Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 873. Bible Study: Esther 2 & 3 (A Jew replaces the Queen in Ancient Iran? )

Transcript

873. Bible Study: Esther 2 & 3 (A Jew replaces the Queen in Ancient Iran? ) · Faith by annm2705

0:00
Chapter 2 from the book of Esther.
0:03
First, let's pray, dear Lord, please be with us and open our
0:07
eyes to hear what you've inspired this author to write
0:12
that we may learn from it and apply it appropriately and
0:17
understand the purpose behind this chapter In Esther we ask
0:23
this in Jesus name, Amen. So this is talking about Esther
0:28
made queen. Later when king Xerxes fury had
0:33
subsided he remembered Vashti what and what she had done and
0:39
he had decreed and what he had decreed about her.
0:44
So Vashti made the king upset because she wouldn't do what he
0:50
wanted her to do. So some nobles talked to King
0:56
Xerxes and said, hey, why don't you replace her?
1:00
And so he thought that was a good idea.
1:02
And this is about what? This is what's about to happen.
1:07
So then the King's personal attendance proposed.
1:10
Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the
1:14
king. Let the king appoint
1:16
commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these
1:20
beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Sousa.
1:26
So Susa is located in modern day Iran.
1:32
It is. Let's see it, It's Kusistan,
1:37
Iran. That's where it's located today.
1:39
Just so you have an idea that we're talking of what we're
1:42
talking about here. It's the ancient land of Iran,
1:48
so let the king appoint commissioners in every province
1:51
of his realm to all of these beautiful young women into the
1:54
harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the
1:58
care of Higai Higai, the King's eunuch who is in charge of the
2:03
women, and let beauty treatments men be given to them.
2:07
Then let the young women who pleases the king be queen
2:12
instead of Vashti. This advice appealed to the king
2:16
and he followed it. Now there was in the citadel of
2:20
Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin.
2:25
So if we've been reading the Bible and we know Paul is one
2:31
who came from the tribe of Benjamin and not that it relates
2:35
to this at all, but this is a this is says a Jew from the
2:40
tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai, son of Jayar, the son
2:47
of Shemiah, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from
2:53
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, among those
2:58
taken captive with Jehoiachin, king of Judah.
3:02
So this ties it all back to he was one of the Exiles that had
3:08
to leave Judah. That was the southern tribe.
3:11
He was that that second one. That was when I say the second
3:15
one. The Kingdom of Israel was first
3:18
conquered by the Assyrians and then later the Kingdom of Judah
3:24
which consisted of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin.
3:27
They were later than captured or sent into exile to modern day
3:33
Iraq where Babylon is. And then I think it was Medes
3:38
and Persians which are modern day Iran then conquered the
3:42
Babylonians. So they took over.
3:46
So here's here's where we are today.
3:48
They there is a Jew who is now located in modern day Iran and
3:55
he happens to be from the tribe of Benjamin.
3:58
So it says Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah whom he had
4:03
brought up because she had neither father nor mother.
4:07
So we find out that now Hadassah is his cousin.
4:15
This young woman there, there was apparently a big age
4:19
difference because it seems like he's he's treating her more like
4:22
a father than a cousin. But this is this is, I mean, I
4:29
don't want to read too much into it either, but says this young
4:32
woman who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and
4:37
was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his
4:41
own daughter when her father and mother died, so even though this
4:47
was his cousin, he seems like it might be.
4:50
He might be older than her, much older to consider her a daughter
4:54
rather than like a sister because they are cousins.
4:57
But so he's older than her. He's like a father figure, and
5:00
her mom and dad had died, so he took her in.
5:04
When the King's order in edict had been proclaimed, many young
5:08
women were brought to the Citadel of Susa and put under
5:11
the care of Higaya. Esther was also taken to the
5:15
King's palace and entrusted to Hegei, who had charge of the
5:20
harem. She pleased him and won his
5:22
favor immediately. He provided her with her beauty
5:26
treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven female
5:32
attendants selected from the King's palace, and moved her and
5:37
her attendants into the best place in the harem.
5:41
Esther had neither had not Esther had not revealed her
5:46
nationality and family background because Mordecai had
5:51
forbidden her to do so. Every day he walked back and
5:55
forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was
6:00
and what was happening to her. Before a young woman's turn came
6:06
to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete 12 months of beauty
6:12
treatments prescribed for women, six months with oil of myrrh,
6:18
and six with perfumes and cosmetics.
