 Yes. Okay. If he's not available, could we have Nina, John pray for us please? Let's pray. Can you hear me? Yes. Thank you. Okay. Gracious loving Father, we come to your most holy presence in the name of Jesus. We want to thank you Lord for your goodness towards us Lord over the days and the week that has gone by and for being with us Lord in every sense of the word with us, Master. Even as we begin our class today for Old Testament survey, we commit our teacher, Vasudevika into your hands and each one of us Lord, that we would open our hearts and our ears Lord to listen to what you have to say, that to make an impression on us and that we will be able to learn how you led people then and now and that you're the same God yesterday, today and forever. For we ask in Jesus precious name. Amen. Thank you so much. Yes. Today, I never anticipated that all the things that happened this morning would happen. But then one thing that I have learned is that in all circumstances, however things may go, the Lord is in control. Just a minute, please. I'm so sorry. This is like I'm just so sorry for all the havoc today. Yeah, the Lord is in control. The Lord takes care. Yeah. So it's rather a coincidence that in fact, that's what we would see in Esther. It looks like everything goes wrong for these people who are living in Persia at this particular time in the book of Esther. But then even in all of those negative circumstances, which are, you know, kind of unraveling, the Lord works and he fulfills his purposes. So the central lesson that comes out of this book of Esther is that the Lord is fully in control and his love and his sovereignty take charge of all situations for us. You know, it's basically two things, his love, his concern, the compassion that he has towards his people, that and the sovereignty of God, where nothing is beyond his capacity. So we see these two things coming together to work out the situation for these Jewish people, even as they are going through all of these negative circumstances. So it's a narrative history, of course. So the genre of this book would be narrative history. And now people are not, the scholars are not very clear on who the author of this particular book is. They say that it could be Mordecai because he does have a written record of some of the events. We see that in Esther 9, 20 and 21. Now that we're actually all together online, if someone could please read out Esther chapter 9 versus 20 to 21. Mordecai recorded this event and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Zeres. Zeres, yeah. King Zeres near and far. Zeres near and far to have them celebrate annual the 14th and 15th day of the month of Adar. Okay, so very clearly it says here that Mordecai recorded these events. So they say that he probably might have been the author of this book because he anyway had, he was already maintaining a written record of these events. Now the pronunciation of this King's name is not something that any of us is actually very clear on. It's a Greek name, a Persian name. Yeah, I would not say Greek, it's more Persian I suppose. But the Hebrew name actually is more familiar to us. But then in some places the Persian name is recorded. So we generally just say King Zeres is how it's generally pronounced. So key personalities of course you have Esther who takes the central role and you of course have the King Zeres or the Hebrew name Ahasuerus and of course Haman who is the main villain of the story. So coming to the background of this book of Esther, if you notice these, okay I will begin and I hope that I'm audible. Yeah, I was talking about the background of the, I'm audible, right? I mean you can hear me. Yeah, all right. Thank you so much for responding. I'm feeling very tensed up. You know if you could all just continue praying in your heart that this connection stays because I was not even supposed to be doing this from home. I was supposed to be at the Bible college teaching nicely and things just did not work out. So just please pray that the internet connection stabilizes at my end because it seems to be bad today. Yes, so let's just continue. So the point that I was making is that when the exiles were living in Babylon, they were given enough freedom to even move and resettle in other regions. And so you have a lot of people moving to Persia and so this bunch of people that we see over here in this story, these Jews are not even in Babylon, they are living in Persia, in different cities over there and the capital is Susa where you have King Ahasuerus, you know, establishing his throne. So they are all established right now in Persia and in the, among these people who have moved to Persia, Nehemiah is one person who rose through the ranks and became a, you know, Kabbera. So the Lord prospered them even though he had punished them by sending them away into exile. So it's a very important thing to note. He was angry with them and he did judge them and they lost their dignity as an independent nation. They were no longer sovereign. But even when he took them into exile, his hand was still upon them. He still looked after them. So even when they began to disperse from Babylon into other regions, he was there with them. And so we see Nehemiah rising to power in the Persian, you know, kingdom