How did a Jewish exile become queen of Persia?
A pagan king deposes one queen and, through a gathering of young women from across the provinces, crowns an unnamed Jewish orphan. Behind the palace politics, God positions His person for a day not yet seen.
This question arose from studying Why does the book of Esther never mention God?.
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Not a summary of these passages: the passages themselves. Read them, then come back to the study below.
The study
What the Scripture says
A queen set aside for refusing to be displayed
When Vashti will not parade her beauty before the king's guests, the counselors decree that 'Vashti may never again come before King Ahasuerus,' and that every man should rule his own house. Her removal opens the door Esther will walk through.
“If it please the king, let a royal commandment go from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it cannot be altered, that Vashti may never again come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate to another who is better than she.
for he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language, that every man should rule his own house, speaking in the language of his own people.
An orphan in the citadel of Susa
Mordecai, a Benjamite carried from Jerusalem with the exiles, had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his orphaned cousin. She had neither father nor mother, and he took her for his own daughter. The story of a deliverer begins with ordinary, quiet love.
There was a certain Jew in the citadel of Susa, 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 who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.
Gathered into the king's house
Esther is taken among the young women of the provinces. She asks for nothing beyond what the keeper advises, and she obtains favor in the sight of all who look at her. Her beauty is real, but the narrative keeps pointing past it to the favor.
Now 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 eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked at her. So 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.
He made her queen instead of Vashti
The king loved Esther more than all the women, and he set the royal crown on her head, and 'made her queen instead of Vashti.' The throne that looked like the fruit of a beauty contest is, in the telling, the place God has been preparing.
The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Positioned before the crisis
Esther becomes queen in the seventh year of the king, years before Haman's plot. The crown is given long before it is needed, which is how providence usually works: God seats His person, then the moment arrives.
So 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. The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
As you read, you may wonder…
Scripture raises the next question
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Continue this trail
Why did Haman want to destroy the Jews?→“Letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions.”What did Esther risk to save her people?→“For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?””How did the king's sleepless night save a nation?→“On that night, the king couldn’t sleep. He commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be brought, and they were read to the king.”How did the tables turn on Haman?→“So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.”What is the feast of Purim?→“as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending presents of food to one another, and gifts to the needy.”How does Esther point to Christ?→““Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.””How does the book of Esther point forward to the greater exodus?→“Letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions.”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.
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