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Esther 4 - Perhaps You Were Created for Such a Time as This · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Howdy, faithful listeners. Welcome to the Bible Explained
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  Speaker 1: podcast on this lovely hump day. I'm thankful that all
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  Speaker 1: of you guys are here to share a delicious cup
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  Speaker 1: of coffee with me or a cup of tea for
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  Speaker 1: you crazy tea drinkers as we dive into the book
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  Speaker 1: of Esther and talk about what Esther and Mordecai do
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  Speaker 1: when they hear about this horrific news that the Jewish
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  Speaker 1: people are all going to die in 11 months. So
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  Speaker 1: this is a crazy story we're about to dive into.
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  Speaker 1: But before we do that, please listen to this first
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  Speaker 1: sponsored ad for today. I'll be reading as always from
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  Speaker 1: the World English Bible. But you guys can feel free
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  Speaker 1: to read out of your favorite version of scripture, whatever
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  Speaker 1: that may be. And also don't forget those delicious hot beverages,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's coffee or tea for you crazy tea drinkers.
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  Speaker 1: And let's read Esther 4, the entire chapter together. Now,
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  Speaker 1: when Mordecai found out all that was done, Mordecai tore
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  Speaker 1: his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes and went
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  Speaker 1: out into the middle of the city and wailed loudly
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  Speaker 1: and bitterly. He came even before the king's gate. for
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  Speaker 1: no one is allowed inside the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.
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  Speaker 1: In every province, wherever the king's commandment and his decree came,
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  Speaker 1: there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting and
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  Speaker 1: weeping and wailing, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
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  Speaker 1: Esther's maidens and her eunuchs came and told her this,
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  Speaker 1: and the queen was exceedingly grieved. She sent clothing to
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  Speaker 1: Mordecai to replace his sackcloth, but he didn't receive it.
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  Speaker 1: Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs
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  Speaker 1: whom he had appointed to attend to her. and commanded
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  Speaker 1: him to go to Mordecai to find out what this
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  Speaker 1: was and why it was. So Hathatch went to Mordecai
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  Speaker 1: to the city square, which was before the king's gate.
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  Speaker 1: Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him
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  Speaker 1: and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised
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  Speaker 1: to pay the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: He also gave him the copy of the writing of
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  Speaker 1: the decree that was given out in Susa to destroy them,
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  Speaker 1: to show it to Esther and to declare it to
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  Speaker 1: her and to urge her to go into the king
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  Speaker 1: to make supplication to him and to make request before
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  Speaker 1: him for her people. Hathatch came and told Esther the
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  Speaker 1: words of Mordecai. Then Esther spoke to Hathatch and gave
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  Speaker 1: him a message to Mordecai. All the king's servants and
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  Speaker 1: the people of the king's provinces know that whoever, whether
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  Speaker 1: man or woman, comes to the king into the inner
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  Speaker 1: court without being called, there is one law for him,
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  Speaker 1: that he be put to death, except those to whom
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  Speaker 1: the king might hold out the golden scepter, that he
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  Speaker 1: may live. I have not been called to come into
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  Speaker 1: the king these thirty days. They told Esther's words to Mordecai.
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  Speaker 1: Then Mordecai asked them to return this answer to Esther.
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  Speaker 1: Don't think to yourself that you will escape in the
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  Speaker 1: king's house any more than all the Jews. If you
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  Speaker 1: remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to
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  Speaker 1: the Jews from another place, but you and your father's
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  Speaker 1: house will perish. Who knows if you haven't come to
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  Speaker 1: the kingdom for such a time as this? Then Esther
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  Speaker 1: asked them to answer Mordecai, go away. Gather together all
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  Speaker 1: the Jews who are present in Susa and fast for me.
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  Speaker 1: And neither eat nor drink these three days, night or day.
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  Speaker 1: And I and my maidens will also fast this same way.
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  Speaker 1: Then I will go into the king, which is against
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  Speaker 1: the law. And if I perish, I perish. So Mordecai
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  Speaker 1: went his way and did according to all that Esther
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  Speaker 1: had commanded him. So the Jews are about to experience
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  Speaker 1: a genocide at the hands of this evil man named Haman.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason Haman hated the Jews so much was
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  Speaker 1: because he was an Agagite, also known as an Amalekite.
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  Speaker 1: And the Amalekites, since the time that the Jews left Egypt,
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  Speaker 1: absolutely hated the Jews and were on a rampage to
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  Speaker 1: kill them back in the wilderness times, thousands of years
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  Speaker 1: before this story takes place in the book of Esther.
