The Jewish roots of Christianity

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Bible teaching with an emphasis on Israel, prophecy and the Jewish roots of Christianity

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Episode: “Fight We Must!”
Even with Haman gone, the Jews still had to defend their homes and families. Such spirited self-defense is simply biblical.
Series: “Esther (2017)”
For Such A Time As This
The Book of Esther is one of the Jewish people’s favorites. In this eight-program television series, Dr. Jeffrey Seif explains its details, and points out that, like Esther herself, we Believers may be alive for such a time as this.

Caption transcript for Esther (2017): “Fight We Must!” (7/8)

  • 00:05 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
  • 00:09 is that they might be saved,
  • 00:12 for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek,
  • 00:15 for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.
  • 00:40 Welcome to "Esther, For Such a Time as This"
  • 00:43 here on Zola Levitt Presents.
  • 00:45 I'm Kirsten Hart.
  • 00:46 And I'm David Hart
  • 00:48 On today's program the theme is,
  • 00:50 "fight we must".
  • 00:52 Dr. Jeffrey Seif is our special teacher in Israel,
  • 00:57 and he will be speaking to us
  • 00:59 from "Ammunition Hill" right in Jerusalem.
  • 01:02 We'll see today that Esther's story
  • 01:04 still applies to us today.
  • 01:06 And in today's drama
  • 01:08 Haman gets hanged,
  • 01:10 but the genocidal order for the Jewish people
  • 01:13 still remains.
  • 01:15 Let's go to our drama now.
  • 01:20 Haman has found his just reward.
  • 01:23 His wicked schemes have left him hanging from atop
  • 01:27 the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai,
  • 01:32 but from within the walls of the magnificent palace in Shushan
  • 01:37 Queen Esther remains heartbroken.
  • 01:41 She appeals to the king on behalf of her fellow Jews.
  • 02:20 She wanted to be a help,
  • 02:23 she wanted to save her people.
  • 02:25 and so she arranges to visit her husband again
  • 02:29 and petition on their behalf
  • 02:30 that Jews be allowed to make a spirited defense
  • 02:34 given the fact that a decree was enacted for their destruction.
  • 02:39 In chapter 8, verse 6, I can feel the emotion dripping from the text,
  • 02:45 in the Hebrew first, where Esther says,
  • 03:14 She humbly, fearfully, tearfully petitioned her husband on their behalf
  • 03:21 that the Jews, her Jews, her people be allowed to make a spirited defense
  • 03:28 for their own lives in Persia.
  • 03:31 Here at Ammunition Hill some years ago Jews made a very spirited defense
  • 03:39 for the battle royal that raged over Jerusalem,
  • 03:43 and many lost their lives here.
  • 03:46 Hand to hand combat was effected in these trenches
  • 03:51 where every man was a general.
  • 03:53 Many took initiative and fighting with knives on occasion.
  • 03:59 They hacked it out till finally the Lord gave them success
  • 04:03 which lent itself finally then
  • 04:06 to the unification of Jerusalem.
  • 04:09 What a place here.
  • 04:12 What a place here in the Esther story
  • 04:15 where we read in verse 11 of the same chapter,
  • 04:19 in Hebrew, where there's a decree that's enacted at her behest
  • 04:23 where Jews are allowed to offer a spirited defense we read in verse 11...."
  • 04:59 Destruction is not pleasant business but sometimes circumstances
  • 05:03 are such where we're thrown on our heels and we simply have to act.
  • 05:09 It seems to be in ways, that the world likes Jews that are weak and sheepish..."
  • 05:14 Oh pity the Holocaust Jews, or whatever,
  • 05:17 but Jews are just not of that ilk to lay down and be docile.
  • 05:21 And when I look in the biblical text I see individuals standing up,
  • 05:27 I see allowances made for the obvious, that is that
  • 05:31 people can in fact fight to defend home and hearth.
  • 05:35 It's great to see Esther using her influence in the struggle.
  • 05:40 Similarly I'm pleased to see the allowance made for Jews in the biblical text
  • 05:45 to go ahead and defend home and hearth.
  • 05:48 It's a story back then,
  • 05:50 it's a story today,
  • 05:52 and its story that took place here at
  • 05:54 Ammunition Hill where the battle for Jerusalem was waged.
