Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Esther 1 - The Cruelty of King Xerxes I and Persian Culture

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Esther 1 - The Cruelty of King Xerxes I and Persian Culture · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hi Faith for listeners, Welcome to season twelve
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Speaker 1: of the Bible Explained Podcast, and thank you so much
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Speaker 1: for giving me a week off last week. It was
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Speaker 1: wonderful and it was so so needed. I was able
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Speaker 1: to clean my house. I was able to enjoy the weather.
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Speaker 1: It was really nice weather all week for the most part.
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Speaker 1: I was able to paint a little bit. And I
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Speaker 1: even went with my sister in law to see a
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Speaker 1: Broadway show that was playing in my area. And also
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Speaker 1: a friend was staying with us. Actually, her son was
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Speaker 1: staying with us for the whole week, and he's just
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Speaker 1: a blast to be around. He's actually my God's son,
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Speaker 1: even though if I were actually his mother, I would
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Speaker 1: have been I think fifteen if I would have had him,
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Speaker 1: so I guess I'm old enough to be his mom,
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Speaker 1: but I would have been a very very young mother.
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Speaker 1: But yes, he is one of my two God children
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Speaker 1: that I have and I love having him around. Okay,
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Speaker 1: but enough chit chat about what I did through this
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Speaker 1: past week. We're gonna get into the Book of Esther
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Speaker 1: and I am just dying to get into this book
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Speaker 1: with you guys. I love it because it's one of
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Speaker 1: the few books that features a lady as the main character.
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Speaker 1: So as a lady myself, I enjoy I guess talking
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Speaker 1: about biblical ladies. So we're going to get into Esther
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Speaker 1: chapter one, the entire thing today. But before we do that,
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Speaker 1: please listen to this first sponsored advertisement. Okay, before we
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Speaker 1: dive into the Book of Esther, just a couple things
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Speaker 1: to preface this book. Firstly, the author of Esther is anonymous.
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Speaker 1: We do not know who wrote the Book of Esther.
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Speaker 1: It takes place during the reign of King Xerxes, who
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Speaker 1: was the grandson of Cyrus the Great, who was the
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Speaker 1: guy that like freed the Israelites and allowed them to
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Speaker 1: go back into Jerusalem. So there were many people actually
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Speaker 1: at this point in time back in Jerusalem, but there
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Speaker 1: were still many Israelites that remained in Persia at this point,
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Speaker 1: and Esther in her family would have been some of
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Speaker 1: those people. Esther is the only book of the entire
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Speaker 1: Bible that does not mention God's name once. It's also
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Speaker 1: where the Jewish holiday Purim comes from, which we'll talk
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Speaker 1: about that when we get to that chapter. And lastly,
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Speaker 1: the Book of Esther is the only book where part
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Speaker 1: of it was not found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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Speaker 1: The Dead Sea Scrolls had parts of every book in
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Speaker 1: the Bible except for the Book of Esther. Interestingly enough,
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Speaker 1: so Esther is a unique one in a lot of
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Speaker 1: different ways. And we'll talk about some of the archaeological
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Speaker 1: finds that people have done throughout the years uncovering much
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Speaker 1: of what we read in the Book of Esther. So,
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Speaker 1: with all of that being said, let's dive into Esther
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Speaker 1: chapter one, the entire thing as you you will. I'll
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Speaker 1: be reading from the w EB now. In the days
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Speaker 1: of Ahasis. This is Ahasaris, who reigned from India even
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Speaker 1: to Ethiopia, over one hundred and twenty seven provinces. In
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Speaker 1: those days, when the king Ahasarris sat on the throne
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Speaker 1: of his kingdom, which was in Susa the Palace, in
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Speaker 1: the third year of his reign, he made a feast
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Speaker 1: for all his princes and his servants, the army of
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Speaker 1: Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of the
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Speaker 1: provinces being before him. He displayed the riches of his
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Speaker 1: glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty. Many days,
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Speaker 1: even one hundred and eighty days. When these days were
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Speaker 1: fulfilled the king made a seven day feast for all
