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Esther 6 - Haman is Humiliated · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, howdy and good morning, faithful listeners, and
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  Speaker 1: welcome to the Bible Explained podcast on this absolutely lovely
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  Speaker 1: Wednesday morning. And today we are in Esther chapter six,
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  Speaker 1: and I am so thrilled to talk about this chapter
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  Speaker 1: with you guys because it is so, so funny. You're
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  Speaker 1: going to see what I mean when we get into it.
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  Speaker 1: It is probably one of the funniest chapters in in
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  Speaker 1: the entire Bible, and I very, very much enjoy this
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  Speaker 1: chapter specifically. So we'll get into Esther chapter 6 and
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  Speaker 1: the hilarity that is about to ensue right after this
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  Speaker 1: first message from a sponsor. All right, hopefully you got
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  Speaker 1: your Bible open and you are in Esther chapter 6. Now,
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  Speaker 1: of course, if you can't read the Bible with me,
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  Speaker 1: I completely understand, especially if you're commuting to work or
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  Speaker 1: driving or working. Obviously, you can't read the Bible along
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  Speaker 1: with me. But I always highly recommend it to you
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  Speaker 1: faithful listeners that you do read the Bible later on
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  Speaker 1: if you get the chance to open it up and
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  Speaker 1: check me, you know, to make sure that I'm really
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  Speaker 1: saying what is said inside Scripture. That is very important.
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  Speaker 1: Scripture is the ultimate authority. So that is why I
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  Speaker 1: always encourage you guys to grab your Bibles and read
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  Speaker 1: right along with me. So let's read Esther chapter six,
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  Speaker 1: the entire chapter together. I'll be reading this as usual
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  Speaker 1: from the WEB, but at the end of the episode,
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  Speaker 1: I will switch over to the NIV to talk about
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  Speaker 1: some verses from Proverbs 16, just to let you guys
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  Speaker 1: know about that. So let's read Esther six, the entire
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  Speaker 1: thing together. On that night, the king couldn't sleep. He
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  Speaker 1: commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be brought,
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  Speaker 1: and they were read to the king. It was found
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  Speaker 1: written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two
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  Speaker 1: of the king's eunuchs who were doorkeepers who had tried
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  Speaker 1: to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. The king said, what
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  Speaker 1: honor and dignity has been given to Mordecai for this?
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  Speaker 1: Then the king's servants who attended him said, nothing has
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  Speaker 1: been done for him. The king said, who is in
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  Speaker 1: the court? Now Haman had come into the outer court
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  Speaker 1: of the king's house to speak to the king about
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  Speaker 1: hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
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  Speaker 1: The king's servant said to him, behold, Haman stands in
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  Speaker 1: the court. The king said, let him come in. So
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  Speaker 1: Haman came in. The king said to him, what shall
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  Speaker 1: be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?
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  Speaker 1: Now Haman said in his heart, who would the king
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  Speaker 1: delight to honor more than myself? So Haman said to
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  Speaker 1: the king, for the man whom the king delights to honor,
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  Speaker 1: let royal clothing be brought, which the king uses to
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  Speaker 1: wear and the horse that the king rides on and
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  Speaker 1: on the head of which a royal crown is set.
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  Speaker 1: Let the clothing and the horse be delivered to the
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  Speaker 1: hand of one of the king's most noble princes that
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  Speaker 1: they may array the man whom the king delights to
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  Speaker 1: honor with them. and have him ride on horseback throughout
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  Speaker 1: the city square, and proclaim before him, Thus it shall
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  Speaker 1: be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.
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  Speaker 1: Then the king said to Haman, Hurry and take the
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  Speaker 1: clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do
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  Speaker 1: this for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate.
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  Speaker 1: Let nothing fail out of all that you have spoken.
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  Speaker 1: Then Haman took the clothing and the horse and arrayed Mordecai,
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  Speaker 1: and had him ride through the city square, and proclaimed
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  Speaker 1: before him, Thus it shall be done to the man
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  Speaker 1: whom the king delights to honor. Mordecai came back to
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  Speaker 1: the king's gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning
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  Speaker 1: and having his head covered. Haman recounted to Zeresh's wife
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  Speaker 1: and all his friends everything that had happened to him.