  • 06:01 Our Resource this week, the Series
  • 06:04 "Esther, For Such A Time As This" on DVD.
  • 06:07 This 8 part Series presents the Biblical account of
  • 06:11 the young, beautiful Jewish woman
  • 06:13 who becomes the Queen of Persia.
  • 06:15 When Esther is confronted with murderous racial hatred,
  • 06:19 she allows herself to be used by God
  • 06:21 and saves the Jewish people from genocide.
  • 06:24 Contact us for the DVD Series,
  • 06:26 "Esther, For Such A Time As This"
  • 06:31 We'll return to the program in just a moment,
  • 06:33 but first, I wanted to ask
  • 06:35 if you've ever thought about what it takes to put this program together.
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  • 07:49 I'm going to go "old school" David with this one.
  • 07:51 When you used to have a dime,
  • 07:53 that's old, old school.
  • 07:54 Or, a quarter for a pay phone to talk to someone.
  • 07:57 I do remember that.
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  • 08:00 Now, with Social Media it's wonderful.
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  • 08:07 Very easy, and you don't have to have
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  • 08:11 Now, let's go to our story of Esther,
  • 08:14 and review what Esther and Mordecai have done so far.
  • 08:29 It had been a difficult task for Mordecai.
  • 08:32 While in exile he had faithfully raised his cousin Esther as his own,
  • 08:37 counseling her, nurturing her.
  • 08:41 He had been supportive of the king,
  • 08:45 defensive of his fellow Jews.
  • 08:48 He had refused to bow before prince Haman.
  • 08:52 Alas, Haman's wicked plan to exterminate the Jews had been thwarted.
  • 08:59 And in every state throughout the empire
  • 09:02 there was joy and elation for the Jews.
  • 09:10 And the story of the salvation of the Jews
  • 09:13 is played out every generation
  • 09:16 from biblical pages right on through the ages.
  • 09:20 And here at Ammunition Hill, Jewish people and the world that's
  • 09:25 interested remembers the struggle for modern Jerusalem.
  • 09:30 Many died here in hand to hand combat
  • 09:33 and they're commemorated,
  • 09:34 their names are remembered behind me.
  • 09:37 And similarly not far away to my left is a big flag pole
  • 09:41 beneath which is a plaque commemorating
  • 09:44 "the Eternal City Jerusalem".
  • 09:49 The plaque is beneath it and the blue and white flies above it.
  • 09:54 And speaking of the blue and white flying,
  • 09:57 it always interested me in chapter 8, verse 15
  • 10:01 how when Mordecai is saved he is donning blue and white apparel.
  • 10:06 That's striking!
  • 10:08 Let's see it in chapter 8, verse 15 were told,
  • 10:31 Well today Israel flies under the banner
  • 10:35 of the blue and white does it not,
  • 10:37 to celebrate it's a triumph,
  • 10:40 it's victory over the forces of darkness.
  • 10:44 And interestingly today as yesterday, as we'll see,
  • 10:48 individuals that are not of Jewish extract are
  • 10:52 given to joining themselves to the people of Israel,
  • 10:55 and I'm talking about you who are grafted in.
  • 10:58 If you'll look in chapter 8, verse 17
  • 11:02 there's an interesting expression here.
  • 11:04 I'll give it to you in Hebrew and then in English.
  • 11:22 They became Jews.
  • 11:25 It seems that even in this bad news world people saw God at work,
  • 11:31 and they wanted to join themselves to the people of Israel where God was at work,
  • 11:35 and similarly today,
  • 11:38 happily, in a bad news world where Israel is abandoned by many,
  • 11:43 similarly many are joining themselves to the people of Israel,
  • 11:47 people just like you.
  • 11:51 Oh, keep at it please!
  • 11:55 Thank you, thank you, thank you for who you are.
  • 11:59 You see what God is doing in the world today and you want to get behind Israel.
  • 12:04 Here people got behind Israel and it cost them their life.
  • 12:09 I'd ask you to pray, please, and ask God what He would have you to do
  • 12:13 in order to be supportive of what God is doing amongst the Jewish people.
  • 12:37 Our Resource this week, the Series
  • 12:40 "Esther, For Such A Time As This" on DVD.
  • 12:44 This 8 part Series presents the Biblical account of
  • 12:47 the young, beautiful Jewish woman
  • 12:49 who becomes the Queen of Persia.
