And when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained grace in the sight of all them that saw her.
Esther's turn comes, and the verse pauses on what she asked for: nothing beyond what Hegai suggested. In a palace built on display, the woman who wants nothing extra is the one everybody looks at with favour.
She could have asked for anything. One writer reads her restraint not as a clever tactic but as a heart that never wanted the prize.
The other women could not find enough artificial means to make an impression on the king. But Esther cared nothing about these things. She had no such ambitious desires. Her heart did not burn to become someone important, which would not have suited a Jewish woman anyway. She must have left her home unwillingly, and unwillingly she must have put on the ornaments. They wanted her and ordered her to appear, so she obeyed Hegai and let herself be prepared for the occasion. She had to be there, though no doubt in her heart she hated the whole affair.
Another writer adds what her refusal kept safe: she would owe her rise to no one.
She becomes the favourite wife of the Persian king without any effort or wish of her own. And not only that: like another Daniel, she had already decided to keep her separation to God from the customs of the people, even in a Gentile king's court. (Esther 2:15.) She will owe nothing to any man. It is the Lord, and not ornaments, who gives her favour in the eyes of all who see her. The king himself is won, and the royal crown is put on her head.
She asked for nothing — but she did take Hegai's advice. One writer sees the months under Hegai's care as a picture of the Holy Spirit's work.
Esther goes through a time of preparation before she can meet the king. In the same way, the Holy Spirit (pictured in Hegai) will guide and teach the true Esther. He will prepare her, and her beauty will be brought into display. By the way, this still applies to Christians today: the Spirit needs to show us the way. We cannot reach beauty by our own thinking.
One writer weighs the outward extras against what a believer looks for in a partner.
To a believer, what are all these surface things compared with the moral and spiritual beauty he sees in a prospective wife? Compare 1 Peter 3:4.
Peter points there to a different beauty. It is "the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious" (ESV).
The verse does not say she won the contest. It says she was winning favour — and the reach of that favour is the point.
It was almost certain that one girl would win the king's favour. But Esther gained more than that. She also gained the favour of the king's chamberlain, and indeed "of all who saw her." (See Esther 2:9, 15, 17.) This lifted her at once into a position of extraordinary influence.
The verse names her twice as someone else's dependent: Abihail's daughter, Mordecai's adopted child. This is no fairy tale, and one writer stresses how little of her rise she chose.
We see the Jewish wife handed over to the king of the Gentiles, forced to submit like a slave whom people dispose of without ever asking her! Her will counts for nothing in this marriage. She is forced into it. Every other girl in the empire might have wanted such a position more than anything, but Esther could not want it.
Was any of this right? One writer points to the Bible's own silence.
Whatever may be thought of Mordecai or of Esther in this matter, Scripture is silent here. It neither accuses nor excuses. And we do not have long to wait before the vital question was raised. The Jews must perish or be delivered beyond all outward hope — yet without sign, wonder, or miracle.
Commentators differ here. Some read her restraint as deliberate faithfulness. Others stress that her whole position was forced on her.
The verse itself never mentions God. One writer sees Him steering the whole scene anyway.
In all these things we see a God of providence. He directs the thoughts and hearts of men, and the thoughts and heart of the king, according to His own purpose. He does this to carry out His plans of grace toward His people.
- Asked — Esther could have taken anything she wanted. She asked for nothing beyond Hegai's advice, because her heart never wanted a Persian crown.
- Owed — She took nothing extra, so she owed nothing to any man. Her favour came from the Lord, not from ornaments.
- Guided — She accepted one thing: the advice of the man set over her preparation. Writers see him as a picture of the Spirit, since we cannot reach beauty by our own thinking.
- Favoured — She won the king, the chamberlain and everyone who saw her. That favour lifted an orphan into extraordinary influence.
- Hidden — Scripture never names God here, and it neither praises nor blames Esther. Yet He directs the hearts of kings to carry out His plans of grace, and He saves His people without one miracle.
So Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus, into his royal house, in the tenth month, that is, the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
The long search for a new queen ends with a date. That date marks about four years since the king removed Vashti, and it puts a Jewish orphan inside a Persian palace just before her people need her there.
The years named in this book match the reign of the Persian king Xerxes, as history records it.
It is a remarkable confirmation that these dealings of Ahasuerus belong to the time of Xerxes. History tells us that in the third year of Xerxes' reign he held a grand council of all the great men of his empire. His political aim was to conquer Greece, and he returned again in the seventh year of his reign — the very same dates mentioned in this book of Esther. This shows the wonderful way in which God's providence preserves even the dates, and the way the facts fit together.
Four years passed between the feast and this date. What filled them explains the king's state of mind.
Verse 16 shows this probably did not happen right after the feast. He took Esther in the place of Vashti in the seventh year of his reign, but the feast in the opening chapter happened in the third year. About four years passed. During these years, secular history tells us, Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) led a campaign against Greece that brought many misfortunes. He must have returned exhausted and unhappy. Then his conscience spoke.
Why was Esther chosen at all? Her birth was a danger, not a help.
Did she then have advantages that set her apart from all her companions? Certainly her origin would have excluded her from the start; and Mordecai, aware of the humiliation of his people, knew it very well. So Esther is a hidden wife, but her grace and her beauty draw the sympathy and love of everyone. She pleased Hegai, the keeper of the women, and finds favour with him, and with all who see her. She pleases the king more than all the women. So the king raises her to the dignity of queen of the nations, in place of Vashti — and her origin is still secret.
The crown looks like promotion. From Esther's own side it was the opposite.
In all these things we see a God of providence. He directs the thoughts and hearts of men, and the thoughts and heart of the king, according to His own purpose, to carry out His plans of grace toward His people... But these ways of divine Providence toward Israel were secretly preparing the future reign of His people over the nations. At the same time, see how humiliated Israel was in her actual condition! The Jewish wife goes by force to the king of the Gentiles, like a slave someone disposes of, and no one asks her. Her will counts for nothing in this alliance; she is forced into it.
Should Esther and Mordecai have gone along with this at all?
Whatever we may think of Mordecai or of Esther in the matter, Scripture is here silent. It neither accuses nor excuses. We do not have long to wait before the vital question is raised: the Jews must perish, or God must deliver them beyond all outward hope — yet without sign, wonder, or miracle.
That silence matches the book as a whole, where God is never named.
It has often been remarked that the name of God is not found in the Book of Esther. This is characteristic. God does not show Himself. The government of the world had fallen to that throne, with all its power and its mistakes. But behind it God holds the reins by His providence. He watches over the fulfilment of His purposes and over everything needed to bring them about. And He cares for His people, whatever their condition or the power of their enemies.
One thing stands out for Kelly: the throne goes to a Jewish woman, not to another Gentile.
The great matter is this — the Jewish woman was preferred to all others. She alone will be the bride on earth of the great King. "The great king" was a special title of the Persian ruler, and Scripture uses "the great King" of the Lord.
Other writers take the exchange of one queen for another as a preview of God's future dealings with Israel.
In the unfolding of God's dealings, Esther pictures the Jewish remnant. The King of Israel, our Lord, will call this remnant when He has disowned and set aside Gentile Christendom for its unfaithfulness, as Vashti was set aside... This remnant will then come into definite relationship with the Lord. It will pass through the period of the great tribulation, foreshadowed in Haman's wicked plot. Then it will receive the kingdom, be delivered and have part in the kingdom, as Esther, Mordecai and the Jews at Shushan did.
- Hidden hand — God is never named in this book. Yet He holds the reins behind a pagan throne, and He cares for His people.
- Hidden dates — The four-year gap fits what history says about Xerxes. God's providence keeps even the dates in place.
- Hidden origin — Her birth would have ruled her out. She keeps it secret, and favour lifts her to the throne.
