I took the scripture passages from the Peshitta Aramaic version, and therefore some of the names have weird spellings. I just copied the passages from Biblehub.com verbatim, fyi. ;)
Also, based on reader feedback, I have changed the view of the blog to make it easier to read and to print.
Esther 2:1-4
And after these matters, when the anger of King Akhashiresh was appeased, he remembered Vashti the Queen and everything that she had done and everything that he had decreed against her. 2And the young men of the King and his Ministers said to him: “We will seek for the King girls who are beautiful in their appearance. 3And let the King command all the provinces and let them gather all virgin girls who are beautiful in their appearance to the house of women with Haggi the Eunuch, Keeper of the women, and he will give their adornments. 4And the young girl who is pleasing before the King shall reign in the place of Vashti, and the matter was pleasing in the eyes of the King, and he did so.
Chapter 2 of the Book of Esther opens with King Ahasuerus having returned from his war with the Greeks, if you will recall, having been beaten soundly by them. And we see the equivalent of a beauty contest ensue. The king had deposed his queen, for her refusal to obey a patently unjust request by the king. In chapter one. And as you may recall, some of the sages, some of the commentators, go on to say that he actually had her put to death. So he remembered her, going with the advice of his attendants, his counselors, who advised the king to have the commissioners of each province send the most beautiful women from his area of the empire.
I find it interesting that in verse 3 we see that “cosmetics were given them”. Makes me wonder exactly what cosmetics looked like in those days. I would love to have known what they consisted of, what rituals were used in the king’s court of women, to beautify these most beautiful women from all over the Persian Empire.
Verse 5.
5And there was a Jewish man in Shushan the palace, and his name was Murdacai, son of Yair, son of Shemei, son of Qish, from the tribe of Benyamin
It is here we are introduced to Mordechai. When the book of Esther is read aloud on the night of Purim, by observant Jews, this verse is one that the entire congregation reads aloud. There are two others read aloud in similar fashion. They are: Esther 8:15 and 10:.3. And, as this verse, Esther 2:5, that is read aloud by the congregation centers on Mordechai, so do the other two! Strange....and we will come back to that point near the end of our study.
Mordechai was called a Yehudi, or one from the tribe of Judah, because the gentile Persians did not make any distinction between members of the 12 different tribes. When Babylon conquered the southern kingdom called Judah, the tribes living there were of Judah, Benjamin and of course, the Levites, who did not have a land allotment. Instead, the Levites were appointed cities in each of the other tribal land allotments. This spread the Levites out so that they could ecclesiastically serve the people of Israel. Because the bulk of the people taken away into Babylonian captivity and who settled in Babylon were of the tribe of Judah, the generic term used by gentile peoples came to be patterned after the name Judah/Yehudi/Jews. The name “Judah” means “I will praise God.”
At any rate, today, we in English translate Yehudi to “Jew”, again, no matter which tribe a person of Hebrew descent is from. When the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE and the library at Alexandria was destroyed in Egypt during the time of Julius Caesar. Both these buildings contained together hundreds of thousand books, including the genealogical records of the Jews. So, it is a dicey thing today for someone to say, “I descended from the tribe of ____”. Very difficult to prove that.
Mordechai lived in the city of Shushan and although he was called a Jew (a Yehudite), he was actually from the tribe of Benjamin, a son of a man named Kish. While this does not seem like an important detail, it actually IS. Another famous biblical character was from the tribe of Benjamin, and that was the first king of Israel, King Saul. Now, when the Bible says Mordechai was a son of Kish, it does not mean that he was literally Kish’s son, but that he was a descendant of Kish. You may remember that Benjamin was the only one of Jacob’s 12 sons who did not agree to the selling of his brother Joseph into bondage. Joseph and Benjamin were the only two sons of Rachel, Jacob’s favored wife.
Vs. 6. Whom they took captive from Jerusalem with the captivity which was taken captive with Yokania, King of Yehuda, whom Nebukadnetsar King of Babel took captive.
The people of Judah were deported from their homeland by Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian in three waves (and not coincidentally, under King Cyrus when they began to return, they likewise did so in 3 waves). Jeconiah, who was only a teenager (18) when he ascended to the throne, was taken in the second wave of deportation. 2 Kings 24:16 tells us that the leading men in Judah were taken in this deportation as well. Only the poorest were left behind in Judah. It was at this time that Nebuchadnezzar raided the Temple (2 Chronicles 36:10.) No doubt Mordechai was one of those leading men of Judah taken. It is said by the commentators that Mordechai was a member to the Sanhedrin of his day.
