Finding Susa

Staci Rudolph: Hey, True Girl, before we get started today, I want to remind you that you’re invited to join us for our first-ever national event for moms and daughters: the True Girl Pop Up Party! It’s in Washington D.C. on November 1 and 2. There will be live worship and Bible teaching, and we’ll spend a whole day at the Museum of the Bible. It’s a great opportunity for moms and daughters to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus! Learn more at MyTrueGirl.com.

Claire Black: Welcome to True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together we’ll explore God’s truth for us one drive at a time. Buckle up! You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!

One of the most exciting, but least visited, biblical sites in the world is Susa. It’s exciting because the whole drama of the Book of Esther took place there. We know exactly where Xerxes sat on his throne, and Esther approached him, and more. In this season of the True Girl podcast, Dannah Gresh and Staci Rudolph are helping us virtually explore this place.

Be sure to read the book of Esther a few times while you’re listening to this season. That way you’ll better understand each of the interesting artifacts you’ll hear about.

In today’s episode, Dannah and her cohost Staci Rudolph have just boarded their flight to Paris, France. They’re heading to the world-famous art museum: the Louvre. But Staci has a stumper of a question for Dannah. “Was Esther even real?” 

Let’s get going with Episode 2 of Season 13. It’s called “Finding Susa.”

 

Flight Attendant: . . . seatbelts fastened at all times. For your information, lavatories are located at the back of the cabin.

Staci: Well, here we go, Dannah. 

Dannah Gresh: Paris or bust!

Flight Attendant: [Speaks French]

Staci: Wow. If I could speak French that smoothly, I'd finally sound sophisticated when ordering a croissant instead of just saying “crescent roll” with flair!

Dannah: And here I am, just hoping I don't accidentally ask for macaroni when I try to order macaroons! Did I say that right?

Well, let’s get some sleep. We should be in Paris just in time for breakfast.

Staci: Dannah, trying to sleep on a red-eye flight is like trying to nap inside a washing machine during the spin cycle. I think I’m gonna stay up a while and read about Esther and Susa.

Dannah: What about them?

Staci: Well, I googled the archeology of Esther, and there are some articles online that say she was just a fictional character—that the whole book of Esther is just entertaining reading and not real history. Of course, I don’t believe that, but it bothers me that some people do. After people read things like this, how can we convince them that Esther was real?

Dannah: Yeah, it’s sad when people are misled like that, Staci. It really shows how careful we need to be about what we read on the internet, too! There are lots of people who want to lock up God’s truth the way some people tried to lock up Pastor Aslan in Iran.

Staci: The articles said there was no archeological evidence for Esther. Is that true even though their conclusion is wrong?

Dannah: Um, hello Staci, we’re going to see the treasures found in the archeological site of Susa, the city where the book of Esther says that she lived. So, for starters, the city existed . . . and we had no evidence of that until 1809.

Staci: What happened then?

Dannah: Here’s how I’ve heard it. Two men noticed a strange black stone. It appeared to be an ancient, I think the word is pronounced kudurru. That was a boundary stone often used to mark land borders made by the king. This was the first archeological evidence of Susa—a clue to keep looking. And look they did! Today, we’ve got lots of those black boundary stones in the Louvre. 

Staci: They found more?

Dannah: Lots more. We’ll see some of them soon . . . when we get to France.

But Staci, just because we didn’t have any archeological evidence of Susa for thousands of years doesn’t mean it was a fictional city.

Staci: Of course not. We found Susa!

Dannah: And it existed before that. We just didn’t have archeological proof. It was under layers and layers of dirt!

The Bible has been under attack in the western world for over 200 years. People are always going to doubt it. And though the field of archeology was once filled with Bible-believing men and women, it’s now overrun with atheists and skeptics—people who don’t even believe in God, let alone the Bible. So, you’ve got to be careful.

I guess it’s important to be sure you can trust the archeologists you learn from. I’m gonna grab my laptop and let you listen to something—someone—I find trustworthy. Good thing we’ve got this row of seats to ourselves, Staci.

Staci: Okay, I’ll just get comfy here? Ahhh. Did they want to help us perfect the art of human origami in a seat designed for a contortionist?

Dannah: Okay, here we go. This is Dr. Todd Bolen. He actually got to go to the archeological site in Susa. He loves Jesus and looks carefully to see how the Bible is supported by archeology. 

So, way back in Bible days the country of Iran was part of a much larger nation called Persia. It was huge! In fact, it had four cities that were considered capitals. Okay, here’s Dr. Todd Bolen talking about Susa.

Todd Bolen: That’s right, so this huge city capital was one of the four capitals of Persians—the winter capital of Darius. And now, let me connect Darius. Darius is the father of Xerxes, who is also known in Hebrew as Ahasuerus. And so, he’s Esther’s father-in-law. He’s the one who establishes this as a Persian capital. He’s the one who builds this massive palace. Now, that’s only part of the city. 

Dannah: Okay, let me stop it a sec. King Xerxes is the one who kicked out his first queen, Vashti, and called for all the beautiful women of the land to come apply for her position, so to speak. Dr. Bolen is explaining that we have historical documentation about King Darius and King Xerxes—both mentioned in the Bible. So, here’s some evidence that people who are written about in the book of Esther actually lived. We have archeological evidence for Xerxes! 

In fact, let me show you a different window here on my computer. Look at this.

Staci: Looks like an ancient carving.

Dannah: It is. That’s called a “relief sculpture.” It’s a sculpture that usually hangs on a wall more like a picture instead of one that stands in three dimensions. 

