Day 337: Esther 4-6 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hey Bible nerds, this is Dr. Manny
2. 0:02Orango. Welcome to the Bible department
3. 0:04podcast powered by Arma. We are walking
4. 0:08through the entire Bible in a year. You
5. 0:10can go to the description or the bible
6. 0:13department.com to download a reading
7. 0:15plan and join the journey.
8. 0:24Hey Emily, welcome to day 337. and we
9. 0:27are diving into Esther chapters 4, five,
10. 0:30and six today on the podcast. I'm super
11. 0:33excited about it. THE PLOT THICKENS.
12. 0:36OKAY. I mean, it's going to get pretty
13. 0:38good. Like, like by the end, the plot is
14. 0:40like it's going to leave us on a
15. 0:42cliffhanger. I feel like all the uh
16. 0:44section breaks. Even at the end of
17. 0:46chapter 3 yesterday, just left us on a a
18. 0:48massive cliffhanger. Like when you get
19. 0:50to the end of chapter 3, it just says
20. 0:53this. Uh the couriers went out spurred
21. 0:56on by the king's command and the edict
22. 0:58was issued in the citadel of Susa. The
23. 1:01king and Hmon sat down to drink. But the
24. 1:03city of Susa was bewildered. Okay. Just
25. 1:07like the edict has gone out that like
26. 1:09the Jewish people are going to die on
27. 1:12what? On a single day, the 13th day of
28. 1:15the 12th month, the month of Adar and to
29. 1:17plunder their goods. copy of the text
30. 1:20and the edict was to be issued as a law
31. 1:22in every province and made known to the
32. 1:25people of every nationality so that they
33. 1:27would be ready for that day. It's like
34. 1:30golly, by the by the time we get to the
35. 1:32end of chapter 3, it just feels like
36. 1:34there's no hope. Like this is terrible.
37. 1:36Uh and then today we're going to leave
38. 1:38off on another cliffhanger. All right.
39. 1:41So, speaking of cliffhers and just the
40. 1:44unfolding drama of the story of Esther,
41. 1:47uh if you haven't done the reading, I
42. 1:49want you to stop this video, pause the
43. 1:51audio, go get the reading done. Talk
44. 1:53about action-packed reading today. Uh
45. 1:56Esther chapters 4, 5, and 6. But, uh if
46. 2:00you have done the reading, we're going
47. 2:01to dive into context clues, okay? uh and
48. 2:03we've got a literal drama like this
49. 2:07story would have been read out loud
50. 2:09during the festival of Pim and the
51. 2:12audience would have participated. Okay,
52. 2:13the audience would have been encouraged
53. 2:16to cheer whenever Esther is mentioned
54. 2:19and boo or bang together stones not clap
55. 2:24bang together stones okay or make some
56. 2:27kind of loud noise when Haymon is
57. 2:29mentioned. The idea being everyone is
58. 2:31making so much noise you can't hear his
59. 2:34name being said. So that would mean you
60. 2:38have to listen to every word of the
61. 2:40story except Hmon. So let's I just want
62. 2:44to kind of recap this really really
63. 2:46quick. Okay. Uh this book the book of
64. 2:49Esther. Okay. If you were read reading
65. 2:52the original Tanakh, okay, or the Hebrew
66. 2:54Bible, you would see that Song of Songs
67. 2:57starts a new grouping of books in the
68. 3:00third section of scripture called the
69. 3:02Ketubim. This grouping is called the
70. 3:04megalo or five scrolls. These are the
71. 3:07five books that are grouped together
72. 3:09because they are connected to Jewish
73. 3:10festivals and were traditionally read at
74. 3:13those feasts. Okay, I think I said this
75. 3:15on day one of Song of Songs, but in in
76. 3:19the event that I did not. Okay, Song of
77. 3:21Songs uh would have been read during the
78. 3:23Passover. Ruth would have been read
79. 3:26during Pentecost. Lamentations, which my
80. 3:29wife did an amazing job. Come on, let me
81. 3:31know in the comments if you enjoyed.
82. 3:33Tia, uh walking us through the book of
83. 3:35Lamentations, would have been read on
84. 3:37the 9th of A. Esther would have been
85. 3:40read at Pim. And then Ecclesiastes would
86. 3:44have been read at the feast of
87. 3:46tabernacles. Okay. So, uh there are
88. 3:48festivals that go along with this. Okay.
