WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 Please turn with me once again to the book of Esther . 2 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 We’re going to look at most of chapter 2 today, because we’re expanding on this and taking a look at the book of Esther , considering particularly God’s providence and working in all circumstances of our life, in all circumstances of life. 3 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And so that’s really the goal. 4 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 So we’re talking about how God uses some of the seemingly everyday events to to bring about ultimately the blessing for his children, for his people, and ultimately to his glory. 5 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 That’s what we looked at last week when we considered chapter 1. 6 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 We looked at chapter 1 through verse 4 of chapter 2. 7 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And we that last week we looked at the rise of Xerxes. 8 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 How Xerxes became really the most politically powerful man in the world. 9 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 How his kingdom was vast. 10 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 The Persian Empire was great, as it says in verse 2, over 127 provinces. 11 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 It stretched all, you know, through the almost the whole known world at the time. 12 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And he didn’t quite take Greece. 13 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 So he’s warring, he’s bringing about a war against Greece. 14 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 So that’s what’s going on in chapter 1 mostly. 15 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 He’s displaying his wealth. 16 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 He’s throwing these two pretty lavish parties, which shows how incredibly wealthy he is to all of his dignitaries throughout his empire. 17 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And then he wants to put his wife on display, the Queen Vashti, who is his most beautiful treasure and she refuses to come. 18 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 He’s a bit intoxicated when he made that request, and he’s a bit intoxicated in the things that follow. 19 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And so after after she refuses to come, he ends up signing a decree which would depose her. 20 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 She’s no longer to be allowed in his presence at all. 21 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And that was signed into the law of the Medes and Persians, which is something that not even the king, not even Xerxes himself, could revoke. 22 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 So it was permanent law. 23 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 That’s what’s taken place. 24 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 Then at the beginning of chapter 2, he remembers Vashti, I think, in his more sober moment. 25 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 He’s no longer angry. 26 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 He thinks about Vashti and how beautiful she was. 27 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And then he remembers what she did. 28 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And then he remembers what he decreed. 29 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And there’s a lot of regret there. 30 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And so he’s probably feeling sorry for himself. 31 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And one of his attendants suggests that they search all of the 127 provinces of his empire to bring the most beautiful women back to him. 32 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And he would choose out of one of them the queen, his new queen, and that pleased him. 33 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And so the things that come next begin to unfold. 34 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And so it’s here that we are introduced to some very important people in this book. 35 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 We are able to see a Jew whose name is Mordecai and his adopted daughter whose name is Hadassah or Esther. 36 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 So we’re going to meet her in just a moment. 37 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 I’m going to try to read this in sections. 38 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 So I’m going to read verses 5 through 9. 39 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And then and then we’ll and then we’ll ask God’s blessing on all of his word. 40 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 In fact, I’m going to do it in reverse order today. 41 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 I’m going to ask God’s blessing first and then we’ll read this in sections. 42 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 Father, as we approach this passage today, we pray for your blessing and spiritual insight. 43 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 We pray, Father, for the equipping power of your Holy Spirit to waken our hearts to truth. 44 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 Father, to help us see why you have this in your word. 45 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 The precious glory that it is to you, and the terrific good that it is for us. 46 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 How we owe our salvation to our Savior, the Lord Jesus, to your works of providence through history. 47 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 We thank you, Lord, for your kindness and grace in giving us this passage, which teaches us so well how you work. 48 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 Life is so difficult, life is so difficult. 49 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 We often don’t understand what’s going on. 50 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 And yet, Lord, we know we can trust you. 51 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 Strengthen that trust as we explore this book together, we pray, in Jesus’ name. 52 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000 Amen. 53 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.780 So I’m going to begin reading. 54 00:00:01.780 --> 00:00:06.740 This is God’s Holy Word, the book of Esther , chapter 2, beginning in verse 5. 55 00:00:06.740 --> 00:00:12.360 I’ll read through verse 9. 56 00:00:12.360 --> 00:00:34.980 Now there was at the citadel of Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite, who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had exiled. 57 00:00:34.980 --> 00:00:43.260 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. 