Day 338: Esther 7-10 | Read The Bible In A Year | Bible Study with Commentary by Dr. Manny Arango — Transcript

Full transcript

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. 0:24family. Welcome to day 338. We are
9. 0:27finishing up the book of Esther today.
10. 0:29We've been in Esther now for 2 days.
11. 0:32Today is the third day in Esther. We are
12. 0:34looking at chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10. If
13. 0:37you haven't done the reading, how about
14. 0:39you stop this episode, stop the video,
15. 0:42pause the audio, go get the reading
16. 0:44done. I mean, we're talking soap opera
17. 0:47level drama today on Esther. All right.
18. 0:51I mean, Esther season 2, episode 8, BOY.
19. 0:56Hmon about to die on the very same stake
20. 1:00that he designed for Morai. I mean, talk
21. 1:03about a reversal. A role reversal. The
22. 1:06tables have turned. Like this is one of
23. 1:10the most like just kind of edge of your
24. 1:12seat just like nailbiter kind of story
25. 1:15in the Bible. And my job is to give you
26. 1:18some context clues, some nerdy nuggets,
27. 1:19and a timeless truth. I'm excited about
28. 1:21today's episode. Honestly, chapters 7
29. 1:24through 10 are pretty self-explanatory.
30. 1:27Uh, it's narrative, it's a story, pretty
31. 1:29easy to understand. So, I'll go light on
32. 1:31the context clues, but really, I want to
33. 1:34give us some nerdy nuggets about the
34. 1:36book as a whole. And like, how are
35. 1:39supposed to use this book as Christians?
36. 1:41Because that is not apparently or
37. 1:44glaringly obvious. So, let's start with
38. 1:47the context clues. This is Esther's
39. 1:49second banquet. Okay? By the time we get
40. 1:51into chapter seven, uh, this is Esther's
41. 1:53second banquet. And the moment we
42. 1:55realize there's the second banquet, my
43. 1:57spidey senses start to sense we've got a
44. 2:01kayazm on our hands. That's right. The
45. 2:03first banquet and the second banquet are
46. 2:05mirror images of each other. The entire
47. 2:07book of Esther is a kayazm. All right.
48. 2:10So the center of that kayazm is the
49. 2:14humiliation of Hmon and the exaltation
50. 2:17of Morai which is right in the middle of
51. 2:20the book. We just read that yesterday.
52. 2:22And so that is the center of a kayazm
53. 2:24which the center of a kayazm really
54. 2:27tells you what the point of a story is
55. 2:30and that is that God's people will never
56. 2:35be humiliated in front of pagans but the
57. 2:39other way around that god will use all
58. 2:42kinds of scenarios uh not to humiliate
59. 2:45his people but to ultimately humiliate
60. 2:47those who are persecuting his people. So
61. 2:50that is the message of the kayazm right
62. 2:52at the center of the book. Some more
63. 2:54context. Kings cannot revoke a decree
64. 2:58that has already been made. Okay, this
65. 3:00is especially true in the Babylonian
66. 3:03Persian world. I will read it exactly
67. 3:06how I've got it in my notes here. Uh the
68. 3:08villain of the story is dead, killed in
69. 3:10a delicious twist of irony, but the
70. 3:12program is still looming over the Jews.
71. 3:16The problem was that Persian law was
72. 3:18irrevocable. The edict of the king could
73. 3:21not just simply be reversed or anulled
74. 3:25even by the king who signed it. A
75. 3:26similar issue happens in Daniel 6:8 and
76. 3:30in 15 which is why the king cannot
77. 3:34simply command Daniel not be thrown in
78. 3:35the lion's den. The king signed the law
79. 3:38which condemned him so it cannot be
80. 3:41revoked. Another example from history.
81. 3:44Uh another example is just from history.
