The sister of Paul

Apostle Paul’s return to Rome was quite eventful. He had listened to the advice of the brothers and sisters in the church and had undertaken the Jewish purification rites. Yet, when the purification was over and he went to the temple, he was confronted by some Jews from the province of Asia. These Jews accused Paul of teaching “everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place” and that Paul had “brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place” (Acts 21:28). Paul was arrested because of the commotion and presented before the Sanhedrin, which is the Jewish ruling power.

Paul’s defense wasn’t enough to set him free. Further, the following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome” (Acts 23:11). But, “the next morning some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. More than forty men were involved in this plot.” (Acts 23:12‭-‬13). These people took a solemn oath not to eat anything until they had killed Paul. These evil people went to the chief priests and the elders and told them their plans. They requested that the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring Paul before them on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case. These people were going to ambush and kill Paul before he got to the Sanhedrin (see Acts 23:14‭-‬15).

But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. (Acts 23:16)

This is where our silent heroine comes into the story. The sister of Paul seems to have done little in this incident but the truth is a solid foundation she had laid helped a young man to be bold and daring to confront the Roman soldiers. When the plot to kill Paul was heard by the son of Paul’s sister, he went into the barracks and told Paul (Acts 23:16). We need to understand the dynamics of the Roman soldiers. These were hard fisted and ruthless people who had no regard for the Jews. In fact, they had very strict punishments tailored to shut the people and to suppress them from undertaking any riot or unlawful trespassing of places regarded as Roman soldiers territory. Thus, for a young Jewish man to have the confidence to go to the barracks, he needs to be bold. Paul’s sister might have instilled in the young man godly principles that made him bold and confident. He knew the plot to kill Paul was evil and he didn’t wait to see it happen, he took an initiative to end this plot.

One of the lessons parents need to learn is the fact that we must be intentional to teach our children to stand for the truth. In the 21st century, the concept of truth has been misconstrued and brainwashed to meet certain unjustifiable standards. However, the truth is the truth! If we make allowances for what we believe is the truth at the expense of ignoring the reality, we fashion our children to succumb to personalized definitions of truth as compared to THE TRUTH. Paul’s sister might not have had the opportunity to attain higher academic laurels like her brother Paul. However, she never missed the basic meaning of truth. By instilling in her son the virtues for life, the young man was prepared to stand up for what is right even though it could have come with consequences. Unfortunately, in the 21st century, many parents and guardians have left the training of their children in the hands of educational institutions. Courtesy for boys and girls is almost archaic in the West. There have been instances where young people have lied to put innocent people in prisons.

Paul’s sister didn’t have to go to the barracks to make a case because her son was up for the task. Proverbs 22:6 states that, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” If we fail to start the children off on the way they should go, we might end up doing remedials all our lives. Paul’s sister’s son was taken seriously and as a result a detachment of two hundred soldiers accompanied Paul as he was transferred to Caesarea (see Acts 23 :16-24). Paul wasn’t killed by these Jews and he later went on to travel to Rome and testified about the Lord Jesus as the Lord had revealed to him.

Queen Esther helps to save the king

Imagine reading The “Persian Herald” Newspaper a day after king Xerxes set the royal crown on the head of Esther! If such a newspaper had existed, the headline would probably be “A Beauty Queen from Susa has finally won the heart of the king” or “Persia’s newest Queen is a Beautiful Young woman from Susa.” On the side, the local newspapers would have catchy headlines such as, “Rude Vashti finally gets a replacement”, “A new STAR (Esther) has risen”, “Our king has a new Beauty Queen”, “The Palace has a Star!” among many others. Thankfully,  there were no printing presses and media stations to peddle these interesting headlines. King Xerxes, the real party man, gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials and he proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality (Esther 2:18). The joy among the Jewish people who knew Esther’s family background would have been massive. However, the new Queen had a big secret. Her family background and nationality was unknown to the king and the other members of the ruling team. Esther was told by Mordecai to keep her background and nationality a secret. Even as queen, Esther continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up (Esther 2:20).

But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. (Esther 2:22)

One day, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate when Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes (Esther 2:21). Mordecai found out about this evil plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai (Esther 2:22). The king’s life was in danger. Bigthana and Teresh were guards and could have easily assassinated the king if Mordecai had not found out. When Esther was told, she didn’t sit on the case. She quickly reported this to the king. The king did not sit on the case either. He quickly issued an investigation into the report and it was found to be true. Bigthana and Teresh were impaled on poles for that. This incident was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king (Esther 2:23). If Mordecai had not found out the plot, the case would have been different. All the people in the story contributed to averting the crime against the king. 

Although Mordecai was not honoured for this heroic act immediately, he was still honoured at the right time. What made his honouring unique was the fact that he was paraded through the town by the very man who wanted nothing else than the death of Mordecai (see Esther 5:13-14). Saving the king wasn’t the only big thing Esther did. In fact, Esther was destined to save a whole people group in the Persian kingdom. But, the king might have delighted in the fact that his new Queen had saved him from assassins. If Mordecai had no Esther in the Palace, it would have been difficult to get quick access to the king. Maybe the assassins would have tried to stop the king from investigating the issue. However, Esther trusted Mordecai enough to know that the report was urgent. 

The story of Esther and Mordecai’s help in saving the king is a reminder that we should know that within our bigger task or call in life, are minor tasks that must be done for us to be able to get to the big goal. If the death threat on the king had not been aborted, who knows what would have happened and the impact that would have had on everyone.  Be always on the lookout for ways you can help improve your family, church, community, work and the people around you. Be your neighbour’s keeper. Be on guard and don’t take the lives of others for granted. Don’t be quick to say that “it is their problem not mine” but rather say, “how best can I help you get out of this problem.” Sometimes our blessings are tied to particular people and as long as they have issues, we would be in queue for our breakthrough. However, when they overcome their own challenges, then they can attend to the needs of others.