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Caption transcript for Divine Deliverance (2020): “Esther” (11/11)

• 00:03 ♪♪♪ David Hart: Welcome to "Our Jewish Roots"
• 00:05 with insightful Bible teaching by Dr. Jeffrey Seif.
• 00:08 In this program, a beautiful young woman takes a step
• 00:11 of faith to save God's people from destruction,
• 00:14 today on "Divine Deliverance."
• 00:20 male announcer: From the beginning,
• 00:22 our Creator revealed his will to the common man.
• 00:26 Individuals listened to his call and responded in obedience,
• 00:32 from the first Hebrew Avraham to the culmination
• 00:35 of salvation in Messiah himself.
• 00:39 The Lord faithfully intervenes with his "Divine Deliverance."
• 00:45 ♪♪♪
• 00:48 CC by Aberdeen Captioning 1-800-688-6621 abercap.com
• 00:53 David: Thank you for joining us today, I'm David Hart.
• 00:55 Kirsten Hart: I'm Kirsten Hart.
• 00:56 Jeffrey Seif: I am Jeffrey Seif,
• 00:58 and I and we are excited
• 01:00 to bring you a great story, a great woman: Esther.
• 01:03 Kirsten: And Esther, so many people think about her
• 01:06 as just this beauty queen went through beauty treatments,
• 01:09 but she was a picture of redemption.
• 01:12 She saved the Jewish people.
• 01:14 Jeffrey: Yes, and she's a picture of the fact
• 01:16 that God uses people.
• 01:18 He uses women.
• 01:19 And some people marginalize women.
• 01:22 I got the impression that's what you were saying,
• 01:23 more than just a beauty queen.
• 01:24 Kirsten: Much more than that.
• 01:26 Jeffrey: You know, this, you know,
• 01:28 just objectifying women for beauty and sexual
• 01:32 objectification, not having more
• 01:34 to give beyond that, is troubling.
• 01:36 You don't find that in biblical literature.
• 01:39 God is very kindly disposed toward women and raises them
• 01:44 up for special purposes, just like men.
• 01:47 Kirsten: Yes, and she put herself in harm's way
• 01:51 to save God's people.
• 01:52 I mean, that, she--it took a lot of gumption,
• 01:56 can I say that word, to do what she did.
• 01:58 Jeffrey: You sure can.
• 01:59 David: We start our program today
• 02:01 with the beginnings of Esther's story.
• 02:03 Let's go there now.
• 02:07 announcer: Mordecai, Esther's cousin,
• 02:09 was among the captive Jews in Shushan.
• 02:13 When Esther's parents had died, Mordecai had taken her
• 02:16 as his own daughter and raised her, caring for her deeply.
• 02:55 announcer: And so it was that Esther was taken before Haggai,
• 02:58 the guardian of the king's harem,
• 03:01 and she was pleasing to him.
• 03:05 It would take 12 months of preparation before Esther
• 03:08 would appear before the king.
• 03:12 Attended to by seven maidens, she would receive six months'
• 03:16 treatment with oil of myrrh, and then another six months'
• 03:20 treatment with perfumes and cosmetics.
• 03:27 Esther had never looked so lovely.
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• 04:29 Jeffrey: Okay, I've heard it and you've heard it:áár
• 04:32 quote, "The Lord works in mysterious ways."
• 04:37 And ain't that the God's honest truth?
• 04:41 Deliverance comes in different ways on different days.
• 04:47 In this program, deliverance comes through a beauty contest,
• 04:53 and the winner is Esther, as it says in the text,
• 04:58 chapter 2, verse 17 of the book that bears her name:
• 05:02 "Now the king loved Esther more than all the other women,"
• 05:08 and, by the way, there were others trying for the job.
• 05:11 "So he placed the royal crown upon her head
• 05:15 and made her queen."
• 05:20 And thus began a very interesting drama,
• 05:24 one that we're gonna explore as we consider deliverance,
• 05:28 how it came through a woman named Esther.
• 05:35 Jeffrey: You gotta love it.
• 05:37 The Bible is so interesting.
• 05:40 I think, personally, preachers that make it boring ought to be
• 05:43 sued for malpractice.
• 05:44 It is a very cool story.
• 05:47 Instead of preachers engineering various sermons,
• 05:50 I get that, I think it's important
• 05:52 just to tell the story.
• 05:55 You know, at least get the story out first
• 05:57 and then we can explore what we wanna do with it.
• 05:59 In this case, this story of redemption is played out against
• 06:04 the backdrop of a drunken king who embarrassed his main queen
• 06:11 and then felt disrespected by her,
• 06:15 prompting him, then, to look for a replacement.