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  Speaker 1: And Haman, being an Amalekite, decides that he is going
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  Speaker 1: to kill all of the Jews. You know why? Because Mordecai,
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  Speaker 1: being a Jewish man, had not bowed to him and
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  Speaker 1: paid him homage the way that other people did. And
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  Speaker 1: this infuriated Haman so much because he was a narcissist, clearly,
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  Speaker 1: and he was not satisfied only killing Mordecai. He was like,
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  Speaker 1: you know what? Mordecai is a Jew. I hate those
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  Speaker 1: Jewish people anyway, so I'm going to kill all of them.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason Haman was able to get away with
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  Speaker 1: this was because he was one of the king's best friends.
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  Speaker 1: He was the top prince of the king. He had
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  Speaker 1: a lot of political power. And the king clearly listened
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  Speaker 1: to him because Haman went with this sob story about
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  Speaker 1: how the Jews don't listen to any of the laws
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  Speaker 1: of the land and they don't listen to the Persian
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  Speaker 1: king and they just kind of do whatever they want
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  Speaker 1: to do. And the king believed Haman because he didn't
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  Speaker 1: look into it and he didn't care. You know, King
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  Speaker 1: Xerxes was not known as the you know, pinnacle of
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  Speaker 1: care and love and kindness. He was an evil Persian
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  Speaker 1: king who killed people without a thought. Clearly, he was
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  Speaker 1: totally fine with genocide as long as his best friend
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  Speaker 1: told him to do it. And on top of this,
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  Speaker 1: we see in the chapter we read today that the
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  Speaker 1: king would just kill anybody that disturbed his peace. That's
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  Speaker 1: the kind of king King Xerxes was. So now the
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  Speaker 1: Jews have 11 months until their demise. They are being
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  Speaker 1: targeted by the Persian government. They are being labeled as
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  Speaker 1: Jews and they are probably not able to escape in
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  Speaker 1: any way. They just have to sit back and wait
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  Speaker 1: for their demise. So the Jews, they put on sackcloth
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  Speaker 1: and ashes. And this was a common way to express
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  Speaker 1: mourning in the days of Queen Esther. It says in
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  Speaker 1: verse one, now when Mordecai found out all that was done,
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  Speaker 1: Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth with ashes
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  Speaker 1: and went out into the middle of the city, So
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  Speaker 1: the Jews... in complete mourning because they are going to
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  Speaker 1: die in 11 months, them and their children, and they
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  Speaker 1: are powerless against all of this going on. They don't
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  Speaker 1: have any weapons. They don't have any way of protecting themselves.
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  Speaker 1: They are at the complete mercy and control of the
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  Speaker 1: Persian people. The only thing they can think to do
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  Speaker 1: is to fast and mourn and pray and weep and wail.
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  Speaker 1: And Mordecai did this as well. He tore his clothes.
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  Speaker 1: He put on sackcloth. He put ashes on his head.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, the dirt. So he made himself look
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  Speaker 1: dirty and he wailed loudly and bitterly. And he was
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  Speaker 1: walking all over, but he wasn't able to come inside
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  Speaker 1: the king's court like he normally did. Because remember, he
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  Speaker 1: would go to the king's court and pretty much every
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  Speaker 1: single day to see how Esther was faring because he
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  Speaker 1: loved Esther. She was basically his adopted daughter. And now
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  Speaker 1: he is not coming to the king's gate. He is
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  Speaker 1: instead outside the king's gate because nobody's allowed to go
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  Speaker 1: inside without proper clothing on. And he is lying outside
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  Speaker 1: of the king's gates, weeping and wailing over the demise
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  Speaker 1: of the Jewish people that is about to come. So
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  Speaker 1: Esther's maidens and eunuchs notice that that Mordecai is not
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  Speaker 1: in his normal position in the king's court. They're like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: your caretaker is not outside like he normally is. And
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  Speaker 1: Esther is concerned about this. And the eunuchs tell her,
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  Speaker 1: they're like, well, we actually saw him in mourning clothing
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  Speaker 1: outside of the king's gate. And Esther, it actually says,
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  Speaker 1: was grieved and clearly perplexed. So it says in verse
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  Speaker 1: four that she sent clothing to Mordecai to replace his sackcloth,
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  Speaker 1: but he didn't receive it. So Esther has no clue
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  Speaker 1: what's going on because she's just the lowly queen. She's
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  Speaker 1: not informed of any of the political decisions that the
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  Speaker 1: king is making. So she doesn't even know that this
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  Speaker 1: decree had gone out into all of Susa. She has
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  Speaker 1: no clue. And by the way, people still don't know
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  Speaker 1: that she is a Jewish woman and they still don't
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  Speaker 1: know that she is related by blood to Mordecai. They
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  Speaker 1: just know that Mordecai is her caretaker most likely because
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  Speaker 1: she was an orphan growing up. So they don't really
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  Speaker 1: know much else other than that. Esther was able to
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  Speaker 1: hide it quite well. But because of this, you know,
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  Speaker 1: Esther doesn't really know what's going on in the kingdom.
