Esther 2

OK, so we are continuing on in Esther, and tonight we will look at chapter 2. Lots to cover, so we will jump right in. I will warn you that we are going to have to think about some uncomfortable themes this week, so fair warning.

Esther 2 ESV

1 After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. 3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. 4 And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so. 5 Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. 7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. 8 So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women. 9 And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem. 10 Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. 11 And every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her. 12 Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women— 13 when the young woman went in to the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name. 15 When the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 16 And when 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 women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants; it was Esther’s feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity. 19 Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. 20 Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. 21 In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 22 And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. 23 When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.

OK, so as we start this week and look at Chapter 2, I want to sort of wrap up something from last week that I didn’t get to, but I think is helpful here. Last week we talked about the advisor Memucan who gave the king advice to put away Queen Vashti. One commentary had some interesting insight, and I thought it was too good not to share:

Esther Original Meaning

The blindness in Memucan’s advice as this scene unfolds gives it a depth of irony and even humor. However, because the Bible is sacred Scripture, many readers assume that it speaks only in hushed and reverent tones, and they cannot see or appreciate the ironic humor found in biblical stories.

Perhaps it does seem odd and even inappropriate to modern readers that the author of Esther would use parody and even humor to introduce the Persian powers that came treacherously close to extinguishing his own people. It seems improper to tell a funny story about genocide and, therefore, many readers may deny that there is any humor intended in this book. M. Fox is one of several commentators who recognize humor in the Esther story and offers helpful insight into its significance:

The book’s incongruous humor is one of its strange hallmarks. It mixes laughter with fear in telling about a near-tragedy that is tellingly reminiscent of actual tragedies. We laugh at the confused sexual politicians, the quirky emperor, and, above all, the ludicrous, self-glorifying, self-destructive villain.…

Humor, especially the humor of ridicule, is a device for defusing fear. The author teaches us to make fun of the very forces that once threatened—and will again threaten—our existence, and thereby makes us recognize their triviality as well as their power. “If I laugh at any mortal thing,” said Byron, “’tis that I may not weep.” Jews have learned that kind of laughter. The book of Esther begins a tradition of Jewish humor.

Esther Bridging Contexts

The author of Esther is revealing the workings of worldly power and mocking its ultimate inability to determine the destiny of God’s people. At that time and place, worldly power was held by Persian men. The author chooses to include and highlight an incident involving the interaction between men and women because in this story powerful Persian men are outwitted by a Jewish woman. Esther has to overcome two levels of conflict, both as a woman and as a Jew, to come into her own as Queen of Persia. We modern readers probably cannot fully appreciate how truly remarkable a feat that was.

So, that is a bit lengthy, but it sets the stage for what we are going to see as we dive in. So lets start by looking at the king’s problem.

Esther 2:1–4 ESV

1 After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. 3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them. 4 And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so.

Ahasuerus has a problem. He let his temper and his drunkenness get the better of him, and now he doesn’t have a queen. As Alistair Begg puts it, “The king lost his head and the queen lost her crown.” But we also have to understand that this isn’t like, the next day and he wakes up hung over like, “what have I done?” There is, as best we can tell from history, a 3 year gap between the end of chapter 1 and the beginning of chapter 2.

Remember when we talked about the big feast being a war council, and Ahasuerus was preparing to go against Greece?

That happens between chapter 1 and chapter 2.

See:

The Book of Esther The Search for a New Queen

the battle of Salamis and the campaign of Thermopylae in the fifth century—the campaign of Persia against Greece—was one of the great military campaigns in the entire history of the world

And, here we have:

The Book of Esther The Search for a New Queen

Mr. Big, the king, Ahasuerus, after he has now deposed Vashti, goes out to lead the forces of Persia against the Greeks.

Ahasuerus is in a depressed state. He’s in a funk.

Begg notes this:

The Book of Esther The Search for a New Queen

fifteen minutes in the wrong company, imbibing the wrong material, making the wrong decisions, may have a lasting impact on our lives. You read it in Ecclesiastes: “There was a man all alone; he had neither [brother or sister].”[12] It’s a picture of the sadness and the emptiness of someone who has pursued everyone and everything, and particularly his own agenda, to the expense of the living God.

He has lost his military campaign, and he doesn’t even have a shoulder to cry on. So, his servants suggest that he find a new queen. And, Ahasuerus, so self-absorbed and egotistical, thought, “yeah, that’d be nice!”

Then the interlude to introduce the real main characters.

Esther 2:5–7 ESV

5 Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. 7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

We are first introduced to Mordecai, a Jew living in exile. We are told who he is, and that he is caring for his cousin, Hadassah, who had been orphaned. And we see that her Persian name is Esther.

We should deal with a couple things here. First of all, we need to understand that Esther and Mordecai are living their lives in exile. They are not portrayed particularly pietistically, like Daniel or Nehemiah. They seem to have assimilated into exile and are going with the flow. This does not minimize their story at all. If we look at Scripture, we see that this is kind of how God expected the exiles to live.

