We recording? We're recording? Okay. Alright. Good morning everybody. Good to see you. Notes are up here if you need them. We're starting a brand new series. We're going to be looking at the book of Esther. And today though we're going to be doing an introduction things leading up. Next week we'll get into chapter one, but today we're going to do a introduction. So let's start with a word of prayer. Father, thank you for this morning and this time we can be here. We thank you, Father, for this Sunday school hour. We pray you bless the children's church and the children's class and our class as well, and we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. So the story of Esther's life chronologically fits between the book of Ezra, chapter 6 and chapter 7. So, in between chapter 6 and 7 is where the book of Esther takes place. Ezra Chapters 1 through 6 is the first return back to Israel led by Zerubbabel, and the second return in the book of Ezra, chapter 7 to the end, is the second wave of people led by Ezra. So, the book of Esther provides the only biblical portrait of the vast majority of the Jews who chose to remain in Persia rather than return to Palestine after the exile. So, when Cyrus signed the decree to allow Israel to go back, many went back, but many also stayed. So, we get a little idea of what life was like for the people who stayed in the Persian Empire after they returned to Israel. So one of the first things, if anybody has ever read the book of Esther, one of the first things that you notice is that there is the absence of the name of God in the book. The name of God is never mentioned in the book of Esther. Prayer is not mentioned. Any of the Israeli history, it's not mentioned. And concerning this, Harry Ironside says in his commentary on the book, he says, properly speaking, God is entirely unmentioned. But no believer in the plenary inspiration of Scripture would conclude from this that his voice speaks not to us in this writing as in all the rest of the sacred oracles. And G. Campbell Morgan wrote, while there is no name of God and no mention of the Hebrew religion anywhere, no one reads this book without being conscience of God. So even though his name is not mentioned, we can definitely see him working in the book and working through the book. There is no book in the Bible in which the providence of God is not more clearly seen than in the protection and care of his chosen people. And in one of the books that I'm using for a for a guide on this. It's called Be Committed by Warren Wiersbe. He defines providence. When we think of God's providence, I like this definition. Providence is God's attention concentrated everywhere. So it's, when we think of the providence of God, it's His attention. And where is God's attention focused? Everywhere, okay? Even though God is not named, He is present and active in the book. Now, a little history. How did Israel get to Persia? And how, you know, if we're reading along through the Bible, how do we get to the book of Esther? What takes place before that? So, a little bit of history. So, because of Israel's sin and disobedience, God allowed the divided kingdom to go into captivity. Remember, after After Solomon, Jeroboam and Rehoboam, the two kings, well, the kingdom divided. And there were ten tribes to the north called Israel, two tribes to the south, Judah and Benjamin. And the ten tribes in the north, the ten northern tribes of Israel, were taken into captivity by the Assyrians between 740 and 722 BC. Open your Bibles this morning to 2 Kings 15. 2 Kings 15. And in 2 Kings 15, in verse 29, we read this. It says, "...in the days of Pekah, king of Israel, came Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, and he took Ijon, and Abel-Beth-Me'achah, and Jonah, and Kadesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, and the land of Nathalie, and carried them captive to Assyria." So, what happened in the book, what happened in Kings here, because of Israel's sin, the ten northern tribes, they were taken captive before Judah was. And they were taken captive by a group of people called the Assyrians. Look at chapter 17. Chapter 17, verse 3. Again, He came up Again him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria, and Hosea became his servant, and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hosea, for he sent messengers to sow king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, bound him in prison, and then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land and went up to Samaria and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hosea king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and in Habor, by the river Gozon, and in the cities of the Medes." So, again, more of Israel being taken captive. And then the final captivity, chapter 18 of 2 Kings, verses 11 and 12. And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel into Assyria, and put them in Halah and Habor by the river Gozon, and in the city of the Medes, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses his servant of the Lord commanded. and would not hear them nor do them." And this is 722 BC. So, why did Israel go into captivity before Judah and Benjamin? Because of all their kings, they never had one righteous king. And they no longer worshipped God, but they set up false