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  Speaker 1: And she wasn't able to talk to Mordecai, either because
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  Speaker 1: he wasn't out in the king's court, or more likely
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  Speaker 1: because She wasn't really able to have much face-to-face communication
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  Speaker 1: with him because he was a commoner and the queen
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  Speaker 1: was supposed to mostly remain inside the harem, not really
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  Speaker 1: being seen by too many men. So she probably didn't
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  Speaker 1: have very much face-to-face conversations with him. So she sends
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  Speaker 1: out a eunuch to communicate with him. And it says
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  Speaker 1: that she called for Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs,
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  Speaker 1: and she commanded him to go out to Mordecai to
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  Speaker 1: find out what this was and why it was. So
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  Speaker 1: Hathach went to Mordecai to the city square, which was
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  Speaker 1: before the king's gate. And Mordecai told everything that happened
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  Speaker 1: to him, the exact sum of money that Haman had
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  Speaker 1: promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the destruction
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  Speaker 1: of the Jews. So I don't know if Mordecai knew
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  Speaker 1: that he was kind of somewhat the source of this,
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  Speaker 1: because don't forget the reason that Haman got so upset
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  Speaker 1: in the first place was because Mordecai, who hung out
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  Speaker 1: in the king's court every single day, kind of just
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  Speaker 1: to be near Esther, never bowed down to Haman. And
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  Speaker 1: Haman got so furious over this that he decided he
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  Speaker 1: would kill not just Mordecai, but every single Jewish person
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  Speaker 1: because he hated the Jews in general. But even if
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  Speaker 1: Mordecai knew that he was the catalyst that started all
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  Speaker 1: of this, It still wasn't Mordecai's fault for not bowing
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  Speaker 1: to Haman. I actually don't blame Mordecai at all for
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  Speaker 1: not bowing to that man. He is clearly an evil
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  Speaker 1: person that doesn't deserve any kind of homage whatsoever. And
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  Speaker 1: so in my estimation, Mordecai was correct to not bow
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  Speaker 1: to that man. And I'm sure that Mordecai probably thought,
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  Speaker 1: even if he was caught, that it would just be
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  Speaker 1: his life that was in danger, not every single Jewish
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  Speaker 1: person in Persia. He probably did not think that would
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  Speaker 1: happen at all, but I don't know if he knew
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  Speaker 1: he was the catalyst or not. Either way, he tells
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  Speaker 1: Esther what is going on and the amount of money
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  Speaker 1: that Haman offered to pay the king's treasuries to kill
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  Speaker 1: all of the Jews. So I'm not sure how Mordecai
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  Speaker 1: found out about that. It could have been through hearsay,
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  Speaker 1: could have been actually even stated in that letter, the
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  Speaker 1: official letter that went out that Haman had promised to
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  Speaker 1: pay all of that money to to the king in
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  Speaker 1: order to kill the Jews. I don't know how Mordecai
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  Speaker 1: found out about it, but he knew that Haman was
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  Speaker 1: out to get the Jews and was so out to
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  Speaker 1: get them that he was going to pay an insane
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  Speaker 1: amount of money to actually kill all of these innocent individuals.
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  Speaker 1: So Mordecai gives Esther a copy of this decree with
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  Speaker 1: also a request for her. He urges her in verse
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  Speaker 1: eight to go to the king to make supplication to
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  Speaker 1: him and to make a request before him for her people.