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  Speaker 1: Then his wise men and Zeresh's wife said to him,
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  Speaker 1: If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is
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  Speaker 1: of Jewish descent, then you shall not prevail against him,
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  Speaker 1: but you will surely fall before him. While they were
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  Speaker 1: yet talking with him, the king's eunuchs came and hurried
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  Speaker 1: to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of funny chapters in the Bible, but
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  Speaker 1: there's very few that can compare to the funniness of
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  Speaker 1: this chapter. I just absolutely love this chapter. And when
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  Speaker 1: I was reading it, I think you guys could tell
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  Speaker 1: that I was having a hard time not cracking up.
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  Speaker 1: So in verse one, it says, on that night, the
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  Speaker 1: king couldn't sleep. So basically that evening after Esther invited
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  Speaker 1: Xerxes and Haman to her banquet, King Xerxes or King Ahasuerus,
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  Speaker 1: as he's called in Esther, was having a really hard
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  Speaker 1: time falling asleep. And even though God's name is not
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  Speaker 1: mentioned once in the book of Esther, you can certainly
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  Speaker 1: see how all of this was providential. And God was
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  Speaker 1: definitely the one who was keeping Xerxes from falling asleep.
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  Speaker 1: Because this is the one thing that kind of turns
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  Speaker 1: the tide of Esther's entire story. The fact that King
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  Speaker 1: Ahasuerus could not sleep that evening. And why couldn't he
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  Speaker 1: sleep after he had been feasting and joyfully and having
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  Speaker 1: lots of wine, which typically puts somebody to sleep? How
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  Speaker 1: is it that Ahasuerus was unable to fall asleep? Well,
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  Speaker 1: it could be, and this is not stated in scripture,
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  Speaker 1: it could be that King Ahasuerus was honestly curious as
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  Speaker 1: to what Esther needed. Because whatever Esther needed was big
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  Speaker 1: enough that she was willing to break the law and
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  Speaker 1: risk her own life in order to see Xerxes that
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  Speaker 1: very evening. And Xerxes, even though he seems pretty aloof,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure was not... completely stupid, like he was the
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  Speaker 1: king of a very powerful nation. So I'm sure he
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  Speaker 1: was smart in things that really mattered to him. And
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  Speaker 1: it could be that when Esther broke the law to
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  Speaker 1: come see him, knowing that she could die, Xerxes was wondering,
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  Speaker 1: what could possibly be big enough for my queen to
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  Speaker 1: break the law in that way? And maybe that's the
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  Speaker 1: reason he couldn't sleep that night. He might have been
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  Speaker 1: pondering over this stuff. And as he's thinking about it,
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  Speaker 1: he's wondering, what would Esther find so big? And maybe
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  Speaker 1: that's why he had the book of the Chronicles brought
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  Speaker 1: out to be read to him to see what kind
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  Speaker 1: of oversight he missed, maybe. Or it could be that
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  Speaker 1: King Xerxes didn't even think about Esther, just couldn't sleep
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  Speaker 1: that evening because it was God keeping him awake. And
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  Speaker 1: he brought the book of records out to sleep too,
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  Speaker 1: because it was super boring and It could also be
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  Speaker 1: that maybe because he couldn't sleep, he decided to get
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  Speaker 1: some work done and had his attendants bring in the
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  Speaker 1: Book of the Chronicles so that he could work that
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  Speaker 1: evening instead of sleeping. We don't know why he brought
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  Speaker 1: the Book of Records out, but it was certainly God-ordained.
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  Speaker 1: And as they're being read to him, it was found
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  Speaker 1: written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two
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  Speaker 1: of the king's eunuchs, who were doorkeepers who had tried
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  Speaker 1: to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. Now, you guys may
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  Speaker 1: remember us talking about that previously, because that was only
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  Speaker 1: a few chapters ago, where Mordecai learned of a plot
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  Speaker 1: against King Ahasuerus. Don't forget, Mordecai, who was the only
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  Speaker 1: close relative of Esther and also her adoptive father, went
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  Speaker 1: to the king's court every single day to see how
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  Speaker 1: Esther was getting along. And he would spend his days
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  Speaker 1: in the king's court, just kind of moseying about, wondering
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  Speaker 1: what's going on, listening to the gossip, just seeing how
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  Speaker 1: Esther is. And Mordecai ended up hearing somehow about a
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  Speaker 1: plot that was taking place between two eunuchs, this guy
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  Speaker 1: named Bigthana and Teresh. And by the way, the eunuchs
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  Speaker 1: were the ones who were in charge of the king's harem.
