10-15-14 Serenaded by Silence


We had a new apartment that we stayed in temporarily.  The previous tenants had not moved out.  The people had, but there were some living beings squatting on the premises. They were totally delinquent in caring for the place or paying rent.  They wouldn’t move out as we moved in, they simply hid wherever they could.  I began a watch to evict as many as possible.  Since they were uncooperative, I had to resort to quick movements which inflicted serious, and sometimes fatal, injuries to these characters.

During the night one decided to be outright belligerent, or stupid - I was unable to interview him about his sudden musical outburst.  I listened to him for approximately 37 seconds and the words from this verse came to mind, I will set out “to destroy, to slay and cause to perish” all singing crickets. I then took a flashlight and began searching for him.  I would stop and listen and then shine the light in the direction of the sound.  He continued singing, even in the “spotlight.” I cornered him near the sliding glass door and fulfilled my promise.  He never sang again.  I much prefer to be serenaded by silence in the wee hours of the morning.  

God gave the Jews the power to protect themselves by moving the King’s heart to do so.  He could have let things go.  Esther and Mordecai wrote a solution and made it law according to the power and responsibility given to them by the King.

“Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey” Esther 8:11.

© copyright Kevin T Boekhoff


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