--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture.
--:-- [Discussion continues, but it's unclear who is speaking]
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: It is day 275. Ah, well done, everybody. Great day. What a gift. We are reading Nehemiah chapter 6 and 7, Esther chapter 1 and 2, after we read chapters 11 and 12 yesterday, as well as Proverbs chapter 21 verses 1 through 4.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, here's a little secret. You can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Also, another little secret that people don't know about, you can subscribe to this podcast and you can receive daily episodes and updates every day, including today. Day 275, we're reading Nehemiah chapter 6 and 7, Esther chapter 1 and 2, Proverbs chapter 21, verses 1 through 4.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The book of Nehemiah chapter 6. Enemy plots avoided. Now when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah and to Geshem the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it, although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates, Sanbalat and Geshem sent to me saying, Come and let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them saying, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And they sent to me four times in this way and I answered them in the same manner. In the same way, Sanballat, for the fifth time, sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: In it was written, It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. That is why you are building the wall, and you wish to become their king according to this report.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, there is a king in Judah. And now it will be reported to the king according to these words. So now come and let us take counsel together.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Then I sent to him saying, No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind. For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: But now, O God, strengthen my hands. Now, when I went into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Deliah, son of Mehetabel, who was shut up, he said, Let us meet together in the house of God within the temple and let us close the doors of the temple for they are coming to kill you.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: At night they are coming to kill you. But I said, should such a man as I flee? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin. And so they could give me an evil name in order to taunt me.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noah-Diah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The wall completed. So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations round about us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Moreover, in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them. For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shekaniah, the son of Ara.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And his son, Johanan, had taken the daughter of Meshulam, the son of Berechiah, as his wife. Also, they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid. Chapter 7 Now when the wall had been built, and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah, the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And I said to them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each to his station and each opposite his own house. The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been built.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Lists of Returned Exiles Then God put it into my mind to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written in it, These were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried into exile.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his town. They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Ra'amaiah, Nehmani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mizpareth, Bigvi, Nehum, Ba'ana.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The number of the men of the sons of Israel, the sons of Parosh, 2,172. The sons of Shephatiah, 372. The sons of Ara, 652. The sons of Pahath-Moab, namely the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,818
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The sons of Elam, 1,254 The sons of Zatu, 845 The sons of Zakai, 760 The sons of Benui, 648 The sons of Babi, 628 The sons of Asgad, 2,322 The sons of Adonikam, 667 The sons of Bigvi, 2067 The sons of Adin, 655 The sons of Ater, namely of Hezekiah, 98
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The sons of Hashum, 328 The sons of Bizai, 324 The sons of Harif, 112 The sons of Gibeon, 95 The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, 188 The men of Anathoth, 128 The men of Beth-Azmaveth, 42.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The men of Kiriath-Jerim, Shiphirah, and Be'eroth, 743. The men of Ramah and Geba 621 The men of Miqmas 122 The men of Bethel and Ai 123 The men of the other Nebo, 52. The sons of the other Elam, 8,254.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The sons of Harim, 320. The sons of Jericho, 345. The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 721. The sons of Sana'a, 3,930 The priests, the sons of Jediah, namely of the house of Jeshua, 973
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The sons of Immer, 1,052 The sons of Pashur, 1,247 The sons of Harim, 1,017 The Levites, the sons of Jeshua, namely of Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodeva, 74
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The singers, the sons of Apsaph, 148 The gatekeepers. The sons of Shalom, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, 138.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The temple servants. The sons of Zihah, the sons of Hasufah, the sons of Tabaoth, the sons of Keros, the sons of Sia, the sons of Padon, the sons of Lebanon, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Shalmai, the sons of Hanan, The sons of Gidel.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The sons of Gehar. The sons of Ra'ah. The sons of Rezin. The sons of Nekodah. The sons of Gazam. The sons of Uzah. The sons of Pastaiah. The sons of Busai. The sons of Meunim. The sons of Nepushesim. The sons of Bakbuk.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The sons of Hakufa. The sons of Harhur. The sons of Bazlith. The sons of Mahida. The sons of Harsha. The sons of Barchos. The sons of Sisera. The sons of Tima. The sons of Niziyah. the sons of Hatifa, the sons of Solomon's servants, the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sofarath, the sons of Parida, the sons of Ja'ala, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Gedel, the sons of Shafataya, the sons of Hatil.