82. 3:47When the last Persian king Darius III
83. 3:49executed a man he discovered to be
84. 3:51innocent because he had earlier decreed
85. 3:54he should die because of a crime he
86. 3:56thought he had committed. So that's just
87. 3:58a real example from history that's not
88. 4:01in the Bible. Okay. The only solution
89. 4:03was for the king to sign a new decree to
90. 4:04neutralize the earlier one. This decree
91. 4:07was an authorization for the Jews to
92. 4:09defend themselves in said program. They
93. 4:12had the king's permission to gather, arm
94. 4:14themselves, and defend themselves from
95. 4:16anyone who took advantage of the earlier
96. 4:19decree to attack the Jews. This decree
97. 4:22as the first was sent out all over the
98. 4:24empire in numerous languages. This made
99. 4:26it clear to all the people of the empire
100. 4:29that the king was not in support of the
101. 4:32first decree, but his favor was now upon
102. 4:34the Jews. The result is that the
103. 4:38mourning of the Persian Jews is turned
104. 4:41into joy. And this is shown by Morai
105. 4:45changing his clothes from sackloth to
106. 4:47royal robes. This is also a picture of
107. 4:51what God is doing with his people, not
108. 4:53just with Morai and Esther, but with the
109. 4:55people, period, in this historic moment
110. 4:59with them. All right, that's all the
111. 5:02context for the day. I'm now going to
112. 5:04give you five nerdy nuggets, not just
113. 5:06from today's reading, not just from
114. 5:08Esther chapter 7 to 10, but really these
115. 5:10nerdy nuggets are a reflection on the
116. 5:13entire book as a whole. Number one,
117. 5:15Esther is essentially just using her
118. 5:18beauty in order to win a beauty contest
119. 5:23so that she can have sex with Xerxes
120. 5:27before they're married. Okay, this is
121. 5:29fantastic. If there was an influencer in
122. 5:33the ancient world, it's your girl
123. 5:35Esther. Esther's like, "I'm a baddie."
124. 5:38Okay. And essentially
125. 5:41like enters into like a beauty contest
126. 5:44that involves having sex with Xerxes.
127. 5:48They This is like the part of the Bible
128. 5:50that I just think like we don't tell
129. 5:52these parts when we tell these stories
130. 5:54to children. Uh but beauty contests.
131. 5:57Yeah. Sex before marriage. Yeah. Esther
132. 6:01chapter 2:9 actually says, "Not only did
133. 6:04they have sex, but Esther spends a night
134. 6:07with Xerxes and she pleased him." Okay.
135. 6:13Uh it says this in verse 8, "When the
136. 6:15king's order and edict had been
137. 6:16proclaimed, many young women were
138. 6:18brought to the citadel of Susa and put
139. 6:20under the care of Hegi." Not Haggi. This
140. 6:24is another Hegi. This is a This is no
141. 6:26another guy. Another another another
142. 6:28guy. Esther also was taken to the king's
143. 6:31palace and entrusted to entrusted to
144. 6:33Hegi. Heggi not Haggi Hegi who had
145. 6:37charge of the herum. The dude who runs
146. 6:41the herm is who's managing Esther. I
147. 6:44don't know if you know what a herm is. A
148. 6:46herm is a group of women that the king
149. 6:49just gets to have sex with. That's what
150. 6:51a herm is. So, okay, Esther is now in
151. 6:54charge to the dude who's managing the
152. 6:56herm. Verse 9, she pleased him and won
153. 7:00his favor. Immediately he provided her
154. 7:02with beauty treatments and special food.
155. 7:04He assigned to her seven female
156. 7:06attendants elected from the king's
157. 7:07palace and moved her and her attendants
158. 7:09into the best place in the herum. Moving
159. 7:11on up, Esther had not revealed her
160. 7:13nationality and family background
161. 7:14because Morai had forbidden her to do
162. 7:16so. Every day she walked back and forth
163. 7:18near the courtyard of the herum to find
164. 7:21out if Esther blah blah blah blah blah.