and Mordekai also appears to have been someone, you know, learned and probably holding, you know, a good position somewhere. So we see all of this in the land of Persia. Now, we know a lot about this King Ahasuerus mainly because the Greek historian, Herodotus, he writes a lot about this particular King and he mentions a lot about the culture of that time. So which is why, you know, we cannot dismiss the book of Esther as some kind of myth or a fairy tale. The things which are mentioned, the cultural details which they are, which are talked about, all of these, those things tally with the things that we see in the book of Esther. So this actually is a book which has a solid historical backing, you know, and Zerus, the King Zerus or Ahasuerus, I mean, however we call him, he had to deal with some very bad, you know, riots at the beginning of his rule, especially Egypt and in fact, even the Babylonians, yeah, they kind of rebel against him and he has to put down those, you know, those riots, those insurrections. He has to put it down and so he is a little touchy about any rebellions in his kingdom, which is why later when Hama and, you know, he says, oh, these people, they have their own, these Jewish people, they have their own customs, they may not really be obedient to you. So there's a danger, it would be better if you wiped them out. When he puts these suggestions into Ahasuerus' mind, Ahasuerus is more open towards that because already he's had two very major rebellions, you know, in his kingdom and so he would have thought, okay, fine, I mean, what Haman is suggesting is a good idea. So that gives us an idea of, you know, of Zerus' mind frame at that particular point of time. One interesting detail that comes out is that when he throws this large, you know, feast, a celebration which lasts over many days, in fact, many months, as he's doing that celebration, we know, right, we are familiar with the details. He asks Queen Vashthi to come and present herself in front of all of them and she refuses. So after that, he dismisses her. He no longer wants her to be the prime chief queen. So he removes her from that position. And it is basically after that, that he goes to Greece because he wants to fight a campaign over there. And he's hoping to bring Greece under his control, which at the moment it is not. So we see this campaign taking place. And so when, you know, he says, when the order is given that a new queen should be found and then they do the search throughout the land and they're trying to bring in the best young ladies, you know, to the royal palace for training and all of that. When all of that's going on, Zeris is in fact away on his Greek campaign. Okay. So yeah, Zeris is in fact away on his Greek campaign during that period of time. And then when he returns back, that is when he chooses Esther. So this Greek campaign is something that happens in the middle of this, you know, story. And at that particular time, he is able to conquer Athens for a brief amount of time. So he does have success for some time, but it doesn't last long because the Greeks are rather powerful and they're able to take back their territory. So after coming back, he's kind of defeated. And that is when he chooses his new chief queen. And after that, he kind of spends more time just, you know, expanding his capital and it's like he's licking his wounds. Things are not very good for him. So actually, the writings of Herodotus threw a lot of light on this man and what made him function the way he did. And, you know, all of his different responses. When we look at him more in the light of the things which are happening in the background, we get a better picture of who he was and how he was functioning. Coming to the book of Esther itself, the structure can be chapters one and two, you know, where you basically have the Esther being established as the new chief queen. Then chapters three to four, where you have Haman's plot and, you know, Mordekai hears of the plot and he asks Esther to help. Then of course, the last portion would be chapters five to 10, where you have Esther, you know, speaking up on behalf of her people and they are rescued. So from the first section chapters one to two, maybe one verse that we could, you know, look at chapter two verse 17, where it says, the king loved Esther more than all the women and she found favor and kindness with him. Okay, so here is a king who has come back in a bad mood. He's had a painful defeat and now he's, you know, looking for someone who will comfort him and distract his mind and God moves circumstances in such a way that of all the ladies who have been chosen, Esther finds favor. It says she found favor and kindness with him. He was willing to show compassion towards her. He was willing to be, you know, show more grace and mercy towards her. So we see the Lord acting in the background of this story. Coming to chapters three to four, another significant verse that we could just pick on, that would be Esther 414, you know, which is a very popular verse where Mordekai speaks up and he says, if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this. So over here, Mordekai has absolutely no doubts that the Lord will come through for them. He says that so clearly he says, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place because God is for them. Okay, so he has no doubt about that. Now Esther can choose whether she wants to be a part of God's plan and participate in it and have the privilege of, you know, being a part of it or she can choose, you know, just to look after her own position. So it's not that the people are at risk, the Lord will take care, the Lord will make a way, but how he makes a way, that is Esther's choice. She can choose to be a part of something that beautiful that the Lord is doing or she can choose not to. So we need to see that, you know, see the story even in the light of our church today. The Lord knows how to take care of his church. The kingdom of God will prevail. There will be victory because I mean the Lord who knows the beginning from, you know, the end from the beginning, he knows how he's going to work all things out. But then we who are playing our little little individual roles, we can choose either to be part of this grand plan and fulfill it or we can be those who are, you know, just very narrow-minded and say, oh, no, I just think I'll just watch out for my own interests and not participate. So here Esther makes her choice and she says, even if I perish, you know, if I perish, I perish. It's all right because I do want to be a part of this. I do want to be a part of what God is doing. So she makes her choice and then of course we see how God brings circumstances together, you know, to redeem his people. And so it's generally pointed out in this, you know, book of Esther that the name of God is not mentioned even once. Even once you do not have the, you know, the word God or the word Yahweh mentioned anywhere in this book. But at the same time, you know, this King Ahasuerus, he's referred to, they say 190 times, maybe not by name, but you know, even indirectly, he, him, his, you know, in that sense, 190 times he is referred to. So it's as if, you know, deliberately God shows how Ahasuerus and Haman are so much at work, so much out there in the front, trying to do things. And God, whose name is not even mentioned, is controlling them, is orchestrating events so that his purposes will be accomplished rather than their purposes being accomplished. So we see that even when God seems to be silent and God seems to be absent, he is at work in the, in the actions and choices of these prime characters, the key characters who are, you know, acting out all of these events, he, even though he seems to be completely absent from the scene, he is in charge of those people as well. And, you know, this gives hope to the church, especially the believers who are in places where there's a lot of opposition and where they feel as if they are weak and helpless. This is something to remember. Even if God seems to be so completely absent that his name is not being mentioned, he is the one who is in charge of those prime key players. They are not the ones in charge. He is the one in charge. And he manipulates events, orchestrates events to accomplish his purposes. And so at the end of the book, it talks about how, how, what God has done for his people. That is going to be celebrated from then on through the Feast of Purim. That's the term that is used over there. And it is called the Feast of Purim because of the lots which were used. And that actually is mentioned in Esther chapter three verse seven. If someone could just please read out Esther three seven. Is anyone there? Esther, my connection is intact, right? It is. In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the 12th year of King Ahasuras, they cast pur, that is a lot before human to determine the day and a month until it fell on the 12th month, which is the month of Adam. Okay, so they cast lots and those lots are called pur, you know, like maybe paper chits or something where they would have written down different days. And then they, they hope that the gods will decide for them which day they should choose. And so they, you know, I mean, the evil forces which are behind this decision of Haaman, they chose this particular day to do evil to the people of God. On the other hand, God chooses this particular day as a great day of deliverance where they are able to, you know, raise arms against their enemies and they're able to destroy because, you know, the command is finally given, right? That they can defend themselves, that they can take up arms and weapons and fight and defend themselves. So that day, the lots were cast, you know, because in those days, it was believed that when you cast those paper chits or when you shake them together in a bowl and then, you know, one falls out, they believe that the gods, their pagan gods are choosing that particular date or particular name, whatever is written over there on that chit. So the evil forces chose that specific date for a very destructive purpose. On the other hand, God chooses that day to become a day of great redemption, a day when, you know, the people are saved. So again, we see that they name this particular feast as Purim because they, for them, they will always remember that the poor, the lot which was cast, it was cast for a negative purpose, but God used that poor, that same date, that same lot to bring out something very, you know, wonderful for his people. So the