Did Esther have sex with Xerxes before they were married?

Each young woman in turn was interviewed by the king as though they were applying for employment. They were given anything they desired to take with them, whether make up, perfumes, delicate clothing, flowers or anything they might consider helpful in appealing to the king (v. 13). To a believer, what are all these surface things compared to the moral and spiritual beauty he sees in a prospective wife? Compare 1 Peter 3:4.

What was involved in the interview we are not told, except that each woman went for this in the evening and returned in the morning to the custody of Shaashgaz, a eunuch who was in charge of the king's concubines (v. 14). We might ask, where did she sleep? -- but we have no answer.

When Esther's turn came, she asked for nothing extra, very likely because her faith was in God, however weak that faith may have been (v. 15). Another note is added here, that all who saw her were favorable toward her. She was taken to the king in the tenth month of the seventh year of the king's reign, four years after Vashti was deposed (v. 16).

When the king's decree became known, many young women gathered at the castle, Esther being among them, and she was one chosen to be taken to the king's palace in care of Hegai, the custodian of the women. Hegai was pleased with her, so that he provided everything necessary for the purpose of enhancing her beauty, giving her also seven maidens who would help her prepare for an audience with the king. In fact, Hegai was so impressed with her that he gave her the best place in the house of the women (v. 9).

At the advice of Mordecai, Esther had not revealed her nationality (v. 10). Some have thought this was deception, but without taking sides in this matter, we know that God used the whole circumstance to work for great blessing to the Jews, in spite of not allowing His name to be identified with all that was done. In fact, we may rightly question whether a Jewish woman should think of being married to a Persian, whether king or not, and whether Mordecai should encourage such a union. But the Jews were in such a state that they had virtually forgotten what was becoming to Jewish character. Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's quarters, anxious to hear any news of Esther's progress (v. 11). He was not content that the Jews should be despised in this foreign land, but had aspirations for his adopted daughter, who might be a means by which the Jews would receive more honor. Certainly this is not to be the Christian attitude, and we cannot say that God ordered Mordecai to engage in this project, for the honor of God was not Mordecai's object, but the blessing of the Jews. On the other hand, God was concerned about the Jews too, though He could not associate His name with them at the time.

All of the women applicants were given 12 months of preparation! (v. 12). Thus, 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 if there had not been this long delay, for Hegai at the beginning gave her the best place among the women.

Ahasuerus, who had returned from his expedition, (for several years had passed since the events reported in Esther 1 — see Esther 1:3, Esther 2:16), remembered what Vashti had done. Preoccupied by other cares and more urgent interests, he had left his wrath time to calm down. Now he had the leisure time to think about his family line and the civil organization of his kingdom. Following the advice of his counselors, young "maidens, virgins of beautiful countenance" were brought to Shushan out of all the countries within his empire, so that the king might chose one of them to replace Vashti. Esther, along with many others, fulfilled these conditions. Did she then have advantages which distinguished her from all her companions? Certainly her origin would have excluded her from the beginning; and Mordecai, being aware of the humiliation of his people, knew it very well. Thus, Esther is a hidden wife, but her grace and her beauty attract the sympathies and love of all. She pleased Hegai, the keeper of the women, and finds favor before him, and likewise with all who see her; she pleases the king, "above all the women," and is lifted up, in her still secret character, to the level of the dignity of queen of the nations, instead of Vashti.