  • 12:52 When Esther is confronted with murderous racial hatred,
  • 12:55 she allows herself to be used by God
  • 12:58 and saves the Jewish people from genocide.
  • 13:00 Contact us for the DVD Series,
  • 13:03 "Esther, For Such A Time As This"
  • 13:07 Hello, my name is Andrea Davis,
  • 13:09 and I've been working with Zola Levitt Ministries
  • 13:12 for over 20 years.
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  • 13:35 Thank you.
  • 13:44 The wonders of the Bible can only be experienced in Israel.
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  • 14:15 There's a song that I've been singing
  • 14:18 for probably the last 30-35 years,
  • 14:22 And I had the chance to sing it in Israel
  • 14:24 not long ago.
  • 14:25 I think you might have heard this song.
  • 14:26 ♪ I walked today where Jesus walked ♪
  • 14:29 ♪ in days of long ago ♪
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  • 14:36 I have a feeling I will sing this song for you on our tour.
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  • 14:45 on a Zola Levitt Tour.
  • 14:46 Now, let's go to our Hebrew Lesson with Deana Malespin.
  • 14:54 Shalom Havarim
  • 14:55 Hello Friends
  • 14:56 This is my little one here.
  • 14:58 And she is learning about Purim as well,
  • 15:01 and about ge'ulah
  • 15:03 "redemption"
  • 15:04 The story of Esther is about ge'ulah ,
  • 15:06 redemption for the Jewish people,
  • 15:09 and for Israel.
  • 15:10 And we like to remember that
  • 15:11 and continue to be in prayer as
  • 15:13 the whole story continues of
  • 15:15 redemption of the Jewish people.
  • 15:19 Thank you Deana
  • 15:20 I love that her daughter
  • 15:22 is learning at a young age,
  • 15:24 ge'ulah , which is redemption.
  • 15:28 And isn't it wonderful to teach the younger,
  • 15:31 because the younger ones remember the language easier
  • 15:34 than when we are old.
  • 15:36 "Old", like this?
  • 15:37 And something else I learned this week
  • 15:39 watching some Hebrew videos
  • 15:41 and reading about the Hebrew language is
  • 15:43 the emphasis is usually on the last syllable.
  • 15:47 So instead of ge' U lah
  • 15:49 it's, ge'u LAH
  • 15:50 Let's say it one more time.
  • 15:52 ge'ulah
  • 15:53 Redemption
  • 15:55 Now, let's watch as Esther requests Haman to be hung.
  • 16:40 Honey...just one more time.
  • 16:44 Seems that one day wasn't enough
  • 16:47 to attend to the business of the day
  • 16:49 which wasn't pleasant to be sure.
  • 16:52 but if you're going to go after a tumor
  • 16:54 don't just take half of it get all of it.
  • 16:57 Because if you don't get all of it you're going to
  • 16:58 have to come back, and take it out the next day anyway.
  • 17:00 You're going to have to revisit the surgery.
  • 17:03 Well they were cleaning house happily, that is,
  • 17:07 that individuals were given permission to fight for their own life.
  • 17:10 The net result is that anti-Semites are being pushed back some.
  • 17:15 But here we see the drama of Esther who petitions the king, her husband,
  • 17:20 "Please...we need to continue this business".
  • 17:24 And it reminds me how the story doesn't end,
  • 17:27 that we have to continue that business
  • 17:28 even to this day it seems to me.
  • 17:30 In any case, on this day,
  • 17:32 I'm coming to you from a place where
  • 17:35 we've interviewed the soldier that fought here by the way.
  • 17:38 Ammunition Hill, as I said earlier in this segment,
  • 17:40 was a battle royal for Jerusalem.
  • 17:42 It was fought here and people are commemorated
  • 17:45 for their giving their lives here.
  • 17:48 And in this very place as well a struggle was ensued.
  • 17:52 I want you to look with me please in chapter 9, verse 5.
  • 17:56 We're told that Mordecai faired well as did others.
  • 18:00 In the text we're told..."
  • 18:27 Here again mobilized were forces to stay the hand of
  • 18:32 those that would seek to destroy them.
  • 18:36 I believe that warfare is both material and spiritual.
  • 18:40 As you know we live in a day today where
  • 18:44 individuals certainly need to contend for
  • 18:47 a way of life, for biblical values, for biblical virtues.
