We know that the northern tribe was wiped out in 722 by Assyria, and God allows Babylon to take out the southern kingdom of Judah in 605 BC. Now what Nebuchadnezzar does is after attacking Jerusalem, he takes the best and the brightest, the children, out of Israel back to Babylon. We asked this question last week, but why take children? There's multiple reasons. What are some of the reasons you would take children from a conquered people, the best children? To brainwash them. To brainwash them. What else? You have hostages. You have hostages. And as you brainwash these children, as you're holding them hostage, Their parents are not going to raise a rebellion because their kids are over there. But as these kids grow up, who do they become loyal to? The captors. They'll be loyal to the captors. And if you read Daniel chapter 1, in fact, let's look there. Daniel is my favorite Old Testament book, by the way. So I'm going to be very biased towards it when I'm doing assignments. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal families and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance, skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding, learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them the daily portion of the food that the king ate and the wine that he drank, They would be educated for three years at the end of the time they were to stand before the king. And it talks about Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, all of the tribe of Judah, all young boys, probably about 12 to 14, were included in this. Now, if you notice, it says the king gave them food, the king gave them wine, and they were to be educated as Babylonians. He's changing their culture. He assigns names to them. All of their names, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, all had Jewish connotations. It was names related to the worship of the elders. The names that the Babylonians assigned to them, Daniel was built to Shazar, and then you know the other names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, those are all names associated with Babylonian deities. So they're trying to erase their Jewish heritage. They want them to forget where they came from. And these children, so Daniel was from the upper class and he was probably already known as a smart, bright kid, along with his three friends, they were going to be educated to become advisors to the king in the three years. So these captive children get the best of everything Babylon has to offer. The best education, the best food, everything. Well, Daniel and his friends make a vow, we're not going to eat the king's food. We're not given details of what that food was. But based on the fact that they said, we do not want to defile ourselves, that food was probably something that, according to the law of Moses, Jews were not supposed to eat. So bacon cheeseburgers would be a prime example. So they refused to eat the bacon cheeseburgers. They ate vegetables instead. And God blessed them because of their faithfulness to him. So they end up becoming advisors to the king. Three years later, they're being grilled. Anybody here been to promotion board? You're in the military, right? Officer. Officer? Do they have officers in the Corps? No. Have you ever sat in front of a bunch of people and they ask you a bunch of questions? I have once, yes. Okay. It's a fun time, isn't it? Nope. Okay. So, all of these young kids that have been taken, at the end of three years, they're standing in front of the King himself. And it says he quizzes them. You, tell me what this constellation means if it's next to this constellation. You, tell me what it means when the three-headed calf is born. And there's all these religious things, these astrological things, science, nature, religion. And as he's asking all these questions, he starts to focus on these four Jewish boys. And it says that they were 10 times smarter, not just of their peers, but of the old men who had been already the king's advisors. So they were elevated very quickly. So what we see during this time of exile, the Jews assimilate into the Babylonian culture pretty well. Some of them, the whole book of Daniel is about four of them, even attain positions of power and prominence within it. So we're talking about the exile. The main character is going to be Daniel. And the main location is Babylon. In Jeremiah chapter 25, Jeremiah's one of the prophets who, leading up to Nebuchadnezzar invasion, was warning the people of Judah, you really need to stop this. Listen, let's look at Jeremiah 25, and let's look at exactly what he said. These are pretty powerful words. Jeremiah chapter 25 Yeah Jeremiah chapter 25 the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jericho The son of Josiah king of Judah that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon Which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying okay? So here's what he said. This is the message. He's bringing good From the 13th year of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah, even to this day, these 23 years, the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. Okay, how long was Jeremiah speaking to these people? 23 years. 