6:22
And this is how she would go to the king.
6:25
Anything she wanted was given to her to take with her from the
6:29
harem to the King's palace. In the evening she would go
6:33
there, and in the morning return to another part of the harem to
6:38
the care of Shashkas, the King's eunuch, who was in charge of the
6:45
concubines. She would not return to the king
6:49
unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name.
6:54
When the turn came for Esther, the young woman Mordecai had
6:58
adopted the daughter of his uncle Abihail to go to the king.
7:03
She asked for nothing other than what Haggai, the King's eunuch
7:08
who was in charge of the harem, suggested, and Esther won the
7:12
favour of everyone who saw her. She was taken to King Xerxes in
7:17
the royal residence in the 10th month, the month of Tibet, in
7:22
the seventh year of his reign. What I found out later is that
7:27
these months don't align with the the way that God established
7:32
the calendar, and it's kind of like the opposite.
7:37
So that kind of confused me at first, but the 10th month would
7:43
be according to this would probably be, you know, like kind
7:47
of the end of the of our winter here and just before spring.
7:54
So now verse 17. Now the king was attracted to
7:57
Esther more than any of the other woman women, and she won
8:02
his favor in approval more than any of the other virgins.
8:06
So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead
8:11
of Vashti. And the king gave a great
8:14
banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his nobles and officials.
8:19
He proclaimed a holiday through the provinces and distributed
8:23
gifts with royal liberty. When the virgins were assembled
8:29
a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the King's gate.
8:34
But Esther had kept kept secret her family background and
8:38
nationality, just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she
8:43
continued to follow Mordecai's instructions as she had done
8:47
when he was bringing her up. During the time Mordecai was
8:51
sitting at the King's gate, Big Thana and Teresh, 2 of the
8:55
King's officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and
8:59
conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
9:04
But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who
9:09
in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai.
9:14
And when the report was investigated and found to be
9:17
true, the two officials were impaled on pole.
9:23
All this was recorded in the Book of the Annals in the
9:26
presence of the King. So there is some historical
9:30
documentation of this the but that's what the Bible tells us.
9:34
So this is the end of chapter 2 and I think I'm going to go
9:38
ahead and read chapter 3 and then I actually I'll go through
9:41
the question, the Bible studies, questions and answers 1st and
9:44
see how long this is. So why is Mordecai's ancestry
9:48
given? This brief summary of Mordecai's
9:50
ancestry identifies him as it as descended from Jews taken into
9:55
Babylon, captivity by Nebuchadnezzar.
9:58
Even more, it authenticates the story to to follow, connecting
10:02
it to historical records from Judah.
10:05
Why did Esther have two names? Hadassah, meaning Myrtle, was
10:11
her Hebrew name. Esther was her Persian name.
10:16
Some think her Persian name was related to the Persian word
10:19
Stara, meaning star, or to Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess
10:26
of love and fertility. Many Hebrew exiles had two
10:31
names, including Daniel. By concealing her nationality
10:35
and family background, Esther kept her Hebrew name secret.
10:40
It makes sense that the author used her Persian name, since
10:43
this was how she would have been known even among the Jews.
10:48
Did the girls selected for the harem have any choice in the
10:51
matter? Probably not.
10:53
This decree, verses 2 through 4, demonstrates the prevailing
10:58
attitudes towards women in ancient Persian Persia are like
11:03
modern day Iran. By abducting young virgins from
11:06
all over the empire. Xerxes issued a painful reminder
11:11
to all his subjects about the quote proper behavior of women
11:16
and the supremacy of his own will.
11:20
Why did Mordecai forbid Esther to mention her nationality?
11:24
Mordecai was aware that Esther's ethnic background could put her
11:28
at a disadvantage, even in danger, because of potential
11:33
anti Jewish sentiment in the palace.
11:36
The existence of this hostility throughout the empire is
11:41
demonstrated by the large numbers of quote enemies of the
11:46
Jews. What was a Jewish girl doing in
11:49
a harem? It appears that Esther had no
11:52
choice in the matter. In keeping with the royal edict
11:56
verses 2 through 4, she was simply taken to the King's
12:00
palace along with the other virgins to await Xerxes call,
12:05
possibly for sexual favors. She made such an impression on
12:10
the king that she became more than a member of his harem.
