Over on Coat of Many Colors, in honor of Purim (the evening of March 4th, this year), I have finished up my look at the Book of Esther with “Esther’s Victory“. Esther and the Jews were able to turn the attempted genocide into a rout, but Esther’s next choices leaves something for us to ponder. Did she unnecessarily prolong the violence? Or just do the minimum to protect her people. Head over to Coat of Many Colors to check it out!

Over on Coat of Many Colors, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to write about– not because the bible has a lot of “spooky” stories, it really does not, but because the ones it has are so deeply ingrained that you stop seeing them. This year, I looked at one of the bible’s true “ghost stories”: King Saul and the ghost of the Prophet Samuel. There is also a witch thrown in there for good measure.

Over on Coat of Many Colors, I have just posted Part 3 of my incredibly delayed look at the Jewish holiday of Purim: the End of Haman. (You might also be interested in parts one or two.) It is as close at the Bible gets to commenting on government bureaucracy gone crazy as the King of Persia is unable to countermand his own order to kill all the Jews and instead must order the Jewish citizens to fight back. A great story, no matter what time of year it is.