Esther 1-2

0:01 Calvary Church is dedicated to doctrine and we want you to experience the life change that comes from knowing God's word and applying it to your life. So we explain the Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. The book of Esther, chapter 1. You are going to need a Bible for any of this to make sense to you.

0:28 And we're going to go as far as we can in the time allotted to us. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we bring you our hearts. We bring you our struggles. Some of which we have already prayed for during our time of worship. whether we prayed about them silently or we brought them to one of our prayer warriors up front.

0:55 But Father, we pray that you will speak by your spirit, you will speak to us through the pages of scripture, through the principles we find written in the book of Esther and in the Bible itself. we pray father that those who are despondent discouraged would be lifted up and encouraged those of us who need to be challenged or reproved, or even rebuked. We open our hearts to all of it, trusting, Father, that you love us and want to nurture us and want us to mature, and you want to, as the psalmist said, perfect that which concerns us.

1:50 So we give you this time. Thank you that you brought us together, Thank you, Lord, that we are able to study the scripture and apply it in Jesus' name. Amen. The book of Esther is an ancient book, obviously, Old Testament book, not familiar to lots of Christians.

2:18 You're the exceptions, I think. and though it's an ancient book it's at the same time a contemporary book because it takes place in the Persian Gulf. the very piece of geography that has been in the news of late, and that is the ancient area of Persia, modern-day Iran, or Iran.

2:48 And there are some similarities between ancient Persia in the book of Esther and modern-day Iran. In this book, we find an edict given to annihilate all of the Jews. In modern day Iran, the previous Ayatollah and the previous Ayatollah and the previous Ayatollah, all of them have called for the utter destruction of the nation of Israel.

3:31 Calling Israel the little Satan of the world and the United States the great Satan, both of which they say they would like to see wiped off the face of the earth. So though it's an ancient book, at the same time there are some contemporary overtones. which I find interesting because we're dealing with the Straits of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. And the setting of this book takes place 150 miles north of the Persian Gulf in one of the four capitals of the ancient Persian Empire. Now you remember how the Israelites got to this part of the world, the area of Persia. And by the way, there are, it is believed at this time, over one million Jews in that area of the world who have not gone back to their homeland, even though they have been allowed to go to their homeland by the Persians. because of their disobedience to God over and over and over again, God allowed them to go into Babylonian captivity for 70 years.

4:51 And so the city of Jerusalem and Judah was taken captive in 586 BC when the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and brought the people of Judah back to Babylon. we also know that Babylon fell and it's recorded in Daniel chapter 5 the night that it fell to another empire called the Medo-Persian Empire and we have read already about Cyrus and we have read about Darius I and their reign in the Persian Empire. And so the Jews that were in Babylon, before them the Jews that were taken to Assyria in the ten northern tribe captivity, 150 years prior to the Babylonian captivity, all of them now are located in this area of the Persian Empire.

5:53 Babylon was a world-governing kingdom, a world-governing empire. It bore rule over the known world. It was taken over, as I mentioned, by the Medes and the Persians. They become the second dominant empire, world-governing empire. It is about to be followed by a third empire that is threatening them even as this book opens, and that is the Greek empire. under Alexander the Great, who will eventually take over even the incredibly large in landmass Persian Empire. the night that the Persians took over Babylon, I mentioned, is recorded in Daniel chapter 5. When Daniel is brought in to the throne room of Belshazzar, because he sees this weird writing on the wall, a man's hand writing, many, many, tekel you farsin, doesn't know what it means.

7:02 Daniel's brought in and basically says, what this means is you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting, and your kingdom this night is handed over to the Medes and the Persians. And that night, from that point onward, the Persians bore rule not only over Babylon, but over, it was the largest of the ancient empires. The Persian Empire, in verse 1, I probably should just at least get into verse 1, just so you can see how it's set up, and so I'll do that. It came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, this was the Ahasuerus who reigned, notice this, from India to Ethiopia, over 127 provinces. the Persian Empire included all of modern day Iran all of Iraq the entire Levant area all the way down to Egypt all the way down to Ethiopia ancient Kush up into modern Turkey it included the Balkan states all the way over to Ukraine massive land mass here mentioned being represented by 127 provinces. Jews are living in Persia at this time. Now already they have been allowed to go back and rebuild. And under Zerubbabel, they have already gone back. But not many of them, 49,000 plus, just under 50,000 Jews returned back to their homeland. The rest stayed in that area. They raised their families there for 70 years. They become used to it. It's comfortable by now. Why take that long trip to go back to a city that's broken down and burned down

