 Okay, yeah So yes, good morning to all of you I Don't know either people are just quiet or they are very sad Or they are tired. I'm trying to analyze the emotions over here But I just hope it's not sadness or tiredness Yes, yeah, you know Monday mornings, I know can be a little draining So yes We were covering the historical books we looked at the books of Samuel we looked at Kings We looked at chronicles. We only have one historical book left Which is the book of Esther and then hopefully we will be able to start off with the poetic Books the books which are generally called the wisdom books. They are mainly poetic books So, um, we'll try to cover one poetic book today And we'll of course also finish off this last historical book of ester So hopefully ester will cheer you all up a little bit and bring some happiness into your monday morning All right, so yeah, we'll Begin Now if you look at the book of ester one main thing that we see is Even though the name of god is not mentioned even once in this entire book We see god completely in control Completely at work in every single event that takes place in this book Um on the other hand in this book you have the king's name and haman's name mentioned multiple times They are the ones doing all the actions. They are the ones taking all the decisions But the person who's actually in charge of what's going on is god even though he is not mentioned Uh, so that's the beauty of this book. We see the love of god Where he cares about his people who are living in a foreign land and we see his sovereignty He's in full control of the situation even though, um, you know the There are powerful people working against the Israelites We see that god is fully in control. Okay, so, um, even as we look at the book of ester We should see it as a book offering encouragement Okay, because um even in our current scenario The church is living in an age in an era where we have powerful influential people at work You know, if you look at our news channels today You're going to hear the names of politicians. You're going to hear the names of uh, you know, very rich influential people You're not going to hear any of them mentioning the name of Jesus, you know in in our news channels But even though the These influential people are the ones doing all the actions. They are the ones taking all the decisions There's somebody who's not even being mentioned But he is behind the scenes and he is fully in control So even as we see the things which are happening in our world today It is good for us to remember this The influential people they talk they act they decide But there's somebody behind the scenes and he is the one who is actually in sovereign control And we see that reality coming out in this, uh, book of ester um, so, um Where exactly is this entire? Story situated. What's the location of this entire event which is happening? All of this is taking place in the capital city of susah in the persian kingdom if you remember when the When the people of juda sinned against god The lord allowed the babelons to come and capture them and the people were taken as captives to To babelon and from babelon during those 70 years of exile Jewish people start spreading out to many other Regions, so they don't all stay in babelon. They move out and they go to many many different places So you have some people coming over here to the persian territory and you know, you have them settling down in different places. So, um Nehemiah is one of those people he He's either born over there or I know Or he he he already comes over there as a grown-up. We do not know but he assumes a position of authority in the capital of susah so So now we have people living even in this persian territory and this particular story is taking place in you know in this city So We have many details regarding this particular king the king who chooses to marry Esther. We have more details about him More historical details about him because of an ancient writing Which is available a greek author named herodotus. He wrote about King Zeres, okay, that's the That's the greek name which herodotus gives to this particular king um the Other name which is generally used for this king is ahasuerus So ahasuerus is more the traditional name that is given to this king But then herodotus in his historical records. He always refers to this particular king as king zeres So he gives many details about this particular king and we get to know that When zeres comes to the throne He suffers from a lot of rebellion from the Babylonians, you know, who have been conquered But still they are they are rebelling and they are creating a lot of confusion in his land So when he comes to the throne, he has a tough time putting down all of their, uh, you know All of their attacks all of their rebellions. So all those things are recorded in the uh in the in that historical book, which Herodotus has written so egyptian egyptians also were creating confusion for this king So that is why when haman comes to King Zeres and says, you know, there's this entire race of people the jews and they are dangerous They can create a very serious rebellion because they're all over our land and you know, they can create havoc Because their customs are very different They follow a different god and so when haman comes and instigates the king The king is more open to what haman is saying because of the kind of Political scenario that this man was facing already is having much trouble from the egyptians He's been having trouble from the Babylonians So under those circumstances, he certainly doesn't want problem now from the jewish people as well And that is why he's so open to whatever haman, you know says, uh to him. So we need to understand this Political background that is there, you know running in this story Another thing that we get to know through the historical records of Herodotus is that Um