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Day 336: Esther 1-3 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango — Transcript

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0:00Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny
0:02Orango. Welcome to the Bible department
0:04podcast powered by Arma. We are walking
0:08through the entire Bible in a year. You
0:10can go to the description or the bible
0:13department.com to download a reading
0:15plan and join the journey
0:24family. Welcome to day 336 here on the
0:28Bible podcast. We are diving into a
0:32brand new book of the Bible. We are in
0:34the book of Esther today. And I assume
0:38that most people are familiar with the
0:41story of Esther, with the book of
0:43Esther. And so my goal is to put this
0:46book into context to highlight some
0:48details that maybe you missed when you
0:51were in Sunday school. Okay. So today
0:53we've got Esther chapters 1, 2, and
0:57three. If you haven't done the reading,
0:59I'm going to challenge you. Stop the
1:01video, pause the audio, and go get the
1:04reading done. Okay? Uh, three short
1:06chapters of the Bible and narrativebased
1:09chapters of the Bible. So, this is
1:12story. So, I feel like, you know,
1:14sometimes just narrative just reads
1:17easier, you know? Uh, so not a lot of
1:19chapters to read, not a long reading
1:21today. Pretty easy reading. You're
1:23reading a story. It's awesome. All
1:25right. Like every day here on the
1:28podcast, I'm going to start out with
1:30context clues. And typically when we're
1:32diving into a book for the first time,
1:35the context typically takes up the
1:36majority of the episode. So buckle up.
1:38Got a lot of context to give you, not
1:41just for Esther's Esther chapters 1, 2,
1:43and 3, but for the book of Esther as a
1:46whole. So uh we're in Esther for 3 days,
1:49okay? Day 336, 337, and 338 of this
1:52podcast of this Bible reading plan. And
1:55so today will probably be heavy on
1:58context clues and light on everything
2:00else. But then the other days will
2:02probably be light on context clues,
2:03heavy on everything else. So just want
2:05to give you a heads up. All right, let's
2:07dive into context. Number one, this book
2:09is post exhilic. Now, we are about to
2:14like go pretty far into the future and
2:18then I want to like orient you or kind
2:21of help brace you for the whiplash cuz
2:24we're going to go into the future and
2:25then we're going to come back. Um,
2:28what's going to happen once we get to
2:29books like Ezra and Nehemiah, we're
2:31going to have to come back. So, like
2:32Esther, you know, maybe one of these
2:35years we'll do the Bible reading plan
2:37like chronologically cuz I think that's
2:39also helpful. Like if you've ever read
2:41like the chronological Bible, it can be
2:44really really really helpful. Um our
2:46barber reading plan just isn't
2:47structured that way. It's it's
2:49structured based on how Jews encounter
2:51the Hebrew Bible aka the Old Testament.
2:54So anywh who we're about to jump, you
2:57know, 100 years essentially like after
3:01Ezra and Nehemiah and then, you know,
3:04when we get to Ezra and Nehemiah, we're
3:06going to have to come back in time. So
3:08just want to like help you get oriented.
3:10Okay, so this is post exile. This like
3:13roughly 100 years after the Jews are
3:15allowed to return to Jerusalem. So
3:17remember, Jews are exiled to Babylon.
3:20The Persian Empire defeats the
3:23Babylonian Empire and then the Jews are
3:26allowed to go back to wherever they come
3:28from and other groups too. They in
3:31instead of living in deportation, they
3:33can like go back to their homeland. And
3:36[snorts] so the Jews are just one of
3:38many ethnic groups that are allowed to
3:40go back to Jerusalem. Okay? But not
3:43everyone takes, you know, the Persians
3:46up on that offer. Some people, it's like
3:49they've built homes, they've planted
3:52vineyards, they've established life. And
3:54so a bunch of people do remain in the
3:58Persian uh empire. Okay. So this story
4:02is a story of Esther and her uncle Mori
4:06who didn't go back okay uh with Ezra and
4:09Nehemiah okay they didn't go back to
4:11Jerusalem once the deportation was over
4:15they stayed okay as foreigners in the
4:18Persian kingdom okay so there we go I
4:21just want to give you context for that
4:22next villain in the story his name is
4:26Hmon and he's going to use dice to
4:30decide the day where they're going to
4:32kill all the Jews that those dice are
4:35called purr. Okay, purr. And so because
4:39God through Mori and Esther are a able
4:42to overthrow the wicked plan of Hmon,
4:46the festival to celebrate the fact that
4:49all the Jews didn't, you know, get
4:52systematically killed off is going to
4:55get called perm.