58 00:00:43.260 --> 00:00:55.800 Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 59 00:00:55.800 --> 00:01:15.940 So it came about when the command and the decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai that Esther was taken to the king’s palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women. 60 00:01:15.940 --> 00:01:33.740 Now the young lady pleased him, found favor with him, so he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and food, gave her seven choice maids from the king’s palace and transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem. 61 00:01:33.740 --> 00:01:37.760 That’s God’s word thus far. 62 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:43.380 So the first thing that we see in this chapter is God’s sovereign selection. 63 00:01:43.380 --> 00:01:50.720 The fact that he uses ordinary people to carry out his great purposes. 64 00:01:50.720 --> 00:01:55.380 God chooses people who are absolutely ordinary. 65 00:01:55.380 --> 00:02:11.900 In fact, in this case, when you’re talking about Esther in particular and Mordecai, you’re talking about people who were not in the most elevated places of power in the country and in that kingdom. 66 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:47.620 In fact, when Mordecai is introduced to us in this in this passage, he’s introduced to us as Mordecai the Jew. 67 00:02:47.620 --> 00:02:52.480 God sovereignly places his people where he wants them. 68 00:02:52.480 --> 00:02:59.390 He takes ordinary people and he uses them to extraordinary ends. 69 00:02:59.390 --> 00:03:13.940 So when this as this story unfolds, God has is working, bringing to for people who are absolutely common and ordinary. 70 00:03:13.940 --> 00:03:16.820 Mordecai is introduced as a Jew. 71 00:03:16.820 --> 00:03:20.540 Now the word “Jew” is interesting. 72 00:03:20.540 --> 00:03:27.000 This is the first time it’s used I believe in the book of Esther , I’m pretty sure that’s right. 73 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:32.780 It’s interesting because it’s used about 15 times in the rest of the Bible. 74 00:03:32.780 --> 00:03:39.820 And “Jew” and “Jews” is used about 52 times in the book of Esther . 75 00:03:39.820 --> 00:03:42.380 Does that sound kind of intriguing just in itself? 76 00:03:42.380 --> 00:03:47.450 Not all the rest of the in all the rest of the Old Testament. 77 00:03:47.450 --> 00:03:55.020 The word the word Jew and Jews, I think it’s about 15 or 16 times somewhere right around that. 78 00:03:55.020 --> 00:03:59.560 But in the book of Esther , it’s used 52 times. 79 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:06.720 And that’s because this book is showing something very something true about these people. 80 00:04:06.720 --> 00:04:14.360 They were brought into captivity, first through Babylon, and now they’re in Persia. 81 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:16.780 They’re a subjugated people. 82 00:04:16.780 --> 00:04:22.380 They’re a people who in this in that nation of Persia were a marginalized people. 83 00:04:22.380 --> 00:04:27.140 They weren’t thought of well, generally speaking. 84 00:04:27.140 --> 00:04:32.700 You know, they were a defeated people who generally kept to themselves. 85 00:04:32.700 --> 00:04:40.060 They kept their own laws, even when those laws conflicted with the king. 86 00:04:40.060 --> 00:04:43.260 And so that’s an interesting thing to keep in mind. 87 00:04:43.260 --> 00:04:48.080 All of that you can find in the book of Esther , those very words almost that I just said. 88 00:04:48.080 --> 00:05:02.340 And so it’s true, they are a people that and yet, you see, when when they were first brought into Babylon, the goal was to assimilate them. 89 00:05:02.340 --> 00:05:10.260 The goal of bringing the Jews the Jewish people that they brought into Babylon was so that they would become part of the kingdom. 90 00:05:10.260 --> 00:05:15.620 They they were forced almost to adopt the culture. 91 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:30.220 They the focus was for them to to be to blend in, to be part of it, to actually to to melt into that community, you know, the melting pot idea. 92 00:05:30.220 --> 00:05:32.960 But that didn’t happen. 93 00:05:32.960 --> 00:05:39.800 The Jewish people remained a the Jewish people. 94 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:41.300 They they didn’t intermarry. 95 00:05:41.300 --> 00:05:45.410 They they stayed faithful to themselves. 96 00:05:45.410 --> 00:05:52.300 Even though in this it becomes evident in the book of Esther that they are scattered all over this empire. 97 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:56.640 They’re in pockets all over this empire, they’ve been scattered throughout the empire. 98 00:05:56.640 --> 00:06:01.720 And so it’s interesting, they’re a marginalized people and they’re not liked. 99 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:05.080 They’re not loved. 100 00:06:05.080 --> 00:06:06.810 And yet they’re so important. 101 00:06:06.810 --> 00:06:15.420 Do you remember the words of Jesus to the Samaritan woman at the well, he says, “Salvation is of the Jews.” 102 00:06:15.420 --> 00:06:18.140 It’s an important thing to keep in mind. 103 00:06:18.140 --> 00:06:32.840 The program of salvation that God has in the Old Testament is the ultimately for the good and salvation of everyone, every child of God who is going to come to to faith in God, in the church. 104 00:06:32.840 --> 00:06:39.300 And so it’s that he works through that to provide a Redeemer. 105 00:06:39.300 --> 00:06:46.740 As this passage unfolds, there’s a storm brewing on the horizon. 106 00:06:46.740 --> 00:06:52.320 And there’s a great spiritual battle that’s about to break loose in the physical world. 107 00:06:52.320 --> 00:07:05.880 Satan is at work, devising and orchestrating a plan that that threatens all of the people of God at the time, all of the Jewish people, and God’s plan to bring redemption to the world. 108 00:07:05.880 --> 00:07:07.160 That’s what’s at stake. 109 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:11.480 We’ll explain that next week. 110 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:19.650 But but God is at work, and he’s positioning his people way before anyone knows anything about it. 111 00:07:19.650 --> 00:07:26.440 For for Mordecai, for Esther, there doesn’t seem to be a cloud in the sky, except for their own troubles. 112 00:07:26.440 --> 00:07:28.340 They don’t know anything is coming. 113 00:07:28.340 --> 00:07:30.180 But God does. 114 00:07:30.180 --> 00:07:39.540 And so he’s already at work, positioning his people to be at the right place and in the right time, so that he can accomplish his perfect purpose. 115 00:07:39.540 --> 00:07:43.940 That’s what we’re seeing as chapter 2 unfolds. 116 00:07:43.940 --> 00:07:45.580 It’s a it’s an incredible thing. 117 00:07:45.580 --> 00:07:54.540 You know, I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the game of chess, but you may be at least familiar with the pieces. 118 00:07:54.540 --> 00:07:58.480 And the on a chessboard, you’ve got like five different kinds of a piece. 119 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:02.040 You’ve got a king, which is the most important piece on the board. 