If you ever had the thing happen where you look back on an assessment that you made of somebody or something and you had a pretty negative feeling about it but then

time passes and you find yourself sort of softening on that person or that thing that happens

to me sometimes I can think of

politicians leaders influential people and culture who were doing a thing and at the time I didn't really see it I didn't really like it but

given the way time played out maybe they're a little bit vindicated maybe I

discovered they saw something I didn't see I mean settle down we're still talking at least in part about politicians here

But every now and then I re-evaluate that and I realize oh that maybe I was a little too h Or heck, maybe my judgment was spot on in the moment, but the

way sensibilities and the flow of time played out, it really reframes that character, that person, and their decisions in a better light.

That handful of things in our hip pocket in our mental filing cabinet just to remind us that sometimes

we're wrong about stuff, or sometimes even if we're maybe sort of right about stuff in the moment

that still stories aren't ever fully written it takes a little while and it's

okay to re-evaluate and think about things in a little different light.

I guess what I'm driving at is this.

I want to take your temperature a little bit here

and ask how you're feeling about Xerxes.

His time on screen is pretty much done here as we get to the second edict for the Jews to go and

defend themselves and fight back. Once we get into verse 20 of Esther, I mean it's kind of just summary and drama-wise

there's none left. From here on out it's more like the tone of first or second chronicles

very matter-fact, very business and then the king did this and

then so and so did this very detail oriented we'll cover all of it but as we make that

tonal pivot here in Esther and as I realize that's the end of getting the up close very human

technicolor view of Xerxes as opposed to the stone inscription view of Xerxes.

...