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Speaker 1: the people who were present in Susa the palace, both
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Speaker 1: great and small. In the court of the garden of
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Speaker 1: the King's palace there were hangings of white and blue
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Speaker 1: material fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to
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Speaker 1: silver rings and marble pillars. The couches were of gold
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Speaker 1: and silver on a pavement of red, white, yellow and
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Speaker 1: black marble. They gave them drinks in golden vessels of
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Speaker 1: various kinds, include being royal wine in abundance according to
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Speaker 1: the bounty of the king. In accordance with the law,
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Speaker 1: the drinking was not compulsory. For so the king had
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Speaker 1: instructed all the officials of his house that they should
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Speaker 1: do according to every man's pleasure. Also, Vashti the Queen
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Speaker 1: made a feast for the women in the royal house
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Speaker 1: which belonged to King Ahasaris. On the seventh day, when
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Speaker 1: the heart of the king was merry with wine, he
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Speaker 1: commanded Mahumman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abaghtha, Zephyr and Karkas,
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Speaker 1: the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of Ahasas
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Speaker 1: the King, to bring Vashti the queen before the King,
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Speaker 1: wearing the royal crown, to show the people and the
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Speaker 1: princes her beauty, for she was beautiful. But the Queen
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Speaker 1: Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by the eunuchs. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: the king was very angry, and his anger burned in him.
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Speaker 1: Then the king said to the wise men who knew
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Speaker 1: the times, for it was the king's custom to consult
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Speaker 1: those who knew law and judgment. And next to him
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Speaker 1: were Karshena, Shathar and Matha, tarshish Maris, Marsa and Memican,
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Speaker 1: the seven princes of Persian media, who saw the king's
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Speaker 1: face and sat first in the kingdom. What shall we
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Speaker 1: do to Queen Vashti according to law, because she is
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Speaker 1: not done the bidding of the King Ahasiris by the eunuchs.
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Speaker 1: Memican answered, before the King and the princes, Vashti, the
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Speaker 1: queen has not done wrong just to the King, but
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Speaker 1: also to all the princes and to all the people
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Speaker 1: who are in the provinces of the King Ahasis. For
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Speaker 1: this deed, the queen will become known to all women,
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Speaker 1: causing them to show contempt for their husbands. When it
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Speaker 1: is reported King Asaris commanded Vashti the queen to be
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Speaker 1: brought in before him, but she didn't come. Today, the
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Speaker 1: princesses of Persian media, who have heard of the queen's deed,
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Speaker 1: will tell all the King's princes. This will cause much
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Speaker 1: contempt and wrath. If it pleases the king, let a
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Speaker 1: royal commandment go from him, and let it be written
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Speaker 1: among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so
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Speaker 1: that it cannot be altered. That Vashti may never again
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Speaker 1: come before King Ahasaris. And let the King give her
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Speaker 1: royal estate to another who is better than she. When
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Speaker 1: the King's decree which he shall make is published throughout
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Speaker 1: all his kingdom, for it is great, all the wives
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Speaker 1: will give their husband's honor, both great and small. The
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Speaker 1: advice pleased the King and the princes, and the king
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Speaker 1: did according to the word of Memican, for he sent
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Speaker 1: letters into all the king's provinces, into every province according
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Speaker 1: to its writing, and to every people in their language,
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Speaker 1: that every man should rule his own house, speaking in
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Speaker 1: the language of his own people. Okay, So first and
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Speaker 1: foremost we got to get into who King Ahaseras was.
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Speaker 1: You probably know him, potentially as King Xerxes. King Xerxes
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Speaker 1: is the guy who was very well known for trying
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Speaker 1: to go into Greece and put it under Persian control.
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Speaker 1: His father Darius had gone into Greece before and was
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Speaker 1: unable to take Athens, and Xerxes couldn't live with that defeat,
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Speaker 1: so he decided he was going to make his own conquest,
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Speaker 1: and I think he had something like one point seven
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Speaker 1: million foot soldiers go into Greece and he failed miserably.
