Who was Esther in the Bible?

The Persian name of Hadassah, daughter of Abihail, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjamite. Being an orphan she was brought up by her cousin Mordecai. She was fair and beautiful and was thought suitable to be presented to the king. God gave her favour in the eyes of the royal household, and also caused the king to choose her for his queen, though she was a captive. The king is called Ahasuerus, but he is supposed to have been the Xerxes of history.

Mordecai, refusing to bow to Haman the Agagite, roused the wrath of the latter, who procured an edict for the destruction on a certain day of all the Jews in the empire. Esther was hereupon charged by Mordecai to plead with the king for their deliverance. She therefore called all the Jews in Shushan to fast with her three days and nights, saying she would go in to the king unbidden, and if she perished she perished. God gave her favour in the eyes of the king and he held out the sceptre to her. At a banquet she told the king that Haman had sold her and her people. The king was enraged, and being told at this moment of the gallows on which Haman intended to hang Mordecai (who had been the means of the king's life being saved), orders were at once given to hang Haman thereon. Esther had again to endanger her life by appearing before the king unbidden; but again the king received her graciously and gave her the desired authority to rescue the Jews from their threatened calamity: they were allowed to defend themselves when attacked by their enemies.

Mordecai brought up his cousin Esther*, the daughter of his uncle who had been orphaned of both her father and mother, in his home as though she were his own daughter. Between these two, the adoptive father and his adoptive daughter, there was a very close and affectionate relationship. Esther was characterized above all else by her obedience to Mordecai's orders, whether or not she understood their bearing. He had forbidden her to declare her people or her birth: Esther obeyed, for "did what Mordecai told her, like as when she was brought up with him." (v. 20) The time had not yet come to declare her origin.

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.

Mordecai had brought up his cousin Hadasseh, or Esther, since she was an orphan. Since neither of her parents were living, it was not hard to conceal the fact that she was Jewish, though she had been adopted by Mordecai, a Jew. If people generally were aware of the fact that she was Jewish, there would have been strong objection to her being allowed to be an applicant for the the place of Queen in Persia. We are told that the young woman was "lovely and beautiful" (v. 7).

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).

In the day of this Amalekite, Esther appears in the scene. She had been a poor captive from the land of Israel, and was now in the land of the Persian; not only, however, in the common sorrow and degradation of her people, but with a grief and affliction that were peculiarly her own. She was an orphan, and in every sense a destitute one, save in the kindness and care of her godly kinsman, Mordecai.

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.

"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).

Now I return to expound a little the facts that are traced in it as the grand development of secret providence when God's name cannot be named. God can work where He cannot proclaim Himself, and this is remarkably illustrated in the fact that when the command went forth for the young maidens to be sought for the king for him to take his choice, amongst others "in Shushan the palace there was 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 captivity 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 maid was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took 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 brought also to the king's house to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him" (Esther 2:5-9).

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.

Esther had been adopted by her uncle (or cousin, see 2:7), Mordecai. Through God’s providence she receives not only the attention but the favour of the king and becomes his wife. However, Haman, an ambitious and evil character aspiring to high honours at the Persian court, is so enraged by Mordecai’s refusal to bow to him that he plots to kill not only Mordecai, but the entire Jewish race. In his quest for revenge, a decree is passed that, effectively, mandates the genocide of the Jews.

Esther pleads with the king to show mercy to her people. She brings to his attention that Mordecai had saved the king’s life by uncovering an assassination plot. King Ahasuerus decides to reward Mordecai, exalts him to great honours, condemns to death Haman the antagonist and passes a second decree – this time to save Esther’s people who were on the brink of extermination.

Verses 8-11. Esther on account of her great beauty was taken with the many other virgins in obedience to the King's command. Jewish tradition informs us that Mordecai, her guardian and second father, had kept her concealed, in order not to be obliged to deliver her to the royal agents, but people who knew her, and who had not seen her for some time drew the attention of the agents to the concealment. She with the others is placed in charge of Hegai the keeper of women. In all we see the hand of the Lord preparing step by step the help needed for the preservation and deliverance of His people during the approaching crisis. And Esther pleased Hegai; he showed her kindness. This kindness was expressed in furnishing her the means of improving her appearance, such as cosmetics and perfumes, according to Oriental customs. Then she received no doubt beautiful garments and jewelry to enhance her person still more. Then the best place in the house of the women was given to her and the seven maids who waited on her. (Very interesting and curious is the Jewish tradition concerning these seven servants. This tradition as preserved in the Targumim makes their names to correspond with the work of the six days of creation. Thus the fourth maid-servant's name was "Starlight" because on the fourth day the heavenly bodies came into view. Remarkable is the name of the maid who attended her on the sixth day--Friday; her name was "Lamb." On the seventh day, the Sabbath, the servant's name, who waited on her was "Rest"' she reminded Esther of the Sabbath. And the Servant who attended her on the day after the Sabbath (Our Lord's day) bore the name of the mystical bird Phoenix, the symbol of light, rising out of the fire and out of death. It is certainly interesting, to say the least, to find such traditional statements.)

And Esther had not showed her people and her kindred. This was done on the advice of Mordecai. This has been characterized as deception, extraordinary adroitness, and cowardice. It was neither. Divine Providence ordered it thus. Inasmuch as Esther's parents were dead such concealment of nationality was not difficult; had her parents lived it would have been next to impossible. Had it been known that she belonged to the alien race, intrigues for her destruction would have soon been set afoot. Haman's wicked endeavour may even then have been in process of planning. Mordecai walking daily before the court of the women's house, proves his great concern for his adopted daughter.

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.

Esther’s lineage and nationality play a central role in the entire narrative. Mordecai had charged her not to reveal her nationality or “birth” (2:10, 20). The Jews are described as “her people” (2:20; 4:8; 7:3). This detail (whilst entirely inapplicable to the church) casts much light on the true meaning: the fate of the entire people hinges on their representative, the faithful remnant (typified in Esther). The fate of the Jewish people is central to the book.

The Hebrew word for “Jew” or “Jewish” is exceptionally frequent in the book of Esther: it occurs no less than 52 times. Taking into account that the total number of occurrences of this word in all the other books of the Old Testament amounts to merely 23 references, the message is clear: the Jewish ethnicity is central to the message of this book. Esther is a Jewess and Mordecai is a Jew and the entire story revolves around the fate of the Jews.

Verse 20 informs us of two interesting facts. Esther did not disclose her nationality and she continued in humble obedience to her foster father as if she were still under his roof and not the great queen. The royal glory and dignity which surrounded her on all sides had not affected her in the least. She had not forgotten that the whole royalty was not a matter of pleasure to her, but only an act of obedience, the providential purpose of which she did not know, but which she found out afterward. Her interest was with Mordecai outside and not with the royal splendour inside.

Let us note the providential leading in all this. If Esther had revealed her connection, if it had become known that Mordecai at the gate was her uncle and she his adopted daughter, he would not have remained in the obscure position before the gate. Then the conspirators would have been cautious and not spoken within the hearing of such a person so closely related to the queen. The knowledge of the planned attempt upon the life of the King Mordecai owed to the fact that nobody knew who he was and therefore paid no attention to him.