4:58Okay. So, it's based on those dice that
5:00Hmon was using to base the date of their
5:04execution. And so, this is a story of
5:08reversals. Okay. So, also the book of
5:12Esther is the background for the
5:16festival of Purim. Okay. Purim. It's the
5:19it's why do Jews celebrate the festival
5:23of Purim? Well, this story found here in
5:26Esther is actually going to give the
5:28answer for why Jews celebrate this
5:31festival. Okay? Still a festival that
5:33Jews celebrate today. Now, I've been to
5:36enough like Jewish events and festivals
5:39to know that it's very common for Jewish
5:41people to say things like Hmon, who's
5:45obviously the villain in the story in
5:46Esther, is the first Hitler. Hmon is the
5:50first Hitler. Okay. So in terms of
5:54leaders, government leaders that want to
5:57systematically destroy, exterminate or
6:01kill off the Jewish people, uh this is a
6:05is a biblical story of a political
6:07leader who wants to, you know, get rid
6:11of an entire ethnic group. Okay, so
6:13that's not just a modern problem. This
6:16is an ancient issue. Okay. Purim. The
6:19word for the systematic elimination of
6:23Jews throughout history. That word is
6:26called pilgrim. Okay. P O G R O M. And
6:30this story here in Esther is considered
6:33the first program. The next thing that
6:36is important to know in terms of context
6:38is that we don't know who the author of
6:40the book of Esther is. A lot of people
6:43may think it maybe it's Mori. Uh other
6:46people think it's the group of 70 Jewish
6:49elders. Okay. Uh there really is no
6:52clear definite answer for who the author
6:55is. So we're going to just go ahead and
6:56say unknown author. So in terms of
6:59context, we know the time frame in which
7:02this book would have taken place, but we
7:05don't necessarily know when it was
7:07written. We know when the events are
7:08happening, but not when it is written or
7:10who writes it. Next thing you need to
7:12know, uh, if you've seen the movie 300,
7:16then you are literally like historically
7:21acclimated to to what's happening in the
7:23book of Esther because that king Xerxes
7:27that is depicted in the movie 300, that
7:30would have been the man that Esther is
7:32going to marry here in in Esther chapter
7:352. Not only that, but it is the
7:38collision or the clash or the war, the
7:41battle uh with the Greek citystates that
7:44is depicted in the movie 300 that they
7:46are preparing for in Esther chapter 1.
7:49Okay, so in Esther chapter 1, they are
7:52about to go to war with the Spartans.
7:55Okay, or Sparta.
7:57[groaning and screaming]
7:58Okay, like they're about to like go to
8:00war with them. They lose which is
8:04depicted in the movie 300 and then
8:07Xerxes and the Persian army comes back
8:10to the capital the administrative
8:12capital of Persia and regroup. Okay. Now
8:15when they come back to regroup that is
8:18when we get to Esther chapter 2. So what
8:22many people don't realize is that there
8:24are four years in between Esther chapter
8:271 and Esther chapter 2. So, just want to
8:30like orient us around that. Maybe it's a
8:32good excuse to go watch the movie 300.
8:35Um, but and I know in the movie 300, the
8:38Persians are the villains in that story,
8:40but just from a historical perspective,
8:43it's good to just get your mind wrapped
8:46around like, oh, got it. Like, like
8:49these are the Persians. Like, this is
8:51the Persian kingdom. This the Persian
8:53Empire. eventually a man by the name of
8:56Alexander the Great is going to
8:59overthrow the Persian Empire and that's
9:02when we're going to get the essentially
9:04that that changing of the guard and just
9:07so that everyone kind of understands the
9:09Assyrian Empire kind of ran the show
9:12okay in the ancient near east and then
9:14the Babylonian Empire overthrew the
9:17Assyrian Empire like swallowed it up
9:19took all the land and all the assets
9:24And then the Babylonian Empire came and
9:26swallowed them up. Okay. No, sorry.
