Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 670. Bible Study: Esther 4 (Testing: Decision Time, God's Providence)

Transcript

670. Bible Study: Esther 4 (Testing: Decision Time, God's Providence) · Faith by annm2705

• 0:00
  Chapter 4 from the book of Esther.
• 0:03
  Dear God, please be with us as we read through this chapter and
• 0:06
  give us wisdom, insight and relevance to our own lives.
• 0:11
  In Jesus name, Amen, Mordecai persuades Esther for help to
• 0:17
  help. When Mordecai learned of all
• 0:20
  that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and
• 0:23
  ashes, went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.
• 0:28
  So Mordecai is responding to this edict that virtually it not
• 0:34
  that essentially is calling for the extermination of the Jews.
• 0:39
  And it's it was an edict that the king sent out so going back
• 0:46
  to Scripture. But he went only as far as the
• 0:49
  King's gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed
• 0:53
  to enter it. In every province to which the
• 0:55
  edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning
• 0:59
  among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing.
• 1:03
  Many lay in sackcloth and ashes. When Esther's eunuchs and female
• 1:08
  attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great
• 1:12
  distress. She sent clothes for him to put
• 1:15
  on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.
• 1:18
  Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the King's eunuchs assigned
• 1:23
  to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling
• 1:26
  Mordecai and why. So Haythek went to Mordecai in
• 1:31
  the open square of the city in front of the King's gate.
• 1:36
  Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him,
• 1:39
  including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay
• 1:43
  into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.
• 1:48
  He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their
• 1:51
  annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show
• 1:55
  Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her
• 2:00
  to go into the King's presence to beg for mercy and plead with
• 2:06
  him for her people. Haythek went back and reported
• 2:10
  to Esther what Mordecai had said.
• 2:14
  Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai.
• 2:17
  All the King's officials and people of the royal provinces
• 2:20
  know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the
• 2:25
  inner court without being summoned, the king has but one
• 2:29
  law that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold
• 2:35
  sceptre to them and spares their lives.
• 2:40
  But 30 days have passed since I was called to go to the king.
• 2:45
  I want to pause here because this may have significance based
• 2:52
  on culture but I don't really know.
• 2:56
  And maybe the study Bible. I didn't read the study Bible's
• 2:58
  questions and answers. But 30 days have passed since I
• 3:01
  was called to go to the king. Now, remember before the king
• 3:04
  would only call a person if he was like one of the women, if he
• 3:10
  found he found them in favor or so.
• 3:11
  But apparently it's been 30 days and he hasn't called for her.
• 3:15
  So that's one aspect of it. But again, sometimes literal
• 3:21
  events have prophetic significance.
• 3:26
  So this 30 day period of going before the King and waiting 30
• 3:31
  days, that's just something that I noticed and I don't like.
• 3:36
  I said, it doesn't. Sometimes these events, the
• 3:41
  actual things that happen in real life that are documented in
• 3:45
  history sometimes have prophetic significance pointing to God.
• 3:51
  So it's always pointing to God. And often we don't really even
• 3:54
  see it until we become aware of Scripture or, I don't know,
• 3:59
  until we start seeking God through Scripture.
• 4:02
  And then we start finding these symbolic, literal events that
• 4:08
  are just scattered throughout the Bible.
• 4:10
  And they ultimately all point back to God, like show his
• 4:16
  sovereignty over everything and show how it shows how God works
• 4:22
  in our everyday lives. So sometimes when things happen,
• 4:26
  they aren't just coincidences, they're really God's appointed
• 4:30
  times for certain things to happen, which is really
• 4:33
  interesting, but just something to keep in the back of your mind
• 4:37
  as we read through other prophetic books.
• 4:40
  So when Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he sent
• 4:43
  back the answer. Do not think that because you
• 4:47
  were in the King's house, you alone of all the Jews will
• 4:51
  escape. So Mordecai is warning Now,
• 4:55
  Mordecai had essentially adopted Esther and taken her into his
• 5:00
  home and treated her as a daughter because her mom and dad
• 5:03
  died. And then she was found to be
• 5:05
  beautiful and replace the queen Vashti.