Vs. 7. And he had raised Hadassah, who is Esther, daughter of his paternal uncle, because she had no father or mother, and the young girl was beautiful in her appearance, and her face was beautiful, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as a daughter.
We learn here that Mordechai had a young first-cousin named Hadassah or Esther. Mordechai was raising Esther because both her parents were dead. The Jewish oral history mentions that her father had died before her birth and that her mother died AT her birth.
There is some disagreement as to whether Hadassah was her proper name or Esther her proper name. Both names seem to describe a virtuous woman. Hadassah is derived from the Hebrew word that refers to the myrtle tree. Myrtle trees are a symbol of resurrection. They figure prominently in Zechariah 1:8-11, a vision given to Zechariah of future redemption/resurrection/restoration.
8I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, [d]sorrel, and white horses behind him. 9Then I said, “What are these, my lord?” And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” 10And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees responded and said, “These are the ones whom the LORD has sent to [e]patrol the earth.” 11So they responded to the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, “We have [f]patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is [g]still and quiet.”
This vision was given to Zechariah during the 70 years of Babylonian exile, when all-the-best of the nation of Judah was imprisoned in Babylon. In the nearest fulfilment, this prophetic vision was fulfilled when the captives were allowed to begin returning home (again, in 3 waves, just as they left) to rebuild, first, the Temple, and then afterwards, under Nehemiah and Ezra, the city walls. But, the passage also has multiple layers of fulfillment, as does many Bible prophecies. This passage also has an end-times fulfillment coming.
In a similar fashion, Hadassah was used by God to be a tool of redemption/restoration for her people. As I mentioned in the last teaching, the Torah was “dead” in Shushan, not allowed to be taught. Through Esther, not only were her people redeemed and restored, the Torah was, in a sense, resurrected.
Her Babylonian name was Esther, a derivative of Ishtar. Now, of course, Ishtar was a foreign, pagan goddess, but the name means “beautiful as the moon”. Esther was certainly beautiful and one of the two “shining stars” of this story.
Vs. 8. And when the word of King was heard, and his command, and as many virgins were gathered to Shushan the Palace to Haggi, the Eunuch, Esthir also was led to the house of the King, to the Keeper of the women.
In some translations, the Scripture reads that Esther “was taken” to the palace. You could interpret this benignly as “I took mother to the doctor” (something I’ve been doing a lot of recently). OR, you could interpret it as “she was taken against her will”. The Scriptures are not explicit about this. However, I will comment that it was unlikely that a Jewish woman would be thrilled about being taken away from her home to become immersed into a pagan palace culture, essentially “for a chance to win the lottery”. Had she not been selected as queen, she would have most certainly continued “in the service of the King”, and it is not hard to imagine what form that “service” would have taken.
Vs. 9. And the girl was pleasing in his eyes, and she received favor before him, and he hurried to give her gown to her and her portion, and seven Maidens who were worthy to give to her from the house of the King, and he distinguished her and her Maidens above all the women.
Now, this is such an interesting verse, when you read it with the eyeglasses of Jewish understanding....make of this what you will. Why do you suppose Esther was assigned, in the omniscience of the Father, SEVEN attendants? Well, the commentary says that she appointed one to serve her for each day of the week. “So what?”, you ask. Let’s consider this - - if you were a devout Jew who desired to “keep the Sabbath”, which devout Jews recognize is the most holy of ALL the holy days, how could you do that without being “found out”? If you wanted to be industrious six days of the week in the harem, but rest on the seventh, wouldn’t it become obvious that you were “keeping the Sabbath”? Ohh, but, if you had a different maid attend you each day of the week, the other six would not know you were resting on the seventh day, would they? And, the one who attended you on the seventh day would just think you never did anything of substance! Well, it is something to consider. Scripture never wastes any details. The details given are given for a reason. Look back at the passage in Zechariah 1. What difference does it make what kind of trees those personages were standing near or under? Who cares if they were myrtle trees, right? No, not right. It DOES matter.
