[Esther 2] Act 1 Scene 2: The Heroes are Introduced and are Strategically Place

In Esther 1, King Xerxes and Queen Vashti are introduced. But they aren’t the only two characters in the story. There are two more characters we will learn about today: Esther and Mordecai. In Esther 1, we saw how Vashti exiting had an important impact on the story. In Esther 2, we’ll see how Esther and Mordecai enter the story in an important place. So we must ask ourselves, “How are the heroes in Esther 2 strategically placed?”

Start off by reading Esther 2:1-4. A phrase that sticks out to me is “the king’s fury subsided.” Perhaps it means the king waited for his anger to settle down to make a judgment. Do you think King Xerxes might be regretting his decision? Maybe he is because he is no longer drunk and he made a quick movement. Maybe not because he is just waiting to make a sound decision. I think it could go either way. Moving on from Vashti, Xerxes wants a new queen. Just like in the deposal of the old queen, the king seeks his cabinet for how to go about seeking this new queen. Interesting enough, the cabinet advise the king to go against the customs of the day. When kings got married, they married for political or social reasons. It could be to make an alliance with a foreign nation, seek peace with a conflicting minority within the empire, or to further the wealth in both families. Instead, the advisors suggest putting on a beauty pageant and hold “try outs” to be the next queen. Ironically, this method is closer to how a king would find a new concubine! The council lays some ground rules for this search. First, the maiden must be young, but still within marriageable age. She must not be sexually active. The search for such a girl is an empire-wide search. This means that every young virgin girl, from Greece to Egypt to Rome, to even including the land that use to be Israel. But this also includes the girls in Susa. The text does not say whether women were required or if it was optional. But with the opportunity to become the richest and most powerful woman in the empire, it was a deal that would be hard to turn down. The Evangelical Exegetical Commentary on Esther even goes as far to say, “Almost all fathers, especially of less-noble families, would probably have been thrilled to provide their daughters with such a comfortable and secure life as that which Xerxes was offering.”

So here enters Esther and Mordecai. Move on to Esther 2:5-7 to meet them. Now we officially know Mordecai is from the tribe of Benjamin. And with that we know Mordecai’s family was sent into exile. An interesting point I may point out is Mordecai’s family line has some interesting names. Kish is the name of King Saul’s father. Shimei was an advisor to King David. The term “the son of” in the Hebrew language simply means a descendant, if taken a little figuratively. Now if we are taking the term “the son of” more literally, it’s still possible he’s a relative of these men because names of famous family members were recycled. Either way, Mordecai and his family had famous family members, and maybe even a direct relative of a brother of King Saul. The other person introduced is who we know as Esther, but before this story was called Hadasseh. I find it funny that Esther has become a Jewish name, but its origins are really either Babylonian or Persian, and not Jewish. The Jewish name is Hadasseh, which means myrtle. Whether the name Esther has Babylonian origin or Persian origin, the name comes from the word “Isthar” means “star.” Historians believe that is linked to what we call Venus, what the ancients thought was the most beautiful “star.” Either way, Esther is seen as beautiful. In fact, the Hebrew word translated “beautiful” in verse 7 is the same word translated “beautiful” in verse 2, and the Hebrew phrases translated “lovely to look at” (ESV) is similar to the Hebrew phrase for “pleases the king” in verse 4. Therefore, Esther 2:7 foreshadows Esther winning the pageant for the new queen. The text also connects our two heroes. When Esther’s mother and father die, for untold reasons, Mordecai takes his cousin in with him and treats her like direct family. Whereas most of the ancient world have no rules, guidelines or precedents for adoption, Persia did have legal codes, giving Mordecai special legal rights.

