For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Esther 2:1-4

1 Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. 2 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. 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.

A. Find Out

1. What happened later? v.1
2. So what did his attendants suggest? v.2
3. From where would they come? v.3a
4. What would be done to them? v.3b
5. And what would be the outcome? v.4a
6. How did the king respond to this? v.4b

B. Think:

1. What do you think is implied in v.1 that starts the action?
2. How many girls are likely to be affected?
3. What does this say about the king’s power?

C. Comment:

     Sometimes in Scripture there are subtle hints that can be read into the text. Verse 1 is one of those times. When the anger of the king subsided – this suggests a little time passes but when his anger has passed he’s left with a slight regret. He no longer has a Queen, he no longer has one special woman. There is a sense of regret behind these words. He obviously says something to those closest to him and it is then that they make a suggestion that meets the king’s need. He wants company, he wants another Queen. He can’t go back on his previous command; he’s got to live with that.

     So they suggest that a cull be made throughout his kingdom for all the most beautiful, untouched girls. We read in 1:1 that he ruled over 127 provinces, and so they suggest appointing someone in every province to find and bring those girls to Susa. This is a massive undertaking and a lot of girls! This is almost the first Miss World competition, and the prize is becoming the Queen of this great kingdom. The competition is great! Each of these beautiful girls will be brought to Susa, put in isolation from the rest of the world and given special beauty treatment to make them even more beautiful. Little changes in history! This is the background for all that follows. A large number of beautiful girls are going to be lined up to see who will be the next Queen.

D. Application:

1. Avoid hasty and rash actions that you may later regret.
2. Restrain your words; you can’t take them back once spoken.

Passage: Esther 2:5-8

5 Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, 6 who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah. 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. 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. 

A. Find Out

1. Who was Mordecai? v.5
2. How did he come to be there? v.6
3. Who was his cousin and why had he brought her up? v.7
4. What happened to her? v.8

B. Think:

1. How were Mordecai and Esther aliens?
2. What was their relationship?
3. How did Esther come to be taken?

C. Comment:

    It is important, in all that follows, to take in the basics about this couple. First of all, they are both Jews. That will become glaringly important as the story goes on. They are in Susa because Mordecai’s great-grandfather had been carried away from Jerusalem into exile by Nebuchadnezzar. Mordecai is thus a third generation Jew, born in exile. His cousin, Hadassah, also known as Esther, has lost her parents and so has been brought up by Mordecai as his daughter. It’s important to remember this.

     Names often have significance. Hadassah simply means myrtle, an evergreen bush or tree that has perfumed flowers. The name would have been given in anticipation of her life bringing a sweet perfume of joy and goodness to the world. Esther, the Persian name, means star or light and in this there is clearly a prophetic aspect, for that is what she became to her people. Mordecai on the other hand means ‘consecrated to Merodach’ who was supposedly the supreme deity of the Babylonians. Thus the Babylonian pressure on his parents made them use the Babylonian equivalent of being ‘consecrated to God’. He is, as we shall see, sincerely committed to the Lord.

     Esther is especially beautiful and when the cull of the beautiful young women is taken, it is natural that she is taken and has the opportunity in the lottery to become the next Queen of this vast and powerful empire. Watch this space!

D. Application:

1. Right back at birth, there can be indications of future destiny.
2. Commitment to God is the door for blessing from heaven.

Passage: Esther 2:8-11

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. 9 She pleased him and won his favour. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven female attendants selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her attendants into the best place in the harem.

10 Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. 11 Every day he walked to and fro near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.

A. Find Out

1. In whose care was Esther put? v.8
2. How did he respond to Esther? v.9a
3. What did he do for her? v.9b,c
4. What had she not done, and why? v.10
5. What did Mordecai do and why? v.11

B. Think:

1. Why do you think Esther pleased the supervisor?
2. Why do you think he did what he did for her?
3. What was Mordecai’s role while this was happening?

C. Comment:

     Our temptation with an historical book like Esther is to rush through what we might consider are mundane details, but if we do so we miss so much. Esther is taken to the palace because she has been picked out as one of the beauties of Susa. Whether she was especially beautiful and whether all the girls were entrusted into the care of Hegai is unclear. With so many girls it is unlikely that he took personal interest in them all. Something about Esther attracts him and he takes special care of her. What is frustrating about this book, is that the Lord is rarely mentioned, yet it is such a significant story that His hand must have been behind so much of what happened. This story reminds us of Joseph who found favour with his slave-master (Gen 39:2-6) because the Lord was with him. Esther is given her own special apartment in the harem and is also given seven maids. They will be useful to run messages to Mordecai.

     Mordecai is, meanwhile, maintaining his presence in the background, appearing every day outside the harem to glean news of Esther. He has warned Esther to keep her origins a secret, possibly in case they might have found a bias against her in someone in the choice-process. This will become significant later. So, here we have a Jewish girl in a foreign harem with her cousin outside keeping watch (rather like Moses’ sister kept watch over him – Ex 2:4). To our modern eyes this may seem a bad situation, but it is necessary to counter what is coming!