9:28Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Empire,
9:30Persian Empire, Greek and then Roman.
9:33Okay. So, these empires are just kind of
9:35like these empires are getting bigger
9:37and bigger and bigger. But it's because
9:39they are conquering the next biggest
9:42empire if that makes sense. All right.
9:44So, think 300. Next. This is going to
9:46get into our first nerdy nuggets. Okay.
9:49So, that's all the historical concepts
9:50you need. Okay. Next, let's dive into
9:53our nerdy nuggets for the day, family,
9:55the wait is over. My brand new book,
9:58Crushing Chaos, is [music] out now and
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10:12this book at a physical Barnes & Noble
10:15or you can go to a Books a Million or
10:17Amazon or anywhere books are sold and
10:20grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the
10:23Bible from an ancient perspective, if
10:26you understand that the beauty of
10:28scripture is actually knowing it in
10:30context, then you'll love this book. And
10:33if there's any chaos in your personal
10:35life, [music] I think that reading the
10:37Bible from an ancient perspective can
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10:43TO be a New York Times bestseller. I
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10:48I think you should get a copy today. All
10:50right, back to the episode. First Nerdy
10:53Nugget, God is not mentioned in the
10:55book. One of the things you're going to
10:57realize, or maybe you already have
10:59realized after reading, is that God is
11:01not mentioned. This is going to get us
11:02into our Thomas truth later, so I won't
11:04say anything else about that. But you
11:06may have realized like the absence of
11:10God's name of any mentions about him in
11:14a in a real sense, Yahweh is pretty
11:16quote unquote absent, okay, throughout
11:19the entire book. Okay. Second thing that
11:21you need to realize is that the
11:23characters are really morally
11:25compromised.
11:27Like number one, they're marrying
11:29foreigners. Literally, Esther is
11:31marrying a whole pagan. Okay. Uh, number
11:34two, they're drinking alcohol and like
11:37eating eating non-cooser food and very
11:41very comfortable being mixed in with
11:46pagan idol worshipping non-Jewish folks,
11:50Gentiles. If you were to take a book
11:52like Daniel and kind of contrast the
11:55book of Daniel with the book of Esther,
11:57you'd realize that Daniel and his three
12:00friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedneo,
12:03are like in and of themselves,
12:06like those four boys are a contrast
12:09community to the wider Babylonian
12:12culture. They won't eat the king's food.
12:14They won't drink the king's wine. They
12:17just are conducting themselves in a very
12:20sacred way that it it is a clear like we
12:24live a different lifestyle than y'all.
12:27Whereas once you get to the book of
12:28Esther, there is none of that. Like
12:31these these folks Mori and Esther are
12:34not like the billboards for cultural
12:38holiness or not blending in or being in
12:42the world but not of it. They are very
12:45much so in it and of it and drinking and
12:49partying and being married to pagans and
12:51all of it. Okay. So, in a real way, the
12:54book of Esther is a story of God's grace
12:58because at no point does Yahweh say,
13:01"Well, you haven't kept kosher enough.
13:03I'm not going to rescue you." Or, "Y'all
13:06been drinking. I'm not going to rescue
13:07you." No. Actually, one of the themes of
13:11the book is how Persian is too Persian,
13:17how Greek is too Greek, how Roman is too
13:19Roman, aka how secular is too secular.
13:23This is an issue that we're going to
13:25deal with not just in the Old Testament,
13:27but also in the New Testament. [snorts]
13:29Uh, everyone around Jesus's world would
13:32have been asking how Greek is too Greek,
13:34how Roman is too Roman, how secular is
13:36too secular. That's also a question that
13:39Christians are asking today that all
13:41religious people really wrestle with.