Some of you listening did not even hear some of what I just said because you are fixated on dreaming about having a maid seven days a week. hAhA! Well, just remember that “to whom much is given much shall be required”. Yes, Esther lived “in the lap of luxury”, but one day the bill came due. She had to risk her life in obedience to her God. So, be careful what you wish for, right?
Ok, moving on to verse 10.
And Esthir did not reveal her name or her family because Murdacai had ordered her that she would not reveal it.
Make what you will of what I just said about the seven attendants. But, verse 10 says that Esther was instructed by her “father figure” to keep her Jewishness a secret and nothing distinguishes a Jew more than the keeping of the Sabbath and the dietary laws. Esther was a great secret-keeper. She hid her Jewish identity for several years, the commentators differing on exactly how many. Some say 3, others 9, etc.
Why would Mordechai do this: instruct her to hide her ethnicity/religion? Much speculation has gone on in that regard. Here are some possible reasons:
- The most obvious is that the king would not choose a Jewess, knowingly. Mordechai realized the stark miracle of Esther having been chosen at all, and realized that this had occurred for some divine purpose. He saw it as an act of prudence and an act of protection toward Esther, to advise her to conceal her identity.
- Had Esther revealed her Jewishness, the next logical question would have been “What tribe are you from, which of the 12?” And, then it would have been a short hop-skip to get the the fact that she was a descendant of King Saul. Had the king wanted to choose a queen of humble origins, unlike Vashti who was of royal blood, he could have then chosen another woman in Esther’s place.
- Had she openly declared her faith, she would have been forced to transgress or even to renounce it in order to continue throught the harem’s preparation/qualification process.
- As time went on, the problem became the deception itself. “Why did you hide this from me for so long”, etc.
Vs. 11. And every day Murdacai was walking before the court of the women to know the account of Esthir and what was done for her.
This verse lets us know that Mordechai truly cared for Esther and that he kept tabs on her, to make sure she was doing ok. It must have been quite a test of faith in his God, for him to allow his “daughter figure” to be essentially “sold to the highest bidder”. (The King was the highest bidder, although he didn’t even have to pay anything. He just took what he wanted...)
12And whenever the time had arrived that one of the girls was to enter before King Akhashiresh, when twelve days were done for her according to the law of women, because thus were finished the days of their adornments, six days of oil of myrrh, and six days of ointment and in the adorning of the women 13And thus the girl entered before the King, and everything that she may say is given her to enter with her from the house of women and unto the house of the King. 14In the evening she entered and at dawn she returned to the house of women at the side of Shangashir, the Eunuch of the King, the Keeper of the concubines, and she did not approach before the King again unless the King asked for her and he called her by her name.
Consider how degrading this process and how it robbed so many women of being wives and mothers. Being thoroughly steeped in the one-man-with-one-woman, God-ordained manner of doing these things, I find this revolting. (It does not make me feel any better that King Solomon behaved in like manner....). Talk about “all or nothing”... All these “finalists”, not just Esther, realized that if they did not win the title of Queen, then they were relegated to spending the rest of their lives in the harem. Sounds like a horrible fate, to me. No husband. No children. An existence with a large group of disappointed, bitter women. Such is the outcome when humanity lives out of harmony with God’s way of doing things. Very sad.
Vs. 15. And when the time of Esthir, daughter of Abikhel, paternal uncle of Murdacai, who took her to himself as a daughter, arrived to enter in front of the King, she did not ask for anything but what Haggi the Eunuch Keeper of the women said, and Esthir received favor in the eyes of all who saw her.
Esther was humble. The evidence of this was that she requested nothing above “the usual allotment”. God loves humility in His children. As James 4:6 says, He “resists the proud, but gives grace (shows favor to) the humble.” I’m sure Esther had no idea she would be the chosen Queen. She was probably more surprised than anyone.
Vs. 16. And Esther entered before King Akhashiresh to the house of the King in the tenth month, which is the latter half of Canun, in year four of his kingdom.
Now, I’m aware that last week some of you were questioning my teaching that IF the king in our story was Xerxes I, that he went off to war on the heels of the big 6 months+1 week banquet. How’ere, here in vs. 16 we see that the king encountered Esther in the 7th year of his reign. The banquet was in year 3, and he was at war with the Greeks for 3 years, and here we are in year seven because the women prepared themselves for 1 year. This verse seems to support that timeline.
