatu. Sanbalati anadhihaki: "Wayahudi hawa dhaifu wanafanya nini?" Tobia anajipenyeza kupitia uhusiano na watu wa ndani, ushirika wa ndoa, na hujuma ya kimya kimya. Geshemu anajiunga na njama na kujaribu kumvuta Nehemia katika mtego, kisha anamwajiri nabii wa uongo ili kumharibia sifa. Kila kiongozi aliyewahi kujaribu kumfanyia Mungu jambo lolote amekutana na mchanganyiko fulani wa hao watatu. Mdhihaki. Mpenyezaji. Nabii wa kukodiwa. Jibu la Nehemia ni mwongozo wa mstari mmoja kwa huduma iliyo chini ya mashambulizi: "Mimi ninafanya kazi kubwa, siwezi kushuka; kwa nini kazi hii ikome, nikiiacha, na kushuka kuja kwenu?" (Nehemia 6:3). Baki ukutani.Nehemiah goes. Inspects the walls at night. Rallies the people. Fifty-two days later the wall is up (Nehemiah 6:15) — despite Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem. Three enemies, three tactics. Sanballat mocks: "What are these feeble Jews doing?" Tobiah infiltrates with insider connections, marriage alliances, and quiet sabotage. Geshem joins the conspiracy and tries to lure Nehemiah into a trap, then hires a false prophet to discredit him. Every leader who has ever tried to do anything for God has met some combination of those three. The mocker. The infiltrator. The hired prophet. Nehemiah's reply is the one-line manual for ministry under fire: "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?" (Nehemiah 6:3). Stay on the wall.

Kisha Ezra na Nehemia wanafanya kile ambacho kila uamsho katika Maandiko hatimaye hufanya: wanalisoma Neno. Hadharani, polepole, pamoja na maelezo. Nehemia 8:8, kwa njia, ndiyo maelezo ya kwanza ya kazi ya mahubiri ya ufafanuzi katika Biblia — walisoma kwa sauti iliyo wazi, wakaeleza maana yake, wakawasaidia watu kuyaelewa yaliyosomwa. Watu wanalia wanaposikia. Na viongozi wanawainua: "Msihuzunike; kwa maana furaha ya BWANA ndiyo nguvu zenu" (Nehemia 8:10). Wanaiadhimisha Sikukuu ya Vibanda ipasavyo kwa mara ya kwanza tangu siku za Yoshua. Wanalifanya upya agano kwa maandishi, na viongozi wanatia sahihi hati hiyo kwa majina yao wenyewe. Ukuta na Neno pamoja — na huwezi kuwa na kimoja bila kingine kwa muda mrefu. Nehemia alijenga vyote viwili.Then Ezra and Nehemiah do what every revival in Scripture eventually does: they read the Word. Public, slow, with explanation. Nehemiah 8:8 is, incidentally, the first job description of expository preaching in the Bible — they read distinctly, gave the sense, and helped them understand the reading. The people weep when they hear it. And the leaders lift them up: "Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). They celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles for the first time properly since Joshua. They renew the covenant in writing, and the leaders sign the document with their own names. Wall and Word together — and you cannot have one without the other for long. Nehemiah built both.

IV. Esta — Mungu Ambaye Jina Lake Halitajwi Kamwe, Ambaye Mkono Wake Uko Katika Kila UkurasaIV. Esther — The God Whose Name Is Never Mentioned, Whose Hand Is on Every Page

Esta 1–10Esther 1–10

Kitabu cha Esta kinajulikana sana kwa sababu isiyo sahihi — kwa kile ambacho hakisemi. Jina la Mungu halitokei hata mara moja katika mistari 167. Hata hivyo alama za vidole vyake ziko katika kila ukurasa. Huhitaji jina lake liwe limechapishwa wakati mwandiko wake uko kila mahali.The book of Esther is famous for the wrong reason — for what it does not say. The name of God appears zero times in 167 verses. Yet His fingerprints are on every page. You don't need His name printed when His handwriting is everywhere.