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  Speaker 1: And so it could very well be that's the reason
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  Speaker 1: Mordecai heard about this plot was because he was more
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  Speaker 1: associated with the eunuchs because that was what he was
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  Speaker 1: the most interested in, essentially where Esther was staying and
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  Speaker 1: who was in charge of her, who was around her.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe that's how Mordecai ended up catching wind of
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  Speaker 1: this plot against King Ahasuerus. So it turned out that
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  Speaker 1: these two eunuchs named Bigthana and Teresh were in fact
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  Speaker 1: guilty of of trying to plot against the king's life.
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  Speaker 1: And so these two men were put to death. And
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  Speaker 1: it was written down in the king's records that Mordecai
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  Speaker 1: was the one who found out about this plot. But
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  Speaker 1: nothing was actually done for Mordecai. It was just written
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  Speaker 1: down the records. And it was kind of an oversight.
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  Speaker 1: The king didn't do anything about it, probably because he
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  Speaker 1: was too busy getting rid of the two guys that
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  Speaker 1: plotted against his life. So now this is being read
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  Speaker 1: to the king again. And he thinks about it. He's like,
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  Speaker 1: What honor and dignity has been given to Mordecai for
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  Speaker 1: all of this? Well, actually, nothing was done for him.
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  Speaker 1: So this probably makes the king start thinking, what can
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  Speaker 1: I do for Mordecai to give him this honor for
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  Speaker 1: essentially saving my life? Now, don't forget, King Ahasuerus did
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  Speaker 1: not know that Mordecai was related to Queen Esther. He
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  Speaker 1: might have known that there was a connection there, that
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  Speaker 1: he had helped raise her because Esther had been an orphan,
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  Speaker 1: but he certainly did not know that they were related.
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  Speaker 1: And I'll explain why in a moment. So as the
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  Speaker 1: king is pondering all of this, he asks one of
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  Speaker 1: his attendants, he's like, who is out in the court?
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  Speaker 1: So most likely this was the early morning that the
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  Speaker 1: king had stayed up all night listening to the books
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  Speaker 1: of the records. And when he realized that there was
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  Speaker 1: an oversight on his watch, He asked if there was
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  Speaker 1: any of his wise men or princes out in the courtyard.
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  Speaker 1: And it turned out that there was one of them
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  Speaker 1: out in the courtyard. It was Haman. And the reason
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  Speaker 1: Haman was in the court so early in the morning
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  Speaker 1: was because he was super excited about killing Mordecai, the
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  Speaker 1: same man that the king wanted to honor just now,
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  Speaker 1: because Haman hated Mordecai. Because Mordecai wouldn't give Haman the
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  Speaker 1: honor that he felt he was due. Mordecai wouldn't bow
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  Speaker 1: the knee when he saw Haman. Mordecai wouldn't give him homage.
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  Speaker 1: He wouldn't worship him like everybody else would whenever Haman
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  Speaker 1: passed by. And so he hated Mordecai. And he also
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  Speaker 1: hated the fact that Mordecai was a Jew, even on
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  Speaker 1: top of all of that. Because don't forget, Haman was
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  Speaker 1: of the Agagite clan. clan who absolutely hated the Jewish people.
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  Speaker 1: And we talked about all of that on a previous episode.
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  Speaker 1: So Haman had a few reasons why he wanted to
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  Speaker 1: kill Mordecai. And he actually got up early that morning
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  Speaker 1: to go into the king's court so that he could
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  Speaker 1: ask King Ahasuerus, if he could kill Mordecai that very day.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what it actually says in verse four. The king said,
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  Speaker 1: who is in the court? Now Haman had come into
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  Speaker 1: the outer court of the king's house to speak to
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  Speaker 1: the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he
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  Speaker 1: had prepared for him. So yeah, the previous day, right
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  Speaker 1: after Queen Esther's banquet, Haman had gone home and bragged
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  Speaker 1: about how wonderful he was, how the queen had invited
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  Speaker 1: only him and the king to this really awesome banquet
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  Speaker 1: and how he was invited again that night and how
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  Speaker 1: rich he was and how powerful he was and how
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  Speaker 1: he had so many sons. But then he was like,
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  Speaker 1: but man, I just hate that Mordecai guy so much
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  Speaker 1: that I'm just, I just want his death. And so
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  Speaker 1: his wife and some of his closest friends advised him
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  Speaker 1: to make this 75 foot tall gallows that he could
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  Speaker 1: hang Mordecai on and go early the next morning to
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  Speaker 1: ask the king to let him hang Mordecai on the gallows.
