WEBVTT 00:00:00.919 --> 00:00:03.700 Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:05.740 taking this journey together to read the Bible 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:09.300 in a year. Today we conclude the book of Esther 00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:12.460 with chapters 9 and 10, as well as the fourth 00:00:12.460 --> 00:00:15.300 chapter of the book of Ezra. The book of Esther, 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:18.820 chapter 9. Now in the twelfth month, that is, 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.579 the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, the 00:00:21.579 --> 00:00:24.160 time came for the king's command and his decree 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:26.960 to be executed, on the day that the enemies of 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:29.559 the Jews had hoped to overpower them. The opposite 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:32.479 occurred, in that the Jews themselves overpowered 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:34.659 those who hated them. The Jews gathered together 00:00:34.659 --> 00:00:36.460 in their cities throughout all the provinces 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:39.740 of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought 00:00:39.740 --> 00:00:41.979 their harm. And no one could withstand them, 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:45.039 because fear of them fell upon all people. And 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:47.679 all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:49.920 the governors, and all those doing the king's 00:00:49.920 --> 00:00:53.000 work, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.149 fell upon them. For Mordecai was great in the 00:00:56.149 --> 00:00:58.350 king's palace, and his fame spread throughout 00:00:58.350 --> 00:01:01.250 all the provinces. For this man, Mordecai became 00:01:01.250 --> 00:01:04.489 increasingly prominent. Thus the Jews defeated 00:01:04.489 --> 00:01:06.950 all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, 00:01:07.010 --> 00:01:09.469 with slaughter and destruction, and did what 00:01:09.469 --> 00:01:12.269 they pleased with those who hated them. And in 00:01:12.269 --> 00:01:14.849 Shushan the citadel, the Jews killed and destroyed 00:01:14.849 --> 00:01:20.950 500 men. Also, Parshandata, Dalfon, Aspata, Porata, 00:01:21.409 --> 00:01:30.260 Adalia, Aridata. The ten sons of Haman, the son 00:01:30.260 --> 00:01:33.019 of Hamidata, the enemy of the Jews, they killed. 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:36.780 But they did not lay a hand on the plunder. On 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:39.019 that day, the number of those who were killed 00:01:39.019 --> 00:01:41.299 in Shushan the citadel was brought to the king. 00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:43.959 And the king said to Queen Esther, The Jews have 00:01:43.959 --> 00:01:47.019 killed and destroyed 500 men in Shushan the citadel 00:01:47.019 --> 00:01:49.840 and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:52.359 in the rest of the king's provinces? Now what 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:54.719 is your petition? It shall be granted to you. 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:57.620 Or what is your further request? It shall be 00:01:57.620 --> 00:02:00.620 done. Then Esther said, If it pleases the king, 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:03.700 let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan 00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:06.540 to do again tomorrow according to today's decree, 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:10.039 and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows. 00:02:10.180 --> 00:02:12.819 So the king commanded this to be done. The decree 00:02:12.819 --> 00:02:15.659 was issued in Shushan, and they hanged Haman's 00:02:15.659 --> 00:02:18.460 ten sons. And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered 00:02:18.460 --> 00:02:20.879 together again on the fourteenth day of the month 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:23.659 of Adar, and killed three hundred men at Shushan, 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:26.680 but they did not lay a hand on the plunder. The 00:02:26.680 --> 00:02:28.400 remainder of the Jews in the king's provinces 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:30.740 gathered together and protected their lives, 00:02:30.919 --> 00:02:33.500 had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy 00:02:33.500 --> 00:02:36.099 -five thousand of their enemies, but they did 00:02:36.099 --> 00:02:38.939 not lay a hand on the plunder. This was on the 00:02:38.939 --> 00:02:41.860 thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the 00:02:41.860 --> 00:02:44.159 fourteenth of the month they rested and made 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:47.009 it a day of feasting and gladness. But the Jews 00:02:47.009 --> 00:02:49.310 who were at Shushan assembled together on the 00:02:49.310 --> 00:02:51.729 thirteenth day as well as on the fourteenth, 00:02:51.870 --> 00:02:54.330 and on the fifteenth of the month they rested 00:02:54.330 --> 00:02:57.289 and made it a day of feasting and gladness. Therefore 00:02:57.289 --> 00:03:00.150 the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:02.610 towns celebrated the fourteenth day of the month 00:03:02.610 --> 00:03:05.210 of Adar with gladness and feasting, as a holiday 00:03:05.210 --> 00:03:08.139 and for sending presents to one another. And 00:03:08.139 --> 00:03:10.680 Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:13.080 to all the Jews near and far, who were in all 00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:15.680 