In all these things we see a providential God who directs according to His own purpose the thoughts and hearts of men and the thoughts and heart of the king in order to carry out His plans of grace toward His people. The only wife who may replace the Gentile wife is the Jewish wife, a member of a repudiated people, and the Lord will manifest this when the appropriate moment comes. But, simultaneously with these ways of divine Providence toward Israel, secretly preparing the future reign of His people over the nations, we see how humiliated she was in her actual condition! We see the Jewish wife, forcibly submitted, like a slave of whom one disposes, without consulting her, to the king of the Gentiles! Her will counts for nothing in this alliance; she is forced into it; such a position might be desirable, in the highest degree, to all the other virgins in the empire; but it could not be desirable for Esther. That which characterized a Jewish woman was submission and dependence, freely given, as seen in Rebecca, when she said: "I will go;" it was the respectful affection of Sarah, that holy woman who, of her own accord, called Abraham "her lord"; and it was the enthusiastic love of Abigail, throwing herself at David's feet, and aspiring to the role of a handmaiden to his servants in order to serve David himself. It was the daughter in Psalm 45, "[inclining her] ear; and [forgetting her] own people and [her] father's house," a woman whose beauty lay in her abnegation which made her desirable to the king, while she acknowledged his all-powerful Lordship in adoration! In the future this last characteristic will be that of Israel returned in grace to the Lord of glory, the future king of Israel; but here, what a contrast! involuntary, forced subjection to a yoke which was the consequence of the people's sin. The law (Deut. 7:3) forbade these marriages, prescribing that an Israelite not give his daughter to a Gentile, but here everything had changed: the kings of the nations dominated over the unfaithful Jews; God had withdrawn Himself, and Nehemiah was obliged to say: "Behold, we are servants this day… The kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins… have dominion over our bodies." (Neh. 9:36-37) Thus this daughter of Israel is presented to us in this incongruous situation: on the one side, of servitude carrying with it the necessity of hiding her origin; and on the other side, of elevation to royal dignity. Do we not see in her the type of the future wife, first hidden from all eyes, and then publicly recognized by the Lord, the great king of the nations, all of whose ways are righteous and true? (Rev. 15:3) Esther proves herself submissive to the orders of her counselor. She shows fear toward Ahasuerus, but submission and dependence toward Mordecai — "[she] did what Mordecai told her, like as when she was brought up with him" — united to wisdom which discerns in all things what is appropriate; and to prudence which compromises neither her adoptive father nor her people; and to patience which is able to wait for the appropriate timing; and to decision which takes hold of that occasion; and to confidence committing herself in all respects to the instructions of Mordecai, whose word is for Esther like the word of God. In this regard, it is very striking, as we have already pointed out, that at a time when the Scriptures were known and taught among the Jews, this book does not mention them even once. Nevertheless, Esther has faith in the Word, the word pronounced by a man, who would not have had anything but very tenuous rights to be listened to, but who, for Esther's heart, personifies divine authority. How all these features characterize this book, where even prayer and supplication are not mentioned; for they could not be addressed to a God who had turned away from the people who had dishonored Him. Nevertheless the connection remains despite everything, but it was visible only to God. Underneath all this surface of moral desert and foreign bondage, we find the hidden river, escaping the eagle's eye, but not the eye of faith which can follow it in its secret detours, and which waits only for the moment when it will gush up in broad daylight, at Israel's restoration. We come across this secret at every turn. The world openly pursues its course, great men make their decisions, and the king approves them — and nevertheless all these things are mysteriously decided by Him who directs as He will the spirits, projects, and decisions of men, and does not allow any of them, unless it be to accomplish His own purposes, and to finally bring about their display in public. Mordecai himself secretly watches over Esther with touching solicitude (v. 11), which does not prevent him from keeping watch over the person of the king, whom God had given him, through the fault of the people, as master.

Verses 12-18. The description of verses 12-14 is a perfect picture of Persian customs and the licentiousness of Persian and other Oriental rulers. In due time Esther's turn came to be presented to the king. "She required nothing." Professor Cassel in his exposition gives the best exposition of this statement. The other women could not find enough artificial means with which to make an impression upon the king. But Esther cared nothing about these things. She had no such ambitious desires. Her heart did not burn to become something illustrious, yet unbecoming to a Jewess. Reluctantly she must have left her home, and reluctantly she must have put on the ornaments. She was wanted, and was ordered to appear, and therefore she obeyed Hegai and allowed herself to be prepared for the occasion. She was compelled to be there, while no doubt in heart she detested the whole affair.

She was brought in to the king. Attracted by her beauty he set the royal crown upon her head and the Jewish maiden became queen in the place of Vashti. This took place in the month Tebeth in the seventh year of the reign of Ahasuerus.