Zeres has this desire to conquer Greece and so uh, he goes to the greek capital Is able to capture that place for a little while for for a few years and uh, so he decides to establish a palace over there and you know Establish his political control over there in Greece, but then the Greeks are too powerful He's unable to hold on to his position over there. And so after a few years he's defeated He has to come back. You know, the Greeks are able to take back their city and he is not successful in his attempt so The story of washti, you know the queen who refuses to come and um Honor him by you know meeting with all of his guests That event takes place before he goes on his greek campaign And so he's very angry. He's very upset that washti is not You know honoring him in front of all of his guests and he dismisses her as the chief queen And in that frame of mind he goes for his greek campaign He's able to succeed that makes him feel good about himself. He stays over there for a while But then the greek army is able to take back the capital And so he comes back home in a defeated state. He is in a rather Bad mood. He's not very happy with the way things are going So now he thinks it would be so nice if he can have a new distraction So all he's looking for is a new distraction not so much for a wife to love and honor But just another new chief queen, you know, uh, because those that's the way those kings functioned in those days So in this kind of a scenario, uh, esther is chosen and uh, you know, she's selected to become the chief queen So looking at the structure of this book of esther, we can say the chapters one and two um One section because that's basically where we see um esther being chosen And um, we have you know esther chapter two was 17 where it says the king loved esther more than all the women and she found favor and kindness with him God causes The heart of this king to be moved so that he shows kindness to esther So that he considers her as favorable. So god helps her in getting favor all right And chapters three and four is basically where you have the plot being formed by haman to destroy the jewish people and um And so it is in chapters three and four that modekai comes to esther and he says god has placed you in this position of power So now you must do something to help your people, you know, the jewish people and um This is what he says in fact in chapter four if we can have someone read out for us um esther chapter four verse 14 esther four verse 14 For you few remain completely silent at this time Relief and relief and deliverance will arise for the jews from one another from another place But you and your father's house will perish yet. Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this Okay, when we look at this Words which modekai speaks to esther. He does not have any doubt about how about how god will help them He's hundred percent sure that god will rescue them But all he is saying to esther is You can get a chance to play a part in this Are you willing to do that if you refuse to play your part god will find some other method of rescuing us But you you will perish So the choice that he's placing before her is Something great is going to happen God is going to rescue his people you can choose to be a part of that and play a role in it Or you can just simply you know, uh, choose not to be a part of it and uh, you know That's a lesson that applies to the church today. Even as we are undergoing persecution in so many places We can either choose to play a part in what god is doing Or we can stand back and say no, I think I'll just watch out for my own interests and you know Refuse to take a stand for the lord So the lord ultimately will do what he wishes to do for his church His plans and purposes will be established no matter how much opposition there is God will have his way But will you and I get a chance to have a role to play That is our choice if we say lord. Yes, I wish to take a stand Yes, I wish to do something for the church in this time of persecution That's a personal choice that we choose to make And so here esther in fact agrees and she says yes I am willing to do something for the lord and so I know that should be even our own attitude and our own stand Uh, you know in our present age So chapters three and four is basically where the plot Is hatched by harm to harm the people and esther agrees to help In chapters five to ten, that's the last section That's basically where she's able to approach the king And she's able to uh, you know destroy the plan which haman had So haman's uh plan to destroy the jewish people is not Successful. So chapters five to ten can be the third section um Now as uh when when we look at the very uh last portion of esther Uh, the we we see in I think it was in chapter nine or chapter 10 We get to know that a festival of purim Is instituted in honor of the deliverance which god brought to the people You know, uh, if someone could look up in your bible and tell me which is the reference Is it in chapter nine or is it in chapter 10 somewhere at the end of one of those chapters? It's mentioned saying that uh as a you know in in honor of what god did this festival was instituted Okay, so in chapter nine is where it is recorded So why was this particular festival called the festival of purim? That's because of that particular word the persian word puru That persian word puru basically means lots Um now in english, you know, we maybe we would you we would use the term paper paper chips, you know, so If they want to choose a leader, they would write the names of maybe three four persons in in paper chips And then of course they did not have paper, but you know, they would use something else I mean, uh, uh, they would they would inscribe the name on something else and use that so lots were cast So they would either put a put the put all the names in a cup shake the cup