Esther 2: 1 – 23
Miss Persia
2 After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king’s servants who attended him said: “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king; 3 and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the citadel, into the women’s quarters, under the custody of Hegai the king’s eunuch, custodian of the women. And let beauty preparations be given them. 4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This thing pleased the king, and he did so. 5 In Shushan the citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. 6 Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. 7 And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 8 So it was, when the king’s command and decree were heard, and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel, under the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king’s palace, into the care of Hegai the custodian of the women. 9 Now the young woman pleased him, and she obtained his favor; so, he readily gave beauty preparations to her, besides her allowance. Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king’s palace, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women. 10 Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it. 11 And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women’s quarters, to learn of Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her. 12 Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months’ preparation, according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women. 13 Thus prepared, each young woman went to the king, and she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the women’s quarters to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she went, and in the morning, she returned to the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and called for her by name. 15 Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her. 16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so, he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king made a great feast, the Feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king. 19 When virgins were gathered together a second time, Mordecai sat within the king’s gate. 20 Now Esther had not revealed her family and her people, just as Mordecai had charged her, for Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as when she was brought up by him. 21 In those days, while Mordecai sat within the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 22 So the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name. 23 And when an inquiry was made into the matter, it was confirmed, and both were hanged on gallows; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.
As I began to compose the study for today’s chapter that deals with a beauty contest, my thoughts went back to when I was a kid and watched the Miss America Pageant with my parents.
The Miss America Pageant is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 to 25. Originating in 1921 as a ‘bathing beauty’ contest, this pageant grew to include a talent performance and interviews. The young woman who is the winner receives a crown and cape and then makes a procession down a walkway receiving the applause of all spectators.
I remembered that there was this same guy who I only saw once a year at this event sing a special song for the newly crowned winner. His name was Bert Parks who made the song, ‘There she is, Miss America, a memory keeper.
In today’s scripture study we have described how a Jewish maiden by the name of Ester become the beauty queen of Persia. I wonder what song they sang then?
Four years have gone by since our introduction in chapter 1. During these years Ahasuerus (Xerxes) conducted his Greek campaign, and in view of Vashti’s demotion, took with him an older wife, Amestris, the daughter of one of his most loyal supporters. Returning to Susa he thought about Vashti with regret. Consequently, his officials came up with the idea that a replacement for Vashti should be found.
2 After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.
The term ‘After these things’ is a vague time note and, in this case, indicated a gap of a few years. By this time Ahasuerus’ anger against Vashti had diminished, and he appears to have had some regrets. She had after all been a very beautiful woman. But he also recognized that he was bound by his own decree.
2 Then the king’s servants who attended him said: “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king; 3 and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the citadel, into the women’s quarters, under the custody of Hegai the king’s eunuch, custodian of the women. And let beauty preparations be given them. 4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This thing pleased the king, and he did so.
He clearly made known his dissatisfaction for his high officials came up with a plan to satisfy his needs. Ahasuerus would already have had a harem, but it seems that the women in it no longer satisfied him any more than Amestris did, and especially that there was no woman who ‘stood out’. So, they suggested that a new search be instigated for fair young virgins who could be incorporated into the harem.
They suggested that the king appoint officers throughout the empire whose responsibility it would be to find the choicest virgins for the king. These ‘fair young virgins’ were to be introduced into the palace at Susa, into ‘the house of the women’ where his harem was housed, and placed in the care of Hegai, the king’s officer who had responsibility for the women in the harem. And there they were to go through the rites of purification and beautification necessary to be made ready for the king’s attention.
It is made clear by this that Ahasuerus already had a ‘house of the women’ in which his harem was housed. It was not that he lacked women. It was that he lacked someone who could compare with Vashti. We should recognize that life in the harem was a life of pleasure and luxury, and it was therefore not a hardship for these women. There may well have been competition for places in it. They enjoyed every luxury and the demands made on them were not excessive.
And the final consequence of the search was to be that the woman who finally pleased the king would be made queen instead of Vashti. The king found this idea very satisfying, and he consequently did what was suggested.
At this point Mordecai is introduced, because he was Esther’s guardian. He was a Jew living in the palace and appears to have been able to move around as he pleased. This suggests that he held some high official position, something later confirmed by his attitude towards Haman, and indeed Haman’s restraint in dealing with him. He was able to trace his ancestry back to Kish, a Benjamite who had been carried away into captivity from Jerusalem along with Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24.8-12) when it was taken by Nebuchadnezzar. This suggests that he came from an aristocratic family.
5 In Shushan the citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. 6 Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.