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  Speaker 1: So now Mordecai is telling Esther, it is time to
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  Speaker 1: talk to the king. It is time to tell him
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  Speaker 1: that you are a Jew and to beg him to
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  Speaker 1: save your people. And Esther, when she hears this becomes
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  Speaker 1: really concerned and goes back to Mordecai with another message
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  Speaker 1: in verse 10. Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave
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  Speaker 1: him a message to Mordecai. All the king's servants and
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  Speaker 1: the people of the king's provinces know that whoever, whether
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  Speaker 1: man or woman, comes to the king into the inner
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  Speaker 1: court without being called, there is one law for him,
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  Speaker 1: that he be put to death, except to those to
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  Speaker 1: whom the king might hold out the golden scepter that
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  Speaker 1: he may live. I have not been called to come
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  Speaker 1: into the king these 30 days. So Esther's like, I
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  Speaker 1: haven't seen my husband in 30 days straight. He is
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  Speaker 1: not called for me. And you know, as well as
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  Speaker 1: I do, that if I go into the inner court
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  Speaker 1: where the king lives, that I will die. There is
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  Speaker 1: a rule that nobody can disturb the king in the
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  Speaker 1: inner courts. So if I go in there and the
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  Speaker 1: king does not hold out his golden scepter to me,
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  Speaker 1: he will kill me on the spot. And it doesn't
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  Speaker 1: matter if it's a man or a woman, meaning a
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  Speaker 1: prince or anybody from the harem. If they go to
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  Speaker 1: disturb the king, death is pretty much a guarantee. So
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  Speaker 1: she tells this to Mordecai because obviously she's scared. She
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  Speaker 1: doesn't want to have to do that. And Mordecai comes
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  Speaker 1: back to Esther with this response. Verse 13, don't think
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  Speaker 1: to yourself that you will escape in the king's house
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  Speaker 1: any more than all the Jews. That's a really blunt
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  Speaker 1: response that I'm sure Esther did not want to hear.
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  Speaker 1: But Mordecai hit it perfectly on the head. He says, Esther,
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  Speaker 1: if you're thinking in your head right now that because
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  Speaker 1: you are the queen, because you are living inside the
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  Speaker 1: king's house, that you are going to be spared from
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  Speaker 1: all of this, think again. Because you know how cruel
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  Speaker 1: the Persian society is. You know that the words of
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  Speaker 1: the king are absolute. And when a law is made
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  Speaker 1: that is binding from the king, it cannot be changed,
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  Speaker 1: not even from the king himself. And that is stated
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  Speaker 1: actually twice in, I believe, Esther 1 and Esther 2,
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  Speaker 1: that any decree that the king made, it was binding.
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  Speaker 1: Even the king himself could not change that decree. So
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  Speaker 1: if they find out that Esther is a Jewish woman
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  Speaker 1: at any point in time, she will die. And Mordecai
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  Speaker 1: makes that very clear to her. You're going to die
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  Speaker 1: if you don't go to the king. Because in 11 months,
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  Speaker 1: they will somehow figure out that you are a Jewish
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  Speaker 1: woman and they will kill you then if you remain silent.
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  Speaker 1: That's what he says right here. If you remain silent now,
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  Speaker 1: then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from
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  Speaker 1: another place, but you and your father's house will perish.
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  Speaker 1: So basically everybody that you care about, all of your
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  Speaker 1: family members, me, we will all die, including you. And
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  Speaker 1: then he says, one of the most famous verses in
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  Speaker 1: the Bible says, which is actually one that I have
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  Speaker 1: on my wall behind me. If I ever do videos,
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  Speaker 1: you guys will see this verse on my wall. Who
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  Speaker 1: knows if you haven't come to the kingdom for such
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  Speaker 1: a time as this? He tells Esther, Esther, it could
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  Speaker 1: be that this is the reason you became queen. This
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  Speaker 1: is the reason that God put you in this position
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  Speaker 1: is to save your people. So yes, it is scary
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  Speaker 1: to go into the king to break the law. to
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  Speaker 1: potentially die, but you're going to die either way, either
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  Speaker 1: in 11 months when Haman's henchmen go out and kill
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  Speaker 1: all of the Jews, or you will die potentially when
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  Speaker 1: you go to see the king, or he may actually
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  Speaker 1: spare you and hold out the golden scepter to you.
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  Speaker 1: And perhaps God put you in this position for such
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  Speaker 1: a time as this. So Esther takes this to heart.
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  Speaker 1: And she answers Mordecai, go and gather together all the
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  Speaker 1: Jews who are present in Susa and fast for me
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  Speaker 1: and neither eat nor drink these three days, night or day.
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  Speaker 1: I and my maidens will also fast the same way.
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  Speaker 1: Then I will go into the king, which is against
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  Speaker 1: the law. And if I perish, I perish. I can't
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  Speaker 1: even imagine the fear that Esther must be feeling at
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  Speaker 1: this moment in time. Just the Fear that in three days,
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  Speaker 1: her fate is in that violent king's hands. And by
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  Speaker 1: the way, you know, a lot of us, we've heard
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  Speaker 1: this story growing up. And so we know what ends
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  Speaker 1: up happening. And so we don't think about the fear
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  Speaker 1: that Esther would have had. Or maybe some of you
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  Speaker 1: are thinking, well, he's the king and he had such
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  Speaker 1: a crush on her. There's no way that he would
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  Speaker 1: kill her. How, you know, how would Esther actually think that?
