Let's see, I want to give you kind of an introduction, sort of a snapshot of what we're in store for.

I know that you know kind of the story of Esther and her cousin Mordecai and of course the demon-possessed H Haman and we're going to be introduced to a lot of

these people as we get into it.

But Esther is actually a record of what happened to those who remained in Persian captivity.

So we're in Ezra Nehemi and it was about those who returned to Jerusalem

under Zerubibaba and Ezra and Nehemiah as well. But remember the majority of the Jews stayed in Persian captivity.

It was just a small percentage of the Israelites that actually

returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt first the wall under Nehemiah and then the temple.

Actually, it's the other way around. That was kind of dyslexic, I think. There's 10 chapters in the book of Esther,

and I was thinking about this today earlier that, you know, I know there's been movies made of Esther.

I've seen a couple of them. You know, some of them are okay. But I got to say that Hollywood is missing the boat when it comes to a motion picture

true to the biblical account about what happened with Esther there in Persia.

It is to me one of the most powerful stories of all time. And it's chiefly about Esther, who is a very beautiful Hebrew woman, and how God in his divine providence, raised her up as a deliverer of God's people it's interesting because

the name Esther means Venus it's the morning star and the name as is always the case

in scripture the name is the nature.

And this is true in the sense that Esther was and became this shining light in a dark period in Israel's history.

I thought this was interesting.

One commentator noted, Venus, the morning star star sheds its light after all the other

stars have ceased to shine and while the sun still delays to rise so this particular morning star

is the only thing that is really shining in between. So he says, thus the deeds of

Queen Esther cast a ray of light forward into Israel's history from a dark time. And surely she is a

light for such a time as this, as it were. Now, the events that are recorded in the book of Esther,

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