13:44Where's the line of compromise, but also
13:47where's the line of like relevant? How
13:49can you witness to a world that you have
13:51no relationship with? And um Yahweh
13:55essentially is going to to act on Mori
13:59and Esther's behalf even though they're
14:02pretty entangled or they're pretty
14:06inshed with the secular world around
14:08them. And so we're going to get a pretty
14:11anti-legalistic
14:13approach here. I would say that the
14:15thing that's highlighted in the text is
14:17not the holiness or the separateness of
14:20Morai and Esther but the grace of God
14:23despite their lack of holiness and
14:26cultural separation or distinct
14:29distinction or distinctiveness. All
14:31right, the story starts out okay Xerxes
14:35wants to parade his wife Vashti. I'm
14:37just going to kind of read this because
14:39I think that's the best thing to do in
14:41the interest of time. First paragraph of
14:43the book highlights the immense wealth
14:46of the Persian Empire. The empires we
14:48have become used to in the biblical
14:50story. Egypt, Assyria and Babylon are
14:52not anywhere near the level of Persia.
14:55The Persian Empire was the first true
14:57world empire with its territory in three
15:00continents. Its wealth was beyond the
15:02imagination of the pharaohs, of Tigle,
15:05Pyer, of Ashrabanopal, of
15:07Nebuchadnezzar. The world had simply
15:10never seen anything like this before. in
15:12this wealth is reflected in the
15:14description of the 7day banquet that
15:17ended the invasion planning. Okay,
15:20they're planning to invade the Greek
15:22citystates. Okay, at the end of this
15:257-day long party, Bashti refuses to
15:29parade before the kings and his nobles.
15:31This results in her being deposed in a
15:34law sent out for husbands in the empire
15:37to be given more honor and power over
15:39their wives, which is insanely ironic,
15:44okay? As this is a story of a wife aka
15:48Esther gaining power and getting her
15:51husband to do what she wants through the
15:54use of banquetss. Okay. So, man, we've
15:58got Vashy's refusal to do what, you
16:02know, Xerxes wants at a banquet, and
16:05then Esther's literally going to use
16:07banquetss to get Xerxes to do what she
16:10wants done. And in a world where women
16:14are legally given less power, Esther's
16:17going to have more power, which that's a
16:20whole other timeless truth in and of
16:21itself, but we won't get there. We won't
16:23go there right now. Chapter 2 verse one
16:25starts with these words after these
16:27things. The events of Esther's rise take
16:30place four years after that initial
16:32banquet. We know this from chapter 2:1
16:3516 when Esther is taken to Xerxes in the
16:39seventh year of his reign. The banquet
16:41in chapter 1 took place in the third
16:43year of his reign. That's chapter 1:3.
16:46Which means the war with the Greek
16:48citystates took place in between these
16:50chapters, chapters 1 and two. This gives
16:53us a new perspective on Xerxes, his
16:57character in the book of Esther. This is
16:59a defeated man. He is the richest, most
17:02powerful monarch in the world. Yet,
17:04Athens, Sparta, thieves, and more small
17:07or little Greek cities had just humbled
17:10him. The quest for a new wife and his
17:13marriage to Esther is then about the
17:16court officials trying to plate a broken
17:18king to keep him happy and distracted
17:21and also intoxicated. It also explains a
17:24little of why this great king seems to
17:27be manipulated by the other characters
17:29in the book so easily. Also explains why
17:33he's got sleepless nights. He's probably
17:35got freaking nightmares of Gerald
17:38Butler's character in 300 SHOUTING SPA.
17:42YOU KNOW, Esther is put up to the
17:43competition by her uncle Morai who
17:45advises her to not tell anyone that
17:47she's a Jew. What is extra fascinating
17:50about this part of the story is how it
17:52contrasts so much the beginning of
17:54Daniel. I already kind of talked about
17:56that. Daniel and his friends also become
17:58part of the king's court,
17:59Nebuchadnezzar's court, but they refuse
18:02to eat the court food and do not attempt
18:04to hide or change their identity. But
18:05here, Esther accepts the non-cosher food
18:08and hides her identity when she enters
18:11the king's court. This is an example of
18:13the oddly unJewishness of this Jewish
18:16story. Also in Daniel, he finds favor.