• 06:18 So, word goes out and there's a woman named Hadassah
• 06:23 and her guardian, Mordecai, puts her up to and says,
• 06:26 "Look, you know, you ought to try out for this.
• 06:29 I think, you know, something tells me
• 06:30 you're in for something good."
• 06:32 He prompts her to do it.
• 06:35 So she does and she goes through the whole warm-up process.
• 06:40 All these girls come, they're applying for the job.
• 06:43 There's a season of beautification, and then they
• 06:45 have an opportunity to present to the king
• 06:47 with whatever they want.
• 06:48 It all comes on loan.
• 06:50 You know, "You want a nice Rolex?
• 06:51 Why not?
• 06:52 Yes, we have some diamonds from Neiman Marcus,
• 06:54 you're gonna love 'em."
• 06:55 Everybody dressed up, right to the hilt.
• 06:57 This woman, Hadassah, however, when it came turn for her,
• 07:02 rather than deck out in all the regalia,
• 07:05 she stood out because of her kind of simplicity and thus
• 07:08 a beauty was able to shine that wasn't obfuscated
• 07:12 by diamonds and pearls and gold,
• 07:16 not that I'm amiss to all that.
• 07:17 I like to say I'd like to keep my wife in diamonds and furs,
• 07:20 but the point is here, with this woman,
• 07:23 it's a little different.
• 07:24 We read in chapter 2, verse 15, the following:
• 07:28 "When the turn came for Esther," the daughter, to go in,
• 07:32 we're told, "she did not ask for anything except for what,"
• 07:36 the guardian, we're told, said.
• 07:37 "Here, listen, let's just go minimal."
• 07:39 And that's the way she did it.
• 07:43 The net result in verse 17, we're told,
• 07:45 and it's the verse that I just read.
• 07:47 I'll say it again.
• 07:48 "Now the king loved Esther more than all other women,
• 07:53 and she won his grace
• 07:54 and favor more than all the other maidens."
• 07:59 The concept of chosen people doesn't mean better than.
• 08:02 I don't know that this woman herself,
• 08:04 necessarily, is better than other women,
• 08:06 but she's chosen in the sense
• 08:08 she gets the attention of the principal.
• 08:11 And he gives her grace and extends favor,
• 08:15 subsequent to which, "he placed the royal crown upon her head."
• 08:22 It's a great story.
• 08:23 It's an old story, one that we're gonna explore
• 08:25 as we look more at deliverance in the book of Esther.
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• 11:04 Jeffrey: It's a classic story,
• 11:06 replete with a heroine and, of course,
• 11:08 it wouldn't be a story if it didn't have a villain.
• 11:12 His name is Haman.
• 11:16 Jeffrey: Did that shock you?
• 11:18 Well, by the way, every time his name is mentioned
• 11:19 in the synagogue, we get this.
• 11:22 Everyone goes, "Boo," and turns these groggers around.
• 11:25 In fact, once a year, we read the book.
• 11:28 There's an expression that's used among Jewish people,
• 11:31 "the whole megillah," the whole story.
• 11:33 People don't realize the word "gillah" is the word for scroll,
• 11:36 and the megillot are the scrolls,
• 11:39 and the book of Esther is brought out in the synagogue
• 11:42 and it's read, and every time we hear the villain,
• 11:45 Haman, "Boo," we get this.
• 11:48 Every time we hear of the heroine,
• 11:52 Esther, "Yay," and Mordecai, "Yay."
• 11:55 It's a very interesting story and, by the way,
• 11:58 it's the Jewish version of Halloween
• 12:00 in the sense everybody dresses up,
• 12:02 not just the children.
• 12:05 Even the parents dress up and everybody acts foolish.
• 12:10 Not only do the children party, you know how kids can be kids,
• 12:14 they're outdone by their parents who act absolutely obnoxious
• 12:18 every time we hear the name Haman and so forth.
• 12:23 It really is a festive atmosphere.
• 12:25 And why is that?
• 12:27 There's a story here where Jews found themselves between
• 12:30 a literal rock and a hard place.
• 12:33 Haman used his influence to set in motion that which would
• 12:37 result in the destruction of all the Jews in the empire.
• 12:41 And that's an age-old story, by the way.
• 12:43 People have been wanting to wipe out Jews for a long time.
• 12:47 I think it's spiritual, more than material,
• 12:49 and I say that because, pound for pound, look,
• 12:51 you know, we have our scandals but the Jews
• 12:53 were really not a bad lot, and if someone's guilty,
• 12:56 they get arrested like everyone else and have to answer
• 12:59 for their crimes but Jews really do tend to be decent.