Esta ni yatima wa Kiyahudi katika Uajemi (takriban 480 K.K., katika pengo kati ya kurudi kwa Zerubabeli na kwa Ezra). Vashti anaondolewa; Esta anavikwa taji. Binamu yake Mordekai anasikia njama ya kumuua mfalme, anairipoti, na — kwa sababu za kisimulizi zinazoonekana kama bahati tu — bado hapewi thawabu. Hamani Mwagagi (zingatia jina la ukoo — wale wale Waamaleki ambao Sauli alikataa kuwaangamiza katika 1 Samweli 15 sasa wamerudi, miaka mia nne baadaye, wakijaribu kuwaangamiza Wayahudi; utii ulioahirishwa ni hukumu iliyocheleweshwa) anapanda cheo katika baraza la mfalme na anakasirika sana Mordekai anapokataa kumwinamia. Anapiga kura — pur — ili kuamua siku ya kuangamizwa kwa Wayahudi. Kura inaangukia miezi kumi na moja mbele, ikimpa Esta muda ambao hakujua kwamba angeuhitaji.Esther is a Jewish orphan in Persia (around 480 BC, in the gap between Zerubbabel's return and Ezra's). Vashti gets deposed; Esther is crowned. Her cousin Mordecai overhears an assassination plot, reports it, and — for narrative reasons that look like coincidence — gets no reward yet. Haman the Agagite (note the family name — the same Amalekites Saul refused to wipe out in 1 Samuel 15 are now back, four hundred years later, trying to wipe out the Jews; obedience deferred is judgment delayed) rises in the court and is enraged when Mordecai will not bow. He casts lots — pur — to determine the day of Jewish destruction. The lot falls eleven months out, giving Esther time she didn't know she needed.

Maneno ya Mordekai kwa Esta ndiyo yanayojulikana zaidi katika kitabu hiki, na ni mojawapo ya maneno yanayogusa moyo kwa kina, kimya kimya, kuliko yote katika Maandiko: "Na nani ajuaye kama wewe hukuujia ufalme kwa ajili ya wakati kama huu?" (Esta 4:14). Zingatia kwamba hasemi hakika umeujia. Anasema nani ajuaye. Kwa sababu wito ulio juu ya maisha yako mara chache huthibitishwa kwa uhakika kabla hujautii. Imani hutembea kuelekea chumba cha kiti cha enzi kabla fimbo ya enzi haijanyooshwa. Esta anafunga siku tatu, anaingia katika chumba cha kiti cha enzi bila kuitwa (kosa la kuadhibiwa kwa kifo), na mfalme anamnyooshea fimbo ya enzi.Mordecai's line to Esther is the most famous in the book and one of the most quietly devastating in Scripture: "Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14). Notice he doesn't say you definitely have. He says who knows. Because the calling on your life is rarely confirmed by certainty before you obey it. Faith walks toward the throne room before the scepter has been extended. Esther fasts three days, walks unsummoned into the throne room (capital offense), and the king holds out the scepter.

Kisha unakuja ule usiku ambao mfalme hapati usingizi. Anaagiza kitabu cha kumbukumbu kiletwe. Kinafunguliwa mahali pale ambapo Mordekai aliyaokoa maisha yake na hakuwahi kuheshimiwa. Asubuhi iliyofuata Hamani anaingia ili kuomba Mordekai anyongwe, na anaishia kumtembeza Mordekai barabarani akiwa amevaa joho la mfalme. Kufikia usiku ule Hamani yuko juu ya mti aliouandaa kwa ajili ya Mordekai. Wayahudi wanajitetea katika siku iliyoamriwa na kushinda. Sikukuu ya Purimu inaanzishwa na bado inaadhimishwa hadi leo. Kura ambayo Hamani aliipiga dhidi ya watu wa Mungu inakuwa sikukuu ya kusherehekea kuhifadhiwa kwao.Then comes the night the king cannot sleep. He calls for the records. They open to the place where Mordecai saved his life and was never honored. The next morning Haman walks in to ask for Mordecai's hanging and ends up parading Mordecai through the streets in the king's robe. By that night Haman is on the gallows he built for Mordecai. The Jews defend themselves on the appointed day and prevail. The festival of Purim is established and is still celebrated. The lot Haman cast against God's people becomes the festival celebrating their preservation.