89. 3:51So, one of the really really really cool
90. 3:53things about this uh is that it's a
91. 3:56festival book, a festival of
92. 3:58celebration. It's a party. Notice how
93. 4:00many banquetss there are in the book of
94. 4:03Esther. In the same way you can imagine
95. 4:06the somber, teareyed reading of
96. 4:09lamentations on the 9th of A, we should
97. 4:12be able to imagine the joyfilled
98. 4:14laughter and fun of the story of Esther
99. 4:18being read on the feast of Pim. Imagine
100. 4:21cheering when Esther's name is MENTIONED
101. 4:23AND THEN BOO when Hmon's name is
102. 4:26mentioned. It would have been something
103. 4:28that was designed for crowd
104. 4:29participation. So, not only is the book
105. 4:32dramatic, but there would have been
106. 4:34dramatic retellings of the story during
107. 4:36the festival of Pim. And so, I want, you
108. 4:39know, as the best of our ability to kind
109. 4:41of read it with that context, okay,
110. 4:44another just kind of context clue, okay,
111. 4:48is that the book of Esther was really
112. 4:52debated. Uh the canonicity of the book
113. 4:55was hotly [snorts] debated for a couple
114. 4:58of different reasons. Four big ones. Uh
115. 5:00there's no direct reference to Yahweh or
116. 5:03Elohim in the entire book. Okay. Number
117. 5:05two, there's no references to the Torah,
118. 5:07covenant, temple, kosher food, etc. For
119. 5:09a Jewish book, it's incredibly unJewish.
120. 5:12Third, there's a celebration of revenge.
121. 5:15The slaughter of the 75,000.
122. 5:18Esther personally requesting the
123. 5:19execution of Hmon's sons. all seem
124. 5:22morally and ethically contrasted to
125. 5:25scripture as a whole in the message of
126. 5:27scripture. The Jewishness of Esther Mori
127. 5:30it they're more ethnically Jewish than
128. 5:33they are covenant or religiously Jewish.
129. 5:36Okay, which is at odds with the
130. 5:38scriptural idea of what the remnant is
131. 5:42supposed to even be. So to put it
132. 5:44bluntly, Esther is just an awkward book.
133. 5:46But it's the lack of mention of Yahweh
134. 5:48that actually raised the most questions.
135. 5:50Um, and so there are some early canon
136. 5:53lists where Esther's not included, okay,
137. 5:57in some early canon lists that we have.
138. 6:00Even Martin Luther had a lot of
139. 6:02hostility toward the book, but he also
140. 6:03didn't want James in the Bible either.
141. 6:05And James a fantastic book of the Bible.
142. 6:06So, calm down Martin Luther. Okay. Now
143. 6:10there's a reason that eventually rabbis
144. 6:13got to the place of no no Esther should
145. 6:16100% be a part of the of the Jewish
146. 6:19cannon and that is actually because of
147. 6:22this idea called the hidden hand in
148. 6:24Esther. This is due to an unusual
149. 6:27spelling spelling of Jews in six places
150. 6:32throughout the book of uh Esther. The
151. 6:34normal Jewish word for Jew, Yehudai, in
152. 6:37English, it's Yehud Di, literally of
153. 6:41Judah. Okay, the word Jew means of
154. 6:44Judah, appears 32 times in this book,
155. 6:46but on six occasions, it is spelled
156. 6:49completely different, almost as if it's
157. 6:52being misspelled with an extra yad.
158. 6:55Okay, this is strange because yod also
159. 7:00means hand. So the rabbis interpreted
160. 7:04this to mean that this is the hidden
161. 7:06hand of Yahweh protecting the Jews even
162. 7:11when he cannot be directly seen. So
163. 7:14these passages would be chapter 4:7,
164. 7:17chapter 8 vers1, chapter 8:7, chapter
165. 7:208:13, chapter 9:15, chapter 9 verse 18.
166. 7:24Six moments where there's an extra yad
167. 7:28in the word yehudai. Okay, Jews. Okay,
168. 7:33that there's an extra yard. Y being
169. 7:37hand. This is the hidden hand. It's
170. 7:40almost like there's a hand hiding in
171. 7:42plain sight. And uh 47, the exact money
172. 7:46Hmon paid to destroy the Jews. So God is
173. 7:48aware of the exact details of Hmon's
174. 7:50plot. Hmon's house is given to Esther.