• 13:03 Despite all that, dor l'dor, from generation to generation,
• 13:08 people try and kill us and so it is Jews celebrate this story
• 13:13 not because it's good news for the Jews, but it's a reminder
• 13:17 that God raises up a deliverer.
• 13:20 And I say that because, unbeknownst to Haman,
• 13:24 the new queen, the woman in charge, she was a Hebrew.
• 13:31 Mordecai sends words and said, "Hon, listen,
• 13:33 you know, maybe, just maybe,
• 13:36 you've got to step up and weigh in on this to turn this around."
• 13:41 And this is where you get in the story,
• 13:43 you know, maybe this woman was chosen for such a time as this.
• 13:48 At first, she was reluctant but then she stepped up and though
• 13:51 she wasn't supposed to go to the king unless she was invited,
• 13:54 she said, "Look, I'm going to do it."
• 13:56 And in chapter 4, verse 16, she says,
• 14:00 "Listen, I'm gonna go to the king,
• 14:01 even though it's not according to the law.
• 14:04 And if I perish, I perish."
• 14:06 I mean, if he wipes me out because I violated
• 14:08 the principle, so be it, but I'm gonna step into the gap.
• 14:14 Thank God, God raises up redeemers in generation--
• 14:17 from generation to generation, and I'm certainly pleased
• 14:21 that he used Esther for such a time as this.
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• 15:05 Kirsten: We are on social media, but I've gotta tell you
• 15:08 there are still people that like to call and talk to someone.
• 15:12 There are still people that like to take
• 15:14 a piece of paper and pen and write a note.
• 15:16 And if that's you, we welcome your call and we welcome
• 15:20 your letters and your notes.
• 15:21 And we'd love to hear from you. Levitt.com is our website.
• 15:25 Our phone number's on there and our address.
• 15:27 Now, let's see how the Feast of Purim got its name.
• 15:33 ♪♪♪
• 15:37 announcer: Pur, a simple cube-like object.
• 15:41 Pur had been used to determine the date of death
• 15:44 for every Jew in the Persian Empire.
• 15:47 Now, one year later, Mordecai considers a brighter day.
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• 17:13 Jeffrey: In English, we speak of rolling the dice,
• 17:16 that speaks of just taking a risk and throwing it out there.
• 17:18 Well, it happened in antiquity as well.
• 17:21 In fact, the word "pur," as in "Purim"
• 17:24 comes from a word for "lot."
• 17:25 They had a way of determining when to do things by throwing
• 17:28 the dice and seeing when it landed.
• 17:30 Well, they threw the dice to see when it landed.
• 17:32 They looked to determine when to kill all the Jews.
• 17:35 Happily, however, God had a plan to turn that around.
• 17:39 The turnaround came from a woman,
• 17:42 and it wasn't just her decree that saved them.
• 17:44 It was her decree that gave them permission to fight
• 17:48 for themselves, to make a spirited defense.
• 17:51 Once the king issued a decree for a war,
• 17:54 well then, it had to live out but here,
• 17:56 the Jews were allowed to push back and indeed they did.
• 17:59 We're explicit in the text, by the way.
• 18:01 The author gives voice in no uncertain terms that they
• 18:04 offered a spirited defense and held it all back.
• 18:07 By the way, that which was permitted in antiquity needs
• 18:11 to similarly be permitted in modernity.
• 18:15 And I mention that because you can read the biblical story.
• 18:18 In chapter 9 we're told the Jews assembled and they were able
• 18:22 then to lay hands on those bent on their demise.
• 18:26 There is a wicked invention today and that is the Jews
• 18:29 don't have a right to defend themselves in the land.
• 18:32 We should just be sheepish
• 18:33 and let the world roll over us like a freight train.
• 18:35 Well, after 2000 years, Jews are back in the land providentially
• 18:40 and we're not minded to give it up so easily, and my hope
• 18:43 and prayer is that women and men who are informed
• 18:46 by biblical virtue will stand behind the Jewish right to be
• 18:51 in the land, and the Jewish right to make a spirited defense
• 18:55 for themselves while being there.
• 18:59 We're told here in chapter 9, verse 2,
• 19:01 that those bent on their demise enjoyed no good success.
• 19:05 We're told and I'm explicit now, not just inferential:
• 19:08 "No one was able to stand against them, for fear of them
• 19:12 had fallen on all the peoples roundabout."
• 19:16 And you know what?
• 19:17 Same today as yesterday, because history tends to repeat itself.