the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to establish 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:18.039 among them that they should celebrate yearly 00:03:18.039 --> 00:03:21.180 the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month 00:03:21.180 --> 00:03:24.280 of Adar, as the days on which the Jews had rest 00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:26.759 from their enemies, as the month which was turned 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:29.479 from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:31.719 to a holiday, that they should make them days 00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:34.340 of feasting and joy, of sending presents to one 00:03:34.340 --> 00:03:37.449 another and gifts to the poor. So the Jews accepted 00:03:37.449 --> 00:03:40.349 the custom which they had begun, as Mordecai 00:03:40.349 --> 00:03:43.069 had written to them, because Haman the son of 00:03:43.069 --> 00:03:45.729 Hamidata the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, 00:03:45.909 --> 00:03:48.270 had plotted against the Jews to annihilate them, 00:03:48.409 --> 00:03:51.590 and had cast poor, that is, the lot, to consume 00:03:51.590 --> 00:03:54.509 them and destroy them. But when Esther came before 00:03:54.509 --> 00:03:57.150 the king, he commanded by letter that this wicked 00:03:57.150 --> 00:03:59.710 plot which Haman had devised against the Jews 00:03:59.710 --> 00:04:02.889 should return on his own head, and that he and 00:04:02.889 --> 00:04:05.840 his sons should be hanged on the gallows. So 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:08.439 they called these days Purim, after the name 00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:12.080 Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:14.939 letter which they had seen concerning this matter 00:04:14.939 --> 00:04:17.680 and what had happened to them, the Jews established 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:20.620 and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants 00:04:20.620 --> 00:04:23.259 and all who would join them, that without fail 00:04:23.259 --> 00:04:26.000 they should celebrate these two days every year 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:28.800 according to the written instructions and according 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:31.759 to the prescribed time. that these days should 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:34.199 be remembered and kept throughout every generation, 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:37.279 every family, every province, and every city, 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.480 that these days of Purim should not fail to be 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:43.019 observed among the Jews, and that the memory 00:04:43.019 --> 00:04:45.639 of them should not perish among their descendants. 00:04:46.180 --> 00:04:48.759 Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, with 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:51.800 Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:55.480 confirm the second letter about Purim. And Mordecai 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:59.579 sent letters to all the Jews to the 127 provinces 00:04:59.579 --> 00:05:03.060 of the kingdom of Ahasuerus with words of peace 00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:06.620 and truth to confirm these days of Purim at their 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:09.500 appointed time, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:12.819 Esther had prescribed for them, and as they had 00:05:12.819 --> 00:05:14.939 decreed for themselves and their descendants 00:05:14.939 --> 00:05:18.600 concerning matters of their fasting and lamenting. 00:05:18.699 --> 00:05:21.660 So the decree of Esther confirmed these matters 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:26.689 of Purim, and it was written, In the book. Chapter 00:05:26.689 --> 00:05:53.490 10 seeking the good of his people and speaking 00:05:53.490 --> 00:06:01.750 peace to all his countrymen. Now when the adversaries 00:06:01.750 --> 00:06:04.089 of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants 00:06:04.089 --> 00:06:06.449 of the captivity were building the temple of 00:06:06.449 --> 00:06:09.069 the Lord God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel 00:06:09.069 --> 00:06:11.250 and the heads of the fathers' houses and said 00:06:11.250 --> 00:06:13.730 to them, Let us build with you, for we seek your 00:06:13.730 --> 00:06:16.189 God as you do, and we have sacrificed to him 00:06:16.189 --> 00:06:19.410 since the days of Isarhaddon, king of Assyria, 00:06:19.529 --> 00:06:22.319 who brought us here. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:24.279 and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses 00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:26.980 of Israel said to them, You may do nothing with 00:06:26.980 --> 00:06:30.120 us to build a house for our God, but we alone 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:32.800 will build to the Lord God of Israel as King 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:35.220 Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us. 