Here we are, finishing up our study of the Book of Esther. As Pastor Mike mentioned, it has taken seven months. It's been a study really in two phases. We had the spring phase and we had the fall phase, but we've made it. And before we get into it, a couple of housekeeping items. We're going to do a variety of different things on Sunday evenings for the next couple of months, really. We'll have our Christmas concerts. We'll have a couple of one-off Sunday evening messages. We'll have our annual congregational update toward the end of January. And then, starting the evening of Sunday, February 2nd, Lord willing, we'll start our expositional study through the book of Revelation on Sunday nights. So please, I'd ask, be in prayer for all of that. I'll be in prayer for the Christmas series, the Christmas concerts, a strong end of year for our church, and then ramping up to and including our study of the book of Revelation on Sunday nights. But for tonight's purposes, we are finishing, Lord willing, the book of Esther. Now, last time in our study of the first 19 verses of chapter 9, we worked our way through a description of what essentially was a holy war, as the people of Israel living in the Persian kingdom, who at one point had been consigned to death by wicked Haman's evil decree, now had been given this right to fight for their lives and to take action up to the point of killing those in the Persian kingdom who hated them and wanted to see them, the Jews, dead. And last time we worked our way through some various historical matters as we saw these multiple connections to the story of King Saul way back when in the book of 1 Samuel and his battles against Agag and the Amalekites and how in many ways Mordecai and Esther were completing the task and finishing the job which their descendant, King Saul, failed to do. Last time, we also worked through some moral and ethical matters, including Esther's request in verse 13 of chapter 9 for a second day of fighting to kill more opponents of the Jews. And where we ended last time was on this high note of a new holiday being established, a day of celebration and feasting known as Purim. And that's where we're going to pick it up tonight, Purim. And our narrator is giving us this description of how, after it was celebrated the first time, back in verses 18 and 19, this Jewish holiday of Purim came to be. So we'll start right away in verse 20, where we're told, this is chapter nine, verse 20 of Esther, then Mordecai, it says, wrote down these events. And he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far. So Mordecai, now second in command in the Persian kingdom, took down these events. It says he wrote down these events. Which events? Well, there's some debate about this. There have been some who have argued, though it's been a minority, that these events is referring to the entire book of Esther, which would mean that Mordecai was the human author of Esther. I don't think that's the case. I don't find that persuasive. Ask me out in the hall why I believe that's not the case. More likely, I think, in context, that these events mentioned in verse 20 refers to those events immediately preceding and immediately following what is written here in this section of the book of Esther which explains how this holiday, this feast of Purim came to be. Now at this point in the book, up to this point in the book, apparently only spontaneous celebrations had broken out. There had been only these spontaneous celebrations of what we now know as Purim taking place. And what Mordecai does here in verse 20 is he confirmed the perpetual nature of this celebration. for generations to come. This two-day feast was to be memorialized and remembered for the sake of remembering the goodness of God through a number of different circumstances to protect his people, the Jews, from extinction. And so Mordecai, we see here, writes this proclamation confirming that this event was to be celebrated by the Jews annually with eating, with rejoicing, with giving food, and even sharing with the poor. And then note the scope of this writing. It says, he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, meaning all 127 provinces of the Persian kingdom from India to Kush. And then look at the purpose of his letter, of Mordecai's letter. It's here in verse 21. The purpose was to establish among them to celebrate the 14th month, excuse me, the 14th day of the month Adar and the 15th day of the same month annually. Recall from last time how this worked. There were these two decrees, the first from Haman, allowing for the extermination of the Jews, and that decree was to be carried out on the 13th day of the month Adar. Then there's this second decree that comes from Mordecai that allows for the Jews to defend themselves on that same day, the 13th day of the month Adar. And then the fighting we saw last time was carried out on that day, the 13th day of the month Adar, with 500 opponents of the Jews, all 10 of Haman's sons, and more in Susa being killed. In fact, there were actually 75,000 opponents of the Jews that were killed all throughout the Persian kingdom. 75,510 casualties, deaths at the hands of the Jews. And then what we saw last time that at Esther's request, this is the moral, the ethical matter I mentioned earlier, a second day of fighting was ordered. And that second day of fighting was carried out on the 14th day of Adar. So what happened was that the feasting and the celebration took place in two parts. For those whose fighting finished on the 13th day, they celebrated on the 14th day. And for those whose fighting finished on the 14th day, they celebrated on the 15th day. And that's what happened in practice in real time when the Jews in the Persian kingdom were spared. And now we have Mordecai here in verse 21. memorializing these dates in a letter, a letter he likely wrote in the ensuing months after these military victories, but before the one-year anniversary of these events when they originally took place. And again, note what it says in verse 21, that the purpose of this letter was to establish among them to celebrate the 14th day of the month Adar and the 15th day of the same month annually. This was to be an annual celebration on the same two days each and every year. Like the feasts of old, it was to be celebrated annually as a reminder to succeeding generations of Jewish believers of God's incredible deliverance of them. And then verse 22, were given this explicit purpose for the celebration. It says, because on those days, the Jews obtained rest for themselves from their enemies. And it was a month which was