X is for XERXES

[This is the MILLERWRITES contribution to the 2012 Blogging A to Z April Challenge  Here is my INTRODUCTION to this particular series, and an opportunity for you to influence which alphabetically aligned weird words I will comment on this month.  THANK YOU for stopping by!]



If you read V is for VASHTI, then you have already heard of VASHTI'S husband, King XERXES of Persia.  A brief summary of the time and place:  God warned Israel that if they continued to ignore His ways, He would have to discipline the nation by sending them into captivity.  Sure enough, Babylon occupied Jerusalem and took all the people back home.  This is where the story of Daniel comes in.  He was a young man who showed so much promise that he was trained to be an adviser in King Nebuchadnezzar's court, along with three other guys who would spend some time in the fiery furnace later on, when they refused to worship a 90' statue of the King.

Daniel survived Nebu's reign, interpreting important dreams for the King, as their meanings were revealed to Daniel by God.  Daniel was still there when Neb's Grandson was king, and when he abused the articles confiscated  from Jerusalem's temple, King Belshazzar saw the famed "writing on the wall" which Daniel then interpreted for him.  He was slain "that very night" when the Medes and Persians broke into the castle and took over the Kingdom.

Now Daniel served King Darius the Mede, but Darius was tricked by jealous advisers and forced to throw Daniel into "the lion's den".  God rescued him and the lions got the bad guys.  Xerxes succeeded Darius after he died of natural causes while away to fight Egypt.  It seems Daniel never met Xerxes, but Esther, the Jewish orphan under the care of Mordecai in the capital city of Susa, became the chosen queen of King Xerxes.

I love how the Bible stories we have all heard about fit into the ancient history of these kingdoms.  There is no natural inherent reason to doubt the accuracy or credibility of the stories, unless one comes to them with the predetermined position that nothing miraculous is possible (Of course those people must not believe in the miracle of life forming out of nothing, and then 'evolving' upward against every known law such as bio-genesis and thermodynamics).

No historical or geographical reference in the Bible has ever been found to be inaccurate or false.  Every time archaeologists have claimed that the Bible talks about some civilization that never existed, new discoveries have revealed that it was the academics that were wrong.  History has informed us amazingly about many names and dates and places regarding the ancient world, but the Old Testament has filled in some of the fascinating details about some major people and events that 'history' never heard of!










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