120 00:08:02.040 --> 00:08:04.420 If it’s captured, the game’s over. 121 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:08.540 You’ve got the queen, which is the most powerful piece on the board. 122 00:08:08.540 --> 00:08:13.680 You know, when you think generally speaking, you’re thinking of that, it’s the most powerful piece on the board. 123 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:26.120 Then you have rooks and then bishops and knights, and they all have different power, and then you have a little lowly pawn, which is hardly that makes six, doesn’t it? 124 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:27.220 A lowly pawn. 125 00:08:27.220 --> 00:08:32.720 Anyway, so you have you have those all those pieces. 126 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:39.100 Now, the pawn, you know, people don’t respect pawns nearly enough. 127 00:08:39.100 --> 00:08:40.700 That’s what we’re seeing here. 128 00:08:40.700 --> 00:08:42.140 These are the pawns. 129 00:08:42.140 --> 00:08:45.100 You know what’s interesting in a game of chess? 130 00:08:45.100 --> 00:08:51.860 That like, in the very opening of the game, the queen’s power is all just potential power. 131 00:08:51.860 --> 00:08:54.140 It can’t do a thing. 132 00:08:54.140 --> 00:08:57.360 In the first move of the game, it has no power at all. 133 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:00.200 A pawn has more power than the queen. 134 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:08.620 And later in the game, if the pawn is in just the right place, it is far more powerful than a queen. 135 00:09:08.620 --> 00:09:16.680 At the right place and the right time, any of those pieces, depending on where they are positioned, position is crucial. 136 00:09:16.680 --> 00:09:21.280 What what God is doing here is positioning his people. 137 00:09:21.280 --> 00:09:26.000 They’re not pawns in a game, I don’t mean to imply that, that’s just an illustration. 138 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:27.440 They’re his people. 139 00:09:27.440 --> 00:09:28.700 He cares about them. 140 00:09:28.700 --> 00:09:32.420 That unfolds as you see the story unfold. 141 00:09:32.420 --> 00:09:42.100 But he is placing them just where he wants them in order to accomplish great, great good through them. 142 00:09:42.100 --> 00:10:02.560 So there was a man, his name was Mordecai and he lives in the city of Susa, and he’s the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite. 143 00:10:02.560 --> 00:10:05.160 Now that’s that’s interesting to me too. 144 00:10:05.160 --> 00:10:07.780 The fact that his a descendant of Kish. 145 00:10:07.780 --> 00:10:11.020 He’s a Benjaminite and he’s a descendant of Kish. 146 00:10:11.020 --> 00:10:28.080 Now I meant to say before in the introduction a while ago that to call her attention back to to Saul in the Old Testament, because King Saul, if King Saul had been obedient to God, we wouldn’t have the book of Esther . 147 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:30.040 It wouldn’t be necessary. 148 00:10:30.040 --> 00:10:33.360 The bad events that are about to happen wouldn’t have taken place. 149 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:37.800 Maybe something else would have happened, but this would not have happened. 150 00:10:37.800 --> 00:10:45.860 And so it’s interesting to me that you have this name Kish in the line of Benjamin. 151 00:10:45.860 --> 00:10:51.200 You remember Saul is a Benjaminite. 152 00:10:51.200 --> 00:10:54.140 And you remember who his father is? 153 00:10:54.140 --> 00:10:56.040 His father’s name is Kish. 154 00:10:56.040 --> 00:10:57.960 You remember him, don’t you? 155 00:10:57.960 --> 00:11:06.200 Kish, the man of Benjamin, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath. 156 00:11:06.200 --> 00:11:11.460 I’m having a little trouble reading my 6 point type that I’ve got. 157 00:11:11.460 --> 00:11:23.760 Anyway, you remember that Saul’s father, a mighty man of valor, was this man named Kish. 158 00:11:23.760 --> 00:11:34.660 And here reading this, Mordecai’s grandfather, at least, is named Kish. 159 00:11:34.660 --> 00:11:37.560 It may be more than that. 160 00:11:37.560 --> 00:11:40.860 I’m going to argue, and I can’t argue this 100%. 161 00:11:40.860 --> 00:11:48.800 I mean, it may not be the most likely thing, but I find this really intriguing, because I started exploring it to see if it was possible. 162 00:11:48.800 --> 00:11:52.820 And it is possible what I’m about to tell you. 163 00:11:52.820 --> 00:11:58.660 And that is this reference here to Kish might be the father of Saul. 164 00:11:58.660 --> 00:12:04.460 That might be exactly what the the point of this passage, that it’s bringing us back to Saul. 165 00:12:04.460 --> 00:12:08.650 And if that’s the case, then here’s how it works. 166 00:12:08.650 --> 00:12:16.680 When you when you see a genealogy in the Old Testament, like this one, there is no Hebrew word. 167 00:12:16.680 --> 00:12:26.520 It’s a very cumbersome thing for them to talk about a grandfather, because there’s no word for grandfather in the Hebrew language in the in the Old Testament. 168 00:12:26.520 --> 00:12:31.740 And so when they talk about sons, they meant they can mean the whole line. 169 00:12:31.740 --> 00:12:38.280 We’re all the sons of Adam, the daughters of Eve, you know, in the C.S. Lewis configuration of that. 170 00:12:38.280 --> 00:12:40.130 It’s exactly the same way in the Old Testament. 171 00:12:40.130 --> 00:12:49.440 You can you’re you’re your grandson is your son, you know, that’s the way the language flows. 172 00:12:49.440 --> 00:13:00.080 And so it’s quite possible and sometimes happens that significant figures in the line are pulled out when giving a genealogy. 173 00:13:00.080 --> 00:13:02.580 I think that is likely what’s happening here. 174 00:13:02.580 --> 00:13:04.440 I don’t know that certainly. 175 00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:07.400 So let’s argue against it for a minute. 176 00:13:07.400 --> 00:13:11.480 See the strong argument against what I’ve just said is true. 177 00:13:11.480 --> 00:13:16.240 And if you’re going to look at that, what’s the problem with that view? 178 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:26.820 Well, look at verse 6, “Who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah.” 179 00:13:26.820 --> 00:13:30.560 Well, who who does that who refer to? 180 00:13:30.560 --> 00:13:32.380 What’s the antecedent of who? 181 00:13:32.380 --> 00:13:34.200 What what does the who refer to? 182 00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:39.090 Well, the first possibility and strong possibility, just grammatically, would be Mordecai. 183 00:13:39.090 --> 00:13:45.180 It’s it could he could Mordecai was had been taken into exile from Jerusalem. 184 00:13:45.180 --> 00:13:47.160 You know what the problem with that is? 185 00:13:47.160 --> 00:13:56.960 If Mordecai was taken into captivity in Jerusalem, then he would be at least 120 years old. 186 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:02.520 And not just that, but Esther would be at least 70 years old. 187 00:14:02.520 --> 00:14:05.740 It just didn’t seem really probable to me. 188 00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:09.960 And I don’t think it’s likely, so it’s not Mordecai. 