and then you know The first one which falls out that will be the one which is chosen In the so over here The the lords are cast by haman. We see that in ester chapter three verse seven He's trying to choose the date on which the uh, jewish people will be destroyed So the lots are cast To find out which should be the appointed day on which the jewish nation is completely going to be destroyed from the persian kingdom so, um It was their belief that when they use this system of casting lots The their gods their persian gods would Would would give their decision through the correct You know, uh through the through the correct sheet which falls out from the cup They shake the cup and whatever falls out that according to them is what the gods have chosen So, um, haman uses that particular method. Um If we could have someone read out ester chapter three verse seven ester three seven Is All right, so here it says that The lords were cast in the presence of haman. So the priests would have come They would have cast the lots and this particular day was selected for the destruction of the jewish people But on that particular day, you know, we know the if we know the story We we we learn that on that same day Which the evil one had chosen for destruction on that same day, uh, you know, uh, god Instigates the king so that the king says on that day The people will be allowed to defend themselves and they will have victory. So we have all the jewish people able to fight back and on that day rather than destruction There is great victory all the enemies who wanted to defeat them and kill them. They get killed instead So there's a great deliverance which takes place So even though the lot was cast for something evil God chooses that particular day for a great Deliverance, you know, again, there is a learning in this, you know The evil one selects Certain days certain seasons, you know to bring destruction into our lives into our families But that very same Things which he has chosen, you know, those days can be turned into days of victory If we choose to trust in the lord If we say lord, I know that what the season that i'm going through right now It's a season of great difficulty and the evil one is trying to bring harm to me and my family But i'm looking to you in the same way that you delivered the jewish people in that time Lord, you turn around what the evil one is trying to do and you cause victory lord to come out of this situation rather than destruction So if when we turn to the lord in faith in that way, what has been chosen for destruction Will instead turn into an event that brings great deliverance and great victory and glory to the lord's name. Okay, so So in that way the feast of purim, you know, comes into existence Now one thing that is generally told about the book of esther, you know, very proudly all the Indians say that India is mentioned in the book of esther But I mean when we actually look at the geographical details, it's not actually India At least not the current India which is mentioned in esther chapter one was one So it says in esther one one This is what happened during the time of xeris the xeris who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to kush So over here when it says India, it's actually talking about the Indian subcontinent It's talking about the northwestern region of Pakistan where you had the Indus valley, you know those of us who have done Indian history We are familiar with the Indus valley civilization. That's basically in your northwestern Pakistan. So this king xeris was so powerful that his Kingdom extended all the way up to the northwestern province of Pakistan. So when it says India, it's actually referring to the Indian subcontinent okay, so The other extreme is at the other end the western end It's extending all the way up to kush. Now kush is basically in Egypt So all the way from kush in Egypt up to the northwestern province of Pakistan This this man's kingdom was extending over that huge area All right, so this was a very powerful king And this king he chooses to appoint as one of his main officials He appoints haman as his in charge as one of his main officials so Some commentaries they say that haman was referred to as the kiliyak C-h-i-l-i-a-r-c-h A kiliyak is basically a commander of thousand So he's like the One of the topmost military officials. So that is basically the position given to haman and so The order is given that everyone should show respect to haman and they should bow down before him and We learn that Mordecai refuses to do that So we see nester chapter three that after haman is instituted in that powerful position of Kiliyak Everyone shows him. I know respect bows down to him, but mordecai refuses to do that There are people who say that Mordecai did not bow down because he he believed that we should bow down only to god But then nobody was really bowing down to haman as worship They were doing it more as a it's a cultural thing. I mean in our eastern culture We know we we bow down to show respect Not because we are worshiping that person or anything of that sort Um Because i'm in we see that in many on many occasions in the old testament Even the jewish people Followed this cultural custom of bowing down out of respect um If maybe we could have someone read out genesis chapter 33 verse three And look at the amount of bowing down which takes place over here in genesis 33 Verse three someone could read out He Here it's talking about jacob jacob is going Towards isaw and he bows down seven times to the ground Now he's definitely not doing this to worship isaw. It's just an act of respect that he's you know showing To his elder brother Especially because he wants to win his favor so Bowing down was a cultural practice of showing respect and modekai refused to give haman this respect Why what was the You know, what is the reason that he was so stubborn why he