23 years. Okay, and he's not the only prophet that came to Judah, okay? But for 23 years, Jeremiah says, I have spoken to you consistently, persistently, nonstop, I have been talking to you. Keep going. The Lord has sent to you all his servants, the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, turn now again everyone from this evil way and from the evil of your deeds and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and to your fathers forever and ever. Do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands and I will do you no harm. Yet you have not listened to me, says the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own harm. Okay, hold on. All right, so what was the message that Jeremiah, and he says, and all the other prophets that were with him, what did they even say? Don't do what? Serve other gods. Don't serve other gods. Okay, that's what was said way, way back here in the conquest after they settled. The last instructions before Joshua kicked the bucket was, don't worship the God of the Canaanites. But the Israelites just really suck at obeying that command. Because immediately after the elders who served with Joshua died, those people started worshiping Molech, Baal, Ashtaroth, all these horrible pagan gods. And they continued to do so through this 400-year period here. They continue to do so in both North and South Kingdom, and now the hammer's about to drop. All right, keep reading. Verse eight. Therefore, says the Lord of hosts, because you have not obeyed my words, I will send and take all the families of the North, says the Lord, and Nechun and Ezer, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will utterly destroy them and make them in astonishment. A hissing and perpetual dis, Desolation. Okay, hold on. So who does he call by name? I'm reading Babylon and how does he refer to Nebuchadnezzar? So here's God Almighty speaking through his prophet to his chosen people Saying this horrible guy you've heard about on the evening news Nebuchadnezzar. Yeah, I'm bringing him to your doorstep. He's my servant Yeah, I know he's a wicked pagan guy, and all the horrible things you've heard about him are true. But he's my servant, and I'm bringing him to you. All right? Keep going, please. Verse 10. Moreover, I will take from them the voice of laughter and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle. This whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment. And these nations will serve the king of Babylon 70 years. How long? 70 years. 70 years. So Jeremiah is giving very, very specific prophecy. And one of our next sessions, a couple of weeks from now, we'll be looking at the book of Prophets, and we'll look at some of these more generally. But this is very, very specific foretelling. He is telling the future. You're going to be conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. He will take you from here to there. And you will be there for exactly 70 years. That's very, very detailed prophecy. And this is why people don't, a lot of people dismiss the Bible as saying, oh, obviously this was written after the event. That's one of the attacks of the love against the authenticity of the Bible. But Jeremiah is very, very specific. You're going from here to here for exactly 70 years. Verse 12. You can just read verse 12. It shall come to pass when 70 years are finished, and I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, says the Lord, for their iniquity and the land of the Shandilins, and will make it perpetual desolations. Okay, so at the end of 70 years, God says, He's going to do what to Babylon? Punish them. I'm going to punish them. So, is this fair of God? God is using wicked Babylon to punish His people. He says, Nebuchadnezzar is my servant. I'm in charge. I'm controlling all the political movements in the world. I'm using Babylon to punish you because you sinned against me. But at the end of 70 years, when your punishment's over, I'm going to punish Babylon for what they did to you. That's a completely different class. All right. Moving on. All right, so 70 years they're going to be here, 70 years. And during this time, Daniel is in the position of power almost that entire time period. He goes from here, from Judah to Bat Mon, between the ages of 12 and 14. So at the end of the exile period, how old is he going to be? 80-something. He's an old man. So we're going to talk a little bit about Daniel, because he's such a fascinating character, and it's worth spending time And it's my favorite book, and I like it. So when I'm your teacher, you do what I want. So Daniel is given the ability to interpret dreams. And part of your assignment for next week, we're going to run this on the board, need two, need seven, and eight. And Daniel is a prophet. Some of the most important prophecy in all of scripture comes from Daniel. And these in particular have a lot to do with that period of silence, which we will talk about next week. I don't want to give it away, but it's fascinating. But anyway, so Daniel, because of his ability to interpret things, just like Joseph, Daniel finds himself as Nebuchadnezzar's right-hand man. Another major prophet during this time is Ezekiel. We do not know a lot about Ezekiel's life. Most of his writings are end-of-the-world type visions, weird, weird visions. Daniel also has those, but the first seven, excuse me, the first six chapters of Daniel are all autobiographical. They're all chronological. It tells the events of the story. Ezekiel, there's none of that. It's all just weird vision after weird vision. And Ezekiel has some weird task after weird task that he has to do to be a son. And you were in Pastor Sean's Ezekiel class, who wasn't sat there a little bit. So you're familiar with the weirdness of that book. But Ezekiel actually mentions Daniel. I'm talking about the continuity of scripture and everything. Ezekiel talks about