Megilat Esther - Part 6 - Chapter 5 - Verse 1-8

[Music] hello everyone today we're gonna be studying media Esther chapter five pursuit game one through eight to quickly recap with what we talked to in the last couple of classes the Jews of Persia they've been going on with their daily lives without an inkling that something was about to be turned on their heads and overnight everything turned upside down a horrific decrees set forth by Mon and ox Raja went forth throughout the kingdom and there was help hung up in every town square that everyone needed you but ready with sores at their hands for some type of war felt fair since I have a battle it was very vague but they needed be ready with swords on their hand with their hands on the 13th of Adar no one knew what this meant at first everyone was completely bewildered everyone when the buzz is like what's going on here what's that's gonna mean what's going on well the governor's sat traps the princes of all the different provinces they received its creed that was explicitly laid out describing exactly what needed to be carried out on that day and that seven that decree that any Jew is to be found in their province after that date them and their own families would be killed the leaders who hated the Jewish people they were a choice that this commands but there were some leaders who were friendly with the Jews they saw this and so they could even hide the Jews in their Kingdom or the province area and their this I hope we don't want to do this and they showed this decree to the Jews and their province and so that they would be forewarned that this was gonna happen and there wasn't anything they could do about it and from there the word just started trickling out and then just spread like wildfire there was so much anti-semitism and Persia people desperately wanted to jump the gun and filling the King's request here the sikri was set out in the month of Nisan the first of the months they couldn't fulfill this decree and the very last of the months until Adar they weren't so thrilled about that they really wanted to jump the gun but most of the Persians were also very weary about how Oxford was and in fact that he didn't have a great track record he had the reputation of being this part of King he made these crazy decrees while he's drunk that he's just regrets soon after he keeps flip-flopping from one thing to the next he makes its decisions from the device of his servant boys he rounds all the beautiful maidens not just once but after he chooses his cream he takes the maidens again a second time and he also makes questionable decisions about who he raises up to power the Persians didn't trust anything really Oxford sent outs he was bit of a buffoon of a king but this decree they actually liked they wanted to fulfill it but they were also skeptical about the king and whether or not he was gonna change his mind soon after so they decided that maybe they'd wait a few days see if there's any new changes coming from the kingdom and if not there were going to be a lot of people who are gonna jump the gun and try and fulfill this time was fragile the majority of the Jews throughout Persia rich and poor they all joined together they all put on the sack cloth and the ashes on their head and just started to cry out and mourn the majority but not all the Jews of the capital city of Shushan they heard the decree but they carried on their way they were more upset with more of the highs who they knew had provoked tamam which got this decrease out in the first place like they knew like he's the one it were more up said that him but yet they also knew oh we have his wife she's in the palace says the cream I mean with the queen is Jewish this isn't really gonna take place everything's gonna be fine like we don't really need n do anything here everything gonna take care of itself this seriously it's not gonna happen right Mordechai however he heard this decree he was devastated he wept for his people's loudly bitterly he didn't hold back and he knew that he had played a certain role in it and he donned the sack cloth and he went to the streets he wanted the Jews of Shushan to see him he wanted to try to inspire them too but they also needed to pray and beseech hush them from mercy not just to rely on Esther in the palace the people needed to do their parts they needed to do their teshuva for this to work Esther she also needed to be informed but Martha they knew how dire the situation was he wasn't going to waste a second he needed from every single moment he could praying touch him to dawn royal garments so that you could enter the Kings gate to tell her in person that would take too much time that was neither to be in prayer he kept the sackcloth on he needed to have the ashes on this head he needed tomorrow not a second could be lost therefore he situates himself right outside the Kings gates he knew Esther she would eventually hear that something was amiss then she would reach out to him it didn't take long for word to reach Esther that Mordecai wasn't showing up to work Esther she tried to reach out to him she sent someone with royal garments so that he could put the mom and enter the gate and tell her in person what's going on but he refused and he didn't even send a word with the messengers to a hint of what was going on Esther was scared