The Book of Esther

The selection of Esther as queen of the Persian Empire has sometimes been characterized as a “beauty contest”… which in my mind is a complete mischaracterization of the event.

When King Ahasuerus decided he needed a new queen he had young virgins selected from all 127 provinces in his kingdom ranging from Ethiopia to India. If just one young woman from each province was selected that’s 127 young virgin women. At the time of their gathering they were placed in the “first Harem” and were considered to be concubines/wives of the king. Unlike a beauty contest there would be no going home for these young women. One of them would become queen but they would all be concubines/wives.

There was a 12 month education/beautification process involving cosmetics, choice food, oil of myrrh and spices before the selection would be made. The interview for the queenship was a personal one with the king himself. Esther was not an unwilling participant in this process. When it was Esther’s turn, she went to King Ahasuerus palace in the evening and spent the night with him and was taken to a new harem the next morning… the second harem. No longer a virgin she had consummated her marriage to King Ahasuerus and in the process won his favor and become queen of the Persian Empire.

Esther could have been quite young at the time, perhaps as young as 14 years, and now she was the second most important person on the royal side of the Kingdom. Her older cousin Mordecai, who had been her guardian, would become the second most important person on the political side of the Kingdom. For me, the story of Mordecai is more important than the story of Esther. In fact, the book could easily be named the Book of Mordecai. Amazing that God would place two Jews in such high places in a world empire… more on Mordecai next week.

Uncle Rob