9:08 by fire, even if it is our natural homeland or our God-given homeland? Who wants the heartache? So very few have gone back. And as I said, the rest of them remain. That is the setting, those remaining for this book, the book of Esther. Now the book of Esther, and I know that a lot of you already know it, I kind of wish you didn't know it because it is an amazing story as it unfolds. It takes you by surprise. It's a great story of providence. I'm going to get back to that word in a minute. But the book of Esther reads like a cross between a fairy tale and a mystery novel.

9:56 A fairy tale in that you have a fair maiden, beautiful young girl by the name of Esther. You have a powerful monarch, a king on the throne, Ahasuerus. you have a villain by the name of Haman we'll get introduced to him later on you already know your cues you're already ready for that because you've we've been doing this together for a while now and then you have the resolve as a hero comes in really a heroine and a hero, Esther and her cousin Mordecai, and there is great resolve and great celebration. So it's a cross between a fairy tale and a mystery novel, and it unfolds beautifully. The name Esther means star.

10:58 You who speak Spanish are familiar with Estrella. It's the same word, the same name, star. Esther was her Persian name. She is the star of the book. Now I know some of you are going, wait a minute, she's not the star of the book. God is the star of the book. You're correct. God is the star of every book in the Bible.

11:24 But what's interesting about the book of Esther is that God is not mentioned at all in the book. Not even once. prayer is not mentioned in the book the Old Testament Mosaic law is not mentioned or alluded to or referenced in the book the book of Esther is never quoted in the New Testament and so God is the star of the book but he seems to be absent behind the scenes silent though God is not mentioned or seen in the book the hand of God is seen in the book very obviously and that brings us to that word providence again That's really what is the word that best sums up the book of Esther.

12:26 And I know we've only made it through one verse, but that's okay, right? Because we just go as long as we have and we pick it up next time. Let me give you four words that I think will help you understand how God works throughout history. And four words sum it up.

12:51 Appearance, maintenance, interference, and providence. Now let me explain. first of all appearance sometimes God just shows up in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth There are times throughout the Old Testament God appears in a theophany. It's the appearance of God but in human form. Some even say a Christophany, the appearance of Christ in a pre-incarnate human form. sometimes God shows up in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night but it's the presence of God appearance is one way that God has worked throughout history the second word is maintenance God keeps the universe that he created going Paul in the book of Colossians says in him that is in Christ all things consist he is before all things and by him all things consist or are held together he holds the universe together He maintains what he has created.

14:22 And so there are seasons. There are, there's like a steady program, predictable program of rotation of the earth and the moon and the sun. And that enables people like astronauts to go to the far side of the moon and back. because they know that there's a predictability in the universe that is being maintained by God. So appearance, maintenance. The third word is interference. Sometimes God will interpose himself miraculously in human affairs. Not always, not even often, but sometimes. So there is natural law in maintaining the universe that God has created, but sometimes God supersedes natural law by a miracle.

15:22 So dead people usually don't get back up. Once they're dead, we bury them. But every now and then, the dead get raised. There's a resurrection. That's a miracle. That's against natural law. Now, we don't quite understand it because we operate by natural law. God operates at higher principles. For him, it's not a big deal for him to supersede natural law. Just like we have gravity, but we can supersede gravity, we know, by thrust and aerodynamics. You can create an apparatus that defies gravity and lets you lift off the earth and transport you to another country. so God sometimes miraculously supersedes natural law resurrection, walking on water humans usually can't do that they sink humans don't displace water readily by standing on their feet they have to have flotation devices to do that but interference is another way God operates in the universe So appearance, maintenance, and interference.

16:36 The fourth is the most common way that God operates, and that's providence. And providence simply means God uses natural events that he has created in his world, the natural order of things, but he weaves the natural to affect the supernatural. That is, he uses normal natural events to the end that his supernatural will is accomplished. So God is moving supernaturally naturally.

