Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Esther 9:16-10:3 - The History of Purim and the Happy End of Esther

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Esther 9:16-10:3 - The History of Purim and the Happy End of Esther · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Well, hello there, faithful listener. Thank you so much for
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: tuning into the Bible Explained podcast. And hi, my name
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: is Jen. I'm the host of this podcast. And guess what?
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Today is the last day in the book of Esther.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: We're going to cover the rest of Esther 9 today
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and also Esther chapter 10. And if I'm being honest,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I thought Esther 10 was a little bit bigger than
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: it actually is. It is not very big at all.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: So I decided to put these two chapters together because
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I think they correspond well with each other anyway. So
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: today we are going to finish up the book of Esther.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: But before we do, please listen to this message. I
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: appreciate all of you guys listening to the advertisements. But
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: did you guys know that if you enjoy the podcast
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: and you want it to add free, there is an
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: option for that. You can become a member where you
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: will receive the same podcast, all 1400 episodes completely ad
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: free and all of the episodes in the future as well.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: So you can find the membership page both on my website,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: which is p4eministries. com and also Ko-fi, which is linked down
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: in the description. So if you enjoy this podcast enough
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: and you feel called to give and support this ministry,
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: then that is something that you can do while also
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: getting the episodes ad free. Before today, let's go ahead
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and read Esther 9, starting in verse 16 to the
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: end of the chapter. And then after we talk about that,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I'll move into Esther chapter 10. As always, I'll be
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: reading from the World English Bible or the WEB, but
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you guys can feel free to read out of the
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: version that you prefer. And also make sure to grab
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: your cup of coffee this morning so that I can
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: live vicariously through you guys because I'm not drinking coffee
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: as of right now. Again, because of my reappearing stomach problems, unfortunately,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: but I have a doctor's appointment scheduled. So hopefully we
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: can get to the bottom of all of this. But
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: enough about me. Let's read Esther 9 starting in verse 16.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: The other Jews who were in the king's provinces gathered
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: themselves together, defended their lives and had rest from their
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: enemies and killed 75,000 of those who hated them. But
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: they didn't lay their hand on the plunder. This was
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: done on the 13th day of the month Adar. And
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: on the 14th day of the month, they rested and
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: made it a day of feasting and gladness. But the
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Jews who were in Susa assembled together on the 13th
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: and on the 14th day of the month. And on
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the 15th day of that month, they rested and made
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: it a day of fasting and gladness. Therefore the Jews
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: of the villages, who lived in the unwalled towns, made
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: gladness and feasting, a holiday, and a day of sending
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: presents of food to one another. Mordecai wrote these things
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: and sent letters to all the Jews who were in
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both near and far,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth and
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: fifteenth days of the month Adar yearly, as in the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: and the month which was turned to them from sorrow
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: to gladness, and from mourning into a holiday, that they
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: sending presents of food to one another, and gifts to
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: the needy. The Jews accepted the custom that they had begun,
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  Speaker 1: as Mordecai had written to them, because Haman the son
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: of Hamadathah the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews,
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  Speaker 1: had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: cast pure, that is the lot, to consume them and
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: to destroy them. But when this became known to the king,
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  Speaker 1: he commanded by letters that his wicked plan, which he
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: had planned against the Jews, should return on his own head,
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  Speaker 1: and that he and his sons should be hanged on
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  Speaker 1: the gallows. Therefore they called these days Purim, from the
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  Speaker 1: word pure. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter,
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  Speaker 1: and of that which they had seen concerning this matter,
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  Speaker 1: and of that which had come to them, the Jews
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  Speaker 1: established and imposed on themselves, and on their descendants, and
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  Speaker 1: on all of those who joined themselves to them, that
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  Speaker 1: it should not fail that they would keep those two
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  Speaker 1: days according to that which was written, and according to
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  Speaker 1: its appointed time each year, and that these days should
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  Speaker 1: be remembered, and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province,
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  Speaker 1: and every city, and that these days of Purim should
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  Speaker 1: not fail from among the Jews, nor their memory perish
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  Speaker 1: from their offspring. Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail,
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  Speaker 1: and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm
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  Speaker 1: this second letter of Purim. He sent letters to all
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  Speaker 1: the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of
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  Speaker 1: Ahasuerus to confirm these days of Purim in their appointed times,
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  Speaker 1: as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had decreed.