  • 18:51 And we do that socially,
  • 18:53 we do that politically,
  • 18:54 we do that spiritually.
  • 18:56 When I look at the biblical text there's a way of being.
  • 19:00 We call it Judeo-Christian ethics, Judeo-Christian values.
  • 19:05 From the Old and New Testament both come a way, come a vision.
  • 19:11 Interestingly and historically is the case that there are
  • 19:15 forces amassed to snuff out that fire, to quench it,
  • 19:21 to dim the vision, to hinder individuals
  • 19:26 from seeing what God is doing in the world
  • 19:29 and will do in the world in days to come.
  • 19:33 It's important that individuals like me and you,
  • 19:37 that we unsheathe our swords.
  • 19:39 I'm speaking spiritually here
  • 19:41 of a biblical sword at a place, by the way,
  • 19:43 where people actually fought with knives for their lives
  • 19:46 here on Ammunition Hill.
  • 19:49 From this place, from this text speaking from me to you,
  • 19:52 from my heart to yours,
  • 19:53 let me encourage you to stand up for biblical ways.
  • 19:58 Open up that Bible, read it, stand on it, advocate for it and
  • 20:05 you will be indeed pleased that you did so,
  • 20:08 and you will hear a voice at the end of days saying,
  • 20:11 "Well done my good and faithful servant".
  • 20:16 Thank you Dr. Seif.
  • 20:17 We are back with our guest Analyst, Ted Pearce,
  • 20:20 and we've had so many questions for you this series.
  • 20:24 Thank you for your wonderful answers.
  • 20:25 Oh, thank you very much,
  • 20:27 Guest Analyst, WOW
  • 20:28 It's a good title isn't it?
  • 20:29 Yes, I guess so,
  • 20:31 but I feel like I should be calling a football game though.
  • 20:32 Well here's my question for the day for you.
  • 20:34 Dr. Seif was just teaching about the forces that
  • 20:38 are always going to be coming against the Jewish people
  • 20:41 because they were Chosen and set apart,
  • 20:45 and I see that Chosen as they're the apple of His eye,
  • 20:49 and sometimes there's envy.
  • 20:52 Is that what you see?
  • 20:53 Well, yeah, I mean if you look at Deuteronomy 6,
  • 20:57 God says He chose them, not because they were any better than anybody,
  • 21:00 because actually they were smaller,
  • 21:02 and He wanted to show His Glory through using
  • 21:05 this small group of people who had no strength of their own.
  • 21:08 So the interesting thing that I find though, is
  • 21:11 "Chosen" in sort of in the Hebraic sense
  • 21:15 has nothing to do with "better".
  • 21:17 It just means "Chosen".
  • 21:18 Like if you're going to hammer in a nail
  • 21:19 you're going to choose a hammer instead of vice grips.
  • 21:22 So it's not about them being better.
  • 21:24 He "Chose" them to bring Salvation to us, to the entire world.
  • 21:28 So it's not like He loves them more than the Gentiles,
  • 21:31 It's because He loves the Gentile that He chose them.
  • 21:35 But, unfortunately, I think over the centuries we've seen
  • 21:38 sort of this Greek idea that chosen means better,
  • 21:42 and so sort of envy arises
  • 21:44 especially in European church kingdoms of the past,
  • 21:50 where they say, "No, wait, we're the "Chosen"
  • 21:52 because we believe in Jesus and they don't believe in Jesus,
  • 21:55 so they're not "Chosen" anymore.
  • 21:57 That's a totally wrong idea what "Chosen" is about.
  • 22:00 They're "Chosen" so that we might know Yeshua.
  • 22:04 So you think it's because we're hearing it taught in our churches wrong?
  • 22:08 Well' it's just, you know, definitions change over time
  • 22:12 and I think it's just an honest misunderstanding,
  • 22:15 but it is a misunderstanding.
  • 22:17 Yes, He loves them, but he loves us too.
  • 22:19 You know, I mean obviously.
  • 22:22 He wouldn't have made so many Gentiles, right?
  • 22:23 Isn't that funny that we're all trying to
  • 22:25 vie to be God's favorite?
  • 22:28 That's just such a human mind set I think.
  • 22:31 You know, especially in Israel,
  • 22:33 there's a lot of Jews who don't like being chosen.
