Episode Transcript
[00:00:16] Speaker A: I've got good news and I've got good news.
The good news is if you are at Malchut, you're going to get to hear a duplicate of something that I said at Malchut because that's the way it works.
Or you could say the good news is you've already heard it and now you can go get some coffee and, or if you're sitting on your couch in your pajamas, you can just take a nap. I don't know. But the other good news is, if you weren't at Malhot, I'm going to share something that I shared at Malchut with you. And I think it was. I think it was a special opportunity and a special word that connect with them. And so I wanted to bring it home.
This is my home, so you deserve it.
And it's also a bit out of order because we've already done Purim. You're already Purim'd out, probably. But this starts with a little bit about Esther. The book of Esther. It's the Bible. It doesn't have to coincide with Purim. It's a biblical book. We can talk about it. But speaking of the Bible, the Bible, if we're honest, and I've said this before and may not come off as a nice thing to say, but the Bible is kind of strange, actually, when you really consider some of the things that are in it. And yes, I understand that we're called to live our lives by it. It's the instruction for life and for business and relationships and everything that we do, we run through that filter. I certainly do not imply any disrespect for the Bible. I understand. Don't ever think that we could know the voice and the mind of God in that way. Isaiah 55 makes that very clear. His ways are higher than ours. But let's just be honest, there's some weird stuff in there.
Like why did God have Ezekiel lay on his side for 430 days and cook his food on human dung? That's sort of. He didn't have to do the second part, but that was the original command. Now that's kind of weird, right? It gives an explanation, but wasn't there a better way that could have been communicated? Or then we look at Elisha, or Elisha, as you hear. Elisha had this incredible moment of anointing from Elijah, his mentor, right, to become his successor.
And some little boys call him a name. They call him bald head or baldy, okay? And he gets mad and summons bears to come out of the woods and maul these little kids. It's in the Bible. It's in two kings. It's weird, right?
We have talking serpents. We have talking donkeys. And speaking of talking, we have Paul, who talked so long one night that this poor guy fell out of a window three stories, apparently to his death.
And speaking of Paul's talking, we have Paul wishing that people would castrate themselves. He says it.
I didn't think that one was going to work. The messiah himself says very strange things.
Eat my flesh and drink my blood.
Jews can't do that. And then he has this sort of strange thing where he is buried, and then he folds up the burial cloth. Part of it. It's called the sudarion. The King James translates it as a napkin. Believe me, it's not a napkin. It was the cloth that was used to clean his face and wipe. But he folds that up in a little place in the tomb. That's kind of strange. Right?
Now, these are things we read in English that come off as strange. If you're reading things in Hebrew, you'll find a whole nother world of things in the original language that are sort of odd. For instance, we just read the book of Esther. In Esther five one. We read that Esther put on her royal robes. That's what the Hebrew says to us.
It says, vayehi Bayom hashlishi Vitalbash Esther Malchut. That means on the third day, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace. Now, there's nothing weird about that. Esther was a queen. She's going into the king. We understand the scenario.
She could potentially die for doing this. So she puts on her best, right?
Seasonally appropriate, her Easter dress, and she goes before the king.
Her royal robes. We would expect that this would say, big day Malhot. It was a big day. But I mean, big day in Hebrew, which is beged clothes. Begadim clothing. Big day. The possessive. We would expect to see big day Malchut. She put on big day Malchut. But that's not what it says. Do you know what it says? It just says, Esther put on Malchut.
There's nothing about big day. There's nothing about clothes. It just says, Esther put on on the kingdom or kingdom.
That raises some questions. What does that actually mean? How does one do that?
Should we be able to do that? What happens if we do? And while I realize that you may want to talk about alternative food cooking sources that you could cook your food on, or maybe she bears coming out of the woods. That would be exciting. This actually is interesting to try to understand.
What does it mean that she put on Malchut? Now, the good news is, the Talmud gives us the answer, okay, the word malchut, we find this a lot in the book of Esther 21 something times, usually talking about the kingdom, okay? Just literally, the palace, the royal place, things like this.
But we need to understand, in the context of our question, to dress in Mahout, I want to contrast the queens of our story. You remember them, right? Vashti and Esther. Vashti and Esther.
And when we meet Vashti, when we read the megillah here, when we read Vashti's names, we say, you go, girl. Because that's kind of her attitude, isn't it? Like, you remember this story? We just read it. The king's having a drunken bash. They're all getting hammered down there. He gets. Decides he wants to parade his trophy wife. So he summons her, she says.