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  Speaker 1: And as they had imposed upon themselves and their descendants
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: in the matter of the feasting and their mourning, the
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: commandment of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim, and it
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: was written in the book. Last we left off in
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the book of Esther, there was this guy named Haman,
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  Speaker 1: and he was a really bad guy. He was also
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: very powerful in the Persian court, possibly second in command
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  Speaker 1: to the king. just a head prince in all of
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the courts of King Xerxes. So Haman, being a nasty
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: guy who absolutely hated the Jews, decided to think up
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  Speaker 1: this plan in order to get rid of the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: So he spread a nasty story about the Jews to
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  Speaker 1: King Xerxes, who was like, oh yeah, you know, that
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  Speaker 1: sounds pretty awful. And because Haman... had been so influential
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  Speaker 1: in the court and King Xerxes trusted him so much,
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  Speaker 1: he actually allowed Haman to write letters saying that on
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  Speaker 1: the month of Adar, which I learned is not December,
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  Speaker 1: but actually March. Because what do I know? I'm just
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  Speaker 1: an ignorant Westerner with my Western calendar. But no, the
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  Speaker 1: month Adar was going by the Gregorian calendar, not the
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  Speaker 1: Western calendar. So it would have been the month of
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  Speaker 1: March and not December, like I initially thought. Haman, by
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  Speaker 1: casting lots, or purer as they're called in this book,
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  Speaker 1: decided that in the month of March, all of the
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  Speaker 1: Jews were going to die. So the Persian army would
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  Speaker 1: go out and kill the Jews. The neighbors of the
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  Speaker 1: Jews would go out and kill them. Every single Jew,
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  Speaker 1: from little tiny infant to elderly adult, would die. And
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  Speaker 1: the enemies, including Haman, would get the plunder from killing
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  Speaker 1: the Jews. So Haman kind of, it seems like, tricks
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  Speaker 1: the king, but in the king's just blatant ignorance allows
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  Speaker 1: Haman to go through with this plan. And it really
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  Speaker 1: looked like Haman was going to get away with it. However,
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  Speaker 1: Queen Esther was a Jewish woman. but she kept her
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  Speaker 1: identity a secret. So then a bunch of stuff happens.
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  Speaker 1: And in a show of courage, Esther reveals her identity
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  Speaker 1: to the king, tells the king that Haman is trying
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  Speaker 1: to kill her and her cousin Mordecai, who, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: Mordecai was in good standing with the king because Mordecai
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  Speaker 1: had actually saved the king's life on a previous date.
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  Speaker 1: So the king, in his anger... decides to hang Haman
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  Speaker 1: on the gallows that Haman had actually made for Mordecai.
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  Speaker 1: So Haman died. The king took Haman's property and gave
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  Speaker 1: it to Queen Esther, who then gave it to her
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  Speaker 1: cousin Mordecai. And on top of all this, the king
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  Speaker 1: actually took the ring from Haman's cold dead finger and
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  Speaker 1: gave it to Mordecai, who became one of the king's viziers.
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  Speaker 1: But Even though Haman was dead, all of the problems
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  Speaker 1: that he had caused for the Jewish people were still
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  Speaker 1: very much at play. And unfortunately, nobody could reverse something
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  Speaker 1: that the king had ordained. So because Haman had sent
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  Speaker 1: letters in the king's name saying that the Jewish people
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  Speaker 1: were going to die on the 13th day of March,
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  Speaker 1: then that meant that the Jewish people were going to
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  Speaker 1: die on the 13th day of that month. So Mordecai
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  Speaker 1: and Esther, in their wisdom and with the king's approval,
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  Speaker 1: ended up sending out letters saying that the Jews could
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  Speaker 1: actually defend themselves from Haman's wicked plan. So this goes splendidly.
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  Speaker 1: In the city of Susa alone, which is where Queen
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  Speaker 1: Esther lived, 500 enemies of the Jews had died. Now,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, at this point in time, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people were backing the Jews. Anybody who is a
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  Speaker 1: friend of the king ended up backing the Jews because
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  Speaker 1: they they saw Mordecai and how powerful Mordecai had gotten.