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Speaker 1: In fact, that's where the movie three hundred comes from.
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Speaker 1: It's from King Xerxes, who was the husband of Queen Esther.
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Speaker 1: Interestingly enough, so yeah, even though that movie is obviously
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Speaker 1: fake in every single way, but yeah, he really was
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Speaker 1: defeated by three hundred Spartans. And he was also defeated
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Speaker 1: quite heavily at the Battle of Salamis, where the Persian
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Speaker 1: fleet was completely decimated by the Greeks. So that was
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Speaker 1: the turning point in King xerxes conquest, and he did
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Speaker 1: not succeed, and he returned home in defeat. But Esther
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Speaker 1: chapter one is likely talking about King Xerxes about to
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Speaker 1: go into that battle. He was probably doing this six
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Speaker 1: month long show of power to hype up his men
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Speaker 1: to prepare for the coming battle with the Greeks, to
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Speaker 1: show off his kingdom and maybe make the Greeks kind
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Speaker 1: of scared. So that's likely what's happening. Actually, in this
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Speaker 1: first chapter it says this Aha Saras reigned from India
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Speaker 1: even to Ethiopia over one hundred and twenty seven provinces,
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Speaker 1: which I should have mentioned this earlier, but Aha Sarris
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Speaker 1: and Xerxes are the same person. Aha Sarras I believe
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Speaker 1: is the Hebrew name for Xerxes. In those days, when
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Speaker 1: King Aha Sarris sat on the throne of his kingdom,
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Speaker 1: which was in the Susa Palace, in the third year
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Speaker 1: of his reign, he made a feast for all his
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Speaker 1: princes and his servants. So the Susa Palace, interestingly enough,
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Speaker 1: was actually found, though it is pretty much decimated. The
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Speaker 1: Susa Palace would have been the wintering palace for the
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Speaker 1: kings because Susa was incredibly hot during the summer months,
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Speaker 1: so no king wanted to go there during the summer.
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Speaker 1: They only wanted to go during the winter. And the
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Speaker 1: Susa Palace is located nowadays approximately one hundred and fifty
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Speaker 1: miles north of the Persian Gulf and also due east
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Speaker 1: of ancient to Babylon, and it was excavated by French
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Speaker 1: archaeologists back in eighteen eighty four. So it says in
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Speaker 1: the third year of his reign, he made a feast
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Speaker 1: for all his princes and his servants, the army of
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Speaker 1: Persia and media, the nobles and princes and the provinces
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Speaker 1: being before him. He displayed the riches of his glorious
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Speaker 1: kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty for many days,
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Speaker 1: even one hundred and eighty days. So for six months straight,
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Speaker 1: this king is showing off everything that he owns. There's
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Speaker 1: a lot of speculation as to how a feast could
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Speaker 1: go on for that long. Some of the things I
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Speaker 1: read online was he was only showing officials of other
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Speaker 1: countries his country, like Persia, and like touring them around
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Speaker 1: and giving them feasts, and so that took six months
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Speaker 1: to tour all of Persia. There's also some other speculation
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Speaker 1: that maybe he gave a feast to every official that
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Speaker 1: he had in rotation, and so not every single official
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Speaker 1: for six months straight was banqueting every single night, but
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Speaker 1: just a rotation, everybody got the chance to feast with
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Speaker 1: the king at least once. But whatever this was, it
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Speaker 1: went on for a very long period of time. And
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Speaker 1: then at the end of those six months, it says
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Speaker 1: that the king in verse five made a seven day
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Speaker 1: feast for all the people who are present in Susa
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Speaker 1: the palace, both great and small, in the court of
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Speaker 1: the garden of the King's palace, So everybody that lived
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Speaker 1: in the Susa region was invited to this grand feast, everybody,
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Speaker 1: and this feast would have been located, it says, in
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Speaker 1: the court of the garden of the King's palace. And
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Speaker 1: if you read the works of Josephus, he actually says
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Speaker 1: that a gigantic tent was set up in the king's garden.
