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Bible Insights

Women of the Bible: Esther

I’ve always liked the story of Esther. She was a peasant girl who won a national beauty pageant and became queen.

In my imagination, I’ve given this tale a Cinderella-like grandness, with Esther and the king, falling in love and living happily ever after.

Alas, the story doesn’t mention love and fails to include any hints  of happiness. Let’s review the facts:

  • Esther and her people were forcibly relocated to a foreign land. She was a spoil of war.
  • Esther did not opt to take part in the beauty contest. All attractive virgins were compelled to participate.
  • Esther’s heritage prohibited her from marrying outside her faith. To do so would be a shameful and disobedient act.

Add to this these reasonable conclusions about Esther’s “relationship” with the king:

  • Even after she became queen, he continued to enjoy the company of other women in his harem.
  • She and the king didn’t have regular interaction. He had not “summoned” her for thirty days.
  • She had reason to fear him. She faced execution by merely approaching him without permission.

Esther’s Prayer

In the New Jerusalem Bible (learn more), we are treated to the prayer that she offered in the middle of this. She says, in part:

  • “I loathe the bed of the uncircumcised,” that would be the king.
  • “I am under constraint” to wear the crown, that is, to be queen.
  • “Nor has your servant found pleasure from the day of her promotion until now.”
  • “Free me from my fear.”

Sadly, there is no love, happiness, or satisfaction in her role as queen. Even so she did use her unwanted position to save her people, the Jews, from a certain annihilation.

So this account of Esther isn’t a love story, at least not in the traditional sense. It is, however, a tale of valor and bravery—and a reminder that one person can make a difference.

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in e-book, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

The Honor for the Victory Goes to a Woman

Barak Chickens Out and Insists Judge Deborah Goes with Him

The book of Judges is a colorful read about some strange characters. Except for Judge Deborah, all the other judges in this book are male. That makes Deborah unique.

Perhaps that’s why I like her so much, even more so than the better-known Gideon and Samson.

Passing on God’s instructions, Deborah tells Barak to raise an army and go fight their enemy, led by Sisera. Barak cowers. He says the only way he’ll do that is if Deborah goes with him. What a chicken. What a poor example of leadership.

Judge Deborah agrees to go with him, but she gives him a warning.

She prophesies that since he won’t do as God instructed, the credit for the victory will go to a woman (Judges 4:8-9). I once thought she’s referring to herself. But she isn’t. She’s talking about another woman.

As the battle wages on—that Barak leads with Deborah’s support—the enemy Sisera flees for his life. He ends up at the home of Jael. She welcomes him and pretends to befriend him. She feeds him and lulls him to sleep.

Then she drives a tent peg into his temple and kills him (Judges 4:21). Though it’s graphic, much like the rest of the book of Judges, a tent peg is likely the only means she has available to kill him.

Jael is the woman Deborah prophesied about. Jael is the one who receives credit for the victory. And we get confirmation of this in the next chapter when we read what I call the Psalm of Deborah.

There she blesses Jael and recounts the details of her exploits (Judges 5:24-27).

We hail Judge Deborah as a courageous woman and worthy judge. We remember Barak for his lack of courage and cowardice. And we celebrate Jael for her brave actions. The honor of this victory goes to her.

[Read through the Bible this year. Today’s reading is Judges 4-6, and today’s post is on Judges 5:24.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in e-book, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Women in the Bible: Leah

Leah, like her younger sister, Rachel, is an interesting character. While I’m inexplicitly drawn to Rachel, I just feel sorry for Leah.

She marries her first cousin, Jacob. The problem is Jacob loves her younger sister Rachel. While Rachel is attractive, Leah is not. Though we don’t understand the details, we do know she doesn’t have the same allure as her little sister.

It’s Rachel that Jacob wants to marry, but Rachel’s father pawns off the older sister on him instead. When Jacob complains, he’s given Rachel, too. So the two sisters become co-wives.

Jacob loves Rachel, but not Leah—though not so much that he won’t sleep with her. Because she’s unloved, God blesses her with children. First there’s Reuben, then Simeon, followed by Levi and Judah.

Later, in a most unusual story, she gives a famished Rachel some food in exchange for a night with Jacob. Leah gets pregnant again and has Issachar and later Zebulun. After that, she has Dinah.

As the sisters compete for Jacob’s attention, they bring their maids into the marriage bed; both servants produce two sons for Jacob.

After all this, Rachel has Joseph and much later dies giving birth to Benjamin.

At last, it seems, Leah will not need to compete with her sister for Jacob’s attention. But the reminder of Rachel forever looms, with Jacob showing favoritism to Rachel’s sons over the children that Leah bore.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Genesis 27-29, and today’s post is on Genesis 29:16-25.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in e-book, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

What’s More Important, a Strong Theology or a Childlike Faith?