Daniel. They were alive at the same time. No idea who was older or whatever. But they were alive. Ezekiel says, yeah, that Daniel guy is doing some good stuff over there in Babylon. So while Daniel is a right-hand man of Nebuchadnezzar, he's a powerful person. He has influence. The Jews are not doing that badly in exile. But what does happen during this period, and you can actually see this if you look at the original documents of the Old Testament of Daniel, the first chapter and a half are written in Hebrew. And at a certain point, the language shifts to that of the Chaldeans, or the Babylonians. It starts being written in Aramaic. And you see the rest of the Old Testament after this period, when they return, it's all written in Aramaic. Hebrew's almost forgotten. The Babylonians were very successful in what they did. More on that later. So the end of 70 years, God has already ordained punishment for Babylon. Not only has he ordained that he's going to punish Babylon, he even names the person that's going to do it. So I would like for you to look in the book of Isaiah, somebody who hasn't read yet. Usually, remember I told you I had a bad habit of talking and trying to find my page at the same time? I'm gonna try to not do that so I don't say something really stupid. Isaiah chapter 44, verse 28. Isaiah chapter 44, verse 28. Someone else look up Daniel chapter 9, verse 2. And while you're flipping through there, I want to point out that Daniel and Ezekiel both have a lot of apocalyptic type writing, apocalypse. is another word for revelation. So if you really want to understand the book of Revelation, knowing Ezekiel and Daniel is important. Sidebar conversation, that's a bonus question. All right, who wants to read Isaiah 44, verse 28 for me? Go ahead. That saith Absaroth, 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. by name by the prophet Isaiah. Cyrus. Isaiah was 100 plus years before the exile happened. Cyrus' dad wasn't born. And Isaiah is saying, Cyrus is my servant, and he's going to give an order to rebuild Jerusalem and rebuild what else? What else was mentioned? The temple. The temple. Here's why that's needed. Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem in 6 or 5 BC. Various kings were placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar, and they tried to rebel. He ended up attacking that city three times. The final attack on Jerusalem happened in 586 BC. And in 586 BC, he was so irate with this obnoxious little kingdom of Judah that he smashed the walls down and destroyed the temple. I mean, he obliterated that city. Yes? Is that the temple that, was it Solomon made? That Solomon had built. Solomon's temple was destroyed. The walls around the city were torn completely down. He burned that city. I mean, he just, I mean, just wrecked it. Because they kept rebelling. And there are other passages in Jeremiah where Jeremiah is speaking directly to the nobility, the king and all this little combat, saying, When Mandeacon Ezra comes, do not fight him. He is my servant. I've ordained this to happen. If you don't fight against him, then basically just take your legs. Don't try to put your hand back there because it hurts worse. You get hit in the hand. Just take your punishment, and it won't be that bad. But they listened to Jeremiah again. They kept fighting. And at 586, the third or fourth time he's attacked that city, he smashes it. And it's gone. So he had already said, he being God, Cyrus is going to be the one who allows you to rebuild Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple, because Nebuchadnezzar is going to destroy it. Again, this is 100 years before Cyrus is born. Persia is barely anything on the map. Persia is still a minor tribe. They're just a small province of Assyria, and they are still subject to the Medo, because it used to be called the Medo-Persian Empire. But then eventually, it just becomes the Persian Empire, because the Persia rises in power and supplants the Medes. So it goes from Medo-Persian to just Persian. So this is the exile period. Daniel's domain person takes place in Babylon. The Jews assimilate. They assimilate so well that during their return, most of them don't speak Hebrew. Hebrew becomes a dead language. So let's talk more about this Cyrus guy. Daniel chapter five, it's not gonna be all of it. But Daniel chapter five, it should be a well-known story from your Sunday school. It's the writing on the wall. So Nebuchadnezzar's dead, and we think his grandson, we think Belteshazzar, or Belshazzar is his grandson, possibly nephew, But he's on the throne now, and he's having this great big feast. And he orders all of the golden goblets, the golden plates, all the golden vessels that were taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought back to Babylon, he wants all of those brought out so they can eat and drink using those. Because when Nebuchadnezzar smashed Jerusalem and stole that stuff, that's a sign saying, my God's stronger than your God, all that was your God now belongs that used to belong to your god, now belongs to my god. So Nebuchadnezzar's having this massive party. Now, what it doesn't mention until the end of the chapter, but for the sake of discussion, outside of the walls of Babylon, so here's Babylon, ready for some great artwork? There's Babylon, isn't that incredible? Right. The walls of Babylon were very impressive. Again, you can still go to, it used to be in Baghdad, it might be in the, big museum in London, but the gates, the Ishtar gates of Babylon, have been found and