18:20David, sorry. Daniel finds favor amongst
18:23his fellow Unix because of his
18:25Jewishness. Here, Esther hids her
18:28Jewishness but also finds favor amongst
18:32the Unix. She wins the competition and
18:35becomes the new queen. And then uh last
18:37nerdy nugget is that there's two plots
18:40and by plot I mean schemes. Okay, the
18:42first plot sees Morai uncovering a plot
18:46to assassinate the king. Okay, the irony
18:48here is that number one, these plots to
18:51kill the king were common in the ancient
18:54world. And it was finally an
18:58assassination attempt just like the plot
19:00that Morai uncovered that actually
19:03resulted in the end of Xerxes life in
19:05four uh 65 BC. So Morai is then
19:08acknowledged. He overhears two Unix
19:11plotting and they were promptly executed
19:13and Morai's name was recorded as the one
19:15who uncovered the plot. And then the
19:18second plot that starts in chapter 3 is
19:21the heart of this story. It's Hmon's
19:23plot to kill the Jews. The villain of
19:26the story, okay, is now introduced. We
19:29could talk about more more about his
19:31villain character tomorrow, but Hmon we
19:34are told is an Agite. Okay, that means
19:37that he's a descendant of Aag, the
19:40Amalachite king whom Saul defeated but
19:42did not kill. Okay, but who was then
19:46killed by Samuel. This entire story is
19:49in 1 Samuel 15. He had been promoted
19:52within the court, but Mori did not bow
19:54down and prostrate himself before him.
19:58Hey, this may be connected to the
20:00previous plot. Xerxes may not have been
20:03aware of Morai exactly, but it was
20:06likely that Morai had at least been
20:09awarded a title for finding out about
20:11the plot to kill or harm the king. It
20:14was thought that he was awarded this Oro
20:18Sanji's title which means benefactor to
20:21the king which would mean he did not
20:22need to prostrate himself before Hmon.
20:25Anyway, this plot results in Hmon
20:29wanting to now kill all the Jews. He
20:31cast the purr, okay, or the dice to
20:34select a day and then manipulate Xerxes
20:37to make a decree allowing him to kill
20:39the Jews, not mentioning Mori and the
20:42reasons behind his anger. So, he is
20:44literally manipulating Xerxes and the
20:48entire rest of the story is now going to
20:50unfold. Okay, so this these first three
20:53chapters are designed to give context
20:55and to introduce the main plot of the
20:58story, which is how in the world are
21:01Morai and Esther or Jews going to evade,
21:06escape this plot to kill their entire
21:09people group? And how is Yahweh going to
21:13protect his people? He seems to be
21:14absent. He seems to be nowhere in the
21:17story which gets us to our timeless
21:20truth. And I've wr written down here,
21:22God is most present when he seems the
21:25most absent. God's name is nowhere to be
21:29found in the book of Esther. However,
21:31his activity is everywhere. The book is
21:34filled with coincidences. It's filled
21:37with all these moments where it's like
21:40Mori just so happened to hear of a plot
21:43to kill the king. Esther just so
21:45happened to become the queen for such a
21:48time as this. All of these moments that
21:51seem serendipitous or seem coincidental
21:54are actually God moving things behind
21:57the scenes, which means that Yahweh
22:00doesn't have to be explicitly present in
22:03order to be present. Sometimes he can be
22:07absent or it can seem like he's absent,
22:10but really what he's doing is he's
22:11moving things behind the scenes in your
22:14favor or in my favor or in his people's
22:19favor. So, those are all the nerdy
22:21nuggets I got. And that's our timeless
22:24truth for the day. That you may think
22:26God's absent, but what if he's present
22:29in a way that you're just not used to?
22:31What if he's present but he's present
22:33keeping you from dangers that you're not
22:36even aware about? What if he's present
22:38but he's just not doing the things that
22:40you associate with his presence? Maybe
22:44his presence looks different than the
22:46box you've placed it in. That's our
22:49timeless truth for the day. Tomorrow we
22:52got day 337. We're going to be in Esther
22:54chapters 4 5 and 6. I'm proud of you if
22:57you're on a streak. I love you
22:59regardless of whether you're not on a
23:01streak or not. I'll see you right here,
23:03same time, same place for day 337. Love
23:07you guys. Peace.
23:09Thanks so much for joining us on the
23:11Bible department podcast. If this
23:13episode was helpful, how about you leave
23:15a comment, share with a friend, and
23:17subscribe so that you never miss an
23:19episode. To learn more about the show,
23:21head to the bible department.com. We'll
23:24see you right back here tomorrow.

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