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The sons of Pokareth Hazabaim, the sons of Ammon. All the temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants were 392. The following were those who came up from Telmala, Telharshah, cherub, Adan, and Imr, but they could not prove their father's houses nor their descent, whether they belonged to Israel.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The sons of Deliah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekodah, 642. Also of the priests, the sons of Hobiah, the sons of Hakkaz, the sons of Barzillai, who had taken a wife of the daughters of Barzillai, the Gileadite, and was called by their name.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: These sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies, but it was not found there, so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. The governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food until a priest with Urim and Thummim should arise.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The whole assembly together was 42,360 besides their menservants and maidservants, of whom there were 7,337, and they had 245 singers, male and female. Their horses were 736, their mules 245, their camels 435, and their donkeys 6,720.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Now some of the heads of father's houses gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury a thousand derricks of gold, 50 basins, 530 priests' garments. And some of the heads of father's houses gave into the treasury of the work 20,000 derricks of gold and 2,200 minas of silver.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And what the rest of the people gave was 20,000 derricks of gold, 2,000 minas of silver, and 67 priests' garments. Ezra opens the book of the law. So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel lived in their towns.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The Book of Esther, Chapter 1. King Ahasuerus deposes Queen Vashti. In the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his throne in Susa, the capital, in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his princes and servants, the army chiefs of Persia and Medea, and the nobles and governors of the provinces being before him, while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his majesty for many days, a hundred and eighty days.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the capital, both great and small, a banquet lasting for seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: There were white cotton curtains and blue hangings caught up with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and marble pillars, and also couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother of pearl, and precious stones.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Drinks were served in golden goblets, goblets of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king. And drinking was according to the law. No one was compelled, for the king had given orders to all the officials of his palace to do as every man desired.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus. On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagitha, Zahar, and Karkas, the seven eunuchs who served King Ahasuerus as chamberlains, to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was fair to behold.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command conveyed by the eunuchs. At this, the king was enraged, and his anger burned within him.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times, for this was the king's procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment, the men next to him being Karshanah, Shethar, Admathah, Tarshish, Merez, Marsanah, and Mimucan, the seven princes of Persia and Medea, who saw the king's face and sat first in the kingdom.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus conveyed by the eunuchs? Then Mimucan said in the presence of the king and the princes, not only to the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but also to all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: For this deed of the queen will be made known to all women, causing them to look with contempt upon their husbands, since they will say, King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come This very day the ladies of Persia and Medea who have heard of the queen behavior will be telling it to all the king princes and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: If it please the king let a royal order go forth from him and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it may not be altered, that Vashti is to come no more before King Ausuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, vast as it is, all women will give honor to their husbands high and low. This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Bemukhan proposed.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script, and to every people in its own language, that every man be lord in his own house, and speak according to the language of his people.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Chapter 2. Esther is chosen as queen. After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Then the king's servants who attended him said, Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king, and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa, the capital, under custody of Haggai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Let their ointments be given them, and let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. This pleased the king, and he did so.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Now there was a Jew in Susa, the capital, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: He had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was beautiful and lovely.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And when her father and her mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter. So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many maidens were gathered in Susa the capital in custody of Haggai, Esther also was taken into the king's palace and put in custody of Haggai, who had charge of the women.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And the maiden pleased him and won his favor, and he quickly provided her with her ointments and her portion of food and with seven chosen maids from the king's palace and advanced her and her maids to the best place in the harem.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to make it known. And every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and how she fared.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Now when the turn came for each maiden to go into King Ahasueros, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women, when the maiden went into the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king's palace.