• 5:09
  And so she's in the presence of the king and is considered the
• 5:12
  king of the queen of by King Xerxes.
• 5:17
  And so he's basically Mordecai is saying, you know, don't
• 5:22
  forget where you came from and don't think that you will be
• 5:26
  spared just because you are in the presence of the king.
• 5:30
  So because this edict was for all Jews.
• 5:33
  And if her nationality became known, she would be one of them.
• 5:39
  And so he's warning her. And I think this is something
• 5:42
  that we can learn from as well, is that sometimes in life we
• 5:48
  may, we have, may have had like a humble beginning and then we
• 5:52
  become successful in life. But we should never forget where
• 5:57
  we came from and should always remain humble and never think
• 6:02
  that we are better than somebody else just because of the
• 6:05
  circumstances that occurred. Because if that happens, there
• 6:11
  is a good chance that God will humble a person who does this
• 6:16
  because God hates pride. Pride is in direct rebellion to
• 6:20
  God because it is an unwillingness to submit to
• 6:25
  God's, to God is the authority. Basically it's, it's basically
• 6:30
  saying, you know, I can do all this.
• 6:31
  I don't need, I don't need God. I can do it on my own.
• 6:34
  And God is, you know, that's, that's a power struggle,
• 6:40
  actually. I mean, that's what it is.
• 6:41
  It's a power struggle. That's what we learn from
• 6:44
  Scripture, that Satan was cast out because of that, because it
• 6:48
  was a power struggle. And God just wants people in his
• 6:52
  Kingdom who are willing to be there, who love him, who are
• 6:56
  willing to submit to him. And it's a loving submission.
• 7:01
  Like why it's always referred to as a marriage the way God
• 7:05
  intends, where there's a mutual submission to one another.
• 7:09
  And that's what God will require in his in his Kingdom.
• 7:15
  And it's, you know, it's, it's very similar to what people do.
• 7:20
  But people, unfortunately, if they are a king in power, they
• 7:25
  are a flawed individual. They are not perfect where God
• 7:28
  is perfect, God is perfectly holy.
• 7:31
  People are not holy. All people are sinners.
• 7:34
  So all people have a fallen state about them, a state of
• 7:39
  being, and are not perfect, will not be perfect until Jesus
• 7:43
  returns and we are changed at that moment.
• 7:47
  But that's why we can't ever put our trust in human beings
• 7:53
  because human beings can and will fail.
• 7:57
  And it just depends like on the right, the right amount of
• 8:01
  pressure in the right places that somebody's weakness, where
• 8:04
  a human will fail. That's why we need the Holy
• 8:08
  Spirit. That's why we need the Holy
• 8:10
  Spirit from God because that is the the Holy Spirit is the
• 8:13
  strongest power that can overcome these things that we
• 8:17
  cannot overcome in our natural state.
• 8:20
  Like we need supernatural abilities from God to overcome
• 8:26
  the things that are in our weakness.
• 8:28
  That's why I think Paul was saying, you know, in the Lord
• 8:31
  said, my grace is sufficient or my power of the Holy Spirit is
• 8:36
  sufficient in your weakness, I give you strength.
• 8:40
  So God strengthens people through the Holy Spirit and
• 8:45
  gives us the ability to overcome the the sinful nature that we
• 8:50
  have. The things that we don't think
• 8:52
  are possible to overcome, we can overcome.
• 8:56
  If somebody says you can't overcome something like, oh,
• 9:00
  it's just too big of a hurdle, that shows a lack of faith.
• 9:03
  Because all throughout the Bible it gives us examples of how
• 9:07
  even, you know, death was so overcome by the power of the
• 9:11
  Spirit. So if you don't think that the
• 9:16
  impossible can happen, then you don't really know God.
• 9:21
  You don't really know the power of God.