12:14
She was named queen. Why wasn't Esther's background
12:18
investigated before she became queen?
12:21
The king was apparently so impressed with her beauty that
12:25
he did not inquire about her background.
12:27
Also, Esther had won the favor of not only the King's eunuch,
12:31
but of everyone else in the Royal Court, so it's probably
12:35
that no one questioned her appointment as queen.
12:39
Why did the virgins assemble a second time?
12:41
No one knows why there was a second assembling of the
12:44
virgins. At the very least, this second
12:47
gathering of virgins reminds the reader that Xerxes appetite for
12:51
pleasure was insatiable, that he regarded women as objects to be
12:56
possessed, and that he gave no thought to the suffering his
12:59
actions to the suffering to the suffering his actions brought on
13:05
others. Why did Mordecai sit at the
13:07
King's gate? The gate of an ancient city was
13:10
its center of commercial and legal activity.
13:14
It is likely that Mordecai had gained a position in the King's
13:18
service that kept him at the gate.
13:20
This is supported by Mordecai's association with court officials
13:25
and his knowledge of events transpiring within the palace.
13:29
Ancient records indicate a minor official of Xerxes
13:33
administration with a similar name, Mardukaya.
13:38
Why would or what was an agate. Oh wait, this is going to the
13:44
next chapter. So I'm going to read the next
13:47
chapter since we're only 13 minutes so far.
13:50
So after these events, King Xerxes honored Haman, son of
13:56
Hamadatha Hamada Atha the Agite, elevating him and giving him a
14:02
seat of honor or higher than all of the other nobles.
14:07
All the royal officials at the King's gate knelt down and paid
14:11
honor to Haman. So what was an Agagite?
14:16
Though not certain, it is likely that Haman was the descendant of
14:20
an ancient Amalekite king named Agag.
14:25
Agag was the title for Amalekite kings, just as Pharaoh was the
14:31
title for Egyptian monarchs, but it may have also been someone's
14:36
personal name. So why did Mordecai disobey the
14:41
King's command? Mordecai refused to honor honor
14:45
Haman because he recognized him as an enemy of the Jewish
14:49
people. This also explains Haman's
14:52
desire to destroy not only Mordecai, but all the Jews.
14:57
So this king of the Amalekites, the Amalekites, it's kind of
15:01
important to understand who they are or where they came from.
15:05
They are descendants of Esau. And if you recall that Esau and
15:12
Jacob were twin brothers, they were fraternal twin brothers.
15:18
And Esau gave up his right as the first one out of the womb,
15:23
the first born when he came in from hunting.
15:28
And he was really hungry for some Stew.
15:30
And Jacob had made some Stew and Esau was so hungry, he said, you
15:34
know, I don't know. I, I guess maybe Jacob probably
15:38
said, you know, I'll give this to you if you give up your
15:39
birthright. I can't really remember how the
15:41
exchange went. But what did happen was that
15:44
Esau gave up his birthright and Jacob received it in exchange
15:49
for some Stew. And there's like a symbolic
15:53
message for all of us in that is that we need to not be so
15:57
focused on worldly things that we may give up our inheritance,
16:02
you know, in the Kingdom of God. So it's, it really speaks to
16:07
that, the symbolism in it, it was apparently a literal event.
16:11
So Jacob is the one who had the 12 children that became the
16:20
tribes of Israel, the people called the Israelites.
16:25
And Esau, he left and he was in the land of Edom and he was, I
16:32
guess, connected with the Moabites, the Edomites.
16:36
And he is, they're brothers. They're essentially brothers.
16:39
They're fraternal twin brothers, like they're from the same
16:42
mother, from the same father, but yet they're separated.
16:46
And there was this ancient hostility, which I will talk
16:49
about too, because I did a little bit of research on that
16:52
between the two of them that still continues to this day
16:55
because Edom, ancient day, Edom is actually Jordan.
17:00
So if you want to say like Israel and Jordan, I mean, in
17:05
the ancient times, they were actually descendants of
17:08
brothers, twin brothers, not even just like any further
17:13
separation, but they were in the same womb with the same mom, the
17:16
same dad, and they were literally brothers.