17:13 The thing about providence, you don't see it while it's happening. After it happens, you look back and go, I see it. I see how those things happen at just the right moment, just the right time. and that's providence and the book of ester is chocked full of that lesson god is playing chess and winning in this book he's putting all the right pieces the right players in their right places at the right time to effect so that what is woven together in the fabric of his will is accomplished in time and space. So those four words, I think, beautifully sum up how God works, and we're going to see providence at work in this book. So rather than getting all hung up, and while God isn't mentioning this, bothered Martin Luther, by the way. Martin Luther did not like this book. Martin Luther didn't like a few of the books in the Bible. He didn't like the book of James. He didn't like the book of Revelation, and he said about the book of Esther, he wished it never would have been written. I'm glad it was written. I'm not as hung up on what isn't in the book of Esther. I'm focused on what is in the book of Esther, and his handprint is all over the book.

18:40 So though his name isn't mentioned, his hand is clearly seen in this book. Okay, Okay, chronologically, if you want to fit this in a biblical chronology, the book of Esther takes place. It's about a 12-year period of time that takes place. You could sandwich it right in between Ezra chapter 6 and Ezra chapter 7. There's Ezra chapter 6 where Zerubbabel brings about 50,000 Jews back to Jerusalem. Then we have what happens in Persia take place in the book of Esther. Then chapter 7, after Zerubbabel has come, Ezra comes to Jerusalem. And then later on, much later on, Nehemiah will come. But chronologically, it fits between Ezra chapter 6 and chapter 7.

19:37 What is the value then of the book of Esther besides the providence of God? One of the great lessons, I think, it's the value of the Christian in the workplace. I might be painting with a broad broom when I say that. But I meet a lot of people who are in the secular workplace. And after a while, they get very disillusioned with the place they are in in the secular workplace. Why would God want me here? I'm just answering phones all day, or I hate this job, and why would God have me here?

20:17 God never wastes a life, and he never wastes an opportunity, though you don't see what he's doing at the time. it is wrong to judge your entire life story by one chapter you need to wait to the end of the book to see what God has in mind and there's so many stories like that in scripture and this is one of them and we're going to see it come to a head over in chapter four when when Mordecai says to his cousin, who knows, but perhaps you haven't come to the throne and to the kingdom for such a time as this. If you're wondering why are you in this place, in the king's harem, maybe it's for this reason. So I see great value, especially for those of you who have jobs that you're not, or situations that you've kind of feel like you're trapped in.

21:19 God is writing another chapter. Wait till the end of the book to see what he's going to do. So, verse 1. Now it came to pass, in the days of Ahasuerus, this was the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces.

21:48 He's mentioned here as Ahasuerus. He is most famously known by his Greek name Xerxes. X-E-R-X-E-S. Xerxes. King Xerxes, a very famous king in ancient history, was the son of King Darius I, mentioned in Daniel chapter 5. Xerxes was his son. He was also the father of a king named Artaxerxes, who is the one that let Nehemiah go back and rebuild the city whose gates had been burnt with fire. So he's right in between Darius and Artaxerxes. This is King Xerxes or Ahasuerus. In those days, verse 2, when King Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan, the citadel or the palace. Okay. It's a little confusing, but you'll understand when I explain why. They didn't have air conditioning in those days, nor heating. So there weren't, there wasn't one palace in ancient Persia. There were four.

23:04 The reason there were four is how many seasons do we have? We have four seasons. So the winter palace was Shushan because that's a hotter area. It's a great place to be in the winter. It's not a great place to be in the summer. In the summer, you want to be in a higher elevation. So they moved their palace to Ekbatana. And there were altogether four, but this is the winter palace, Shushan, where all these events kind of group around. So in those days, Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which is in his winter palace, the citadel at Shushan, that in the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his officials and servants, the powers of Persia and media. So the media was there too. The nobles and the princes of the provinces being before him when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days.

24:14 How many days? 180 days in all. That's a long party. Six-month party. what you need to know is the book opens with a threat. It's not mentioned here, but there is a threat in the background. It's called the Greeks. Ahasuerus has already suffered three defeats. One, a major naval defeat at Solomus, followed by two other defeats. Very discouraging to him. He has gone back to the palace after losing the battle to the Greeks because it's the year like 483 BC and the new power, the new kid on the block is a guy named Philip. Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. And it will be his son who will take over the Persian Empire.

