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CHURCH LETTER
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
` I AM that I AM '
In this Letter we are looking at the Book of Esther. In most Christian circles this Book is centered on Purim, which although not included in the Levitical Feasts of Israel occurs on the 14th day of Adar, just one month before the Feast of Passover. As both Feasts concern a Deliverance of the Jewish people this Feast of Purim is kept with great joy and thanksgiving. In the Hebrew Canon of Scripture we find the Book of Esther within the Writings section. The word `Purim' simply means `lots', and in Esther it refers to the method used by the wicked Haman in choosing the day for his proposed massacre of the Jews living in the Citadel of Shushan, or Susa, one of four Citadels under Persian rule.
Now we have mentioned the place where Purim took place this seems to be the place in which to briefly set out the dynastic line of the Persian kings who were drawn into the event, and also the person of Esther - or to use her Hebrew name, Hadassah, meaning Myrtle, a beautiful evergreen shrub with white flowers turning to red berries. This gives us an indication of her beauty which attracted the eye of the great Persian King Ahaseurus. We do not need to go too far back into the line of these kings so we shall begin with the fourth Persian king, Cyaxares, who is recorded by Herodotus and also recorded on the Cylinder of Cyrus. Cyaxares was the father of Astyages - which is the birth or family name - and it is this Astyages who is recorded in the Book of Esther (1:1) as Ahasuerus, or in some versions as Xerxes. This same Astyages is also recorded as Artaxerxes which like Ahasuerus and Xerxes are royal titles describing some element of his power - he is recorded in Ezra 4.7 and Nehemiah 2:1 as Artaxerxes. We also see this Astyages recorded in Daniel 5:31 as Darius the Median (not to be confused with Darius Hystaspis who appears later in Scripture). These are Royal Titles, Ahasuerus meaning `the mighty king' whilst Xerxes and Artaxerxes both mean `the great king'. Finally Darius the Median means `the Restrainer', all of which are Royal Titles of the one king's birth name of Astyages. The beginnings of this Astyages came from a southern movement of early Persian tribes, the Pasargadae people, of which the Achaemenid clan was the most dominant. They settled in an area at the head of the Persian Gulf, and later Pasargadae became the capital of the Achaemenid Empire.
And so with that slight diversion we can return to the Book of Esther. However, although it was a slight diversion it was important as at this point in His-story God's people were in captivity in Babylon in provinces subordinate to the great kings of the Babylonian Empire. Over the many years since the Book of Esther was placed in the `Writings' section of the Hebrew Canon of Scripture there have been many attacks upon even its inclusion in the Word of God, for it has no mention of God in its script. It could therefore be considered merely a story of God's deliverance of His people who were in captivity because of their idolatry. However the ancient Hebrew scholars said in response to such criticisms, `You ask the wrong question. Ask not where is God in Esther, but rather, where is Esther in Torah', the seedbed of all Scriptural revelation. And so they searched through Torah and eventually they came to the Book of Deuteronomy - which in the Hebrew Scriptures is merely entitiled `The Words', for they are `the words which Moses spoke to all Israel on this side of the Jordan'. In searching through Torah the Hebrew scholars came across some words in Deuteronomy 31:16-18:
" And they will forsake Me and break My Covenant, which I have made with them. Then My anger shall be kindled against them in that day and I will forsake them and I will hide My face from them . . . . So they will say in that day, `Are not all these evils come upon us because our God is not amongst us?. And I will surely hide My face in that day for all the evils which they have wrought in that they turned from Me unto other gods. "
However those Hebrew scholars knew that the LORD Who spoke through Moses had used His Covenanted Name, therefore no matter how fierce His anger His unconditional Covenant of Love would prevail! And so they searched the Book of Esther to find His hidden face, and they found His Name recorded in the heart of Esther, for no matter how many times His people left Him for other gods He could never leave His `precious possession' for He carried them in His heart! They found His Name through the faithful work of the Massorites. The Sopherim, a branch of the Massorite scribes, were entrusted with the exact copying of the Hebrew scrolls, and these seventy men of the Great Assembly were appointed by Ezra and Nehemiah to draw together the scrolls of the Hebrew Scriptures which today make up the Hebrew Canon of Scripture. Massorah simply means `to deliver in the hands of another (in this case the Massorites) so as to commit something into their trust'. The Massorah itself is called `the fence of the Scriptures' because it locked all the words and letters into a fixed place.
The Massorites went to unbelievable lengths to ensure accuracy - to the extent of using a hair to measure the distance between words - for as Jesus Himself said, `not a jot or tittle would be lost'. If a mistake in copying was made, the scroll would not be destroyed for the Hebrew words were considered to be sacred and God-inspired. If a mistake occured the scroll would be kept in a special place - hence today's discoveries of `older manuscripts', shedding `new insight' on the Scriptures. These `older manuscripts' would be corrupted, and yet still of Divine inspiration for such was the reverance of those Massorites that what was Divinely given could not be destroyed. In copying the sacred scrolls the Massorites would not have written any comments or opinions in the margins, for there could be no `other opinions' of God's Word . . . it was, it is and it will always be! However the Massorites were allowed when copying to note in the margins any unusual occurences of words - such as the number of times certain letters appeared in other Books of the Scriptures; the numbers of words in a passage of Scripture; the middle words or the number of verses, or the middle verse of a passage. In such ways they safeguarded the accuracy of the sacred scrolls, ensuring that not one jot or tittle was lost for all Scripture was sacred.