turned around for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday, that they should make them days of feasting and gladness and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor. See, lest anyone think that this holiday of feasting and celebration was to commemorate violence and warfare and bloodshed, the real reason for the holiday is very clearly laid out here. The purpose of this was to celebrate the fact, it says, that the Jews had obtained rest for themselves from their enemies, relief from their enemies, in this dramatic turn of events that we have seen over the last several Sunday nights. This holiday, in other words, wasn't about military pomp. Its central feature was not that the Jews had exacted revenge upon their enemies. Its central feature instead was that the Jews could now experience rest, rest from their enemies. That theme, by the way, of rest from their enemies, is a theme we see developed all over the Old Testament in reference to the Jews. Go back to Deuteronomy, you don't have to turn there, you're free to if you'd like, but Deuteronomy 12.10, this is God speaking to the Jews through Moses. It says, now you will cross the Jordan and live in the land which Yahweh your God has given you to inherit and He will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security. Or in Joshua 11.23 it says, so Joshua took the whole land according to all that Yahweh had spoken to Moses and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes, thus the land was quiet from war. 2 Samuel 7 verse 10 says, and I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them that they may dwell in their own place and not be disturbed again and the unrighteous will not afflict them anymore as formerly even from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel and I will give you rest from all your enemies. So rest is commonly referred to going back and back through the generations. Well, back to Esther's day, the people of Israel had been living for months now. in a state of unrest. They'd been living in a state of this ominous cloud hanging over them, this frightful decree hanging over them, which sought to eliminate them. But now, as we've seen in the last couple of messages, as we've worked through the later portions of Esther, that cloud has passed. And now there's reason and now there's cause for joy and gratitude and celebration. And on this day of celebration, the Jews were really doing two things. First, they were remembering. They were remembering the remarkable providence of God and His saving intervention, and the gift that He'd given them of relief from their enemies. And not only that, they were rejoicing, rejoicing over the fact that their sorrow had been turned into gladness, rejoicing over the fact that their grieving and their mourning had turned into a holiday, that their worrying for their lives had turned into enjoying these days of feasting and gladness. This evil plot hatched by this evil man, which was designed to destroy them, instead becomes this festival to unite them and sustain them as a people for years to come. They had been delivered and rescued, and this was a cause for perpetual praise and rejoicing and celebration. Now, another thing, sort of a footnote here that Mordecai appears to be doing as he writes these letters mentioned here in these first few verses of our section for this evening, is that he's apparently mediating some sort of dispute that might have been brewing amongst the Jews as to when to celebrate this holiday of Purim. Recall from last time that it was being celebrated initially on these two different days, with some celebrating on the 14th day of the month Adar and some on the 15th day. And through his language here, Mordecai appears to be adjudicating some sort of dispute with what he says in this letter by urging them all, whether country folk or city dwellers in Susa, to celebrate both days. Whether they're out in the country or in the city limits, celebrate both. Verse 21, the charge here was to establish among them to celebrate the 14th day of the month Adar and the 15th day of the same month annually. In other words, the entire Jewish population had been given deliverance and the entire Jewish population had been given rest, so the entire Jewish population should enjoy both of these days of celebration and feasting. And to leave no doubt as to what that means, Mordecai concludes his letter, verse 22, with a description of what this celebration should entail. It says that they should make them days of feasting and gladness and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor. In celebrating then, the people were to do two things. First, they were to celebrate by feasting, which is an appropriate outcome to come out of the book of Esther, where we see feasts of all sorts being celebrated for a variety of different reasons. We've seen feasting throughout this book, all seven months. We've been setting feasts now for months now, almost our entire year. Remember back in Esther 1, there was the king's feast for the officials of the empire. Later in Esther 1, there was the king's feast for the men of Susa. Then there was the feast in Esther 2 to commemorate Esther being now installed or coronated as the queen. In Esther 5, there was Esther's first feast for the king and Haman. In Esther 7, there was Esther's second feast for the king and Haman. Then there was a feast in Esther 8 to commemorate Mordecai's rise. There was the first feast of Purim for Susa in Esther 9.18, and then there was the second feast of Purim for the whole empire in Esther 9.19, meaning nothing could be more fitting than for feasting to be the main event in Purim celebrations for years to come. So this new holiday was to be marked by feasting. It was also, we see here in verse 22, to be marked by gifts of food to one another as well as to the poor. That's what it says at the end of verse 22, the celebrants were to give portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor. And again, even that makes sense in the context of this holiday of Purim. This holiday came about through certain events where the Jews had been threatened with this prospect of having everything taken away from them. Recall, their enemies were plotting to put them to death and to plunder all of their goods. So now in remembrance of these events and in remembrance of what they'd been delivered from, the Jews were to send goods, namely food items, away to those who were more deprived. So by caring for the poor in this way, they're not setting up some sort of welfare system. Rather, the people of Israel, they were remembering