And then they have a big fight, and all the men freak out, because what if you. Your wife, you're gonna let her talk to you like this? If you do that, we'll all be ruined. If our women can actually talk and stand up to us. So they kick her out of the kingdom. That's exactly what happens. Now, when you think of regal. Like, when we think of the royal family in England, that's not exactly how we picture that, is it? That's not what you would describe as regal behavior. And then on the other side of that coin, you have Esther, very humble, quiet, beautiful in her own way. Right?
They represent everything wrong with humanity, pride and status in all of these things.
Haman, of course, certainly is the definition of pride. We can dismiss with the booing. We've already booed ourselves out, but let's just get one out. Haman.
Okay, good. Got that done. Haman is the definition of pride. And then there's quiet, reserved, humble, beautiful esther. And as she's described in this way, when it says that she put on her royal robes, it's kind of hard to imagine her marching in, you know, sequined and, like, with a boa flashing and glitter and everything. Here I am.
That's not exactly how we picture her. And the sages of Israel asked the same question.
Okay, if that's not what she did, what did she do? And here's the beautiful answer that Talmud provides.
To put on Malchut means to put on the divine.
Here's the quote. The verse states, and it came to pass on the third day that Esther clothed herself in royalty. The Gemara asks, it should have said Esther clothed herself in royal garments. In other words, they're asking the same question we're asking, where's the big day, right? Rabbi Elazar said that Rabbi Hanina teaches that she clothed herself with a divine spirit of inspiration. As it is written here. And she clothed herself, it is written elsewhere. And the spirit clothed amasai. Just as the reference there is to the spirit of divine inspiration, so too, here with Esther, the term royalty is referring to the spirit of divine inspiration. What is the spirit of divine inspiration?
The ruach Hakodesh. Rabbi Hanina interprets Malchut here to mean that Esther put on the divine. In other words, God is with her. She's going in. God's going with her. She was dressed in royalty, but not the royalty of this world.
Dressed in royalty from the heavenly realm.
She didn't need what this world had to offer her. So when she enters the king's chamber, humbly, it's an understatement to say that she was beautiful. We might say Esther looked divine. Right. Rabbi Hanina says she was a revelation. Thus, it is no surprise that the king who was not supposed to. You were never supposed to come before the king unannounced. When he sees Esther, he's like, and he gives her half his kingdom, because we think that that means she's beautiful by some earthly standard. What we learn here is that, no, she had something incredibly special on her.
The divine rested. You see, Esther was a savior. People don't often think of that. Noah was a savior. Moses was a savior.
Esther saved the jewish people from the satanic hatred and pride of Haman. And in this role, apparently, she had God with her in a very unique way. That's what we're learning here. The spirit of God for the task at hand, she put it on.
Or maybe it might be more appropriate to say he put it on her. Right. We know Mordecai's most famous question. He asks Esther. It's the highlight of the book, umiyodea im le eit kazot higa at le Malhot, which says, and who knows, Esther, whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
Now, maybe he could be meaning you came into the palace for this. Who knows if that's not why you're right here in Ahashvara's kingdom?
But I read a blog that I appreciated from Rabbi Keller, who says, how can we not hear in that question, in those words, a different question. Knowing what we know, who knows if it is not for just such a moment as this that you came to be Esther, a vehicle of the divine, that God has chosen you for something incredibly special and empowered you to do this, to humbly don the spirit to save your people. She was, it turns out, a shining light. Okay, that's the first component of dressing in Malhut, according to the sages, is to put on the divine. Now, listen, this is not unique, actually, we just finished a book of exodus, right? What happens when Moses comes down the mountain?
He has to cover his face. Why?
He's shining. Did you know that redeemers shine?
We know that Moses also contained the Holy Spirit, that we could certainly say he was dressed in Malchut. How do we know it? Numbers eleven. Remember, he took some of the spirit that was on him and gave it to those around him. But redeemers, they shine. Esther shone before the king. Moses shone before the people. But notice they never take that shine and glory as theirs. They are humble. They are servants. Esther approached the king for the people. Moses approached the pharaoh for the people. They are humble. So apparently, another part of putting on Malchut, other than recognizing that it means to put on the spirit, is you can only do it if you're coming from a place of humility and service and demonstrating you are open to be used by God.