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Speaker 1: And gardens back in these days, like the Babylonians started
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Speaker 1: the gardens and began to perfect them, but the Persians
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Speaker 1: made them into essentially like a beautiful art form where
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Speaker 1: there'd be canals and exotic animals and flowers of every
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Speaker 1: kind and trees, and you know, these gardens were just
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Speaker 1: a work of art. And they were huge too. I
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Speaker 1: read somewhere that people could go in vacation in these
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Speaker 1: gardens like that is how big and beautiful they were,
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Speaker 1: and so the king set up this gigantic tent that
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Speaker 1: was big enough to hold a feast for all of
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Speaker 1: the men in Susa, whether they were rich or poor,
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Speaker 1: every single person was invited to this weak, long feast.
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Speaker 1: It says in verse six that there were hangings of
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Speaker 1: white and blue material, fastened with cords of fine linen
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Speaker 1: and purple to silver rings and marble pillars. The couches
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Speaker 1: were of gold and silver on a pavement of red, white, yellow,
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Speaker 1: and black marble. So this shows the opulas of this
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Speaker 1: grand feast and how wealthy the King of Persia really
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Speaker 1: was to set up this beautiful tent with all of
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Speaker 1: these hangings, to have all these people be able to
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Speaker 1: sit on couches made of gold and silver. And when
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Speaker 1: I looked that up, apparently these couches were pure gold
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Speaker 1: and silver, not just like gold and silver plated, but
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Speaker 1: like truly made of gold and silver. And then on
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Speaker 1: top of those couches would have been these beautiful linens
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Speaker 1: that people would sit on so that it would be
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Speaker 1: more comfortable, because I imagine sitting on metal, no matter
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Speaker 1: how beautiful it is, is very uncomfortable. And it also
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Speaker 1: mentions in verse seven that they gave these people drinks
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Speaker 1: in golden vessels of various kinds, including royal wine in
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Speaker 1: abundance according to the bounty of the king. So the
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Speaker 1: king was giving out these gold vessels full of grape wine.
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Speaker 1: And apparently grape wine in the region of Sousa is
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Speaker 1: like impossible to because grapes just don't grow over there,
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Speaker 1: so the grapes had to be imported, which shows the
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Speaker 1: bounty of everything that King Xerxes is doing. He is
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Speaker 1: giving the people something they probably never had before, something
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Speaker 1: that really only belonged to the king, which was grape wine.
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Speaker 1: And it also says, in accordance with the law, the
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Speaker 1: drinking was not compulsory. For so the king had instructed
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Speaker 1: all the officials of his house that they should do
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Speaker 1: according to every man's pleasure. So according to the historian Josephus,
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Speaker 1: and you're gonna hear me reference him quite a bit
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Speaker 1: actually as we go through the Book of Esther, because
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Speaker 1: he covered Esther in some depth in his writings, and
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Speaker 1: what he has to say is actually quite interesting. Now, granted,
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Speaker 1: the writings of Josephus are not biblical, they're just history,
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Speaker 1: and they may be true, they may not be true.
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Speaker 1: I don't know, but it does give a little bit
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Speaker 1: more cultural idea as to what was going on during
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Speaker 1: the days of Queen Esther, and I guess according to Josephus,
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Speaker 1: there was a law that the Persian kings before Xerxes
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Speaker 1: passed that everybody must be drinking at every moment they
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Speaker 1: were in front of the king, like they had to
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Speaker 1: just be drinking. If the king was drinking, they had
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Speaker 1: to be drinking. If the king took a sip of wine,
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Speaker 1: then everybody in his presence also had to take a
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Speaker 1: sip of wine. But Xerxes changed this law, and he said, no,
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Speaker 1: we are not going to do that anymore. Any man
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Speaker 1: can drink as much or as little as he wants.
