44. The Brave Queen Esther

When a man called Xerxes was the king of Persia and Babylon, he wanted a new queen. He told all the most beautiful women in his kingdom to come to his palace.

Esther was one of God’s people, and she was very beautiful. When Xerxes saw her, he liked her the most. So Esther became his queen.

Esther’s uncle Mordecai found out about Haman’s plan. He asked Esther to go and speak to the king about it. This was very dangerous because the queen was not allowed to go and speak to the king unless he invited her to.

“But you have the chance to rescue God’s people,” Mordecai told Esther. “You might have become queen for this exact reason.”

Esther was brave. She went to see the king… and he was pleased to see her. Esther told the king about Haman’s crafty, nasty plan. The king was angry with Haman. He got rid of Haman and gave his job to Mordecai. All God’s people celebrated. Because Queen Esther was brave, they were safe!

45. Back in the Land Again

Ezra; Nehemiah; Malachi 3:1

Cyrus was king of Persia and Babylon. He was the most powerful ruler in the world. Cyrus decided to let God’s people go home to the land God had given them. He told them that they could rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.

Zerubbabel was from the family of the kings of Judah. He went back with lots of the people. They rebuilt the temple.

Over many years, more and more of the people came back. Ezra made sure the people knew God’s unbreakable promises and how to obey him. Nehemiah helped the people build a wall around the city to keep the people safe.

But the people were sad that not all of God’s promises had come true. And they were not very good at obeying God. So God sent more messengers. One of them was Malachi.

“God says, ‘I am coming,’” Malachi told them. “God says, ‘I will send one last messenger, and then the one who will keep all my unbreakable promises will arrive.’”

So the people had to wait… and wait… and wait…