Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: Shabbat Shalom. God bless you. Please open your Bible to the book of Esther, a very important book in the word of God that helps us to understand the sovereignty of God in relationship to His people Israel specifically, in relationship to all believers in particular, but also in relationship to all humanity. God is sovereign, and God is the one that rules over the affairs of this world.

We are so blessed to be able to enjoy the study of the scripture together, beloved brothers and sisters. So, I would like you please to turn with me to Esther chapter 2 today, verses 1 through 18. And so I'm reading:

Guest (Male): After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, "Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king. And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, Shushan HaBirah, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them.

"And let the maiden which please the king be queen instead of Vashti." And the thing pleased the king; and he did so. Now in Shushan the palace, there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.

And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. And the maid was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.

And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him. And he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens, which were meet to be given her out of the king's house. And he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women. Esther had not showed her people nor her kindred, for Mordecai had charged her that she should not show it.

And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her. Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to King Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months according to the manner of the women, for so were the days of their purification accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and with other things for the purifying of the women.

Then thus came every maiden unto the king. Whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house. In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, which kept the concubines. She came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name.

Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai, the king chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her. So Esther was taken unto King Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast. And he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts according to the state of the king.

Gideon Levytam: Let me remind you for a moment, beloved brothers and sisters, I would like you to turn to the Gospel of Luke and chapter 21 and verse 24, and I want to read a verse there to us all. When our Lord Jesus, our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, came to this world before His death on the tree, He knew very well that He will not be accepted and ultimately the times which already was predicted by Daniel, ultimately the times of the Gentiles will continue on until the end will come in the last days.

And so Yeshua said, "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations. And Yerushalayim," this is Jerusalem, "shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." The times of the Gentile is an expression, in Hebrew we call it *etot haGoyim*, the period of time when the kingdom have been taken away from the people of Israel, have been given to the Gentile empires and Gentile kings, and that will have an end at the second coming of the Messiah when He's going to come to rule and reign over our nation Israel, a restored nation at the end of the tribulation period.

Now look at this image for one moment. Daniel have given instruction to King Nebuchadnezzar about the vision that Nebuchadnezzar have received from God in order to help him to understand the period of time in the history of the nation of Israel and the nations of the world. The image is very clear that was seen by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. You notice the head is the head of gold. The chest and the arms are silver. The thighs are bronze, the legs and the feet are iron and clay, and ultimately you have here the ten toes, which is the final days of the times of the Gentiles.

By the time our people Israel in 605 BC, 597 BC, and 586 BC were taken captive from Judea, from Jerusalem to the land of Babylon, the times of the Gentiles have begun. You never have a king in Israel anymore. In fact, when the King of kings have come, the Messiah Himself have come, He was rejected at His first coming by our own nation. And the early Jewish believers preached the gospel to the nations of the world, and we are still finding ourselves today in what is called *etot haGoyim*, the times of the Gentiles.

It began with Babylon 605 when the Jewish people were taken, some of them to Bavel. It continued with the Medo-Persia in 539 when the Medo-Persians came and ruled over the nations of the world and defeated Babylon. We are finding ourselves in the book of Esther in this period of time of the Persian history. Later on the Grecian came, and they took the world empire. You remember Alexander the Great became that great king who ruled over all the world after he took over and he defeated the Persian.

And then later on we have the Romans from 308 until about 397 AD. And if you remember when Yeshua the Messiah came to the land of Israel, to our city of Jerusalem, our people the Jews were still under the Roman Empire. And the Roman Empire have ended, you might say, and was divided. And right now we are still in the times of the Gentiles, but soon and very soon there will be the rise of those ten kings represented by the ten toes when the revived Roman Empire will rise. And ultimately there will be a stone taken out of the mountain which will fall upon those ten toes and will destroy the revived Roman Empire.

The Messiah will come, He will take His rightful place over the nation of Israel, and He will be truly then and there called by our Jewish people the King of the Jews. And if you remember the wise men who came from the east said, "Where is He that was born the King of the Jews?" Well, the Messiah was born, but He was rejected at His first coming. He will not be rejected at His second coming. Our people of Israel will accept Him, and they will say, "*Baruch haba b'shem Adonai*," "Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord."