175. 7:53God is behind Esther's defeat of Hmon.
176. 7:5687 Hmon is hanged because he tries to
177. 7:59destroy the Jews. God defeats the
178. 8:00enemies of the Jews. 8:13, there's an
179. 8:03edict allowing the Jews to defend
180. 8:04themselves. God gives his people the
181. 8:06ability to defend themselves from their
182. 8:08enemies. 9:15, the Jews in Susa kill 300
183. 8:13of their enemies. God brings victory to
184. 8:15his people. And then 9:18, the Jews in
185. 8:17Susa celebrate their survival. God has
186. 8:20saved his people and they rejoice. The
187. 8:22idea is then that even though he cannot
188. 8:26be seen Yahweh that is he is saving he
189. 8:31is the saving hand behind the rise of
190. 8:33Esther and the saving of his people.
191. 8:37Okay. So wanted to get our minds wrapped
192. 8:41around these two contextual ideas that a
193. 8:45there would have been crowd
194. 8:46participation that this would have been
195. 8:48a festival story that would have been
196. 8:49read and that then two the canonicity of
197. 8:53the book was really really debated but
198. 8:55what has become like a reason to keep it
199. 8:58out actually became a reason to further
200. 9:00investigate and then keep it in because
201. 9:02of the hidden hand of Yahweh. All right,
202. 9:06I'm going to give you five nerdy nuggets
203. 9:08in the time that we have remaining.
204. 9:09Okay, interestingly enough, this uh
205. 9:12might just be the first ever book to
206. 9:15refer to the Jews to the to the people
207. 9:17of God as Jews. In the entire rest of
208. 9:20the Old Testament up until this point,
209. 9:22they have been called Israelites,
210. 9:23children of Israel, people of Israel,
211. 9:25people of Judah. But now they are Jews,
212. 9:29the Jews. This change is probably due to
213. 9:32the destruction of both the lands of
214. 9:34Israel, north and south. So the
215. 9:36ethnicity was no longer connected to the
216. 9:39land itself. You could be a Jew wherever
217. 9:42you lived. The name itself comes from
218. 9:45the fact that the tribe of Judah plus
219. 9:48Benjamin, Simeon, Levi, and remnants of
220. 9:50the north alone survived the exiles. So
221. 9:53all God's people are now of Judah. So
222. 9:57therefore, Jews. Okay. So, that's just
223. 10:00my first nerdy nugget. Second, uh what
224. 10:03Mori says to Esther is profound for lots
225. 10:07of reasons, but we'll talk about them
226. 10:09here now and when we get to our timeless
227. 10:11truth. But this is Esther 4. We're going
228. 10:13to start reading in verse 13. Do not
229. 10:15think that because you are in the king's
230. 10:17house, you are alone of all the Jews
231. 10:20will escape. So, first of all, you're
232. 10:22not guaranteed safety just cuz you live
233. 10:24with the king. If the Jewish people are
234. 10:26at risk of being extinguished,
235. 10:29exterminated, killed, then then you're
236. 10:32gonna come face to face with that
237. 10:36reality as well. Don't let your
238. 10:37privilege fool you, Esther. Verse 14,
239. 10:40for if you remain silent at this time.
240. 10:43Relief and deliverance for the Jews will
241. 10:46arise from another place. I love that. I
242. 10:50love that. Hey, like that's right now
243. 10:53I'm I'm planting a church and I'll say
244. 10:55this boldly, God will provide for for
245. 10:59our church. Like God God's going to
246. 11:02provide all the resources that we need.
247. 11:04Now whether or not you get to
248. 11:06participate in that provision is a whole
249. 11:09other story, which is essentially like
250. 11:12what I love telling people is like God's
251. 11:15going to provide. He He's going to do
252. 11:17it. as I fundra, you know, I love
253. 11:20telling people, "Oh my gosh, we're gonna
254. 11:22raise $1.5 million for this church
255. 11:24plant." The only question is, well, you
256. 11:26get to be a part of it. That's it. And
257. 11:28that's really what Mori says. Says, "For
258. 11:30if you remain silent at this time,
259. 11:32relief and deliverance for the Jews will
260. 11:35arise from another place, but you and
261. 11:37your father's family will perish. And
262. 11:40who knows but that you have come to your
263. 11:44royal position for such a time as this.
