Podcast
followHIM
It was discussed as a book of creative and inspired solutions, with a focus on how God sometimes seems hidden yet still guides and delivers. It was also viewed as a cautionary tale against pride and revenge, showing how Haman's actions ultimately led to his own downfall.
That's why the fasting is so important. I'm going to go in search of the answer. I'm not going to presume it. I'm not going to act on my own genius alone. I don't believe that that's the path to salva...
— Episode: Esther -- Part 2 : Dr. Ariel Silver
Episode: Esther -- Part 2 : Dr. Ariel Silver
It was discussed as a book of creative and inspired solutions, with a focus on how God sometimes seems hidden yet still guides and delivers. It was also viewed as a cautionary tale against pride and revenge, showing how Haman's actions ultimately led to his own downfall.
That's why the fasting is so important. I'm going to go in search of the answer. I'm not going to presume it. I'm not going to act on my own genius alone. I don't believe that that's the path to salvation according to the genius of my own creation.
It's a different approach in the book of Hebrews. We really learn about the role of Christ as our high priest and the author of our salvation and all of these things, but the book of Esther is similarly well-crafted and similarly plays on multiple really interesting spiritual and emotional and intellectual levels and gives us a view of how it is that the divine works and how those spiritual realities can come to pass in our own lives.
It's a cautionary tale about the limits to which revenge can be taken, or the great cost of pursuing a program of revenge, that things will not work out if that is your focus. You cannot be elevated on the backs or the blood of others.
It functions as a warning against pursuing that kind of course in one's life, either in large ways, like here or in very small ways. I think Esther is teaching us that it's not the path of virtue.
It's really significant to me that in the book of Esther, we have the experience of a woman who does something at a redemptive level on behalf of others that is not tied to motherhood and is not tied to the bearing of children.