189 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:12.340 The who doesn’t refer back to him. 190 00:14:12.340 --> 00:14:18.440 Well, the next most likely possibility is Kish the Benjaminite, which would be like his grandfather. 191 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:19.880 Well, it could be. 192 00:14:19.880 --> 00:14:25.480 He could be a man named Kish, his grandfather, who was taken into captivity. 193 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:30.900 It couldn’t be readily speaking, Kish the father of Saul. 194 00:14:30.900 --> 00:14:39.620 And the reason would be, by the time Kish lived to the time when they were taken into captivity, about 500 years passed. 195 00:14:39.620 --> 00:14:43.660 So Kish would have to be 500 years old when he was taken into captivity. 196 00:14:43.660 --> 00:14:48.120 So that seems highly improbable. 197 00:14:48.120 --> 00:14:56.600 But you see, there’s there’s one more interesting thing here, and that is that that is a collective reference. 198 00:14:56.600 --> 00:15:05.980 In Hebrew , sometimes this whole passage is talking about the whole family was taken into captivity. 199 00:15:05.980 --> 00:15:08.980 Yeah, began way back there, but their family line. 200 00:15:08.980 --> 00:15:10.360 What happened to this family line? 201 00:15:10.360 --> 00:15:12.700 Well, they were brought into captivity. 202 00:15:12.700 --> 00:15:14.380 That’s a real possibility. 203 00:15:14.380 --> 00:15:18.260 It’s a grammatical possibility in Hebrew . 204 00:15:18.260 --> 00:15:36.600 In fact, it is the way the Hebrew , it’s the primary way that people understand when the Jews translated this book into the Greek language during the a couple hundred years before Jesus. 205 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:44.060 That seems to be the way this passage reads, that it’s it’s the family line that’s considered. 206 00:15:44.060 --> 00:15:45.280 So it’s a possibility. 207 00:15:45.280 --> 00:15:50.720 If it’s the family line that’s considered, then that leaves room for my first thesis. 208 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:56.040 But either way, God chose a Benjaminite. 209 00:15:56.040 --> 00:16:04.980 Quite possibly, possibly, someone who’s very closely related to Paul’s line, I mean, Saul’s line, Saul and Paul, Saul’s line. 210 00:16:04.980 --> 00:16:16.800 And and if not if not a descendant of Saul, I think that’s intriguing. 211 00:16:16.800 --> 00:16:26.970 The other thing that fascinates me here is that if it’s true for him, it’s probably very true for his cousin, whom he adopts, Esther. 212 00:16:26.970 --> 00:16:28.940 Esther is an orphan. 213 00:16:28.940 --> 00:16:31.160 He has pity on her. 214 00:16:31.160 --> 00:16:34.760 He adopts her as his own child. 215 00:16:34.760 --> 00:16:37.740 This this he he’s much older. 216 00:16:37.740 --> 00:16:42.020 He’s a cousin, but he’s much older and he takes pity on this child. 217 00:16:42.020 --> 00:16:47.660 You know, she she was the least of the least when she was born. 218 00:16:47.660 --> 00:16:51.700 Her chances of survival there, what are they? 219 00:16:51.700 --> 00:16:52.920 Nothing. 220 00:16:52.920 --> 00:16:56.320 If Mordecai hadn’t hadn’t taken compassion on her. 221 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:58.920 So he takes compassion on her. 222 00:16:58.920 --> 00:17:07.960 And she is a child, and one of the first things that’s said about her is that she is a beautiful, a beautiful child. 223 00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:10.680 She’s a beautiful girl. 224 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:17.040 And that becomes evident and a key factor as the story unfolds. 225 00:17:17.040 --> 00:17:23.240 Why I think that’s interesting is because she she’s obviously of the tribe of Benjamin. 226 00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:28.020 She could possibly be a descendant of Saul. 227 00:17:28.020 --> 00:17:31.140 You remember how Saul’s introduced in the Bible? 228 00:17:31.140 --> 00:17:38.980 Kish, a mighty man of valor, had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and handsome man. 229 00:17:38.980 --> 00:17:40.960 Isn’t that interesting? 230 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:48.720 You know why Saul was so readily accepted by the Jewish people, by the Jews to be their king? 231 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:52.020 It’s because he was tall and handsome. 232 00:17:52.020 --> 00:17:52.970 That’s why. 233 00:17:52.970 --> 00:17:56.080 It’s it’s it’s what the scripture says. 234 00:17:56.080 --> 00:18:01.160 He was tall and handsome, and they were attracted to him, and he gains power because of that. 235 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:13.280 Now, a potential great, great, great, great, great granddaughter, whose chief thing that’s mentioned, first thing, is that she’s incredibly beautiful. 236 00:18:13.280 --> 00:18:15.280 She’s amazingly beautiful. 237 00:18:15.280 --> 00:18:17.720 I just think that’s kind of interesting. 238 00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:26.600 So here she is, Esther, born, being brought up. 239 00:18:26.600 --> 00:18:30.340 Her name was, her Jewish name was Hadassah . 240 00:18:30.340 --> 00:18:35.220 They would give names, usually after a god. 241 00:18:35.220 --> 00:18:40.500 Esther could be Persian for star, or it could be Ishtar the goddess. 242 00:18:40.500 --> 00:18:46.390 But they did that just like with all of the, Mordecai’s named after Marduk, probably. 243 00:18:46.390 --> 00:18:50.720 Those aren’t those are pagan names. 244 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:51.480 See. 245 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:57.700 And the reason that they’re pagan names is because the goal was for them to assimilate into culture, so they were given these names. 246 00:18:57.700 --> 00:19:00.360 They didn’t choose those names for themselves. 247 00:19:00.360 --> 00:19:05.420 And and so just like Daniel’s named as Belteshazzar, he’s named after a god. 248 00:19:05.420 --> 00:19:13.140 Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were given pagan names. 249 00:19:13.140 --> 00:19:14.880 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. 250 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:15.280 Yeah. 251 00:19:15.280 --> 00:19:21.380 So you have you have that principle going on, because they were supposed to be assimilated. 252 00:19:21.380 --> 00:19:22.540 They didn’t assimilate. 253 00:19:22.540 --> 00:19:24.360 They stayed Jews. 254 00:19:24.360 --> 00:19:27.400 They stayed to themselves, they stayed true to themselves. 255 00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:30.110 And this is what’s happened here. 256 00:19:30.110 --> 00:19:43.460 And so this beautiful girl, who’s named Hadassah , which is she’s named after the most beautiful tree in Israel, which was the myrtle tree. 257 00:19:43.460 --> 00:19:45.460 She is orphaned. 258 00:19:45.460 --> 00:19:52.440 And so she is thought probably less than of any value. 