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Speaker 1: He does not have to be drinking when I drink.
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Speaker 1: He does not have to be constantly inebriated. So probably
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Speaker 1: a pretty good idea for him to change that law.
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Speaker 1: I can imagine it was not a very favored one
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Speaker 1: by the people, but he was probably trying to show
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Speaker 1: kindness in general and you know, get people on his
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Speaker 1: side for this campaign that he's about to do. So
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Speaker 1: now it says in verse nine that also Vashti the
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Speaker 1: queen made a feast for the women in the world
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Speaker 1: Royal House, which belonged to King Aha Saris. The men
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Speaker 1: went to King Aha Sarras's party, and the women went
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Speaker 1: to Queen Vashti's party, which was probably very similar to
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Speaker 1: the one that the men were holding. Now, ancient Persian
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Speaker 1: society was incredibly misogynistic. In fact, you see that represented
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Speaker 1: in this chapter. Blatantly. The men thought of the women
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Speaker 1: in this society as objects in a lot of cases. Now,
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Speaker 1: there were some Persian records that were found where women
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Speaker 1: could hold jobs and women could potentially be managers or
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Speaker 1: something along those lines. But this was a patriarchal society
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Speaker 1: through and through, which could have been the reason why
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Speaker 1: these two banquets were separated. Another reason is because maybe
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Speaker 1: there wasn't enough space to hold the women, and so
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Speaker 1: in a separate location they set up another tent for
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Speaker 1: the women. I don't know. It doesn't say specifically why
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Speaker 1: the two banquets were separated from each other, and I
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Speaker 1: couldn't any specific rule that ancient Persian cultures couldn't, you know,
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Speaker 1: co mingle, like the men and the women couldn't co
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Speaker 1: mingle with each other. So I don't know. I don't
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Speaker 1: know why it worked out that way. But anyway, it
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Speaker 1: says on the seventh day, in verse ten, when the
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Speaker 1: heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mahuman, Biztha, Harbona,
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Speaker 1: and a Bagtha, Zephyr and Karcas, the seven eunuchs who
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Speaker 1: served in the presence of Ahasas the king, to bring Vashti,
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Speaker 1: the queen before the king, wearing the royal crown, to
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Speaker 1: show the people and the princess her beauty, for she
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Speaker 1: was beautiful. Okay. So this feast is going on for
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Speaker 1: seven days, and on the seventh day, the last day
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Speaker 1: of the feast, it says, the king was pretty much
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Speaker 1: deeply inebriated, and he decided it would be a good
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Speaker 1: idea to show off his wife to all of these
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Speaker 1: princes and nobles and commoners that were at this feast,
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Speaker 1: because his wife was probably the last thing he held
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Speaker 1: back from these. He showed his opulence to everybody, he
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Speaker 1: showed his kingdom to everybody. He showed all the riches
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Speaker 1: that he had to everybody. And then he was thinking, man,
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Speaker 1: you know, my wife is really beautiful. I have to
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Speaker 1: bring her out and show all of these men her beauty.
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Speaker 1: And of course he is drunk out of his mind,
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Speaker 1: and he's forgetting that the royal Harem was special and
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Speaker 1: that men were not supposed to augle anybody from the
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Speaker 1: royal Harem. And even though she's the queen, she was
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Speaker 1: still technically part of the royal Harem because it mentions
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Speaker 1: these eunuchs here who would have been overseers of the harem.
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Speaker 1: But the king, because he's drunk, is like, no, Vashti
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Speaker 1: must come out and entertain these men with her extreme beauty.
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Speaker 1: In fact, she needs to be wearing the royal crown.
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Speaker 1: But it says in verse twelve that the Queen Vashti
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Speaker 1: refused to come at the king's commandment by the eunuchs. Therefore,
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Speaker 1: the king was very angry and his anger burned in him.
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Speaker 1: So there's no reason given as to why Vashti refused
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Speaker 1: to come, but contacts clues and also Persian culture tells
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Speaker 1: you that the king put Vashti between a rock and
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Speaker 1: a hard place. Basically, she could not win either way either.