it wasn't like her husband to act this way she knew had to be a national calamity the fact that you could even tell her in person business but their worst there's such turmoil this was bad this had to be very very bad she sent her trusted confidant haha who our sages identify as Daniel to find out what was going on and why the underlying spiritual cause so that she could also join than doing teshuva and works to help think of a cure Huk meets more the high in the city square right before the king's gates a busy place so that no one would even the conversation but for all of this precaution it wasn't enough haha he disappears from the storyline as the Midrash explains that Haman he saw hotha he was a Jew with his powerful past speaking with another powerful Gio more the high how am I gonna trust it so he had put together plots and he had come on had huzzah murdered the messenger new messengers were sent between more Lahaina Esther and as they discuss is what they're gonna be doing here what needs to be done Merlin hi he tells Esther she needs two pair before the king not a second should be wasted not a second should be lost she can't wait until the King calls her time was fragile she needed to risk her life by sticking the king at this very moment with all the people who wanted to jump the gun carry out this decree now yes that was an issue but it also went beyond that now was not just the right time because of the enemies but was also the right time because majority of the Jewish people they were ready Mordecai was worried that was passing time the Jews all the Jews were going to start to lose hope but their spirits was thought to fly therefore he told Esther that if you wait for another time for a different moment but that it's gonna be more ideal for you you lose the time that would be more ideal for the nation right now the nation was unifying together within prayer and repentance but this backing s-sir as she's approaching arch heroes this was trading a spiritual force that would break down barriers if she went when she waited so she was summoned it could be at a time when the jewish people started to lose hope started to falter as they single way into despair such and they stop trying to reach out touch em we couldn't have this Astra needed to act now she had the nation behind her and she wasn't gonna get another opportunity like this again then helped with a rise from somewhere else merlic I was also telling Esther that with her wanting to delay to talk to Oxford it was downright silly why did she think God elevated her to this position in the first place God elevated you for this purpose you're going to succeed if you go before the king this is why you are here besides who knows they're going to be in this position a week from now maybe the king is gonna dispose of you and trade you for never they the thousands of girls that he has in his harem instead you don't have time to wait you don't know what's gonna be you need to act now aye sir she took this to heart and she told merlic hi to assemble all the Jews in Shushan to bring them to have him on the same page as well and have them start fasting for three days the Jews needed the spiritual awakening but Jesus Shushan didn't feel this threat as strongly they figured thing of the Queen they'd survive they may have a man who had provoked him on they weren't so pleased with him either they had to love other emotions inside of them that were but they too needed to unify in this as soon needed them to help back her up in the prayers but they also needed a fast on her behalf they couldn't just sit by passively and wait they needed to take an active part in this Redemption this fasting was specifically important to the Jews of Shushan alone because there was also in an atonement of their own sin they needed to do teshuva themselves the Jews of Shushan were the ones who took part of October OSHA's feasts they took part of the original sin that had this decree made and schmeyer it wasn't the Jews in the outer provinces it was just Jews of this big city of Shushan they brought down the city hurry upon the people and now since the Jews had sins with food and drink but they took part in ox Roush's feast now by fasting from food and drink they would set them in the right motion to do their Toshiba Esther was afraid not just afraid for her own life but afraid of her soul as Circe says what's often known as her most famous line if I perish I perish or literally what I have lost I have lost she feared that with Oxford she was with him and that was adultery even though she was never willing participants in any of their encounters she never willingly went to him now she was going to Esther fairs what's been lost so are these now it's definitely losses she's definitely gonna be abusing her soul with this her heavenly reward and the fact that she could never again reunite with more the hi after this as husband and wife I want to talk a little bit about Esther's sacrifice here when morally hai requested that Esther plead with ostrich to save the Jews from Hammonds wicked decree Esther hero clear applied casera body avati another translation would have whatever I lose by this act I will doubly lose although some interpret this lines as the stoic lines of a martyr who was no belt to perish at the Kings hands other commentaries point toward its