Esther

[Music] there is some debate as to whether the book of esther is historical or possibly written as a play or an allegory haman's 75-foot gallows the difficulty in establishing witch king and more notably which queen esther's story describes and the depiction of a few unlikely scenes such as a massive three-day civil war which is completely absent from persian sources move many scholars to suggest esther is a dramatized story that said i'm going to treat the story as it is presented because whether it's a dramatized history or a historicized drama the author was seeking to convey something really important about the grand narrative of heaven and earth haman is the depiction of evil esther and mordecai portray the best of god's own people queen vashti is the dignity of the surrounding nations and xerxes displays the dangers of worldliness and power we're going to see that god prepares esther for a pivotal role in saving the nations in esther 1-2 then we'll watch the development of haman's evil plot and hester's wise plan in esther three through seven and then we'll end up with the first joyful festival of puro monester 8-10 so let's begin with god preparing esther the book of esther belongs toward the end of the jewish captivity so sometime in the years between chapters six and seven of the book of azeroth if you ever read the book of every you'll see right where it lands there'd been a remnant of jewish people who had long since gone back and the temple had already been rebuilt when esther's story was written however most of israel's and judah's descendants whether rightly or wrongly chose not to return to their inheritance in the promised land and their lives have been successfully re-established throughout the persian empire esther's story opens with a young king cersei's this happened in the days of ajasaurus the same ahosaurus who ruled over 127 provinces from india to ethiopia in those days when king ahasares sat on his royal throne in the citadel of susa in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers the army of persia and media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were present now there are several men identified in scripture as xerxes or ahasaris not all the same man because this is a common title it's like tsar shah or pharaoh and it means the venerable father some biblical historians identify this emperor as the 20 year old cersei's who was beginning his six-month-long planning of an enormous military expedition against greece that his father darius had begun but died before he could finish the ancient historian herodotus told several stories that depicted cersei's ferocious anger here's just one part of his military strategy to conquer greece was to build a bridge over the hellespont a channel of water and it took enormous amounts of manpower and resources and when the bridge was finally complete a great tempest broke it up into smithereens xerxes was furious so he had the water scourged with 30 lashes then he threw a pair of fetters which are handcuffs into the helispont had branders brand the water with their irons and then he personally cursed the water finally he had all the bridge designers and builders beheaded then he said okay who would like to help me start over and build a new bridge of course everybody took a giant step backwards nevertheless herodotus described xerxes as not only impetuous and passionate but also the handsomest of all the kings so imagine that cersei's in the following scene on the seventh day when the king was merry with wine he commanded the seven eunuchs who attended him to bring queen vashti before the king wearing the royal crown in order to show the peoples and the officials her beauty for she was fair to behold but queen vashti refused to come at the king's command conveyed by the eunuchs at this the king was enraged and his anger burned within him was thankful to get away with her life nevertheless vashti was summarily deposed to make an example of her and to humble all the wives of the persian empire now according to these same biblical historians there was now a four-year pause during which xerxes campaigned against greece and suffered colossal defeat herodotus records that xerxes then retired from public life for a while and he had a renewed fascination in his harem and so esther continues after these things when the anger of king ahasuras had abated he remembered vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her then the king's servants who attended him said let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king soldiers searched every house jewish tradition holds that mordecai actually tried to hide his orphaned cousin hadassah as she had been named from birth was a typical jewish girl except for her exceptional beauty especially as an orphan imagine what her young hopes and dreams must have been to marry a wonderful jewish man to be made one flesh and one in spirit as the ancient scriptures described she must have dreamed about raising a family maybe a large family taking them to worship every sabbath teaching them about god teaching them in the scriptures think about hadassah's dreams the day the soldiers took her from her home she became esther a persian name that means star think of the countless stars in the night sky at the very least she would lose her virginity unwillingly and become a concubine one little star among so many sentenced to life hidden away in cersei's harem at best she would become the head wife to an idolater her children all raised by other idolaters mordecai warned her not to reveal her faith or her people and that was evidence of the great prejudice against the jewish people esther's dreams hadassah's dreams were crushed forever esther was a picture of her people beautiful faithful submissive of good character having been planted in a foreign land they continued to worship and have faith in god remembering god's lasting covenant with them as god's people but quietly because they also lived in a land hostile to god esther was admired by all who saw her the king loved esther more than all the other women of all the