Esther: Chapter 2 - Esther Chosen
Queen January 19, 2019
Let’s look at the mental
state of the King, lost 3 wars; he needs money for his life style, treasury is
broke, next week we will see why he does what he does.
Esther 2:1
Later when King Xerxes' fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her.
· Xerxes had regret for the treatment he had given to
his dignified queen.
· Between chapters 1 and 2,
at least four years pass, during which Xerxes went on his disastrous Greek campaign
(481–479 B.C.).
· After these battles, the
king came home a bitter man, and it was only natural that he should seek some
kind of comfort in his own home.
There
are 4 Greece - Persian Battles.
490 BC Battle of
Marathon - See drawing
· The battle took place
between the Greeks and the Persians at Marathon, a plain on Athenian territory
25 mi NE of Athens, in 490 B.C.
· The Persians (90,000?) far
outnumbered the Greeks (10,000?);
480 BC Battle of
Thermopylae – Movie: the 300 Spartans
· Thermopylae was the main
route by which an invading army could penetrate from the north into southern
Greece.
· In ancient times it was a
narrow track about 50 ft wide passing under a cliff.
· It was the scene of the
first major battle fought during the invasion of Greece to avenge the Persians
defeat and for expansion of his empire.
480 BC Battle of
Salamis Movie: 300 – Rise of an Empire
· An important Greek naval
victory in 480 B.C. which occurred in a strait near the island of Salamís, not
far from Athens.
· The 380 Greek ships draw
the 400 Persians ships into the narrow strait of Salamis, the Persian ships
were rammed, sunk, or boarded by the Greeks for hand-to-hand combat.
479 BC Battle of
Plataea was
the final battle of the Persian Wars in which the remaining Persian forces in
Greece were defeated and driven out.
· It was after his return
from this disastrous invasion that Esther was chosen as his queen.
· It is 478 B.C.; Xerxes will
live another 13 years.
· Esther will live into the reign
of her stepson Artaxerxes and Nehemiah’s request to rebuild Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 2:6 Then the king, with the queen sitting
beside him, asked me, "How long will your journey take, and
when will you get back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.
· As the Persian monarchs did
not admit their wives to be present at their state festivals, this must have
been a private occasion.
· The queen referred to was
probably Esther, whose presence would tend greatly to embolden Nehemiah in
stating his request;
·
Through her influence, here is a possibility that the queen's
throne was occupied by the queen mother
Esther 2:2-3 Then the king's personal attendants proposed, "Let a search be made for
beautiful young virgins for the king. (3) Let the king appoint
commissioners in every province of
his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa.
Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge
of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them.
It was customary for the
virgins of the king’s harem to spend a year in beauty treatments
and purification rites such as oil of myrrh, spices, to remove all impurity and
ill scent from them, and make them look smooth and beautiful before going to
see the king (vs 12).
Prove she is a virgin and
not carrying child.
· They had many different houses,
one for the virgins (vs 9),
· another for the concubines
(vs 14)
· another for the queen.
Esther 2:4
Then let the young
woman who pleases the king be queen instead of
Vashti." This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.
· The young woman will be
given the royal estate,
· the royal set crown on her
head, etc
· and was very powerful.
Esther 2:5 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.
·
Mordecai. means a little man; bitterness of my oppressed,
· Son could be son, or grandson or even great grandson.
Returning exiles
individuals to Jerusalem.
Ezra listed Mordecai as a returning
individual to Jerusalem *Ezra 2:2 *Nehemiah 7:7
· Shimei”: From King Saul, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin.
· Josephus refers to Esther
as of the royal family being of Saul.
· Esther had royalty in her blood.
Who was Shimei, remember he Curses David
2 Samuel 16:5 As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same
clan as Saul's family came out from there. His name was Shimei
son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out.
· When David, fleeing from
Absalom, reached the edge of the valley, between the road and Shimei’s house,
· Shimei ran along the ridge
over against the road, cursing and throwing stones and dust at him and his
mighty men
Dumb
move to curse the king with his army there.
King
David servant said Let me go over and cut off his head." *Samuel
16:9
King David said Leave him alone; let him curse, for the LORD has told him
to. *2 Samuel 16:11
When King David returned, Shimei hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King
David. *2 Samuel 19:16
Shimei wisely was the
“first of the house of Joseph” to meet David on his victorious return over
Jordan.
King David said to Shimei, "You
shall not die."*2 Samuel 19:23
This
is interesting how God works for His plan for mankind.
· King David’s sparing of
Shimei resulted in a Mordecai in our story.
· Saul’s sparing of Agag, he
was not supposed to, resulted in a Haman.
· King Saul was tied to both
men.
Esther 2:6 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.
Kish
belonged to the second captivity.
There
were at least three captivities or sieges of Judah:
· The first when Daniel was
carried away, in the third year of Jehoiakim, which was 605 B.C. (Dan 1:1).
· The second that is here
referred to, when Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah, was made prisoner, 8 years later, or
597 B.C.
· The third when Zedekiah was
taken and Jerusalem burnt, in 586 B.C
Esther 2:7 Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had
brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was
also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had
taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died. {Lovely in form and features}
· Esther Jewess name was Hadas’sah (the myrtle),
· When she entered the royal harem she received the name
by which she henceforth became known,
· Esther (means Star in Persian– name related to that of a local
deity, the goddess Ishtar).
Esther 2:8 When the king's order and edict had been
proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was
taken to the king's palace and entrusted
to Hegai, who had charge of the harem.