• 19:23 When we look at deliverance, we see that God raises up a person.
• 19:28 You wouldn't expect that person to be the person
• 19:30 but the fact that they exist, it means everything.
• 19:36 Not everyone understands it.
• 19:38 For some, Jesus was just some Jewish Palestinian
• 19:42 who died 2000 years ago and some myths circulated
• 19:45 about his resurrection subsequent to that.
• 19:48 He doesn't mean something to them.
• 19:50 But Jesus, the Jewish personality,
• 19:53 means something to me and I hope he means something to you.
• 19:58 The gospel's not some insignificant story.
• 20:00 It's a turnaround story, and Yeshua came to facilitate
• 20:04 a great redemption, not so much political but definitely
• 20:09 spiritual and personal for people like me and you.
• 20:15 ♪♪♪
• 20:24 Kirsten: Most all of us need to be delivered
• 20:26 from something in our lives.
• 20:28 We have something inside that God needs to rip out,
• 20:34 and in the story of Esther, God literally delivered people,
• 20:40 his people, through the life of Esther.
• 20:44 You know, we talk about deliverance.
• 20:45 "Deliver me from something, Lord.
• 20:47 Deliver me out."
• 20:48 And this God I see, through Esther's story,
• 20:53 from somewhere so different and unexpected,
• 20:55 he delivered people through a teenage girl.
• 20:59 So I think sometimes we're at the end of our rope,
• 21:02 that we're, like, "How are you gonna help us out of this?"
• 21:04 He'll send someone or change our story in a way least expected.
• 21:10 And that's what I see in Esther.
• 21:11 Like, who would think that a teenage girl
• 21:14 in that time would deliver his people?
• 21:17 Jeffrey: Yes, well, there's lots of surprises
• 21:19 in biblical literature, as in life.
• 21:21 And it really is rather complex.
• 21:23 There are a number of things interwoven in that,
• 21:26 those statements of yours, deliverance is material,
• 21:29 delivering a people.
• 21:30 There's a spiritual component.
• 21:32 It can be in a relationship that needs delivered.
• 21:36 It can be an employment situation that needs delivered.
• 21:39 It can be health, it can be a culture.
• 21:43 And God has a way. He makes it to happen.
• 21:45 But, you know, I've seen God just at work in my life
• 21:50 and you with yours.
• 21:52 And it just doesn't belong to people you see on TV
• 21:56 or people you see in biblical literature.
• 21:58 To Kirsten's point and David's point,
• 22:01 God really loves people and that means you,
• 22:05 wherever you are, whatever the circumstances are.
• 22:10 Help can come from unlikely places and soon as we turn
• 22:16 to God, help is on the way.
• 22:19 Kirsten: A young teenage girl and in that society
• 22:23 in ancient times, girls weren't quite as important,
• 22:27 and I'm fine with that.
• 22:28 But God decided to rise up, or raise up should I say,
• 22:32 this young girl to such a place and for such a time as that.
• 22:36 It's so important.
• 22:37 So we can't downplay anyone's age or position.
• 22:41 He can use whoever he wants to.
• 22:43 Jeffrey: Yeah, and to the point,
• 22:44 if you look at biblical literature,
• 22:45 God raises up individuals.
• 22:47 We saw Ruth earlier in the series and now Esther.
• 22:49 And we look in the newer Testament where Paul advocates
• 22:53 for women that are participating
• 22:54 with him and advancing the kingdom.
• 22:56 Thank you, ladies.
• 22:58 Kirsten: You're welcome.
• 22:59 Jeffrey: Yes.
• 23:01 David: This is good. We'll be right back.
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• 24:31 Professor Seif.
• 24:33 Jeffrey: Ma'am, how can I help you?
• 24:35 Kirsten: Good--great teaching.
• 24:37 I went from good to great. Great teaching on Esther today.
• 24:41 Jeffrey: The Bible's a great book,
• 24:42 and the mystery of deliverance, how God raises people up,
• 24:46 could be some people today need deliverance to come
• 24:48 from an unknown place and, hey, it's on the way.
• 24:51 Kirsten: And it will come.
• 24:53 Jeffrey: It surely will, yes.
• 24:54 David: Esther was beautiful,
• 24:56 and you may have seen this before.
• 24:58 She portrays this wonderful song.
• 25:02 This is our actress, Esther.
• 25:04 Let's go to her song right now.
• 25:06 Jeffrey: Yes, and on the way out,
• 25:07 as you go, shaalu shalom Yerushalayim.
• 25:11 Kirsten: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
• 25:15 ♪♪♪
• 25:17 [singing in foreign language]
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