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: In the evening she went, and in the morning she came back to the second harem in custody of Sha'ashgaz, the king's eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She did not go into the king again unless the king delighted in her, and she was summoned by name.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: When the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Abahel, the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his own daughter to go into the king, she asked for nothing except what Haggai, the king's eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Now Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her. And when Esther was taken to King Ahasueros into his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth in the seventh year of his reign, the king loved Esther more than all the women.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king gave a great banquet to all his princes and servants.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: It was Esther's banquet. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal liberality.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Mordecai discovers a plot. When the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Now Esther had not made known her kindred or her people as Mordecai had charged her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And in those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows, and it was recorded in the book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: The book of Proverbs chapter 21 verses 1 through 4. The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked are sin.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Oh, thank you so much, Lord. Thank you for your word. Thank you for this opportunity. Thank you for this community of people, God, who are journeying on this Bible in a year.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Thank you for their faithfulness. Thank you for not perfection, but thank you for perseverance. Perseverance, so much more than perfection, faithfulness so much more than anything else we need.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Oh God, thank you. Please receive our thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: So golly, we are deep in the story of Esther. But before we get to Esther and to Nehemiah, back to Nehemiah, let's look at Proverbs chapter 21, verse two. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Gosh, so incredible. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes. That reminds us, right, of the book of Judges, where it said, everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: There was no king. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. That sense of relativism, that sense of, if it works, let's try it. If it doesn't work, then we'll just try again.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And yet, the Lord weighs the heart. And this gift of truth and this gift of real goodness and the gift of real justice is present to us in God's word.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And so I'm just so grateful that the Lord has given us his word so we can know the next step.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: So speaking of next steps, there is, here's a segue. In the book of Nehemiah, we had a number of things happening. A, we got introduced to Ezra at the very end. We're almost introduced to Ezra. He's going to be here in chapter eight.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: We concluded with chapter seven and we had the announcement, at least the header that said, Ezra opens the book of the law. That's coming tomorrow.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: But today while we did have chapter 7 and the lists of returned exiles which you know is a gift it a gift to have these lists of names because we know this is a a true story these people are real people
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: They lived this real journey Every one of those names every one of those numbers associated with the names are an individual that is either living forever with God or forever without God.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Just that we recognize every person is a part of this story, just like you and I are part of this story.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: But in chapter six, before the lists, I mean, chapter six, we have these plots against Nehemiah.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: So remember Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem, the Arab, and the rest of the enemies that kept trying to get Nehemiah killed.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Here's Nehemiah's great answer. At some point, Sanballat and Geshem come, they send to Nehemiah, say, come and let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And I sent messengers to them saying, this is Nehemiah's words, and just these are words that are so important for us.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: He says, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Those words are, gosh, I prayed with those words so many times.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: How many times do people try to get us to stop doing God's will? How many times do people try to get us to stop doing exactly what we know God wants us to do?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Regardless, if that work is building a wall, if that work is working in a garden, if that work is teaching someone, if that work is being a small country priest in a small country parish, whatever that work is that you've been given, whether that work is being a stay-at-home mom or stay-at-home dad, whatever that work is,
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: You recognize when it's been given to you by God, Someone tries to distract you, take you away from that work.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: We can have this answer, the answer of Nehemiah. I am doing a great work and I cannot come down.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: I'm raising a family right now, doing a great work and I cannot come down. I'm teaching these kids. I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: I'm, the Lord has commissioned me to be a custodian and I keep these halls clean. I keep these bathrooms spotless. I'm doing a great work and I cannot come down.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: See, human work, human work has so much dignity. It has dignity because it's humans who do it.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And as we said before, us humans, made in God's image and likeness, whenever we create, whenever we work, whenever we clean, whenever we do anything, we bring, I don't wanna say it too much, but we bring something of the divine to that work.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And here's Nehemiah who knows he's doing this because God has commissioned him. And so he won't be distracted. He won't be taken away from the work.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: He says, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Not only they try that, meet him in this, you know, one of the villages in the plain of Ono,