refused to show respect to haman? um Just a minute Yeah, there's a very relevant question asked over here by Shubo Shubo go show that sounds very Bengali. I think maybe you're you have a Bengali background. Uh, yeah, uh, so, uh, yeah, um This person's uh question is uh, you know, especially in north india Is it all right to You know bend down and touch the feet of your elders to show them respect Yes, it is true that when this custom was first instituted It was meant as an act of worship where you're supposed to worship your elders as though they are gods above you. Okay, but I don't think anybody even thinks of this custom in terms of worship anymore This is just a purely cultural thing that we do Just to show respect. So, um, if somebody is coming from another, you know, uh background religious background And uh, if they suddenly stop showing respect to their elders, it will create a very bad impression So yes, I would say please continue to show respect to your elders by, you know, uh, Bowing down and touching their feet You're not doing it to worship them. That is simply not the implication at all You're just doing it out of worship in the same way jacob over here bowed down seven times to the ground As he was approaching he saw in our Indian culture We would you know bow down to touch the feet of our elders if you're from that kind of a cultural background If you're not from that kind of a cultural background, it's not even necessary So I would just say that as part of a as a cultural practice It is all right because if you if if a new believer stops showing respect For elders then it will create a very wrong impression. In fact, those people will in fact start thinking oh Is that what chris teaches that uh, that uh, you know, the these youngsters should not Show respect to their elders. We don't want any that kind of wrong implications coming out Okay, so yes as a cultural practice It's quite all right to show respect to our elders by touching their feet And we are not going to be doing it as any as any kind of act of worship so coming to mordecai and And why he refuses to bow down to haman? Maybe we can just quickly look at the details We would it's it's a it's a rather, you know long background story Exodus chapter 17 verses 8 to 15 Over there we get to know that there is a race of people called the amalakites After the you know israelites cross the red sea and come to the other side The amalakites come and attack them The poor israelites have not done anything They are very happy that goddess saved them rescued them and they're just minding their own business And the amalakites take advantage of these helpless people and they come and attack them And so at that time, you know, you have Moses standing with his hands raised up and then god gives them victory all of that takes place So ever since then the amalakites were enemies of the people of israel And then we learn something in first Samuel chapter 15 versus one to three There god speaks to sol and god says i want you to attack these amalakites And destroy everything that belongs to them and the lord also says Put to death the men and the women and the children and the infants So the lord says if all the people and their positions must be destroyed But sol, you know, as we know he was greedy he and his soldiers did not want to destroy the valuable cattle and so they save the cattle And they also save the king and this is the name of that king in first Samuel chapter 15 verse 9 We get to know now it says but sol and the armies paid agar Who was the king of the amalakites? So agar A g agi Yeah, it's the man's name agar was the king of the amalakites And now when we come to Esther chapter three verse one We get to know that haman is the son of hammedata the agar guide So that is the background haman is an amalakite a descendant of this king agar And so mordecai does not want to show him respect because mordecai is a self-respecting israelite He's a benjamite and he does not want to bow down to haman Who is an amalakite who has been in you know because the amalakites are enemies of the israelites and so he refuses to do that and This is what the people say to you know haman Esther chapter three versus three and four If someone could read out for us Esther three versus three and four In fact even five and six. Yeah, Esther three from verse three up to verse six, please The time of haman is on the scene where the mordecai will not stand for his own goal again that he wants it to and when haman saw that mordecai is known for the or three and four of us they To live against All right, so here we see that um In verse four the It says therefore they told haman about it To see whether mordecai's behavior would be tolerated For he had told them he was a jew So they just want to see what haman's reaction will be when he gets to know about this So they go and tell haman, you know what this is official Me mordecai is a jewish person and he refuses to bow whenever you you know whenever you're passing by We've told him again and again that he should do it But he refuses to do it and you know what he's a jew So they're just deliberately instigating haman and so this is haman's response When it says in verse five when haman saw that mordecai would not kneel down To pay him honor He was enraged and then it says in the next verse Yet having learned who mordecai's people were He scorned the idea of killing only mordecai So once he gets to know that mordecai is a jew You know, he's he decides where's the point in only killing this one jew Let me kill the entire race Because you know, there's this enmity between the amalekites and the israelites So he he scorns the idea of killing only one single person He decides let me wipe out the entire race. Okay, so now the question is this Uh, there's no answer given no clear answer given in the bible. But the question is this Was it a wise decision