25:11 So Philip of Macedon is gaining strength over in the west. King Ahasuerus Xerxes has lost three successive battles to the Greeks. He has come back to the palace to regroup and to come up with a new war plan to attack the Greeks. His head is hanging low. He wants to convince all of the nobles in his kingdom of his power. And so he has this long, elaborate party. Think of it like when you see the Chinese and the North Koreans, when they have those processions where they bring their weapons through the streets and they have it lined with people who are applauding to the sound of music. It was a show of power and opulence because the king is trying to sell to his nobles his new war plan.

26:16 Since he's been defeated three times, he wants to go have a new war plan to defeat the Greeks, to go again against the Greeks, which he will do. He'll go against them, but he'll lose that one too. But I don't want to give that away. But I just did. So he's trying to sell them on the war plan because of this Greek threat. Now soon, the Greeks will take over the world. Very swiftly, incidentally. Alexander the Great speedily took over. And what they will do is, what Alexander will do is, he was such a belief in Greek cultures that he will put pockets of Greek culture throughout the world.

26:59 He will build roads. The Romans will expand on those roads. He will make everyone in the world that he conquers speak the Greek language. and he will divide the entire world into two groups, Greeks and barbarians. If you're not a Greek, you're a barbarian. Why is that important? Because, to me, I want to truncate what I'm about to say, because I really do want to cover more verses. But in Galatians chapter 4, verse 4, Paul makes a beautiful point. He said, but in the fullness of time, when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a virgin, born under the law. It was just the right time that Jesus came.

27:54 And I believe that the best time for him to come is when the language of the New Testament could be written in the most precise language known to humanity. At that time, it was Greek. And by the way, I believe it still is. When you look at Greek nuance, at Greek nouns, verbs, cases, and the precision at which the language allows only for certain meanings to be conveyed, and the fact that the New Testament came forth and was written in Greek and spread through a world that spoke the Greek language on roads developed by the Greeks and expanded on by the Romans and then fortified by the Romans under the Pax Romana, it's amazing. and that accounts on a natural level for the rapid spread of the gospel through the world.

28:50 So it's just the right time and all of that is being set up providentially by God. Starting all the way back here. so he has a party. It's a six-month party, 180 days in all.

29:12 And when these days were completed, the king made a feast lasting seven days. So this is a party after the party. This is the after party. The first party lasted six months. the second party was to thank his staff in town for putting on the party the party for them a king made a feast lasting seven days for all the people who were present in shushan the citadel from great to small in the court of the garden of the king's palace you want to see how opulent it was there were white and blue linen curtains fastened with cords of fine linen and purple and silver rods, marble pillars, and couches were of gold and silver on mosaic pavement, of alabaster turquoise, white and black marble. Alexander the Great did say that when he took over the Persian Empire, and he was 31 years old when he died, so a very young, aggressive leader, when he took over the Archimedes Empire, the Persian Empire, he noted how wealthy it was. He didn't realize.

30:25 and they served drinks, verse 7, in golden vessels, each vessel being different from the other, with royal wine in abundance according to the generosity of the king. So everybody got their own custom mug, not like a Starbucks mug or a company logo mug, a gold mug. in accordance with the law, verse 8, the drinking was not compulsory,

31:01 for so the king had ordered all the officers of his household that they should do according to each man's pleasure. So he brought the booze in. You know, it's not a BYOB party. It's, I'll bring all the wine, all the refreshments, and it's free. You can have as much or as little as you want. You don't have to drink at all, but you can drink as much as you want. according to each man's pleasure. Now here's where it starts to get interesting. Queen Vashti, that's his woman. Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus. So we have two different sets of parties going on. Why? Because that was ancient Persian protocol.

31:59 They never mixed women and men in men's drinking parties. It was considered indecent to have the wives of Persian nobility attend male drinking parties because usually the girls at those parties were there for their entertainment. So leave the wives to have their own little get-together. They're shindig. So that is what is going on according to protocol. They didn't mix. She's having a party for the gals. On the seventh day, verse 10, on the seventh day, when the heart of the king was plastered, merry with wine, he's got a buzz going on, He commanded mehuman, biztha, harbona, bigtha, abagtha, zethar, and carcass.

33:04 He was a deadly guy. seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing her royal crown, in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials, for she was beautiful to behold. The fellows that are mentioned here in this verse were eunuchs. They were castrated men so that they wouldn't have any ideas of having inappropriate relations with the royal women of the court. That was also the protocol of ancient Persia. Queen Vashti is interesting. According to Jewish sources, she was the granddaughter of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. so she grew up in a pampered lifestyle with all the best of the best and she probably was used to being pampered getting her way but she's married now to the king of Persia and she's beautiful and so he commands and she says you know bring my wife in here to parade her. She's my trophy wife and let's show her off. It is also believed, according to Jewish sources, that she was to come in wearing the crown. The crown was a turban, a cloth turban that went to a point, sort of like a cone head, and that she was to wear the crown and only the crown before the men.