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  Speaker 1: And they actually were scared of Mordecai and also of
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish people. So anybody with common sense actually backed
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  Speaker 1: the Jews. But the rest of the people who hated
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  Speaker 1: the Jews, given a reason to actually go out and
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  Speaker 1: kill them, still tried to go out and kill them.
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  Speaker 1: So that's the 500 people in the city of Susa
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  Speaker 1: who were slain at the hands of the Jews. And
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  Speaker 1: this actually included Haman's 10 sons. Now, Haman probably had
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  Speaker 1: other children because at one point in time in this book,
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  Speaker 1: Haman had actually been bragging about the multitude of children
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  Speaker 1: that he had. And a multitude seems like quite a lot,
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  Speaker 1: possibly more than 10, I would guess, though that's not
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  Speaker 1: specifically stated in scripture. So my guess is that Haman
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  Speaker 1: had more family members, more children that still hated the Jews.
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  Speaker 1: So Queen Esther actually asks the king, if the Jews
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  Speaker 1: who lived in Susa could have another day where they
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  Speaker 1: defend themselves from any attackers that come their way? And
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  Speaker 1: the king says, yes. And so that's where we leave
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  Speaker 1: off today in Esther 9, starting in verse 16. The
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  Speaker 1: other Jews who are in the king's provinces gathered themselves together,
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  Speaker 1: defended their lives and had rest from their enemies and
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  Speaker 1: killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they didn't
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  Speaker 1: lay their hand on the plunder. So across all the
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  Speaker 1: provinces of Persia, not in the city of Susa, but
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  Speaker 1: everywhere else, 75,000 enemies of the Jews fell that day.
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  Speaker 1: And it doesn't really seem like there was a lot
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  Speaker 1: of casualties when it comes to the Jewish people. There
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: could have been some, but when God is on your side,
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  Speaker 1: God is going to protect you, even from your enemies
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  Speaker 1: that are trying to kill you. And that's proven right
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  Speaker 1: here in the book of Esther. But notice here that
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  Speaker 1: it says again, that the Jews died. not lay their
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  Speaker 1: hands on the plunder. Now, there is some debate as
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  Speaker 1: to whether or not the Jews were allowed to lay
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  Speaker 1: their hands on the plunder based upon the letters that
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: went out talking about how the Jews could defend themselves.
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  Speaker 1: There's some debate on it. But even if they were allowed,
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  Speaker 1: the fact that they didn't take any of the plunder
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  Speaker 1: was really shows that they were only in this to
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  Speaker 1: defend their lives and to defend the lives of their families.
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  Speaker 1: So this was a class act, and I'm sure that
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  Speaker 1: this did not go unnoticed by the other people because
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  Speaker 1: Haman had a motivation to kill the Jews, not just
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: because he hated them, but also because he was going
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  Speaker 1: to receive a good portion of the plunder of any
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: of the Jewish lives that died. So he could go
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  Speaker 1: in and just take whatever he wanted of the people
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: that he and his sons killed. And that's a really
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: nasty thing. But the Jews did not do that. That
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: was not their motivation. In fact, they probably didn't want
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: to do any of this to begin with. And yet
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  Speaker 1: they were kind of forced into it. So they ended
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  Speaker 1: up killing 75,000 enemies across all of the provinces of Persia.
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  Speaker 1: And in verse 17, it says, this was done on
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  Speaker 1: the 13th day of the month Adar. And then on
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  Speaker 1: the 14th day of that month, they rested and made
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: it a day of feasting and gladness. So remember when
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  Speaker 1: Esther went to the king and asked for another day
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  Speaker 1: for the Jews to do this again? Well, that was
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: only in the city of Susa. That was not across
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  Speaker 1: the rest of Persia. So the rest of the Jews
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  Speaker 1: in Persia were done on the 13th day. They did
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: not have an extra day. to go out and kill
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  Speaker 1: their enemies. Only the Jews in Susa were given that opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: And I talked about a few reasons why, probably because
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Esther knew that Haman's family was very great in Susa
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: and that he possibly had a lot more children than
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: those 10 that had died. It could have been that
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Haman had many family members living in Susa and Esther
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: being very close to the Jewish people of Susa because
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: she grew up in that city. probably wanted to defend
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  Speaker 1: the friends and family that she had in that city
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: from Haman's other crazy, radical friends and family members themselves.