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:37.959 Then the people of the land tried to discourage 00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:40.959 the people of Judah. They troubled them in building 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:43.819 and hired counselors against them to frustrate 00:06:43.819 --> 00:06:46.379 their purpose all the days of Cyrus, king of 00:06:46.379 --> 00:06:49.519 Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:52.810 of Persia. In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the 00:06:52.810 --> 00:06:55.269 beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation 00:06:55.269 --> 00:06:57.230 against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, 00:06:57.449 --> 00:07:01.850 in the days of Artaxerxes also. Bishlam, Mitridat, 00:07:01.910 --> 00:07:04.730 Tabal, and the rest of their companions wrote 00:07:04.730 --> 00:07:07.430 to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, and the letter 00:07:07.430 --> 00:07:09.949 was written in Aramaic script and translated 00:07:09.949 --> 00:07:12.790 into the Aramaic language. Rehum, the commander, 00:07:13.009 --> 00:07:16.370 and Shimshai, the scribe, wrote a letter against 00:07:16.370 --> 00:07:19.129 Jerusalem to king Artaxerxes in this fashion. 00:07:19.639 --> 00:07:22.459 from Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, 00:07:22.459 --> 00:07:24.779 and the rest of their companions, representatives 00:07:24.779 --> 00:07:28.819 of the Danites, the Afarsatkites, the Tarpilites, 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:32.300 the people of Persia and Erech, and Babylon and 00:07:32.300 --> 00:07:35.920 Shushan, the Davites, the Elamites, and the rest 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:38.620 of the nations whom the great and noble Osnapper 00:07:38.620 --> 00:07:41.519 took captive and settled in the cities of Samaria 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:44.240 and the remainder beyond the river, and so forth. 00:07:44.519 --> 00:07:47.180 This is a copy of the letter that they sent him. 00:07:47.560 --> 00:07:50.579 To King Artaxerxes, from your servants, the men 00:07:50.579 --> 00:07:52.579 of the region beyond the river, and so forth. 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:55.560 Let it be known to the king that the Jews who 00:07:55.560 --> 00:07:58.500 came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:01.420 and are building the rebellious and evil city 00:08:01.420 --> 00:08:04.100 and are finishing its walls and repairing the 00:08:04.100 --> 00:08:06.480 foundations. Let it now be known to the king 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:09.160 that if this city is built and the walls completed, 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:12.819 they will not pay tax, tribute, or custom. and 00:08:12.819 --> 00:08:15.620 the king's treasury will be diminished. Now because 00:08:15.620 --> 00:08:18.399 we received support from the palace, it was not 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:21.579 proper for us to see the king's dishonor. Therefore 00:08:21.579 --> 00:08:24.660 we have sent and informed the king that search 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:27.600 may be made in the book of the records of your 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:29.899 fathers, and you will find in the book of the 00:08:29.899 --> 00:08:32.899 records and know that this city is a rebellious 00:08:32.899 --> 00:08:35.919 city, harmful to kings and provinces, and that 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:38.580 they have incited sedition within the city in 00:08:38.580 --> 00:08:41.779 former times, for which cause this city was destroyed. 00:08:42.299 --> 00:08:45.059 We inform the king that if this city is rebuilt 00:08:45.059 --> 00:08:47.639 and its walls are completed, the result will 00:08:47.639 --> 00:08:50.559 be that you will have no dominion beyond the 00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:54.100 river. The king sent an answer to Rehum the commander, 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:57.000 to Shimshai the scribe, to the rest of their 00:08:57.000 --> 00:08:59.320 companions who dwell in Samaria and to the remainder 00:08:59.320 --> 00:09:03.379 beyond the river, peace and so forth. The letter 00:09:03.379 --> 00:09:06.659 which you sent to us has been clearly read before 00:09:06.659 --> 00:09:09.480 me. And I gave the command, and a search has 00:09:09.480 --> 00:09:12.279 been made, and it was found that this city in 00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:15.379 former times has revolted against kings, and 00:09:15.379 --> 00:09:18.240 rebellion and sedition have been fostered in 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:22.360 it. There have also been mighty kings over Jerusalem 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:25.480 who have ruled over all the region beyond the 00:09:25.480 --> 00:09:28.700 river, and tax, tribute, and custom were paid 00:09:28.700 --> 00:09:31.159 to them. Now give the command to make these men 00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:34.320 cease, that this city may not be built until 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:38.200 the command is given by me. Take heed now that 00:09:38.200 --> 00:09:40.759 you do not fail to do this. Why should damage 00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:44.340 increase to the hurt of the kings? Now when the 00:09:44.340 --> 00:09:47.379 copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before 00:09:47.379 --> 00:09:49.899 Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, 00:09:50.120 --> 00:09:53.059 they went up in haste to Jerusalem against the 00:09:53.059 --> 00:09:56.720 Jews, and by force of arms made them cease. Thus 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:59.299 the work of the house of God, which is at Jerusalem, 00:09:59.559 --> 00:10:02.559 ceased, and it was discontinued until the second 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:05.779 year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia. 00:10:11.019 --> 00:10:13.080 I hope you enjoyed today's reading as much as 00:10:13.080 --> 00:10:15.179 I did and I look forward to seeing you again 00:10:15.179 --> 00:10:17.620 tomorrow to continue on our journey. God bless 00:10:17.620 --> 00:10:18.700 you and have a great day.