virgins she won his favor and devotion so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of vashti true beauty is found in a humble spirit hadassah who had become esther chose to trust god and obey god even when god took away all her dreams she could have been bitter and resentful but she chose not to be she was so pleasant and sweet and humble she charmed everyone who knew her when she arrived at the palace she was modest and teachable she did not ask for many of the things that the others had insisted upon and in the same way that esther did not mention her faith so god is not mentioned in her story but god's hand was still at work even though unseen because not only did cersei's choose esther but when the virgins were being gathered together mordecai was sitting at the king's gate now this is possibly a reference to mordecai having become a judge because of mordecai's access and position in the palace he eventually overheard two officials possibly vashti's supporters plotting xerxes assassination in retaliation for choosing a new queen the officials were hanged and the whole story recorded but now comes haman's plot and esther's very wise plan after these things king ahasares promoted haman son of hamadatha the agagite and advanced him and set his seat above all the officials who were with him and all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed down and did obeisance to haman for the king had so commanded concerning him but mordecai did not bow down or do obeisance haman embodied anti-semitism at its worst he had been recently elevated to prime minister and he felt it his due that every person was to bow down to him so just like daniel and shadrach meshach and abednego and faithfulness to god mordecai would not bow down to haman because persians believed kings and high officials were divine when haman saw that mordecai did not bow down or do obeisance to him haman was infuriated but he thought it beneath him to lay hands on mordecai alone so having been told who mordecai's people were haman plotted to destroy all the jews the people of mordecai through the whole kingdom of ahazaws now there is an interesting aside here mordecai was of the tribe of benjamin king saul's tribe and haman was a descendant of agag saul's opponent and a malachite the first people who attacked the jews in the exodus haman was the sworn enemy of god exalting himself and despising god's people and now we get to the heart of esther's story of how the lord is the triumphant savior of god's people in a land hostile to god because when saul tried to wipe out the amalekites he sinned in two ways he took the loot for himself and he refused to kill king ag now hang on to that at the end of the story we're going to see those two wrongs made right before god so haman told xerxes that a certain people mordecai's people were a threat to the king's authority he suggested that if xerxes would remove them and trust haman hayman would make him rich and he began by offering the equivalent of 10 million dollars the couriers went quickly by order of the king and the decree was issued in the citadel of souza the king and haman sat down to drink but the city of susa was thrown into confusion mordecai must have realized that his own actions involved the entire nation i wonder if he wondered whether god had meant him to go that far enormous consequences for taking a seemingly small stand for what's right i think we fear the same thing today we watch people being vilified in the news for trying to publicly live out faith taking stands on social and political issues how much we might think should i accommodate the culture i live in what will happen to me into my family when i take a stand how will what i do reflect on other christians or on christianity or on jesus so because of his palace access mordecai knew all about what had happened and he put on sackcloth and ashes in mourning and then he urged esther to approach the king esther's hesitation is understandable she knew cersei's he had not called her for over a month she would literally be risking her life and then mordecai replied with what the heart of this whole story contains do not think that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other jews for if you keep silence at such a time as this relief and deliverance will rise for the jews from another quarter but you and your family's family will perish who knows perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this mordecai must have known the scriptures because his faith was firmly settled in god the lord had made an everlasting covenant with god's people and even though they were now in exile god was still their god when god heard the groaning of the hebrews enslaved in egypt god remembered his covenant with abraham isaac and jacob throughout the ensuing centuries time and again the lord would remember god's covenant with god's people to bless and to protect also to discipline and to judge and now mordecai counted on god to rescue the people from otherwise sure destruction it was clear to mordecai how god had guided the events of their lives hadassah to become queen mordecai to judge in the king's gate to save the king's life now it was in the hands of the king to save the lives of their people and it was esther's privilege to play a part in god's deliverance it would come at great risk and it would cost her all the political capital she had but it underscores the truth that god's deliverance though sure involves taking risks of faith if esther had refused god would have saved the people in some other way only now esther would lose the blessing the same is true for you and me today god has shaped us for the opportunities god brings you and i are here now by god's appointment and so esther rose to god's call go gather all the jews to be found in susa and hold a fast on my behalf neither eat nor drink for three days night or day i and my maids will also fast as you do after that i will go to the king though it is against the law and if i perish i perish on the third day esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace opposite the king's hall