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  Speaker 1: So that's why Esther only asked for the Jews in
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Susa to be able to do this for two days.
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  Speaker 1: But the rest of the Persian Jews did not get that.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: And it doesn't really seem like they needed it, actually,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: because the next day, instead of defending their lives from
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: avengers of blood or something like that, they were having
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: a party. On the 14th day of that month, they
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: So the entire day they took work off. They were
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: having delicious food. They were feasting in the cities. They
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: were just enjoying their time, knowing that their lives were
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: saved by God. But it says right here, the Jews
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: who were in Susa assembled themselves together on the 13th
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: and the 14th days of that month. And then on
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: the 15th day of that month, they rested and made
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: it a day of feasting and gladness. So the Jews
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: in Susa were a day behind everybody else because they
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: got that extra day to defend themselves. And Esther was
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: right to ask for it, actually, because it kind of
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: seems like the Jews in Susa needed it. It actually
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: says in verse 15 that there is an extra 300
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: men that died in Susa the next day. It says,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: the Jews who were in Susa gathered themselves together on
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the 14th day also of the month Adar and killed
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: 300 men in Susa, but they didn't lay their hand
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: on the plunder. So yeah, in Susa alone, there were
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: 800 men that died, 800 enemies of the Jews that
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: wanted the Jewish people dead. And that really shows, I
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: would guess, the influence that Haman had. Remember, this guy
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: was very powerful. He could have been second in command
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: to the king. So if he had a following in Susa,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: along with tons of friends and family members, 800 men
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: going out and trying to kill the Jews does not
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: seem all that unrealistic, especially in a big city like Susa.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: but nobody else seemed to need it. They were all
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: feasting and happy and joyful and taking days off the
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: very next day. But the Jews in Susa being a
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: day behind ended up having their holiday two days later.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: So Mordecai, finding out that the Jews in Susa and
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: the Jews across the rest of Persia were celebrating Purim
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: on two separate days, he decides to unify and make
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: this a national holiday. So in verse 20, Mordecai wrote
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: these things and sent letters to all the Jews who
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: and far, to enjoin them that they should keep the
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: 14th and 15th days of the month of Adar yearly,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: as in the days in which the Jews had rest
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: from their enemies and the month which was turned to
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: them from sorrow to gladness and from mourning to into
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: a holiday. And this holiday ended up becoming named Purim.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: And the reason it was called that is because of
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: verse 24. It says, because of Haman, the son of Hamadathah,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews who had
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: that is the lot, to consume them and to destroy them.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: So the word Pur is a Hebrew word that means
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: casting lots, essentially. And Purim, is actually the, I think the,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: oh my gosh, what is that terminology? It's when something
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: becomes like more than one. I completely forgot the terminology
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: for that. It's like if pure means lot, then purim
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: means lots. Like casting the lots instead of just one.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, what is that called? Okay, I don't remember.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I apologize. But that is where the holiday Purim came from,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: from the word pure is what it says in verse 26.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: So Mordecai sends out a whole bunch of letters to
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: tell all the Jews to celebrate the holiday of Purim
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: on every March 13th and 14th. And then Queen Esther
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: followed up Mordecai's letters in verse 29 to give extra
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: authority to this, to say, yes, definitely keep these holidays
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: as Mordecai has commanded you guys. And so the holiday
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: of Purim is still celebrated to this day. And this
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: is one of the few Jewish holidays that is not
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: found in the Torah. This is one that God did
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: not command, but it's still considered to be a binding holiday.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: So Jewish people throughout all the generations have celebrated Purim,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: which probably means that Jesus celebrated Purim too, which is
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: kind of interesting and just a side note. But for
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: those of you who aren't Jewish, I am not Jewish.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: I decided to look up how Purim is actually celebrated.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: Some of the traditions that the Jewish people still do
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: in order to remember Esther and Mordecai and Haman. So
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: one of the things that is common is the story
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: of Esther will be read And every time Haman's name
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: comes up, they boo and they yell and they try
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: to drown out Haman's name so that he's not remembered
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: any longer. So that's a common tradition every Purim. I
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: believe people dress up as well, like in costumes, kind
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: of like on Halloween. And they do that because God
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: was hidden, which I'm not going to lie. I don't
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: really like that. I don't think God ever hides himself properly.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: Just because he's not mentioned at all in the book