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Speaker 1: She went before the king and broke the rules that
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Speaker 1: the king had put in place previously that the harem
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Speaker 1: was not for other men's eyes. Essentially, hence, why eunuchs
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Speaker 1: men unable to reproduce, were set over the harem. This
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Speaker 1: would look terrible to Vashti. Remember, she is hosting a
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Speaker 1: feast of her own. She is in front of a
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Speaker 1: ton of women, and this would have been an insult
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Speaker 1: and embarrassing for her to go to the men's side
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Speaker 1: of stuff when none of the other women were allowed to.
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Speaker 1: And also she was hosting these other women. Her image
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Speaker 1: was important to her. What were these other women going
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Speaker 1: to think of her? If she went and allowed all
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Speaker 1: of these men to augle her in the eyes of
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Speaker 1: these women, it would look like she compromised, that she
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Speaker 1: was impure, that she was willing to have the eyes
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Speaker 1: of all of these men on her. And not to mention,
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Speaker 1: she probably had to entertain these men in some way.
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Speaker 1: I don't know what that would have looked like, but
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Speaker 1: it could have been in a sexual kind of connotation.
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Speaker 1: Who knows what the King would have asked her to do.
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Speaker 1: So Queen Vashti, I would guess, stood up for her
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Speaker 1: honor and said, no, I am not coming to this
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Speaker 1: royal banquet. I have my own banquet that I must
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Speaker 1: attend to. But the King is furious at her because
19:40
Speaker 1: she embarrassed him. He gave her an order, and she
19:44
Speaker 1: directly disobeyed him in front of all of these men.
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Speaker 1: Thousands and thousands of men, by the way, would have
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Speaker 1: been under this tent, and they would have seen. I
19:53
Speaker 1: am sure that the king had just allowed his wife
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Speaker 1: to get away with this, that his wife disobeyed him.
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Speaker 1: And remember this is a patriarchal society where women did
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Speaker 1: not have very much say in anything. They kind of
20:08
Speaker 1: just had to be trophy wives, especially in the king's harem.
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Speaker 1: So Vashi was put in a terrible situation by King
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Speaker 1: Aha Siris, and she probably knew what this meant. She
20:21
Speaker 1: probably knew that she was going to be demoted, possibly
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Speaker 1: kicked out, who knows, And yet she still refused to
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Speaker 1: come to this banquet when a lot of women, I
20:33
Speaker 1: would guess wouldn't have refused. Now that's just speculation. We
20:37
Speaker 1: don't know exactly why Vashti chose not to come. It
20:40
Speaker 1: could be that she truly was disobeying the king and
20:44
Speaker 1: just was like, nah, I don't want to. I don't
20:46
Speaker 1: know why she chose not to, but yeah, so the
20:50
Speaker 1: king is furious. It says in verse thirteen that he
20:53
Speaker 1: called his wise men who knew the times for it
20:56
Speaker 1: was the king's custom to consult those who knew the
20:59
Speaker 1: law and the judgement. And next to him were these
21:03
Speaker 1: seven guys named Karshina, Shether, and Matha, Tarshish, Maris, Marsana,
21:09
Speaker 1: and Mimican, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who
21:12
Speaker 1: saw the king's face and sat first in the kingdom.
21:15
Speaker 1: And in verse fifteen, he said to them, what should
21:17
Speaker 1: we do to Queen Vashti according to the law, because
21:20
Speaker 1: she has not done the bidding of the king has
21:21
Speaker 1: aris by the eunuchs. So he's furious, you know, because
21:25
Speaker 1: he doesn't like to lose, as we can see based
21:28
Speaker 1: upon this campaign he's going to do with the Greeks.
21:32
Speaker 1: He doesn't like to lose and he doesn't want to
21:33
Speaker 1: be embarrassed. So he's furious at Queen Vashti. So he
21:37
Speaker 1: consults his wise men, which was the common thing to
21:40
Speaker 1: do before a king acted, and he says to them,
21:43
Speaker 1: what should we do to the queen because she disobeyed me?