Jeremiah 29:4–9 ESV

4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord.

This is the actual context of “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.” The plans were for them to live their lives in exile and that God would eventually bring them out.

We must not make assumptions on Bible characters that the original writers didn’t make. The author of Esther doesn’t pass judgment on Mordecai or Esther, and neither should we. And that gets really important really quickly.

We see that Mordecai is a Jew, but we see later that he doesn’t flaunt that fact. He keeps his head down and his nose clean. Esther goes by her Persian name. She willingly submits to the demands given to her when she is taken into royal custody.

Something else that will become important is that we are given Mordecai’s heritage. And we can’t hang a whole lot on this but I do think we should at least understand some of it.

And I want to say a couple of things, and they may be a bit back-to-front, if you will. First of all, I want you to understand, if you are student of history, you may see that verse 6 seems to indicate that Mordecai had been carried away to exile by Nebuchadnezzar. I don’t think this is saying that he himself had been carried away, but rather that his ancestors had been. Because secondly, the author here is really leaning into the Jewishness of Mordecai. The book of Esther really is one of the most Jewish book in the Bible. It is all about the preservation of God’s people. This family lineage is a very Jewish thing, and it is establishing Mordecai’s bona fides, if you will.

Finally, I want you to see that Mordecai is specifically mentioned as a son of Kish, an Benjaminite. That is, or will be important later. Who is Kish? Kish was the father of Saul - King Saul.

OK, I am not going to go into great detail about the crowning of the new Miss Persia competition, but I do want to say a couple of things. First of all, we need to see a few things about Esther here.

Esther was compelled to be part of this thing. I don’t think that she volunteered for it. Secondly, We see that she was winning favor (vs 9, vs 15). She was pleasant to look at and to be around. She listened to wise counsel (vs 15).

And I will tell you that there is some concern with the requirements for verses 12-14. There is at least a subtext that this was a test to see if she pleased the king sexually. And that makes us uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable. But it is also how things were done (and if we are honest, it is how a lot of things are still done). Esther, in trying to fit in, is perhaps too assimilated here, but again, we don’t get judgement from the original author so I think it better that we reserve judgment on her actions as well.

I will say that the tension is built pretty spectacularly here. We see that, for the women who are not chosen, they are most likely never brought out of the harem again. They have some semblance of royal treatment, but they are in effect prisoners with nice digs. Verse 14 shows us:

Esther 2:14 ESV

14 In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.

So, Esther either pleases the king and becomes queen, or she becomes one of the concubines. Not a great outlook.

But look at what God does. Look at how He directs the events of a vile king and his contemptible ways. What we see is that God makes Esther the king’s pride and joy, in spite of the danger, in spite of the odds stacked against her.

And the king responds the way most love-struck men would.

Esther 2:16–18 ESV

16 And when 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 women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants; it was Esther’s feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.

First, he names her queen. The beauty pageant is over. Esther won. Then, he does what he seemingly does best: he threw a party. But he also gave gifts and offered tax breaks. This is like if the President decided to hold a festival and no one had to pay any sort of taxes for a month. This is huge. You wonder why people would have liked her? She was the reason they didn’t have to pay taxes for a while.

So, that’s our introduction to Esther, the person. Now, after all of this build up, we see the story really start to take off.

Esther 2:19–23 ESV

19 Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. 20 Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. 21 In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 22 And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. 23 When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.

So, during all of this, Mordecai, who sits at the gate, can see and hear all the things. Mordecai is that guy who isn’t maybe the most powerful dude, but has all of the connections or knows all of the things. He is a guy that hears stuff, sees stuff. And he keeps his head down, his eyes and ears open.

And while this search for the queen is happening, he hears a couple of the guys who guard the king’s palace conspiring against him. Ahasuerus has rats in the palace. This is like summer-blockbuster intrigue.

And Mordecai goes to the new queen, and tells her. She reports the assassination plot to the king, and is careful to give Mordecai the credit.

Note here how Esther and Mordecai interact. Esther treats Mordecai like her father, and she obeys him and respects him. Mordecai does everything he can to help her succeed - including telling her to not let it be known that she is a Jew.

I cannot condone lying, or deception, because that is not what we are commanded to do. And the author doesn’t condone it either. But, the author does report it. Esther and Mordecai are maintaining the status quo, but I also don’t think they are doing anything terrible here. Maybe they should be more forthright, but in truth, not everyone merits your full story all of the time. We do see later that when Mordecai is challenged to bow to Haman, he refuses because he is a Jew. It is a moral gray area that is difficult, but one that we have to acknowledge.

What we do see as the chapter concludes is that the events of the whole assassination plot are recorded in the royal records. This seems like and odd way to end the chapter, but we know that it plays a big part later.

I will say there are a lot of moral gray areas here, and we need to think about them and wrestle with them as we study scripture. We can see things in the heroic characters that are not really all that heroic. These are not made-up characters in a fairy tale; these were real people with real issues, and they had very real threats driving their decisions.