uncovered. And they are really big, very, very big. According to legend, you can have chariot races around the wall. It was so big. And the Euphrates River, I should have built it like that. So there it is, small scale. Here it is, big scale. Get it? The river flowed right through it. Persia had already conquered every single surrounding city. The Babylonian Empire was, for the most part, gone. All that remained was the capital city of Babylon. And the armies of Persia are all out there surrounding it. And Belshazzar is having a party. What in the world can he be having a party for if you're surrounded by enemy forces? To forget the forces. What's that? To forget about it. To forget about it is indefinitely a morality issue. You're not breaking through these walls. They didn't have siege engines back then. If you're inside a city, what an Australian army could do is burn all the crops outside and just starve you out. Why is that not going to affect the city of Babylon? Don't they have a river there? The river's going to it. What do they have an endless supply of? Hot water. Water, fish, keep growing the crops inside. They don't care. That's why we're having a party. Everyone outside might be destroyed, but we're safe here. So while that's going on, he's ordered all these golden vessels from a past conquest. So he's reminding people, look how awesome we are, and we still have all these victories. Daniel, as an old man, is retired at this point. Because while they're partying, it says this hand appears, a giant disembodied hand, and it starts writing on the wall. And the king is freaking out. Everybody in the party is freaking out. And Belshazzar says, OK, I need somebody to come in here and tell me what the writing on this wall means. And it says, all the astrologers and enchanters who were there could not do it. It says, the queen comes in and says, look, there is this guy who served in your father Nebuchadnezzar's court. His name was Daniel, or he can interpret dreams. You should bring him in. So Daniel, who's off in retirement somewhere, they bring him back in, probably in a wheelchair, and he looks at it, and he says, meenie, meenie, teckle ye farson. That's a message from God. The Persians are about to come in and take your kingdom, and you're dead, basically is what he says. And sure enough, it says, that very night, Persia conquered the city, and Babylon ceased to exist. Now, how that happened is cool, okay? This river that was their strength was also their weakness. So what the Persians did, you see rivers flow from the north to the south, is they cut a canal here. So all the water that was going here started going that way, because then they dammed up this. Remember, all the leaders are inside partying, getting drunk. And there's also apparently some bribery going on here to certain guards. This is all outside extra-biblical. I think Herodotus, I'm going to say his name wrong. So the Persians dug this canal, diverted the water, dammed up this. All of this here dried up. There was a gate that ran like that, but it didn't go all the way down to the bottom because it's a stinking river. But once that water dried up, the army just dropped in here, walked in on muddy ground, came up, and took the city in one night. All the leaders were drunk. So it says Cyrus assumes the throne, and Cyrus places a man named Darius over this city. So when you read Daniel and you talk about King Darius of Babylon, Darius is the sub-king under the emperor Cyrus. Some people think Darius is his uncle because, you know, you made your family powerful positions. Any questions? Yes, ma'am. Where was Cyrus from? Cyrus is Persian. He's Persian. OK. His father was Persian, his mother was Mede. That's important when you're thinking about the dynamics of power and alliances and all that stuff. And he comes over here and he conquers that. The kingdom is given to Cyrus. Cyrus, upon assuming the throne, he's going to make a declaration. Does anybody look at Daniel chapter nine, verse two? Do you mind reading Daniel chapter nine, verse two? So this is Daniel. right after the fall of Babylon and a little bit into the reign of Persia. Go ahead. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the numbers of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years. All right. So Daniel says, I know what's about to happen. What's about to happen? 70 years is up. Yeah, what's going to happen? The return to Jerusalem. The return. Desolation means to make empty. Jerusalem has been desolate. The temple has been desolate. It's been empty. Empty of the presence of God, empty of the worship of God. Daniel had the writings of Jeremiah from 70, 80, 90, however exactly long ago it was. Daniel recognized that Jeremiah is a prophet of God and everything Jeremiah wrote is the word of God. So now, Babylon is falling. Babylon's been punished, just as Jeremiah had said. And now because he's smart and he can look at a calendar, 70 years are almost up. And he has the writings of Isaiah. He knows that Cyrus is the person who's going to allow them to go back. And he makes mention of this. I know that the desolation of Israel is about done. So this starts the return period. And the main character is going to be a guy named Ezra. Daniel is alive for a lot of this time, but he kind of fades from significance, and Ezra takes his place. And the main location is going to be back in Jerusalem, because it's going to be all about rebuilding this city. So Daniel actually serves as a high-ranking advisor to King Darius, the sub-king under