Esther

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Folks, welcome back to the Receivers Podcast. I'm in the middle of Rome, Italy, and so if we hear some background noise, we just gotta accept that that's happening. Um so sorry about that. But today we're going to talk about Esther. And Esther is a great book. Um it's pretty small, and it's um one of the only books in the Old Testament that talks about um the story of a woman and is named after a woman. Um but in the story we get a lot of really good things. So let's begin. So Esther is happening after some of the people in some of the Jews have gone back to Jerusalem, but others remain in Babylon. A good chunk of Jews remain in Babylon. If you uh remember where Babylon is, that is to the to the east in Iran or Iraq around there. So while we're there, she's there and she's still living in Babylon, in the Persian, under the Persian Empire. And as she's there, and and there are many Jews that are there, and they continue to be there. In fact, a group of Jews will stay there and write what's known as the Babylonian Talmud or the Babylonian basically commentaries on the scriptures. So Jews will remain in that area for countless years afterwards. Um, and Esther's a part of this community. And so, again, we learn in the scriptures that maybe it doesn't matter where we live, but the Lord will use us to bless his people across time. And that's basically the full story of Esther is that. Sorry, we may get a little bit of an um echo now, but that's the full story of Esther is that we can be we can bless other people, and God will put us in a position to bless the people around him. Um sorry, around us as we um serve him and we think about him. So let's begin with the book of Esther. So the name Esther means it can mean star in Babylonian, um, which is interesting, right? She can be the North Star that people are looking to, right? That that saves them is also just a beautiful name. Um and it also can mean hidden in Hebrew, some people think. Um, and does this, you know, was she hidden from the world in order to, you know, uh kind of be shown in order to save the people? You know, she's kind of a hidden treasure, um, somebody who was unexpected to save the Jews, right? She wasn't militarily there to save the Jews, but the Lord literally put her in the exact right position that she was able to be an example of Jesus Christ and a type of Jesus Christ, as she saved the people from destruction because she put herself in the place of maybe being killed. She had absolute courage to go in um and talk to the king. And so, anyway, that's what Esther means. She also has another name in Hebrew, which uh need to pull up really fast. But this name in Hebrew means myrtle. And so kind of fun. I mean, you would have two different names just because in Babylon they're speaking, right, different languages, a different language, they would have spoken Persian, whereas Esther would have spoken um, she would have spoken Hebrew or Aramaic at the time, probably more like Aramaic. But her name, sorry, I'm just pulling it up really fast. And Hadassah. Hadassah means myrtle. Um so then we get these stories. So basically, Esther is found in Shushan, which is in western Iran, and she was living at the time of um of of the king, um, who then uh King Hasurosus, um, who is displeased by the nature of his own wife. He's not happy with what his wife has been doing, and so he goes and is looking for a new queen. Um and by doing so, Esther becomes the queen, one of his wives, and gets rights along with that, um, but not the right to specifically enter into the house of the king. She would be probably part of his of his harem, but she had servants to help her. She was in the perfect position because literally nobody else could go into the king. And if she was favored of the king and of his wife, even though it was technically not allowed for her to go speak to the king, she still was in a better position than anybody else. Um the interesting thing too is that we learn that Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate and learns about a plot to kill the king, and then that's why Mordecai is seen as trusted. Um, and so that's another interesting thing, too, that we learn, again, kind of the same lesson from Mordecai, her uncle, or sorry, her cousin, is that God can put us at the right places at the right time to use the skills and to help people, and so that we can also, again, um serve his purposes. He can put us in the right place at the right time. And that's what Mordecai was doing. He was just hanging out by the king's gate, which, according to the come follow me notes, was a place, like it was just a place of gathering where people would go and talk. And he ends up hearing a plot, and he's able to um uh save the king's life. And um, this is really important because it makes like like what are like as the come follow me says, what are the chances that Esther's cousin Mordecai would happen to overhear a plot to assassinate the king? How do you explain how an orphaned Jewish girl became the queen of Persia at just the right time to save her people from slaughter? Like it just all lines up so beautifully, and I have seen this in my own life. Um, as I mean, even my opportunity that I have to be back in Rome and to, I just today was able to go visit one of the first um areas that I served on my mission, and I was able to meet a girl there back there five years ago who was 17, who was looking for answers to whether God existed. We were able to teach her, and now she's still going to church, and um, she's been baptized for these past five years. And when I just saw her, I was like, what are the chances that we would get together? Also, what are the chances? I was just