When We Focus on Theology We Miss the Point of Following Jesus

A lot of people today work hard to form a correct theology. Almost every church has a theology, be it formal or implicit. They use theology to determine who’s in and who’s out. Every seminary has its own theology as well.

If you agree with their beliefs, you have a chance to graduate. But if you take issue with it, you open yourself up for criticism, condemnation, and even rejection.

Most people and religious institutions use theology as a weapon. They leverage their beliefs to divide Jesus’s followers. They claim there’s right theology and wrong theology. Unfortunately theology is in the eye of the beholder. And everyone has their own.

The word theology, of course, doesn’t appear in the Bible. Faith does. Faith shows up several hundred times, from Genesis to Revelation and most of the books in between.

A Childlike Faith

Though the disciples shoo them away, Jesus embraces little children and blesses them. He says his kingdom belongs to them (Matthew 19:13-15).

Another time Jesus says that unless we become like children we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:2-4).

This is where we get the idea of having a childlike faith, the faith of a little child.

Jesus doesn’t say, “You have to get your theology right for me to accept you into my kingdom.” Instead, he says, “Come to me like a little child.” To Jesus our theology doesn’t matter as much as our faith, the faith of a child.

Yet we persist in pursuing a right theology, a systematic theology. Yet if a systematic theology was important, you think it would be in the Bible.

Paul would’ve been a good person to write it. Instead Paul talks about faith. He talks about faith a lot, mentioning it about one hundred times.

Our faith, not our theology, is important to Jesus. And our faith is also important to Paul, or he wouldn’t have written about it so much.

Over the centuries, especially the last five, people argued much about theology. They fought over it and even killed for it. Each time they did, they divided the church of Jesus.

Instead of being one, as Jesus prayed, we formed denominations—42,000 of them.

We’ve majored in theology and minored in faith.

We got it wrong, and we need to fix it. We need to stop our preoccupation with theology and simply come to Jesus in faith, just like a child. Then we will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Women in the Bible: Bathsheba

Bathsheba, a beautiful woman, is married to Uriah. Despite being a foreigner, Uriah is loyal to the nation of Israel, King David, and God; he is an honorable man, who is off fighting in the army.

Back home, David, from his rooftop vantage, sees Bathsheba bathing. Both are at fault. David shouldn’t have been looking, and Bathsheba should have been discrete. David summons her to sleep with him.

If she goes willingly, that makes her an adulteress (and David an adulterer). If she agrees because it’s unwise to say “No” to a sovereign king, then David essentially rapes her. Regardless, she becomes pregnant.

To cover up their tryst, David summons Uriah from the front lines.

After two failed attempts to send Uriah home to the arms of his wife, David resorts to plan B. He develops a battle strategy to bring about Uriah’s death. Uriah unwittingly carries that plan with him when he returns to the front.

Uriah dies as planned. Bathsheba morns his death. David marries her.

Later, Nathan confronts David for his actions. Once exposed, David acknowledges his mistakes and seeks God. However, their love child becomes sick and dies.

Then David and Bathsheba have Solomon. Solomon eventually becomes king, just as David promised Bathsheba. Centuries later, Jesus is born, David and Bathsheba’s direct descendant, through Solomon.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 2 Samuel 10-12 and today’s post is on 2 Samuel 11:26-27.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in e-book, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

The Good Shepherd and the Bad Shepherd

Shepherds Have a Responsibility to Their Sheep and Sheep Have a Responsibility to Their Shepherd

We know Jesus is the Good Shepherd. The Bible also addresses bad shepherds. The book of Jeremiah talks about this, but it’s easy to miss it if we read too fast.

The Bad Shepherd

Quoting God, Jeremiah writes, “My people are lost sheep. Their shepherds led them astray.” As a result, they’re lost, wandering around and not having a safe place to rest.

The shepherds aren’t doing their job. If they lead their sheep anywhere, these bad shepherds head in the wrong direction. But mostly they just let their sheep flounder, roaming wherever they wish.

Their sheep wander around and can’t find their way home. These are bad shepherds.

However, before we place too much blame on bad shepherds, we must remember that we’re often bad sheep. Isaiah says that we go our own way (Isaiah 53:6).

We need someone to rescue us. Just as our shepherds have a responsibility to us to be good shepherds, we have a responsibility to them to be good sheep.

Like shepherds, another leadership role is teachers. James cautions us against becoming teachers, warning that teachers will be judged more strictly, held to a higher standard (James 3:1). I suspect the same applies to shepherds.

The Good Shepherd

Contrast these bad shepherds to Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd. He says so himself. As the Good Shepherd, Jesus is willing to die for his sheep. He cares for them and knows them.

When danger comes, the Good Shepherd won’t run away like a hired man.