Bahati tu? Ukaidi wa Vashti uliotokea wakati mwafaka kabisa. Njama aliyoisikia Mordekai. Kura iliyoangukia miezi kumi na moja mbele. Kukosa usingizi kwa mfalme usiku ule ule uliofaa. Kitabu kufunguka katika ukurasa uliofaa. Hamani kuingia wakati usiofaa. Joho. Mti wa kunyongea. Kila sura ni kile ambacho wasomaji baadaye waliita hadithi ya chini. Kila sura ina hadithi ya juu iliyofichika. Sisi tunaiona ile ya chini; Mungu anaiandika ile ya juu.Coincidence? Vashti's perfectly timed defiance. Mordecai's overheard plot. The lot cast eleven months out. The king's insomnia on the right night. The scroll opening to the right page. Haman walking in at the wrong moment. The robe. The gallows. Every chapter is what readers later called the lower story. Every chapter has a hidden upper story. We see the lower; God writes the upper.

Mungu Aliye KimyaA Silent God

Watu wakati mwingine hulalamika kwamba Mungu wa Esta hasemi chochote. Alinena kwa sauti iliyosikika kutoka kichakani kwa Musa, na kwa mvulana aitwaye Samweli katika hema takatifu; hata alinena kupitia punda kwa Balaamu. Kwa nini ukimya mrefu namna hii kwetu sisi wengine? Majibu manne mafupi kutoka katika kitabu hiki.People sometimes complain that the God of Esther never says anything. He spoke audibly from a bush to Moses and to a boy in a tabernacle named Samuel; He even spoke through a donkey to Balaam. Why such long silences with the rest of us? Four short answers from this book.

Kwanza, ukimya unahitaji imani, si kuona. Kristo aliyefufuka alimwambia Tomaso, "Wa heri wale wasioona, wakasadiki" (Yohana 20:29). Mungu ambaye angejibu kila swali kwa sauti inayosikika angeunda aina tofauti ya mwanafunzi na ile anayoiunda kwa kweli. Pili, ukimya unalazimisha mapambano yanayoikuza nafsi. Imani ambayo haijawahi kulazimika kushindana ni imani ambayo haijawahi kukua kupita ukubwa wa kiatu. Tatu, ukimya huzaa ukomavu. Tuna milango mitano ya fahamu ya nje; mwamini anakusudiwa kukuza mlango wa sita — macho ya moyo (Waefeso 1:18) — na mlango huo wa sita hautumiki wakati ile mitano ya kwanza inafanya kazi yote. Nne, ukimya haumaanishi kutokuwepo. Maongozi ya Mungu ndiyo jina la ukimya huo. Waebrania 1:3 inasema Kristo anavichukua vyote kwa amri ya uweza wake. Bwana ambaye jina lake halijachapishwa katika Esta ndiye Bwana ambaye mwandiko wake unajaza kila aya. Naye ni Bwana wa sura yako ambayo bado hujaisoma pia. Wiki ambayo huwezi kumwona akitenda — anatenda. Miaka inayoonekana kama bahati tu — sivyo ilivyo. Hatii sahihi jina lake kwenye ukurasa kila mara. Lakini kila sentensi ni yake.First, silence requires faith, not sight. The risen Christ said to Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29). A God who answered every question audibly would form a different kind of disciple than the kind He is actually forming. Second, silence forces the struggle that grows the soul. A faith that has never had to wrestle is a faith that has never grown beyond shoe size. Third, silence produces maturity. We have five outer senses; the believer is meant to develop a sixth — the eyes of the heart (Ephesians 1:18) — and that sixth sense is not exercised when the first five are doing all the work. Fourth, silence does not mean absence. Providence is the name of the silence. Hebrews 1:3 says Christ upholds all things by the word of His power. The Lord whose name is not printed in Esther is the Lord whose handwriting fills every paragraph. And He is the Lord of your unread chapter too. The week you can't see Him moving — He's moving. The years that look like coincidence — they're not. He doesn't always sign His name on the page. But every sentence is His.