deeper loss that approaching the King would mean that she would submit herself to him committing the cardinal sin of adultery as a result as soon as she would doubly lose as an adulterer she would lose her beloved murder hi or more importantly she would forgo her spiritual future feature in the world to come yet Esther wasn't throat throat said she was like throne are thrown off by these considerations the righteous s search she was prepared to follow the instructions of Marla hi the Siddiq of her generation in order to save her people she didn't anticipate that she was gonna have some spiritual benefit by being the one to say for people she didn't think she was gonna get rewarded by this baby's heroic actions and the contrary she assumed by surrounding her spiritual she's gonna be surrendering her spiritual life her alum ha ha ha because of this impending sin nevertheless she was willing to sacrifice everything even her eternal life for her people's salvation spiritual death for the sake of the Jewish people with the children of God is a level of Misurata nefesh self-sacrifice that reveals the deepest core of the soul it exposes the pose part of the soul most intimately connected to Hashem the fact that you're actually united with him she was willing to sever that life has ones dearest possession but for Esther it wasn't her physical life alone as she was putting on the chopping block it was also her connection to Shem her lung chuppah her soul she was willing to sacrifice her soul just to save her people actions her Esther's actions demonstrate her love for the Jewish people that was so intense that she was willing to relinquish her spiritual future in this playing such love for the Jewish people whose essence is core the core essence of Jewish people is to be one with God and Esther showing was showing a love for God by doing this and ultimately sacrificing every thing for the Jewish people as served by doing this was sacrificing everything for God though her supreme self-sacrifice was on the behalf of her people assert because she did that she was able to attain atonement for their sins and then all the decree that was calling for their annihilation and although Esther she did not ultimately lose her eternal life through this she did have to give up her precious relationship with Marta hi let's continue that I strain the juice of Shushan they fasted from food and drink for three days which included the first day of Pesach you can imagine Pesach stay there without the four cups of wines all you know just say their plate you're taking from its you know we're going to pay sauce without doing that but as Esther told Mordecai if there's gonna be no Jews there's not going to be a piece off so Esther spent the next three days fasting praying preparing her minds her body and soul for this moment let's start reading chapter five posickey 1 now it came to pass on the third day Esther donned royalty and stood in the inner courtyard at the king's palace facing the king's palace while the king was sitting on the throne of the royal palace facing the entrance of the palace there's a lot that can be said about this Pesa cologne a lot so this happens on the third day it's not after the third day but on the third day when she's known there you end up her fast but she's been fasting for three whole days I know different people fasts well some others don't I'm one of those who don't fast well I've heard time because like my blood sugar plummets and I just have to stay laying down not exerting any energy really to get through a fast but there are people who have easier time of fasting Yom Kippur and tisha Bob that's just one whole day now if you add an additional entire day on top of that and then add another day on top of that and somewhere near the end of the third day without further drink you'd also likely be feeling really strongly in this position of being incredibly feeble credibly we can warn next s-sir she puts on her royal apparel ok she's she's the queen I'd be pretty ridiculous they think you know the cream should be seen wearing anything other than royal apparel so what is going what does this actually mean multiple explanations are given one being that Esther she had been fasting for three days and the Zohar says she was as the her body was weakened from the fasting so she was as a soul without a body and that when Esther donned royalty she was a spiritual royalty which was divine inspiration real ha'qodesh asters fasting Mather get to the point that she stopped identifying with her body her physicality she was no longer her body she didn't feed into anything anything physical that she only fed her soul these past few days she wore her soul she donned her soul connected to Hashem real ha'qodesh she was she was glowing from this munoz Halevi says that until now as sir she detested the royal robes but now Martha was impressing upon her the importance of this mission and how the salvation of Israel was dependent upon her she consented to make the best possible impression upon the King as she cuz she donned the most magnificent got royal garments she could find Esther dressed for the part both internally and externally and she set forth with two of her maid servants she placed her right hands on one maidservant and leans on her in the manner of royalty and probably in a bit of a