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  Speaker 1: Why is she being so fearful right here? Think about
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  Speaker 1: being a young girl in this kind of society where
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  Speaker 1: your husband, an evil, violent man who kills at a
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  Speaker 1: moment's whim, who is willing to kill your entire family
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  Speaker 1: and your entire people. and commit genocide, who hasn't seen
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  Speaker 1: you in an entire month, hasn't called you once, probably
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  Speaker 1: because he's sleeping with his harem of other women and
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  Speaker 1: doesn't need you, how afraid you would be to see
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  Speaker 1: that man when he has absolute power, when he says,
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  Speaker 1: anybody that disturbs my peace will die on the spot,
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  Speaker 1: including my wives and my harem. Would you want to
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  Speaker 1: go see that king? It doesn't matter how sexy he
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  Speaker 1: thinks Esther is. This guy is a nutcase. He's a psychopath.
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  Speaker 1: And no one would want to disturb this guy if
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  Speaker 1: that is the law that is put in place. So no,
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  Speaker 1: Esther had no reason to think that he would spare
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  Speaker 1: her because of her beauty. But thankfully, God was with
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  Speaker 1: Esther and she takes three days to pray and to
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  Speaker 1: fast fully. And she asks all of the Jews in
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  Speaker 1: Susa to fast with her. Because if she succeeds, then
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  Speaker 1: every Jewish person in Persia is completely saved. But if
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  Speaker 1: she fails, then she dies and everybody else probably dies
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  Speaker 1: as well. Now, Mordecai had a lot of faith because
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  Speaker 1: he did tell Esther, if you sit back in silence,
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  Speaker 1: then help will arise for the Jews from another place.
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  Speaker 1: In other words, God will bring a helper for the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: But in the meantime, you will die. And many, many
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  Speaker 1: people will die if you do not act. So Esther
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  Speaker 1: here was being bold and brave. And I am sure
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  Speaker 1: that she was absolutely terrified to do this thing. But
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  Speaker 1: she was choosing to trust in God. Then maybe Mordecai
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  Speaker 1: was right. Maybe she was made queen for such a
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  Speaker 1: time as this. I think that that verse is such
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: an inspiring verse, hence why I have it on my
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: back wall right here. Perhaps God put you in the
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: position that you're in for such a time as this,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: whatever it might be. And you might be wondering, why? Why, God?
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Why am I here? Why are you allowing me to
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: go through this thing? But you don't know what God
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: is doing behind the scenes, placing you in that position
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: and So this entire story, the book of Esther, though
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: God's name is never mentioned, it's a story of faith
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: in God's provision and strength. And that's why the book
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: of Esther is such an inspiring story to so many
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: people and why that verse is so a popular one.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Because God really does place people in certain positions for
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: certain time periods so that they can accomplish his plans
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: and his will. So faithful listeners, hopefully you continue with
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: me through the book of Esther next week as we
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: discuss Esther chapter 5. And talk about how Esther fares
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: when she goes to meet King Xerxes in his inner chamber.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: What is going to happen there? But faithful listeners, before
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: I close out this episode, please listen to one last
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: sponsored advertisement for today. All right, faithful listeners. Well, thank
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: you so much for finishing up this episode with me
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: and listening all the way to the end. I'm very
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: appreciative of all of you. Now, tomorrow on Thursday, as
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: you guys know, we are going to be in the
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: New Testament side of stuff because on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I am going through the New Testament and we are
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: discussing the book of 1 Peter. Now, what's crazy is
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: that we're almost done with the New Testament. I'm gonna,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: I'm guesstimating about another year in the New Testament. It
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: depends on how fast we get through the book of Revelation.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: I don't know. But yeah, we could be out of
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: the New Testament in a year. I don't know what
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do after that. I don't know if
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: I'll do like five days in the Old Testament or
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe go to the Psalms on Tuesdays
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: and Thursdays. Who knows? We'll see what happens at that point.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: But yeah, we are flying through the New Testament and
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: tomorrow we'll be again in the book of 1 Peter.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: So I hope to see all of you guys there
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: 6 a.m. or whenever you choose to wake up. Until tomorrow,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: happy listening and God bless. I just wanna take a
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: second to thank the team at Life Audio for their
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: partnership with me on the Bible Explained podcast. In fact,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens of other
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: faith-centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Bible study, parenting, and more.