The Hidden God, Part 1 (Level 2 | 33)

You're on a journey through the Bible to experience the epic story of God and to learn your

part to play in the unfolding drama.

Prepare for your role as you learn your history, your enemy, and your kingdom.

Welcome to the Bible Brief.

Join us today as we visit the city of Susa, where the Jews of Persia are threatened with

genocide, soon it's up to a secret US to save them all.

For listening to the Bible Brief.

The Remnant of Exiles has come back to the land of Canaan.

The first wave led by Zerubobl rebuilt the temple.

The second wave led by Ezra focused on rekindling obedience to the law.

And the third wave led by Nehemiah rebuilt the wall in the gates of the city.

These tasks complete, the people laid a new foundation for life in the land,

with worship at the temple, as they attempted to follow the law of God.

Now one thing we need to note about Nehemiah is that he traveled further than the other

returners. Nehemiah didn't come from the city of Babylon.

No, he came from a city called Susa, 200 miles further to the east,

a major capital of the now ascending Persian Empire.

And in the decades prior to the time Nehemiah left Susa,

a crisis engulfed Persia that meant the near extermination of all the Jews in the empire.

During the Persian period of dominance over the known world,

after their defeat of the Babylonians, the main royal city of the empire

shifted from the city of Babylon further east to the city of Susa in modern day Iran.

In the bible, the city of Susa is often called Susa the citadel.

This description is a citadel emphasizes the nature of the city.

It was up on a mound or a tall hill that gave the city significant visibility to surrounding areas,

and it was fortified in case of attack.

Strategically, the city was a stronghold and a place where a king could be protected from an

aggressive enemy army. Well before the second wave of exiles returned to the land of Canaan,

significant drama is unfolding in the citadel of Susa.

Drama that turns from something like a mis-America pageant into an effort at genocide.

This is the setup.

This is what happened in the days of Ahazueris, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to

Kush. In those days, King Ahazueris sat on his royal throne in the citadel of Susa.

In the third year of his reign, Ahazueris held a feast for all his officials in servants.

The military leaders of Persia and media were there, along with the nobles and princes of the

provinces. And for a full 180 days, he displayed the glorious riches of his kingdom in the magnificent

splendor of his greatness. At the end of this time, in the garden court of the royal palace,

the king held a seven-day feast for all the people in the citadel of Susa, from the least to

the greatest. Hengings of white and blue linen were fastened with cords of fine white and

purple material to silver rings on marble pillars. Gold and silver couches were arranged on a

mosaic pavement of costly stones. Beverages were served in an array of goblets of gold,

each with a different design, and the royal wine flowed freely according to the king's bounty.

By the order of the king, no limit was placed on the drinking, and every official of his household

was to serve each man whatever he desired. Queen Vashdi also gave a banquet for the women in the

royal palace of King Ahazueris. On the seventh day, when the king's heart was married with wine,

he ordered those who served him to bring Queen Vashdi before him,

wearing her royal crown to display her beauty to the people and officials, for she was beautiful

to behold. Queen Vashdi, however, refused to come at the king's command, and the king became

furious and his anger burned within him. The queen rebels against the king, and after

conferring with his advisors on the best course of action, Ahazueris decides that he will pick a

new queen in place of Vashdi. Interestingly, his advisors suggest a sort of Persia-wide beauty

contest, where all the most beautiful women in the empire come to present themselves before the

king. He will have his selection of any he likes. And as you can imagine, the king likes this idea,

and soon commands for it to be done. And soon, we meet more important people to this unfolding drama.

Now there was at the citadel of Susa, a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin named Mordekai,

son of Jair, son of Shimiai, the son of Kish. Kish had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by

Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jack and I, a king of Judah.

And Mordekai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, because she didn't

have a father or mother. The young woman was lovely in form and appearance, and when her father

and mother had died, Mordekai had taken her in as his own daughter. When the king's command

and edict had been proclaimed, many young women gathered at the citadel of Susa.

Esther was also taken to the palace. Esther did not reveal her people or her lineage,

because Mordekai had instructed her not to do so. And every day Mordekai would walk back and forth

in front of the court of the harem to learn about Esther's welfare and what was happening to her.

After about a year, she was taken to King Ahazuerus, and the king loved Esther more than all the other

women, and she found grace and favor in his sight, more than all of the other virgins.

So he placed the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen in place of Vashti.

Then the king held a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his officials and servants.

He proclaimed a tax holiday in the provinces, and gave gifts worthy of the king's bounty.