  • 22:36 It's cost them quite a bit in their history.
  • 22:38 You know, anti-Semitism I believe comes from the envy
  • 22:42 of people who think of chosen as meaning better,
  • 22:44 where it doesn't,
  • 22:45 it just means they're chosen
  • 22:47 for a responsibility,
  • 22:48 and that responsibility has cost them quite a lot
  • 22:51 for many, many millennia now.
  • 22:53 And that's what I think we don't get,
  • 22:56 that the Christian Church,
  • 22:58 I mean, we see it, and we watch "Schindler's List",
  • 23:02 and we see what they've gone through,
  • 23:03 but we haven't had to digest that,
  • 23:07 it hasn't become part of our DNA as it needs to.
  • 23:10 We need to know,
  • 23:11 along with "Choosing", there's a price to pay.
  • 23:15 Well, He chose us from the foundation of the earth.
  • 23:20 We're all chosen, but we're not all chosen for the same thing.
  • 23:25 So, I think if we could just, you know,
  • 23:28 I think envy happens to be sort of the
  • 23:33 sin in the Church that we don't even see.
  • 23:35 We find ourselves envying,
  • 23:36 "Oh that person's up on stage and I should be there",
  • 23:39 or, "That person the pastor likes and he doesn't...
  • 23:42 Whatever, envy creeps in, in many ways,
  • 23:48 and its really crept in, in our relationship as
  • 23:50 Christians to the Jewish people
  • 23:53 over the fact that God did choose them
  • 23:55 to give us the Scriptures.
  • 23:57 He chose them to give us the oracles of God,
  • 24:00 to give us the Messiah,
  • 24:02 to give us Yeshua.
  • 24:04 And so it says clearly in Romans 11 that He did this so that we
  • 24:08 would bring the Good News back to the Jewish people.
  • 24:11 There's the story.
  • 24:12 Yeah, we're chosen for that.
  • 24:13 Right.
  • 24:14 Yes, thank you so much for that insight today.
  • 24:16 That really helped us a lot.
  • 24:17 Amen!
  • 24:18 How about a song
  • 24:19 right now from Ted Pearce?
  • 24:20 Yeah, I could do that.
  • 24:24 ♪ For my days are like smoke ♪
  • 24:26 ♪ and all my bones are in the furnace ♪
  • 24:33 ♪ My heart so stricken and withered ♪
  • 24:35 ♪ I can't even eat my bread ♪
  • 24:37 ♪ No, Ahhh oh ♪
  • 24:42Shma Yisrael you have not be forgotten ♪
  • 24:46 ♪ Oh your time is come! ♪
  • 24:51Shma Yisrael you will not be forsaken ♪
  • 24:54 ♪ Oh, the time to favor Zion ♪
  • 24:57 ♪ The time to favor Zion has come♪
  • 25:00 ♪ Instrumental Interlude ♪
  • 25:42 ♪ For the Name of the Lord will be declared in Zion, ♪
  • 25:48 ♪ And His praise in Jerusalem ♪
  • 25:58 ♪ Jerusalem ♪
  • 26:06 ♪ This will be written for the future generation to come ♪
  • 26:12 ♪ Who knows the time to favor Zion has come ♪
  • 26:16 ♪ And for a people yet created who would praise the Lord ♪
  • 26:21 "The time to favor Zion has come... ♪
  • 26:26Shma Yisrael , ♪
  • 26:34Shma Yisrael
  • 26:39 ♪ The time to favor Zion ♪
  • 26:41 ♪ The time to favor Zion has come ♪
  • 26:45 ♪ The time to favor Zion ♪
  • 26:47 ♪ The time to favor Zion has come ♪
  • 26:53 ♪ The time has come ♪♪
  • 26:55 Thank you Ted.
  • 26:56 We would love for you to join us next week
  • 26:58 for our final program of this wonderful series
  • 27:01 "Esther, For Such a Time as This."
  • 27:03 But for right now our prayer is,
  • 27:05 Sha'lu' Shalom Yerushalayim
  • 27:07 Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem
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Episodes in this series

  1. Beautiful Inside and Out
  2. Chosen for a Purpose
  3. Called to be Courageous
  4. Undone by a Woman
  5. God Rewards the Righteous
  6. Justice at Last!
  7. Fight We Must!
  8. The Triumph of God in Human History

Guest organizations and links