Emperor Cyrus. Why do you think Daniel doesn't go back when Cyrus allows the Jews to return? Why would Daniel not? There's a very practical reason. He's too old? He's older than dirt. He's 82, 84 years old. He's not going to take a five-month trip from here over two years. The reason I know that is because Ezra, when Ezra, who takes over here, when he starts making his track, he said, we made excellent time. We made it back in four and a half months. Yay, this is much faster than we expected. So how bad would it be for an 80-something-year-old man to make that trick? Daniel states, he ends up serving as the principal advisor, or he said, to King Darius. So he keeps on as a high-ranking position in the Persian Empire. So there are three major returns. The first return is under a guy named Zerubbabel or Zerubbabel, however you want to pronounce that. I've heard it both ways. He leads the first group of returnees from Babylon back to Jerusalem. And they're going to go there to rebuild the temple. But they get distracted. Something happens. So this is where you start getting some of these prophets like Haggai. So turn to the book of Haggai, chapter 1. So Jeroboam leads them back. All right, guys, we're going to rebuild the temple. We're going to rebuild this city. Everybody's like, yay. But then a few years later, not much has gotten done. So God sends prophets to kind of give them a swift kick in the pants. So let's look at Haggai. Who wants to read? Who has not read yet? It's Haggai, Zerubbabel, and Jehoshaddak. Those are the hard names. I just said it for you. Haggai, Zerubbabel, and Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat. Who wants to read? Go ahead, thank you, my turn. Chapter one, verses one through four, please. In the second year, Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai to the prophet, by the hand of Haggai to the prophet, and of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Right, so two men. You have Zerubbabel, whose father used to be governor of that region, so he's kind of a high-ranking guy by birth, and the high priest, Joshua. Right, keep going. Thus says the Lord of hosts, these people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. It is time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins. Okay, so what is the question that God asked the people in Jerusalem by the prophet Haggai? He asked them a question. It's been two years since they've been back. Because it's the second year of King Darius in the six months. Yeah, your houses are great your panel of houses as you rebuild your houses over these last two years, but my temple Remains desolate still. Okay. God's not happy with the people for two years. You've done nothing but the Paradox or so I brought you back and you've done nothing for you. So Haggai the encouragement of Haggai the prophet may start me building So they start rebuilding Jerusalem, they start rebuilding the temple, but there's a problem because what language does no one speak anymore? Hebrew. They don't speak Hebrew. They haven't studied the law. They don't remember what temple worship's supposed to look like. They don't know what to do. So Ezra, who did not come back with Zerubbabel, he has made a habit of studying God's word. He said, I'm going to learn it. I'm going to memorize it. I'm going to pay special attention to how worship is supposed to look in the temple. And when he felt the calling of God, he led another group back to Jerusalem, and he's going to help them start worshiping correctly. He probably speaks Hebrew. We don't know. Again, he's a young man, and he's a 90-year-old guy. We have no clue. But he is somebody who knows the word of God, and he starts teaching the people in Jerusalem the Torah. Here's what the law of Moses says. Here's how the temple worship is supposed to be. And that's what the whole book of Ezra is. He's having a spiritual revival in Jerusalem because of Ezra. The next major event is Nehemiah. Nehemiah is a high-ranking advisor to the new emperor. This is decades later, by the way. The new king, Cyrus is dead. The guys who sit on the throne is like a Hashewerus the fourth or 16th or something like that. So Nehemiah is a high-ranking official with him. And he says, I want to go back and rebuild the walls. The walls of Jerusalem have not been rebuilt. And that's embarrassing. If you're a major city and you don't have walls around you, it's embarrassing. It's shameful. So he leads a third group back, and they start rebuilding the walls. Now, Nehemiah runs into some problems, too. The other people that live around here, because as the Jews were taken out, other people moved in, they don't like the idea of Jerusalem becoming a well-fortified city again. It becomes a political threat. And what they start doing is writing letters back to the Persian emperor saying, if you allow this to happen, they're going to rebel against you. You can't let this happen. Well, Ahasuerus is no fool. He starts looking through the historical records, and he finds where Cyrus allowed everybody to go back. So he ignores the lying letters from all these surrounding areas. And instead of stopping them from building the temple, he starts sending unlimited funds. He writes a blank check, sends it to Nehemiah, and says, whatever you need, take it out of the royal treasury and build your walls. So because their lies didn't work, all of these people start making physical threats. Like, if you don't stop, we're going to attack you and kill you. Well, Nehemiah didn't back down. The people started to get