That Mordecai resided in the palace suggests that he was a court official. That his descent from the Jewish aristocracy carried away with Jehoiachin was clearly recognized demonstrates his status among the Jews (it was mainly the aristocracy who were carried away). That the officials were wary in dealing with him, and that Haman had to be wary in his dealings with him, points to him as being an important Persian functionary in a high position. Thus he was clearly an important man. But the writer wants us to know that he was above all a Jew. There lies behind this statement the idea that the God of the Jews had, by his presence here, been preparing the way. There was an influential Jew in the palace. The gods were so involved in daily life that they did not even have to be mentioned. The same would be true of the God of Israel.
7 And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
This Mordecai had reared a young maiden named Hadassah, which was a Jewish name meaning ‘myrtle’. The myrtle tree was associated with deliverance (Isaiah 41.19). She was the daughter of his uncle, and when she was orphaned he took her as his own daughter. We learn here that she was ‘fair of form and beautiful to look on’. We are not told when she took the name Esther (‘star’). It may well have been when she was summoned to the palace. Or it may have been given to her by Mordecai for the benefit of Persian neighbors
8 So it was, when the king’s command and decree were heard, and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel, under the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king’s palace, into the care of Hegai the custodian of the women.
Because of the king’s command and decree ‘many maidens were gathered together to Shushan the palace’. We are not told what procedures were followed to bring this about, but there would clearly be a selection process. However, as Esther related to the palace, and was very beautiful, her being summoned was probably only a matter of course. Neither Mordecai nor Esther would have had any option in the matter. All those who were summoned were committed to the care of Hegai, the ‘keeper of the women’, in the king’s house, that is, in the house of the women (verse 3). It was his responsibility to prepare them for presentation to the king. And they would all be very good-looking.
9 Now the young woman pleased him, and she obtained his favor; so he readily gave beauty preparations to her, besides her allowance. Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king’s palace, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women.
Hegai was clearly impressed by Esther. He saw her as having good potential with the king. And so he behaved kindly towards her, and saw to it that she was speedily provided with her things for purification, and began her process of purification and beautification quickly. Along with this, as a prospective consort of the king, she was treated with all due ceremony, being provided with seven suitable maidens to attend to her needs, taken from the king’s house. This would no doubt have been done for all the candidates. ‘Seven’ would have been seen as a suitable number for a king’s woman. But because he was especially impressed by her, he placed her and her maidens in the best place in the house of the women.
10 Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it.
But now we learn a thing of shame. Esther kept hidden from Hegai the fact that she was a Jewess. And she did it on the instructions of Mordecai. Mordecai did not want her to stand out as a Jewess.
11 And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women’s quarters, to learn of Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her.
Whatever his failings Mordecai remained faithful to his guardianship responsibilities. He did not just leave Esther to the care of the harem. Every day he came near to the court of the house of the women to learn how Esther was going on, and what might become of her. This again suggests that he was an important official. To approach the court of the women would have been dangerous for anyone less. He clearly had good security clearance. And it would appear he also had influential contacts, for he was seemingly able to enquire about Esther without being frowned on. He may well have had to obtain official authority for this as a king’s officer and Esther’s guardian.
Before women could be considered as suitable for ‘going into the king’ the selected maidens had to go through a process of ‘purifying’ so that the king might not be offended by their odors but might rather savor their sweet perfumes. In consequence she pleased the king and became not just his concubine, but his queen. Thus, we have the second ‘coincidence’ in that at the deposing of Vashti a Jewish woman would replace her just at the vital time when needed.
12 Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months’ preparation, according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women.
Each maiden in turn, prior to going into the king, had to go through a twelve-moon period course of rendering them suitable. For the first six moon periods this was by means of oil of myrrh, and for the second by perfumes and scents, and whatever else was felt necessary for their purification, which would include the choicest of foods. We could translate, ‘even with the things for the purifying of the women’, with it thus referring to the oil of myrrh and the sweet odors.
13 Thus prepared, each young woman went to the king, and she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the women’s quarters to the king’s palace.
After she had gone through the twelve-moon period course of purifying, each maiden would be brought to the king, presumably in an order determined by Hegai, although there may have been some means by which the king could himself initially scrutinize the maidens and make his choice. And in the process, she could ask for anything which she thought might please the king and make him look with favour on her, which would, of course, include expensive jewelry. Such a vulgar thing as cost would not, of course, be considered. But what was chosen would undoubtedly reveal something about each of the maidens, especially as each of them would no doubt be able to retain what they had chosen.
14 In the evening she went, and in the morning, she returned to the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who kept the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and called for her by name.