165. 7:23Before a young woman's turn came to go
166. 7:26in to King Xerxes, she had to complete
167. 7:3012 months of beauty treatments
168. 7:31prescribed for the women. 6 months with
169. 7:34oil of myrr, 6 months with perfume, blah
170. 7:36blah blah blah. And this is how she
171. 7:39would go to the king. Anything she
172. 7:40wanted was given to her to take with her
173. 7:43from the herm to the king's palace. In
174. 7:46the evening, she would go there and in
175. 7:48the morning return to another part of
176. 7:49the herum [snorts] to the care of
177. 7:51somebody else, the king's unix who's in
178. 7:53charge of the concubines. Okay? She
179. 7:56would not return to the king unless he
180. 7:58was pleased with her and summoned her by
181. 8:01name. When the turn came for Esther, the
182. 8:03the young woman Morai had adopted, the
183. 8:06daughter of his uncle, okay, to go to
184. 8:08the king, she asked for nothing other
185. 8:10than what Hegi, the king's unic, who was
186. 8:13in charge of the herum suggested. And
187. 8:15Esther won the favor of everyone who saw
188. 8:17her. She was taken to King Xerxes in the
189. 8:19royal residence in the 10th month in the
190. 8:22month of TBth in the seventh year of his
191. 8:25reign. Now the king was attracted to
192. 8:27Esther more than any of the other women.
193. 8:29Any other virgins that he had sex with.
194. 8:32Yeah. Okay. Won his favor and approval
195. 8:34more than any of the other virgins. So
196. 8:37he set a royal crown on her head and
197. 8:39made her queen instead of Vashy. Okay.
198. 8:41So, news flash, she wins a beauty
199. 8:44pageant, which is like low lowkey like
200. 8:48sex work. She she's now in a harm and uh
201. 8:53she she pleased the king. She pleased
202. 8:55the king. Okay, so uh definitely sex
203. 8:59before marriage. Okay, nerdy nugget
204. 9:01number two. Xerxes is a pagan. Pagan.
205. 9:06Like she's not even allowed under the
206. 9:08Torah to marry this guy. He's a total
207. 9:11pagan and unlike other pagans that have
208. 9:14been married, he does not pledge any
209. 9:17kind of allegiance to Yahweh. Okay? So,
210. 9:20she uses her beauty in order to gain
211. 9:22influence, gets influence, and then, you
212. 9:25know, sexes her way into more influence,
213. 9:30becomes a part of a harm and marries a
214. 9:32pagan. Okay. Number three, third nerdy
215. 9:36nugget. The woman consumes a lot of
216. 9:38wine. Lots of banquetss. In today's
217. 9:41reading, she's throwing banquet number
218. 9:43two. Banquetss equal wine in the ancient
219. 9:46world. Okay. Number four, Morai's lowkey
220. 9:50like a pimp. Like Mori allows all of
221. 9:55this to happen low key. AND THEN NUMBER
222. 9:57FIVE, ESTHER honestly joins a long line
223. 10:01of women in the ancient world who like
224. 10:05aren't asked what they want. Hagar Hagar
225. 10:08is not asked whether or not she wants to
226. 10:10have kids for Abraham and Sarai. Like
227. 10:13she has no bodily autonomy. Beth Sheeba
228. 10:16Beth Sheba is not asked if she wants to
229. 10:19have sex with David who's the king.
230. 10:22There's there's no asking. Esther's not
231. 10:24asked. If you actually read what's going
232. 10:26on between Esther and Mori, this a
233. 10:29fascinating relationship, man. Mori,
234. 10:32verse 7 of chapter 2, Morortei had a
235. 10:34cousin named Hadassa whom he had brought
236. 10:38up because she had neither father nor
237. 10:41mother. So, she's an orphan, but she's
238. 10:44cute.
239. 10:46This is This is the Bible, man. This is
240. 10:48the Bible. And anyone who tries to
241. 10:50sanitize the Bible, I'm sorry. Like I'm
242. 10:53just not going to do like the Veggie
243. 10:55Tales version of these stories like on
244. 10:57the Bible department. Like we're going
245. 10:58to get the real like what the Bible
246. 11:01actually says. All right. Sorry I'm
247. 11:02distracting myself. Mori had a cousin.
248. 11:05Okay. Hadassa is Esther by the way whom
249. 11:08he had brought up because he had she had
250. 11:10neither father nor mother. This young
251. 11:12woman who was also known as Esther had a
252. 11:16lovely figure. Nice body. That's that
253. 11:19means
254. 11:20a a lovely figure. and was beautiful.