scared, and they're like, nope, nope. God is with us. The emperor is with us. We can do this. So Nehemiah encourages the people, and in record time, they rebuild the walls around Jerusalem. And this ends the return period. The temple has been rebuilt. The city of Jerusalem has been rebuilt. The walls are built, and the people are rebuilt, for lack of a better word. Everything is now in place. where we want to start this period of silence. All right, I've covered a lot so far. Does anybody have any questions? No questions. Okay. Over here is pretty much obliterated, that's gone. We're focused on this line here. Jerusalem and everything down is where this makes sense. For the next 400 years, and we're gonna talk about this in depth next week, it's called the period of silence. Does anybody know why it's called the period of silence? For 400 years, there are no prophets. No one says, thus sayeth the Lord. The last one is Malachi, he's it, and there's nothing. But during that time, a lot happens on the world stage. A brief summary, I said we'll go into detail next week, is Persia starts to decline. And you're going to see the rise of a new empire, Greece. Eventually, Greece starts to fade. And you see the rise of a new power. Anybody want to take a guess who that is? Rome. Rome. And what major significant event happens while Rome is on the world stage? Jesus is born. The birth of Christ. the age of silence is going to be broken with John the Baptist announcing the coming of the chosen one of God. And what you will see is all of world history during this so-called period of silence, there's no prophets, but God is still moving in a very mighty way. And he is setting the conditions that will be perfect for the coming Messiah. Persia, under the leadership of Artaxerxes, yeah, I think it's Artaxerxes, his wife takes him off, and he divorces her. And he then goes over to put down this annoying little province called Sparta. And he kind of wins, but it's a costly victory, and eventually, He fights him again, and he gets smashed. And he comes back home, just lost to this pathetic, rag-tag group of independent city-states in the discreet peninsula. And he's kind of bummed. And some of his advisors are like, man, it would be great if this guy had a wife, because there's someone to encourage him. But he divorced his. Anybody know where I'm going with this? Esther? Esther. So they hold a empire-wide beauty pageant. Remember I said a lot of Jews did not return? Many did it. Esther and her uncle Mordecai are two of those Jews. There was a large contingent of Jews living throughout the Persian Empire. In the capital city of Susa, this beautiful Jewish girl named Esther is taken to the palace of the emperor, where her uncle Mordecai happens to work. Remember, the Jews assimilated into the Babylonian culture fine, and they're assimilating into Persian culture fine as well. It's just, why did they get all the Jewish girls? You know, didn't they have, like, Persian girls and Jewish girls? Well, they didn't. It felt like she had a side. OK. As long as it was a female of a certain age. Yeah, you look good. I mean, that's it. Men have always been, you know, better. So you have this beauty contest. So Esther ends up winning, and she becomes queen of Persia. Well, no one knows she's a Jew. She was told by Mordecai, keep this under wraps, because there are certain people who still hate us. One is a guy named Haman. Haman hated Mordecai. He knew Mordecai was a Jew. And he is going to use his powerful position, Haman is, to try to exterminate not only Mordecai, but all the Jews. Because he's one of those, if you put one of ours in the hospital, I'll put five of yours in the morgue, type guy. I'm quoting the movie. Anybody know the movie? Untouchables? No? OK. I'll scratch that from the record. It's true. Mordecai disrespected Haman. So Haman says, I'm going to kill you and all your people. So Haman tricks the king into signing a death warrant for all Jews everywhere. And Mordecai goes to Esther and says, look, you're the queen. The king actually likes you, and he loves you. You can do something about this. And Esther says, no, no, I can't do that. I can't even go talk to the king, because anybody who walks into the presence of the emperor of Persia without being summoned can be executed. Oh, jeez. Yeah, kind of intense. And Mordecai, in one of the most profound statements in all of scripture, in my humble opinion, he tells her, look, God is going to deliver the people of Israel from the hand of Haman. It is going to happen. You can choose to be a part of this. If you choose to be a part of it and go talk to the king, you may die. But if you don't go talk to the king because you're scared, you're going to die. You're definitely going to die. So she ends up saying, fine, I'll do it. She goes and talks to the king. And you can read the story. It's a great story. Read the book of Esther. Eventually, it comes to light. I am a Jew, and your buddy Haman over here is trying to kill me. And Haman, of course, he's there when she tells him this. He's like, oh, what have I done? And Haman ends up being hung on the gallows that he had built for Mordecai. And what's interesting is you'll see this, especially in the book of Daniel and Ezra, is that when the king makes an order in Persia, he cannot take it back. because the king of Persia speaks for the gods. He is not a god, but he can speak for the gods. So if he writes an order, it's like the gods gave it to him. Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar could make whatever he wanted. He could willy-nilly. He was the law. The Persian king was under the law. You understand the difference? The law, the emperor in Persia. But for Babylon, it was Nebuchadnezzar, and that's it. Nothing supersedes him. So the king had already signed this order allowing people to kill Jews. He couldn't take it back. So what he did is he sent another one saying, all the Jews can defend themselves with lethal force if necessary. Basically, the Second Amendment for all the Jews. And in spite of that, several people said, you know what? We're going to attack the Jews anyway, even though they got an advance warning in their arm. and they got obliterated. So not only did Haman get wiped out, but all the enemies who had hated the Jews got wiped out, too. So even the Jews that did not return back to Israel, I think about 50,000 in that first one, all those that were still living over here, God was still protecting them, as well. And that's where you get the Feast of Purim that's still celebrated by Jews today. They still make like piñatas of Haman and beat the Purim. They do. So all of that takes place after the return period. The story of Esther takes place. So Esther's on the Persia side, and the rebuilding of the temple's on the Georgian side. Yeah, the capital, like, Susa's right around here somewhere, I think, again, close to the water. I think it's over there. Yeah, all that takes place in the capital city. So you had a very large, wealthy Jewish population living in the capital city of the Persian Empire. And God was protecting them the same way he was protecting his people over here. Not the exact same way. He was protecting them and protecting them in different ways. Esther's one of those in-between periods. It was after the return, very close to that period of silence. I still have three minutes. Does anybody have any questions? Okay, ready for a review? Okay, I'm gonna put the review on tape, so if you say something dumb, it's gonna be on there. Not dumb, not dumb. If you say something that's simply incorrect, it will be on the recording. Okay, so let's focus on, we'll just start with the kingdom, good place to review. The kingdom started under the first king, who? Saul. Saul. Saul was a bad king that got ripped out and he was replaced by who? Solomon. David. David. David. David. David was a king after God's own heart. He was a good God, had his moral failings, but overall a good king. Solomon was his son. Solomon dies. Rehoboam takes over. Rehoboam is stupid, and he causes a what in the kingdom? A split in the kingdom. They almost went to full-blown war, but God interceded and stopped it from happening. So yeah, they were about to start shooting the muskets at each other, and God said, stop. So the kingdom splits. What do you call the northern kingdom, the top 10 tribes? Kingdom of Israel. Why do they call themselves Israel? Majority. That's it. The bottom is called Judah. And what's significant about everybody who sits on the throne in the southern kingdom of Judah? They're from David. They're from David. Why is David important? He's the great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather of? Jesus. Jesus. OK. Excellent. What happens to the northern kingdom of Israel? Conquered by Assyria. Conquered by Assyria. Wiped out. Smashed. He deports half the population, replaces that half with a bunch of foreigners, they enter Megil, and they produce, according to Jewish understanding, a half-breed Mongol race called the Samaritans. They are still there 500-something years later, no, 735 years later when Jesus is around and all the Jews hate them. Okay, that's where they come from. All right, 136 years later, after warnings by Jeremiah and several other prophets that you better fix yourself or God's gonna punish you, God does punish Judah with who? Babylon. Under the leadership of what man? Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar, brutal dictator, but I believe he's in heaven. Read Daniel chapter four. I can put that up there in your reading assignment. So Daniel chapter four, I think Nebuchadnezzar is in heaven and we can see him up there and talk about that. That would be awesome. What's that? That would be awesome. That would be, it really would be. And it's also proof God can save anybody. Yes. All right, so in 605, Nebuchadnezzar conquers them. It's kind of a nice conquest as conquests go, but all the kings that he puts on the throne kind of starts from a bell, and at 586, after he's sick of it, what does Nebuchadnezzar do to him? Destroys Jerusalem. Destroys Jerusalem. Burns down the temple, tears down the walls. I mean, it's a shellacking. It's bad. So the 70 years of exile, just so you're aware, people argue over the 70 years, did it start here, or did it start here? No, they don't use the same calendar that we use today. So it's very difficult to pinpoint when some of these things happen. People argue, does it really matter? Not really. So during that time, we talk about Daniel. Daniel's given the ability to interpret dreams because he's faithful to God as he's being exiled as a child from Jerusalem over to Babylon. He and his three friends find themselves as advisors to Nebuchadnezzar himself. They are powerful people. They get good food. They have a good income. They're set. So the Jews assimilate into their culture. They assimilate so well that during the return period, they get back here and they start rebuilding stuff. What do they not speak anymore? Hebrew. Hebrew. In fact, the Book of Daniel goes from being written in Hebrew