gods in Dan, the city of Dan and the area of Dan. and they were taken away by the Assyrians in captivity first. Later on we read that the Assyrians would make anybody a priest, and then they would also leave priests of their gods. So what happened with the Israelites, the ten northern tribes, they mixed their religion with the Assyrians. And out of that came what group of people that the Jewish people just loved in the New Testament? The Samaritans, okay? So, the Samaritans had a mixture of the worship of God and the worship of false gods, okay? So, this is all happening now before the book of Esther. This just sets us up for Esther. But Judah and Benjamin to the south were taken captive by the Babylonians between 607 and 586 BC. Look at chapter 24. Israel didn't fare much better. They didn't have a lot of righteous kings. They actually had more unrighteous king than righteous kings. But because of God's covenant with David, because of God's covenant with Abraham, Israel didn't go into captivity until later. 2 Kings chapter 20... Go ahead. What did I say? Israel? Sorry. Good. Yeah. Judah. Judah. Didn't go into captivity until later. Thank you. 2 Kings 24, verse 1. In the days of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up Jehoiakim, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Avin, and set them against Judah to destroy it according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant the prophets." So, this is 607 B.C. This is when Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were taken captive. So the first time that Nebuchadnezzar came against Judah, is when Daniel and his three friends were taken captive. Not only them, there were many, but they were in that first deportation. And following that, we read in verses 8 to 16. This is now 597 B.C. Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother's name was Nehushtah, the daughter of El Nathan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done. At that time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And that means surrounded, no one could go in or out, and eventually what would happen is all your provisions would run out, you would either starve or surrender. And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against the city. I did read that. And 12, and Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his princes and his officers and the king of Babylon. took him in the eighth year of his reign, and he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord said, and He carried away all Jerusalem, all the princes, all the mighty men of valor, even 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained save us, the poorest sort of the people of the land." So this is 597, this is when Ezekiel was taken captive. So Ezekiel is probably just a little bit younger than Daniel, but he and Daniel would have been contemporaries in the land of Babylon. Of course we know Daniel, how God used him, writing the book of Daniel, and of course we know Ezekiel, how God used him, and the many visions that both of them had. And then in chapter 25, verses 1-12, we won't read all of this, but this was the final siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, this is when he destroys the temple. Okay? Everything in the temple is taken. What does it say of all the gold that was in the temple? Verse 13, what does it say that Nebuchadnezzar did? He cut it all up. Right? I know there's all this big mystery. Where's the Ark? The only clue we have in the Bible is it was all destroyed. Now remember, Ezekiel gives us a picture of God's glory leaving the temple. And when God's glory left the temple, what was the temple filled with? stuff. Expensive stuff, but just stuff. God wasn't there anymore. So, I don't believe there's a great conspiracy about the Ark. I think the Ark was destroyed, okay? And I know there's all kinds of theories that it's, you know, if you put all the theories together, there's about 15, 20 arcs all around the place, but that's, you know, so, but anyway. Makes a good movie, but, you know, remember this, even though it was vital to Israel, it was vital to Israel when God's presence was there. Otherwise, it was just a gold box. What was that? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so, but notice these sad words. Verse 4, chapter 25. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the king's garden. Now, the Chaldees were against the city roundabout, and the king went the way toward the plain, and the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. And they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon in Riblah, and they gave judgment upon him." Now, look at these sad words, "...and they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon." So, Zedekiah's sons are killed before his eyes, and then they pluck out Zedekiah's eyes. The last thing he saw was his sons being killed. Cruel. Cruel. But, you know, Zedekiah was not a follower of God. Even though Jerusalem, before his eyes, is being taken captive by Babylon, he still doesn't repent, and this happens to him. And then in verse 26, 21, and the king of Babylon smoked them and slew them at Riblah in the land, so Judah was carried away out of their land. 586 BC, and this starts the time of the Gentiles that Jesus speaks about in Luke 21. And from here on out, even