Esther 2:1

ESTHER BECOMES QUEEN INSTEAD OF VASHTI

This chapter takes us into the seraglio of Xerxes, an ancient Persian ruler, most certainly one of the vilest cesspools of immorality, selfishness, greed, hatred, wickedness, lust and shame that existed in the ancient pagan world.

In order to protect and preserve the chosen people, God worked His will in the lives of the evil men who controlled and directed the affairs related in this chapter. It is somewhat distressing to this writer that there is almost no word of condemnation in the commentaries we have consulted regarding this festering Satanic ulcer on the body of the human race, called Shushan the palace. Yes, we know that Solomon did it also, but it was still sinful, a rebellion against God that cried to high heaven for vengeance.

Esther 2:16 tells us that Esther became queen in Xerxes' seventh year; and, as the great feast mentioned in the previous chapter was in his third year (Esther 1:3), we must understand a time lapse of some four years in between Esther 1 and Esther 2. During this period, Xerxes fought the Grecian war.

Although the military expedition against Greece was principally concluded in the years 481-479 B.C.,[1] the greater portion of the entire four-year gap between the punishment of Vashti and the coronation of Esther were consumed by Xerxes' preparations for the campaign, and by his efforts to cover some of his losses afterward.

That Grecian campaign was an unqualified disaster for Xerxes: (1) At Thermopylae, a handful of Spartans under Leonidas checked and delayed his mighty army; and (2) later that same year Xerxes' navy of 1,400 ships was unable to overcome 380 ships of the Greeks in the Battle of Salamis. (3) In 479 B.C., at Plataea, "The bulk of the Persian army was destroyed. Meanwhile, the Greek fleet commanded by the king of Sparta drove the Persian fleet to the Asian mainland at Mycale. Leotychidas, the Spartan king, landed his sailors and marines farther up the coast, destroyed the Persian fleet and inflicted heavy casualties on a supporting army. The Ionians and the Aeolians at once rose in revolt, thus ending the Persian invasion of Greece in the final disaster for Persia."[2]

After Xerxes' return to Shushan, Herodotus tells us that he consoled himself over his shameful defeats by sensual indulgences with his harem.

THE SEARCH FOR A REPLACEMENT FOR VASHTI

"After these things, when the wrath of king Ahashuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king: and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, unto the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegai the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them; and let the maiden that pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti."

"After these things ... he remembered Vashti." This means after the Grecian campaign, and after Xerxes had begun to seek a more normal pattern of living. Anderson viewed the last clause here as, "A subtle suggestion that the king desired to reinstate Vashti, but he had signed an irrevocable decree against her."[3] This is probably true, because his son, and heir, Artaxerxes I, born during the Grecian campaign, or just prior to it, was now, no doubt a charming child of three or four years of age. The king found himself a victim of his own drunken and extravagant decree against Vashti; but there was nothing he could do about it.

Of course, he might have tried to reinstate Vashti, but the king's advisors, in such a development, might easily have fallen under the severe wrath and punishment inflicted upon them by a restored Vashti; therefore, they proposed this shameful rape of all the pretty girls in Persia as a prerequisite for the choice of Vashti's successor. Evil beast that he was, Xerxes liked the idea, "and the king did so"!

"And the king did so" (Esther 2:4). This means that they searched throughout the vast domain of the Persian empire, and brought "all the fair young virgins to Shushan" (Esther 2:3). "What unspeakable horror this must have caused among all the beautiful young women of Persia! They were forcibly taken from their homes, turned over to a eunuch in the house of the women, and secluded for life among the wretched company of the king's concubines."[4] The king would gratify his lust upon these girls, one each night, as they came to his bed. And then what happened? They were returned to the harem, henceforth and forever mere chattels, his property, having no more rights than one of the king's dogs.

Anderson wrote that, "Here the author ignored the Persian custom that stipulated that the king could marry only a Persian,"[5] insinuating that this account is founded, not on fact, but upon legend and folklore, but such opinions are in error, reflecting only anti-Biblical bias. Yes, Herodotus states that there was such a custom, but it was not the sacred author of Esther who ignored it - it was the wicked Xerxes and his evil advisers. Xerxes' own father had married a foreigner; and any notion that Xerxes would have honored such a custom is ridiculous.

Before leaving this paragraph, it should be noted that the young women thus conscripted as subjects of the king's lust had no choice whatever in the matter. They were ordered into the king's harem, from which they would never be able to escape.