He’ll stick around and protect his sheep, even if it means dying so that they can live (John 10:11-18). Even if it means dying so that we can live.

That’s exactly what Jesus did.

Human Shepherds and the Good Shepherd

Our human leaders—shepherds—sometimes disappoint us and let us down. Though most of them have good intentions, they’re flawed human beings just like us all. They make mistakes.

Though they may not go to the extent of Jeremiah’s bad shepherds, they certainly aren’t on the same level as Jesus, our Good Shepherd.

Thank you, Jesus, for being our Good Shepherd. You know us, you love us, and you die for us.

[Read through the Bible this year. Today’s reading is Jeremiah 49-50, and today’s post is on Jeremiah 50:6.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

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Christian Living

Are You a Pharisee or Sadducee?

Both Groups Commit Theological Errors We Must Avoid

In Jesus’s lifetime, there were two major sects in Judaism: Pharisees and Sadducees. Both sects appear in the Bible, with Pharisee mentioned ninety-nine times and Sadducee occurring fifteen, all in the New Testament and mostly in the Gospels.

Though Jesus extended love and acceptance to all people, especially those on the outside, he dished out criticism for religious insiders: the Pharisees and Sadducees.

As religious people, Jesus pointed out their shortcomings and how their theology was off track.

Pharisees

The Pharisees were highly righteous people, focusing on proper behavior with a long list of things they could do and a longer list of things they couldn’t do.

They started with the Law of Moses, but over the centuries they greatly expanded it by adding thousands and thousands of man-made rules.

As a result, they were highly legalistic. Unfortunately these rules alienated themselves from God, rather than draw them to him.

Sadducees

Instead of adding things to what the Scriptures taught, the Sadducees removed things. They reduced their theology. For their faith foundation the Sadducees focused solely on the Torah, the first five books of today’s Bible.

The Bible says the Sadducees didn’t believe in the resurrection from the dead. A religion without an afterlife is an empty one. They also didn’t believe in angels or spirits.

Most of the high priest and priests were Sadducees but not all. There were also Pharisees within the priestly ranks.

Modern-Day Pharisees and Sadducees

Many religious Christians today are modern-day Pharisees, where others are modern-day Sadducees.

Modern-day Pharisees live a legalistic life governed by rules for what to do and not do, mostly what not to do.

You may have heard some of these rules: don’t drink, smoke, or dance. Don’t play cards, go to the movies, or listen to non-religious music. And don’t use makeup, have piercings, or get tattoos.

They also often follow rules about what they must wear and what they do or don’t do with their hair, particularly for women.

Modern-day Sadducees, on the other hand, have reduced their theology so much that faith is largely removed and religious practices are ritual and mostly void of spiritual significance.

They involve themselves with social causes at the expense of spiritual growth. They focus on their present physical life with little thought to a future spiritual afterlife.

I know modern-day Pharisees and modern-day Sadducees.

Though I hope you aren’t one of them, you may lean toward one or the other.

At the risk of causing insult, let me share that I’ve observed many modern-day Pharisees in the evangelical/fundamentalist church—and to a lesser extent in Pentecostal/charismatic churches.

Conversely I’ve seen modern-day Sadducees in the mainline/liberal church, as well as Catholic.

Regardless, everyone should guard against falling into the error of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Don’t be a modern-day Pharisee or Sadducee.

Be a disciple of Jesus.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

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Bible Insights

Women in the Bible: Naaman’s Servant Girl

An unnamed Israelite girl is captured in a raid. Then they force her to work as a slave in the household of the enemy commander, Naaman. Although Naaman is an accomplished military leader, he suffers from a limiting physical ailment.

He has leprosy, a contagious skin disease that can cause a loss of feeling, decay, and even deformation.

Though she could have been bitter over her forced servitude, the young girl instead desires the best for her master. She tells him of the prophet Elisha who can heal Naaman of his terrible disease.

He proceeds at once and is healed—as soon as he overcomes his pride, humbles himself, and follows Elisha’s instructions. Naaman then affirms the power of God and pledges to worship only him.

Though she had every reason to remain quiet, the girl’s confidence in God’s power and her willingness to speak up, led to a man’s healing and God praised.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 2 Kings 5-7, and today’s post is on 2 Kings 5:1-19.]

Learn about other biblical women in Women of the Bible, available in e-book, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Don’t Burn the Bible

We Would Never Burn Scripture, but Ignoring a Passage Is As Bad

God tells his prophet Jeremiah what to say. Jeremiah dictates it to his scribe, Baruch, who records it in a scroll. The scroll eventually makes it to the king.

Though the people who hear Jeremiah’s words take his warning seriously, the king does not.

As the scroll is read to the king, he periodically gets up and cuts that portion from the scroll. Then he throws it in the fire. He does this until the entire scroll is burned up. He destroys the words of God.