17:20
But OK, continuing in Scripture. So there was this.
17:26
OK, at the royal all the royal officials at the King's gate
17:30
knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had
17:35
commanded this concerning him, But Mordecai would not kneel
17:38
down or pay him honour. Then the royal officials at the
17:42
King's gate asked Mordecai, why do you disobey the King's
17:45
command? Day after day they spoke to him,
17:47
but he refused to comply. Therefore, they told Haman about
17:51
it to see whether Mordecai's behaviour would be tolerated,
17:55
for he had told him he was a Jew.
17:58
So right now you're seeing this inch.
18:01
Well, actually this is like modern day Iran and the Jewish
18:06
people, which that battle still goes on today.
18:09
We're talking about this right now on February 26, 2026.
18:15
And again, we are trying to get through the Book of Esther so
18:20
that we ended on March 3rd, which is the holiday or the
18:24
commemorated date of Purim, which is what we're reading
18:29
about. So, but there's this, there's
18:32
this hatred between the people of ancient in ancient Iran at
18:38
that time and the Jewish people. And it's still today because
18:43
Iran calls them Little Satan. The leadership, the Khamenei
18:47
leadership currently calls Israel Little Satan and they
18:51
call the United States Big Satan.
18:53
And they say they chant death to America like they don't like us,
18:56
they don't like Israel. And, and we are on the cusp of
19:02
what could be, but hopefully isn't a war and we will see.
19:07
But the timing of this is very ironic that I don't know how
19:11
many people are paying attention to the timing of this given the
19:14
story of Esther, which I thought was a good reason to read the
19:16
book of Esther. OK, verse 5, when Haman saw that
19:20
Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged.
19:25
Doesn't this kind of remind you of the Book of Daniel where they
19:28
were supposed to kneel down and to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar?
19:33
This is again one of those things that happens when people
19:36
get very prideful and they want people to worship them.
19:38
Now, this is Haman. He's only he's not even the
19:41
king. He's just one of the nobles
19:42
there who was given some honor for some reason.
19:48
So when Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel, kneel down, or
19:53
pay him honor, he was enraged. Yet, having learned who
19:58
Mordecai's people were, he scorned the idea of killing only
20:03
Mordecai. Instead, Haman looked for a way
20:07
to destroy all Mordecai's people, the Jews.
20:13
Ancient hatred. Isn't that true?
20:15
That's what's happening today. Who does Iran want to take out
20:18
with their ballistic missiles? And if they're, you know, this
20:22
is. This whole thing is about like
20:24
nuclear, trying to keep them from having a nuclear weapon
20:29
where they can completely demolish Israel, because they
20:33
still want to do that. Like even from ancient times,
20:37
the story of Esther, Iran still wants to do that.
20:42
So Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai's people,
20:45
the Jews, throughout the whole Kingdom of Xerxes, in the 12th
20:51
year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of
20:55
Nissan, the poor, that is, the lot was cast in the presence of
21:01
Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on the 12th
21:07
month, the month of Adar. That's the month that we are.
21:12
I don't know if we're in right now.
21:14
I'll have to look at the because I can't always keep track of
21:18
this, but I'm going to look it up right now.
21:21
Dead Sea Scrolls calendar.org Yes, we are in the month of Adar
21:25
right now and the Dead Sea Scroll date is Adar 125950.
21:31
The Pharisee date is ADAR 95786 and then the Gregorian date is
21:39
February 26th, 2026. So verse 8 then Haman said to
21:46
Xerxes, There is a certain people dispersed among the
21:50
peoples in all the provinces of your Kingdom who keep themselves
21:55
separate. Their customs are different from
21:59
all the other people, and they do not obey the King's laws.
22:04
It is not in the King's best interest to tolerate them.
22:09
If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy
22:14
them. And I will give 10,000 talents
22:18
of silver to the King's administrators for the royal
22:22
treasury. Now I'm going to stop right here
22:25
because this is really important.
22:26
There's a couple things and I don't know what happened to my
22:31
my search here because I had a bunch of tabs that were opened.
22:35
Oh, I found them now. OK.
22:37
So they, this is really, I mean, this is very important because
22:49
there's a lot of things people getting to what's going on in
22:55
the world today. And recently in the past three
22:58
years on October 7th, 2023, which happened to be the end of
23:05
the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot, which is also
23:09
interesting. The timing of that.