But we are living still in the time of the Gentile. The second coming of the Messiah is still ahead of us. It might be very soon when He will come and He will rule over Israel after they will recognize truly that He was the Messiah of Israel. But we are now finding ourselves in the book of Esther, in the time where the Medes and the Persians ruled. And we find now that Esther and Mordecai and many, many of our own Jewish people are there in the land that is called the land of Babylon or Persia.

It's rather sad that when we begin the book of Esther, we find no name of the land of Israel, no name of the city of Yerushalayim, no name actually until this second chapter of the word Israeli or Jewish or Hebrew. And we find no prayer in the whole book of Esther. We find no mention of the God of Israel, Jehovah or Elohim, mentioned at all in the book of Esther. And it is a sad beginning because the Jewish people remained, many of them, away from the land in Persia, while they were already called to return back to the land where Cyrus, the king of Persia, who ruled the then-known world from India to Ethiopia.

The Jewish people should have returned back to the land of Israel, but unfortunately, as we mentioned, only about 50,000 Jewish people went back to the land of Israel and to the city of Jerusalem. If you remember it was Zerubbabel who led a large group, we read it in the book of Ezra. If you remember it was Ezra himself the scribe who also came back to beautify the temple in Jerusalem a little bit later on. And in our study of the book of Nehemiah, it was Nehemiah who came to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. And then you would think that all the Jewish people will come back to the promised land, but unfortunately, they did not.

They did not. The vast majority find themselves still in the city that is called Shushan, the capital city of Persia, and in many other areas in the Persian kingdom. Well, we have arrived to the second chapter now, and here we are introduced to certain things that are very helpful for us to see the providence of God. That even though the Jewish people did not return back to the land that was promised to them through their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and even though they remained in the dispersion or diaspora, yet they are the nation through whom blessing going to come to this world. And God preserves His people wherever they are because He has a plan for the people of Israel.

In the same way I always will make an application for the body of Messiah today. God is preserving the believers wherever they are today because He has a plan as well for the body of Christ, the body of Messiah, the Ecclesia, those of us that belong to Yeshua the Messiah. And if you remember Yeshua said, "I will build my assembly," Matthew chapter 16, "and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." God is going to preserve the body of Mashiach, the body of Christ, the Ecclesia as well today.

So in this second chapter, in those 18 verses, Esther becomes the queen of Persia. This is by the providence of God. You notice immediately in the first four verses that here we have a king that is rather sad, and he receives once again an advice from his servants. Now you notice the first words in chapter 2 and verse 1, it says, "After these things." *Ve'acharei hadevarim ha'eleh* in Hebrew. After these things, what things? Well, we know what have happened in the previous chapter. How King Ahasuerus was so angry with Vashti, his wife the queen. He called her to come to show herself before all the thousands of people who came from all over the then-known world for his celebration, his party.

But they all were drunk, if you remember. They all were under this control of alcohol, and he wanted to parade his wife before all these men who came from all over the world. Vashti said, "No, I'm not coming." And she didn't come. And you remember what his counselors gave him? The advice, they said to him, "King Ahasuerus, you should not allow this to happen. If Vashti does not obey your word, you better set her aside. Remove her and make a law, the law of the Medes and the Persians that can never be altered."

And you know, here's this king, Ahasuerus, who is under the control of wine, and here is all the people there and he didn't want to let anybody know that he is not under control of his kingdom, so he listened to the foolish advice of his counselors and he chased his wife Vashti from being the queen of Persia. And so this thing was really upon his heart. But there's another thing that we do not know here, beloved brothers, from the Bible here, but we know it from history. That apparently King Ahasuerus failed in invasion Greece.

Remember again, there will be the kingdom of Grecian that's going to come after that, in the image that we have seen. We have seen Babylon, Persia, and Greece. And the Grecian people became more powerful as time went on, and King Ahasuerus wanted to defeat the Grecian. He sent military in ships against Greece, but he failed his mission. And he failed his mission. In fact, that happened sometime at the feast in chapter 1, was about 483 BC. The invasion was about 481 BC. And the return was about 479 BC.

About four years pass between chapter 1 and chapter 2, and King Ahasuerus returning defeated. He was not successful in taking over Greece, and he was so discouraged. On the one hand because of his defeat or unsuccessful mission, and on the other hand he comes back to his palace and guess what? Vashti is no longer there. And so we read in verse 1 of chapter 2, "After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what the decree that was given against her."