In searching the Book of Esther they found five such notations in the margins of the script. These revealed the Name of God written as an acrostic - which is to use successive Alpha letters at the beginning or end of successive lines to form a word. The Massorites also noted that four of the five acrostic words were written in the majuscular form, that is, in larger letters of equal height, causing them to stand out, whereas the fifth acrostic was seen in the same form but within a sentence. The first four acrostics formed the sacred Name of the LORD and the fifth revealed the Name `I AM', written into the sentence as EHYH. This fifth name can be found in Esther chapter 7 verse 5 which in literal English would read: `WherE dwelletH the enemY that daretH . . .'. There is little point in recording the other four as two are formed backwards and two forwards - and of course our Bibles are not written in Hebrew. However the five words can be found in Esther 1:20; 5:4; 5:13; 7:7 and 7:5. In the KJV we find the `words' written in the majuscular form, but sadly not in the newer translations where they are usually written in the minuscule form, the counter part of the majuscular form. The fifth `word' in chapter 7:5 is where the king asks Esther `Who is he and where is he?', and although it refers to Haman's efforts to destroy the Jews it also reveals the hidden Name of EHYH, The LORD, Who watches over His people, now in a foreign land because of their idolatry - hidden from their sight but always in their midst and always ready to deliver them from the evil ways of man. Yet there is more to be seen in the Book of Esther, although it is hidden from most of His people today as they joyfully keep Purim, giving thanks for their deliverance from Haman. For that `more' to be seen we need to look again at the names and persons of those kings who `linger' in the Book of Esther.
The Book of Esther opens with the words, `Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus'. Earlier we set out the various titles of the great king of Esther's time which were used in place of the birth or family name Astyages, and so we have no need to repeat them here. This `Astyages' was the Persian king recorded in the opening verses of Nehemiah and Ezra as Ahasuerus. We read of him in chapter 2 when he replaced his Queen Vashti with a young Jewish woman by the name of Hadassah. She had been renamed with the Persian name of Esther because her uncle Mordecai had told her `not to reveal her nationality or her family background':
" The king was attracted to Esther, more than any other of the women, and
she won his favour and approval more than any of the other virgins. So
he set a royal crown on her head and made her Queen instead of Vashti. "
We find Queen Esther sitting with King Artaxerxes in Nehemiah 2:6 where we read that Nehemiah was cup-bearer to the king (the word `Queen' is not a Hebrew word but comes from the Arkadian language). We now need to turn to the opening words of Ezra where it is recorded:
" Now in the first year of Cyrus King of Persia, that the Word of the LORD,
by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit
of Cyrus King of Persia. "
Historical records show this Cyrus to be the son of Astyages (whose royal name was Ahasuerus) and Esther, but he was named by the LORD some two hundred years before he was born to a young Jewish noblewoman who was carried into captivity, unknowingly waiting `for such a time as this'. Cyrus was brought up in knowledge of the Jewish people and of their God through his mother Esther and the other Jewish noblemen of the royal court, such as her uncle Mordacai, Nehemiah and Ezra - and most likely Daniel too, for he was a prominent person in the courts of Ahasuerus and Belshazzar. In the fulness of time when he sat on his father's throne, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus and he issued the Decree for the release and return of the main party of exiles back to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel and Ezra to complete the work that faithful Nehemah had begun.
The name Cyrus is a royal title, as seen in his father's royal title of Ahasuerus. Cyrus is a Latinised form of the Greek word `Kyros', and the Greek historian Plutarch noted that the name was a combination of `Kuros; and `Khurvash', with the meaning of `like the sun in the prime of his youth'. However a more likely explanation comes from Strabo, a Greek geographer, who said: `Kyros, originally called Agradates, took the name (Cyrus) from a river that flowed past Pasargadae, the capital city of the Archaemenid Empire'. This is the more likely explanation of the royal title Cyrus, for under his kingship he crushed the final rebellion of the deflated Assyrian Empire and thereafter this Cyrus `flowed down like a mighty river' from his capital city of Pasargadae, conquering all before him and creating the mighty Persian Empire. The prophet Isaiah, like all of Israel's prophets, kept a close eye on the rise and fall of the kingdoms of the north, and he saw the waning power of Assyria and the rise of the Pasargadae people with their capital city close by a powerful river, and so by `the spirit of prophecy' Isaiah spoke: `Thus says the LORD to His Anointed, to Cyrus, (who will be) a powerful river that will sweep away all before him and be the one who will release My people from Babylon once their servitude of seventy years is over'.