of mordecai? To refuse to just show respect to the official If he had done that He would have there would have been no crisis The jewish people would not have gotten into trouble in any way Now we do not know whether he was justified in in you know in opposing haman in this way or not But in the new testament, we do have an instruction being given by Jesus in matthew chapter 10 Versus 16 to 20 Matthew 10 16 to 20. This is the advice that the lord jesus gives He says i'm sending you out like sheep among wolves Therefore be as rude as snakes and as innocent as dowse be on your guard So the lord says be very careful in your interactions with these wolves You're like sheep and i'm sending you out among these the wolves of this world So be very very wise Be careful how you deal with them be on your guard and the lord goes on to say You know, you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them So when you're standing in front of them and you have to witness to them about me Be wise in the way you're doing it and you know, he you know, he he comforts them He tells them don't worry what you know at that time You don't worry about what you have to say because the holy spirit will help you to say the right words so Paul followed a postal paul followed this policy Whenever he met you know with festus the governor and all this other roman, you know top You know officials and Leaders he always spoke to them most respectfully. He never He never instigated them unnecessarily You know, so we see a postal paul being very diplomatic in the way he dealt with these leaders And in fact, even in the Old Testament the advice which Jeremiah gives to the exiles who have gone to Babylon You know Jeremiah sends a letter to them to the to the exiles who have gone to Babylon And he writes to them in Jeremiah 29 verse 7 He says seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile Pray to the lord for it because if it prospers you too will prosper So even in the book of Jeremiah The advice which the lord gives through Jeremiah to these people in Babylon is live over there in peace Don't unnecessarily create riots and rebellions So was mordecai justified in in deliberately instigating haman by refusing to bow We do not know if the lord himself told him do not bow then. Yes. He's totally justified in not bowing down to haman But if he was just simply acting out of his own, you know, thinking Then maybe it was not a very wise thing to do. He got an entire nation into trouble by doing that So today when we are living in difficult times when we are living in the midst of persecution Let us be like, you know, Jesus says let us be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as dowse Let us not be sinful or crooked Or, you know hypocritical Let us be innocent as dowse. But also let us be as as wise as snakes Let us be careful like opposed to paul in the way we deal with the authorities, you know, who are non christians So that we don't create problems for the entire church this action of mordecai brought havoc upon the heads of the entire nation You know people who had not done anything harmful Now they were in no at the risk of death because of the actions of this one man So we as believers must be careful in our conduct And I think it is good to be respectful in our conduct and not unnecessarily instigate those who are in authority. All right, so That's just my viewpoint, of course, you know So you have you have the total freedom to have a another opinion. That's that's totally all right Okay, moving on very quickly to Esther and the role that she played in all of this How much time do we have? It's always a fight for time in this class Okay You know Esther was living in a very privileged position Because she had she had been made the new chief queen of a very powerful nation I mean imagine this was an empire which was extending all the way from egypt up to the borders of the indian subcontinent I mean, this was like a really vast nation and um, you know in chapter one it talks about that That you know that grand One month function which this king throws and it talks about how all the people were, you know, it says in verse six Chapter one verse six It talks about how the people were sitting on on couches made of gold and silver and in the you know historical records of herodotus we get to know that these couches You know the these these chairs which were made of gold It was not this gold coating that are actually made of solid gold because when when you know zeres goes to To Greece to conquer that's the capital city, you know, once they are able to Establish themselves over there They they bring some of their things from persia and they actually bring solid gold couches and you know chairs to sit on and herodotus records this so This man zeres was that rich extremely rich And esther is big has become the chief queen Of that kind of a nation. So she's in a rather powerful comfortable position And now modica is asking somebody like her to put her entire life at risk her entire future at risk and um So he says, you know go and appeal to the king on behalf of your people And this is what esther says. So I think we need to look at that Esther chapter 4 verse 11 if someone could read out esther 4 verse 11 Whoever started reading first yeah continue yeah All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces Know that any man or woman who goes into inner court to the king who has not been called He has but one law put to put all to death except the one to whom the king holds Out the golden scripture that he may leave a time myself have not been called to go into the king these 30 days Okay, so esther points out, you know how risky it is for me to try and go to the king's court without having got prior permission Uh, if I do that there's a chance that you know, he may actually have me killed And so one point that she makes in the very last