Now, Esther, as I said, is the contrast to everything that occurred with achash, virosh, and vashti and Haman and Mimi and all the advisors. Esther dons Malchut. She's the contrast to everything about an earthly kingdom, everything about it. Where people strive rich garments, who's who, fine foods. Let's be where we need to be to be seen, because they think that actually will bring some kind of happiness.
That's not happiness. Happiness is to don the Malhot, true privilege found dressed in what comes from above, not this kingdom of the present age.
And in so doing, you accept the place, the task that God has given you.
This is the second key to putting on Malchut, to serve others. Okay, now, I hope in this brief little journey through Purim and Mordecai and Esther and Moses, that you can see in all of this talk of kingdom and holy spirit and shining light and service and humility, that you've seen a connection that is just begging to be made.
And this is to the one who, more than any other, was filled with the spirit, clothed in humility, and dressed in Malchut more than any other. It was at a river in Israel that it started. You'll remember the story. The people were immersed when Yeshua also had been immersed and was praying, the heavens were opened. The Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form. And his dad said, I'm proud of you, son.
What's he doing?
Donning Malchut.
And the next thing we know, he's shipped off somewhere. Where? Into the desert. He's now appropriately dressed for the next task that's going to happen. And what is the next task? He'll be tempted. By what? What will be the enemy's temptation?
This earthly kingdom, I see that you have the spirit on you and all that, but all of this can be yours. All of this earthly kingdom can be yours. And what does he say?
You can have it.
You can have it. You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. So here, Yeshua demonstrates that second component of putting on service, humility, never seeking power or equality with God. That's what it says in Colossians.
That's that second component. If you're gonna be able to put on Malchut, you better be wearing humility as an undergarment, because it will not rest on you.
Now, is there anyone else who could more merit earthly status and prestige? He's the Messiah. He's literally a king. He should be served with.
He has authority. He has power. He has recognition filled with the Holy Spirit. Spirit overflowing. And what else did he do? He shined, right? I told you, redeemers shine. When did he shine? Peter saw him shine on the mount of transfiguration. When he looked and his face was shining right. His clothes became white as light.
Being dressed in Mahout has a shine.
And yet, other than that rare exception where Peter catches glimpse of that and a few other sort of cryptic comments that he makes about being Messiah, he never acknowledges that or tries to be served.
He does the opposite. He teaches us love, peace, service, humility, over and over and over again. And it's so interesting to note that even his own disciples have a little tiff, don't they?
What do they say? John and James come to him, and they say, you know what? We want you to do whatever we ask you to do, speaking of weird things to say to the person that you call Messiah. But then it's also weird that he says, okay, what do you want me to do?
And then they say, you know what? We want to sit at your right and left.
In other words, we want to be recognized for our position. Surely we've earned it, right? We're great disciples. We want to be recognized, put us in these places. And then, if that's not bad enough, the other ten get mad about it. Now we've got this going on. This is in front of the messiah that they're doing this, and Yeshua, being Yeshua, dressed in humility. And Malchut says, hey, fellas, come here. You know that those who are rulers over the gentiles, that they lord it over them, right? You know them. And the great ones exercise authority over them. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant. And whoever among you, whoever would be first among you must be slave to all.
Now, that is so overstated and underappreciated by followers of Yeshua. Do you hear what he's saying?
In other words, my kingdom is not like that. The clothing looks a lot different in the kingdom that I'm bringing. We don't hand out awards and accolades based on your accomplishments and your prestige and what you think you are. We don't do that. That's this world. Your popularity, your connections. I'm calling you to look differently. It's not power. It's not insider access. It is reserved for those he quote, for whom it has been prepared.
Who has it been prepared for?
Those who are willing to be dressed in Malchut.
And when you put those garments on, when you wear those garments, everyone should see it.
Do they see it in you? The light. The light that they put off. As I said, when Esther entered the court, her light was shining. When Moses entered, the entered came down the mountain, his light is shining. Yeshua is shining a light. It didn't even have to be as obvious as the mount of transfiguration. Everyone saw the spirit on Yeshua. They loved him for it. Many did. Many hated him for it.
But they saw it, and they knew it.
And people should see it on you.
They should see you as attractive and appealing in a spiritual sense.
That's exactly what he tells them. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father, who is in heaven. Who gets the glory from you when you are dressed in Malchut.