34:47 that she would be paraded before this drunken party of males, completely nude, only wearing a crown. Verse 12. But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command, brought by his eunuchs. So, official court business. Therefore the king was furious and his anger burned within him. Now you got to admire on one hand the courage of this woman to say no to a Persian monarch. You may remember if you've already read the story, I'm not giving it away, but when Mordecai says, look, Esther, you got to go into the king and stop this edict that is going to kill the Jews. And she said, look, it's been a long time since I've even been there. It's been a month. He hadn't called for me. If I go in and he doesn't raise the golden scepter, my head comes off. So she was afraid to go into the king and the king loved her. So you got to admire the courage of Queen Vashti to say no, especially this king who notoriously, according to history, was given to spats of anger. He was very temperamental, more mental because of his temper.

36:22 But let me give you an example. This is a historical example. So, King Ahasuerus brought his troops to build a bridge for a battle across a narrow strait of water called the Dardanelles or the Hellespont. It connects Asia Minor and Europe. And so he commanded his men to build it. They built it successfully. but a storm at sea came in and destroyed the bridge. So he went down to the water and started whipping the water like he's punishing the water, just beating the water and commanded the men who built the bridge, all of them to be killed, murdered. It's like, well, you know, you should have built it stronger. So he kills his labor force who built the bridge. So that's just the kind of person we're dealing with. Verse 13, then the king said to the wise men who understood the times, we're bringing in the lawyers here now, for this was the king's manner toward all who knew law and justice. He wanted to get buy-in and do things according to the law of the Medes and the Persians.

37:47 Those closest to him being Karshena, Sethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Merez, Marcena, and Memucan. That's going to be an important name. The seven princes of Persia and Media who had access to the king's presence and who ranked highest in the kingdom. And this is what he asks. What shall we do to Queen Vashti according to law? because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus, brought to her by the eunuchs. And Memucon answered before the king and the princes. Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the princes and all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. This is called spin. This is political spin. She's not only hurt you, she's hurt everybody in the empire.

38:55 for the queen's behavior will become known to all women so that they will despise their husbands in their eyes. Women's liberation, can't have that. So they will despise their husbands in their eyes when they report King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come. this very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media will say to all the king's officials that they have heard of the behavior of the queen and there will be excessive contempt and wrath. If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it will not be altered so that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.

40:03 Now you see here mentioned that the law of the Medes and the Persians, that's a very famous statement and a very famous adjudication of law in antiquity. The law of the Medes and the Persians was so permanent that a king who wrote a law in the presence of nobles could not even himself overturn that law. You remember with Daniel and King Darius, the father of this guy, that a law was to go out because these men got into the ear of the king and said, you should make a law that doesn't allow the people of this country to pray to any other god except for you. They have to pray to you for the next 30 days. And anybody who prays to any other god, capital punishment. So he says, good idea. He signs it into law and it was binding by the law of the Medes and the Persians. Well, Daniel had his windows open toward Jerusalem, facing Jerusalem, prayed three times a day. They saw him praying. That was a trap, as you remember, to get him killed. So they made this known to the king, and they said, now he has to go into the lion's den. You know, you're the one who wrote this law, and it broke the king's heart because he loved Daniel, didn't want to do that, but he couldn't undo it because it was the law of the Medes and the Persians. So it was a very, very binding adjudication.

41:35 so verse 20 when the king's decree he says when the king's decree which he will make is proclaimed throughout all his empire for it is great all wives will honor their husbands both great and small they'll get in line man has husbands ahead of the home this is Ralph Cramden territory Anybody remember the Honeymooners, Ralph Cramden?

42:08 Okay, I'm dating myself. I won't even bother to explain that. And the reply pleased the king and the princes, and the king did according to the word of Memucon. Then he sent letters to all the king's provinces, to each province in its own script, and to every people in their own language. You see, it's a vast empire. I told you the geographic area. There were 70 national groups in the ancient Persian empire. That's a lot of different languages, a lot of different dialects that has to be translated into. So in its own script, to every people in their own language, and here's the law, that each man should be master in his own house and speak in the language of his own people.