Feast of Purim is one new festival which is added, you know, beyond the festivals and feasts which the law of Moses had, in the beginning, had instituted. So this is a new additional feast which is now added. And then later on, when we look into our Jewish history, we see that this one more feast which is also added later, that would be, you know, in John chapter 10 verse 22, where it talks about the Feast of Dedication, that actually is your Feast of Hanukkah. So later on, that also is a new Feast which is added to the Jewish community. And that, of course, was because, you know, of something which had happened during the Maccabean time when Antiochus had, you know, come and desecrated the temple and he had persecuted the Jews. So finally, after he's defeated, then the temple is reclensed and rededicated. And that was the temple of Hanukkah, which is actually mentioned as the Feast of Dedication in John 10, 22. So these are the two new Feasts which get added to the Jewish community. And both of them celebrate the faithfulness of God, the deliverance of God. Now coming to the, just some of the main features in this book of Esther, you know, everyone talks about, I mean, at least be in India, we talk about how India gets mentioned in the book of Esther, which would be, you know, verse one, chapter one, verse one. But I mean, if you look at it geographically, the portion of land that it is talking about, that would actually be your Indus River Valley region. You know, those of us from an Indian background who have studied Indian history, we've been taught about the, you know, Indus Valley civilization, right? So that was the region, which is actually located around northwestern Pakistan. So this Persian Empire, it extended up to northwestern Pakistan, that was the outer border on this side, on the eastern side. And then it also extended on the other side all the way up to Egypt to the area of Kush. Okay. So technically speaking, this is not India, which is mentioned here, but rather Pakistan. Okay. So and another thing in verse six, it talks about how, you know, all these people are seated in couches of gold and silver. Now, this is not just couches, which are coated with gold. No, these are like actually literal solid gold. So that shows the wealth of this king. He was so, yeah, he was so, I'm not particularly sure what the, you know, the question is the reference. I hope you got the reference that, you know, that you wanted. If not, you know, you can just ask and then I can tell you which reference you wanted. Oh, yeah, moving on. So the couches which I mentioned in verse six, those are actually solid couches of gold and silver. Why? Because Herodotus mentions that when, for a temporary period of time, for a few months when, you know, Ahasuerus is able to take over Athens, he brings along some of those couches. And when they are driven out of the city, you know, they leave behind all of these gold solid gold and silver couches, and that's recorded in the writings of Herodotus. And then in verse seven, there is a reference to the wine which was served in unlimited supply to all of the people. Well, this wine was considered special because in the Persian kingdom, you know, the vineyards were not really very plentiful. So wine was something that was expensive. It was not easily available. So usually it's only the rich people who had grape wine. The rest of the people, they made their liquor using dates and, you know, other plants. So it's only the really rich people who could afford grape wine. And here we see, you know, Ahasuerus supplying it unlimitedly to show off how great he is and to show off how big his, you know, his wealth and his kingdom is. Now, maybe one main thing that we could talk about is, you know, Mordekai who refused to bow down to Haman, because the whole crisis started with this. If Mordekai had just bowed down to Haman, none of the problems which came along would have happened, you know. So it is because of this person Mordekai who refuses to bow down to Haman that the whole series of events is set off. And so this is a question which I always had in my mind. I thought to him, what is it? And then there are all kinds of, I don't know, assumptions and myths which are represented regarding why he refused to bow down. But I think the simplest explanation would be because of his background, because of who he is. One thing that some people say is that he did not bow down because he should bow down only before God. And so he did not want to bow down in front of a human. But then bowing down was just considered part of the, you know, Eastern culture. It was just considered a form of respect. It need not mean that you're worshiping that person. Because even the Israelites did bow down on a whole bunch of occasions. We'll just look at one example. Genesis chapter 33 verse 3, if someone could read out for us please. Genesis 33 3. Because look at the amount of bowing which happens in this verse. Genesis 33 verse 3, if someone could read out before them only to bow down seven times until he came near to his brother. Okay, so seven times he bows down even as Jacob is approaching his brother. He saw his cared and he wants to show him that, you know, he's very much respecting his brother. So he bows down before him seven times as he approaches him. So bowing down before someone was not something that would be considered enough spiritual nature. It is just a mark of respect. And so that is not the reason why Mordechai refuses to bow down before Haaman. The most likely reasons may be due to his background. So exactly what is his background? Esther chapter 2 verse 5. Okay, I would be asking you to read a series of verses. Please, if you could do that, you know, I mean, whoever whichever person chooses to volunteer. Esther chapter 2 verse 5, if someone could read out. There is there in Susa left a Jew named Mordechai, son of Jair. He was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Keshe and Shimei. When King. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so look at that. It says that he was from the tribe of Benjamin. That he was the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Keshe. Okay, keep these names in mind. Now, let's go to first Samuel chapter 9 verses 1 and 2. If someone could read out first Samuel 9, 1 and 2. There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Keshe, the son of Ibil, the son of Jair. Yeah, yeah. Just move on to verse 2 verse 2. And he had choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. Yeah, okay, so there was no. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. So the point that I was making is that Keshe, okay, was a Benjamin and he had a son named Saul. So, Keshe is the ancestor who is being referred to over here in Esther chapter 2 verse 5, where it says, you know, Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Keshe. It doesn't mean that literally that, you know, the grandfather or the great grandfather was Keshe. It just means that he's a descendant from this lineage of Saul. So Saul's dad was Keshe and from that lineage, Mordecai has been born. So he's a Benjamin from the direct lineage of Saul. And then when we come to second Samuel 16 verse 5, if someone could read out, second Samuel 16 verse 5. Go ahead, please. Second Samuel 16 verse 5. Asking David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul's family, came out from there. His name was Shimei, son of Jair and he cursed as he came out. Okay, so here the ancestors of Mordecai are being mentioned and these are familiar names. Shimei is mentioned, Keshe is mentioned. So this is the lineage of Mordecai. And we know the severe antagonism that existed between the people of Saul and the Amalekites because when the Lord says, you destroy all the Amalekites, Saul refuses to do that. Because of that, the tribe of Benjamin in fact loses the kingship. Otherwise, God said that he would allow them to be, that he would continue to allow their descendants to be on the throne. But then they lose that because of Saul's act of disobedience, where the Amalekites are involved. And when we look at that particular passage, first Samuel chapter 15, verse 7 to 9, where Saul refuses to obey the Lord and kill all the Amalekites. In verse 8, first Samuel 15 verse 8, it says, he took Agag, king of the Amalekites alive. So there it talks about how the king of the Amalekites was Agag and now we get to know here in the book of Esther that Haaman was an Agagite. So he is from this lineage of Agag and Mordecai is from the lineage of Saul. And for generations, there was this strong ethnic hatred that existed between these two races. So there is no comment over here in the book of Esther. We do not know whether Mordecai was justified in holding on to this hatred. We know which had been passed down from generation to generation, whether or not he was justified. But most probably he refuses to bow down because of who he is. Because when we look in Esther chapter 3 verses 3 to 4, it says there, then the royal officials at the king's gate asked Mordecai, why do you disobey the king's command? The king has said that everyone should bow down before Haaman. So why are you refusing to do that? So it says in verse 4, chapter 3 verse 4, day after day they spoke to him, but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haaman about it to see whether Mordecai's behavior would be tolerated for why are they so curious and why are they so interested and why do they pass on the information to Haaman. For he had told them that he was a Jew. They were all aware of this ethnic rivalry that's going on between these two lineages. And so they pass on the information to Haaman to find out whether Haaman will tolerate this or not. And that is one reason why when Haaman decides to kill all the Jews, rather than just this one particular Jew who is irritating and upsetting him. Why? Because this is hatred which exists. So I am not sure at all whether in the Lord's eyes Mordecai's behavior was justified or not. But in the end, in spite of this man's behavior, the Lord does save the people. He doesn't allow all the Jews over there in that land to be wiped out just because of Mordecai's conduct. So I'm not too sure of the details, but this is what happens over here. Can we see that Kish can be a great, great, yeah I would say great, great, great under a lot of greats because Kish is where it starts off. From Kish you have Saul and then from Saul you have, of course the sons get killed. You have one Mephibosheth who survives. But then there are other sons