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Caption transcript for Divine Deliverance: “Esther” (11/12)

• 00:01 Kirsten Hart: God handpicked
• 00:04 a young, teenage girl to save and rescue his people.
• 00:06 Learn about this extraordinary woman today on
• 00:09 "Zola Levitt Presents."
• 00:11 ♪♪♪
• 00:17 male announcer: From the beginning, our Creator revealed
• 00:19 his will to the common man.
• 00:22 Individuals listened to his call and responded in obedience, from
• 00:28 the first Hebrew Avraham to the culmination of salvation in
• 00:33 Messiah himself, the Lord faithfully intervenes with his
• 00:38 divine deliverance.
• 00:43 ♪♪♪
• 00:49 David Hart: Shalom, friends, and thank you for joining us
• 00:51 today on "Zola Levitt Presents."
• 00:52 I'm David Hart.
• 00:53 Kirsten: I'm Kirsten Hart. Jeffrey Seif: Jeffrey Seif.
• 00:56 David: It's all about Esther today.
• 00:58 What a great story of Esther.
• 01:01 Kirsten: It is, and I've just gotta say, I'm a woman, I'm a
• 01:03 girl, I think that's obvious.
• 01:05 Jeffrey: No!
• 01:06 Kirsten: Right?
• 01:07 But this is a little bit rough for me.
• 01:09 I know we talk about beauty treatments, but she was a young,
• 01:12 teenage girl, snatched out of her home, taken to a palace,
• 01:16 and she never knew if she'd even go back home.
• 01:17 It was--
• 01:18 Jeffrey: Keep talking, girl.
• 01:20 Like, what do I know about women?
• 01:21 You tell us about this one.
• 01:23 Tell us about her and you drive this one home.
• 01:26 Kirsten: But we think about all the beauty treatments, and
• 01:28 then she went through such wonderful things,
• 01:30 but it was rough.
• 01:31 I mean, if the king didn't pick her, one person out of 400
• 01:35 girls, she'd be in the concubine house for the rest of her life.
• 01:38 But for such a time as this.
• 01:41 Jeffrey: This is an interesting story here.
• 01:42 Yes, for such a time as this.
• 01:44 Kirsten: Let's go to our drama today, our dramatic
• 01:46 reenactment, the story of Esther, followed by teaching
• 01:49 with Dr. Jeffrey Seif.
• 01:53 narrator: Mordecai, Esther's cousin, was among the captive
• 01:56 Jews in Shushan.
• 01:59 When Esther's parents had died, Mordecai had taken her as his
• 02:02 own daughter and raised her, caring for her deeply.
• 02:10 [speaking Hebrew]
• 02:41 narrator: And so it was that Esther was taken before Haggai,
• 02:44 the guardian of the king's harem, and she
• 02:48 was pleasing to him.
• 02:52 It would take 12 months of preparation before Esther would
• 02:54 appear before the king.
• 02:59 Attended to by seven maidens, she would receive six months
• 03:03 treatment with oil of myrrh and then another six months
• 03:07 treatment with perfumes and cosmetics.
• 03:14 Esther had never looked so lovely.
• 03:20 ♪♪♪
• 03:48 ♪♪♪
• 04:14 Jeffrey: Okay, I've heard it and you've heard it, quote,
• 04:18 "The Lord works in mysterious ways."
• 04:23 And ain't that the God's honest truth?
• 04:28 Deliverance comes in different ways on different days.
• 04:33 In this program, deliverance comes through a beauty contest,
• 04:39 and the winner is Esther.
• 04:42 As it says in the text, chapter 2, verse 17 of the book that
• 04:46 bears her name, "Now the king loved Esther more than
• 04:51 all the other women."
• 04:54 And by the way, there were others trying for the job.
• 04:58 "So he placed the royal crown upon her head
• 05:01 and made her queen."
• 05:06 And thus began a very interesting drama, one that
• 05:11 we're gonna explore as we consider deliverance, how it
• 05:14 came through a woman named Esther.
• 05:21 You gotta love it.
• 05:23 The Bible is so interesting.
• 05:27 I think personally preachers that make it boring ought to be
• 05:29 sued for malpractice.
• 05:31 It is a very cool story.