how they would have lost everything had God not providentially intervened on their behalf and for their benefit. So now they were to be overflowing in their generosity toward others as a reflection of the overflowing generosity God had shown them by delivering them. Now as we come to verses 23 through 28, we arrive at another major section of chapter 9 where we learn of the Jews' response to Mordecai's letter. We'll start in verse 23 and take this verse by verse. Verse 23 says, thus the Jews fully accepted what they had started to do and what Mordecai had written to them. There's a double acceptance being mentioned here where it says that thus the Jews fully accepted. First, there was full acceptance of what the Jews, by the Jews, excuse me, of what they had started to do, meaning there was an acceptance by the Jews themselves of the spontaneous celebrations which were already starting to break out in their midst soon after they experienced victory and deliverance. Not only that, and second, there was acceptance of what Mordecai had written about these matters in his letters in verses 20 through 22. What Mordecai wrote down in verse 20 and the letters he sent, as we see in verse 20, which were sent to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, those letters were received by the Jews and those letters were accepted by the Jews. Then in verses 24 and 25, we get into the heart of the purpose of these celebrations, and really the history of these celebrations. And what we see here is really this summary, this truncated version of all that we've covered thus far in Esther. Look at what it says, verses 24 and 25. It says, the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to cause them to perish and had cast poor, that is, the lot, to throw them into confusion and cause them to perish. But when it came before the king, he said by letter that his evil scheme, which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows." Now, This, obviously, these two verses here, 24 and 25, is not some sort of exhaustive blow-by-blow account of all that we've studied so far in the book of Esther, but it does hit the highlights. And it does give us an accurate summary statement of the two main divisions in this book. First, there was that evil scheme which Haman had devised to eradicate the Jews. And that scheme stemmed, we've seen, from Haman's own imbalanced sense of self-importance, and his unchecked and prideful ambition, and his easily bruised ego, which was especially bruised when Mordecai the Jew failed to bow down before him. Now each of those events, and more of the specifics that we covered, is wrapped up in this summary statement in verse 24, where it says, again, for Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to cause them to perish and had cast poor, that is the lot, to throw them into confusion and cause them to perish. And then, What verse 25 does is it captures in summary form that whole radical reversal and turn of events that we've seen in the second half of the book of Esther, whereby the evil with which Haman had devised against the Jews, it said, instead was returned on his own head, this is all in verse 25, so that he and his sons were themselves hanged. on the gallows. Now, we do not have the time this evening to go through each and every detail of each and every circumstance involving that radical reversal. That's what we have been studying in detail the last few Sunday nights, and you can always go back and listen to those messages online to see all of the detail there. But what's really interesting, just to highlight here tonight, is how the role of the king is stressed here in verse 25. Verse 25 says, but when it came before the king, he said by letter that his evil scheme that would be Haman, which he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. The narrator here is making it sound like King Xerxes was Johnny on the spot, Mr. Save the Day. He's painting the king here in an awfully positive light. And I think he's doing so for a reason. I actually think the narrator here is being playful, almost sarcastic, as he highlights the fact that it wasn't really Xerxes who did anything at all. Rather, it was the unnamed God who sits over all of the events and all of the circumstances named in this book who did all of it and who did everything. Xerxes did none of it. The unnamed unseen God did all of it. Now moving into verse 26, we see these words, therefore they call these days Pirim after the name of Pur. Now this is a bit of a digression here in verse 26, as the narrator leaves the context of the overall flow of the story and leaps into the setting of his day to explain why that day of celebration is called Purim. What is meant, first of all, by these days, verse 26, therefore they call these days Purim. Well, the 14th day and the 15th days of Adar, during which the Jews were already celebrating and feasting in light of the victory over those who hated them and sought to kill them. And the feast we see was called Purim, why? After the name of Pur. What's that all about? Why Purim? Of all things to call this holiday, in light of all the deliverance that had been shown to the Jews at this time in their history, why would you name it Purim? Well, it's in reference to Haman's use of the Pur, the Lot, plural Lot, Purim, to determine the time of the Jews' extermination, their extinction. Go back with me, if you would, to Esther chapter three. You may have forgotten this part of the narrative. This was in phase one of our study of Esther back in the spring, but it goes way back to Esther three, verse seven, where we see where the Purim name comes from. Esther 3.7 says, in the first month, which is the month Nisn, In the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur, that is the Lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar. Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of all other people, and they do not do the king's laws, so it is not worth it for the king to let them remain. If it seems good to the king, let it be written down that they should perish, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who do this work to bring into the king's treasuries.' Then the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the Agagite, the adversary of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, the silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them according to what is good in your eyes." So note how this distressing set of circumstances all began with the casting of the lot, the poor. By this time, the lot had become this symbol of God's using circumstances to deliver His own people. In fact, there are over 70 Old Testament references to the casting of the lot before the dating of Esther. So you see many references to lots being cast and none is more significant, I think, to our study of Esther than Proverbs 16.33, the lot is cast into the lap but its every judgment is from Yahweh. And what all that tells us is that the naming of this feast, Purim, was quite appropriate considering the strange and surprising providence of God and how it worked out in various events and circumstances once that lot was first cast back in Esther chapter 3. Think about it, the casting of a lot just happened to land on a certain date where the king of Persia just happened to be having one of those sleepless nights, and he just happened to be reminded on that certain sleepless night of this assassination plot from years ago, and the rest, as we've seen, was history. So back to Esther 9, we see here that they, meaning the Jews of Mordecai and Esther's day, called these days Purim after the name of Pur. The name of Purim would have reminded the Jewish people that it is God and God alone who determines how things turned out in their lives and in the world. It is God and God alone who determined the lot of His people in Persia back then, and it's God and God alone who continues to determine the lot of His people for each and every generation. In verse 26 and all the way down to verse 28, we're given a couple more details about this Feast of Purim, including a statement about its perpetuity and a statement about its inclusivity. Well, let's read it as a whole and then we'll break it down. It says, therefore, I'm in the second sentence now, verse 26, because of the words in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had reached them, the Jews established and accepted a custom for themselves and for their seed and for all those who joined themselves to them so that celebrating these two days according to what was written down and according to their fixed time from year to year would not pass away. So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city. Thus these days of Purim were not to pass away from among the Jews, nor their memory come to an end from their seed. Now what you see here, you probably heard it as I was reading it, is a lot of repetition, especially as it relates to the perpetuity of this holiday, this feast of Purim. The same idea is being repeated over and over. The Jews, it says, established and accepted a custom for themselves and for their seed. The feast was to be celebrated, it says, at a fixed time from year to year. The feast was not to pass away. These days, it says, are to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province, every city. These days of Purim, it says, are not to pass away from among the Jews, nor their memory come to an end from their seed." Do you hear that repetition? Why say in a paragraph what you could say in a sentence? I think the answer is found in Leviticus 23. Why is the narrator here so long-winded in verses 27 and 28? I think the answer comes, if you'll go with me, back to Leviticus 23. Didn't think we'd turn to Leviticus tonight, did you? Leviticus 3, I'm sorry, 23, excuse me, and we'll pick it up in verse 1. of Leviticus 23. I think there's a hint here as to why the narrator of Esther is so wordy in our passage. 23.1 says, Yahweh spoke again to Moses saying, speak to the sons of Israel and say to them the appointed times of Yahweh which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed times are these. And then you see it there, he goes on to list out the Sabbath, verse 3, the Passover, verses 4-8, the Feast of the Harvest, verses 9-14, the Feast of Weeks, verses 15-22, the Feast of Trumpets, verses 23-25, the Day of Atonement, verses 26-32, the Feast of Booths, verses 33-44. In other words, the Jewish calendar of feasts and days of remembrance, of festivals, had long ago been fixed. And to establish a new holiday, a new feast, that was a really, really big deal. So back to the question at hand, Esther chapter 9, why the need for this repetitious language in verses 26 through 28? The answer, I think, is this. If a new feast or a new holiday was to be added to the Jewish calendar of feasts and holidays, there had to be a very good, crystal clear, compelling reason for doing so. And no doubt, this whole account that we've seen in the book of Esther of the Jews' preservation during these days of Esther and Mordecai, that was a compelling reason for inaugurating this new festival of Purim. So now what this narrator of Esther is doing in this very repetitive language of verses 26 through 28, he's doing so with this aim of being crystal clear as to why this was happening. He's laying out these very good and compelling reasons for why this new holiday was being celebrated and recognized. He's hammering the nail really firmly into the wood to make sure we get why this new holiday is being established. So in verses 26 through 28, we have these statements about the perpetuity of the Feast of Purim. So these days, it says, verse 28, were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province, every city. Thus these days of Purim were not to pass away from among the Jews, nor their memory come to an end from their seed. So we have these statements of perpetuity. But I also mentioned we have these statements of their inclusivity. And then we see that in verse 27, where it says sort of midway through that the Jews established...no, it's the beginning of verse 27, the Jews established and accepted a custom for themselves and for their seed and for all those who join themselves to them. The simple truth to extract there is that it was anticipated that there would be others later in history who would attach themselves to the Jewish community of faith. We saw this already back in Esther 8 verse 17 where it says, "...and many among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them." And when that happened, when others from outside the Jewish community would eventually attach themselves to the Jewish community, whether in the past or in the future, it was to be their custom as well. That's what we see here in Esther 9.27, to celebrate the Feast of Purim. But the key concept in this whole section If you're remembering one thing about this whole section, it's really brought out in verse 28, which is that the Jews were to remember. They were to remember as they celebrated these days. That's a common refrain in the Old Testament as God dealt with His people, the people of Israel, to remember. Exodus 13, 3, Moses said to the people, remember this day in