So each night one of the maidens would go in to the king, and once the maiden had spent the night with the king she was transferred to the second house of the women, under the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s chief officer, the maiden now being a fully-fledged wife or concubine. She would not be called again unless the king chose to send for her by name. Thus, the king had a large number of concubines, and that many of them would only be with the king once. They thus lived unfulfilled lives, enjoying every luxury, and yet overall unable to bear children and have families.
15 Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.
Eventually the time came for Esther to be summoned into the king’s presence. She was, we are informed, the daughter of Abihail, who was uncle to Mordecai. Abihail had died, and Mordecai had thus taken over guardianship of Esther. And when she went into the king she allowed herself to be guided by Hegai as to what she should use for adornments. Hegai, being the king’s chief officer and keeper of the women prior to their going in to the king, would be well versed as to what would please the king. But the aim was undoubtedly to demonstrate her humble attitude and willing obedience (seen as virtues in women). She sought no special adornments for herself. Indeed, he stresses that she found favor in the eyes of all who looked on her.
16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
The night in question was in the tenth month, that is the month Tebet, in the seventh year of Ahasuerus’ reign. In other words, it was following his return from his Greek campaign. There had thus been a gap of about four years since the degrading of Vashti. The tenth month was in midwinter.
17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so, he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Esther was an immediate success. The king loved her ‘above all the women’, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight. He preferred her over all the other women and set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. Amestris had apparently never been declared queen.
18 Then the king made a great feast, the Feast of Esther, for all his officials and servants; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts according to the generosity of a king.
Then to celebrate the occasion the king made a great feast for all his princes and servants, naming it Esther’s feast, and at the same time gave a certain amount of release from taxes and provided gifts out of his royal bounty. Vashti had been disgraced at a feast. The accession of Esther was celebrated by a similar feast.
We now come to the third ‘coincidence’ in that Mordecai discovers a plot against the king, which will eventually lead to him being shown royal honors, at the very time when his downfall is being plotted.
19 When virgins were gathered together a second time, Mordecai sat within the king’s gate.
The reference to virgins being gathered together a second time probably has in mind those transferred to the second house of the women, the idea being that a good number of the new batch of maidens had been so transferred when the situation described took place. It was at this time that Mordecai was ‘sitting in the king’s gate’, something which is regularly referred to. The fact that he was sitting in the king’s gate suggests that he had an important judicial role (Proverbs 31.23), for it was in the gate that justice was rendered, and it was there that appointed judges sat to carry out their functions. The more we learn of Mordecai, the more we recognize that he was in a position of authority.
20 Now Esther had not revealed her family and her people, just as Mordecai had charged her, for Esther obeyed the command of Mordecai as when she was brought up by him.
Once again it is stressed that Esther had not made known the fact that she was a Jewess. And that she had done it out of obedience to Mordecai (compare verse 10). This may well have been because Mordecai feared that if it was discovered that Esther was a Jewess she would be in disgrace, as someone unsuitable to be the king’s wife, or even to be in the harem. This again suggests a general antipathy against Jews. Our Precious Holy Spirit takes the opportunity to present Esther in a good light as one who obeyed her guardian ‘in the same way as when she was brought up with him’, just as she had obeyed Hegai. Such obedience would be seen by Jews in a good light. She was thus seen as modest (verse 15) and obedient. There may well here be intended a contrast between Vashti who did not obey ‘the commandment’ of the king, and Esther who did obey ‘the commandment’ of her guardian.
21 In those days, while Mordecai sat within the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, doorkeepers, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus
It was around this time that two of the king’s chief officials, who ‘kept the threshold’, became disgruntled, and determined to assassinate the king. ‘Keeping the threshold’ probably refers to their guarding the very entrance into the king’s private quarters. They would thus have been in a very favorable position to carry out their plot.
22 So the matter became known to Mordecai, who told Queen Esther, and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name.
We are not told how the plot became known to Mordecai, but he clearly learned of it and informed Esther. Esther then informed the king, giving due credit to Mordecai.
23 And when an inquiry was made into the matter, it was confirmed, and both were hanged on gallows; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.
Inquiries were then instituted and when the matter was examined (probably by torture) the two officials were found guilty. Therefore, they were ‘hung on a tree’, that is either crucified or impaled (probably the latter). Impalement was a common Persian punishment. Meanwhile the details of the whole were entered into the official book of records
We will later discover another coincidence as it was fortuitous that Mordecai’s service was overlooked, for it will later play an important part in the narrative. Meanwhile Esther was in place ready for the events that would follow. We are left to recognize that God was at work.