259 00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:54.140 She’s the least of the least. 260 00:19:54.140 --> 00:19:58.440 But not to God. 261 00:19:58.440 --> 00:19:59.800 He cares about her. 262 00:19:59.800 --> 00:20:05.260 And not to Mordecai, who takes pity on her and takes her in and raises her. 263 00:20:05.260 --> 00:20:06.910 So she’s raised by Mordecai. 264 00:20:06.910 --> 00:20:17.980 It came to pass, it says, when the king’s commandment and decree was heard, that she was taken into the king’s court. 265 00:20:17.980 --> 00:20:23.040 And the idea here, the implication there, is that she didn’t have a choice in this. 266 00:20:23.040 --> 00:20:24.380 She was taken. 267 00:20:24.380 --> 00:20:30.220 This is not like, oh, here’s an announcement, here’s a great beauty pageant, and you want to enter? 268 00:20:30.220 --> 00:20:31.960 That’s not what’s happening here. 269 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:34.400 No. 270 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:44.940 No, she the his his his people went through the whole empire, gathering the most beautiful women to take back to him, and they had no choice in it. 271 00:20:44.940 --> 00:20:47.120 They had no choice. 272 00:20:47.120 --> 00:21:03.660 Can you imagine what this would be like for a young Jewish girl, who is they see her, they say, you’re coming with us, you’re coming to the king’s palace, and she knows what’s ahead of her, and it is not good. 273 00:21:03.660 --> 00:21:10.700 The most likely thing is she’s going to be a concubine of the king, and who wants that? 274 00:21:10.700 --> 00:21:12.020 It’s it’s a terrible thing. 275 00:21:12.020 --> 00:21:14.000 It’s it’s slavery. 276 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:16.940 It’s horrible. 277 00:21:16.940 --> 00:21:19.360 All of her plans. 278 00:21:19.360 --> 00:21:27.180 If she had a dream of a particular young man, she was going to form a family with, that was gone. 279 00:21:27.180 --> 00:21:31.920 Her dreams of a family life, a normal life, all of that was gone. 280 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:45.100 All the things that she expected would happen and in her greatest hopes is dashed, and she doesn’t have anything to say about it, because that’s the power of Xerxes. 281 00:21:45.100 --> 00:21:48.200 That’s the political power of the day. 282 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:52.980 And so she’s carried away, she’s carried away to the king’s palace. 283 00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:54.020 They take her. 284 00:21:54.020 --> 00:21:59.520 She’s taken to the king’s court. 285 00:21:59.520 --> 00:22:05.780 You know, all sorts of things in life are miserable. 286 00:22:05.780 --> 00:22:10.180 Sometimes they’re messy and wicked. 287 00:22:10.180 --> 00:22:22.720 In those times in life, it’s important for us to trust God’s God’s goodness, his power, and his control. 288 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:31.560 God can work in the most amazing things, and God works in messy situations, and he deals with very messy people. 289 00:22:31.560 --> 00:22:39.220 And so he can he can bring about good in unexpected ways. 290 00:22:39.220 --> 00:22:50.260 So God God brings her to the to the palace and immediately she finds favor with the palace eunuch, who’s in charge of the women. 291 00:22:50.260 --> 00:22:52.920 His name is Hegai or Hegai. 292 00:22:52.920 --> 00:23:01.500 And she’s taken to the palace, and it says, “The young lady pleased him, found favor with him.” 293 00:23:01.500 --> 00:23:06.400 So her beauty, her character, her demeanor, won her favor. 294 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:09.080 God’s already working, showing grace. 295 00:23:09.080 --> 00:23:14.160 Kind of reminds you of Joseph, taken into captivity. 296 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:17.660 In Potiphar’s house, he finds favor with Potiphar. 297 00:23:17.660 --> 00:23:22.160 He gets into trouble there, of no fault of his own, and ends up in prison. 298 00:23:22.160 --> 00:23:26.580 He finds favor with the with the head of the the prison. 299 00:23:26.580 --> 00:23:28.660 And so forth. 300 00:23:28.660 --> 00:23:30.840 This is what’s happening with Esther. 301 00:23:30.840 --> 00:23:35.700 It’s God’s hand at work here that brings the favor. 302 00:23:35.700 --> 00:23:45.000 We don’t we don’t know what why God does the things that he does, and brings us through the things that he brings us through, and causes us to be in the positions that we are in. 303 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.040 Sometimes it feels pretty miserable where we are placed. 304 00:23:49.040 --> 00:24:18.260 But we need to trust him in the in the difficult places, because he places his people where he needs them and uses that experience to bring good ultimately to his people, to bring about the good things that are necessary, so that we can can be blessed and that he can accomplish his purpose purposes through us. 305 00:24:18.260 --> 00:24:21.100 Sometimes it’s a time of preparation. 306 00:24:21.100 --> 00:24:23.360 And that’s what’s happening here. 307 00:24:23.360 --> 00:24:27.400 God didn’t just place his people, he also refines his people. 308 00:24:27.400 --> 00:24:34.800 So let me continue reading in verse 10, beginning in verse 10. 309 00:24:34.800 --> 00:24:42.860 So Esther did not make known her people, or her kindred, for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make them known. 310 00:24:42.860 --> 00:24:49.580 Every day, Mordecai walked back and forth in the court of the harem to learn how Esther fared. 311 00:24:49.580 --> 00:25:07.960 Now, when the turn of each young lady came to go to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her 12 months, under the regulations for the women, for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh, six months with spices and cosmetics for women. 312 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:16.180 The young lady would go into the king and in this way, anything that she desired was given to her, to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 313 00:25:16.180 --> 00:25:28.780 In the evening she would go in and in the morning she would return to the second harem, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. 314 00:25:28.780 --> 00:25:36.440 She would not again go to the king unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name. 315 00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:54.780 Now, when the turn for Esther, the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, came to go to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the women, advised. 316 00:25:54.780 --> 00:25:58.620 And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 317 00:25:58.620 --> 00:26:11.100 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 318 00:26:11.100 --> 00:26:26.820 And the king loved Esther more than all the women, found favor and kindness with him, more than all the virgins, so he set the royal crown on her head, made her queen instead of Vashti. 319 00:26:26.820 --> 00:26:31.400 What you see taking place, there was a year of preparation. 320 00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:34.820 You know, Esther needs. 