23:12
I know the leadership of Israel was calling Hamas of a modern
23:19
version of the Amalekites. And this relates to what we're
23:24
reading right now because it is saying that Haman was an
23:29
Agagite, referring to him as a descendant of Agog, the king of
23:34
the Amalekites, and it signifies a long standing hereditary enemy
23:43
of the Jewish people. The term highlights the
23:46
continuation of the ancient feud between the between Israel and
23:51
the Amalekites. So, and like I said, let's see
23:58
the Amalekites, they were descendants of Esau.
24:01
So they're truly related to one another in a very significant
24:06
way. But there's this ancient hatred
24:08
that has perpetuated generation to generation.
24:11
And it probably makes a lot of sense why the Bible tells us
24:15
that we must forgive one another and that God doesn't even want
24:19
sacrifices. Like in the ancient times, he
24:21
didn't even want sacrifices. He said, if you're bringing me
24:23
an offering, but you still have some, you know, some dissension
24:29
between you and a brother or a sister, leave the offering and
24:33
go back and make up with the brother or sister.
24:35
Because that's how important it is to God, because it's like the
24:41
anger is the foothold of the devil.
24:43
And when we let it brew and get bigger, it turns into something
24:48
like this where it is a long standing generational war
24:54
against two different people. And in this case, the the
24:58
people, the descendants of them, if you trace their lineage back,
25:02
they go back to brothers that were twins actually.
25:06
So it's, it just shows how much destruction can happen.
25:11
And as I'm reading this, also it, well, let's see, I can,
25:19
let's see, as I was reading this, I'll read, let's see.
25:23
The Amalekites were an ancient nomadic tribe and persistent
25:27
enemy of the Israelites, inhabiting the Nagiv Desert and
25:30
Sinai Peninsula. Descended from Amalek, a
25:35
grandson of Esau, they were related to, yet distinct from
25:41
the Edomites, known for attracting the weak, vulnerable
25:46
rearguard of Israel. After the Exodus they were
25:51
condemned to divine judgment, so there was persistent enmity.
25:57
They were the first talking about the Amalekites, were the
26:00
first to attack Israel after leaving Egypt at Refidim and
26:07
frequently allied with Moabites and Midianites to oppress
26:11
Israel, their lifestyle as desert dwelling nomads.
26:16
They lived in the Negev South of Judah and in northwestern
26:20
Arabia. Biblical significance Due to
26:24
their unprovoked attack on the vulnerable, God commanded the
26:29
total annihilation of the Amalekites, a task partially
26:34
executed by King Saul, according to First Samuel.
26:39
Now King Saul was the first king of Israel, and God removed him
26:44
because he was halfway obedient. He didn't do the whole thing
26:48
like God said, annihilate the Amalekites and he did partially.
26:55
And this was always seemed to be the problem with Saul is that he
26:59
made-up his own mind. Even though he had instructions
27:01
from Samuel who was hearing from the Lord, he didn't listen.
27:06
He chose not to. And God then said, OK, your time
27:10
is up. I've given you so many chances
27:12
and you're disobedient to me and I'm going to find another one.
27:15
And that's how King David came along.
27:17
God chose King David, so then let's go, let's go back to the
27:22
Amalekite discussion. So the final defeat, they were
27:24
largely defeated by Gideon, Saul, and David, with their
27:29
final destruction mentioned in the time of Hezekiah.
27:35
Symbolism. In Jewish tradition, they
27:37
represent the archetype of an enemy of God and a source of
27:42
perpetual evil. The Amalekites are mentioned 23
27:46
times in nine books of the Bible.
27:49
So there is no or very limited. It says there is no or very
27:54
limited archaeological or extra biblical reference referencing
27:59
them outside of the Bible. Probably because they go by
28:02
different names. And let's see what else I had
28:08
from the research here. Just looking up different
28:13
things. So yeah, there's one thing that
28:20
really I thought was important to talk about is, again, this
28:27
like, history, I forgot what it says, maybe foreshadows history
28:32
or it goes through cycles, it recycles.
28:35
It's not an exact repetition, but there are some things that
28:37
are similar. And this one paragraph is very
28:41
relevant today. And I didn't even know about
28:44
this until just a few years ago. And so I imagine there's other
28:48
people who don't know about this today either.