· Hegai occurs as an officer
of Xerxes in the Histories of Herodotus.
· Esther and the other women did not really have
a choice about this.
· Josephus said the number
was close to 400
women.
· How many people does it take to take care of them all.
Esther 2:9 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.
· Like Joseph in Egypt,
person in charge takes a liking to her.
· As a side: How many
maidservants did this king have.
· Someone had to be moved
out.
· Interesting:
Pleased - Because she was very beautiful and her behavior, therefore he concluded within himself she
would be acceptable to the king.
· Seven maidservants - They were to attend her, bath her, to anoint and
adorn her, and be her servants in general.
A totally different mindset then.
Esther 2:10 Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because
Mordecai had
forbidden her to do so.
· Esther is Jewish, but was
told not to tell anyone, she would pass for a native Persian.
Esther 2:11 Every day he walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was
happening to her.
· Show his love and concern for her in such a really
dangerous place
· It is a crime to enquire what goes on within the women apartment walls.
· But hints were given him through the eunuchs.
· Mordecai occupied,
apparently, a humble place in the royal household.
· He was probably one of the
porters or doorkeepers at the main entrance to the palace (vs 21)
Esther 2:12 Before a young woman's turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of
beauty treatments prescribed for the
women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.
· The myrrh was used to make the skin smooth and soft,
· Perfumes to remove all ill scents through sweat,
· or any other cause by hot baths, food, rubbing the
body with olive oil, plucking of the eyebrows, facial make-up, will in almost
every case remove all disagreeable odors.
· The country was hot.
· Why 12 months:
· One reason for the
preparation time was to tell if the women had been pregnant upon coming into
the harem,
· so the king would not be
charged with fathering a child that was not his.
Esther 2:13 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.
· What would someone take
with them: jewels, clothing after her own taste.
Esther 2:14 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 was pleased with her and called for her by name.
· Interesting, 400 women, one
is picked, means 399 lost.
· They became concubine of
the king,
· but rarely if ever saw him
afterwards.
· Never free to marry another
man, becomes a widow for life.
· Darius, whom Alexander conquered, had three
hundred and sixty concubine
The
harem is comprised at least 3 houses or palaces:
1.
A residence for the queen, corresponding to that which Solomon built for the
daughter of Pharaoh (1 Kgs 7:8).
2.
A house for the secondary wives, or concubines; and,
3.
A house for the virgins. On returning from her first visit to the king’s
chamber, a woman ordinarily became an inmate of the “second house.” This
“second house” was under the care of a eunuch called Sha’ashgaz.
Esther 2:15 When the turn came for Esther (the young
woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the
king, she asked
for nothing other than what Hegai, the king's eunuch who was in
charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.
· Esther used wisdom to
allowed the custodian to assist her preparations mainly by her modesty, virtue, beauty, appearance and humble attitude,
were sufficient.
· Not loaded with bracelets, earrings, anklets as the
others.
Esther 2:16 She was
taken to King Xerxes in the royal
residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
·
Xerxes divorce Vashti in the third year of his reign,
·
the great feast was four years before Esther was taken by him,
·
probably in December - January 479/478 BC.
Esther 2:17 Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So
he set a royal
crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
·
Esther was selected to be the queen to king Xerxes, found grace and
favor.
·
It was usual with the eastern kings to put a
crown on the heads of their wives at the time of marriage, and declare them
queen. The wedding?
Esther 2:18 And the king gave a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his nobles and
officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts
with royal liberality.
· The feast or banquet lasted
a whole month.
· Esther is now the first
woman in all Persia
· the wife of the greatest of
living monarchs
·
the queen of an empire which comprised more than half of the known
world. This shows God
had a plan, and Esther is part of it.
Mordecai Discovers a Plot,
saves the king’s life, evil starting now
Esther 2:19-20 When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the
king's gate. (20) But Esther had kept secret her family background
and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai's instructions as she had done when he
was bringing her up.
·
This position indicates that Mordecai was associated with the decision
makers
·
Men of influence in the kingdom, an officer.
·
More virgins gather for the king.
·
Remember, King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines.
· Mordecai was of the king’s household.
Esther 2:21-22 During the time Mordecai was sitting at the
king's gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired
to assassinate King Xerxes. (22) But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn
reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai.
· According to Jewish writings,
· The Targum says that they found out that Esther had
intended to use her influence with the king to get them removed from their
office, and Mordecai put in their place;
· therefore they determined to poison Esther,
· and slay the king in his bedchamber,
· the plot to kill the king.
· This was a position of the
highest possible trust, and gave conspirators a terrible advantage.
· Xerxes later actually lost
his life through a conspiracy formed by Artabanus, the captain of his guard,
with a eunuch.
· Josephus says that a certain Jew, named Barnabasus,
overheard the plot, told it to Mordecai,
Esther 2:23 And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were
impaled on poles. All this was recorded in the book of the annals in
the presence of the king.
Crucifixion
Invented by the Persians
· Rather than being “hanged”
on a modern-type gallows, the men were
impaled on a stake or post.
*Ezra 6:11
Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house
and they are to be
impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile
of rubble.
· This was not an unusual
method of execution in the Persian Empire.
· Darius, Xerxes father, was
known to have once impaled 3,000 men.
· A record of this assassination
attempt was written in the annals, the official royal record.
This
is where the Romans got this method of punishment.