to this day, Israel is living under Gentile authority. You may say, wait, but they're in their land. But do they really have say over their land? Who is always telling Israel what to do and give up? If it's not America, it's the UN. The time of the Gentiles will not be fulfilled until the Lord comes back. So this is a little bit of how Israel and Judah went into captivity. The Assyrians, the Babylonians took over the Assyrians, then the Babylonians came and took Judah and Benjamin. And then, after 70 years, the Babylonians, remember our study in the book of Daniel, the Babylonians were taken over by the Medes and Persians, and the Persian Empire. This is the setting of the book of Esther in which we are studying. Now, God had promised, now we're in the fourth paragraph, God had promised through the prophet Jeremiah that Judah would be in captivity for 70 years. Turn ahead to Jeremiah. Jeremiah is after Isaiah. which is after the Psalms. Jeremiah 25, verse 11 and 12, Jeremiah says this, And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, and their iniquity of the land of the Chaldeans will make it a perpetual desolation." Now, also we could look in chapter 29 and see the same thing, but look at Daniel chapter 9. Now, we just read from the book of Jeremiah, right? Chapter 25. And notice what it says in Daniel 9, verses 1 and 2. It says, In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years wherein the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolation of Jerusalem." So, Daniel, taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon. Daniel lives through the whole Babylonian kingdom and Daniel sees The Medes and Persians come and conquer Babylon. And during this time, he finds a copy of the book of Jeremiah, and he reads just where we read, and it says, 70 years. We're going to be here 70 years. So I could see Daniel sitting there in his own mind saying, I was however old when I was taken captive, let's just say 15, and I'm 85 now. Seventy years. So he began, if you read through that chapter, he began to prepare his heart, and I'm sure he began to also prepare the people around him. There's no mention of Daniel going back, he was probably too old to make the trip, but God definitely used him. God would punish the nation of Babylon for their sin, and he used the Medo-Persian Empire to do this. October, the exact date, we know this from history also, the exact date is October 12th, 539 B.C. Daniel 5, 30 and 31 says, In the night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain, and Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old. Remember the writing on the wall? Belshazzar is there, He calls Daniel in, and they're having this big drunken party, and Daniel says, you know, what's the writing on the wall? Belshazzar says to Amin, and Daniel says, you've been found, you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting. What's that mean? You know, you've come up short, buddy, and your kingdom's going to be destroyed tonight. And that night, Belshazzar was killed, and the Medes took over the Babylonian empire. And now we move from the head of gold, in Daniel's vision, to the arms and chest of silver, the Medes and the Persians. God then began to stir the heart of King Cyrus, and he gave permission for Israel to return to the land to begin to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. Jeremiah said, how long? Seventy years, right? But even before that, turn back to Isaiah. Even before Jeremiah, in Isaiah chapter 44, we see a very interesting prophecy that took place 150 years before Cyrus was born. 150 years in In Isaiah 44, verse 28, that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid. Thus saith the Lord of His anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him. And I will loose the loins of the kings to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut." So, Isaiah prophesied even before Israel is taken captive, Judah is taken captive, even before that, he prophesied that he's going to use a king named Cyrus to allow Judah to come back and rebuild Israel. Okay? So, what do we learn from this? Well, we learn a couple things. First off, Jerusalem and the Temple are going to be destroyed, but God's going to let Cyrus rebuild it. Look at 2 Chronicles. Go back. I know we're all over, but it's kind of neat how this all fits together chronologically. 2 Chronicles 36, Verse 22, now the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put also in writing, that thus said Cyrus, king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me, and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. who is there among you of all his people, the Lord his God, be with him and let him go." This is 538 B.C. that God begins to stir Cyrus. And in Ezra 1, you probably don't even have to turn a page, but notice, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, and he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, For thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord of heaven hath given me the kingdoms, and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem." So Cyrus is allowing the children of Israel to go back. And Ezra 1-6 is Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest going back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. It's not until chapter 7 that