which you went out from Egypt from the house of slavery, for by a strong hand, Yahweh brought you out from this place. Exodus 20, remember verse 8, the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Deuteronomy 5.15, you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and Yahweh your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm. Deuteronomy 8.2, and you shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you in the wilderness these 40 years. Deuteronomy 8.18, but you shall remember Yahweh your God for it is he who has given you power to make wealth that he may confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers as it is to this day. Deuteronomy 32.7, Remember the ancient days, consider the years from generation to generation. And why did God have to give the Israelites so many reminders to remember? Well, as we see throughout the Old Testament, they, like us, tended to forget. Forget his promises, forget his goodness, forget his provision, forget his ways. And so it was with the events of Esther's and Mordecai's day. God didn't want them to forget all that had happened, all that had transpired. He didn't want them to be neglectful in their remembrance. So he moved the human author of Esther to state repeatedly that the Feast of Purim was a feast which was to be celebrated in perpetuity. And we'll get there in a moment, by the way, but the Feast of Purim is still celebrated today. This year, in 2024, the day would have been March 23rd and March 24th. Next year, in 2025, it'll be March 13th and March 14th. Now, when we get to verse 29, There's a transition in the narrative. So far, what we've been studying this evening has all to do with what Mordecai wrote down, as he sent what he sent out to all the provinces of Persia, which resulted in this formal establishment of the Feast of Purim among the Jews. Now in verse 29, we learn that Esther wrote a second letter. It says, then Queen Esther, Daughter of Abahail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to establish this second letter about Purim. So this is the second time in this book that Esther is referred to as the daughter of Abahel. Abahel, her father, was Mordecai's uncle. We saw that back in chapter two, verse 15. And note here that Esther wrote with full authority. And as the queen, she's referred to as Queen Esther. So letter number one goes out at the hand of Mordecai to all the Persian kingdom. Letter number two goes out at the hand of the Persian queen to confirm the contents of Mordecai's letter. Kind of ironic, kind of interesting, you now have these Jewish members of Persian royalty sending out these letters to the entire Persian kingdom. These were Jews who not too long ago were totally consigned to death, who not too long ago had nothing to celebrate, but now they're writing letters to the entire kingdom about the necessity of celebrating for years to come the deliverance that God had brought. Now here's an interesting little wrinkle. In both the Legacy Standard Bible, from which I'm reading, and in your NASB, if you're still on the NASB, the next verse, verse 30, appears to shift the focus back to Mordecai. Look at the first few words of verse 30. We just discussed Esther in verse 29, but then verse 30 now says, and he sent letters to all the Jews. to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Hazaras, namely words of peace and truth." So what it reads like on first glance is verse 20 you have Mordecai sending out his letter, verse 29 you have Esther sending out her letter, and now it swings back to verse 30 and it's Mordecai doing whatever he's doing with another letter. Except I don't think that's what's going on here. There is a masculine verb in verse 30 in the Hebrew language which explains why many good Bible translations have it the way that we have it here, and he sent. which would suggest now switching from Esther to Mordecai. But a couple of things to note. Number one, Mordecai is not mentioned by name there. It doesn't say, and Mordecai is sent. And second, that verb that we see here can be taken as linking with the impersonal object of the verb, namely the letters that are mentioned there. And the word letters there in Hebrew is masculine. Simplifying that, all that means is it is perfectly legitimate to translate this as, you could have it as he sent, like the LSB and the NASB has, or you could even say, you could say it more passively, like the letters were sent and leave out the he or the she in the whole process. That's actually how the ESV translates it, that letters were sent. And in that case, the narrator would still be Esther, because we're still connecting this to verse 29. I actually think that makes a lot more sense. I take that latter interpretation. I think the ESV has this one right. I think that verses 29 through 32 represent one continuous line of thought. So you have verse 29 here, which says, then Queen Esther, daughter of Abahail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to establish this second letter about Purim, and then in verses 30 through 32, and still in reference to Esther and her letter, it says, and he sent letters, I would translate it, letters were sent, and then we pick it up in the rest of verse 30, to all the Jews. to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, namely, words of peace and truth, to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and just as they had established for themselves and for their seed with words concerning their times of fasting and their crying out." So, just like Mordecai's letter went out, verse 20, to all the Jews, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, Esther's letter, verse 30, goes out to all the Jews, to all who are in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus. And her letter, end of verse 30, brought words of peace and truth, it says. And those words, peace and truth, by the way, are not freestanding. Instead, they're defined by what we see in verse 31. Words of peace and truth to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times. In other words, Esther's letter brought words of peace and truth through their recognition and establishment of the Feast of Purim, a feast which remembered the peace that Jews had been given from their enemies specifically those in the Persian kingdom who had previously sought to eliminate them, and a feast which remembered the truth that it was God who ultimately delivered them. Now as we turn to verse 32, we're told this, that the declaration of Esther established these words concerning Purim, and it was written in the book. That book is likely a reference to