D. Application:

1. Often we do not understand the importance of circumstances.
2. Seek to be faithful to the Lord whatever is happening.

Passage: Esther 2:12-14

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. 13 And this is how she would go to the king: anything she wanted was given to her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name.

A. Find Out

1. What had the girls to do before going to the king? v.12
2. What also were they allowed? v.13
3. What then happened to her? v.14a
4. When only would she return to the king? v.14b

B. Think:

1. How would you describe the time of preparation?
2. What do you think was the point of separating them off later?
3. How would you describe this whole process?

C. Comment:

     There are a few times in Scripture when we may feel affronted or even embarrassed by what takes place. This may be one of them but it is in the Scriptures so we will cover it. We may have described the process lightly earlier as an early version of the Miss World Competition but this passage takes it right out of that league. There are three phases to this competition: the preparation, the night with the king, and the separation.

     The preparation was for twelve months, being pampered with the best of beauty treatments. No complaints here. The night with the king was obviously to see how they could please or satisfy this king, and this from girls who had no prior sexual experience. If the former parts weren’t bad enough, the separation is the worst part possibly. They were taken after their night with the king to the royal harem where they would stay for the rest of their lives, cut off from their families and from the girls who had not yet gone in. The only time they would leave is if the king decided to make use of them again. They would no doubt be well looked after, but it was essentially a prison for the rest of their lives. In this way they would not be able to tell of their experiences with the king! This, therefore, was the power of the king. To get to him there was incredible preparation. If you failed to please him you never returned.

D. Application:

1. Our salvation is a wonderful thing. We did not have to work for a year’s preparation to receive it. It was totally free!
2. God doesn’t reject us if we don’t please Him always. Jesus died for my failures.

Passage: Esther 2:15-18

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 favour of everyone who saw her. 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.

17 Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favour 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. 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.

A. Find Out

1. How is Esther described? v.15a
2. What did she ask for when it was her turn to go? v.15b
3. What response did she get? v.15c
4. How did the king feel about her? v.17a
5. So what did he do? v.17b
6. And how did he celebrate this? v.18

B. Think:

1. How is Esther’s wisdom shown here?
2. How did that pay off?

C. Comment:

     The writer reminds us, first of all, exactly who Esther is: Mordecai’s cousin who he had adopted. The connection between the two is vital to the story. Now all that we have read so far becomes applicable to Esther herself. It is her turn to spend a night with the king. Now, unlike the other girls, she does not take what she wants to go in to the king – presumably choice of clothes, perfumes etc. – but asks the supervisor to tell her what to take. This is wisdom in that he will know better than most what the king likes, what pleases him. The humility and wisdom of this girl appeals to all who know her; she is someone quite special and it is acknowledged. In that sense it is really no surprise that she wins the king’s favour. Everything about her appeals to him and so he decides that she is the one and she is designated Queen, the leading lady, and the chief wife of this all-powerful despot. To confirm this, and let it be known, the king holds a banquet for all his leading people and proclaims a national holiday and hands out gifts freely. There is no doubting what is happening. The new Queen has arrived!

     For all that follows, the significance of this cannot be overstated. Esther now has the ear of the king and is in the position of ‘most favoured person’. It is still a precarious position as we shall see, but at least she is in a place of immense influence if that is needed – and it will be in the events that follow.

D. Application:

1. The hidden hand of God is often not seen, but it is surely there.
2. The Lord guides events even when we do not see Him.

Passage: Esther 2:19-23

19 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.

21 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. 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.

A. Find Out

1. Where was Mordecai at this time? v.19
2. What had Esther not done and why? v.20
3. What did Mordecai overhear happening? v.21
4. So what did he do? v.22a
5. What did she do? v.22b
6. What were the two outcomes? v.23

B. Think:

1. How does being in the right place at the right time apply here?
2. At the end of this, what TWO things has Mordecai done?

C. Comment:

    The writer now records a simple happening that would have profound effects in what follows. As we have suggested above, it was a case of Mordecai being in the right place at the right time. A similar thing can be noted in the story of Abraham’s servant (Gen 24:13-15). There are times when these things seem beyond coincidence and no doubt when we get to heaven we’ll see the Lord’s hand prompting people to be in particular places at particular times.

     Mordecai used to frequent the kings gate, a meeting place for prominent people. On one occasion he hears two officers arguing and realises they are arguing about a plot to assassinate the king. Mordecai has a message passed to Esther and she passes it on to the king. A check is made, and it is found to be true. Esther has been careful to attribute this to Mordecai and so in the official records it is noted what he has done and how he has saved the king’s life. That is all that happens at this point.

     We have commented on this before, but sometimes things happen that seem ordinary and which seem to have no further repercussion, yet in the course of time, they are seen to be particularly significant. This event, together with other things that will happen, will be the cause of saving Mordecai’s life.

D. Application:

1. We should not write off the events in our lives as mundane because we do not know how the Lord will use them in the days to come.
2. Become aware of the Lord’s gentle prompting that guides you where to be, and anticipate things happening that will involve you.