The Worst Workmen

For the past goodness knows how long, I have had workmen attacking the road outside my house and I'm convinced they are some of the worst workmen in the history of workmen. Not that I have extensive knowledge of workmen or their history but to be honest these workmen as so bad that I fell my claim is justified.

I will start at the most logical point: the beginning. Around a week before the Easter holidays began, a row of cones and some traffic lights appeared outside the row of houses where I live. Literally just a row of cones, no workmen, no holes in the road, nothing. This row of cones was made even worse by the fact that these cones remained there for another day or so without any signs of work starting. Well, unless you count a couple of workmen using the coned off area as a car park whilst standing around talking because I don't.

Eventually, the work started. Well, when I say work, the progress didn't improve much. Almost every time I looked out the window or went past the roadworks on my way to and from the house, there was no work going on. In the first few weeks of roadworks, it seemed like hardly anything got done and if they were not on a break then the moon was probably blue. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but it certainly felt like it.

You may be aware that I've been using the past tense quite a bit. Well, they have improved a bit since they started. Possibly because the people have changed, possibly because they're not going to meet their deadline (what other reason would they be working on a Saturday?!) However, they did get worse before they got better...

How did they get worse?! I hear you cry. Well, I'd say getting a dump truck stuck in the ditch is a pretty good definition of worse. I have absolutely no idea how they managed it as there is quite a bit of path and verge between the ditch and the roadworks however, for a good couple of days, the view from my sister's bedroom window included said dump truck sitting head first in a ditch.

My mum also reports of other atrocities: blocking a rather major road with a big lorry so there are rows of traffic winding back down the road, drivers beeping horns in frustration; workmen deciding that the best way to removed the dump truck from the ditch is to dig under the wheel; and malfunctioning lights. The latest development being that there are a couple of girls who always seem to be sitting next to the traffic lights, their purpose not fully know. It could be that they're controlling the lights however as the lights function perfectly well at night, I'm not quite sure how this could be the case.

To be honest, most of this doesn't really bother me, the thing that really bothers me is that it is basically impossible to reverse into our drive. First, you have to avoid the cones in the middle of the road which is doable but the biggest problem is trying to avoid the cars behind you. So often the cars decided that pulling up behind you as close as possible, despite the fact that you are clearly indicating to reverse in and there is no other way for them to get past apart from waiting for me to move. The number of times I've almost hit the car behind because they're haven't left me enough room is frustrating.

Almost two months since they started, the road works have moved so our house is no longer in the middle of the roadworks. Instead, we're in the equally frustrating position of half way between the traffic lights and the "when red light shows wait here" sign. On the plus side, we can see which end has the green light. On the down side, people are so much more impatient and I've resorted to the "pull up on the verge outside our house and wait for a quite patch to awkwardly reverse in" approach. Not the most favorable approach but I guess it'll do for now.

I'm sorry this has been a bit of a moany post, hopefully revision procrastination will make a more interesting post next time!

DFTBA

Two truth's one lie:

1) I once continued to run around the playground whilst wetting myself in about year three, leaving a "lovely" wet trail behind me...
2) I slipped whilst playing 40 40 home once leading to a very slight chip in one of my teeth. So slight you can barely see it.
3) I once dressed up as Pippi Longstocking for world book day.

And the answer to last week? Number 1 is the lie. I went to a couple of maths challenges in primary school and one of them did involve running about to pick up and give in answers however I didn't trip over. Or cry at all during the day for that matter.

BEDA in one blog

Is it just me or did everyone lose the whole of April? Nope, didn't think I'd be able to use that as an excuse for not blogging so, erm... sorry. I could claim I was doing DBEDA (the opposite of Blog Every Day in April) however that's a bit ridiculous and in reality I was just very very busy.

It seems like so much has happened since the last time I blogged and every time I think about writing a blog some other bit of important news pops up or I do something else that's awesome. However, it seems that fast approaching exams have halted my social life for a bit and surely April and May have had their fill of big news events so I'm just going to try and sum up a month or so worth of happenings in one blog post. I can't just ignore some things so here we go...