there, and there were so many new uh people there, new members, um, that there weren't there when I was there. I was just like, What are the chances that I would get the opportunity to serve and see the Lord's hand and all these things? And I really did nothing. I just, you know, was trying my best. And as is the same with many things that we get in this life, the Lord puts us in the right place at the right time as we're serving him and as we're trying our best. And um, while I just it's just like, okay, yeah, I was, and why me? You know, why was I given such an opportunity? And my mom just recently talked about her experiences she had as she was up at Girls Camp, or sorry, it was youth conference, actually, and she was just like, why me? Why do I get the opportunity to be here? Hear all these wonderful testimonies. And the answer is really, I don't know why, but I'm so grateful for the opportunities that we have. And also, it's really not important why, but what we can do. And the answer is we can serve those people that the Lord has given us the opportunity to know, as Esther did. She was kind to the king, she served the people for whom she was responsible for, she stood up for those who did not have a voice, and she used, dare I say, her privilege to bless and bring about the Lord's work. And um, so yeah, basically, it's not a beauty contest, as Veggie Tales would have you believe. But basically, Esther was chosen to be, you know, that wasn't necessarily a beauty contest, but he was looking for a wife, and uh Esther was able to get there. And in the quote in the Come Follow Me, which I love, Elder Ross Ben says, what may appear to be random chance, like just kind of random that she was chosen out of everyone else, right? But is in fact overseen by a loving him, a loving father in heaven, the Lord is in the small details of our lives. And I think that as we remember that and as we look for opportunities to be like, wow, this actually worked out perfectly, or and even if it doesn't seem to be working out perfectly in the moment, maybe it will. Maybe as we just have a couple more years of patience and trust in the Lord, we will see miraculous things unfold in our lives. And even the small details will become important as we put a trust in him. And again, it's not that he just puts us in wonderful situations, even though he does, where we can be blessed, but he mostly puts us in situations where we can bless others, right? Um, and so we get this story of her being chosen, and then we get another character in the story whose name is Haman. Basically, we have three characters, more or less. We have Mordecai, we have Esther, and we have Haman, and then in a small part, we have the king. But Haman is a basically counselor or sub-ruler of of right, of uh the king, and he is angry that Mordecai will not bow to him. And so there's many things that's like why Mordecai wouldn't bow to him, why wouldn't he bow to Haman? Probably because, you know, he you know uh knows that like uh actually there's nothing uh I'm just reading this now, was it there's nothing against the law of Moses to bow to a political being or somebody who's superior than you. That's not against the law of Moses to to do that. And so for somebody to say, no, you only bow to God, that's actually not in the law of Moses. But he Haman was an Agagite, which means he was a descendant of the Amalekite king, which have been notoriously the enemies of the Jews, so maybe that's why Mordecai didn't bow to him, because he, you know, because of the basically the animosity between these two. But Haman gets super angry and is like, we need to kill Mordecai. Not only do we need to kill Mordecai, but we basically need to kill all Jews because of this. This is a problem. Why? For well, for all the Jews, and Mordecai basically needs to tell Esther because she's the only one who can help, but he can't message her, and so he just stands outside waiting by basically where she can see her or where where the guards might hear of him waiting for her, waiting, he's waiting in sack. Um, and Ash ish ashes to remind her and to show that he's in a state of mourning and danger and that something's wrong, and she notices and she asks, she has one of her servants ask him about it, and he tells her, the Jews are in danger, and we need your help. And Haman here is a great example of pride. He didn't even really have political authority, but even if he did, to be bad at one person for not bowing to him, when again, he didn't really have the political authority, or even just not bowing to him in general, even though he was politically superior, he then brings down an entire race and nationality of people. Haman is an example of letting worldly power overcome us and where we think we deserve something of other people just because we were born into a better position now. Again, Haman didn't do anything other than be born into that position in order to earn it. Maybe he did a little bit, but not that much. He's privileged. And yet he thinks that privilege means that he deserves something of other people. Whereas Esther uses her place of privilege to bless people. And there's where we can kind of see the difference. Where if we use the privilege that the Lord has given us, and he's given us all privileges, especially that of knowing about his son Jesus Christ, and being blessed by him and our families, then we should use that to serve other people around us. Now, this is interesting because this whole story of Esther and Mordecai and Haman is actually presented in the Jewish um holiday called Parim. And it's uh based on that means lots, and it's the lots that um gosh, that Esther drew to oh, sorry, no, the the lots that um Haman drew to know what day um the Jews should