sentence for 30 days the king has not even asked about me So which means at the moment he's found some other distractions at the moment. He's not really interested in me So now when he has not even shown any interest in me for the last 30 days If I go into the court without any permission The chances are that I may get killed. So you see she is actually at risk and We get to know in you know in the through those historical records of herodotus that only seven Noble families were allowed to freely go into the court whenever they want Okay, so if you're a member of one of those seven royal families now, then I think they're part of the aristocracy So those seven families are allowed to go into the king's presence whenever they wish Apart from that if anyone wants to go they first have to go to the kilyar can get permission To see the king and who is the kilyak over here haman She can't possibly go to haman and say, you know, I want to approach the king because haman will ask Why do you want to go and see him? What do you want to see him about and she can't obviously tell about you know How she wants to destroy his plan to kill the to the to kill the jewish people So she cannot do that. She cannot take the legal procedure Approaching the kilyar getting permission and then going and seeing the king She just has to do it without any permission And there's a risk involved because the king has not been showing any interest in her, you know in the in the recent past So she takes that risk and she says, all right, you know, everyone please fast and pray for me And if I perish I perish. So that is the beautiful stand that she takes Because sometimes when we take a you know stand for the lord Yes, great miracles happen and the lord saves us miraculously But then there are some who became martyred, you know, so not everyone had a miracle rescuing them So esther decides Maybe the lord will do a miracle and I will be saved on the other hand Maybe the I would have I will have to martyre my life either way I'm willing to take a stand for the lord and so she decides to play her role So we all have this choice We can stand on the sidelines and just watch or we can say no I want to be part of what god is doing and if I perish I perish so be it So, uh, it's a choice that esther makes over here and we two are called upon to you know, um, uh, to Take that step And so we see that in this particular case, uh, the king he shows favor So he chooses to extend his golden skeptor So when he extends his golden skeptor towards that person, it means that yes I'm willing to listen to what you have to say, you know, so she's uh, she gets favorable treatment from him and um, you know, I mean, we know the rest of the story how Uh, it is haaman who gets hung on the pole which he has prepared for the hanging of mordecai So he prepares this pole for mordecai to be hanged on upon it But instead he's the one who ends up being hung on it. Uh, so god turns everything around Uh, so we see god sovereign control over the entire situation Um, um and his love and faithfulness towards the people Even though they were living in exile. Why were the people in exile first of all? It's an act of punishment of divine judgment. The people had not been faithful to the lord They had gone to such an extent that the temple was in disrepair The they did not even have a copy of the of the book of the law in their hands They had forgotten about the the sacrifices of the lord And due to their terrible sin god sends them into punishment into exile But while they are living in exile, he continues to be faithful towards them God never punishes his people because he hates them God never punishes his people because you know, he wants to destroy them He only punishes people as discipline in the hope that they will humble themselves and come back to him So You know, this is a beautiful, you know message to remember When the lord is disciplining us for something that we have done You know, we may think that god is angry now god will not care about me anymore. God will hate me No, whenever god disciplines, he's disciplining not to destroy us But to give us a chance to humble ourselves and come back to him So here these people who are living in exile people like mordechai people like ester The you know nehemiah all these faithful people who chose to repent and humble themselves and stay true to god These people even though they were in exile they rose up to top positions. God blessed them God protected them god used them for his purposes. So We never have to feel condemned when god disciplines us. He only discipline disciplines us for our own good, you know So, um, these are some of the lessons that we can learn from the book of ester So, um, yeah, maybe, you know, we can Leave early for the for our break unless of course someone has any question If anyone wishes to raise a question You can do so Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were they, uh, you know, when they refused and they refused to Bow down to the image of the king Was that right or wrong? Now that was clearly for worship. The image was constructed Uh, as though he is a deity as though he is a god and so obviously Had bowed to that that would be an act of worship. That would not be a cultural practice at all Uh, because very clearly, uh, you know, he Declares himself to be a god and he wants to be worshipped. Uh, so yeah, we will not we cannot compare that with this here when jacob bow down to esau and uh, when, you know, uh, the people official officials were bowing down to haman It was more a cultural practice rather than, uh, treating haman as a deity In fact, the king would have been very upset if haman had declared himself to be a deity. So no Yeah, the scenarios would be, uh, different. All right. Uh, so we'll take our break now and um, You know, because basically the bell has gone off over here. So yeah, go ahead