the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the palace opposite the entrance to the palace and as soon as the king saw queen esther standing in the court she won his favor and he held out to her the golden scepter that was in his hand and then esther approached and touched the top of the scepter sensitive to god's timing esther the queen disarmed both the king and the prime minister and then she waited god worked through the night for haman became overconfident and built the gallows that would mean his own demise and king xerxes also had a sleepless night and so he had an attendant to read to him from his chronicles and he came to remember that he owed his very life to mordecai and what ensues is a fantastic series of coincidences all happening in a row haman just happened to be waiting in the hall at this very moment when the king needed good counsel think how dramatically the tables turned in one short night haman described all the things he would have loved in being publicly honored by the king and then haman was sent to publicly honor mordecai whose own faithfulness to god in refusing to bow down to haman is what prompted all of haman's evil deeds god was at work honoring mordecai for his faithfulness as the proverb had said god mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed and later a person's pride will bring humiliation but one who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor this truth was often taught to encourage the first century church listen to matthew for those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted luke also said he has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble and james wrote but the lord gives us more grace that's why scripture says god opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and the apostle peter all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another because god opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble god had now prepared the people and the setting that night the timing was perfect as the small party were reclining on couches enjoying the banquet cersei's especially was full of good food and good feelings towards esther so hadassah who was now esther the queen pled with her king to save her people cersei's hadn't even known who the people were that heyman had asked to exterminate but now he saw in horror it touched his beloved wife and now a new perfectly timed series of events all happened falling one after another so that cersei's who had left the room deeply troubled and greatly distressed returned to see the hapless haman falling on his queen could it get any worse yes a servant comes in and tattles on haman about his 75-foot gallows specially erected to hang the very person the king had just honored for saving his life well now we come to the great festival but first there would be a terrible battle instead of losing her life or at least ruining her marriage by divulging her secrets esther received all of haman's property and a promise from her king to help her people instead of being hanged on the gallows and being the reason for the annihilation of all the jewish people in persia mordecai was now raised to the highest position in the palace second only to the king the edict could not be undone but the king enabled the hebrew people within his realm to defend themselves as christians you and i see an even deeper more sinister plan than haman's plan exposed because the serpent of old ever watchful for an opportunity to destroy the seed of the woman had nearly triumphed in egypt through crushing enslavement of god's people and the death of every hebrew baby boy now through haman's scheme to wipe out the hebrew people that would have meant to wipe out the line of messiah even esther could not have known the scope of god's deliverance in this hour the eternal cosmic significance of her act of risky faith two important acts are recorded in chapter nine the first is found in verse 13 where all the sons of haman descendants of king agag were hung on the gallows the second is repeated in verses 10 15 and 16. the hebrew people made a point of not taking any plunder and so finally the ancient king saul's sins were put to right therefore the jews of the villages who live in the open towns hold the 14th day of the month of adar as a day of gladness and feasting a holiday purim stems from the word poor meaning dice which were thrown to decide which day to annihilate the jewish people now it had become a day to celebrate a day of showing generosity and deep concern for others of sending gifts to the poor it was a day of victory in god the lord is faithful to keep god's covenant with god's people even though the people had not returned to the land of promise they remained the people of god and god was with them and god was there to deliver them but even more so if you place this story against the backdrop of eden you and i can see the ancient serpent's enmity in the evil haman evil's enemy is portrayed in the good hadassah her dreams crushed yet willingly letting go of the life she had hoped for to live the real life as esther that god had given her and we also see evil's enemy portrayed in the good mordecai who had wisdom integrity and unshakeable faith the prophesied seed was carried in the people of god whom god rescued and the grand ark of salvation is carried through from the hebrew scriptures into the christian testament [Music] you

Channel: Grace and Peace Joanne

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Keywords: Jesus, Jesus Christ, Christ, Jesus Messiah, Messiah, Bible study, biblical teaching, Bible, Scripture, scriptural teaching, archaeology, archaeological, women, women of the Bible, biblical women, scriptural women, women in the Scriptures, women in Scripture, feminist, feminism, egalitarian, equalitarian, exegesis, exegetical teaching, expository teaching, Esther, book of Esther, for such a time as this, Haman, Xerxes, Vashti, Queen Vashti, Queen Esther, Hadassah, Mordecai, Ahaseurus, Esther 4:14

Id: YpFRAkI0pL0

Length: 21min 22sec (1282 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 06 2021