• 9:24
  Yes, we are weak human beings, but God is the power that can
• 9:30
  make a weak human being do the impossible.
• 9:35
  So, and then we just have to remember that, you know, who we
• 9:39
  are and not become too prideful and think that we don't need God
• 9:44
  anymore or that, you know, you know, kind of like what Mordecai
• 9:48
  was saying to Esther, do not think that because you were in
• 9:50
  the King's house, you, you alone of all the Jews will escape.
• 9:55
  Like she had a, a period where she was accepted, but because of
• 9:59
  her nationality and because the animosity and the edict that was
• 10:04
  given, she would fall under the law and would need to be killed
• 10:08
  or else they would also bring about some sort of rebellion.
• 10:12
  Again, like people who are under the King's rule, if they defy
• 10:18
  his laws, then they are typically put to death in in
• 10:24
  these times that are being talked about here.
• 10:30
  For if you so going back to Scripture, for if you remain
• 10:33
  silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will
• 10:38
  arise from another place, but you and your father's family
• 10:43
  will perish. Now this is really interesting
• 10:50
  because this is Mordecai talking.
• 10:55
  Let's see, when Esther's words were repeated to Mordecai, he
• 10:59
  sent back the answer. So Mordecai is sending this back
• 11:02
  to Esther, and he is certain, like he's speaking this as he
• 11:07
  knows if you remain silent. So he's telling her she can
• 11:12
  remain silent. But if that happens, then relief
• 11:17
  and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place.
• 11:20
  Look at that confidence, like it doesn't talk about God, but how
• 11:26
  would he be so confident to say that if you don't do this, it'll
• 11:29
  come from another place? Like he knows God's promise.
• 11:34
  Apparently it doesn't say that in the Scripture, but reading
• 11:38
  this, like, how would he know that relief and deliverance for
• 11:40
  the Jews would arise from another place?
• 11:44
  That's that's what I think is that he just he knows that God
• 11:48
  will deliver the Jews and and then he's saying, but you and
• 11:52
  your father's family will per it.
• 11:55
  So this is her moment of being obedient or not.
• 12:01
  It's her moment of choice. What is she going to choose?
• 12:04
  Is she going to save the Jewish people and put herself at risk,
• 12:10
  or is she going to remain silent?
• 12:15
  And then so Mordecai continues. And who knows but that you have
• 12:19
  come into your royal position for such a time as this, OK,
• 12:24
  That's really important that she came into her royal position so
• 12:30
  that she could essentially save the Jews like God gave her.
• 12:36
  He created her, He made her beautiful.
• 12:39
  He made her stand out among the other women.
• 12:42
  He put her in the position. He put her in the position where
• 12:46
  she had a choice. Are you going to just be selfish
• 12:50
  about your position or are you going to do things for other
• 12:54
  people with your position? And, and Mordecai's reminding
• 12:59
  her that, and, and who knows but you, who knows, but that you
• 13:06
  have come to your royal position for such a time as this.
• 13:11
  Like he's seeing there's something like a Providence that
• 13:16
  is placing her there, that God is placing her there with the
• 13:23
  choice that she can either do God's will and do something to
• 13:27
  save the Jewish people or she can be selfish.
• 13:30
  And that's what we all in our lives, we all have that moment
• 13:35
  or multiple moments where we are tested where God's going to see,
• 13:38
  what do we choose? Do we choose him or do we choose
• 13:42
  something selfish? And when we choose something
• 13:46
  selfish, we are rejecting God. And I, I know for me personally,
• 13:52
  at a certain point, I, I, I, looking back, I know that I was
• 13:56
  rejecting God when he was putting things in front of me
• 13:59
  and not, not deliberately so, I just was wanting to do my own
• 14:03
  thing and I didn't, I wasn't ready to surrender or submit to
• 14:07
  God. But in hindsight, I'm, I'm
• 14:11
  thankful that God gave, he was patient with me and gave me more
• 14:15
  opportunities because it does show us in history that at a
• 14:20
  certain point, God decides, I'll just turn you over to your
• 14:24
  selfishness. And those people who are turned
• 14:29
  over to their selfishness, like never come back to God.