And, in short, when the turn of the different maidens came and, amongst others, Esther's turn, she not only found favour in the eyes of the chamberlain but, still more, in the eyes of the king. "Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign" (ver. 16). I may observe, by the way, that it is a remarkable confirmation of these transactions of Ahasuerus belonging to the time of Xerxes, that it was in the third year of Xerxes's reign, as history tells us, that he held a grand council of all the grandees of his empire. The political object was his attempt to conquer Greece, and he returned again in the seventh year of his reign — the very same dates that are mentioned in this book of Esther. During that time he was away from his country and was occupied with that vain effort which ended in the most complete destruction of the Persian fleet, and the overthrow of their armies by the comparatively little power of the Greeks. But, however that may be, I merely make the remark by the way as showing the wonderful manner in which God's providence preserves even the dates, and the way in which the facts fit in. That, however, is a small point, but the great matter is this — that the Jewess was preferred to all others. The Jewess is the one who alone will be the bride on earth of the great King. We know who the great King means. I suppose you are all aware that 'the great king' was a special title of the Persian monarch. Now Scripture uses "the great King" in reference to the Lord. I cannot doubt, therefore, that there is an intention in this typical manner, even, of speaking of Him.

"There was in Shushan the palace [or, fortress] a certain Jew, whose name [was] Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite; who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. And he brought up Hadassah, that [is], Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden [was] fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter. So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken into the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with her portions, and the seven maidens, which [were] meet to be given her, out of the king's house: and he removed her and her maidens to the best [place] of the house of the women. Esther had not showed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not show [it]. And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her. Now when the turn of every maiden was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that it had been done to her according to the law for the women, twelve months, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with the things for the purifying of the women,) then in this wise came a maiden to the king, whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women to the king's house. In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, who kept the concubines: she came in to the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name. Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her. So Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king made a great feast to all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the bounty of the king" (vers. 5-18).

Whatever may be thought of Mordecai or of Esther in the matter (and Scripture is here silent, neither accusing nor excusing), we have not long to wait before the vital question was raised, and the Jews must perish or be delivered beyond all outward hope, yet without sign, wonder, or miracle.

Though the king had a large number of women to choose from, he loved Esther more than any of the others (v. 17), so he set the royal crown on her head. This was a plain step in the working of God behind the scenes on behalf of the Jews. The king made a great feast for Esther, inviting all his officials and servants, proclaiming a holiday on this occasion (v. 18).

That, when, according to the corrupt customs of those days, large numbers of fair young maidens were assembled at Shushan for the king, Esther out of them all obtained universal favour. That one maiden would obtain the king's favour was pretty certain, but Esther obtained not only that but also the favour of the king's chamberlain and indeed "of all them that looked upon her." (See Esther 2:9, 15, 17.) Thus was she lifted suddenly into a position of extraordinary influence.

In process of time, without any effort or desire on her part, she becomes the favourite wife of the Persian king. Nay, not only without effort or desire, but after she had, like another Daniel, purposed, though in the court of the Gentile, to preserve her Nazaritism, or separation to God from the customs of the people. (Esther 2: 15.) She will be no debtor to man. She will not, as it were, take from the king of Sodom (Gen. 14) beyond the necessary things. It is the Lord, and not ornaments, which gives her favour in the eyes of all who behold her; the king himself is won, and the crown royal is put upon her head.

Esther, the Jewess, who has become the wife of the one who exercises supreme power, was publicly acknowledged by the king who sets the crown on her head, and makes a great feast in her honor, "Esther's feast." But although she is acknowledged as the queen, what she really is had not yet been manifested. Mordecai, who in fact, had all authority over her, had commanded her not to make known her birth. The case will be the same at the time of the end. Before the Lord publicly acknowledges the origin of His Jewish wife (whom the promises and counsels of God destine to reign over the nations), He will have His wife (although she will not yet be publicly manifested), in the form of a despised and the persecuted remnant, who will nevertheless find grace in the eyes of many, but whose beauty will be known by her Husband before He can present her to the world. Then the Jewish wife will not be disobedient, as the Gentile wife was. She will be, on earth, the pure reflection of the glory of her Husband, just as the true Church, glorified, will be in heaven.