Let me start with where I spent the first week of the Easter holidays: the middle of nowhere. More specifically Heatree House in Manaton near Exeter where I spent a week with some of my Christian friends on a camp learning more about God, discussing common topics from a Christian viewpoint, having a lot of fun in boats, ice-skating, running about after or away from leaders, going for long walks and just generally being there for each other and having a good time. I think this year was possibly my favourite year so far. Even if I did end up in A&E on the last night. The week was just amazing and it was great to be reminded how much joy knowing Jesus can bring. The joy of being loved, the joy of belonging, the joy of security, the joy of having a purpose, the joy of the reward and the joy of the future. The gospel gives us so many reasons to be joyful and, despite our tendency to worry, it's so comforting to know God is in control.

What's that? You're not going to let me just pass over the fact that I was in A&E? Don't worry, it wasn't anything too serious. I just got impaled on a coat peg. Well, that's the short, rather exaggerated version. It started with a game called 'assassins'*. We were each given a name, location and a sticker which we were to put on the shoulder of named person in said location and thereby obtaining their name and location. Being the master assassin I am, I managed to survive to the last six or so at which point locations were removed. It was a sticker crazy free for all and being a master assassin, I took up lodge in the kitchen to keep an eye on my target who had washing up duties plus the kitchen was a no kill zone. However, my assassin had other plans. He decided to pick me up and carry me out of the kitchen as one does. Of course, I was hardly going to go down without a fight so a combination of his competitiveness, my stubbornness and the coat pegs located on the wall of the adjacent drying room led to a rather large gash on my back. Of course, me being me, I refused to let them take me to A&E until after the evening talk but by 2am I was snuggled back in bed trying not to roll on the bit of my back which was taped together with many steri-strips and layers of dressing!

Of course, a week of Easter Camp hasn't been the only thing to happen since I last blogged. I spent a day at Knole Park with three very awesome friends (a lot of deer jokes were said throughout the day...) a fun day being a nerd with Josh, a Saturday helping at the church fun day at which I was wrapped up in toilet paper by the kids and made cotton wool sheep with them, and an awesome Saturday at the Doctor Who experience with some of my favourite nerds (oh my goodness it was fantastic!) before being amazed at the National Theatre's production of Frankenstein.

Let me expand on last Saturday: after an early morning (well, early for a Saturday) I headed over to the train station to meet my friends on the train to London which contained a lot of Who related debate (what else do you think will happen when you put eight whovians in the same space?!) and then, after meeting up with two other friends we headed over to The Doctor Who Experience. We were so excited you couldn't keep half of us on the floor so you can imagine our reaction when the guy on the door said with a dead pan face "I'm sorry, we're not allowing anyone else in until one o'clock." Thank goodness he was joking and we were soon inside the world of Doctor Who. We were surrounded by objects from the various series (even some classic who stuff too) and the walk through bit was amazing. Stepping through a crack in time and space, entering an amalgamation between the library and the starship and riding in the TARDIS (the floor moved and everything!) I genuinely got so into the experience I got scared by the stone angel statues we passed at one point (don't stand at the back!) and they had a short bit of "proper 3D" film when it felt like the daleks were shooting at me directly and stone angels had their hands seemingly mere centimetres away from my face. We spent way too long absorbing it all in and got way over exited to take a picture in front of the TARDIS (Tenth's interior as well as Eleventh's exterior.) It was an amazing morning. We also had a bit of a Kristina Horner** moment when we saw some of the cute kids that had come dressed as the Doctor!

Of course, for the afternoon we had to grow up from being 8 back up to being adults as we watched Frankenstein that afternoon. It was a stunning performance (if you ignore the amounts of flesh revealed at times) and I could quite happily return and just watch the set changes. The stage had a circular rotating platform that raised and lowered and set seemed to appear almost out of nowhere!

The past month has also been full of rather large events in the news. Starting with what has been rather overshadowed by more recent events: the death of Elizabeth Sladen. Despite being too old, I watched Sarah Jane Adventures as obsessively as the Doctor Who episodes and Sarah Jane was one of the best companions. It was such a shock to hear that she had died of cancer and I guess I'm just adding my bit to say she will be greatly missed in the world of Who.