The answer is there. The father. Now, in a strange twist of things, with all that I've said about the figurative garments of Malchut, the greatest representation of Yeshua's garments of Malchut were literal garments.
Literally.
I know everyone says I literally, I literally meant. And they don't literally mean that. They. It's like the most overused word in the world today. I literally, to the very end his garments were anything but regal by this world's measure.
The soldiers led him away inside the palace that is the governor's headquarters. They called together the whole battalion. They clothed him in a purple cloak. They twisted together a crown of thorns, and they all stood before him and mocked him and said, hey, hail, king of the Jews.
And again, though overflowing with the Ruach Hakodesh, dressed in Mahout, clothed in the spirit, able to call down legions of angels to rescue him.
He was just quiet.
Humility, calmness, peace. These are the garments of the kingdom in this life. To dress in Mahout. And then he gets another set of garments after he's gone through the crucifixion. Interesting that I'm doing this on Easter weekend. I hadn't thought about this, but the burial garments, do you remember these? We learn about them. But, you know, these garments were the cost for the true kingdom to be made available to you.
And there was an incredible cost. The cost of putting on those garments of malchut was paid by blood, by sweat and by tears, probably. They were quite expensive. And you'll remember I talked early in this teaching about the weird little thing he does with some of those garments, where he takes the little sudarion, the little cloth, and he folds it and places it right there on the cutout stone.
That is the cloth, as I told you, that they use to clean his face for burial, to wipe away the blood from the crown they put on him.
The sweat from hanging on a cross for hours. And no doubt the tears that streamed down his face as he looked and said things like, forgive them, father. They know not what they do.
That's the cloth. That's the sudarium.
And he casts all the other burial garments aside. That's what the text says. The other burial garments were cast aside. But here's the Sudaria. Is this just another weird thing that happens in the Bible? Is this like David presenting 200 foreskins to Saul as a wedding gift?
Thank you, David.
No, there's a meaning here. There's something important that's going on.
You remember who finds that cloth?
I'll tell you who finds it.
Simon. Peter came following him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there and the face cloth which had been on Jesus head. Not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a.
Who saw it? Peter saw it. Who is Peter? Peter is the failed story of a disciple of Yeshua.
Peter is the disciple who, when a little servant girl asked him, weren't you with him? He said, mm mm.
And Peter is the disciple who, when two more people questioned him, he said, I don't know him.
And I believe wholeheartedly, because wouldn't you? That Peter watched the events from that night to the end of the next day with such incredible pain and emotional agony that when he was called to stand, to be bold, to be dressed in mahout, to be like Esther, to stand for Messiah, that he failed miserably. He couldn't even do the thing he said he would do. Remember, no matter what happens, I'll stand with you.
Well, when it came time to stand, he fell.
And that's who finds this cloth.
Reluctantly, I imagine, walking into the tomb, whoever went before him, the other disciple, saw the burial cloth left, believed that the body had been stolen. Peter walks in after, sees the burial cloth, likely believing that the body had been stolen. But then, looking, there's the cloth folded.
And with it, I believe absolutely.
When he looked to where Yeshua's head had laid, or lane, whatever the English is, the face that had once shone like the sun and most recently had been covered in blood and beaten and bruised, there was the cloth that had covered it.
And I believe a message of the malchut and putting it on, which is what we're talking about, Yeshua leaves behind not just an empty tomb, but a symbol of what he has done for humanity. Okay. Death, done, away with the majority of those clothes cast aside. Death, done. Resurrection secured, overcome. But the sudarion.
Nope. Peter. Here's a little reminder.
He knew Peter would find it.
This is the reminder.
I leave this here for you, Peter. This was the cost of putting on Malchut that I paid. I'm asking you not necessarily to pay that same cost, although he did, but to put on this garment in this world, that of malchut, to walk in the spirit, to walk with humility, to serve others. And I leave this here for you. It's not thrown about on the floor with the rest. It's a reminder for you to pick it up and put it on. It represents the garments that you will wear in this life. I have completed my task. The kingdom has been acquired through suffering.
But I still call on you to put on my example. To be like Rabbi Hanina said about Esther, to take on the garments of divine inspiration, to serve with humility. I'll clothe you in the spirit. That was Yeshua's promise. And guess what? Peter gets the message first. Peter, clothe yourselves. He's saying, all of you with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Later, Paul would come along and describe for as many of you were immersed with Messiah, have put on Messiah Colossians, God's chosen ones. Put on then holy, beloved, compassionate hearts to embrace humility. Don't just. He didn't just cast it aside. There's a reminder, there's a thing for us to do, that we with intention can take this and put it on. And that calling remains today for you as disciples of Yeshua.
