Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women —
Before a young woman could go in to King Ahasuerus, she waited a whole year — six months with oil of myrrh, six with spices and cosmetics. The detail looks decorative. Commentators read it as a window into Persian court life, into the cost paid by a captive girl, and into the way God works behind the scenes for His people.
The custom behind the verse
These twelve months were ordinary palace routine. One writer sees the record as an exact picture of that court — and of what it cost the girl caught in it.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe description of verses 12–14 is a perfect picture of Persian customs and the immorality of Persian and other Eastern rulers. […] She must have left her home unwillingly, and unwillingly put on the ornaments. They wanted her and ordered her to appear, so she obeyed Hegai and let him prepare her for the occasion. She was compelled to be there, while no doubt in her heart she hated the whole affair.
The oil of myrrh
Only one substance covers the first six months. Its name comes from the way it forms.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe true myrrh, so called because it drips its gum as tears, which harden into a bitter aromatic gum. It was an ingredient in the holy anointing oil, and was much prized as a perfume. Ex. 30:23; Esther 2:12; Ps. 45:8… The Magi presented myrrh with frankincense to the Lord at His birth, and it was used at His burial.
Myrrh is bitter. One writer treats those first six months as the hardest stretch of Esther's life. He calls the twelve months a purification, where the ESV calls them the regular period of their beautifying.
L. A. StasselNow she was taken from him for a year of purification before she would go in to the king. The first six months of purification were with the oil of myrrh. Those were very difficult experiences for her. She was cut off from Mordecai. The purification with its bitter oil of myrrh was harsh. Both would produce a marked change in her. […] The oil of myrrh would separate her from the past and prepare her for the future.
Twelve months to improve on God
The length of the process invites a question no one in the story asks: was any of it necessary?
Leslie M. GrantEvery woman who applied got 12 months of preparation! (v. 12). So the unbelieving world thinks it can improve on the beauty of those whom God has created, by various artificial means. Very likely the king would have been just as impressed with Esther without this long delay. Hegai gave her the best place among the women right at the start.
A hand behind the harem
Two things run side by side here. God is carrying out His purpose, and the girl has no say in her own life. One writer holds both together.
H. L. RossierIn 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 it to carry out His plans of grace toward His people. […] We see the Jewish wife handed over by force to the king of the Gentiles, like a slave that someone disposes of, and no one asks 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.
What the preparation pictures
One writer reads Esther's year of preparation as a picture of something still ahead for a faithful group within Israel.
Michael HardtEsther undergoes a time of preparation before she can meet the king. In the same way, there will be a preparation time for the remnant. The Holy Spirit (pictured in Hegai) will guide and teach the true Esther, prepare her, and bring her beauty into display. This still applies to Christians today: the Spirit needs to show us the way. We can't attain beauty based on our own thinking.
Commentators differ on how far to press this. Hardt reads the year of purification as a picture of God's future work in Israel. Grant reads the same twelve months as artificial effort that added nothing Esther did not already have.
Summary
- Bitter first. The year opens with six months of myrrh — a gum that drips like tears and tastes bitter before it ever smells sweet.
- Bitter separates. That harsh stretch cut Esther off from all she knew. It "would separate her from the past and prepare her for the future."
- Bitter is not beauty. The twelve months were the world's way of improving on what God had already made; Hegai had given Esther the best place before the treatments began.
- Bitter is not chosen. Esther's will counted for nothing here. God was directing the king's heart through it anyway.
- Bitter is preparation. Read forward, the same year pictures the Spirit's work. He prepares a people and brings their beauty into display.