255. 11:24So, so even the Bible understands that
256. 11:26men, you know, men judge beauty based on
257. 11:31face separate than body. Okay? A lovely
258. 11:35figure and was beautiful. Mori had taken
259. 11:39her as his daughter when her father and
260. 11:43mother passed. So, when the king starts
261. 11:45missing his queen, MORAI IS LIKE, "AH,
262. 11:48[screaming] I GOT HER GIRL. Not not how
263. 11:51I would treat my daughter. But hey,
264. 11:53Mori, I hear you, BROTHER. SO, ALL THIS
265. 11:56and more. I mean, even add the violence,
266. 11:59the vengeance, the revenge of the Jewish
267. 12:02people towards the end. This a brutal
268. 12:05book, like Esther is a pretty brutal
269. 12:08book, which means there's got to be a
270. 12:10couple things that we're supposed to get
271. 12:12out of this or else this is just
272. 12:15straight Game of Thrones level
273. 12:16entertainment smack dab in the middle of
274. 12:18the Bible. So, what's going on? All
275. 12:22right, number one. Now, we're going to
276. 12:24get into our timeless truth, family. The
277. 12:26wait is over. My brand new book,
278. 12:29Crushing Chaos, [music]
279. 12:30is out now and available everywhere
280. 12:33books are sold literally today. I walked
281. 12:37into a Barnes & Noble and I signed a
282. 12:40bunch of copies at a physical location.
283. 12:42So, you can grab this book at a physical
284. 12:45Barnes & Noble or you can go to a Books
285. 12:47a Million or Amazon or anywhere books
286. 12:50are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy
287. 12:54reading the Bible from an ancient
288. 12:56perspective, if you understand that the
289. 12:59beauty of scripture is actually knowing
290. 13:00it in context, then you'll love this
291. 13:03book. And if there's any chaos in your
292. 13:06personal life, [music] I think that
293. 13:07reading the Bible from an ancient
294. 13:10perspective can actually help to crush
295. 13:11[music] the chaos in your life. I think
296. 13:14THIS BOOK IS GOING TO BE A NEW York
297. 13:15Times bestseller. I really do. I think
298. 13:17we wrote a good [music] one. I think you
299. 13:19should get a copy today. All right, back
300. 13:22to the episode. Number one, characters
301. 13:25in the Bible are morally ambiguous, but
302. 13:28the character of God is not.
303. 13:32characters are morally ambiguous which
304. 13:35means Esther is not supposed to be some
305. 13:39example of like moral like a standard
306. 13:43neither is Morai neither is any
307. 13:45character in the Bible okay characters
308. 13:48in the Bible are morally ambiguous and
309. 13:51what does that end up revealing it
310. 13:53reveals that God his character is not
311. 13:56morally ambiguous he's unchanging and
312. 14:00that is the big If you are getting your
313. 14:03cues from the characters in the Bible,
314. 14:06you're getting your cues from the wrong
315. 14:07person. So if you read this story and
316. 14:09you're like, "Dang, Esther had sex
317. 14:11before she was married. I'm going to
318. 14:12have sex before I'm married." Wrong.
319. 14:14Just because the biblical character sin
320. 14:18doesn't mean you get to sin. Because the
321. 14:22the the standard that we're judging
322. 14:24ourselves by is not Esther. It's God.
323. 14:29God says, "Be holy because I'm holy."
324. 14:32Not be holy because your friend's holy.
325. 14:34Not be holy because your pastor's holy.
326. 14:36And I've heard this line of reasoning a
327. 14:38lot where it's like, "Yo, if my pastor
328. 14:40can't even be faithful to his wife, man,
329. 14:42shoot. There ain't no way I can't be."
330. 14:45No. What that really means is you want
331. 14:48to cheat on your wife and you're using
332. 14:50some leaders immorality as a reason to
333. 14:53cheat on your wife. That's ridiculous.
334. 14:56There's sin in your heart. You need to
335. 14:57repent. Okay? Because I know people who
336. 15:00cheat on their wives and their pastors
337. 15:01don't. Which means your p you should not
338. 15:04be judging yourself based on what your
339. 15:05pastor does or doesn't do. You should be
340. 15:07judging yourself based on the standard
341. 15:09set by the word of God and the model
342. 15:13laid out before us, which is Jesus.