321 00:26:34.820 --> 00:26:52.860 I mean, if she was taken away from her home and brought directly to King Xerxes, I don’t think it would have gone well, because she needed to come to terms with her condition. 322 00:26:52.860 --> 00:26:54.580 I mean, she had to be brokenhearted. 323 00:26:54.580 --> 00:26:55.980 She had to be grieving. 324 00:26:55.980 --> 00:26:58.220 She had to be upset and angry. 325 00:26:58.220 --> 00:27:14.480 And so she needs time where nothing happens except, you know, she’s able to receive these treatments, you know, the cosmetics that she receives for all treatments and various things like that. 326 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:21.780 No doubt, she’s trained in the in the rules and laws of the court, the customs of the court. 327 00:27:21.780 --> 00:27:26.130 And all these things are taking place for her, that prepares her. 328 00:27:26.130 --> 00:27:36.360 It’s it’s highly probable this takes a year, and if you remember, Xerxes is conducting a war, so he goes off for a little over a year about this time. 329 00:27:36.360 --> 00:27:40.300 So all this makes perfectly good sense historically. 330 00:27:40.300 --> 00:27:51.400 But there’s a year of preparation, all these women are prepared, they benefit from all these oil treatments and all these various things, and they’re staying in the house of the virgins. 331 00:27:51.400 --> 00:28:02.240 When the time comes for them to go to the king, they go to the king and spend the night, and then they don’t go back to the house of the virgins, they’re taken to the house of the concubines. 332 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:05.260 That’s a pretty miserable thing. 333 00:28:05.260 --> 00:28:08.420 That’s a pretty horrific thing to think about. 334 00:28:08.420 --> 00:28:11.280 This is where Esther is. 335 00:28:11.280 --> 00:28:16.580 She’s brought to the king, and it goes quite differently. 336 00:28:16.580 --> 00:28:20.160 It goes quite differently. 337 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:40.440 I think God has been at work with Esther for a year now, preparing her, equipping her, enabling her to be the to to be at just the right place where God wants her to be, at just the right time. 338 00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:45.180 And so it tells us a couple of very interesting things. 339 00:28:45.180 --> 00:28:52.940 First of all, it tells us that Esther didn’t make known her people or her kindred, because Mordecai had instructed her not to make them known. 340 00:28:52.940 --> 00:29:05.400 This is true for her at the beginning, it’s true for her, you know, when that that’s one of the things that when you read commentaries is often criticized, by the way. 341 00:29:05.400 --> 00:29:09.660 These people, they say, Mordecai and Esther couldn’t be true good Jews. 342 00:29:09.660 --> 00:29:18.820 For one thing, because of this decree from from Mordecai to don’t make known your Jewish background. 343 00:29:18.820 --> 00:29:24.440 You know what people do, Christians do when they live in an oppressed society? 344 00:29:24.440 --> 00:29:29.080 They have strategies to cope. 345 00:29:29.080 --> 00:29:36.360 You know, Hard-Cry Missionary Society has missionaries that they support, whose identity they do not reveal. 346 00:29:36.360 --> 00:29:38.140 Do you know why they don’t reveal it? 347 00:29:38.140 --> 00:29:46.880 Because they would be put to death, or they would be sent away, and they wouldn’t be able to do their work. 348 00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:50.600 Their identity in the larger community is not known. 349 00:29:50.600 --> 00:29:52.740 They’re not identifying themselves as Christians. 350 00:29:52.740 --> 00:30:00.790 They’re Christians when when you’re an oppressed people or a marginalized people, there are times when it is wise. 351 00:30:00.790 --> 00:30:05.080 We’re to be wise as serpents to to plan a good strategy. 352 00:30:05.080 --> 00:30:13.360 Yes, you make it known when the time comes, and the right times and places, you don’t hide from that. 353 00:30:13.360 --> 00:30:16.160 But but there you there’s a place to be wise. 354 00:30:16.160 --> 00:30:17.660 This isn’t deception. 355 00:30:17.660 --> 00:30:19.760 This is discernment. 356 00:30:19.760 --> 00:30:21.780 This is wisdom. 357 00:30:21.780 --> 00:30:30.500 And so that’s exactly what Mordecai has had advised her to do, and she’s listening, taking and heating his advice. 358 00:30:30.500 --> 00:30:36.400 And she’s doing it because she knew he loved her like a father. 359 00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:42.820 In fact, the next verse, verse 11, says that Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women’s house. 360 00:30:42.820 --> 00:30:44.520 He’s he’s trying to get a bit of news. 361 00:30:44.520 --> 00:30:45.760 How’s she doing in there? 362 00:30:45.760 --> 00:30:48.120 Is she okay? 363 00:30:48.120 --> 00:30:49.400 He loves his daughter. 364 00:30:49.400 --> 00:30:55.700 He’s doing exactly what we would do if it were we were in a place like that and had no other say. 365 00:30:55.700 --> 00:31:00.000 So God places people God gives his people. 366 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:03.260 God gives us Mordecais from time to time. 367 00:31:03.260 --> 00:31:10.660 People who have wisdom to give us advice and to encourage us, to bless us, to love us. 368 00:31:10.660 --> 00:31:14.520 We need to listen to them and be encouraged by them. 369 00:31:14.520 --> 00:31:20.000 God gives us churches filled with people who have unique gifts from the Holy Spirit. 370 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.380 And as they are gifted, we need to to bend to their will. 371 00:31:24.380 --> 00:31:33.160 We need to benefit from the spiritual gift that they that God has given them so that we can grow. 372 00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:47.260 So God refines his people, equipping them through difficulties and through times of preparation, even in times when we don’t understand it. 373 00:31:47.260 --> 00:31:52.300 And finally, this last part of this section, Esther’s elevated by the grace of God. 374 00:31:52.300 --> 00:31:56.340 Esther found favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her. 375 00:31:56.340 --> 00:32:01.580 She gains the king’s favor, and he gives her the crown. 376 00:32:01.580 --> 00:32:10.580 The scripture says, this passage says that the king loved Esther above all women, so he set the royal crown upon her head. 377 00:32:10.580 --> 00:32:13.840 See, God is the one who placed her here. 378 00:32:13.840 --> 00:32:18.900 Let’s let’s talk about odds for just a second here. 379 00:32:18.900 --> 00:32:21.200 Talk about probability, a mathematical probability. 380 00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:25.900 What’s the probability that this woman Esther would be chosen? 381 00:32:25.900 --> 00:32:34.420 The king had sent out to his kingdom with more than 10 million women to find the best throughout the entire kingdom. 382 00:32:34.420 --> 00:32:41.140 Throughout all these provinces, and they brought the best of the best back to the palace. 