28:51
But when I'm reading this, it's, you know, first of all, Heyman
28:55
doesn't like it because Mordecai's not bowing down to
28:57
him. So there's some pride in there.
28:59
And pride isn't that like says pride comes before the fall.
29:04
That's you know about about Satan too.
29:08
That was his greatest problem was that he was very prideful.
29:11
He wanted to be God. He wasn't satisfied with the way
29:14
God made him. He wanted to be God and he was
29:18
very wise and everything or is and because God gave him all of
29:22
those attributes and he was is very manipulative and deceiving
29:27
and he can do all of these things, but yet he is under the
29:31
control of God. So he is not more powerful than
29:34
God and the Bible tells us that he will be defeated, but he has
29:38
this period of time that God gives him and anyway his his
29:45
role. I mean and why am I bringing up
29:47
Satan? Because when you see some entity
29:50
or group of people that want to kill and destroy, you have to
29:56
think, is Satan behind that? And especially when they come
30:00
against the Israelites, God's chosen, the people that God
30:06
chose to bless all mankind through.
30:12
But the enemy does not. God's enemy does not like them
30:15
because they were chosen, probably because Satan was
30:19
rejected, because Satan rejected God.
30:22
Satan was given the choice to love God, but he didn't.
30:25
He didn't want to obey God. He wanted to do it his own way.
30:28
So we see disobedience, we see pride, we see that Satan wants
30:32
to kill and destroy. And so when I see killing and
30:36
destroying, then I think there's probably a Satan or some
30:40
spiritual entity behind that because it tells us in Ephesians
30:44
6, verse 12 that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but
30:49
against the spiritual realm and the powers of darkness in the
30:53
heavenly realm. The principalities.
30:56
All of those are what we are fighting against and it's the
30:59
unseen. So we don't even know this
31:03
unless we read the Bible and we find out that we're not fighting
31:07
against one another, but there is a spiritual influence over
31:10
us. If we don't have the Holy
31:12
Spirit, we are still enslaved ultimately to Satan.
31:17
And the Bible tells us that too. So in John chapter 10 verse 10,
31:23
Jesus said the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
31:30
I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.
31:34
So that's the difference. Satan wants to kill, steal, kill
31:39
and destroy. Jesus came so that we can have
31:43
life and have it to the full and be in the Kingdom of God.
31:48
So there's a huge difference. You're either going to be going
31:51
to following Satan and headed toward destruction, or you're
31:56
going to be following Jesus. You're going to be obedient to
31:59
God, you're going to be repentant and turn away from the
32:02
ways of Satan, and then you will have the inheritance because of
32:08
what Jesus did on the cross. Jesus made the final atonement.
32:12
He paid for our sins on the cross with his blood, with the
32:17
shedding of his blood. In the book of Hebrews, it says
32:20
there is no forgiveness apart from the shedding of blood.
32:25
So that's why Jesus had to do that.
32:27
And Jesus knew full well that was what he was here for.
32:31
So in the Book of Esther, it does talk about these people
32:34
wanting to kill and destroy. So this other thing that I
32:39
wanted to talk about is very, like I said, I only learned of
32:43
this a few years ago and it's really concerning.
32:47
But it's called pay to slay and you can look it up if you'd
32:51
like. But this is kind of the same
32:54
thing that Haman was doing to King Xerxes.
32:57
And remember, this is like in Susa, the citadel, which is in
33:02
modern day Iran. So this is happening and it
33:06
still is happening today. So he says, it says they're,
33:13
they don't like the Jewish people.
33:15
Their customs are different from those of all the other people,
33:17
and they do not obey the King's laws.
33:20
So it's not in the King's best interest to teller them,
33:22
tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a
33:25
decree be issued to destroy them.
33:28
So these people are acting on behalf of Satan.
33:31
I will give 10,000 talents and that says that's about 375 tons
33:40
or about 340 metric tons of silver.
33:47
That's pretty much, think about that, 375 tons of silver to the
33:54
King's administrators for the royal treasury.
33:59
It says let the king let the decree be issued to destroy
34:03
them, and I will give 10,000 talents of silver to the King's
34:08
administrators for the royal treasury.