• 14:33
  And I'm just thankful that I didn't get that far into it and
• 14:37
  that God was patient and he didn't just give up on me.
• 14:41
  So but there's a certain point where God knows the way a
• 14:45
  person's heart is and whether they will ever turn to him or
• 14:49
  they will continually reject them for their entire life.
• 14:52
  And not everyone will come to God.
• 14:54
  Not everyone will submit to God. So there are people who will
• 14:59
  just reject God their whole life and then they will find out what
• 15:04
  bad decision they made once they've died physically because
• 15:09
  they won't die forever. They will be eternal beings, but
• 15:12
  they will be eternally separated from God.
• 15:15
  So that's one of the most critical things right now about
• 15:18
  all of our decisions and all of, you know, the day-to-day
• 15:21
  interactions that we have. Don't risk it.
• 15:24
  It's not worth it when you think about the eternal sense of
• 15:28
  things and that we are only here.
• 15:31
  It describes our life as but a vapor according to James.
• 15:34
  And so how do you, if you're not, you're being real short
• 15:37
  sighted if you're thinking about momentary pleasures, but what
• 15:41
  that can do to you when it comes to eternity, like it's not worth
• 15:46
  it. Think about the big picture,
• 15:48
  think about eternity, think about long range God's plans,
• 15:53
  think about God's Kingdom. Don't get so wrapped up in the
• 15:56
  moment that you want something. And when you're weak, call on
• 16:01
  God, pray to God, ask God, say I am weak right now.
• 16:05
  God, send me the Holy Spirit, please to help me do your will.
• 16:09
  I mean that's all you have to do is say whatever it is in your
• 16:12
  own words. Just ask for the Holy Spirit
• 16:14
  because that's where self-control comes from.
• 16:17
  That's where the power of God comes from.
• 16:19
  That's where people are actually will be resurrected from the
• 16:23
  power of the Holy Spirit. That's how Jesus was returned to
• 16:26
  the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• 16:31
  That's what Jesus says. We must be born again and
• 16:34
  receive the Holy Spirit to enter in the Kingdom of God.
• 16:36
  If we don't have the Holy Spirit, we can't enter into the
• 16:39
  Kingdom of God. Then Esther sent this reply to
• 16:43
  Mordecai. Go gather all the Jews who were
• 16:46
  in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three
• 16:51
  days. Again.
• 16:53
  I don't know, there might be some custom that had to do with
• 16:56
  three days, but you really see the three days like repeated
• 17:02
  symbolically throughout scripture like Jesus's death and
• 17:07
  resurrection, 3 days and just about Jesus return.
• 17:13
  But you know for two days he will be gone and the third day
• 17:15
  he will raise people. So and a day is like 1000 years.
• 17:19
  So just do the math OK? Do not eat or drink for three
• 17:24
  days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as
• 17:31
  you do. When this is done, I will go to
• 17:34
  the king, even though it is against the law, and if I
• 17:39
  perish, I perish. So here Esther made the choice.
• 17:44
  She was selfless in this choice she was going to do for others.
• 17:51
  So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther's
• 17:56
  instructions. So that's the end of chapter 4.
• 17:59
  I'll read the questions and answers for this chapter.
• 18:02
  Why did Mordecai tear his clothes?
• 18:04
  Tearing one's clothes and wearing sackcloth and ashes were
• 18:07
  universal signs of intense grief in the ancient Near East.
• 18:11
  Sackcloth, which was made of goat or camel hair, was probably
• 18:15
  worn because it was coarse and black.
• 18:19
  Why did Esther need the edict explained?
• 18:23
  Perhaps she didn't understand the implication of the legal
• 18:26
  terminology. It is also possible that as a
• 18:29
  woman in that culture, Esther had never been taught to read.
• 18:35
  How often did a queen typically see the king?
• 18:38
  A queen was often little more than a King's favoured concubine
• 18:44
  with little or no real administrative power.