the chronicles of the kingdom, the royal archives, which we see a few different times in the book of Esther. In fact, we'll see it again in verse 2 of chapter 10. But Esther wrote a letter which fixed the celebration of Purim, and whatever she wrote in writing was then put into the royal annals. And though we no longer have those records, they would have served as one of the original source materials for our book of Esther. That now takes us to Esther chapter 10 and the final three verses of the book where we see these words tacked on almost like a postscript to the true end of the story. We'll read the whole thing and then we'll go through the three verses individually. It says, then King Ahasuerus set forced labor upon the land and the coastlands of the sea and the entire work of his authority. and his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had made so great, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, and was great among the Jews, and pleasing to his many fellow brothers, one who sought the good of his people, and one who spoke for the peace of all his seed." So, the two letters go out, establishing Purim, one from Mordecai, one from Esther, and then we have this in Esther 10 verse 1, that King Ahasuerus set forced labor upon the land and the coastlands of the sea. If you're reading from the NASB, what you see there is that King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land and the coastlands of the sea. Those sound like different concepts, and they are, that the king laid a tribute or the king set forced labor, but the word in the Hebrew has a wide enough range of meaning that it can mean either. Contextually, I actually favor the NAS translation there. I think it fits better with the overall context and the flow of this book. What I think is happening here is the narrator is telling us that life was getting somewhat back to normal at this point in the Persian kingdom. You may recall that back in Esther chapter two, Verse 18, that at the time of Esther's coronation as queen, there was this kingdom-wide remission of taxes. All hail the queen, no more taxes. Here's how it reads, then the king held a great feast, Esther's feast for all his princes and his servants. He also held a remission of taxes for the provinces and gave gifts according to the king's hand. But now, fast forward to Esther chapter 10, after all the events that we've seen described in this book, life is finally getting back to normal, including the payment of taxes. It's almost like the author of Esther knew what Benjamin Franklin would say later about the certainty of two things, right? Death and taxes. Things are back to normal. See, wars and battles and fighting, they're expensive and now that things are settling down in the kingdom, now that the chaotic time in the kingdom is sort of leveling off, the king goes back to levying taxes on his subjects likely to pay for all the fighting and the warring that had been happening. Now, as we turn to verse 2, a couple of different things to point out here. First, you'll notice that there's this reference to the entire work of his authority and might. That's in reference to King Xerxes, or as it says in the NASB, all the accomplishments of his authority and his strength. Once again, I actually think the narrator here of the book of Esther is being a tad facetious and sarcastic, a little cheeky with his word choice here. And here's why I say that. Throughout the book of Esther, What we've seen over and over through this narrator's pen is this demonstration of how King Xerxes was impulsive, and he was reluctant to make any sort of conclusive decisions. He was overly reliant upon his many foolish counselors. He was asleep at the switch as it related to these various plots and plans of wicked Haman. He was generally the last one we've seen to figure out what was happening all around him, even though he as the king had all the power over the kingdom. In other words, Xerxes practically demonstrated anything but might in this story. What he demonstrated throughout this story was his own incompetence and foolishness, this sense of being oblivious to all that was happening around him. So I think our narrator here in verse 2 is actually referring to Xerxes' authority and might with a little bit of a, like, wink-wink. I can't wink, so I'm going to have to just say the words, wink-wink. He's pointing out what we all know to be true, which is that Xerxes was neither authoritative nor mighty. in his rulership over the Persian Empire. Now surely the official royal records, what we see here in verse 2, the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia, they would trump up Xerxes and his conquests and his victories and all those sorts of things. But we, having read Esther, we all know the real story. We all know the real Xerxes. He's been exposed in the book of Esther as being neither strong nor mighty. Now for Mordecai, the story's different. Look how the narrator describes him in verse two. And I don't think there's any sense of sarcasm or irony or facetiousness when he points out that Mordecai, that the key word here, is great. Note how it reads, after pointing out the so-called authority and might of Xerxes, there's this reference to the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had made so great. And then that expression of Mordecai's greatness is more fully fleshed out in the final verse, verse three, where it says, for Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus and was great among the Jews and pleasing to his many fellow brothers, one who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the peace of all his seed. We'll get to that in a moment, verse 3, but for now, while still in verse 2, I'd like us to note something that back in Esther chapter 6... That's that whole scene where Xerxes is having this sleepless night. Sleep, Esther 6-1 tells us, had fled from him. And recall that Xerxes orders this sleep aid to help him with sleeping. And what he orders is this record of the Kings and the Chronicles. And it was through having that book read to him that he figures out that Mordecai, years before, had weeded out this assassination plot on his own life. Well, now what we have in this second to last verse of the whole book is really a remedying of what happened before. In a former time, Mordecai's name, his loyalty, his bravery had all been swept aside and forgotten, and no longer. That's the idea here in verse two. Now that the tables had turned, and now that wicked Haman had been eliminated, and now that Mordecai had been elevated, the fullness, the full account of the