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: But then he says, listen, you got to go hide in the temple. And got to go hide in the temple, knowing that if he ran into the temple out of fear for his life, they'll be able to say he sinned by going to a place that was prohibited from Nehemiah.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And so he doesn't do that. And he says in verse nine, for they all wanted to frighten us thinking their hands will drop from the work and it will not be done.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And then he prays, but now, oh God, strengthen my hands.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: So good. They wanted to scare us. How many times do people try to frighten you away from doing what God wants you to do, what God's commissioned you to do, and they don't have permission?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Why? Because we turn to the Lord and say, no, Lord God, give us our strength. Be our strength.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Speaking of strength, we have this story, the beginning of the story of Esther.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: I mean, we already heard chapters 11 and 12 yesterday, but today we get chapters 1 and 2 kind of setting the scene.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: We have King Ahasuerus, who's not a great guy. We all know this, right? He's not someone to be emulated.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: He has Queen Vashti. he flips out after having a party for 180 days, and then he has a party for seven days with the entire kingdom, wants Vashti to show up.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: She doesn't because she's like, no, the guy's drunk. He's been partying for, you know, 187 days by now. I'm not just going to go into his presence and be on display for everyone to Google at.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And she doesn't come. And what happens? The counsel given to Asueros is, well, yeah, you know, make a decree against, you know, listen, I mean, you probably heard it.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: If the other wives hear about Queen Vashti not doing what the king wanted her to do, they're going to start not doing what their husbands want them to do.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And it's going to be chaos all over the place. And it's just one of those situations where you're looking at this thinking, this is nuts.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: This guy, Ahasuerus, is not a hero. Let's make that clear. Ahasuerus is not to be emulated.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: After 180 days partying with princes and governors and then seven days with everybody. He's not making good decisions and no one here is making good decisions.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: But then what happens is Queen Esther, Esther, who is a Jewish young woman, gets brought in because we got to replace Vashti and she becomes part of his harem.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Again, not a great thing. And there's a year, 12 months worth of her getting ready to meet the king.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: Gentlemen, and you thought it took a long time for your wives to get ready. Am I right? Okay, sorry.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: But there is this sense of injustice happening here? I mean, I guess, especially from a 21st century perspective where we have, it's so clear in our Judeo-Christian heritage that men and women are created equal in dignity,
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: That here is this woman, and not just this woman, Esther, but many women, Bashti included, who are mere property, right?
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: That here's the man who's powerful and he gets to do whatever he wants, essentially.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And what's going to happen is Esther is going to be brought into this broken system, into this broken world.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: She already lived in the broken world. You and I live in the broken world. Esther is gonna be brought into this broken world so God can do something great even in the midst of brokenness.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: So please, just once again, as we read these stories, it's really helpful for us to recognize that the reason why we can read this and say, man, that is wrong, is because of our Jewish Christian heritage.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: It's because of the fact that what we believe is not what Nebuchadnezzar, it's not what Ahasuerus believed, it's not what the Persians, the Medes or the Babylonians believed.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: We believe that men and women are created in equal equality and equal dignity and that women are not meant to be objects for men.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And that's why one of the reasons why we can see the evil of this moment, but we also are going to be able to see how God can bring up this young woman, Esther, in a broken system to do something incredible.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And that's what God wants to do with us too. We are all living in broken systems. We're all living in a broken world,
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: But God can do something with us in this broken world, in this broken system to have his will accomplished, to have people be saved, to have people be lifted up out of this oppression and out of this injustice.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: We're going to see that in the days to come.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: And I'm so grateful that we are going to be able to have the opportunity to walk with Esther.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: We've been walking with each other for 275 days for crying out loud. It's amazing.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: I am praying for you. Please, please pray for me.
--:-- Father Mike Schmitz: My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.