It does. Yeshua gave everything with the intention that we could put it on. But here's the thing.
If you're going to put those on, then you better wear them well.
And it's not always easy to honor the call that just like Esther and Moses and so many others have gone before us, it's not easy, but we have to honor the call. You see, there's something so romantic about, oh, clothed in the Holy Spirit, washed and divine, putting on the Messiah.
That sounds really good. But often that calling comes with difficulty. Just ask Esther, just ask Moses, just ask Peter for such a time as this, for disciples to put on Malchut is to follow the way you have to be, consciously being above this world, consciously doing that. It doesn't mean we think we're better than this world. We're not.
But I asked the question, what does it mean for us to put on Malchut? Well, if it means putting on the Holy Spirit, according to the sages and Yeshua clothed us in it, then Paul explains it to you very easily. You ready? This is what it looks like when you put on Malchut.
The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. Sing it. Gentleness and self control. There it is.
It's a daily acknowledgement that you're going to put it on folded. Folded speaks to order. Folded speaks to a decision. When I go to get dressed in the morning and I reach into my drawers, I don't find big piles of wadded up clothes. It's a conscious decision. I'm picking this up, I'm unfolding it, I'm putting it on. How many people go into their dresser and say, hmm, pants?
Nope, not today. It's a pantsless day. We're not gonna wear any pants.
You don't do that. You get dressed.
And this is the calling for a disciple. What disciple in their right mind would not put on the spirit to put on the gift and the clothing that yeshua has given us? So, listen, I want to be intentional about this.
I know I talk for a while and you get the message.
But that little folded cloth has a message for you. Okay? So I want you to take one that are coming through the aisles and that doesn't have any blood, sweat, or tears on it, but you know what it means.
And I want you to keep that version of the folded garment of Malchut somewhere where you see it, your nightstand when you wake up, your. By your coffee maker, on your dashboard, by your computer, wherever it is, I want you to put it there, and I want you to think about, did I put on Malchut today? Cause that's my calling.
It's a decision.
And you know what? Sometimes that may take a little bit of your blood, sweat, and tears. I hope not. I hope not literally, but we have a high calling to live as light bearers in the world, like those that I've already described to you today.
Okay? But that little cloth is pure white for another reason.
Because no matter what we put on in this life, it is temporary.
It is. Yeshua made that commitment. He made that possible for us. Yes. We will don the garments of Malchut.
We will counter the prevailing forces of this world. We will be a contrast to the dark. Yeshua said. We'll be clothed with power on high. Even here, we'll shine the light. But when it's all said and done, this current age, all of this is temporary.
It is whatever garments we don here are only representations of the kingdom that is to come. We're wearing clothes. Clothes that represent the fashions of tomorrow. Meaning we will trade these in.
For what?
For a pure, white garment that is promised to you. As a disciple of Yeshua, we're called to look like the kingdom. To those who are looking and clothed in Mahout, you're going to look a lot different than everyone else. Enjoy it. Shine it with humility and service, clothing ourselves today in the fashions of tomorrow. I love that that true garment is waiting for you. Paul said it like this. In this tent, we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. People think that means to float off into the clouds. That's not what he's saying. If, indeed, by putting it on, we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened. Not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up in this life. That we'll trade in this thing for the white robe, which represents the age to come, eternity. A world of peace where everything is right. That's the robe and the garment. You're working for. He said working? Yeah, I mean it.
Doing good things dressed in Malchut so that little piece of folded white fabric that I gave you, that sudarion esque cloth, is to remind you of the past sacrifice, your present calling and the incredible future glory that's awaiting you.
A kingdom of divine purity, righteousness and victory that transcends everything about this earthly Malchut.
So for now we are here. So I want to encourage you.
Get dressed, put on Malchut.
Represent daily. Put it on. Be a vehicle of the divine for one more time this year from the Purim story for such a time as this Shabbat shalom.
[00:40:03] Speaker B: Please visit our website, shalommakin.org, to learn more about us. Join our live services, access other teachings, sign up for our newsletter, join our private network that will connect you with our greater community from around the world or contribute to the work of Shalom Macon, thank you for watching and we look forward to connecting with.