He now looks back and he remembers, as we have it in chapter 1 and verse 19 and 20, that he made a decree. "Vashti is no longer to be my wife," and he signed it, and he made a law, a decree that is never to be altered according to the Mede and the Persian laws. And so now he's looking back and he remembers Vashti. We never read anything wrong about Vashti. The only thing we read about Vashti that she didn't want to come to be put into a shame before all these drunken men in Shushan, the capital city of Persia.

And so he remembered Vashti, his wife, and what happened to her. And I would like to say, beloved brothers and sisters, that you will notice that between chapter 1 and chapter 2 there are four years that have passed by. You see, if you go back to chapter 1 and you notice in verse 3, that he made that large feast in the third year of his reign. And then turn around and go to chapter 2 and verse 16, and you will notice that Esther became queen at the end of verse 16 in the seventh year of his reign. So four years passed by between chapter 1 and chapter 2.

And now he's looking back, and you find that he's rather sad because of his defeat. And he's rather sad because he made that foolish law that he divorced his wife Vashti, and he rather now feeling the consequence of his doing. And so we read in verses 2, 3, and 4 of Esther chapter 2 that once again his counselors giving him an advice. I'm telling you, if he would have been a wise king, he would not take any advice from these men, because these men who gave him an advice gave him rather poor advice. Divorce your wife? Make sure that all our wives submit to our authority?

They still had their wives, and their wives had to submit to their authority, but here come King Ahasuerus, no wife. No one to submit to his authority as a wife. And so he feels very sad. So look, he's listening again to their counsel. And notice they give him a four-fold counsel in verses 2, 3, and 4a. Four-fold counsel. Notice they use the word "let" four times. Verse 2, "Let there be fair young virgins" brought for the king. Verse 3, "Let the king appoint officers" in all the provinces. Verse 3b at the end, "Let their things for purification" be given unto them. And verse 4a, "Let the maiden which pleases the king be queen" instead of Vashti.

They gave him four-fold advice. "King, let us give you an advice. Let's make a special beauty contest. You are the king of Persia. You want to have a queen to be a wife? You are missing Vashti, your wife that you divorced. Let us make a special contest of various maidens that's going to come from all over the Persian Empire." Now just imagine again, look at the Persian Empire. They've chosen women from all over the land that was controlled by Ahasuerus, Xerxes the king of Persia.

So four things they said. Number one, let there be fair young virgins brought for the king. In other words, they will take young ladies who never knew a man, and let them be chosen from all the people of the land. Secondly, appoint officers, and they will go to all the provinces of his kingdom. That word for provinces in the Hebrew is *medinot*. It's more than just provinces, it's really countries, nations, because remember, beloved brothers and sisters, you have Libya, you have Egypt, you have all India and all the areas that he control. So they were bringing women, young maidens that never knew a man from everywhere of the Persian Empire.

So thirdly, they said to him in verse 3 at the end, "Let their things for purification" given unto them. In other words, you give those beautiful young maidens all what they need to purify themselves that they're going to be ready for you, king, and you will make a choice which person will become your queen. The final suggestion by these counselors is in verse 4, "Let the maiden which pleases the king be queen" instead of Vashti. You see, in a sense there was no freedom, no liberty for anyone to say no. If the king was delegating individuals to go to and fro around the Persian kingdom to find all the younger women, to bring them into the king's palace to be selected, no one could do anything.

No one could say no, because the Persian Empire King Ahasuerus was a monarch. He did what he want, how he want, when he want, to whom he want, and nothing can be changed. And so imagine, beloved brothers and sisters, they are going from area to area, they send letters, they send messengers, and they were searching for young maidens to come to be into that special event, into the special contest. The most beautiful woman will now become the queen of Persia. And so lo and behold, the counsel of these wise men of King Ahasuerus. Well, you know, it's amazing to see how easy it is for him to listen to the counsel of his advisors. Sometime one can give a good counsel, but sometime one give rather bad counsel. Well, obviously, it was a very bad counsel that they've given him to divorce his wife.

Guest (Male): You have been listening to Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com.

You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM and Saturdays at 1:00 PM at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.