34:11
This is like a bribe, like I'm going to give you tons of silver
34:16
if you do this decree to destroy them.
34:20
It's kind of like I'm going to pay you to slay them and there
34:24
is a ay to slay. That's even the term that's
34:27
used. I'm going to read about it just
34:29
a simple Google search so you can see what this what I'm
34:31
talking about. If you haven't heard of this
34:33
already, pay to slay refers to the Palestinian Authority P as
34:42
policy of providing monthly cash stipends to Palestinians and
34:49
their families who are imprisoned, wounded or killed
34:54
while carrying out violent acts against Israelis.
35:00
They the pay to slay, like they are encouraged to do things
35:06
against the Israelis and they get money for this, their
35:09
families do. So there's an incentive that's
35:12
being offered. Critics argue this system
35:16
financially incentivizes terrorism, while supporters
35:20
describe it as a social safety net.
35:24
Key details regarding pay to slay include Here's the
35:28
mechanism. Payments are often proportional,
35:32
proportional to the severity of the attack or the length of the
35:37
prison sentence. So here it's encouraging a more
35:42
gruesome attack because they would get more money.
35:46
It's just so sick because this is so clearly evil inspired.
35:53
This is not God brings life. This is all about death.
35:56
When you talk about like violent acts that doesn't lead to life.
36:00
That's death. Who seeks to kill and destroy
36:03
Satan and whomever is aligned with him in the spiritual realm.
36:09
So ultimately Satan and his cohorts and there's this pay to
36:14
slay. I mean, can't these people see
36:17
that this is, this is satanic controversy, controversy?
36:22
The policy has been widely criticized, criticized for
36:26
encouraging violence, with the American Jewish Committee, AJC,
36:30
calling it an abhorrent practice.
36:33
Legal action. The US enacted the Taylor Force
36:37
Act to cut funding to the PA until these payments stop recent
36:43
developments. In early 2025, reports indicated
36:48
that the PA took steps to revoke or alter these payments amid
36:54
international pressure in February.
36:58
This month, 2026, the US continues to push for a total
37:03
end to these payments, with lawmakers proposing further
37:07
sanctions to block the funding. So you can see right now this is
37:15
happening right now and it was also happening during the time
37:20
of Ester, which let's see. I don't know if I read that
37:24
about when it was. It was between.
37:28
Well, this is when it was written, at least between 460
37:31
and 350 BC. So thousands of years ago,
37:39
almost 2500 years ago, this was happening.
37:44
Long standing repetition, I would say verse 10.
37:49
So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to
37:53
Haman, son of Hametatha the Agite, the enemy of the Jews.
37:58
Keep the money, the king said to Haman, and do with the people as
38:03
you please. That's kind of shocking there.
38:07
The king wasn't even in it for the money.
38:09
He was OK with just doing it. Verse 12.
38:12
Then on the 13th day of the first month, that would be the
38:17
month that we're in right now, but the 13th day of the first
38:21
month, the royal secretaries were summoned.
38:24
They wrote out in the script on each province and in the
38:28
language of each people, all Haman's orders to the king,
38:32
Saytraps, the governors of the various provinces, and the
38:35
nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name
38:39
of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring.
38:44
Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the King's provinces with
38:49
the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews.
38:56
Does that even make you think about that chant that was going
38:59
on from the river to the sea? Palestine must be free, free,
39:02
free. That that little verse there
39:05
that's exactly this. That's evil.
39:08
So evil. And it goes back almost 2500
39:13
years ago. It's that pay to slay mentality
39:16
and people are brainwashed with it and it's so unbelievable when
39:21
I see anyone chanting that in this world that they are, it's
39:27
clear that they are brainwashed. They do not know God because if
39:33
they knew God, if they knew the Bible, they would not be
39:35
chanting that. They would, they would see the
39:39
evil that's behind it. And it's just spread the word
39:44
about this because there's too many people even in the United
39:48
States who have joined in support of evil.
39:53
And it people need to get back into the word of God.
39:59
OK, so it says to annihilate all the Jews, young and old, women
40:05
and children on a single day, the 13th day of the 12th month,
40:13
which is actually the first month in God's calendar.
40:15
But this is the same month and it's like March right now, the
40:19
month of Adar and to plunder their goods.
40:23
So not only that was steal too. Steal, kill, and destroy.