• 05:34 Instead of preachers engineering various sermons, I get that,
• 05:38 I think it's important just to tell the story.
• 05:41 You know, at least get the story out first and then we
• 05:44 can explore what we wanna do with it.
• 05:46 In this case, this story of redemption is played out against
• 05:50 the backdrop of a drunken king who embarrassed his main queen
• 05:58 and then felt disrespected by her, prompting him then to look
• 06:03 for a replacement.
• 06:05 So, word goes out.
• 06:07 And there's a woman named Hadassah, and her guardian,
• 06:10 Mordecai, puts her up to it and says, "Look, you know, you ought
• 06:14 to try out for this I think.
• 06:16 You know, something tells me you're in for something good."
• 06:18 He prompts her to do it, so she does, and she goes through the
• 06:25 whole warm up process.
• 06:27 All these girls come that are applying for the job.
• 06:29 There's a season of beautification and then they
• 06:32 have an opportunity to present to the king with whatever
• 06:33 they want.
• 06:35 It all comes on loan.
• 06:37 You know, you want a nice Rolex?
• 06:38 Why not.
• 06:40 Yes, we have some diamonds from Neiman Marcus.
• 06:41 You're gonna love 'em.
• 06:42 Everybody dressed up right to the hilt.
• 06:44 This woman, Hadassah, however, when it came turn for her,
• 06:48 rather than deck out in all the regalia, she stood out because
• 06:52 of her kinda simplicity, and thus a beauty was able to shine
• 06:56 that wasn't obfuscated by diamonds, and pearls, and gold.
• 07:02 Not that I'm amiss to all that.
• 07:04 I like to say I like to keep my wife in diamonds and furs.
• 07:07 But the point is, here with this woman it's a little different.
• 07:10 We read in chapter 2, verse 15, the following.
• 07:15 When the turn came for Esther, the daughter, to go in, we're
• 07:19 told she did not ask for anything except for what the
• 07:22 guardian, we're told, said, "Here, listen,
• 07:24 let's just go minimal."
• 07:26 And that's the way she did it.
• 07:29 The net result in verse 17 we're told, and it's the verse that
• 07:32 I just read, I'll say it again, "Now the king loved Esther more
• 07:36 than all other women, and she won his grace and favor more
• 07:42 than all the other maidens."
• 07:44 The concept of chosen people doesn't mean better than.
• 07:48 I don't know that this woman herself necessarily is better
• 07:52 than other women, but she's chosen in the sense she gets
• 07:55 the attention of the principal.
• 07:57 And he gives her grace and extends favor, subsequent to
• 08:02 which he placed the royal crown upon her head.
• 08:07 It's a great story.
• 08:09 It's an old story, one that we're gonna explore as we look
• 08:11 more at deliverance in the book of Esther.
• 08:19 ♪♪♪
• 08:29 [speaking Hebrew]
• 10:50 Jeffrey: It's a classic story, replete with a heroine.
• 10:54 And of course it wouldn't be a story if it didn't have
• 10:57 a villain.
• 10:59 His name is Haman. Did that shock you?
• 11:04 Well, by the way, every time his name is mentioned in the
• 11:06 synagogue, we get this.
• 11:08 Everyone goes, "Boo!"
• 11:10 and turns these groggers around.
• 11:12 In fact, once a year, we read the book.
• 11:15 There's an expression that's used among Jewish people,
• 11:17 "The whole megillah," the whole story.
• 11:19 People don't realize the word "gillah" is the word for
• 11:22 "scroll," and the "megillot," the scrolls.
• 11:25 And the book of Esther is brought out in the synagogue and
• 11:28 it's read.
• 11:30 And every time we hear the villain Haman, "Boo!"
• 11:33 We get this every time we hear of the heroine, Esther, "Yay!"
• 11:40 and Mordecai, "Yay!"
• 11:42 It's a very interesting story.
• 11:43 And by the way, it's the Jewish version of Halloween in the
• 11:47 sense everybody dresses up.
• 11:49 Not just the children, even the parents dress up and everybody
• 11:55 acts foolish.
• 11:57 Not only do the children party, and you know how kids can be
• 11:59 kids, they're outdone by their parents who act absolutely
• 12:03 obnoxious every time we hear the name Haman and so forth.