Staci: Like a two-dimensional carved wall sculpture.

Dannah: Yeah.

Staci: So why am I looking at it?

Dannah: Well, this is a scene of the King’s Courtroom in Persepolis, which was a city in Persia. 

Staci: So, ya got the king sitting tall and proud on his throne, scepter in hand. Looks like some soldiers are guarding him. That’s good. I’m gonna guess those guys in front of him are doing business with the king.

And then, there’s that super tall dude with the amazing beard standing right behind the king. Hmm, I wonder what he’s doing?

Dannah: I know what doing, Staci, he’s learning.

Staci: Learning what?

Dannah: How to be a ruler one day. That, my friend, is a young Prince Xerxes.

Staci: As in King Xerxes from the book of Esther?

Dannah: The one and only.

Staci: So, we have proof he existed.

Dannah: Solid! The ancients didn’t have photography or video, but they none-the-less recorded important events with these relief sculptures.

Staci: Dannah, that’s amazing. Is this from Susa?

Dannah: No, it’s from another city in Persia, Persepolis. But it’s from the same time period as all the artifacts we’ll find from the Susa archeological dig.

Okay, let’s keep listening to Dr. Bolen. He’s about to explain something we didn’t know until we started excavating Susa. 

What we’re about to hear is important because it demonstrates that whoever wrote the book of Esther, probably Mordecai, was trying to be very careful with details about the city. 

Todd Bolen: And now, this is a beautiful thing. The archeologists identified that there’s the royal area. It’s the elevated area that’s kind of set apart, more fortified. It’s where the administration was, the Persian king and his palace. Then there’s another part of the city that was for the residents for the average people you could say. This division is reflected in the book of Esther. 

So, there’s a number of references in the book of Esther to the division to the Citadel of Susa. There’s a bunch of other references in the book of Esther to the City of Susa. The author got it right. I mean the author understood the Citadel— that’s the royal center where the compound palace is and the city that’s where the people actually . . . 

The verse where you can see this best is Esther 3:15. It says, “The couriers went out spurred on by the king’s command and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The King and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.”

So, there’s that distinction. If you track it through the book, about ten times or so, where it mentions the Citadel and about another ten times where it mentions the city. That’s speaking to those different areas of the city that archeology’s exposed.

Staci: Well, that man’s pretty smart!

And Dannah, the fact that the Book of Esther had so many details right really helps me trust the Bible even more!

Dannah: Yeah, me too. But the purpose of biblical archaeology is not to prove the Bible. The Bible doesn’t need to be proven. A famous pastor, Charles Spurgeon, once said trying to defend the Bible is like trying to defend a lion: it can defend itself! 

But archeology does show the historical accuracy of the Bible, and it helps get us excited to study books of the Bible.

Ya know, back in your apartment you showed me a verse from 2 Timothy 3 about how the Bible is all inspired by God and true and trustworthy.

Let me recite to you the two verses that come before that. This is 2 Timothy 3: 13–14:

“Evil people and impostors will flourish. They will deceive others and will themselves be deceived.”

Staci:So, I shouldn’t be surprised that people are trying to trick others to not trust the Bible. It’s bound to be!

Dannah:Yes, and here’s verse 14:

“But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you.”

The Bible is different from any other book because it's inspired by God. This means God Himself is your teacher. Every time you read it, you’re being taught by Him . . . and you can trust Him. He guided the people who wrote it, so even though it was written by many different people over a long time, it all fits together perfectly and tells us the truth about God and how He wants us to live. 

We can be faithful to the words of the Bible because we can trust those who wrote it. And then, we need to be careful to listen to people we can trust. That means we should listen to archeologists, for example, who know and love Jesus. And when someone is teaching you from the Bible—like me—they should be responsible and trustworthy, too. 

Staci: That’s so good! I’m gettin’ super excited to get to see those artifacts in the Louvre.

Dannah: Me too! Looking forward to landing in France . . . in the morning, but I’m getting so tired!

Staci: Okay, you nap. But first . . . knock, knock.

Dannah: Who's there?

Staci: Baguette.

Dannah: Baguette who?

Staci: Bay’get ready, I'm trying to learn French before we land!

Claire: Wow! Isn’t it amazing that the book of Esther records a specific detail—that there was a city and a citadel—ten times. The author really wanted to be accurate with the details!

Special thanks to the Digging for Truth podcast for sharing their conversation with Dr. Todd Bolen of The Master’s University.

If you want to actually see that relief sculpture Dannah showed Staci, ask your mom to help you google for it. Just google the words: Persepolis, Apadana, North Stairs. It’s pretty cool to actually see King Xerxes in 2-D chiseled rock!

Of course, what’s even cooler is to study what the Bible wrote about Xerxes and the other people we read about in the book of Esther. This is the most important information we can consider. In the Bible study Esther: Becoming a Girl of Purpose, Dannah helps you do that! 

You can get a copy of the book by visiting MyTrueGirl.com and clicking on the Bible studies menu. And you can join Dannah for a live online mom-daughter study starting in October. Register for that at MyTrueGirl.com.

Well, come back next week as we continue “Finding Esther.” Dannah and Staci arrive at the Louvre, France’s world-renowned art museum. And they lay their eyes on something that Esther and her cousin, Mordecai probably also saw in their lifetime.

Remember to read the whole book of Esther as we go through this season. It’ll be helpful for you to read chapter 2 before our next time together. See you soon, True Girl! 

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts, calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!

All Scripture is taken from the NLT.

 

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