Esther 2:12-20

3. The choice of Esther as queen 2:12-20

The king evidently had sexual relations with a different virgin every night whenever he pleased. The harem officials watched these girls closely to make sure they did not have some disease that they would pass on to him. The women in the harem used their time to become as attractive as possible.

"Like the semi-nomadic Arab women of the eastern Sudan in the last century, women like Esther long, long ago fumigated themselves, saturating their hair, skin, and pores with fumes from cosmetic burners." [Note: Idem, "Archaeology and the Book of Esther," Biblical Archaeologist 38:3-4 (September, December 1975):78.]

After their night with the king, these young women resided in a facility with other concubines where they might live for the rest of their lives. The king might call for them again or he might not. Historians have documented Ahasuerus’ amorous affairs in Persia, Greece, and elsewhere. [Note: See Whitcomb, pp. 56-59.] Esther had such natural beauty and charm that she required no special adornments to make her more attractive (Esther 2:15).

"Both Josephus and the Jewish Rabbis exaggerated the beauty of Esther and elaborated on her virtues and piety. The Rabbis held that Esther was one of the four most beautiful women in history along with Sarah, Rahab, and Abigail (Megillah 15a). Josephus maintained that Esther ’surpassed all women in beauty’ in the entire habitable world." [Note: Yamauchi, "The Archaeological . . .," p. 106. See Josephus, 11:7, for his account of the story of Esther.]

Esther became queen in the winter of 479-478 B.C., four years after Vashti’s deposition (Esther 2:16). During that four-year period the Greeks defeated Ahasuerus in battle.

The Hebrew word translated "banquet" (Esther 2:18, hanaha) means "a coming to rest." This could mean that Ahasuerus released his subjects from some tax burdens, or from military service, or both, temporarily.

"Perhaps it is relevant that when the False Smerdis ascended the throne [of Persia in 522 B.C.], he granted his subjects freedom from taxation and military service for a period of three years (Herodotus III, 67)." [Note: Moore, Esther, p. 25.]

Evidently the reassembling of the virgins (Esther 2:19) was part of a procession the king designed to show off Esther’s beauty compared with the other contestants in his beauty contest. [Note: Gordis, p. 47.]

Evidently Mordecai received an appointment to a governmental position as a magistrate or judge because of Esther’s influence (Esther 2:19). The "king’s gate" was where people settled legal matters in the capital. His position probably enabled Mordecai to overhear the plot to assassinate the king (Esther 2:21-23).

". . . the impression remains that Esther’s Jewishness was more a fact of birth than of religious conviction." [Note: Moore, Esther, p. liv. Cf. Esther 2:20.]