40:27
That's exactly what Satan wants to do.
40:28
And that's what this edict was. A copy of the text of the edict
40:33
was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the
40:38
people of every nationality so they would be ready for that
40:42
day. The couriers went out, spurred
40:44
on by the King's command, and the edict was issued in the
40:48
citadel of Sousa. The king and Haman sat down to
40:52
drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.
40:58
That's the end of chapter 3. So we did 2 chapters this today
41:03
and I'm going to finish up with questions and answers from the
41:07
study guide that cover this chapter.
41:12
So Mordecai. OK, why did Mordecai reveal his
41:15
nationality since he had told Esther to conceal hers?
41:18
Mordecai's command to his adopted daughter was for her own
41:22
protection. However, Mordecai's refusal to
41:26
obey a direct command of the king required an explanation,
41:30
since his only reason for refusing to honor Haman was the
41:35
ancient enmity between Jews and Amalekites.
41:39
Mordecai told them he was a Jew. Now I wonder why the study Bible
41:43
says that? Because the first thing that
41:44
came into my mind was that God said not to worship anyone but
41:50
him. And when you do that, you're
41:54
like essentially worshipping somebody.
41:56
And so it's kind of like what Daniel, he refused to kneel
42:00
down, bow down to the statue. So I don't know if the study
42:04
guides right about that. I would, I don't know.
42:10
I would think that would be more probable that because because it
42:13
did say that the Jews keep themselves apart.
42:18
They don't do the thing. They don't their customs are
42:20
different. So they were, they were very,
42:24
they were different and it was recognized that they were
42:26
different. So I would think unless there's
42:30
documentation otherwise, I would think that it would probably
42:32
because of the 10 commandments. When was the month of Adar?
42:38
Adar is the Persian name given to the 12th and last month of
42:42
the Hebrew calendar. It is the equivalent of February
42:46
to March on the modern Western calendar.
42:49
Ancient Near East rulers planned their calendars a year in
42:52
advance. At the beginning of the new
42:55
year. Dice are poor were cast to
43:01
determine dates for important events.
43:05
How much was 10,000 talents of silver?
43:08
Since 10,000 talents equals 375 tons, the silver would be worth
43:15
nearly $212 million in US currency in today's market.
43:22
Whenever this book was written, the Greek historian Herodotus
43:26
reported an annual revenue of 14,560 talents for the entire
43:34
Persian Empire under Darius the first Xerxes.
43:38
Father Haman recognized the prosperity of the Jews and was
43:43
offering their great wealth to Xerxes as an incentive.
43:49
What was a signet ring? Signet rings were used as
43:54
official seals by people in authority in the ancient world.
43:58
A signet ring was engraved with the owner's personal Insignia,
44:03
which was used to make an impression on soft wax or clay
44:08
in order to authorize important documents.
44:12
By By giving Haman his signet seal, Xerxes gave him authority
44:18
to do whatever he wished in the King's name.
44:22
Why was the city of Susa bewildered?
44:25
The edict decreed the wholesale slaughter of an entire ethnic
44:31
group for no apparent reason. The average citizen was most
44:36
likely unaware of the ancient animosity between the Jews and
44:40
Amalekites that lay behind the decree.
44:44
Furthermore, the Jews were industrious and supportive
44:47
citizens who sought the peace and prosperity of Persia.
44:53
The decree probably made no sense to the large segment of
44:57
the population that had no apparent reason to hate the
45:01
Jews. But now today we have social
45:05
media and stories can be spun and lies can be told in order to
45:11
incite hatred. But be careful because you could
45:17
be falling prey to the devil because that's what the Bible
45:21
tells us. And if you're not alert, be
45:24
alert and of sober mind because the devil prowls looking for his
45:28
next victim. So this concludes chapters 2 and
45:32
three from the book of Esther. If you but have you got anything
45:38
out of this, please share it with someone else.
45:40
I mean, I would love for this to be shared everywhere because
45:43
people need to know the truth. And and then also subscribe to
45:48
this channel because I try to stay in the word every day
45:51
because I can really tell the difference when I don't.
45:54
But my goal is every day. I don't always meet my goal, but
45:59
staying in the word of God. There's all sorts of things that
46:02
we learn along the way. So I hope you join and
46:05
subscribe. Thank you.
46:07
Thank you.