Of course the event that consumed England towards the end of April (and a lot of the time before) was the royal wedding. Unlike my friend Beth who took it upon herself to knit the happy couple (although I believe she may not have finished in time!) I didn't really get into the wedding and didn't even really watch much of it. I know it was meant to be a big occasion however I regret to inform you that I wasn't feeling particularly patriotic and just watched some of the highlights on YouTube afterwards!

Nevertheless, the world soon forgot the happy royal couple anyway. America in particular have been celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden - a news story that has dominated the whole week and seemingly even overshadowed the referendum in England too.*** I can understand how people are happy that someone who has been such a large figure in the world of terrorism is no longer a threat or how this could be a turning point however it just doesn't seem right to celebrate anyone's death. Even if said person was behind the death of so many others, it feels like we're stooping to their lows if we celebrate their death. Furthermore, surely celebrations are likely to aggravate things? Has nobody learnt from the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand?****

I hope this blog has sufficiently caught you up with the goings on of Hannah and seen as exams are fast approaching, I'm sure there will be a number of procrastination or stress-filled blogs in the coming weeks however, for now, I shall love you and leave you my dear readers. DFTBA!

*We didn't say that to the triage nurse. Her story was along the lines of "I was mucking about with a friend" which was very loosely the case!

**Kristina Horner being a member of ALL CAPS known as italktosnakes online who always manages to find cute kids dressed up as nerdy characters at various conventions and other places and apparently has the desire to kidnap them occasionally in the least creepy way possible obviously.

***I voted for the first time today! It was sort of odd but where I live we only had two candidates for the local election so at least I didn't have too many candidates to worry about!

****I know it's not really the same but I can't help seeing some similarities.

As a thing, I'm going to end my posts with "two truths, one lie" for the foreseeable future. Try to guess which one is the lie and leave it in the comments and I'll tell you the answer in my next blog post!

1) Whilst attending a maths challenge when I was in junior school which involved collecting and handing in your answers at a table separate from your teams table, I tripped over my own feet in my eagerness to hand in an answer and landed on my face in front of everyone and then started crying to make matter even worse!

2) I once got bit by a donkey when I was much younger and for quite a while thought that two of the freckles on my arm were caused by said bite!

3) When I was in infants school, I was put in a flashcard group with older kids and I was so scared of asking to go to the toilet that I ended up wetting myself!

"Eee By By Gum"

Let's skip the whole "I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a while" thing and skip to the important stuff. Namely Doctor Who.


Now, anyone who has read my blogs and is at least vaguely observant will have noticed that I love Doctor Who. It has this wonderful way of brining together a story that uses intellect and amazingly clever plots without a huge shooting fest to defeat the monsters because those monsters are made up of fears much greater, deeper set in our instincts than a big monster with fangs that can be defeated with a couple of blows or bullets to the head. As one man said (well sung) it's "the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism." You have vashta nerada encompassing our fear of the dark, clockwork monsters hiding under our bed, stone angels making us even more afraid of those things that might be moving about behind our backs and episodes that make you realise just how terrible we can be as a human race.


Of course, all this means that I am terribly excited for the new series at Easter and I think the full length trailer is one of the best trailers I've seen. (Not that trailers are generally particularly memorable once you've seen the actual thing but my watching of it three times in a row must say something about it.) They've got an amazing balance between avoiding major spoilers and giving out just enough information to make us want more, to make us speculate on what the series will hold, what the characters will do, and makes us want to watch the series now! (I mean, do they really expect us to wait another... meh, do they expect us to wait at all?!)


One of the best bits of TV series is always the disscussions about it with your equally obsessed friends afterwards. Arguing with your friends whether they prefer 9,10 or 11, whether they like Martha or not, who is their favourite character, whether Love and Monsters should be allowed to call itself an episode, is the brown suit better than the blue suit, you name it, my friends and I have most likely discussed it. The thing is, there are only so many times you can agree to disagree about whether Stephen Moffat has created too many confusing time loops, only so many ways you can present your disdain of "Love and Monsters" and only so many times you can establish that you all undoubtedly love Doctor Who. This is why trailers are so awesome. They give you that extra fuel and excitement for the new series to start discussing the possible outcomes all over again. To give you new topics, new areas of agreement and disagreement and, of course, new reasons to fangirl over the series. (Or fanboy I guess.)


