Book of Esther

Some of them are like tiny little this, and some of them are the Great Isaiah Scroll, and it's like a complete thing.

They contain both biblical texts, like Isaiah, and in fact, there are representative texts from what look like almost all of the books of the Hebrew Bible, all of them except for Esther, famously.

And then there are lots of texts that are not in the Bible.

Some of them are like texts that seem to have come from the community that is... that lived there at Qumran, right? We have the, we excavated the site there where they were living and presumably doing some of the copying of scrolls.

So like there's stuff in the Hebrew text of Jeremiah.

This is not in the Greek version, even though the Greek version is supposed to be a translation of the Hebrew.

So like, or this stuff I'm talking about with Samuel or Esther, right? Like there's all this stuff in the Greek version of Esther that's not in the Hebrew version of Esther.

So scholars have been like, worrying about this for really 2 000 years what do we do with this right how do we understand that the hebrew and the greek aren't the same um like what do we do we think that one of them is right and one of them is wrong right do we privilege the hebrew because hebrew um and like presumably the hebrew was the original the greek was translated from Or do we privilege the Greek for various reasons, including often that it's shorter and people tend to think that there's a tendency to expand texts rather than delete stuff from them.

I'm just sitting here in the studio with David Hopper from 56david.com talking about Jewish high holidays, Purim, and then Rosh Hashanah.

We're talking about King Zeres and the Book of Esther.

Haman.

It's better left into the break than on the air, I think.

Well, here's a problem with some of these lists.

For one, Esther's not in it.

Two, a lot of times Baruch is included with Jeremiah.

And so we actually find a lot of differences that, you know, it's n- again, this is why I was saying earlier, it's not just about counting books.

Which forms of those books? Are they exactly in the forms that we have in the Protestant Bible today? A lot of times Esther's missing, or a longer version of Esther is present, or Baruch is included, and the Letter of Jeremiah is included.

So it really becomes problematic.

So to, to Aaron, to answer your question, were they in the Jewish Bible? It depends on which part of the world you're in, and it depends on which community of Jews you're dealing with.

Were there some scripture that early Christians were afraid to offend when evangelizing or reaching out to the Jews, or did the Jews influence any scriptures that were taken out, put in, because they didn't want to recognize Christ? Because, like even when-

And we've seen examples of people in the Old Testament who have submitted to rulers in pagan governments while also not, um, going against God in any way.

So for example, you see stories like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and Esther, who we're, we're going through right now on the Old Testament side of stuff, and many other examples as well of people who have submitted to pagan kings while not compromising on their faith.

And submission and humility go hand-in-hand, and they are Christian virtues, because Jesus himself showed submission and servitude and humility when he went to the cross on our behalf.

And since Jesus is the ultimate example of these Christian virtues, then us Christians should also learn submission and humility no matter where God places us in life.

So yeah, at this time next year, we should be finished with the Psalms.

All right, faithful listeners, hope you all have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day.

I'll see you guys hopefully on Monday for the regular scheduled episode as we delve into the Book of Esther a little bit further.

Faithful listeners, happy listening, and God bless.

This is from Danielle in North Carolina.

She has a question about the holiday that the Jews made at the end of the book of Esther when they won the battle.

She says, does it relate to any other holidays in the Bible? Okay.

It kind of stands alone

I think it was a great, great opportunity.

Go ahead.

You know, just today, I mean, in the present time, you know, when the Jewish people celebrate or commemorate the Feast of Purim, they read the Book of Esther.

Amen.

So, anyway, the Mishnah says that the Megillach will be read on one of these five days, never later and never earlier.

And the Gemara, the Babli here, and it really comes from Yerushalmi, will explore what is the source of Again, if I asked everybody assembled, how do you know you read, you should be able to celebrate Purim, read the Megillah on the 14th? The answer is Paraktes, the Book of Esther.

If I asked you, how do you know that some people might do it the 15th? You would say Paraktes, the Book of Esther, the ninth chapter.

But if I asked you, how would you know 11, 12, and 13? You would look at me, you know, if you hadn't seen this mission, I was just telling you, you'd look at me like I, you know, had green horns and was wearing a Martian hat.

So the Mishnah now explains.

It is to be the prayer of a collective that comes together.

I've said for years, as the Lord dealt with me many years ago, that we would relive the Book of Esther.

That's where we are right now.

That's why all of this turmoil going on right now is so strategic, so important about what's going on in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, all that region, Israel, and the Middle East.

It's a royal garden.

Look at the beginning of the Book of Esther and see how such a garden functions in an imperial court.

And then this divine monarch places his image-bearer in this royal garden and commissions him to have dominion.

to exercise kingly rule on his behalf over everything in creation.