Pasargadae, the capital city of the Persian King Cyrus, was also the place of his burial, and the historian Plutarch is recorded as saying that on the tomb of Cyrus these words were written:
"Oh man, whoever you are and from wherever you come - for I know that you will come. I am Cyrus, and I won for the Persian people their Empire. Do not therefore begrudge me this little earth which covers my bones. "
Poignant final words for a great king whom the LORD raised up `for such a time as this' to be the instrument of His Righteous acts towards His people! And truly, `who has known the mind of the LORD' regarding His `instrument' Cyrus, a Jew from his mother's side, who would be born to King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther following the events of Purim. At the LORD's appointed time he would rule over the mighty Persian Empire and be the instrument for the issuing of a Decree releasing the Jews from captivity. Or that many centuries later a greater King from the tribe of Judah, greater than Cyrus, would through a Covenant Promise be the One to bring His people into the `captivity' of His Kingdom, the Millenium Kingdom of Heaven. And so we draw to close this Letter, which came about through a question concerning Purim, and then a progression in the questioning as to why the Book of Esther should be in the Canon of Scripture, finally settling on a young Jewish woman in captivity in the city of Shushan, or Susa. In today's Christian circles the very mention of the LORD's redeemed people being in `captivity' brings forth cries of unbelief - or at the very least `stand firm and resist the devil'. However in the LORD's purposes, which went far beyond Purim, there lay a great lesson for His people today. If `captivity' is the LORD's purpose for us, then so be it, and if it is prosperity and healing to reveal His Glory, then we thank Him and accept whatever He asks of us! For Esther was in the centre of His will, in captivity, amongst the women of the harem of King Ashasuerus, yet not knowing that the LORD's final Purpose concerned His Kingdom and His King of Israel, working through the kings of the nations surrounding His Kingdom.
At the time that Esther was taken into captivity to Babylon, and later into the court of a vassal king of the Babylonian Empire, we find that Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, was killed during the final destruction of Jerusalem and his son Jehoiachin became king. His reign lasted three months before he was taken into captivity, but eventually Evil-Merodach King of Babylon released Jehoiachin and ` he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honour higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon'. When through the Decree of Cyrus the Jews returned to their land, after the work of both Nehemiah and Ezra, we find that no kings returned to sit upon the Royal Throne of the House of David. This was in accordance with the Word of the LORD given to Jeremiah: (Jeremiah 22:24-30)
" Even if you Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring
on My right hand, I would still pull you off. . . . . Record this man as if
childless. None will sit on the Throne of David or rule any more in Judah. "
Because of his idolatry King Jehoiakim was `blotted out' as unfit to be included in the generational line of Jesus according to the Law (Deuteronomy 29:20). However in the first chapter of Matthew we find his son Jehoiachin now recorded as Jeconiah, the father of Shealtiel! Scripture decrees that his children will never inherit the throne, and therefore for that reason he would be declared childless, but he is still in the generational line. In the `generations of Jesus' we see that the Kingship has now been given to another - to David's Greater Son, Jesus the Priest King, Who was sent from Heaven to continue the Royal Kingdom of Heaven on earth in accordance with the LORD's Covenant Promise to David, seen in 2 Samuel 7:8-16. We shall now turn to chapter 1 of Matthew which opens with the words, `The Book of the generations of Jesus Christ the Son of David, the son of Abraham'. There now follows three sections of fourteen generations in each one. It is well known that the Hebrew language uses letters for both letters and numbers, and so we see here that seven plus seven equals fourteen, which means the name of `David' - the number `seven' being the sacred Name of the Messiah.
The second section of the three records the Royal Line of the LORD's anointed Kings of Judah, whereas the first and the third sections record the natural or blood line. `Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ'. The Royal Line was cut off with King Josiah, for through his defeat by Egypt a vassal kingdom was installed under Babylon. Judah was no longer a kingdom under the independent rule of anointed kings and we see here the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy against the House of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 22:24 onwards). The third section of `the generations of Jesus Christ' begins: `After the exile to Babylon', and continues with the natural or blood line which began with Abraham, continued through the Royal Line and now in the third section continued with Shealtiel and finally completing the blood line of the sons of God that He recognised as His own. This third section confirms that all the three sections of fourteen sons of God all point to the last and greatest . . . `Jesus, who is called the Christ'. He was `born to Joseph the husband of Mary' but conceived by the Holy Spirit, thus by-passing the curse against the House of Jehoiakim that `this man will be childless and none of his shall sit upon the throne of David or rule any more in Judah'.
In the fulness of time the Kingdom and its King was again offered to Judah, but He was rejected by the Sanhedrin. However at the appointed time the King will come again to His Kingdom, for Zechariah prophesied that `on that Day a fountain will be opened to the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and iniquity'. The Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos saw in `the Revelation of Jesus Christ' that God's Messiah, Priest and King `after the order of Melchizedek' will reign upon the throne of David with His people as `priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him on earth for one thousand years'. Jerusalem has been lawfully declared by His people to be the eternal, undivided capital of Israel, and as we see the movement of National Embassies to
Israel's capital the words of Jesus are clear: (Matthew 24:32)
" Learn this lesson from the fig tree. As soon as its twigs get tender and
its leaves come out, you know that summer is near, "
The King is coming to His Kingdom, and this time He will be accepted, but before that time His redeemed people will be taken away to `the Judgement Seat of Christ' to receive their rewards and will then await the consummation of the Bride of Christ to become His Wife.
Selah
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