• 12:09 It really is a festive atmosphere.
• 12:11 And why is that?
• 12:13 There's a story here where Jews found themselves between the
• 12:17 literal rock and a hard place.
• 12:19 Haman used his influence to set in motion that which would
• 12:23 result in the destruction of all the Jews in the empire.
• 12:27 And that's an age old story, by the way.
• 12:30 People have been wanting to wipe out Jews for a long time.
• 12:33 I think it's spiritual more than material, and I say that
• 12:36 because, pound for pound, look, you know, we have our
• 12:39 scoundrels, but the Jews, we're really not a bad lot.
• 12:41 And if someone's guilty, they get arrested like everyone else
• 12:44 and have to answer for their crimes, but Jews really do tend
• 12:48 to be decent.
• 12:50 Despite all that, l'dor va'dor, from generation to generation,
• 12:54 people try and kill us.
• 12:56 And so it is Jews celebrate this story, not because it's good
• 13:01 news for the Jews, but it's a reminder that God raises up
• 13:05 a deliverer.
• 13:07 And I say that because unbeknownst to Haman, the new
• 13:11 queen, the woman in charge, she was a Hebrew.
• 13:16 Mordecai sends words and said, "Hun, listen, you know, maybe
• 13:21 just maybe you've got to step up and weigh in on this to turn
• 13:26 this around."
• 13:28 And this is where you get in the story, you know, maybe this
• 13:30 woman was chosen for such a time as this.
• 13:34 At first she was reluctant, but then she stepped up.
• 13:37 And though she wasn't supposed to go to the king lest she was
• 13:40 invited, she said, "Look, I'm going to do it."
• 13:43 And in chapter 4, verse 16, she says, "Listen, I'm gonna go to
• 13:47 the king, even though it's not according to the law.
• 13:50 And if I perish, I perish.
• 13:52 I mean, if he wipes me out because I violated a principle,
• 13:55 so be it, but I'm gonna step into the gap."
• 13:59 Thank God.
• 14:01 God raises up redeemers in generation, from generation to
• 14:05 generation, and I'm certainly pleased that he used Esther for
• 14:09 such a time as this.
• 14:15 female announcer: Our resource this week, the series,
• 14:17 "Esther: For Such a Time as This," on DVD.
• 14:21 This eight-part series presents the biblical account of the
• 14:25 young, beautiful, Jewish woman who becomes the queen of Persia.
• 14:30 When Esther is confronted with murderous racial hatred, she
• 14:33 allows herself to be used by God and saves the Jewish people
• 14:37 from genocide.
• 14:38 Contact us for the DVD series, "Esther: For Such
• 14:42 a Time as This."
• 14:45 male: Hi, thanks for watching "Zola Levitt Presents."
• 14:48 You know, besides our television program, you can also reach us
• 14:51 at levitt.com, as well as following us on Facebook
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• 14:59 And as always, you can call us.
• 15:01 We'd love to hear your voice at 1-800-WONDERS.
• 15:04 And don't forget, your donations are what enable us
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• 15:09 Thank you so much.
• 15:13 ♪♪♪
• 15:16 David: We have more dramatic reenactments that we want to
• 15:18 bring you, Bible stories that come to life.
• 15:21 We can't do that without your financial support.
• 15:24 We're here today to say thank you.
• 15:26 Right now, let's go back to our story, our dramatic reenactment
• 15:29 with Esther.
• 15:33 ♪♪♪
• 15:36 narrator: Pur, a simple cube-like object.
• 15:40 Pur had been used to determine the date of death for every Jew
• 15:44 in the Persian empire.
• 15:46 Now one year later, Mordecai considers a brighter day.
• 15:53 [speaking Hebrew]
• 16:50 ♪♪♪
• 17:12 Jeffrey: In English, we speak of rolling the dice.
• 17:14 It speaks of just taking a risk and throwing it out there.
• 17:18 Well, it happened in antiquity as well.
• 17:20 In fact, the word "pur" as in Purim comes from
• 17:23 a word for "lot."
• 17:25 They had a way of determining when to do things by throwing
• 17:27 the dice and seeing when it landed.
• 17:29 Well, they threw the dice to see when it landed.