So, here's the trailer in it's full 60 seconds of glory. Inhale it, absorb it, close your eyes and listen to the audio only, turn off the audio and take in all the frames one by one, re-watch it so many times you have the trailer seeping out of every orifice in your body, and then look at the things that I'm picking out.





As convention dictates, let us start at the beginning....

A beard.... and chains. Has the Doctor been captured? What's happened to Amy and Rory? Is this something to do with River killing "the greatest man I ever knew"? How has the Doctor become so helpless? Although, my guess it's something some idiot human has caused, Torchwood style. See that soldier in the background? He looks pretty human....

Scary eyes... There is something so sinister about eyes that hold so much emotion in one glance. Is that hatred? Revenge? Helplessness? Is this a monster the Doctor will be fighting or is it not actually a monster? Is it a creature that the Doctor will help? Either way, scary eyes...

This.... thing.... keeps popping up throughout the trailer. Does this mean that it's important? It looks like it will either be really really scary - there's something of the witch-like creatures in "The Shakespeare Code" about them - or they could be an absolute disaster. There's something quite risky about creating a monster that looks like something made from Papier-mâché with some ginger hair added ontop. Oooh, that's a point... is the ginger something to do with Amy? Again, the eyes scare me. In some ways, hollow eyes are even scarier that the knowing look of intelligent eyes.

The over-used astronaut. Is s/he important or is this just the over-used figure that they think is OK to leak more because it's in the first episode. Is this River, like the first introduction in the library? Or is it another, just as important character that hasn't be revealed to even the most diligent of fans? Or maybe, it is the Doctor? So many possibilities, so much mystery.

I don't know what bugs me most about this: The fact that it has audio of River saying "The day he finds out who I am" playing over the top, feeding into that much too obvious idea that maybe they are (however unconventionally) married; or the fact that just at the end you see the Doctor's hand running up her arm in a way that sort of suggests affection, also feeding into this idea which I so hope isn't true. I really hope Moffat isn't double bluffing us.... Am I reading (or watching) too much into this??

Now, is this a crack that the TARDIS is flying out of? Are they extending the "cracks all across the universe" thing or is this something else entirely? It's certainly not the time vortex or is it? Is that the effect of the silence on the time vortex?


Also, just noticed that this clip, in the YouTube version, is not filling up the whole wide-screen in the same way the other clips do. Is this editing or something deeper?

As we know from the previous trailer, "I wear a Stetson now, Stetsons are cool." Is this clip in here to just remind us of that quote or is this episode more than just a "wow, we filmed in America!" sort of episode? Also, what's with the big backpacks?

Are these more astronauts? Are these futuristic astronauts? They look pretty human. Are they anything to do with that astronaut that popped up earlier?

A spinning River Song. I'm not quite sure what she's doing (besides spinning with some sort of sonic-like device) but I get the feeling that I'm not going to like whatever it is. It feels too much like she's the one in control, the one solving things instead of the Doctor as is her tendency.

When I saw this I almost simultaneously thought 'Waters of Mars' and 'Vampires of Venice'. Is this the monster to go with those scary eyes earlier? In the full shot it looks like there are lots of them (well, at least 3) and they look scary..

I'm not sure if this guy will be important but I get the feeling that he could be some important historical figure in a boat. Is it Ferdinand Magellan? The guy who would have been remembered as the first guy to sail around the world if he hadn't died part way round (some of his crew made it). Is the Doctor the reason he died? Maybe he is in fact totally insignificant...

Those funny... things pop up again!!!

A scared boy just after a bright blue light... Is this surprise at the Doctor turning up in his bedroom or is it something much deeper and darker than that?




And then below, the darkest bit of the whole trailer, pretty much slap bang in the middle. Is this the voice of  'the silence'? Does 'the silence' even have a voice? Is it some form of the Daleks? (Talking of which, don't actually feature in this trailer. I really hope they've given them a break this series but then again, they can't break a habit.) What is this sinister, deep voice? And is this a darker side of the 11th Doctor that we haven't seen much of yet?