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  Speaker 1: So that is why Haman is in the court. So
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  Speaker 1: the king invites Haman in, in verse five. And so
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  Speaker 1: it says in verse six that Haman came in and
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  Speaker 1: the king said to him, what shall be done to
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  Speaker 1: the man whom the king delights to honor? And so
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't even sound like the king said hello to
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  Speaker 1: Haman or really had any kind of like small talk
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  Speaker 1: with him. But essentially the moment Haman enters through the
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  Speaker 1: door and bows down to the king, The king says
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  Speaker 1: to him, Haman, my wise man, what shall be done
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  Speaker 1: to the man that I want to honor? What should
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  Speaker 1: be done to him? And Haman, as prideful and arrogant
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  Speaker 1: as he was, remember the previous night, he'd just been
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  Speaker 1: boasting to all of his friends how powerful he was.
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  Speaker 1: He believes in his heart. Verse six, who would the
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  Speaker 1: king delight to honor more than myself? So Haman says
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  Speaker 1: to the king, for the man whom the king delights
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  Speaker 1: to honor, Let royal clothing be brought, which the king
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  Speaker 1: uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on,
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  Speaker 1: and on the head of which a royal crown is set.
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  Speaker 1: And let the clothing and the horse be delivered to
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  Speaker 1: the hand of one of the king's most noble princes,
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  Speaker 1: that they may array the man whom the king delights
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  Speaker 1: to honor with them, and have him ride on horseback
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  Speaker 1: throughout the city square and proclaim before him, thus it
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  Speaker 1: shall be done to the man whom the king delights
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  Speaker 1: to honor. So essentially the advice is, is that the
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  Speaker 1: king dress up the man that he wants to honor
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  Speaker 1: in his own beautiful clothing. Give him the king's very
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  Speaker 1: finest steed on which a royal crown is set. So
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  Speaker 1: that crown wouldn't have been like on the head of Mordecai.
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  Speaker 1: It would have been on the head of the horse
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  Speaker 1: because that was common actually in Persian culture. The king's
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  Speaker 1: horses would be arrayed with like crowns and things. And
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  Speaker 1: there's actually many reliefs that have been found here. picturing
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  Speaker 1: horses with crowns on their heads. So it would have
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  Speaker 1: been some sort of crest that showed that it was
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  Speaker 1: specifically the king's horse. And so this man is arrayed
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  Speaker 1: in the king's own clothing, being led around by the
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  Speaker 1: king's own horse, by one of the king's top princes
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  Speaker 1: or wise men, and brought around the city square, almost
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  Speaker 1: like in a parade type fashion, yelling out, this is
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  Speaker 1: what is done to a man that the king delights
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  Speaker 1: to honor. So basically all of this praise and recognition
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  Speaker 1: from the entire city of Susa. And guess what? King
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  Speaker 1: Ahasuerus loves it. He's like, that is a great idea.
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  Speaker 1: So Haman, go ahead and take the clothes and also
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  Speaker 1: the horse and give these things to Mordecai and then
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  Speaker 1: take the morning to walk him around the city square
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  Speaker 1: proclaiming what you just said. And so Haman has to
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  Speaker 1: do it. He has to go over. to Mordecai and
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  Speaker 1: give him all these things and set him up on
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  Speaker 1: the horse and everything. Oh my gosh, like how embarrassing
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  Speaker 1: that must have been for Haman. You can't even like imagine,
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  Speaker 1: I am sure, the amount of humiliation that Haman felt
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  Speaker 1: having to do this very thing. And obviously his plans
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  Speaker 1: were completely foiled because he had gone to the king
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  Speaker 1: to ask for Mordecai's head. And now he is arraying
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  Speaker 1: Mordecai in the king's own clothing, setting him up on
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  Speaker 1: the king's own horse, and leading him around the city
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  Speaker 1: like a servant, walking in front of him, proclaiming that
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  Speaker 1: Mordecai is the man that the king delights to honor.