343. 15:15Number two, Esther is the type and
344. 15:17shadow of Jesus. That's right. She
345. 15:20risked the palace in order to identify
346. 15:22with her people. She risked her position
347. 15:25in the palace, was willing to give it up
348. 15:28so that she could identify with her
349. 15:30people. And that's exactly what Jesus
350. 15:32did for you and for I. He risked his
351. 15:35place at the right hand of the father so
352. 15:38that he could identify with sinful
353. 15:40people like you and I. John 14:2
354. 15:43actually says that one day we are going
355. 15:46to go to that palace. Jesus says, "In my
356. 15:48father's house there are many rooms and
357. 15:50I've prepared a place for you." Why do
358. 15:52we get access to that heavenly palace?
359. 15:55Because Jesus was willing to forego that
360. 15:57palace to identify with you and I. And
361. 16:00because he did that, now we all get
362. 16:02access to that palace. And Jesus invites
363. 16:04us in. Third, and I think this is the
364. 16:07biggest lesson that I'd love to hammer
365. 16:09home is that the Bible is not a moral
366. 16:12object lesson. That's not the purpose of
367. 16:14the Bible. And anytime you try to take
368. 16:17the Bible and you try to take lessons
369. 16:19from Ruth on like how to find your Boaz
370. 16:21or how to date or lessons from Esther on
371. 16:24like how to be a leader, it's like good
372. 16:27luck. You you're you're looking at a
373. 16:30Bible of people who are drunk, who
374. 16:32participate in beauty contests, who have
375. 16:35sex in order to gain positions, who pimp
376. 16:38their nieces. Like if you want to use
377. 16:41this book as like some guide for
378. 16:44morality, I wouldn't do that. The
379. 16:46Bible's not a moral object lesson. The
380. 16:49goal of the Bible is to point you to a
381. 16:52person and his name is Jesus. And he
382. 16:54reveals the heart of the father to us.
383. 16:56The heart of the father is that he would
384. 16:58be our standard, not Esther. That he
385. 17:01would be our standard. No earthly
386. 17:02leader. That he would ultimately be the
387. 17:06one and only standard. And his standard
388. 17:08is that he would forsake his position in
389. 17:11the palace and identify with you and I.
390. 17:13That he would become poor even though he
391. 17:15was rich. That he would empty himself of
392. 17:18glory so that he can take on flesh and
393. 17:21blood and die in our place. The Bible is
394. 17:24not a moral object lesson. It's pointing
395. 17:26to the gospel. And the gospel is able to
396. 17:29not just change your morals, but change
397. 17:31your character. And if your character
398. 17:33changes, your morals will follow. And
399. 17:35that's not just true for Hmon or for
400. 17:38Morai or for Xerxes or for Esther.
401. 17:41That's true for you and that's true for
402. 17:43me. Tomorrow we got a brand new book of
403. 17:45the Bible. We're going to be diving into
404. 17:47the book of Ezra. We got Ezra chapters
405. 17:501, 2, and 3. It's going to be day 339
406. 17:54right here on the Bible department
407. 17:55podcast. I hope that you enjoyed the
408. 17:57book of Esther. I hope I didn't ruin
409. 17:59Esther too much for you. I know some of
410. 18:02you're going to Google, you're going to
411. 18:03you're going to try to research, did
412. 18:04Esther really have sex adjunctions
413. 18:06before marriage? It's going to drive you
414. 18:08crazy. And if it does drive you crazy,
415. 18:11you have to ask yourself the question,
416. 18:12why? Why would that bother you? Do you
417. 18:15do you need the characters of the Bible
418. 18:17to like live some certain lifestyle in
419. 18:19order for you to live that lifestyle?
420. 18:21Because if true, you're building your
421. 18:23life on a house of cards. I promise you.
422. 18:25All right, I'll see you tomorrow. If
423. 18:26you're on the streak, I'm proud of you.
424. 18:28Even if you're not, I love you. Love you
425. 18:30so much. Peace.
426. 18:33Thanks so much for joining us on the
427. 18:34Bible podcast. If this episode was
428. 18:37helpful, how about you leave a comment,
429. 18:39share with a friend, and subscribe so
430. 18:41that you never miss an episode. To learn
431. 18:44more about the show, head to the bible
432. 18:46department.com. We'll see you right back
433. 18:48here tomorrow.