manner of weakness from the fasting even the second maidservant she walked behind her carrying her train so that big gold have been on the train would not touch the floor and Esther's face shown her she was also concealing that worried that she had in their heart one step back time has certain coal oil maidservants they made their way to an unknown fate and they came to the Royal courtyard and there's a strangely way of explaining in the past sick and when it says is that they and stood in the inner court of the king's house over against the king's house the King sat on his roll royal throne in the Royal House over against entrance of the house the way that the first passage just mentions it's like the way it's kind of confusing how it's describing about whereas the king is in where she's entering it and huzzah explains that there were seven chambers leading to the throne room she answered the first room then the second then the third when she entered the fourth room Oxbridge began to gnash his teeth and shake his head saying alas for all those who are gone how I wanted Queen Vashti to come before me yet she did not come so I had her executed and then there's her come on her own like a i sir stood in the middle middle of the fourth room the first set of servants were in charge of the alda rooms they could not touch her for she was not in their room it wasn't in their domain so they didn't have say over what to do and the ones before and the other chambers they could do anything either because she had not yet reached their domain and at that moment esther pray and psalms 22 they say that this entire psalm has to do with esther and here it is a quote from esther prayed from one of the pacific him there be not only for me for distress is near esther passed through the different chambers leaving the men's jaw drops the men knew they needed to act and it was according to the law but they're also afraid to act because they didn't know how the king was going to respond but he knows how the king will response they don't act but how is he gonna react if they do act but well this he gonna do surely it was this had to be a bigger front to the king then what Vashti did he certainly was gonna have her killed maybe they should just wait him to like give the signal give the word and the courtiers knew the king was gonna be angry but he knew ox Rose had a very short temper and he acted before his thoughts so they were like start talking among themselves and as another part of Psalm 22 when it says they divide their garments among them the different men are said one would say like death is gonna be decreed upon our well the show for us I will take her garments and the other one said I want to take her jewels the other ones make I'm gonna take her necklace another one said I'm gonna take her mantle and they're just started dividing their garments among themselves like what they're gonna take and they're like you know how people because it was it like a bat signal like I think I bet this like this like you know hand over there like all they're all excited like oh this is definitely gonna happen and they start like doing things to try to like I'm getting this part and you're getting that part and so I so she like she hears that she knows this is going on but before she when she started entering these chambers first she entered she says Hashem she had the Royal ha'qodesh but when she in there that's enter these chambers the divine presence will left her because the rooms were filled with idols and she no longer felt Hashem with her she became fearful she walked on not sure what was gonna happen she could feel Hashem anymore she was weak she had she continued forward she pauses in that fourth chamber she lifts her eyes to see Oxford absolutely seeming his eyes burned with wrath and from height she became faint and she rested her head on her maidservants and I sir cried out Tushin then Psalm 22 my God my God why have you forsaken me why has the order of the world and the order of the matriarch s' changed against me sorry she was held captive by Paro for one night and his entire household they were punished I haven't placed this bosom of this wicked man all of these years and yet you make no miracles for me you have given women three Commandments the menstrual laws the separation of hala the lighting of Shabbat candles and even though I'm in this house of this wicked man I have not transgressed even one of them a sir was immediately answered God had mercy on his people and took know of the distress of the orphan Esther who trusted in him he gave her grace before the king and added to her beauty and her glory the sick too when the King knows this Esther standing in the courtyard she found favor in his eyes the King extended to Esther the gold scepter that was in his hand and Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter a surf film favor what happens the measurer says that three ministering angels came to her at that moment Esther's head was drooping or in her weakened and frightened states so one of the angels lifted up her neck so that Oxford should see her face another stretch the thread of grace over her and a third took ox roches scepter and extended it to her by how much did extend it rubbing Emery I said that it was two cubits long but he made it twelve cubits and the courting to other