43:07 you might wonder if his empire is that vast. How do you get the word out? How do you get the word out to Egypt and the rest of the Levant, all the way up to the Balkans and Asia Minor, Turkey, etc., all the way to India, Kush, Ethiopia? How do you get the word out? There's no email. there's no internet, horseback.

43:43 There was a Greek historian and geographer, you may have heard his name, Herodotus. Herodotus visited the Persian Empire shortly after Ahasuerus, and he remarked on the Persian Pony Express, basically, how that one rider would ride in a direction all day long. It would be one rider per day. He would then give the instructions or the message to the next rider who would ride all day the next day in that direction. And so it was no matter what the weather, no matter what the light or dark, they would ride. And Herodotus was amazed at how quick word spread in the ancient Persian Empire. So just an FYI, no extra charge, just thought I'd throw that in.

44:42 Now between chapter 1 and 2, and we are able to get into chapter 2 by God's providence, there's a gap. There's a gap of about four years when another battle takes place. And that is one of the most famous battles in history called the Battle of Thermopylae. You may have heard of that battle. There's been a movie called The 300 about that battle and how you have this massive Persian army. And the Persians were far greater in number than the Greeks. The Greeks were a much smaller but much faster fighting force. They were like special forces, only the best of the best. and there was even a saying that one Greek soldier is worth 10 Persian soldiers and in this case the battle of Thermopylae you had 300 people who killed 20,000 Persians so that battle happened so you know you got Ahasuerus doing this battle plan after three successive defeats and he has a six-month party to butter up the nobles to fight against the Greeks again, and they do, and they lose again. A massive defeat. So he's coming back home after this, not celebrating, but again, very, very despondent. He's just thrown his wife out a few years before.

46:12 Now he comes back after that battle four years later, and he's missing his wife. and seems to be having second thoughts. But again, the law of the Medes and the Persians would prohibit anything from happening. So he comes home in humiliation. After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided and he was defeated, he remembered Vashti, what he had done and what had been decreed against her. Then the king's servants who attended him said, let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. Like, hey, I got an idea. Let's have a Miss Universe contest. This is the first beauty pageant in history. And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the Citadel into the women's quarters under the custody of Hegai, the king's eunuch, custodian of the women, and let the beauty preparations be given them. Let the young woman, let the young woman, singular, who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.

47:28 This thing pleased the king, and he did so. History does record that the harem of King the Persian monarch, King Ahasuerus, was 360 women. One for each night of the civil calendar of Persia. And by that harem, he birthed like 115 sons besides the sons that he had from the queen.

48:07 So this thing pleased the king and he did so. now in Shushan, the citadel, there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Yair, the son of Shemiah, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with Jeconiah, the king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away. And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther. Okay, let me just tell you, Hadassah is her Hebrew name. Hadassah means myrtle, like the myrtle tree, that fragrant smelling, beautiful flowering tree still used in processions by Jews for the Feast of Tabernacles. That's what her name means, Hadassah.

49:06 If you go to Jerusalem, there's a very famous hospital on Mount Scopus called Hadassah Hospital, named after her. Esther is her Persian name, and it is related to Ishtar, a goddess that is worshipped in Babylonia and in Persia. So that's her Persian name. Esther means star, but it's related to Ishtar, the goddess Ishtar. just like Mordecai is thought to be related to Marduk, one of the gods of Babylon slash Medo-Persia, that area. So those are their names given here. Mordecai, her older cousin, and Esther or Hadassah. And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, verse 7, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful.

50:08 When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. Now, I don't know if you can believe Flavius Josephus or not in this regard. Of course, he wasn't around. But according to Flavius Josephus, who writes about this incident later on, a Jewish historian hired by the Romans, he remarked that Esther was the most beautiful woman in the inhabitable world on the face of the earth.

50:44 We definitely know she was beautiful and she does strike the king that way. Now, she is going to be brought into the harem of the Persian monarch. You might ask, how would Mordecai allow that to happen? Well, first of all, he's in the Persian Empire. So, he didn't have much of a choice. Whatever the king wanted, the king got. Number one. Number two, the Jews living in Persia, who have grown comfortable in a pagan environment, who did not want to go back to their homeland, are in a compromised state, a backslidden state. They are under the rule of another, but they don't have a temple. They don't have what they would have in Jerusalem in terms of that solidarity.