Back to the beauty aspect, I believe Esther’s beauty is an important part of these chapter, and the whole book as well. I believe Esther’s beauty is part a bigger picture. Esther is a charming woman, in both looks and personality. Read Esther 2:8,9 and you’ll see what I mean. What happens is when Esther is taken in as a possible virgin to become queen, she is put under the care of Hegai, a eunuch. Under Hegai, she, as a literal reading of the Hebrew text would say, “lifts up kindness” to him. With this kindness, she wins over his favor, and thus Hegai gives her special treatment. She gets first dibs on food, cosmetics and maids. The most important special treatments Esther receives from Hegai is that Esther and Mordecai can communicate with each other by sending messages back and forth, as seen in verse 11.

Esther 2:10 says that, despite receiving favorable treatment, she still kept her ethnicity a secret. Imagine how much Esther had to do to keep her Jewish roots a secret. For example, while Esther got first grabs at the food, she probably did not request a kosher meal. While some Jews might be offended at that, some rabbis have suggested kosher laws could be ignored in times of crisis. While Esther successfully keeps her ethnicity under wraps, the text never explains why Mordecai instructed Esther to remain silent on her ethnicity. Perhaps there was some anti-Semitism floating around the Persian Empire already, as we will see in the next chapter.

The process to become a queen is a long one. Read Esther 2:12-14 to see what Esther had to go through. The first step is about a half a year of oil and myrrh. This is what they used to bathe in Persian times. Remember, the virgins were not chosen based on their wealth on social status. Some of them could have been the poorest of poor, who have been living on the streets. They would have smelled poorly. After those 6 months, it’s another 6 months of perfume and cosmetics. It’s another half year on focusing on just becoming beautiful. We’re already up to a year. To prepare for her night with the king, she is given any clothing or jewelry she wants. She dressed the way she knew best. It seems as if she has access to riches they she wants, so she probably would go all out. Next, she spends the night with the king. And you can guess what that means. If you can’t, the next step will give it away. The last step is the woman goes to another part of the harem, under the care of Shashgaz. I’m not going to lie to you. That part of the harem is probably for the girls who are not virgins. So if they go from the part of the harem for the virgins to the part that is for non-virgins, you should be able to figure out what happens with the night with the king. If you still can’t, the myrrh treatment recorded in verse 12 is a process queens would undergo before lovemaking.

Going back to our canonicity and textual criticism question, this passage is used both in favor and against Esther. You can probably guess how the critics would speak against it. They would be concerned about the year of preparation. Does it really take six months to bathe with oil and myrrh? Does it really take six months of perfume and cosmetics? It seems too long. How could we use this as a strength for Esther? Well, the author is well informed about the customs of the day. This has to be how things went because the author is able to give good detail about what happened here. Therefore, some scholars have suggested that this is not a process of applying the cosmetics directly to the skin, but rather burning them as incense, and then letting the skin naturally absorb them. For this process to actually create a smell on the woman, it would take a long time, possibly six months. Whether this is true or not, the text clearly shows this is the king’s excess in its finest.

Back to Esther, we continue to see her win favor in verses 15 to 18. First we see that while every women seems to be maxing out what she can take, Esther takes a small minimum. The result is Esther wins over everyone’s favor. Then she presents himself to the king, and she wins over his favor as well. This makes Esther queen, and everyone celebrates with more feasting.