• 18:48
  If Esther was still Xerxes favorite, it seems reasonable to
• 18:52
  assume that she was with him frequently.
• 18:55
  However, given the number of his concubines, it is possible that
• 18:59
  she was not often called. Her protest here might indicate
• 19:04
  that she was no longer his favorite.
• 19:07
  So it's like 30 days since she had seen him.
• 19:10
  Couldn't the queen have escaped such an edict?
• 19:13
  A royal edict in ancient Persia was irrevocable and no respecter
• 19:18
  of status. It's possible that some of
• 19:22
  Esther's attendants may have suspected she was a Jew.
• 19:26
  Given the King's earlier treatment of Vashti, it is
• 19:29
  unlikely that Esther would have been spared.
• 19:34
  Why was Mordecai so sure that Esther would die if she kept
• 19:38
  silent? Mordecai was warning Esther of
• 19:41
  the consequences of disassociating herself from her
• 19:44
  people and, by inference, from God.
• 19:48
  If Esther Esther hoped to avoid death by pretending not to be a
• 19:53
  Jew, she would also miss out on God's deliverance for the Jews.
• 20:00
  So why isn't God mentioned at all in the book of Esther?
• 20:04
  This question has been a source of controversy for centuries.
• 20:07
  Some have even questioned the books placement in the Bible
• 20:11
  because of it. However, at certain points in
• 20:13
  the narrative, the author alludes to God's hand in the
• 20:17
  events. For example, Mordecai's
• 20:19
  contention that deliverance would come from another place
• 20:23
  was probably the author's way of saying that the Lord would
• 20:26
  intervene for his people. Esther's request that all the
• 20:31
  Jews fast was no doubt a reference to prayer to the Lord
• 20:35
  on her behalf. The Jews refusal to plunder
• 20:40
  their enemies indicated they fought for the Lord, not
• 20:45
  themselves. In addition, the author showed
• 20:48
  God's involvement through an incredible string of quote
• 20:52
  coincidences. Number one, Esther was selected
• 20:56
  from among the many to become the queen #2 Mordecai
• 21:00
  accidentally discovered a plot against the king #3 Esther
• 21:05
  defied the law to gain uninvited entrance to see the king.
• 21:11
  For Mordecai was given Haman's position of power, by which he
• 21:15
  turned an an unalterable law upside down and delivered the
• 21:22
  Jews. The reader is left saying nobody
• 21:26
  could be so lucky, Something else must have been going on.
• 21:31
  The story points to God as the one behind the scenes
• 21:35
  orchestrating the events. Esther fits the mould of other
• 21:40
  Old Testament heroes who were clearly guided by the Lord.
• 21:44
  Like Joseph, Esther was imprisoned but found favour with
• 21:48
  her captors and rose to a position of power to save the
• 21:52
  Jews. In addition, Mordecai, like both
• 21:57
  Joseph and Daniel, came to a position of power second only to
• 22:03
  the king. Still, the question remains, did
• 22:05
  the writer deliberately edit God out of the story?
• 22:09
  We can only speculate. Perhaps the author was employing
• 22:12
  the literary device of understatement to emphasize that
• 22:16
  nothing short of God's direct intervention in these
• 22:20
  circumstances could possibly explain the way things worked
• 22:23
  out. Or, since the book was written
• 22:25
  in Persia, the author may have been aware of certain laws
• 22:29
  against non Persian religions or non Persian religious literature
• 22:36
  and therefore may not have wanted to risk having the book
• 22:40
  destroyed by the government. I think that's probably the most
• 22:44
  likely solution answer. I guess to this from what other
• 22:49
  place would deliverance would deliverance for the Jews have
• 22:53
  come? The phrase from another place
• 22:55
  appears to be a veiled reference to the Lord.
• 22:59
  Mordecai was expressing his faith that the Lord would not
• 23:03
  permit the annihilation of his people regardless of Esther's
• 23:07
  decision. So that's the end of Chapter 4.