51:42 So they're in a compromised, backslidden state. And Mordecai is no doubt, though he is definitely Jewish and used by God, perhaps even compromising on that. But again, whatever the king wants, the king gets. He's raising her. So it was when the king's command and decree were heard and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel under the custody of Haggai that Esther was also taken to the king's palace into the care of Haggai, the custodian of the women. Now the young woman pleased him and she obtained favor. So he readily gave beauty preparations to her besides her allowance. Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king's palace and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women.

52:42 Esther had not revealed her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it. He said, sweetheart, don't tell anybody that I'm your cousin. Don't tell anybody that you're Jewish.

53:05 Hide that fact from them. Now, why is that? Well, on one hand, the Persians were favorable to the Jewish. They let them go back a couple of different times. The Persians allowed the Jews to go back and rebuild the temple, rebuild the city. So they were on one hand favorable, but it seems, and it will come out, there is an underlying anti-Semitism in that culture still that is growing and will grow into full blossom in the next few chapters. So maybe an ancient relative of Tucker Carlson lived back then or Hamas or something that was, you know, spinning everything that the Jews are the problem people. That is an underlying sentiment going on in the Persian culture.

54:02 So Mordecai said, don't reveal that you're Jewish. And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women's quarters to learn Esther's welfare of what was happening to her. each young woman's turn came to go into king ahasuerus after she completed watch this watch this 12 months preparation according to the regulations for the women 12 months of beauty treatments so men if you get a little upset at your wives for taking a little bit too long getting ready, you're in the mirror. Oh, come on, you look good enough. 12 months. Give her a break. for thus were the days of their preparation verse 12 a portion six months with oil of myrrh six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women thus prepared each young woman went to the king and she was given whatever she desires to take with her from the women's quarters to the king's palace. So she could select whatever outfit she wanted, whatever purse she wanted, whatever earrings, necklace, any adornment she wanted.

55:31 In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women to the custody of Ashgaz, the king's eunuch, who kept the concubine. She would not go to the king again unless the king delighted in her and called for her by name. Now when the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Abihel, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter to go into the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai, the king's eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised, and Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her. She had natural beauty. She didn't want any special adornments, no special Gucci purse or anything. Just, I'm good, let's just go. No special adornments.

56:24 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal palace in the 10th month, which is the month of Tebeth in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the other women and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins. So he set up or he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. And the king made a great feast. It's called the Feast of Esther. For all his officials and servants and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king, probably meaning he alleviated some of their tax burdens or didn't compel military service for a period of time, the things that kings can do.

57:20 When virgins were gathered together a second time, Mordecai sat within the king's gate. Now Esther had not yet revealed her kindred that she was Jewish and her people, just as Mordecai had charged her. For Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as when she was brought up by him. In those days when Mordecai sat within the king's gate, now the intrigue comes in. This is part of the providence of God. It just so happened as he's by the king's gate that two of the king's eunuchs by the name of Big Than, he was a real big guy, and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. So it was an assassination plot. So the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name. And when an inquiry was made into the matter, it was confirmed and both were hanged on a gallows. And it was written in the book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.

58:43 he found the plot, he uncovered it, he spared the king's life. Even though the queen mentioned the name of Mordecai to the king, the king will completely forget about it and not reward this man at all, Mordecai at all, yet. But that reward will come later. God is putting all of the right puzzle pieces in all of the right places because he knows what is about to happen with a guy by the name of Haman. Go ahead. Yeah, boo. And so he is setting things up in advance. And, oh, I have so much to say about the providence of God with Mordecai, but our time is up.

59:46 So we'll, boo, just like Haman, boo, pastor skip, boo. So we'll have to wait till next time to take those threads and weave them from chapter two into chapter three going forward. Father, thank you. How you take the events of our lives and we see only a little portion of what you're doing. And we fail to see the big picture. but you see it all and you weave natural events to affect a supernatural outcome. All we know is the promise given to us that all things work together for good to those who love you and are called according to your purpose. In that we rest that you by your good hand and by your providential care are working in our lives, through our lives. And we can't see it now, but five years, 10 years, maybe many years past our lifetime, the purpose will be made known. So we rest in your wisdom. We rest in your work, your hand. In Jesus' name and God's people said, amen.