Scary scary puppet head. It's those eyes again. Is it something controlled from outside or something more like the clockwork men in "The girl in the fireplace"?


(Also, a second or so after this, that funny ginger, Papier-mâché creatures pop up again. Top left hand corner.)

Is this a regeneration? Is this something happening to the Doctor or something that has got inside the TARDIS? It has the glow of a regeneration but it's not the right form plus would they reveal something like that in the trailer? Also, if Matt Smith were going, wouldn't we have heard something about it in the press by now? Also, note Rory and Amy in the bottom right corner. Are they the cause or innocent bystanders?

Now don't tell me that you don't think that clown is scary. Ever since possibly the scariest Sarah Jane episode which contained clowns, I haven't looked at clowns in quite the same way and to add a red balloon not dissimilar to the one held by 'sister of mine' from the family of blood is just not doing anything for my nerves. The episode better live up to my expectations of fear!

This reminds me of the gelf. Ghost-like and it looks like she's in a ship. Is this another poor creature trapped and troubled by the cracks and silence like the gelf were affected by the time war or something else?

I'm slightly worried about this creature. Is this going to be another "love and monsters" style monster or is it actually going to be some epic episode with a Minotaur-like creature, running the halls of some hotel... Ok, that also sounds a bit cheesy... I guess with this one we'll just have to wait and see. (And hope...)

 Is this Amy with a gun? The way it's cut suggests she shoots the Doctor but surely that can't be right? Also, has she learnt nothing from the Doctor's "no weapons" policy? What is so serious that it warrants a gun and I so hope it's not the Doctor or Rory she is shooting. (Unless it's their clone that has gone haywire or something... I hope not.)

And then, before we've even had enough time to absorb all that's happened in the last 50 seconds or so, the end-screen pops up, brandishing the oh so frustrating two words that are "coming soon". We're left with questions, confusion, bewilderment, hope, longing, and so many other words describing strong feelings.


Who are these ginger haired creatures? Who really is River? What happens to the Doctor? Who or what is the silence? And least importantly, does Amy wear anything else apart from that red checked shirt?


DFTBA 

"Yours forever, less than three"

I have these friends. You may know them, but most likely you don't. They're called Terrie and Sam. Terrie is "the loud one who gesticulates a lot" and also gets mentioned on here quite a bit and Sam is "the awkward one who stares a lot" and also is the cause of the 'nom' debate. Now, why am telling you about these two? It's not like they've found the question for the answer 42* or solved world peace** or found out that the cake is in fact not a lie***. They're just two Nerdfighters made of awesome.

Well, these two specimens of Nerdfightaria have made a YouTube video. Technically they've filmed a whole ton of stuff but I edited it all together for them to give you 4mins and 44secs of Terrie-and-Sam-ness.

So now I introduce to you: "lessthanthreenerds"



So the beginning of the beginning has begun. Hopefully more videos will come sooner rather than later and I have a good lot of footage to make a blooper reel! So I hope you enjoy it and I'm sure they'll appreciate any constructive criticism.

DFTBA

The Alex Pettyfer 'nom' debate

Alex Pettyfer: the young actor who first appeared as Alex Rider in the film adaptation of Stormbreaker. Back then, I was obsessed with Anthony Horowitz's series of books and dragged my Dad to come see the film. Since then, Alex Pettyfer has returned in "I am Number Four" (or I am four and I keep missaying) and that brought him up in a common room discussion over whether he is 'nom' or not.

So, what is 'nom'. To be honest, the definition of 'nom' is a bit hazy but in the words of my friend Sam, 'nom' is "phwar. Nom is, erm, I don't know, how does one define nom? Nom is 'I would...' *winky face* Nom is like nom. That is what nom is." So, hopefully that clears things up.

According to Sam, Alex Pettyfer is 'nom'. Very 'nom'. And while I and a few others may not disagree with Sam, our oppinion is not quite so set in stone. However, my friend Maryam dared to go against Sam leading to a long debate over whether Alex Pettyfer really is 'nom' or not. A debate that involved his initial role in Stormbreaker (Sam: obsessed with the film, Maryam: thought the film was a bit rubbish), his role is Wild Child (Maryam doesn't seem to understand the attraction of the male English accent against an American accent) and of course his role in 'I am number four'.