264. 11:47Who knows? Maybe maybe maybe you're not
265. 11:50just the queen just to enjoy being the
266. 11:53queen. Maybe you're the queen for such a
267. 11:55time as this. And man, that's a
268. 11:58challenge. Like that's that doesn't
269. 12:00sound desperate. Morai is not begging
270. 12:03Esther for anything. That is a master
271. 12:06class on how to actually persuade
272. 12:10someone to be on your side, not
273. 12:13manipulate them, not uh force them to do
274. 12:16something they don't want to do, but
275. 12:18persuasion, manipulation and persuasion
276. 12:21are not the same thing. Morai doesn't
277. 12:23guilt trip her. Uh Morai lays it out
278. 12:26pretty clearly. God's going to deliver
279. 12:27his people. Like A, you're not
280. 12:30guaranteed safety. B, God's got to do
281. 12:32this whether through you or someone
282. 12:34else. And B, what if what if you have
283. 12:38your influence or your the authority
284. 12:41that you have or the access or the
285. 12:44proximity to the king that you have for
286. 12:46this very reason very much so Joseph
287. 12:50right who's in a government position so
288. 12:54that the saving of many lives could
289. 12:56happen. That's Joseph's theology. He's
290. 12:58like, "I've come to this position not
291. 13:01because my brothers threw me into
292. 13:02slavery, but because God wanted to save
293. 13:04people." That's a good perspective, man.
294. 13:06That's a good, healthy perspective.
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317. 14:02a copy today. All right, back to the
318. 14:06episode. Next nerdy nugget. Xerxes is
319. 14:09going to ask Esther what she wants
320. 14:10multiple times. Chapter 5, verse three.
321. 14:13Then the king said, "What is it, Queen
322. 14:15Esther? What is your request? Even up to
323. 14:18half the kingdom, it will be given to
324. 14:19you. And then again, 5:6, as they were
325. 14:23drinking wine, notice how it's they who
326. 14:25are drinking wine. The king asked again
327. 14:28asked Esther again. Now, what is your
328. 14:32petition? It will be given to you. And
329. 14:34what is your request? Even up to half
330. 14:35the kingdom. Does Esther respond? No.
331. 14:38Esther says, my petition and request is
332. 14:40this. If the king regards me with favor
333. 14:43and if your if it pleases the king to
334. 14:47grant my petition and fulfill my
335. 14:48request, let the king and Hmon come
336. 14:50tomorrow to a banquet. I will prepare
337. 14:53for them. Then I will answer the king's
338. 14:55question. So you can hear it in Esther's
339. 14:59like voice. She's just doesn't want to
340. 15:01come out with it. Okay? And I want you
341. 15:03to see this in the plot. Esther is asked
342. 15:05two times, "What do you want?" And at
343. 15:08any point she could have said, "I need
344. 15:10you to help me save my people." Like I'm
345. 15:11Jewish. Okay? And she doesn't. She keeps
346. 15:15kicking the can down the street. And
347. 15:17ultimately what has to happen? God has
348. 15:19to get involved. Okay? So my fourth
349. 15:21nerdy nugget is that God gets involved.
350. 15:25King goes to sleep that night. Xerxes
351. 15:27goes to sleep. Chapter 6 verse one. That
352. 15:30night the king could not sleep. So he
353. 15:32ordered the book of the chronicles, the
354. 15:35records of his reign to be brought in
355. 15:37and read to him. It was found recorded
356. 15:40there that Mori had exposed two of the
357. 15:43king's officers who guarded the doorway,
358. 15:45probably uh Unix, who guarded the
359. 15:48doorway, who had conspired to
360. 15:49assassinate King Xerxes. Okay. So now
361. 15:52the king realizes, I've got to honor
362. 15:55Morai. He saved my life. And so he
363. 15:58brings Hmon in and is like, "Hey, what
364. 16:00should I do to someone if I really want
365. 16:02to honor them?" Hmon thinks that the
366. 16:05king's talking about him. So he
367. 16:07describes what he would want. But then
368. 16:09he's told, "Go make that happen for
369. 16:11Morai." And then everything the tables
370. 16:15have turned. Oh, how the tables have
371. 16:17turned. And so my fifth nerdy nugget is
372. 16:20divine reversal. that because Esther
373. 16:24kind of drags her feet to do what she
374. 16:26said she's going to do, the Lord is now
375. 16:29the one who is moving chess pieces
376. 16:32around the chessboard and we get a
377. 16:34divine reversal. This is a lot like
378. 16:36Nathan approaching David. Hey, what
379. 16:39should be done for a man who's done
380. 16:41blank? And then David answers and then
381. 16:44Nathan hits him with you are the man.