Ending the extended beauty contest, Ahazuerus finally chooses a queen, the secret

US, the beautiful Esther, and the kingdom celebrates.

It's after a while that Esther's cousin Mordekai gains the favor of the king as well.

Having made a practice of hanging out near the palace to hear about how Esther was doing,

one day Mordekai overhears talk of a few palace guards who want to assassinate Ahazuerus.

Realizing the danger, he immediately makes this known to Esther, who subsequently tells Ahazuerus

of this plot. He quickly sentences the would-be revolutionaries to hanging, and makes sure to have his

scribes write down Mordekai's involvement in exposing the plot. This recording of Mordekai's

involvement is an important point for later in the story.

Finally, after all this setup, we meet the villain of the story, a man named Haiman.

A man who hates the Jews, something his family had probably taught him from his earliest days,

because his ancestry was from an ancient enemy of the Israelites, who'd resisted the

Israelite takeover of the land of Canaan nearly a thousand years prior. Apparently he and his

family hold a fierce grudge that was nearly a thousand years old. So we see Haiman's introduction

in the budding of the plot in just two verses. After these events, King Ahazuerus honored Haiman,

son of Haiman Dathat, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were

with him, all the royal servants of the King's Gate bowed down and paid homage to Haiman,

because the King had commanded that this be done for him. But Mordekai would not bow down or pay homage.

Haiman is immediately enraged that Mordekai the Jew will not honor him. Haiman's burning fury

leads him to a wicked idea. Then Haiman informed King Ahazuerus. There is a certain people scattered

and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from

everyone else's, and they don't obey the King's laws. So it is not in the King's best interest to

tolerate them. If it pleases the King, let it a creepy issue to destroy them, and I will deposit

10,000 talents of silver into the royal treasury to pay those who carry it out.

So the King removed the signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haiman, son of Haiman Dathat,

the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. Keep your money, said the King to Haiman. These people are

given to you to do with them as you please. Haiman planes a genocide of the Jews, and Ahazuerus,

the King goes right along with it, issuing a decree that can't be revoked.

Now let's pause for a minute and ask an important question. Where is God in this story?

Did we forget to mention him? Isn't there some commentary about God watching over the Jewish people,

those people through whom many of God's promises would be fulfilled? Well, we didn't forget to mention

God. God is simply hidden in this book, the book of Esther. In fact, there isn't a single mention

of God in the book at all. But let's do we think that this is odd in the Bible. We need to think

about it from a strategic sense. What is God telling us with his verbal absence from a biblical book

like this? A book full of existential threat to his people? Well, the title of the book may help us.

The title of this book in the Bible is Esther. And linguistically in Hebrew, there's a rhyming

pun here, where we're intended to relate the book to something God had said a long time ago.

The Persian name Esther sounds a lot like Esther, which in Hebrew means, I will hide.

Long ago, God's hiddenness was something he actually promised in the book of Deuteronomy.

He said that when the people break the law that he'd given the nation, he would hide himself from them.

Don't forget that the Israelites are in exile because they've broken the law and been cast out of the

lane of Canaan. And so the book of Esther, in a sense, is a demonstration of another aspect of

the consequences of exile. The consequence of God being hidden. This point brings up a very important

question for the remainder of the Esther story. Does God's hiddenness mean God's absence?

Will God just allow the Jews to die, thanks to this wicked plot of Heyman?

Mordecai and Esther are devastated at the news of the decree, and they spend time in mourning

and in sadness at their apparent fates. Yet in Esther's position, Mordecai sees a potential

opportunity. Esther is, after all, the queen. Can't she just talk to the king and find a resolution?

She would, if there weren't one glaring problem, approaching the king meant risking death.

The law of the Meeds and the Persians in those days said that if anyone went unsummoned into the

king's presence, that that person had a death sentence unless the king did something. To spare death

for the approacher, the king could hold up his ruling scepter to the person, allowing them

entrance with no consequence. Despite being queen, Esther would be risking her own life to go into

the king's presence, a risk of death to prevent the death for people. Knowing all this, Mordecai says

to Esther, do not imagine that because you are in the king's palace, you alone will escape the

fate of all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews

will arise from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows,

if perhaps you've come into the kingdom for such a time as this? Then Esther sent this reply to

Mordecai. Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink

for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the

king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.

God has hidden the lives of all the Jews in Persia on the line. The queen is risking death

and for three days, all the Jews in Susa will fast. Will the hidden God hear their prayers?

Join us next time as we see the dramatic end to this amazing story. Esther approaches the king,

gallows are built, and annihilation is imminent.

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