Now, while Alex Pettyfer isn't unattractive. (He wouldn't be cast as the 'fit' male lead in these films otherwise) but I wouldn't neccisarily call him nom. Well, I might call some of the characters he plays 'nom' but not him. Let me qualify. In calling someone 'nom' I think (well, I at least think) that personailty plays at least a slight role and if you google 'Alex Pettyfer', around half the results involve some 'bad boy' thing he's done.

So, while Sam says when asked why Alex Pettyfer is 'nom': "How, how does one put it into words.... It's not one of those things you can say. Because, I mean, have you seen him?! That is my only comment." I'd say, I'm not sure 'nom' is the right word. 'Fit' maybe if your objectifying him but I'm not sure. And also, Alex Pettyfer as Peeta from the Hunger Games?* Please tell me this isn't true.

DFTBA

*I'll try remember to do a blog on The Hunger Games asap as the series is just awesome.

Esther 9-10

This is the very last in the studies of Esther I've been doing with the CU. Due to their short attention span and the length of these chapters, I've decided to stick to picking out particular verses (the highlighted ones) rather than getting them to read the whole thing out loud however feel free to read the whole passage yourself. =)

Esther 9-10

9 ¹ On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.

   ² The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those seeking their destruction. No-one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them.

    ³ And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king's administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them.

    ⁴ Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.

    ⁵ The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them.

    ⁶ In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.

    ⁷ They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

    ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

    ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha,

    ¹⁰ the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

    ¹¹ The number of those slain in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day.

    ¹² The king said to Queen Esther, The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.

    ¹³ If it pleases the king, Esther answered, give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day's edict tomorrow also, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on gallows.

    ¹⁴ So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.

    ¹⁵ The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

    ¹⁶ Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king's provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder.

    ¹⁷ This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.

 ¹⁸ The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.

    ¹⁹ That is why rural Jews— those living in villages— observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.

    ²⁰ Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far,

    ²¹ to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar

    ²² as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote to them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

    ²³ So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them.

    ²⁴ For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction.

    ²⁵ But when the plot came to the king's attention, he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back on to his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

    ²⁶ (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them,

    ²⁷ the Jews took it upon themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed.

    ²⁸ These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor should the memory of them die out among their descendants.

    ²⁹ So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim.

    ³⁰ And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes— words of goodwill and assurance—

    ³¹ to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation.

    ³² Esther's decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records.

10¹ King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores.

    ² And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai to which the king had raised him, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Media and Persia?

    ³ Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes, pre-eminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.

Esther 9-10

This is the last part of Esther and it would be easy to sum it up saying there was a big battle, lots of people died but at the end of the day, the Jews won. However, as you can see from the length of these chapters, the Jews’ victory was not overlooked as quickly as that.

If we beginning with the first 17 verses we see that we are not told if there were any Jewish fatalities. Instead, the most important thing is clearly that the Jews most definitely triumphed. Look at the second half of 9v2. How come others were so scared to stand up against them? How did they win so convincingly?

It was because God was undoubtedly on their side. Without Him, it would have been a completely different and most likely a very tragic story.

Now, if you only look quickly at chapter 9, it may look like the Jews had gone about killing as many people as possible however, if we look closer, we can see that the Jews only killed those who came to attack them. Look at verses 1 and 2. It was all in self-defence and there is no mention of women or children being put to death. The Jews obviously had compassion and only killed the men who were actually attacking them.

Look at verses 10 and 15: Despite being given permission in the order sent by Mordecai, no plunder was taken. That is, no possessions or goods were taken by force from those attacking them. This emphasises again that the killing was purely in self-defence, no other motive such as money.

Although the numbers of men killed seems like a large amount, we have to remember that it could have been a lot worse. Think about how many more would have been killed if the Jews had not been allowed to defend themselves at all or had gone ahead and killed anyone they pleased, not just those attacking them.