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  Speaker 1: So this is exactly what is done. And Mordecai goes
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  Speaker 1: along with it. You know, he sets up on the horse,
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  Speaker 1: he puts the king's clothes on, he gets this honor
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  Speaker 1: from the king, but he remains humble. Because Mordecai, it
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  Speaker 1: says in verse 12, after all of this hullabaloo is done,
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  Speaker 1: he comes back to the king's gate. basically just doing
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  Speaker 1: his daily normal routine as he's always done. But Haman,
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand, hurries back to his house mourning
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  Speaker 1: and having his head covered. So either he was covering
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  Speaker 1: his head because that was the typical like mourning process
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  Speaker 1: that Persians would do in these days, or it was
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  Speaker 1: because he was so ashamed he didn't want his friends
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  Speaker 1: to confront him on the way home. He had to
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  Speaker 1: hide his face under the brown paper bag. So Haman,
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  Speaker 1: in his complete chagrin, goes home to Zeresh, his wife,
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  Speaker 1: and he calls all of his friends and tells them
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  Speaker 1: everything that has happened to him. Now, don't forget, Haman
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  Speaker 1: was a very powerful person. He was essentially one of
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  Speaker 1: the king's top princes. So he was a politician in
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  Speaker 1: and of himself, and he also had many wise men.
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  Speaker 1: So he called his wise men to him and also Zeresh,
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  Speaker 1: his wife. And here's what they said to him. If Mordecai,
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  Speaker 1: before whom you've begun to fall, is of Jewish descent,
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  Speaker 1: you will not prevail against him, but you will surely
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  Speaker 1: fall before him. So actually, this book, interestingly enough, is
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  Speaker 1: kind of the book of women of reason, right? Even
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  Speaker 1: though Zeresh, Haman's wife, was initially not very smart, she
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  Speaker 1: is very smart in this chapter because she tells Mordecai, look,
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  Speaker 1: you are an Agagite and the Jews historically have beat
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  Speaker 1: your people once before. And if we know anything about
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish people, they are dangerous. And so if you
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  Speaker 1: have begun to fall to Mordecai already, then certainly you
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  Speaker 1: are going to fall to him even further very soon.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what they say to him. They essentially prophesy
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  Speaker 1: his downfall. And it turns out that Mordecai was so
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  Speaker 1: traumatized by everything that had happened that two eunuchs had
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  Speaker 1: to come get him hurriedly to bring him to the
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  Speaker 1: banquet that Queen Esther had prepared for them that evening.
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  Speaker 1: Because don't forget, he had that whole banquet he is
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  Speaker 1: supposed to go to at Queen Esther's home. but he
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  Speaker 1: didn't show up and the eunuchs had to hurry and
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  Speaker 1: come and get him, which shows how mortified Haman really was,
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  Speaker 1: that he didn't even want to go to the queen's
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  Speaker 1: banquet that very evening. And that's really important to note though,
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  Speaker 1: because had Mordecai just gone to the queen's banquet without
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  Speaker 1: having the eunuchs come and get him, the eunuchs never
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  Speaker 1: would have seen the 75 foot tall gallows in his backyard,
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  Speaker 1: which probably spurs on the next chapter that we're going
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  Speaker 1: to read, where Haman is exposed, not to give too
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  Speaker 1: much away there, if you guys don't know the story.
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  Speaker 1: But the one thing that I want to talk about
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: before I end today's episode is why would King Xerxes
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: honor Mordecai, a Jew, when he had just like a
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: month prior issued the decree that all Jews would die
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: 11 months into the future? Like he literally issued the
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: genocide of all the Jews. So why is it that
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: he would allow a Jewish man, Mordecai, which he knew
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: specifically was a Jew? Because that's what it says right
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: here in verse 10. The king said to Haman, hurry
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: and take the clothing and the horse, as you have said,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: and do this for Mordecai, the Jew who sits at
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: the king's gate. Let nothing fail of all that you
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: have spoken. So what gives when it comes to King Xerxes'
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: behavior here? Did he like the Jews, hate the Jews?