Ezra goes back, but here is that. Now, here is something very, very, very interesting. Look at Daniel chapter 1. Remember Daniel? Faithful Daniel. He's been there through the whole Babylonian captivity. And in Daniel 1, verse 21, Daniel continued even unto the first year of King Cyrus. Now, this is my sanctified imagination. Daniel is a godly man. Daniel throughout all of his career in Babylon and in the Persian Empire, Daniel was in the court of the kings. He was a statesman. He was a politician. I personally believe that Daniel, one day, took the scroll of Isaiah and said, Cyrus, look at this. Look what God said he's going to allow you to do. He showed probably also the book of Jeremiah, you know, 70 years. Look, Nebuchadnezzar took us away here. Here's your reign. It's 70 years. God said you're going to let Israel go back. And guess what? It happened. So it's kind of neat how all that fits together, okay? A very old Daniel, God used to show Cyrus Isaiah's prophecy, to show Cyrus Jeremiah's prophecy. And God allowed it to happen. So the first return was led by Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua, and that was between 538 and 515 BC. The work was begun under the reign of King Cyrus and finished under the reign of King Darius I. During this time, God used the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to encourage the returning remnant to continue in their important work of rebuilding the temple. So, at this time, you have the end of the book of Daniel. You have the end of the book of Ezekiel. You have Ezra 1-6 starting. And in Ezra 1-6, you can fit Zechariah and Haggai in there. all chronologically. So the temple is completed, but Israel begins to slack off on the work. And Ezra has to come back, chapter 7 through the end, and Ezra has to kind of lead a, as it says here in 4.57, God sends Ezra the scribe to lead a group of people to Jerusalem to oversee the ministry of Jerusalem. Because what had happened? You know, the people got lazy. You're living in all these houses. Fancy houses? My house lays in waste. So, God used the prophets, Ezra goes back, revival comes to the priesthood. So now, The temple is rebuilt. The priesthood is stable. Jerusalem is rebuilt. And then what happens? Well, the third and final return to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem takes place in 444 B.C., led by Nehemiah under King Atazerxes I. Now, we know what was Nehemiah from Nehemiah 2. Nehemiah was the king's Cup bearer. Okay? What does that mean? Like a butler. Okay? He brought the cup to him whenever the king wanted something, he would bring it to him. But you know what else he had to do? Taste it. Because what was one way of killing monarchs in those days? Killing them. So, think about that job. Well, as long as my cup bearer is alive, I will drink it. If my cup bearer is dead, well I'm not going to drink that. And you can look through history. Many kings were killed. In fact, the king of the Book of Esther, we don't read about it in that book, but he was killed by his own son and his son took over the kingdom. So that's after the events of the Book of Esther. So, this one day, Nehemiah chapter 2, this one day he comes into the king's presence and he was sad. Now, think about how, okay, Nehemiah, you've been in my presence for a long time and you've never come to me sad. What's going on? And of course, Nehemiah states, how can I be happy? when the land of my people lies in waste." So, of course, God moved in the king's heart to allow the third and final return to Israel. And what did Nehemiah rebuild? The walls, so they could have protection. So, the book of Esther, which we are studying, now that's a long way to get to where we are, the book of Esther takes place sometime between chapter 6 and 7 of Ezra, and that is between 515 and 457 BC. King Ahasuerus, who we'll learn about. His name means Lion King. Okay? Ahasuerus. It's Latin for his Hebrew name. We'll learn a little bit more about this all next week. But he's also known in history as Xerxes the Great. That's his Greek name. He reigned from 485 to 465 B.C., and Esther became his queen in 479 B.C. At this time, the returning remnant under Zerubbabel were struggling to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. So, while we learn about the hardships of the Jewish remnant who returned to Jerusalem in Ezra and Nehemiah, and how the Lord would continually aid them in their struggles. Over and over in the book of Nehemiah, chapter 2, verse 8, you read, the good hand of the Lord was upon us, right? But what was always happening under Zerubbabel and Joshua and Ezra and Nehemiah? What was always happening? The enemies trying to stop the work. and writing back to the king and saying, oh, these people are wicked, and all the letters back and forth, and the fighting, to where finally, when Nehemiah comes, the people that were building the wall had to have a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. They're building up the city, and they're defending it from their enemies, which led to a great devotional by Charles Spurgeon called The Sword and the Trowel. the importance to build the kingdom, but the importance also to defend. So the book of Esther now shows us what life was like for the many Jewish people who still were in the kingdom of Persia and in the town