Of course, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. If we look at the last verses of Esther, we see a celebration! If we look at 10v3, we see that Mordecai was promoted and after the trouble was over, he wrote letters to all the Jews all over the province to recommend that they make remembering these events a yearly celebration. It may seem morbid of them to celebrate after so many lives were lost however they were celebrating their rescue from certain death.

It’s like us celebrating at Easter. It may seem odd that we celebrate the horrible crucifixion of Jesus however we’re celebrating what His death led to. Jesus dying on the cross meant that He took the punishment for sin that we deserve. His death means that instead of facing a certain death because of our sin, we can face eternity in heaven. If we trust in Jesus, we can celebrate being free from the certain death of sin, just as the Jews celebrated being free from the order of certain death.

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End note: For the last weeks before Easter I'm going to get them to come up with some questions for me to find answers too however, just in case they don't come up with any sensible ones, it would be nice to have a few suggestions. Thank you =)

DFTBA

Esther 8

Esther 8

 ¹ That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her.

    ² The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman's estate.

    ³ Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.

    ⁴ Then the king extended the gold sceptre to Esther and she arose and stood before him.

    ⁵ If it pleases the king, she said, and if he regards me with favour and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces.

    ⁶ For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?

    ⁷ King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows.

    ⁸ Now write another decree in the king's name on behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king's signet ring— for no document written in the king's name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.

    ⁹ At once the royal secretaries were summoned— on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai's orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language.

    ¹⁰ Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king's signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.

    ¹¹ The king's edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies.

    ¹² The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

    ¹³ A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

    ¹⁴ The couriers, riding the royal horses, raced out, spurred on by the king's command. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.

    ¹⁵ Mordecai left the king's presence wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.

    ¹⁶ For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy, gladness and honour.

    ¹⁷ In every province and in every city, wherever the edict of the king went, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them.

Esther 8

So last week we saw the fall of Haman. Esther revealed who she was, Haman was revealed for who he was and everything seems to be working out. However, before they can sit back and relax, there is still the matter of the order to destroy the Jews.

(Read verses 1-6)

So, Haman had been overthrown and Mordecai was honoured in his place. However, we see that even before she is welcomed by the king, Esther starts to plead with him to save her people. She didn’t wait for the king to notice her and went against the normal protocol, weeping at the king’s feet showing just how important her request was. Haman may have been removed by the most important issue still remained: the problem of the order to annihilate the Jews.

(Read verses 7-8)

It seems silly that the first order wasn’t just torn up however to revoke an order would be to admit that the king had been wrong in the first place. Pride meant they didn’t want to be showing weakness and so this rule that no order sealed with the king’s ring could be revoked had been put in place. So now another decree was to be written and king Xerxes gave this job over to Esther and Mordecai. He was washing his hands clean of the matter and didn’t want to admit he was wrong.

We can be like that sometimes, not wanting to admit it when we’re wrong. However, covering things up and denying that we’re wrong can often be worse. It is much better to admit you’ve done wrong and to apologise. It may be hard but it’s a sign of strength and apologising straight away could avoid making the whole situation a lot worse.

(Read verses 9-12)

They couldn’t revoke anything in the first law so how would they sort the problem out? Well, Mordecai, in a wisdom that could have only come from God, wrote an order which stated that on that day the Jews could destroy anyone who attacked them, plunder the property of their enemies and protect and assemble themselves beforehand.

This is clever as, although they couldn’t initiate attack, they could defend themselves and prepare for attack. It would make people think twice before they attacked the Jews and also they would have had God with them every step of the way.

(Read verses 13-17)

The new order was sent throughout the whole land, to every province and in every language in the empire so that every single person would know what the order contained. As we see in verse 16, the order went down very well with the Jews and even non-Jews came to realise that it was not a good idea to go against the God of the Jews.

Just like the Jews, we are all facing certain death with no way we can save ourselves from the situation. There is no way we can save ourselves from the judgement our sin has brought upon us. However, Jesus has provided a way out for us. He died on the cross, taking the punishment we deserve so that we might be rescued and be given the opportunity of an eternal life with him. Our death order can be lifted if we just trust in Jesus.

(DFTBA)