Today is the 20th day of August. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful

to be here with you on this special day. A day that is a reset, a restart. Here we go.

A brand new shiny sparkly week out in front of us. And this week we'll push us toward

the end of another one of our months together. Let's do this. Let's live it well. Let's live

into all that these months together day by day step by step has done inside of us. And

let's take the next step forward together. The first step in this brand new shiny week.

And this next step that we're about to take brings us to the conclusion of another one of

our books. Today we will finish the book of Esther, which is a highly dramatic story indeed.

We moved through kind of part two of it yesterday with Heyman being discovered as the enemy of

the Jews and Esther the queen of Persia revealing herself as a Jew. And that showdown did not

fare well for Heyman. So Heyman's not a part of this story anymore. Heyman, the hater of the Jews,

he's dead. He was hung on the gallows that he had made for Mordecai, queen Esther's relative.

But before Heyman's demise, there was an edict sent forth inspired by Heyman who destroyed all

the Jews in the Persian Empire on a single day. And that law could not be repealed, which is the

territory we are heading into right now as we conclude the book of Esther. Today Esther chapters 8,

9 and 10. That day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the house of Heyman, the enemy of the Jews.

Mordecai came and appeared before the king because Esther had told him what Mordecai's relationship

to her was. The king took off his signet ring that he had taken from Heyman and gave it to Mordecai.

Esther put Mordecai in charge of the house of Heyman. In addition, Esther spoke to the king.

She fell at his feet, wept and requested that he put an end to the evil plan that Heyman,

the Agagite, had devised against the Jews. The king held out the golden scepter to Esther.

Esther rose and stood in the presence of the king. She said,

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