- Hidden cost — The crown was also a humiliation. No one asked her, which shows how low Israel had fallen.
- Hidden purpose — One queen replacing another points to the day when the Lord owns His people again and gives them the kingdom.
And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins, and he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Esther 2:17 is the hinge of the book: a captive orphan from a scattered people is crowned queen of Persia. Two questions run through the rest of the story — why did this woman find such favour, and who was arranging it in a book that never once names God?
The king had every woman of his empire to choose from, and he chose her. One writer reads the crowning as a move in a work no one on the scene could see.
This was a plain step in the working of God behind the scenes on behalf of the Jews.
That way of working marks the whole book.
People have often noted that the name of God is not found in the Book of Esther. This is characteristic. God does not show Himself. The government of the world had fallen to that throne. But behind its power and its mistakes, God holds the reins by His providence. He watches over the carrying out of His purposes, and over everything needed to fulfil them. And He cares for His people, whatever their condition and whatever the power of their enemies.
She won more than the king. Everyone who met her felt the same pull.
The corrupt customs of those days brought large numbers of beautiful young women together at Shushan for the king. Out of them all, Esther won everyone's favour. It was fairly certain that one woman would win the king's favour. But Esther won more than that. She also won the favour of the king's chamberlain, and indeed "of all who looked upon her." So she was lifted at once into a position of extraordinary influence.
Where did that favour come from? One writer looks at what Esther refused.
Without any effort or desire on her part, she becomes the favourite wife of the Persian king. And she had already decided, like Daniel, to keep her separation to God from the customs of the people, even in that Gentile court. She will owe man nothing. It is the Lord, and not ornaments, who gives her favour in the eyes of all who see her. The king himself is won, and the royal crown is put upon her head.
The crown is public. Her background is not. One writer reads that gap as a picture of Israel's future.
Esther the Jewess became the wife of the man who held supreme power. The king acknowledged her in public and set the crown on her head. He acknowledges her as queen, but who she really was had not yet come to light. Mordecai, who in fact had all authority over her, had told her not to make her birth known. It will be the same at the time of the end. Before the Lord acknowledges in public where His Jewish wife came from, He will have her as a despised and persecuted remnant, not yet shown to the world. She will still find grace in the eyes of many. But her Husband will know her beauty before He can present her to the world.
Esther takes the place Vashti lost, and Vashti was not a Jew. Kelly reads that swap as a pattern bigger than Persia.
This book is not only about God's secret providence, at a time when He could not name His name for His people, the Jews, poor and scattered among the nations. It is also a picture of the great dealings of God still to come. The great Gentile wife of the great king is discarded, and then comes the striking fact that a Jewess takes her place... Vashti is the Gentile wife discarded for her disobedience, and for her failure to display her beauty before the world.
The crowning reads like a triumph. But writers do not hide how Esther got there.
We see the Jewish wife handed over by force to the king of the Gentiles, like a slave someone disposes of without asking her! Her will counts for nothing in this marriage. She is forced into it. Every other young woman in the empire might have wanted such a position very much. Esther could not want it.
Readers want a verdict on Esther and Mordecai here.
Whatever we think of Mordecai or of Esther in this matter, Scripture is silent here. It neither accuses nor excuses. And we do not wait long before the vital question is raised. The Jews must either perish or be delivered — beyond all outward hope, and yet with no sign, wonder, or miracle.
- Hidden — God's name never appears in Esther. Yet He holds the reins behind a pagan throne, and this crowning is a plain step in that unseen work.
- Favour — she won the king and everyone else who saw her, and she owed it to the Lord, not to ornaments.
- Lifted — an orphan from a scattered people takes the place of the queen who was set aside.
- Concealed — the king crowns her in public while her birth stays secret, a picture of a people their Husband knows before the world does.
- Costly — the honour came through a marriage she never chose, and Scripture neither praises nor blames her.