Dusk over Susa: seen from behind, a man and a young woman stand side by side on a flat mud-brick roof, looking across the city to the palace on its mound, under a calm empty evening sky.

The Book of

Esther 2

A search goes out across an empire, and it finds a girl with no parents.

23 verses≈ 6 min3 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–2A new queenVashti out, Esther crownedChapter 2
3The plotHaman buys a decree
4–5The riskEsther goes to the king
6–7The turnA sleepless night, a gallows
8–9OverturnedA second decree, and Purim
10MordecaiSecond to the king

Seeking Vashti’s Successor

Some time later, when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.

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Then the king’s attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king, and let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom to assemble all the beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments. Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti.” This suggestion pleased the king, and he acted accordingly.

Esther Finds Favor

Now there was at the citadel of Susa a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish. He had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah.

Lamplight in a small mud-brick room: a lean man on a low stool mends a sandal strap while a young woman sets a clay bowl of food beside him, both quiet and at ease.

And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, because she did not have a father or mother. The young woman was lovely in form and appearance, and when her father and mother had died, Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter.

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Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

When the king’s command and edict had been proclaimed, many young women gathered at the citadel of Susa under the care of Hegai. Esther was also taken to the palace and placed under the care of Hegai, the custodian of the women.

In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months. When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. She would go there in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem under the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he delighted in her and summoned her by name.

Now Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle from whom Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter. And when it was her turn to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king’s trusted official in charge of the harem, had advised.

And Esther found favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her.

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

Reflect

Not where you chose

Esther did not choose the palace. Where has life put you that you would not have picked? What could faithfulness look like there?

Esther Becomes Queen

And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all of the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

Morning in a Persian throne hall: the king, standing, sets a slender gold crown on the veiled head of a young woman in a cream and blue robe, who stands with lowered eyes, officials in rows far back.

Then the king held a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his officials and servants. He proclaimed a tax holiday in the provinces and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.

When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. Esther still had not revealed her lineage or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed. She obeyed Mordecai’s command, as she had done under his care.

Pray

Those who wait

Lord, You see the people carrying a secret they cannot yet speak of, and the ones waiting outside a door for news of someone they love. Be near them today. Keep them steady, and let them know they are not forgotten. Amen.

Mordecai Uncovers a Conspiracy

In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, grew angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

After the report had been investigated and verified, both officials were hanged on the gallows. And all this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.

Quietly in place

Whiteboard

Nobody in the story knows why any of this matters yet. Keep your eye on these pieces.

Question

Quick question

The plot at the gate reached the king by a route no one would have guessed.

Who told the king about the plot?

You’ve experienced

Esther 2

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A verse to carry with you

Esther 2:17

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