to start with to Aramaic. The language that everybody speaks in Canaan, in Judea, During the time of Christ, what's the regional language that everybody speaks? The regional language is not Hebrew. I've already said it. Aramaic. Yes, Aramaic. Remember Jesus said in Aramaic to the little girl, and the little girl get up and rise. I don't speak Aramaic, but it says in Aramaic, and it actually gives you the words. Everybody speaks Aramaic. They don't speak Hebrew. The priests and scribes might, but the common person, they don't speak Aramaic. Quick question. Yes. When they did the return era, when Cyrus told them to come back and they rebuilt Jerusalem and all that, they didn't touch that northern part because the Samaritans were there? Yeah, and they were focused on Jerusalem. That's going back to our capital city. So they get back there, unreservable, the first group, I think 50,000 people or so went back to that first convoy back. Daniel did not go because Daniel was old. A lot of people didn't know that. Some people probably liked their lives in Babylon. And they're like, oh, it's even better now that Persians are in charge. So a lot of people just stayed for that reason. Some people were old. They didn't want to go. Some people had little kids, and they didn't want to take the little kids on that train. For various reasons, a lot of people stayed. So under Haggai, they get that, hey, guys, you've been here for two years. All of your houses are built. My temple is still over there lying empty. Get to it. Starts the people going, they get the temple and the city rebuilt. Now they need to get the people ready to worship God. So Ezra leads a second group back, and he kind of starts a spiritual rebuild of the people. Here's how to worship God. They get that going. A few decades later, Nehemiah, who's a high-ranking official in the Persian Empire, he's a high-ranking servant to the emperor, he comes back to rebuild what? The walls. He faces great opposition, he perseveres, and in record time, they rebuild the walls around Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is set. And that is the end of the return period. And we'll get into the period of silence next week. Probably just do the whole hour next week will be to the period of silence. There's not going to be a lot of scripture reading. Actually, I take that back. Please read 2, 7, and 8. Read 11 if you can't go to sleep at night. in the book of Daniel? Just read the whole book of Daniel. It's my favorite book in the Old Testament. I love that book. So it's fantastic. But definitely 2, 7, and 8. Here's why. Daniel is a prophet. He speaks about the future. And some of the events he describes in this chapter actually play out in world history during that period of silence. So even though God is not speaking through a prophet at that time, he has already spoken through prophets about what will happen during that time. In fact, Daniel chapter 11 is so detailed about what king marries which princess of this empire and then snaps the old thing to back that it's, that's why it's very, it's so detailed for it, but it's incredibly the amount of detail. If you really want to hear it, you can get on Sermon Audio and look up Dave McManus, who used to be a pastor here, and he is a big history nerd, and he did an excellent 50-minute sermon on that. He has pictures of all these various kings and queens I've mentioned, and how Daniel chapter 11 played out perfectly in history. I prefer 2, 7, and 8 because they're much more simple. That's pretty much the only reason. But please read those. It's incredible. That's it. Daniel 2, 7, and 8. Read that next week, and we'll talk about that. All right, any more questions, comments? Yes, ma'am. So, Ezekiel? Yeah, Ezekiel. Yes. Is he counted towards the exile period, but is he also like his own little thing, because he was like weird? He is an exile period. The only two prophets during that time are Daniel and Ezekiel. OK. Yeah, and like I said, Ezekiel makes mention of Daniel, so they knew about each other, or at least Ezekiel knew who Daniel was. Probably because Daniel was, he was the right-hand man of the emperor. Everybody knew who Chancellor Daniel or whatever title we have, he was known. He was a public figure. So yeah, they were the only two prophets during that time. Daniel is an easy read. He's a fantastic read. Ezekiel is painful. It's just painful. And then Ezekiel also ties into the silence period, right? Or no? No. We don't know much about Ezekiel as a person, because unlike Daniel, there are no chapters that are biographical. So we don't know much about Ezekiel other than he saw weird stuff. And he cooked his food in an unhumane, unsanitary way. All right. Got it. Everybody good? Do you all like the map or the chart better? The map. The map. Well, both. I guess both. Both. Yeah. OK. I'll keep filling them both up. All right. In that case, we're done. scripture. I wanted to make reference to the fact that Ezra approached Daniel, and that Daniel approached Jeremiah, and Daniel knew who Isaiah was, and Isaiah talked about Cyrus a hundred years before. So all of scripture ties into each other. So that's one of the apologetics of scripture. We know that the book of Ezekiel is inspired because Daniel, or excuse me, we know Daniel is inspired because Ezekiel approached Daniel. We know Jeremiah is inspired because Daniel approached Jeremiah. All the scriptures tied together, there's this continuity there that is definitely divinely ordained. All right, I will see you guys next week, let's close.