21:47
Speaker 1: And I don't know what the law is according to
21:50
Speaker 1: this manner, And apparently it sounds like there was no
21:53
Speaker 1: law for this specific problem, which is why Xerxes needed
21:58
Speaker 1: to consult. His quote unquote wise men, and so they
22:03
Speaker 1: say specifically Mimican is mentioned here in verse sixteen, he
22:08
Speaker 1: answered the King before all the princes, Vashti the queen
22:12
Speaker 1: has not done wrong just to the King, but also
22:14
Speaker 1: to all the princes and to all the people who
22:17
Speaker 1: are in the provinces of the king Aha sarahs. So
22:20
Speaker 1: he is making this problem out to be so much
22:24
Speaker 1: bigger than it actually is, probably because again, being in
22:30
Speaker 1: a society where the men rule over their households, they
22:34
Speaker 1: were scared, maybe that the wives would go out of
22:38
Speaker 1: control because they hear that Queen Vashti stood up for herself,
22:42
Speaker 1: didn't go before the king, disobeyed the king, and if
22:45
Speaker 1: he lets her get away with it, then certainly all
22:48
Speaker 1: the wives of the kingdom would do the exact same thing,
22:51
Speaker 1: which is very very likely untrue. But these men, who
22:55
Speaker 1: are afraid of losing their positions, decide that Queen Vashti
22:59
Speaker 1: needs to be punished very severely. So he says in
23:03
Speaker 1: verse nineteen, if it pleases the King, let a royal
23:06
Speaker 1: commandment go from him, and let it be written among
23:09
Speaker 1: the laws of the Persians and the Meads, so that
23:11
Speaker 1: it can't be altered. That Vashti may never again come
23:16
Speaker 1: before King Ahasseris and let the King give her royal
23:19
Speaker 1: estate to another who is better than she. Pretty crazy.
23:24
Speaker 1: So basically, this council had fear and they exaggerated this
23:30
Speaker 1: issue into a hypothetical, you know, national crisis. I suppose
23:35
Speaker 1: that all of these men across Persia would be threatened
23:39
Speaker 1: by their wives. So crazy, so they suggest banishing Vashti
23:45
Speaker 1: basically the king divorcing her in dishonor. And I don't
23:49
Speaker 1: know exactly what this meant for women. If they were
23:52
Speaker 1: divorced by the king, could they ever be remarried. I
23:55
Speaker 1: don't know. I doubt it. I doubt anybody would ever
23:58
Speaker 1: want to marry them. Know what their situations would have been.
24:02
Speaker 1: They probably would have been in poverty for the rest
24:04
Speaker 1: of their lives, I would guess. So this was terrible
24:07
Speaker 1: to do to Vashti, to put her in that kind
24:10
Speaker 1: of situation, and then to banish her from the King's presence,
24:15
Speaker 1: to take her crown from her, to shame her in
24:20
Speaker 1: dishonor and never protect her ever again. Absolutely crazy that
24:24
Speaker 1: this is the response that these people do. But the
24:27
Speaker 1: king decides that this is a great idea because he
24:31
Speaker 1: is still very angry and he doesn't like to lose.