be killed. It's it's based on that story. And it in this holiday, they all dress up. It's kind of like a Jewish Halloween, because they dress up in costumes and they go to the synagogue and they read the story of Esther, and they have noisemakers, and some people are wearing masks and they tell the story. And every time someone says the name Mordecai, people cheer. Every time someone says the name Haman, they yell and they scream and they boo. And so it's kind of like a fun, almost theater piece of like Mordecai, the righteous one who warned and was stood up for what he believed in and was loyal and saved, you know, even technically, you know, his political superior. He's seen as a hero, whereas Haman, again, is prideful, is seen as a villain, someone who wanted to kill literally all of their race, and so they say, Boo. So it's kind of a fun, like theatrical piece. But also the style of writing um is a particular one in which um many reversals of of both expectations and just reversals in the story, mostly of like complete opposites and reversals happen. For example, Mordecai is threatened to be hung, and yet it is Haman is the one who is hung. Um, or you know, Haman is the one who wanted political glory, and yet it is Mordecai who gets the glory afterwards. Um, and so it's a very interesting um kind of take that we see um of a story. And again, it's celebrated. And and so it's also important though to see this as is this 100% historically accurate? Unsure, but it's told as that type of story. It's again, it's the original audience were probably Jews of the diaspora who were scattered among the empire and being like, you know what, maybe the Lord has a place for you and has a work for you to do in the diaspora. And the same lesson is there for us, which is the Lord has a work for us to do wherever we are, wherever he has placed us. And so, um yeah, this is uh I'm trying to find. It's a kind of literal literature, sorry, called a burlesque, which is like false dignity and implores lots of exaggeration, caricature, coincidences, and surprising reversals. So that's what a burlesque writing is, and again, it's hard to put a complete modern genre on an ancient text, but we can look at it and see some of these patterns and see how these patterns would have been used to tell a story and teach a lesson to the ancient people, which is what it is doing. Again, one of the most famous scriptures on here is is Esther saying, or is Mordecai talking to Esther and saying, Hey, maybe you are here for at such a time as this. So that's Esther 414, and we're going to pull that up. Esther 414. Esther 414, and he he says, For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will wise from the Jews for another place. But you and your family's family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for such a time as this. And I love Mordecai being like, you know what? The Lord will get his work done because he has promised to save his people, right? We are so sure of the promises of God to his covenantal people that he will save them. But wouldn't it be great if it was through you? Like you can do this and the Lord will help you. Now, the Lord's name is never mentioned in this story, which is interesting why it's in the Bible. But again, it shows how the Lord, even if he's not mentioned, he's in the details of our lives. And I think it's a good job for us, even though Esther doesn't do it, to recognize and name when the Lord is working in our lives, when he has brought us to things that are such a time as this. Right? And so Esther, again, she's being prepared, she sees him, she's like, okay, I'm gonna do this. But what does she do? She says, Okay, me and my handmaids, who may have been Jewish, may have not been, probably were just because she, you know, maybe people of her culture. That is totally me speculating. But she's there and she says, That's fine, we're all going to fast so that, you know, I won't die and that the king will listen to me. Why? Because going up against the king when they're not supposed to could be punishable by death. So what does she have to do? She has to, you know, uh she she fasts and she prays and then she goes and she does. And so fasting, I think, is in and of itself is an act of faith. It allows us to be closer to God. Um the Bible dictionary says that it's also an opportunity for our prayers to be deeper because we're hungry and we're maybe even more in our feelings a little bit. And so sometimes when I am fasting, I think it's funny because I'm like, yeah, my prayers are getting more intense. But maybe that is the purpose of fasting. And the scriptures say that it is, right? To push us into a more of a state closer to God. And we shouldn't do it all the time, but it can be a special thing that we do. We don't do it to torture ourselves, but we instead do it to get closer to God and to show that, you know, we want to be close to Him. So that in and of itself is an act of faith. But she not only fasts, but then she gets up from her knees and from her prayers and from her fast and she goes and she works just like each of us can do, which is we fast and then we work ourselves to get it done. And the Lord will show us miracles that way, he will give us unfounded strength and capacity to do what he would have us do. And even though it might take courage and it can be scary, the Lord will bless us as we do it. Now, this is a shorter episode this week, just because Esther doesn't have that much going on, but um, it is a great chapter. Um, but still in the details of it, we can find Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father, and we can help people and be strengthened by him. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. We'll talk to you next week. Bye.