383 00:32:41.140 --> 00:32:44.800 And they brought Esther to the palace. 384 00:32:44.800 --> 00:32:50.660 When you start doing the math, and I did, I’m not going to take the time, I don’t have the time to go through it. 385 00:32:50.660 --> 00:33:01.420 But her chances of being selected mathematically is way less than one in a million, way less than one in a million. 386 00:33:01.420 --> 00:33:04.960 And yet, she’s there. 387 00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:13.520 The person that God wanted, this descendant of the family of Saul, is there in the palace right at this time. 388 00:33:13.520 --> 00:33:18.900 And that the fact that she’s a descendant of the family of Saul, there’s a connection there. 389 00:33:18.900 --> 00:33:20.060 That’s important. 390 00:33:20.060 --> 00:33:23.480 We’ll see that next week. 391 00:33:23.480 --> 00:33:28.220 So she’s she’s elevated by the grace of God. 392 00:33:28.220 --> 00:33:30.940 God refines us. 393 00:33:30.940 --> 00:33:36.760 He does things to to help us, to strengthen us, to teach us patience and humility. 394 00:33:36.760 --> 00:33:40.200 Esther exemplifies all these things. 395 00:33:40.200 --> 00:33:48.640 She’s raised to the place where she is the queen of Persia. 396 00:33:48.640 --> 00:33:55.620 And so that’s where this this little orphan girl has ended up as the queen of Persia. 397 00:33:55.620 --> 00:34:01.740 And then the final thing is that God positions his deliverers. 398 00:34:01.740 --> 00:34:14.600 And so God didn’t just prepare people to do his work of deliverance, but he strategically places them in key positions at the right time to accomplish his plan. 399 00:34:14.600 --> 00:34:15.660 That’s what happens. 400 00:34:15.660 --> 00:34:18.000 Esther becomes the queen of Persia. 401 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:24.420 This Jewish orphan becomes the most politically powerful woman in the world. 402 00:34:24.420 --> 00:34:26.980 That’s something to think about, isn’t it? 403 00:34:26.980 --> 00:34:30.080 And so the king gives a royal banquet. 404 00:34:30.080 --> 00:34:31.400 I should read this. 405 00:34:31.400 --> 00:34:32.900 18 to 20. 406 00:34:32.900 --> 00:34:39.900 I’ll do that. 407 00:34:39.900 --> 00:34:44.400 The king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his princes and his servants. 408 00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:49.400 He also made a holiday for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king’s bounty. 409 00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:54.480 When the virgins were gathered together for a second time, then Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. 410 00:34:54.480 --> 00:35:06.120 The king had not yet made known her kindred or her people, even as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther did what Mordecai told her, as she had done when under his care. 411 00:35:06.120 --> 00:35:09.700 So God has positioned Esther. 412 00:35:09.700 --> 00:35:11.980 She’s now the queen of Persia. 413 00:35:11.980 --> 00:35:22.820 The king gives a royal banquet to to announce to the to all throughout his whole kingdom to announce that Esther is now the queen. 414 00:35:22.820 --> 00:35:32.740 He makes some sort of provision so that there’s a holiday through the provinces, giving gifts according to the king’s bounty, the text says. 415 00:35:32.740 --> 00:35:43.400 And so the banquet was made public, acknowledging through the whole nation that the the queen’s new position, Esther’s new position as queen. 416 00:35:43.400 --> 00:35:47.200 And so God works in such a way. 417 00:35:47.200 --> 00:35:55.560 He’s he’s brought, just like he brought Joseph to power in Egypt, he’s brought Esther to power in to a place a position of of some authority. 418 00:35:55.560 --> 00:36:01.040 Some authority in Persia. 419 00:36:01.040 --> 00:36:07.880 And one of the interesting things is that Esther continued to be obedient to Mordecai. 420 00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:11.800 That’s spelled out here for us. 421 00:36:11.800 --> 00:36:44.700 She she’s not just not just a married lady. 422 00:36:44.700 --> 00:36:52.100 She’s the most powerful and influential woman politically in the in in all the world, really. 423 00:36:52.100 --> 00:36:55.100 Should she listen to Mordecai? 424 00:36:55.100 --> 00:36:57.180 Well, obviously she should. 425 00:36:57.180 --> 00:36:59.300 And so she’s come to power. 426 00:36:59.300 --> 00:37:05.460 God has placed her where he wants her to be, and she is still humble. 427 00:37:05.460 --> 00:37:09.960 She’s still listening, she’s still listening to Mordecai. 428 00:37:09.960 --> 00:37:16.720 We need to remain humble even when we’re doing well, we’re being blessed. 429 00:37:16.720 --> 00:37:25.480 Need to have a sense of humility. 430 00:37:25.480 --> 00:37:28.310 Mordecai, Mordecai is positioned as well. 431 00:37:28.310 --> 00:37:34.680 When when the second gathering takes place, and this could be like the announcement. 432 00:37:34.680 --> 00:37:42.990 When the second gathering of the virgins takes place, this could be a gathering where there were the announcement is that that Esther is the queen. 433 00:37:42.990 --> 00:37:47.380 I’m not it’s a difficult passage, but that’s a likely possibility. 434 00:37:47.380 --> 00:37:52.240 When that takes place, Mordecai is seated at the king’s gate. 435 00:37:52.240 --> 00:37:57.040 And that means that he has been elevated to a place of prominence in the kingdom. 436 00:37:57.040 --> 00:38:03.450 He has he has he is he is now serving as an official in the Persian court. 437 00:38:03.450 --> 00:38:07.540 And so that’s the the point of setting at the king’s gate. 438 00:38:07.540 --> 00:38:42.080 And so that takes that brings us to this final thing here, and that is that while Mordecai is there, something remarkable happens. 439 00:38:42.080 --> 00:38:47.480 He overhears a couple of guards making a plan. 440 00:38:47.480 --> 00:38:50.440 They they hate Ahasuerus, Xerxes. 441 00:38:50.440 --> 00:38:54.480 They hate Xerxes, and they and they want to put him to death. 442 00:38:54.480 --> 00:38:56.160 And he overhears it. 443 00:38:56.160 --> 00:38:58.900 He hears it, and he tells Esther. 444 00:38:58.900 --> 00:39:03.420 He tells Esther what’s going on, and Esther reports it to the king in the name of Mordecai. 445 00:39:03.420 --> 00:39:06.800 He want she wants Mordecai’s the one that discovered this. 446 00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:09.060 He should get the credit for it. 447 00:39:09.060 --> 00:39:12.680 There’s these two people that are about to kill you, planning to kill you. 448 00:39:12.680 --> 00:39:14.540 And they checked that out. 449 00:39:14.540 --> 00:39:16.840 It proved to be absolutely true. 450 00:39:16.840 --> 00:39:21.370 So they dispatch these two guys. 451 00:39:21.370 --> 00:39:27.200 They they executed these two guys, and they wrote it down in the annals. 452 00:39:27.200 --> 00:39:28.560 Let’s read that section. 