Kristo katika Ezra — EstaChrist in Ezra — Esther

Mambo matatu ya kuamini kwa uthabiti, ya kuchukua pamoja nawe na kamwe usiyaweke chini.Three convictions to take with you and never put down.

Kwanza — Kristo ndiye Hekalu la Kweli, na Ukuta wa Kweli. Zerubabeli alijenga picha; Kristo alijenga kitu halisi. Hagai 2:9 iliahidi kwamba utukufu wa mwisho ungepita ule wa kwanza. Ulipita, siku ile Mwana wa Mariamu alipoingia kupitia milango yake. Na Kristo pia ndiye ukuta wa Nehemia uliokamilika hatimaye — ila safari hii umejengwa kwa mawe yaliyo hai, na malango yasiyofungwa kamwe (1 Petro 2:5; Ufunuo 21).First — Christ is the True Temple, and the True Wall. Zerubbabel built the picture; Christ built the substance. Haggai 2:9 promised the latter glory would surpass the former. It did, the day Mary's Son walked through the doors. And Christ is also Nehemiah's wall finally finished — only this time built of living stones, with gates that never close (1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 21).

Pili — Kristo ndiye Neno aliyefanyika mwili wa Ezra 7:10. Ezra aliitafuta Sheria, aliitenda Sheria, na aliifundisha Sheria. Kristo ndiye Sheria katika nafsi — Yule ambaye alikuwako hapo mwanzo kama kile ambacho Ezra alitumia maisha yake yote akijaribu kukinakili. "Hapo mwanzo kulikuwako Neno, naye Neno alikuwako kwa Mungu, naye Neno alikuwa Mungu" (Yohana 1:1). Ezra alikuwa mwandishi mkuu. Kristo ndiye Mtunzi.Second — Christ is the Word made Flesh of Ezra 7:10. Ezra sought the Law, did the Law, and taught the Law. Christ is the Law in person — the One who was in the beginning what Ezra spent his life trying to copy out. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Ezra was a great scribe. Christ is the Author.

Tatu — Kristo ndiye Maongozi ya Mungu ambayo hatukuweza kuyaona. Mungu aliyejificha wa Esta alitoka nyuma ya pazia juu ya kilima nje ya Yerusalemu na akajiruhusu kuonekana. Msalaba ulionekana, siku ya Ijumaa, kama bahati mbaya mbaya kuliko zote katika historia ya wanadamu — kana kwamba Hamani alikuwa ameshinda. Kufikia Jumapili ilikuwa wazi kwamba siku mbaya kuliko zote katika historia ya wanadamu ilikuwa siku ambayo mkono uliofichika wa Mungu hatimaye ulifunguka. Kila mtu miongoni mwenu aliye wa watu wake — na apande. Uhamisho umekwisha. Njia ya kurudi nyumbani iko wazi. Amri ya Koreshi ya Agano la Kale imekuwa wito wa injili wa Agano Jipya: njoo, panda juu.Third — Christ is the Providence we couldn't see. The hidden God of Esther stepped out of the wings on a hill outside Jerusalem and let Himself be seen. The Cross looked, on Friday, like the worst coincidence in human history — like Haman had won. By Sunday it was clear that the worst day in human history was the day God's hidden hand finally opened. Whoever is among you of His people — let him go up. The exile is over. The way home is open. The Cyrus decree of the Old Testament has become the gospel call of the New: come up.

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