also, so their lineages would have continued. Shime it says very clearly was one who belonged to the direct family of Saul. So the lineage in some way comes down all the way down to Mordecai. So very much, he was very, very much from the lineage of Kish. Yeah, if not Saul, at least from Kish, directly from Kish, his lineage can be drawn. And so Haman he decides to take out his hatred not just on this one man Mordecai, but on the entire race when he gets a chance. But of course the Lord does not allow this to prevail to happen. Maybe we could look at another little thing before we conclude. It seems a little ridiculous that in those days there was a king and then he would just hold out his staff and only if he holds out his staff then somebody can approach him. It sounds a bit like a fairy tale, but when we look at the writings of Herodotus, we see that actually this was true because he talks about the Persian culture and the way the king conducted himself. So it in fact is true that Herodotus writes that only the seven noble families, the top aristocrats, the seven noble families were allowed to enter the king's presence whenever they wished to. Nobody else was allowed except with permission. So generally the person who would give the permission would be someone called the Chilliarch. That would be the commander of thousand, a very high position in the army. So that person alone can grant permission to any extra people who want to come and approach the king. So over here we see that there's a likely chance that Haman is the one who was occupying this position. So technically if someone other than the seven noble families wants to come before the king without having prior notified him beforehand, then they would have to at least get permission from the Chilliarch who probably was Haman. So Esther would literally have to go to him and say you know look I want to talk to the king and then she cannot do that because after all Haman is the one whose plot she is trying to defeat. So she could not go through the Chilliarch and gain permission. She literally had to take a risk and you know turn up over there without permission of any kind and which is why she is very hesitant in the beginning. And in fact another thing which she says, she says for 30 days the king has not even asked for me, which means you know at the moment he's kind of lost a little interest in her. So her position is rather unstable at this moment. So he has not been asking for her at all and moreover she is now going to go over there without the permission of the, obtaining the permission of the Chilliarch. So all of these factors actually point out that her life was genuinely at risk and then she finally says okay if I perish I perish and even as I was you know just meditating upon this book the thought that came to my mind is that many of us you know in the kingdom of God we've been placed in positions of influence, in positions of honour, in places where you know we are in fact earning a lot. But when we are called into those positions God expects us to use even that for his kingdom. Just like Espar she had been placed in that very comfortable position where she had just been in exile before but now you know she's somebody in the royal family with all the comforts of life. God put her in that position but he was watching to see will she use that for his purposes, will she use it for his glory. And I think the same expectation is there even upon us today. The Lord looks and sees you know even as he has placed us in those positions. So it's not just for comfort and luxury that we are given these things. I think there is also a greater eternal purpose for which we have been you know placed in these positions. So whether you're in full-time ministry or whether you know you're in the secular field in whatever rank that you're occupying in society it's not just for your comfort alone. I think there's also a greater eternal purpose for which you have been placed over there. So there would be people that you will be able to influence. There are things that you can do and achieve for the kingdom of God and all God is looking for is a you know heart that wants to serve just like we saw in the story of Nehemiah. Yeah so this is just the things that I could kind of rush through. Yeah Sean you know he's like very particular about timing and so yes he's saying that the bell has rang over there for them. Alright so let's just close with the word of prayer. Lord we just thank you so much for today's class. We thank you a lot for some of the things that we could learn from this book. The choices which they made a lot as people back then. A choice which Mordekai made led to a lot of strife and confusion. A choice where that Esther made turned things around amazingly. So a lot actually rests on our choices a lot. So I pray a lot that day to day even as we make our choices we would do it in a godly manner that way we first consult you and seek your guidance and we would take the effort a lot to hear from you before we make our choices. Thank you a lot that you're always with us to guide us and lead us. Thank you Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much for participating in the class and yeah next time onwards I'm promising you the class will go better. Thank you.