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: What is going on here? Well, there's two ways that
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: people have thought about this. The first is that King
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Xerxes really had no clue about anything Haman was doing
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: when it came to that genocide. It could be that
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Haman went to King Xerxes, told him about this bad
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: group of people, and Xerxes was just like, oh, okay, whatever.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: I don't care. Just do it. And didn't even learn
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: who Haman wanted to kill and just allowed him to
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: do whatever he wanted because he trusted Haman. So very
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: well could be that Xerxes didn't even know that it
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: was the Jewish people that Haman was targeting. Now, that's
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: pretty stupid for a king to do, but it does
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: make a little bit of sense because if you go
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: back to Esther chapter, what is it, four? When all
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: of this, or I'm sorry, Esther chapter three, when all
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: of this was going on, it never says that Haman
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: mentions the nationality of the people he wanted to destroy.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Here's what Esther three, verse eight says. Haman said to
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: King Ahasuerus, there is a certain people scattered abroad and
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: and their laws are different from other people's. And they
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: don't keep the king's laws, therefore it is not for
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: the king's profit to allow them to remain. So if
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: it pleases the king, let it be written that they
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: are destroyed. And I will pay 10,000 talents of silver
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: into the hands of those who are in charge of
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the king's business. So the king took his ring from
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: his hand, gave it to Haman, son of Hamadatha, the Agagite,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the Jew's enemy. And the king said to Haman, the
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: silver is given to you, the people also to do
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: with them as it seems good. So there you go.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: It could be that the king just trusted Haman completely,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: you know, thought of him as his best friend, his
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: best wise man, I don't know, and just truly believed
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: that Haman knew what he was doing and gave his
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: signet ring to Haman to do whatever he wanted. So
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: it could be that Xerxes truly didn't know that the
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Jews were the ones that Haman was targeting. And that's
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: why he went ahead and honored Mordecai the Jew. That's
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: one way to look at it. Another way to look
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: at it is that perhaps the king knew that Haman
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: was targeting the Jews, but had lied to him. And
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: he was kind of getting back at Haman for the lie.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Because again, going to Esther 3, when Haman first approaches
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: the king about this issue, He lies about the Jews
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: and he says that these people aren't loyal to the king,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: that they don't keep the king's laws. It is not
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: for the king's prophet to allow them to remain. And
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: now the king is seeing firsthand a Jewish man, Mordecai,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: who had actually saved his life and was very loyal
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: to the king. So it could be that out of
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: a little bit of anger, King Ahasuerus forced Haman to
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: honor Mordecai, the Jew, because Haman had lied. And the
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: king found out that Jewish people, at least Mordecai, was
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: very loyal and very kind and an honorable member of society.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: But the last way to interpret this is that King
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Xerxes did in fact know that Haman was targeting the Jews,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: knew that Mordecai was a Jew, obviously, and just didn't
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: care because Xerxes was just a really aloof person. And
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: he didn't even think about it. And it could be
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: that he was just excited that Mordecai had saved his life,
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: saw that there was an oversight and was like, what
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: can I do to fix this? Didn't care how Haman felt,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: didn't even think about how Haman felt and just told
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Haman to go do this thing. It very well could
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: have been that as well. But we don't know exactly
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: what Xerxes was thinking through all of this. We don't
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: know exactly why he was kept awake at night other
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: than the fact that God had ordained that. And we
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: certainly don't know why he chose to have the records
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: brought out and read to him. But what we do
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: know is that God was planning all of this. And
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: so I leave you guys with a few verses from
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Proverbs 16. Firstly, verse four, it says, And then jumping
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: to verse nine in the same proverb, it says, And lastly,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: in Proverbs 16, all the way at the end, verse 33,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: It says, the lot is cast into the lap, but
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: it's every decision is from the Lord. Well, faithful listeners,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: thank you for sticking with me to the end of
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Esther chapter six, and I hope you guys liked it.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Before I wrap up today's episode with a couple closing things,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: please listen to this message from a sponsor. So this
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: was such a fun chapter. I've been enjoying very much
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: going through the book of Esther with all of you
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners. And I hope you guys have been enjoying
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: it right along with me. It's just been fun to
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: talk about because so many silly things and also very
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: sad things happen in the book of Esther. But it's
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: just an amazing story of a woman having to deal
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: with the Persian government while maintaining her faith in God.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: And I think that this really ties back actually to
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: what we talked about yesterday on the podcast over on
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: the New Testament side of stuff when we talked about
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: how to submit to governing authorities in a pagan government?
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: Is it even something we should do biblically? So we
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: talked about all of that yesterday on 1 Peter. So
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: if you haven't listened to that episode yet, I highly
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: recommend that you do. And I will link it in
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the description of this episode. But faithful listeners, I hope
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: you all have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: I will see all of you guys tomorrow for another
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: episode from 1 Peter, where we'll talk more about the
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: topic of submission. So I hope to see all of
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: you guys over there tomorrow, 6 a.m. or whenever you
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: choose to wake up and listen. Until tomorrow, happy listening
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: and God bless. I just wanna take a second to
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: me on the Bible Explained podcast. In fact, if you
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: in their network. They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: and more.