453 00:39:28.560 --> 00:39:38.360 In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s officials from those who guarded the door, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 454 00:39:38.360 --> 00:39:44.410 But the plot became known to Mordecai, and he told the Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name. 455 00:39:44.410 --> 00:39:54.920 Now, when the plot was investigated and found to be so, they were both hanged on a gallows, as it was written in the book of the chronicles, and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king. 456 00:39:54.920 --> 00:39:56.840 So here’s an interesting story. 457 00:39:56.840 --> 00:39:58.980 Mordecai does this great deed. 458 00:39:58.980 --> 00:40:06.240 It’s written down, the king hears it, it’s written down in the chronicles, you would expect the next thing to happen is that he would be rewarded. 459 00:40:06.240 --> 00:40:08.920 He saved the king’s life. 460 00:40:08.920 --> 00:40:12.500 But, you know, the king’s a busy guy, and there’s a war going on. 461 00:40:12.500 --> 00:40:14.940 He’s got a lot of distractions. 462 00:40:14.940 --> 00:40:17.120 And so that just didn’t happen. 463 00:40:17.120 --> 00:40:20.660 He’s not he’s not given any reward or anything from it. 464 00:40:20.660 --> 00:40:45.220 There’s a you know, when you when you watch a mystery story, or you see a play, it’s kind of interesting, because usually, there’s all sorts of little things that can happen, but when something of of where you can’t see the point of it happens, and they call attention to it, you should pay attention to it. 465 00:40:45.220 --> 00:40:58.310 Anton Chekhov, the playwright, gave advice to his writers and and they said he said he told them, if you introduce a gun in Act One, it needs to go off by Act Three. 466 00:40:58.310 --> 00:41:05.620 You know, if you’re calling attention to it, you don’t just point out, oh, there he has a nice shotgun over the over the over the fireplace. 467 00:41:05.620 --> 00:41:11.540 But if you do that in a play, there’s needs to be a purpose to calling attention to it. 468 00:41:11.540 --> 00:41:15.500 And if you ever watch a mystery story, that happens all the time. 469 00:41:15.500 --> 00:41:17.500 They introduce a little thing, it seems incidental. 470 00:41:17.500 --> 00:41:19.420 It’s crucial later on. 471 00:41:19.420 --> 00:41:22.440 That’s following Chekhov’s advice. 472 00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:28.840 Well, here, this little story is Chekhov’s gun. 473 00:41:28.840 --> 00:41:30.500 That’s exactly what this is. 474 00:41:30.500 --> 00:41:32.540 This is something, this little story. 475 00:41:32.540 --> 00:41:34.980 You say, you when you read something like that, why is it here? 476 00:41:34.980 --> 00:41:36.860 How does this further the story? 477 00:41:36.860 --> 00:41:41.280 Why did he, well, you can say, well, it tells us that Mordecai was loyal. 478 00:41:41.280 --> 00:41:41.740 It does. 479 00:41:41.740 --> 00:41:47.140 It tells us some things that are true about Mordecai that he’s been elevated to a higher position. 480 00:41:47.140 --> 00:41:48.440 That tells all those things are good. 481 00:41:48.440 --> 00:41:55.080 But this that’s not, but the story just seems to have no other point. 482 00:41:55.080 --> 00:41:57.100 Well, this is a crucial story. 483 00:41:57.100 --> 00:41:59.700 This is Chekhov’s gun. 484 00:41:59.700 --> 00:42:09.040 If you want to find out why this is crucial, and why this is the turning point of the story ultimately, have to follow along. 485 00:42:09.040 --> 00:42:11.040 You have to go back and read the book again. 486 00:42:11.040 --> 00:42:19.000 Or you have to come back so we can talk about it in next week or in the week that following. 487 00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:22.780 So that’s exactly what’s happening here. 488 00:42:22.780 --> 00:42:28.860 Mordecai’s discovery of the assassination plot seems to not further this story. 489 00:42:28.860 --> 00:42:38.560 But God is going to God is at work here, and his his invisible hand is always at work. 490 00:42:38.560 --> 00:42:43.680 And this event that came about through God’s providence. 491 00:42:43.680 --> 00:42:52.020 Mordecai happened to be there at just the right place, just the right time to hear this plot, and then to expose it. 492 00:42:52.020 --> 00:42:56.700 God’s at work behind the scenes, even when it’s not obvious. 493 00:42:56.700 --> 00:43:02.400 And Mordecai and Esther didn’t choose their placements. 494 00:43:02.400 --> 00:43:06.340 God brought them into these places. 495 00:43:06.340 --> 00:43:10.140 So God’s invisible hand is always at work. 496 00:43:10.140 --> 00:43:13.920 She didn’t know she’s being prepared for a great deliverance. 497 00:43:13.920 --> 00:43:17.520 Mordecai’s act of faithfulness seems insignificant. 498 00:43:17.520 --> 00:43:23.840 But God would use it in as far as the development of this, but God used it later to change history. 499 00:43:23.840 --> 00:43:26.900 Changed saving history. 500 00:43:26.900 --> 00:43:49.680 If these things didn’t happen, and the plan against them was carried out that we’ll look at next week, not only would the Jews be gone, but there would be no provision for our salvation, in the way that God had prescribed in the Old Testament, his way said it wouldn’t couldn’t come about. 501 00:43:49.680 --> 00:43:53.380 You see, it’s not just the lives of the Jews that’s concerned here. 502 00:43:53.380 --> 00:43:57.000 It’s the lives of all of us that’s crucial here. 503 00:43:57.000 --> 00:43:59.180 This is a powerful story. 504 00:43:59.180 --> 00:44:00.960 It’s a true story. 505 00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:02.220 It’s God’s story. 506 00:44:02.220 --> 00:44:14.480 So God is the author of this story, and like a a good author, he works things out to an ultimately beautiful end. 507 00:44:14.480 --> 00:44:21.000 God places and refines and positions his people for their glory. 508 00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:24.760 You may be frustrated where you are right now. 509 00:44:24.760 --> 00:44:30.040 And you might feel overlooked and unnoticed. 510 00:44:30.040 --> 00:44:32.280 But God’s at work. 511 00:44:32.280 --> 00:44:36.080 God’s at work putting you where he wants you. 512 00:44:36.080 --> 00:44:42.400 And if we trust him, for faithful to him, he’ll use us to his glory. 513 00:44:42.400 --> 00:44:48.940 Proverbs 3:5 and 6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not into your own understanding. 514 00:44:48.940 --> 00:44:54.320 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he’ll direct your paths.” 515 00:44:54.320 --> 00:44:55.900 Let’s pray. 516 00:44:55.900 --> 00:45:05.280 Father, thank you for this beautiful history, this incredibly story that you wrote in the pages of history and have given and preserved to us through this book of Esther . 517 00:45:05.280 --> 00:45:16.680 Thank you that it gives us encouragement to our hearts, to help us deal with all the struggles that we face in life, the difficulties that are hard for us to understand, trusting your goodness, trusting your plan. 518 00:45:16.680 --> 00:45:19.980 Help us, Lord Jesus, in these ways to strengthen our faith. 519 00:45:19.980 --> 00:45:23.580 And Father, help us realize your purposes through our faithfulness to you. 520 00:45:23.580 --> 00:45:25.380 We ask this in Christ’s name. 521 00:45:25.380 --> 00:45:27.380 Amen.