opinions he made a cube this scepter extended to 16 or 24 even sixty cubits long the onlookers they wanted this show again quoting Psalm 22 it says a pack of evildoers and closed me like lions on my hands and feets the onlookers they were drenched in the villa Zara show her Tove says that the cast spells on Esther at this moment trying to make her look I'm pleasing and ugly to the king they wanted this show they wanted to get her garments and everything so they try to make her hands and feet look ugly by making him look like claws and paws deforms but the miracle happened instead and made her hands and feet shine like sapphire and at that moment another angel descended and slapped oh Sh on the mouth and said to him a wicked one your beloved stands there and you sit within and that's when the King finally know this Esther against his will she found favor in his eyes forced by the angels to know the sir and this was something that his free will at that moment was taken from him and Hashem completely to control the situation I was going to happen no matter what that now the King know this turn he didn't see her physicality he saw her garment of spiritual lights so that she appeared as an angel of God herself and the Zohar says that at this moment his soul left him for an instant the perfect man says that Esther drew near and she touched the top of his sceptre as stated before the miracle when the angel did was made the scepter stretch way longer than it should to be able to reach her in that fourth chamber and they say that the second miracle here was greater than the first but as she approached off faroush touching the scepter the scepter decreased in size which in steps she took so she was always touching the scepter as she went closer and close two times two always reached her I just got smaller she went on persik and that's why it says so estrogen ER attached the top of the scepter because as she was drying there she was still touching top of the scepter it moved with her movements her 6:3 the king said to her whether is it for you o Queen Esther and whether is your petition even if it be until half the kingdom it shall be granted to you as surgery near instead before him he can now see her face clearly and that her face was pale from all of her fasting and he realized now he had time to think and not react he realized that Esther sudden unsummon appearance which was potentially a capital offense indicated that there was a more urgent request she wouldn't have done this it was at something at most urgency so ox broche now thinking instead of reacting he thought maybe she's being unbearably harassed by someone or maybe her petitions on behalf of others which ever it could be must be something the most serious nature imaginable why else would she risk her life this way look at her in this state she she looks completely distraught so he offered to fulfill what was going on whatever the case up until half the kingdom people make this out to sound like some huge romantic gesture but whether it came truly Hensen to at the statement as she could have up to half the kingdom but not the whole kingdom nourish because she requests anything that was going to the service stability of the kingdom and what would divide the kingdom and that would be the rebuilding of the holy temple the very thing Oxford put into motion the first thing you didn't he start with his role was to stop the rebuilding of the temple his entire world began revolved around that so he would do anything but that Messick for Esther said if it pleases the king let the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for him as soon as telling the King indeed yes this is something very important that she needs to ask him but it's not the right time at this moment it would be more opportune for him to come visit her during her social visit a banquet would be when he'd be more relaxed then she would presents her request so why did esther invite come on sure have ostrich come to more private place to ask this request of him but why does a mom need to be there our sages give various reasons and the talmud offers about 12 different reasons from different rabbis and putting as to why this could be and why this was a really great idea then that the ends it as one of the rabbi's met with Eliyahu Hanavi and he asked him according to which of these twelve different reasons for the stages give was Esther's reasoning and Eliyahu Hanavi replied according to all of them they were all her reasons Esther had really thought this through so to summarize these various idea ideas s-sir she was smart she was gonna set a trap for her maan give him a false sense of security so you wouldn't realize that she was a Jew herself also that he should be available and near to her in the king at all times so that she'd be able to utilize every opportunity that comes up to you to turn makini against him on as ox Fross was constantly changing his mind she needed him on there at that very moment when she turned ox faroush against him in addition by only inviting him on and none of the other officials it was going to make the evident princes leaders even more jealous of him on the man did nothing to be raised to his position and his chair was raised higher than the rest of the princes they didn't like him already he was this hot-headed arrogant guy he didn't