Chapter 2

Outline

1 the memory of the long lost Queen

2-4 a plan to find a new Queen

5-7 Mordecai and Ester introduced

8-9 Esther and the other virgins are taken to the harem

10 Esther conceals her identity

11 Mordecai checks in on Esther

12-14 Six months of beauty treatments and then they go to the King one at a time, the details are discussed

15-16 Esther’s turn to go see the king

17 Esther wins the contest and becomes Queen

18 King throws a party for Esther and give a bunch of stuff away

19 Esther continues to obey Mordecai

20-21 Mordecai overhears a plot to kill the king

22-23 Modecai tells Esther to tell the king and she does and they save the kings life and then the two man that were going to carry out the assassination are killed.

When it comes to the Persian Bachelor …

Considering the culture:

Marriage was more of a buisness affair than one of love.

Men needed woman to provide children to care for the land and household and preserve the family legacy.

Women needed a Man to give them children to care for them when they were widowed.

Fathers would have been pleased in this setting to give their daughters as a cocubine and/or potential queen for their posterity. They would certainly be taken care of and not have the worries of the average peasantry.

A CONTEST! A SHOT AT WHAT ONLY NOBILITY WOULD HAVE… OH YES! Quite the Cinderella story.

Also note:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 2

The king’s personal attendants suggested,

b Mandate “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king.

The idea for this whole Reality TV Show comes from a servant, not a counselor (Chris Harrison) … the king was all over the place, lovesick, and probably drunk…

Esther: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary Commentary

The method used by the king in this narrative to secure his new queen virtually assured that she would be an anonymous person, fully dependent on the king’s good graces.

Esther: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary Commentary

But Esther does not fail to ask for anything; she asks what Hegai thought she should take. It might be said that she was humble, not presupposing to know what would please the king. Rather than being passive, this move appears shrewd and calculating: Hegai, keeper of the royal women, would have known all the royal gossip and would have heard from the wives and concubines about the king’s preferences. Equipped with whatever Hegai had deemed best, Esther pleased all her admirers. Her strategy was working.

Esther: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary Biblical Theology Comments

Are we to conclude that God approves of the morality displayed here? Certainly, we must bear in mind that to describe behavior is not to prescribe behavior.