greatness of Mordecai would be remembered in this book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia, a book, no doubt, that the human author of Esther, the narrator, would have consulted as he wrote and laid out the book that we know as Esther. Now we turn to verse 3, the final verse of this great book. Which tells us that Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus and was great among the Jews and pleasing to as many fellow brothers, one who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the peace of all his seed. What the narrator is doing here is closing the loop not only on this story as a whole, but on one integral part of that story, that contrast between Haman and Mordecai. Haman was a Persian. Mordecai was a Jew. Haman pushed his way into a seat of power. Mordecai was rightly given a position of power, the same position, in fact, that Haman once held, that second-in-command position right under the king himself. Haman sought the destruction of God's people, the Jews, whereas Mordecai, we're told here in verse 3, sought the good of his people. He spoke for the peace of all his seed. Or the NAS has it, he spoke for the welfare of his whole nation. Haman was a man of great dishonor. Mordecai was a man of great honor. Haman was wicked. Mordecai was great. Haman was self-centered and self-indulgent. Mordecai was someone who spoke and worked for the good of others. Haman earned himself the title the enemy of the Jews. Mordecai was highly esteemed by his fellow Jews. Haman's life was committed to the task of evil and destruction. Mordecai's life was directed, as we see here, toward goodness and peace. That brings us to the conclusion of our study of Esther. And as we wrap up our time this evening, I just want to take some time to point out a few, I think, important concluding matters. First, a reminder, because it's been so long, of the title of this series. We title the series Divine Appointments. What we've seen over and over in the book of Esther, hence the title, is this truth that the original Jewish readers of this book would have been struck by from going through it as they navigated their way through this book. One simply cannot read the book of Esther and reach any conclusion but that God was sovereignly protecting his people, the Jews, during the time that they lived under this rulership of the Persian kingdom. Queen Vashti, a Persian, was deposed so that Esther, a Jew, could become queen and get involved in the government. Haman, once exalted, was brought low. And Mordecai and the Jews, once hated, were exalted and honored. A decree that would have wiped out the Jews was counteracted by another decree, which led to the destruction of more than 75,000 enemies of the Jews. If there is one key takeaway to take from the book of Esther, it is that God is present, God is sovereign, God is ruling, even when it seems like he's not there, even in a book like Esther where his name is not even mentioned one time. That's takeaway number one. Second, a word about God's protection of the Jewish people throughout history. From the very beginning, we know, Deuteronomy chapter 7, God set his love upon the Jews. They were, Zechariah tells us, and are the apple of his eye. But that hasn't stopped people group after people group, nation after nation, from opposing the original people of God. It started with the various ites of the Old Testament. You recall them, the Perizzites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amalekites, each in some way sought to oppose God's people. And how'd that go for them? Not well. I would venture to guess that none of you has ever met a parasite, a Hivite, a Jebusite, or an Amalekite. None of us has ever met one because they don't exist. They've been wiped out, wiped off the face of the earth. And then, moving forward in history, moving forward through the centuries and across the continents, there have been continual efforts to oppose and suppress and conquer and eradicate the Jews. Babylon attempted it. Assyria attempted it. Egypt attempted it. How is that going for them? The glory of those nations now lies in the dust. And of course, we can't miss that link between the Book of Esther and the Feast of Purim and the more recent historical black eye of the Third Reich in Germany 100 years ago. You know that Adolf Hitler outlawed the observance of Purim in Nazi Germany. In a speech that was delivered on November 10th of 1938, this is the day after Kristallnacht, that was that night of rioting against the Jews, a prominent Nazi named Julius Streicher declared that just as the Jew butchered 75,000 Persians one night, the same fate would have befallen the German people had the Jews succeeded in inciting a war against Germany. The Jews would have instituted a new Purim festival in Germany. Basically, that was his way of saying, we need to wipe them out before they wipe us out. It's also notable that many of the Nazi attacks against the Jews, not all but many, coincided with the festival of Purim. There are many records of this. In 1942 on Purim, 10 Jews were hanged in one Polish city by German forces to avenge the hanging of Haman's 10 sons. In a similar incident on Purim one year later, 1943, the Nazis shot 10 Jews in a Polish ghetto. On the eve of Purim, the next year, 1944, over 100, I'm sorry, this is still 43, over 100 Jewish doctors and their families were shot by the Nazis in yet another Polish town. Hitler also banned the possession of the Book of Esther. In fact, he declared it a capital offense if anyone were to be found in possession of this book. At Hitler's command, Nazis would kill on the spot any Jew in their prison camps who possessed a copy of the Book of Esther. Well, that only led the incarcerated Jews in those prison camps, in those death camps, to memorize it. so precious were its promises, they memorized it because it reminded them that they, not their captors, not their executioners, but they as a people would be the ones who would ultimately triumph. The Book of Esther promised the survival of their race despite Hitler's attempts to annihilate them. And of course, while under the Nazi regime there were horrible atrocities committed against the Jews of that time, what the Nazis called the final solution ultimately did not prevail. nor would it have prevailed, nor could it have prevailed, and that goes all the way back to God's original promise to Abram in Genesis 12.3, I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who curse you. A third observation, a word about the celebration of Purim today. Now, you recall back in verses 26 through 28 of our chapter