24:34
Speaker 1: So it says this advice pleased the king and the princes,
24:37
Speaker 1: and the king did according to the word of Memican,
24:40
Speaker 1: for he sent letters into all the king's provinces, into
24:43
Speaker 1: every province according to its writing, into every people in
24:47
Speaker 1: their language, that every man should rule his own house,
24:51
Speaker 1: speaking in the language of his own people. This was
24:55
Speaker 1: already a law in Persian society. The men were the
25:00
Speaker 1: rulers of the house, so this was unnecessary for the
25:03
Speaker 1: king to do because it was already a law. But
25:06
Speaker 1: he needed to double down, and he needed to make
25:09
Speaker 1: sure that people knew that he was acting against Vashti,
25:12
Speaker 1: that he was not going to allow anybody, no woman,
25:15
Speaker 1: to dishonor him, no person really to dishonor him. That
25:20
Speaker 1: he was to be obeyed, and every man is also
25:23
Speaker 1: to be obeyed by the wives. And he had this
25:27
Speaker 1: letter go out to all the nations that were under
25:29
Speaker 1: Persian control in their own language, so they could make
25:33
Speaker 1: sure that they understood it. And you can see the
25:37
Speaker 1: cruelty that the Persian kings really had through the books
25:42
Speaker 1: of Ezra and Nehemiah and now Esther. All of these
25:46
Speaker 1: kings in their own right were cruel men, cruel individuals
25:51
Speaker 1: who didn't care about human life. They were honestly, they
25:55
Speaker 1: were narcissists. So Vashti is banished from the king, her
26:00
Speaker 1: is taken from her, And this lovely start is just
26:03
Speaker 1: the beginning of Esther's story. So I hope you guys
26:07
Speaker 1: enjoyed the start to the Book of Esther so far.
26:09
Speaker 1: I think it really shows like it paints a great
26:12
Speaker 1: picture of who King Xerxes was just in this first chapter.
26:16
Speaker 1: He was a misogynist, He was a narcissist. He didn't
26:20
Speaker 1: like to be wrong, he didn't like to be embarrassed,
26:22
Speaker 1: he didn't like to lose. And this is an important
26:25
Speaker 1: thing to know as we move forward into the Book
26:28
Speaker 1: of Esther as to why Esther responds to certain things
26:31
Speaker 1: the way that she does, and the fear that she
26:34
Speaker 1: seems to have with her husband. Even though a lot
26:37
Speaker 1: of like movies that you see about Esther really like
26:39
Speaker 1: to paint Xerxes is this like beacon of kindness And
26:43
Speaker 1: hope he's not. He is a terrible husband in every
26:49
Speaker 1: single way that he could possibly be. Really, Now, faithful listeners,
26:52
Speaker 1: before I let you go with a happy listening and
26:54
Speaker 1: God bless please listen to this last sponsored ad for today.
27:00
Speaker 1: I hope you guys have a fantastic and wonderful day.
27:03
Speaker 1: Thank you for being here with me. I will see
27:05
Speaker 1: you guys tomorrow as we start the Book of First Peter,
27:08
Speaker 1: which I'm looking forward to that book as well. The
27:10
Speaker 1: writings of Peter are very unique, very different than a
27:14
Speaker 1: lot of the other writings that we've seen so far
27:17
Speaker 1: in the New Testament. Peter has a unique way of
27:20
Speaker 1: expressing his message, so I'm excited to dive into that
27:23
Speaker 1: book with you guys tomorrow. And by the way, I
27:26
Speaker 1: forgot to share this earlier. I am now officially halfway
27:31
Speaker 1: through the Bible, now that Season eleven is done with
27:36
Speaker 1: Ezra and Nehemia, because there are sixty six books in
27:39
Speaker 1: the Bible and I have thirty I think thirty one
27:43
Speaker 1: left to go. So yeah, seven years, you know, seven years,
27:46
Speaker 1: I've gone through half the Bible. So I don't know
27:49
Speaker 1: what that means for the future, maybe another seven years
27:53
Speaker 1: before I'm fully through the whole Bible, which, by the way,
27:56
Speaker 1: in three days it's the seven year anniversary of the podcast.
28:00
Speaker 1: So thanks for being here with me through this entire time,
28:03
Speaker 1: and I hope you guys tune in tomorrow for the
28:05
Speaker 1: New Testament side of stuff, happy listening, and God bless.
28:14
Speaker 1: I just want to take a second to thank the
28:16
Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with me on
28:18
Speaker 1: the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if you go to
28:20
Speaker 1: lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of other faith
28:23
Speaker 1: centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
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Speaker 1: Bible study, parenting, and more.