Vs. 17 and 18 - - And the King loved Esthir more than all the women, and she obtained favor from before him more than all the virgins, and she received the crown of the kingdom on her head, and she became Queen in the place of Vashti. 18And the King made a great feast for all his Princes, and he made a feast for Esthir, and he made rest for the provinces, and he gave gifts according to the hand of the King.
In demonstration of his adoration for Esther, he not only made her Queen, he threw a huge party for her, did a tax roll-back for all 127 of his provinces, and gave lavish gifts. This king loved to party!
Vs. 19-20. And when the virgins were gathered the second time, Murdacai was sitting in the gate of the King. 20And Esthir did not reveal her tribe and her people according to what Murdacai commanded her, and Esthir was obeying the command of Murdacai, as she was in the faith with him.
Have you ever wondered how Esther got away with this? I mean, eventually, at some point, Ahasuerus must have asked her, “So, Esther, where you from?”! How she managed to get away with demure evasions or changing the subject adeptly...it’s a miracle the king did not get annoyed and either send her away or just lop off her head! (Some say this had been done before, if you recall...)
Or, maybe she managed to convince him that it just did not matter - - her origins. Maybe she persuaded him that the new Queen should be focused solely on the future, the future and success of Persia, not on her past.
It is entirely possible that one of the reasons the king was so very fascinated by Esther, in addition to her great beauty, was that he could not discern her origins. Men love a little mystery in their women; this fact is universally known, particularly among wise women. In the case of this king, it seemed to particularly intrigue him that Esther would not divulge her origins. Verse 19 seems to appear without much elaboration, and at first does not seem to fit, but the commentators say that what was happening here was that the king once again convened the formerly-rejected maidens in an effort to rouse jealousy in Esther and convince her to divulge her secrets. Amazingly, this was sort of a “beauty contest redux”... That Esther must have had “nerves of steel”....
How Mordechai became one of the king’s chief advisors, sitting at the king’s gate is not explicitly told in the Scriptures, although the commentators theorize that Esther had commended him to the king and that the king moved Mordechai up into his position of trusted advisor that sat at the king’s gate. The king’s gate was not a place that just anyone could access. It was not a place for idle men or loafers. No, it is where the highest dignitaries of the land gathered. Some have postulated that Mordechai, one of the most respected Jews in Shushan, left his position in the Sanhedrin, to station himself in the King’s Gate, so that he could be the first to hear any threats against his people. However, I can’t agree with him putting himself forth like that. He would have had to have been appointed by the throne. He couldn’t have just “walked on”, like Stetson Bennett did. (You have to know something of University of Georgia football to get that reference....)
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Vs. 21-22. And in those days, Murdacai was sitting in the gate of the King, and Begthan and Teresh, two of the Eunuchs of the King, Keepers of the gate, were enraged, and they attempted to lay hands on King Akhashiresh. 22And the matter was revealed to Murdacai and he revealed it to Esthir the Queen, and Esthir spoke to the King in the name of Murdacai.
Here we have a story-within-a-story. Here we learn of two rapscallions, formerly trusted chamberlains, so trusted that they guarded the king’s very threshold. For reasons unknown, they became enraged and plotted to kill the king. It has been put forth that perhaps they had hoped to be elevated into the position Mordechai came to hold, and that they were jealous of him. Accordingly, they schemed to kill the king who had promoted Mordechai. Somehow (well, in God’s omniscient providence), Mordechai got wind of this and foiled the plan. It is said that Mordechai spoke several languages, as this was a prominent characteristic of those on the Sanhedrin in his day. Perhaps he overheard them talking about it, not realizing that Mordechai could understand their native tongue. Regardless, Mordechai found out, one way or the other. He told Esther of the nefarious scheme, and it is written that Esther informed the king, giving Mordechai the credit. (It becomes plain later that the king forgets about this...IF the word of this reached the king personally. It is entirely possible Esther sent the message to the king and that somewhere along the message’s journey, the king never actually heard about it.)
Vs. 23. And the matter was investigated and it was uncovered, and both were crucified on crosses. They were written in The Book of Days in front of the King.
The miscreants were investigated, tried, convicted and hanged on a gallows, which appears to have been a common way of carrying out capital punishment. (Sort of sounds like the wild, wild west to us Americans familiar with American history.) AND, this is very important to our story....the incident was recorded in the Persian book of chronicles of royal events. Apparently, the Persians were a well-organized, detail-oriented people.