• 17:32 They looked to determine when to kill all the Jews.
• 17:34 Happily, however, God had a plan to turn that around.
• 17:37 The turnaround came from a woman, and it wasn't just her
• 17:41 decree that saved them.
• 17:43 It was her decree that gave them permission to fight for
• 17:47 themselves, to make a spirited defense.
• 17:50 Once the king issued a decree for a war, well then it had to
• 17:54 live out, but here the Jews were allowed to push back, and indeed
• 17:57 they did.
• 17:58 We're explicit in the text, by the way.
• 18:00 The author gives voice in no uncertain terms that they
• 18:03 offered a spirited defense and held it all back.
• 18:06 By the way, that which was permitted in antiquity needs to
• 18:10 similarly be permitted in modernity.
• 18:14 And I mention that because you can read the biblical story.
• 18:17 In chapter 9, we're told the Jews assembled and they were
• 18:21 able then to lay hands on those bent on their demise.
• 18:25 I'm paraphrasing it, but it's there in 9:2.
• 18:29 I'm not inventing it.
• 18:30 The reason why I mention that is there is a wicked invention
• 18:33 today, and that is that Jews don't have a right to defend
• 18:35 themselves in the land.
• 18:37 We should just be sheep and let the world roll over us like a
• 18:40 freight train.
• 18:41 Well, after 2,000 years, Jews are back in the land
• 18:43 providentially and we're not minded to give it up so easily.
• 18:48 And my hope and prayer is that women and men who are informed
• 18:51 by biblical virtue will stand behind the Jewish right to be in
• 18:57 the land and the Jewish right to make a spirited defense for
• 19:01 themselves while being there.
• 19:04 We're told here in chapter 9, verse 2 that those bent on their
• 19:07 demise enjoyed no good success.
• 19:10 We're told, an I'm explicit now, not just inferential, "No one
• 19:13 was able to stand against them, for fear of them had fallen on
• 19:18 all the peoples," roundabout.
• 19:21 And you know what, same today as yesterday because history tends
• 19:26 to repeat itself.
• 19:28 When we look at deliverance, we see that God raises up a person.
• 19:33 You wouldn't expect that person to be the person, but the fact
• 19:37 that they exist, it means everything.
• 19:39 Not everyone understands it.
• 19:43 For some, Jesus was just some Jewish Palestinian who died
• 19:47 2,000 years ago and some myth circulated about his
• 19:51 resurrection subsequent to that.
• 19:53 He doesn't mean something to them, but Jesus, the Jewish
• 19:57 personality, means something to me and I hope he means something
• 20:01 to you.
• 20:03 The gospel's not some insignificant story, it's a
• 20:06 turnaround story and Yeshua came to facilitate a great
• 20:10 redemption, not so much political, but definitely
• 20:14 spiritual and personal for people like me and you.
• 20:23 Kirsten: A lot of people downplay teenagers and say,
• 20:26 "Oh, that generation."
• 20:28 Esther was a beautiful teenager, but boy, she was smart and she
• 20:33 took a lot of risks.
• 20:35 Remember the phrase, "For such a time as this," but she took a
• 20:39 lot of risk in doing what she did to save the people
• 20:42 of Israel.
• 20:44 Jeffrey: Yeah, she wasn't altogether sure which way it was
• 20:45 gonna turn, and she did put herself in harm's way.
• 20:48 Most people avoid that in life.
• 20:50 Kirsten: Right, because it is too risky and what she
• 20:52 could--what could've happened to her, she could've been killed.
• 20:56 If she approached the king and he didn't want to hear her, you
• 20:58 know, onto the next concubine, onto the next girl.
• 21:02 Jeffrey: It takes a little courage to kinda press into the
• 21:04 darkness, yes, David?
• 21:06 David: Right, and you know what?
• 21:07 I'm thinking about our wives right now, that they have a
• 21:11 strong influence in our world today.
• 21:14 Your wife, my wife.
• 21:15 She speaks all around the country, just like Esther did.
• 21:18 Jeffrey: And to that point, I just think it takes a lot of
• 21:21 courage just to become a wife.
• 21:22 And I'm not saying that because women are watching, I'm saying
• 21:25 that because I honestly believe it.
