Sermon Tone Analysis

Esther 2:1–18 (CSB)

1 Some time later, when King Ahasuerus’s rage had cooled down, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what was decided against her. 2 The king’s personal attendants suggested, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king.

3 Let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom, so that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem at the fortress of Susa.

Put them under the supervision of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women, and give them the required beauty treatments.

4 Then the young woman who pleases the king will become queen instead of Vashti.”

This suggestion pleased the king, and he did accordingly.

5 In the fortress of Susa, there was a Jewish man named Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite.

6 Kish had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the other captives when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took King Jeconiah of Judah into exile.

7 Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she had no father or mother.

The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking.

When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.

8 When the king’s command and edict became public knowledge and when many young women were gathered at the fortress of Susa under Hegai’s supervision, Esther was taken to the palace, into the supervision of Hegai, keeper of the women.

9 The young woman pleased him and gained his favor so that he accelerated the process of the beauty treatments and the special diet that she received.

He assigned seven hand-picked female servants to her from the palace and transferred her and her servants to the harem’s best quarters.

10 Esther did not reveal her ethnicity or her family background, because Mordecai had ordered her not to make them known.

11 Every day Mordecai took a walk in front of the harem’s courtyard to learn how Esther was doing and to see what was happening to her.

12 During the year before each young woman’s turn to go to King Ahasuerus, the harem regulation required her to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months.

13 When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the palace.

14 She would go in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem under the supervision of the king’s eunuch Shaashgaz, keeper of the concubines.

She never went to the king again, unless he desired her and summoned her by name.

15 Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai who had adopted her as his own daughter.

When her turn came to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women, suggested.

Esther gained favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her.

16 She was taken to King Ahasuerus in the palace in the tenth month, the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women.

She won more favor and approval from him than did any of the other virgins.

He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

18 The king held a great banquet for all his officials and staff.

It was Esther’s banquet.

He freed his provinces from tax payments and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.

When it appears that dark powers hold all of the cards, you can be certain that God drew a royal flush.

God is playing chess while the world is playing checkers.

Seeing God In The Darkness- The Text In Its Context

God’s People Revealed

Esther 2:5–7 (CSB)

5 In the fortress of Susa, there was a Jewish man named Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite.

6 Kish had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the other captives when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took King Jeconiah of Judah into exile.

7 Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she had no father or mother.

The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking.

When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.

Imagine the reaction of a contemporary Jewish reader- finally they see a true Jew in the story.

He was a Jew by lineage and a good man for adopting his orphaned cousin.

Esther 2:10–11 (CSB)

10 Esther did not reveal her ethnicity or her family background, because Mordecai had ordered her not to make them known.

11 Every day Mordecai took a walk in front of the harem’s courtyard to learn how Esther was doing and to see what was happening to her.

Mordecai made sure he checked on Esther daily, also a sign of a good man.

The Jews would also have been concerned about many of the things they read.

Mordecai is a Babylonian name that points to Marduk- the Babylonian state god.

Esther had two names, one Hebrew and the other not, the latter being derived either from the Persian strara, or star, or from Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love.

It may have been conferred on her because of her outstanding beauty.

These would have concerned Jewish readers.

The hiding of being Jewish and not keeping Jewish laws would be even worse.

The greatest revulsion would have come with hearing that Esther was given to be a concubine to a pagan.

Sure Mordecai checked up on her daily- but he should have hidden her away from the pagans seeking to take her there in the first place.

It was obvious they were collaborators with the enemy.

It seemed they were trying to conform to their circumstances rather than stand in their faith.

The author of Hebrews gave examples of how we should seek to live in faith.

Hebrews 11:32–40 (CSB)

32 And what more can I say?

Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.

35 Women received their dead, raised to life again.

Other people were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.

36 Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment.

37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated.

38 The world was not worthy of them.

They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.

39 All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.

Trying to appear as a pagan and sending your adopted daughter to warm a pagan kings bed to avoid getting in trouble is definitely not the type of thing that will get you on the list of heroes of the faith.

AMEN?

But can we judge them when we may me doing the same thing today?

We certainly can feel empathy for their situation and what they do.

Royal Rage Regretted

Esther 2:1–2 (CSB)

1 Some time later, when King Ahasuerus’s rage had cooled down, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what was decided against her. 2 The king’s personal attendants suggested, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king.

The war with Greece was not going well for Xerxes,

and neither was his return to the Persian capitol.

He realized that he missed Queen Vashti.

He was learning that wealth and power were not enough to ensure happiness.

Herodotus narrates that in the midst of his glory on his march to Greece, Xerxes said, ‘In this short life there is no man either among these or others so happy, that he should not often and more than once be in such a position as to prefer death to life.

The misfortunes come, and diseases rage, which make our life appear so long, though it is so short.’

It is significant that he said this in spite of all his displays of wealth.

Xerxes was probably extremely miserable upon his return.

And the royal court felt a need to put Xerxes in a better mood.

It is understandable- if you have ever had a miserable boss make your life miserable you can imagine how motivated they were.

Any further sadness, misery, or brooding would probably fall on them!

AMEN?

If King Xerxes wasn’t happy nobody will be happy- and he was more than happy to kill those whose joy offended him.

But what do you get for a blood thirsty despot who has been thwarted from achieving revenge on Greece and is starting to miss his former Queen?

He had the money and power to get anything else he wanted.

And the advisors were not going to suddenly change the outcome of the battles in Greece.

So they decided to appeal to his lust and need for companionship by finding the most beautiful women in the land to as nightly gifts to boost his spirits.

From Concubine To Consort

The Persians were brilliant administrators- and they put together an expansive process to collect and train the most beautiful young women in the empire and prepare them to be presented to the King.

Collect and Transport

Esther 2:3 (CSB)

3 Let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom, so that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem at the fortress of Susa.

Put them under the supervision of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women, and give them the required beauty treatments.

The first stage was to collect “beautiful young women” from all over the kingdom.

It doesn’t seem that these women or their families had a choice in the matter.

If they were single, young, and beautiful they were taken to the capitol of Susa and turned over to Hegai who provided each of them a year of “beauty treatments” (v.