382. 16:46The same kind of contropaso but with
383. 16:49Hmon and Morai. And if you don't know
384. 16:51what contraaso means, it's a great word.
385. 16:54You should Google it. Contraaso. Contra.
386. 16:57C O N T R A P A S O. It's from a a book
387. 17:03called Dante's Inferno. It's based on a
388. 17:06a idea called Contropaso. You should
389. 17:08look it up. Let me know in the com
390. 17:09comments if you looked up Contraaso and
391. 17:12what it means. And do you think it's
392. 17:13fitting for what happens here between
393. 17:16Hmon and Morai? Let's get into our
394. 17:18timeless truth. I think that what Mori
395. 17:22ends up saying to Esther is like, "Hey,
396. 17:25God is going to deliver." Like, God's
397. 17:27gonna bring relief and deliverance for
398. 17:30his people. The real question is, do you
399. 17:32want to be a part of what God's up to?
400. 17:34Yes or no? And I think that that should
401. 17:37be a timeless truth for all of us. None
402. 17:39of us should beg people to be a part of
403. 17:42what we're doing. Especially if you're
404. 17:43in church, we shouldn't, you know, chase
405. 17:46people down to be a part. No, it's like
406. 17:49you got to let people know, hey, God is
407. 17:50up to revival. Hey, God is up to healing
408. 17:53people. God is like building his church.
409. 17:56That's like what God is doing. And the
410. 17:58real question is like, do you just want
411. 17:59to be a part of what God's doing? It's
412. 18:01really it. And this is going to happen
413. 18:03with or without you. That's a good
414. 18:04frame. It's a confident like framework I
415. 18:09think to help people because if if
416. 18:12you're desperate for people to be
417. 18:14involved in what you're doing then
418. 18:16really what you're communicating is that
419. 18:18you I just need people and uh I've built
420. 18:21a couple of you know thriving fruitful
421. 18:23ministries at this point in my life and
422. 18:25I didn't do it by like begging people to
423. 18:27be involved. I did it by getting God
424. 18:29involved and then with clarity and
425. 18:32confidence being able to communicate to
426. 18:34people, hey, I've got proof that God's
427. 18:36up to this. And the real question is, do
428. 18:38you want to be as well? And uh that
429. 18:40moves you from a place of like begging
430. 18:42to a place of attracting. And uh I think
431. 18:46that's good like like for whatever
432. 18:48you're doing, whether it's ministry or
433. 18:50whether it's not a ministry, I think
434. 18:52that it's good to be able to communicate
435. 18:54with confidence like oh no, I like this
436. 18:56a winning product. This is a winning
437. 18:58business. This is whatever you're doing.
438. 19:01Not like the I'm gonna win one way or
439. 19:03the other. The only question is are you
440. 19:05going to be involved? I think that's not
441. 19:07just true for Mori or Hmon or Esther. I
442. 19:12think that's true for you and I today to
443. 19:15recruit people and attract people from a
444. 19:17place of confidence, assuredness. Like,
445. 19:21yeah, like I I know I know what God's up
446. 19:24to and I'm simply inviting you in.
447. 19:26Tomorrow we've got day 338. We're going
448. 19:28to finish up the book of Esther. We've
449. 19:30got Esther chapters 7 8 9 and 10. So,
450. 19:34how about you get those four chapters
451. 19:36read. Come back tomorrow. We'll dive
452. 19:38into the content. It'll be amazing. I
453. 19:41love you. I'm so proud of you.
454. 19:42Especially if you're on a streak. I'll
455. 19:43see you tomorrow. Love you. Peace.
456. 19:47Thanks so much for joining us on the
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