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: of Esther does not mean we can't see God's hand
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: throughout this entire thing. But regardless of how I feel
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: about it, that's what the Jewish people do to celebrate Purim.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: They dress up showing that God was hidden from them. Okay.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: And then they also send the baskets of food to
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: each other. So that's still a common thing to do
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: as well as eating sweets and candy and fruits and
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: other traditional meals on Purim. So it's just a big,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: joyful holiday, essentially, where people every single year dress up,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: share cookies, and read the story of Esther to each other.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: So it sounds like kind of fun anyway. But moving
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: on to Esther chapter 10. This is such a short chapter.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: It's only three verses long. And all it talks about
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: is how powerful Mordecai became. So let's read Esther 10
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: real quick, one through three. It says, King Ahasuerus laid
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: a tribute on the land and on the islands of
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the sea. Aren't all the acts of his power and
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: of his might and the full account of the greatness
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: of Mordecai to which the king advanced him written in
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and Persia. For Mordecai the Jew was next to King
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Ahasuerus and great among the Jews and accepted by the
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: multitude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: and speaking peace to all his descendants. So that shows
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: that Mordecai became a very powerful man, probably second in
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: command to King Xerxes himself. Mordecai was that trusted, and
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: he was that good of an advisor, and he did
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: very well for the Jewish people. And apparently the Jewish
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: people absolutely loved him. And just as Esther chapter one
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: starts out by showing the greatness of King Xerxes and
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: this like giant feast that he's putting on for his
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: entire kingdom, it kind of ends with the greatness of
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Xerxes with Mordecai, how he kind of grew in greatness
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: essentially with Mordecai. So it says here in verse one
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: that King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land and
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: on the islands of the sea. So Persia became even
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: more wealthy during the days of Mordecai is what it
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: sounds like because this tribute, or in other words, this
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: forced taxation is going out all over the place, Even
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: the little islands of the sea that belonged to Persia,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: everybody had to pay this forced taxation. I can't even
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: imagine how wealthy King Xerxes became throughout all of this.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: And Mordecai was right by his side. And apparently their
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: greatness was written down in the Chronicles of the Kings
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: of Media and Persia. Now, unfortunately, these books have been
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: lost to history. But what's cool about things being lost
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: to history is that there are archaeologists going out every
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: single day trying to discover the ancient world. And someday,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: maybe something written by Mordecai or by Esther or about
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Mordecai or Esther will be revealed. It happens all the
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: time with other biblical stories. And so I imagine that
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: something someday will be found regarding Mordecai and Esther. But
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: to conclude all of this, we went through the books
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: of Ezra and Nehemiah not too long ago. And you
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: remember that Nehemiah was the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes, who
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: happened to be Xerxes' son. And it very well could
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: be that the reason Artaxerxes was so kind to the
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: Jewish people and allowed Nehemiah, his Jewish cupbearer, to go
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: back home to Israel and build the walls and protect
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the people and make Israel its own entity again was
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: possibly because of the influence of Mordecai and Esther in
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: his life. So it was a ripple effect that Mordecai
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: and Esther had, not just for their own generations, but
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the generations for the future as well. Faithful listeners, I
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed going through the book of Esther with me.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: It was a very fun book for me to talk
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: about and very short. For some reason, I did not
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: expect that we'd only be in the book of Esther
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: for like 10 days. And yet here we are flying
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: through the book of Esther. So I appreciate all of
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: you guys sticking through this book to the very end. Now,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: as I wrap up this episode, here's one last sponsor
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: for today. We are officially done with the book of Esther.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: So that means that next week on Monday, we start
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: in the book of Job. And that's going to be
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: possibly one of my more difficult books that I've covered
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: in And I always enjoy a good challenge. And I
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: actually do personally love the book of Job. I often
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: go to that book in my own personal studies because
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: it's just so powerful. And it's actually a book, not
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: so much about Job, but about God. So I'm excited
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: to get into that book with you guys on Monday.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Faithful listeners, I hope you have a fantastic and wonderful
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: rest of your Wednesday. I'll see you guys tomorrow for
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: an episode from First Peter. Faithful listener, happy listening. And
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: God bless. I just want to take a second to
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: me on the Bible Explained podcast. In fact, if you
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: and more.