this evening, there were these words about the timelessness, the perpetuity of the celebration of Purim. Purim, it has been dictated here, was to be celebrated, is to be celebrated in perpetuity. And it has been since the days of Mordecai and Esther. Now, admittedly, there are some groups where there's a lot more secularization in the celebration. But there is still celebration happening in different pockets with differing degrees of Jewish orthodoxy. It's celebrated, Purim is, in our month of March. See, on the Jewish calendar, their year begins and ends in March, our March. It begins with the celebration of Passover, and it ends with the celebration of Purim. Meaning it begins with the celebration of how God delivered his people from the oppression of Pharaoh in a foreign land, and it ends with the celebration of how God delivered his people from the oppression of Haman in a foreign land. So Passover and Purim on the Jewish calendar are like these bookends marking out the preservation of God's people, the Jews. Now, in terms of the mechanics of the feast, I'll go through this quickly. There's a fast day on the day before the first day of Purim, and on that fast day, there's that evening, so it all starts...it's sundown to sundown. And on the evening when Purim officially starts after the fast, a word of blessing is declared, and the word of blessing is... Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has contended for us and defended our cause, avenging us by bringing retribution on all our mortal enemies and delivering us from our adversaries. Blessed are you, Lord, who delivers his people from all their adversaries. And then after that blessing is read, then the book of Esther is read. And whenever the name of Haman is uttered as they read the book of Esther, people stomp their feet And they hiss, and they curse his name, saying, let his name be blotted out, the name of the wicked will rot. And then, when they're done reading the book of Esther, the people will say, cursed be Haman, blessed be Mordecai. That's all on that evening that the feast begins, the first sundown. Now the next morning, on the morning of Purim, the book of Esther is read again, but this time the mood is a lot lighter. And depending on the level of orthodoxy involved in the service, There will be children that dress up as the main characters of the story, they'll be singing of songs, there'll be gifts sent, including gifts of food for friends, for family, charitable donations to the poor, and then a relaxing time of meal and fellowship for families together. Again, it's all remembrance, it's all recognition of God's providential protection and deliverance of his people, the Jews. Last word about Esther. And this one goes to reading Esther as followers of Christ today. Christians throughout church history have had a very interesting might even say tortured history with the Book of Esther. In his massive institutes on the Christian religion, John Calvin cited the Book of Esther one time. The great Greek grammarian Erasmus said of Esther that it deserves to be regarded as non-canonical. Martin Luther once said, I'm so great an enemy to Esther that I wish it had not come to us at all, for it has too many heathen unnaturalities. The Book of Esther is not quoted in the New Testament. The Feast of Purim is not mentioned in the Gospels. So what are we to make of all of that? The answer is nothing. First of all, God saw fit to include the Book of Esther in the canon of Scripture. Yes, Esther is a very Jewish book, but it's part of the Christian canon, meaning Esther is no less profitable for the follower of Christ today than the Book of Galatians or Romans or Mark or Hebrews. All Scripture, including Esther, is profitable for the follower of Jesus Christ. Second, the book of Esther is a rich treasure trove for the follower of Christ. In light of what it says about God's providence and God's sovereignty, we can all find great comfort and assurance and joy in knowing that our God is sovereign. God isn't named in the book of Esther, but it is so clear, as I hope you've seen in this study, that he is sovereignly ruling over every single event in this book. And not only that, he's the same God, the same God yesterday, today, and forever, who is sovereign over every single detail of our lives. Third, we can't forget that our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, came from the line that was preserved in Esther's day. the Jews who were then living in the Persian kingdom. That's ultimately the line our Savior came from. So while in its immediate context, the book of Esther is about God's preservation of the Jewish people. We can't lose sight of the fact that our source of worship, the object of our faith, the anchor of our souls is a Jewish Messiah. Had the Jews of Esther's day been eradicated, there would be no hope, not only for Jews, but for the world, for any single, any of us, any one of us. But thanks be to God, there is hope. There's hope found in the God of Israel, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. that there is hope found in the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was and is the Messiah of Israel. And there's hope found in his word from books like Esther, which were first given to Israel, but according to God's goodness and his grace have also been delivered to us. Well, that's gonna wrap up our time and our study in the Book of Esther. I've enjoyed preaching through it. I hope you've enjoyed learning from it. And I pray we've all been transformed by it. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your kindness to us, your goodness to us, and allowing us to make it through this study of the Book of Esther. It's an oft-overlooked book. It's sometimes a maligned book. But God, I pray that we have been enjoying it, been along for the ride and enjoying how you have revealed yourself and you've revealed your sovereignty, your providence, your goodness, not only to the people of Israel, the Jews in the original context, but you certainly are good and sovereign and providential over every detail of our lives. So God, I pray that the study has enriched us as followers of Christ. I pray that it has deepened our love for you and for your word. I pray that we can, like Spurgeon said over and over, we can rest our head on the pillow at night knowing that you are a sovereign God. And I pray that that would give us rest and comfort and joy. Thank you for this evening. Thank you for this day of worshiping you and fellowshipping with one another. May you be glorified in the week ahead in our lives. In Christ's name, amen.