We would never burn the Bible, would we?

But what do we do when we come across a passage we don’t like or disagree with? The easy solution is to ignore it. Another approach, which takes more effort, is to justify why the passage doesn’t apply to us today.

Sometimes we use other Scripture to do this.

Either way the result is that we disregard the parts of the Bible that make us uncomfortable. The outcome of ignoring a Bible passage is little different than if we cut out those words and burnt them.

After the king does this, God tells Jeremiah to do it again. He must dictate God’s words a second time to Baruch. Baruch must write them down again. What a laborious process, to handwrite as someone else dictates.

As a writer, I’d worry about rewriting something a second time if I lost the first draft. Surely the second take would be different. Maybe the words would be better or maybe they wouldn’t be as good, but they definitely wouldn’t be the same.

However, this isn’t the case with Jeremiah and Baruch. God tells them to write down the same words, and they do. But the text also receives an addendum.

It says many other similar words were added. Not only was God’s original message re-documented, but additional text expanded upon it.

If the king didn’t like version one, he certainly wouldn’t like version two. But that’s what he gets when he burns the Bible.

God takes his words seriously, and so should we.

[Read through the Bible this year. Today’s reading is Jeremiah 35-37, and today’s post is on Jeremiah 36:23-24, 32.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

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Christian Living

Let’s Reclaim the True Meaning of the Words Follower and Friend

Social Media Has Trivialized What It Means to Follow Someone and Be Their Friend

Today when we think of the word followers, our mind quickly takes us to Twitter. As in, “How many Twitter followers do you have?” Instagram and Pinterest also lists our number of followers.

And when someone wonders about the number of our friends, it’s often a reference to Facebook. (Goodreads, has friends too, as well as followers). Other social media platforms use different terms to describe the same concept.

In addition to followers and friends, we have likes (also Facebook), connections (LinkedIn), and subscribers (YouTube and our blogs).

For my own social media sites, my total number of followers, friends, connections, and subscribers totals over 20,000. That may be more than you have or less. But this number pales when compared to popular people whose numbers are in the millions.

However, my 20,000 is misleading. Though I don’t need to say it, I will. I don’t know each one of those 20,000 people. It might be 500 of them whose names I recognize. And the number grows smaller for those who I know something about.

Though more telling, however, is the number of people who I’ve had two-way interactions with online in the past week. And even more convicting is the number of people who I’ve had in-person interaction with in the last seven days.

Despite how the internet connects us instantly with anyone around the world, the number of meaningful interactions I’ve had with people (either online or in person) in the past week is quite small.

It might be twenty or so, which is 0.1 percent of my so-called followers and friends.

We need to reclaim what it means to be a follower and a friend.

Be a True Follower

To understand what it really means to be a follower, let’s go back to the Bible. Jesus encouraged people to follow him. He said “follow me” twenty-two times, with Matthew 4:29 being the first of many occasions.

We need to be a follower of Jesus. And Paul—as audacious as it seems—encourages people to follow him, as he follows Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1).

Today, we can follow someone with a click of a button and immediately forget that we did it.

However, in the New Testament, to be a follower of Jesus was a serious commitment. For Jews who follow Jesus it meant being kicked out of the synagogues and rejected by their subculture.

For non-Jews—that would be Gentiles—it meant embracing a lifestyle foreign to everyone you knew. At best they would ignore you or not do business with you.

At worse, it meant rejection and isolation. And throughout the centuries, following Jesus has often resulted in death.

Being a follower of Jesus is a costly commitment; we shouldn’t pursue it without careful consideration. This is much unlike today’s easy-click following of someone on social media. I’m not saying we shouldn’t follow people online.

I am saying that when we follow Jesus we must take it very seriously, because it is. Following Jesus is a lifelong commitment, with real life ramifications.

Be a True Friend

Just as it’s easy to have followers online, it’s easy to have friends there, too. But many people, for all their online friends, are lonely. This is sad. How can we have friends and still be lonely?

Proverbs talks about a friend who is closer than a brother, Proverbs 18:24. This starts to get to the true meaning of friendship.

And there’s Jesus. Jesus was accused of being a friend of sinners, Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:34. Though his detractors meant this as a slur, it’s really a sign of character.

A true friend isn’t someone that you exchange likes, shares, and comments with on Facebook. A true friend is someone you can call at any time, and they’ll be there for you, doing whatever they can to help.

This is a convicting consideration, and if you’re like me, your first thought is wondering how many of these true friends we have.

The better consideration, however, is wondering how many people would count us as this kind of true, call-you-anytime friend?

Don’t seek followers and friends online. Instead be a true follower of Jesus and a true friend to others.

This is what being a follower and a friend truly means.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

Bogged Down Reading the Bible?

10 Essential Bible Reading Tips, from Peter DeHaan

Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.”

​Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.