• 21:27 Kirsten: Right, I was 20--I was 24 when I married you.
• 21:29 I was already a woman.
• 21:32 Here's Esther, a young teenage girl.
• 21:35 You know, I mean, there's so many questions about
• 21:37 a teenager girl.
• 21:38 What do I wanna be when I grow up?
• 21:39 What is my future?
• 21:41 And Esther didn't have any of that choice anymore, but she did
• 21:44 have a choice how she was gonna handle what she did for the
• 21:47 Hebrew people.
• 21:49 Jeffrey: That's true.
• 21:50 She was in good shape herself there in the palace, just kinda
• 21:53 chilling with all the perfumes with her rich husband.
• 21:55 She could've just avoided the whole mess.
• 21:59 Good point.
• 22:01 Kirsten: And then along comes Mordecai in saying, "For--"
• 22:04 and that's the famous phrase there, that verse,
• 22:06 "For such a time as this."
• 22:08 But who knows that you came into this place?
• 22:12 And I just wanna personally speak to every woman that's
• 22:15 watching this program today.
• 22:17 Who knows, for such a time as right now, wherever you are
• 22:20 sitting and watching this program, that God doesn't desire
• 22:24 to use you in this time in your life to do great things for him
• 22:29 and for his kingdom.
• 22:31 One teenage girl can change the future.
• 22:33 David: That's right.
• 22:35 More on this story. We'll be right back.
• 22:38 male announcer: Our resource this week, the series, "Divine
• 22:40 Deliverance," on DVD.
• 22:42 These 12 programs examine how the Lord offered a message of
• 22:45 salvation through significant Bible characters, beginning with
• 22:49 faithful Abraham and ending with the Messiah himself.
• 22:53 Each program includes location teaching, discussions of
• 22:57 applications, plus the music of Zola Levitt.
• 23:01 Contact us for the DVD series, "Divine Deliverance."
• 23:07 announcer: For insightful perspectives on Israel and Bible
• 23:10 prophecy, ask for our free monthly newsletter,
• 23:13 "The Levitt Letter."
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• 23:26 Come with us on a tour of Israel or Petra, or a cruise to Greece
• 23:30 and Ephesus.
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• 23:37 Kirsten: We've alluded to Esther and her beauty
• 23:38 treatments.
• 23:40 There is a beauty treatment in the holy land that is
• 23:43 like none other.
• 23:45 It is called Dead Sea mud.
• 23:47 That's something that we get to experience on a Zola tour.
• 23:51 It's one of my favorite places in the whole world.
• 23:54 We get in the water.
• 23:55 We don't swim in the water, but we get to apply this beauty
• 23:58 treatment all over our skin, and it's something you won't wanna
• 24:01 miss.
• 24:03 Come on a Zola tour.
• 24:04 Experience God's best beauty treatment in his land.
• 24:08 Now, here is a song from Esther.
• 24:12 ♪♪♪
• 24:15 [singing in Hebrew]
• 26:14 Jeffrey: You don't have to understand
• 26:16 the meaning of those Hebrew words to know that that
• 26:20 song is beautiful.
• 26:22 So fitting.
• 26:24 Esther was beautiful, was she not?
• 26:26 Kirsten: She was, and she was very smart, and wise, and open
• 26:30 to what God wanted to do with her life.
• 26:32 Jeffrey: Yes.
• 26:33 David: She was called, but also born for that position.
• 26:36 Jeffrey: Yes she was, and she utilized her influence
• 26:39 in that position.
• 26:41 I tell my wife, Barri, that she's just beautiful inside
• 26:45 and out.
• 26:47 And great gal, Esther.
• 26:49 Kirsten: Right, and I--my personal takeaway is don't
• 26:51 underestimate what God can do with your life.
• 26:55 She, through her decisions and what she did, saved his people,
• 27:01 just like the Savior that came and saved his people.
• 27:04 Jeffrey: Amen to that.
• 27:05 And salvation, deliverance comes from different places.
• 27:09 And here, we're talking about it on "Zola Levitt Presents."
• 27:12 And as you go now, sha'alu shalom Yerushalayim.
• 27:17 Kirsten: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
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• 28:04 ♪♪♪
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