deserve his position he didn't nothing of to be remarkable to be put into this position and they had already ill feelings toward come on and this was going to invoke even more ill feelings from their other princes against him on her goal wasn't just to make the other ministers jealous of him on she also wanted to make the King jealous she said to herself I will act nicely toward him smiling a lot so that occifer OSHA's jealousy will be aroused and he'll kill us both a Sir made this decision to invite her mom because she also wanted her people to care about it Murdoch I was hard at work trying to inspire the Jewish people of Shushan to internalize this decree so that they would do the shoe for themselves therefore Esther invited him on so that word would get out too Jewish people that the cream invited home on to this banquets and this was gonna book fear and Bonet yes Tyrell they would stop saying nothing's gonna happen I know look at the Jew is who's the cream and instead they're gonna start questioning her allegiances but in because they're gonna question her allegiance they're gonna pray hard to touch them cuz they're gonna learn that Sarah should be friendly come on they can no longer rely on her to save them they needed to believe they no longer had a sister in the palace they needed to please Hashem for mercy pasok five the king commanded hastin himand to fulfill Esther's worth so the king and Haman came to the banquet Esther had prepared the king ordered the servants to hastened home on Asheboro she wasn't going to keep Esther waiting he was worried that Amon might leave so he ordered him on to come even if it was against his will even if someone had something else going on order him command him he's coming along - yes sir and her request was not be kept waiting a six six McKean sets Esther during the wine feast what is your request it shall be granted to you what is your petition even if it be until half the kingdom it shall be fulfilled at the banquet oxfords realized she didn't just risk her life to invite them to a mill what was the real nature of her petition greater small while there was for her sulfur for others he was ready to fulfill it as long as I had nothing to do with the temple but six seven and eight so as she responded and said my requests in my petition if I have found favor in the Kings eyes and if it pleases the King to grant my request to fill my petition that the king is come on come to the banquet I shall prepare for them and tomorrow I shall fulfill the Kings word Esther invites them again both again she wants to invoke the in jealousy of ox Roche start having to start turning on him on this entire feast she's been feeding ox roches mind and against him on now heard different actions that choosing a come on and now needed a sit and Oxford is mine look at fester they're a little bit keep it up keep him up all night which it will and what did she do to really make him jealous the Midrash says that when hammam was brought to Esther's feast Esther placed here's her couch besides her Mons and then she took her goblets and gave it to home on and just kept smiling at home on and the King saw this and was jealous the King may have thought at first that Esther simply wished to honor her mom because it was thanks to her mom's advice that Esther was permanently disposed of and now asterism Vashti's old position I mean it made sense the Oxford is for that reason alone that he promoted him on above all of the other princes so sure as Sir wanted to honor come on as well and give him things so he could maybe understand in that sense her inviting him but she's being a bit too friendly with him so this stuff wasn't gonna be sitting well with Oxford and we'll get more into that in Chapter six meanwhile a certain forms the king that she will again have a second banquets where she was give her petition to the king and she will also do the king's bidding and what was that I struck never told him who her family was Oxford he had asked again and again and again who who her people were you know everyone claimed her as her own people she looked ethnically ambiguous everyone claims her as their people so the Jews in those thing that we have a sister in the palace nobody took mine of that because everybody was claiming Esther as their own people so he wanted to know who she actually was so she could so he could lay still that debate that started this whole thing about who the most beautiful woman in the land was he'd wanted to know that she was but as they remain silent and Knox rose she kept trying to get it out from her by throwing lavish parties in her name are taking that second a beautiful woman just try to make her jealous it those acts weren't gonna work on her but what he thought would work on her she knew was gonna work on him and so she did exactly what he did to her as she did to him knowing it would work on him and then there our next class we're going to discuss himand when he leaves this face feeling no light as air and then he sees more naxaiites and all this happiness fades away it means absolutely nothing to him if you can't get rid of Mordechai it means nothing and he can't wait a second little more a dart it was too far away he can't just get rid of him some normal way either it has to be some grand Boise way and his wife helps him devise a plan [Music]