of Shushan, which is modern-day Iran. So think about hearing on the news today and hearing what goes on in Iran. This is the geographic location of the book we are studying in Sunday school, okay? Iran, Shushan, and it was Babylon's kingdom, but then who took over? The Medes and the Persians. Now, we don't know who the author of the book is, okay? but because of the Hebrew that is used, because of the knowledge of the Jewish culture, and also the knowledge of Shushan and the Persian government, and the culture suggests a Jewish author who was of the diaspora, that means those dispersed, living in Persia at the time. Some suggestions are Mordecai, look at Esther chapter 9, Esther chapter 9 in verse 20, Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews that were in all the province of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far. So, Mordecai had a knowledge of writing. Mordecai was a government, you know, in the government. So one of the suggestions of the author of Esther is Esther's cousin Mordecai. Okay, we'll learn about him in the book, one of the heroes of the book. Another suggestion, turn back a couple of books to Ezra, Another suggestion is possibly Ezra. Ezra 7, verse 6, the Bible says, Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. and the king granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him." So Ezra was a ready scribe. He was a scribe. He also knew how to write. He also was familiar with not only Judaism, but he would have been familiar with the Persian government. And the last possible author is Nehemiah. Nehemiah chapter 1 verse 1 the words of Nehemiah the son of Hakaliah and it came to pass in a month Kislu in the 20th year as I was in Shushan the palace, so Nehemiah wrote the book of Nehemiah, so it's very possible, and where is he? Shushan the palace. Where does the book of Esther take place? Shushan the palace. So, these three people, even though we don't know who wrote the book, are pretty good possibilities. The fourth possibility is, could have been none of them, we don't know. But of course the ultimate author is God. We're talking about the human author. So the book of Esther also explains the origins of the Jewish Feast of Purim, okay, which our Jewish friends celebrate annually on March 14th and 15th. So we'll learn about that as we go through. Because Haman sent out word for all of the Jews to be killed throughout all the kingdom, because of that, Mordecai found out, Esther goes to the king, and then the Jews were allowed to defend themselves, another letter went out, and because the Jews were not destroyed, they celebrate Purim, okay? During the celebration of Purim, they dress up like characters in the book of Esther. It's kind of, you know, a dress-up time in the children. The book of Esther is read to them during that time. Whenever Mordecai's name is mentioned, everybody cheers. And whenever Haman's name is mentioned, everybody, boo! You know, and so it's a joyous celebration. But it's like Hanukkah. The Feast of Purim is not mentioned in Leviticus 23. Now notice, this is from strictly a human observation. Remember, we talked about God's providence. Because of God's promise to Abraham, would the nation of Israel be extinct? No. Of course not. But from a human perspective, if there's no Purim, there is no Jews. And if there are no Jews, there is no Messiah. And if there is no Messiah, there's no salvation and no Christianity. Adolf Hitler was not the first person who tried to destroy and wipe out the Jews. And biblical principles fulfilled in the book are found in Genesis 12. This is the promise to Abraham. God says, I'll bless those who bless thee, and I'll curse those who curse thee. Right? What happened to Haman? He was hung on the same gallows that were built for Mordecai. Psalm 22. that God would always watch over Israel. Psalm 121, that God would always watch over Israel. Daniel 4, that it is God who sets up kings and takes down kings. And Romans 8.28, all things work together for what? Good, for those who love God. So we serve and love a God who cannot lie and whose gracious purposes for the world, in spite of sin and Satan, cannot be defeated. So, even though God's name is never mentioned in the book of Esther, it is very evident that God is working in this book. We see Him working behind the scenes. And we'll talk about this more as we get into it. But I just wanted us today to see, how did we get to this point? Right? Israel, Judah, divided kingdom. Israel goes into captivity by the Assyrians. Later, Judah by the Babylonians. God punishes the Babylonians for their sin, and the Medes and Persians are taken over. Israel is allowed to go back to the land, and some do, but there are some who stay in the land of Persia, and this is their story. Okay? And it's a story about a little girl Well, not a little girl, but a young lady who was taken into a beauty contest to become a queen. And the wonderful verse, you know, Mordecai says to Esther, who knows if you haven't come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Right? God is going to use you for such a time as this. And you ever think about why were you born when you were born? Why are you living here in New Hampshire during this time for such a time as this? God knew what he was doing when he placed you here. Amen? All right.