Who was Hadassah 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.

Another name for Esther. Esther 2:7.

Here we face one of the inconsistencies charged by higher criticism. But their mistake is quite apparent. They claim that Mordecai belonged to the captives carried away by Nebuchadnezzar. Then they say, that being the case Mordecai must have been over 130 years old and Esther at least 70 years. But does it say that Mordecai was carried away at the time of King Jechoniah? It was not Mordecai who was carried away but his great-grandfather Kish. "The clear and instructive intentions of the historian in this genealogical passage are evident. He points out, through the enumeration of the four generations from Kish to Mordecai, the time which elapsed since the banishment of Jechoniah, which took place before the destruction of the temple. The period of about 120 or more years which since then elapsed to the sixth year of Xerxes are exactly expressed by the four generations. We have also some intimation concerning the period of the narrative, which is assigned to the reign of Xerxes I. That Kish was a Benjamite, is only told for the purpose of distinguishing him from other men with the same name who belonged to the tribe of Levi. One might have thought it impossible that Biblical expositors should commit the mistake of making the information concerning the exile of Jechoniah refer to Mordecai himself--an idea for which there is neither textual nor historical foundation, but rather both against it" (Professor Cassel). Mordecai had brought up Hadassah. She was an orphan, fair of form and good of countenance, his uncle's daughter. Mordecai had adopted her. Hadassah means "myrtle" and Esther "star." Critics have identified the name Esther with Babylonian goddess Isthar (similar to Ashtoreth), and they also claim that Hadassah was the Babylonian title for the same goddess. But such statements are mere inventions.

In the book of Esther we see another crisis in the history of God's people. The Agagite was there, the enemy of God and His people; in type the enemy of Christ. The position was again saved by a woman, indicative as we have said of the subjective work in the hearts of the people of God. Esther, Hadassah her name as of Israel, meaning, "a myrtle tree." If the Scriptures are searched you will find that when God mentions the myrtle tree He is delighting in preserving that which stands related, typically, to Christ. "Instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the LORD for a name," (Isaiah 55:13). Then we read in Zechariah of the "Angel of the LORD … among the myrtle trees," and the LORD says, "I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; … the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem," (Zech. 1:11, 16, 17).

In the day of recovery spoken of in Nehemiah, as the joy of the feast of booths entered into the heart of the recovered people, they fetched trees as instructed in Lev. 23, but, amongst others, they added the "myrtle tree." Surely there was joy to God as He regarded His peoples' affections rejoicing in Himself?

Ha das’sah - The myrtle

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).

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.

Now, this of itself even, is of the greatest interest; but then there is more than this. The book not only is a book of providence — God's secret providence — when He could not name His name in behalf of His people — in behalf of the Jews in their poor and dispersed condition among the Gentiles; but, further, it is typical of the great dealings of God that are yet to be, because what, mainly, does the book open with? This — the great Gentile wife of the great king is discarded, and the singular fact comes that a Jewess takes her place. I cannot doubt, myself, that it is what will follow when the Gentile has proved himself disobedient, and has failed in displaying the beauty that should be in the testimony of God before the world. In short, it is what is going on now; that is, at this present time, the Gentile is the one that holds a certain position before God in the earth. The Jew, as you are aware, is not the present witness of God, but the Gentile. The Gentile has utterly failed. According to the language of the 11th of Romans, the branches of the wild olive — the Gentile — will be broken off, and the Jew will be grafted in again. Well, Vashti is the Gentile wife that is discarded for her disobedience and failure in displaying her beauty before the world. That is what Christendom ought to do. The Gentile, I say, will be broken off and dismissed, and the Jew will be brought in. This is what is represented by the call of Esther. She becomes the object of the great king's affections, and displaces Vashti, who is never restored. But I merely give this remark by the way to show the typical connection of the book with the great course of God's counsels in scripture.

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.

In His providence God brings the young Jewess Hadassah (Esther) to the Persian court. She succeeds in preventing the threatening destruction of all her race by Haman, who was set above all the princes. Haman is hanged and Esther's cousin Mordecai, the pious Jew and Haman's opponent, receives his position. After the Jews' revenge upon their enemies the days of Purim (pur = Persian: lot) are established in remembrance of these events.

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.

And yet she is simply the Jewish maiden still, and obedient to Mordecai, as in the day when she was brought up by him in his own house.

This was a happy beginning. She began with herself, with a full purpose to keep herself pure. And such will be found fit for the Master's use. (2 Tim. 2) Jerusalem might have boasted of such a daughter, though in the palace at Shushan. She might have stood a witness of the prophet's truth - "Her Nazarites were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire." And when in further process of time she heard of the sorrows of her people, like another Moses, or Nehemiah, she forgets all that was her own - the ease and security and honours of the palace - and went forth to look only on their burthens.

This was going on happily. She who had kept herself from defilement was the one to throw herself amid the afflictions of others. She had watched against personal entanglements, and was thus free to serve. She was already girded, and waited only for a call. Right condition of every follower of Jesus. The only due and suited attitude of one called to the holy honour of serving in God's house. Esther, the queen, now carefully acquaints herself with the state of her people throughout the realm of the king's dominion, and casts herself at once under their burthens.

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.