A majority of this chapter focuses on Esther being made queen, but another little story happens in Esther chapter 2, and it focuses on Mordecai instead of Esther. Esther has been made queen. The losers of the pageant are settling into their new home as the new concubines of the king. Mordecai is at the king’s gate. The king’s gate is the most important and busiest place in the marketplace and the whole city of Susa. A lot of talk happens here. Mordecai is there probably to catch up on the latest political rumors. Among the talk, Mordecai overhears an assassination attempt on King Xerxes. Two men are attempting to kill King Xerxes. The Bible gives us their names, Bigthan and Teresh, but it does not tell what made them so angry to want to kill Xerxes. All it does is carry some irony. Eunuchs, like Bigthan and Teresh, were supposed to be the most trusted servants of the king. How ironic that the most trusted servants were thinking of ways to kill him! How Mordecai learns of the assassination attempt, the text stays silent, but the text implies that it is a sign of God’s providence. So Mordecai tells Queen Esther of the plot, and Queen Esther tells King Xerxes, giving Mordecai the credit. Really, Esther almost has to give credit. How else would a queen find out about an assassination plot between two eunuchs? When they find out the story is true, the two men are executed. This small story is a helpful reminder that Mordecai is faithful to the Persian monarchy. In the next chapter, the antagonist will accuse the Jews of being against the crown, but this story will defend that accusation. This small story will also foreshadow the larger story. Soon a much bigger plot will seek to kill, and Esther will have to come to aid in that as well! (Also, for those who know the story, note the antagonist’s fate will be the same as Bigthan’s and Teresh’s fate.)

It’s important to note this story in this chapter because the one common connection is that both characters are being strategically replaced. This goes back into our original question, “How the heroes are strategically placed?” Let’s quickly state why we can say the heroes are strategically placed. Esther is strategically placed because she is made queen. For Mordecai, Mordecai is given credit for preventing an assassination on the king’s head. His credit will show that he is in favor of the king and sides with him. Mordecai is not the king’s enemy.

Esther 1 showed us God’s providence as setting the stage, or preparing things behind the scenes, whether we know it or not. In Esther chapter 2, God’s providence can be seen in a similar way, but more specifically. It’s about God’s providence strategically placing us. What’s the difference? : In setting the stage, God is working before we get there. In strategically placing us, it is more specifically to us, being put in the right place. What good is it if God perfectly set the scene, but we are not there, or we are in the wrong place? We need to be in the right place. I put up a picture of Risk to help remind you of strategic placing, but if you’re not familiar with it, you can use another game, like Settlers of Catan, which requires strategy in placing pieces. I’m going to stick with Risk because, frankly, it’s one of my favorite board games. In Risk, you start out by splitting up the territories, and then splitting up the starting soldiers among the territories. Some players evenly split them out. Other players bunch them in one spot. Yet others will focus on one continent. Still others put extra fortification on their boarders, while using the minimum on the interior territories. This decision can make the different in who wins and who loses. We can relate to this in real life. Where we are placed in life determines how our life plays out. How comforting it is to know God is at work placing us.

The example I would use in my life is my student teaching. Finding me a place to student teach at was hectic. Technically, I was suppose to have two different places to student teach, but it was so hectic finding me one, the college and I settled at just one place. When the education department finally found a school for me to teach at, it was all the way in York, a whopping 45 minute drive from Lancaster, where I was living. This was going to be hard on me (getting up earlier, leaving later, spending time in traffic, etc.), but also hard on my gas tank, for I had little gas money. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it! But God knew what he was doing when he strategically placed me. Because I stayed at one school (as compared to two schools, which I was suppose to do), there were some things I didn’t have to do a second time. At sometimes, I felt like I had half the work compared to my other classmates. Unlike my classmates, I didn’t have to get re-accustomed to a new school. Furthermore, I was suppose to do 2 middle schools, instead I did 1 middle school, and even got to do a bit of high school, which is what I preferred to do. It even extends to after my student teaching. It would just so happen that, 3 months later, I would find out my girlfriend lived 10 minutes away from that school. A few months later, my co-op teacher from that school would help me connect with someone who would help me find a place to live closer to my girlfriend. God strategically placed me in York in order to have the best possible student teaching experience, as well as know the area for when I would begin dating my girlfriend. And now that girlfriend I call my wife. Now if that’s not divine providence, I don't know what is.

In closing, notice how the two scenes from this first act go hand-in-hand. Without the position being opened in scene 1, Esther could not fill it in scene 2. But if you remember, Act 1 is all about introducing the characters and the main plot. We’re still missing one more character, the antagonist, who will introduce the conflict into the story. All that will happen in the next chapter.