Esther 2: From Humble Hadassah to Exalted Esther

What if God is working powerfully in your life, even when your circumstances feel wrong, unfair, or out of your control? In Esther 2, we see how God can still work all things for good even when obedience, safety, and faith feel compromised.

In this episode of our Esther Bible Study, we walk through the historical reality of King Xerxes and the forced gathering of young women into the Persian harem. Moving beyond the "romance" myths, we uncover the dark and uncomfortable reality of Hadassah’s transformation into Queen Esther. We'll explore:

• The Intriguing Power of Two Names: Why the author introduces her as both Hadassah and Esther and what it means for her hidden identity.
• The Saul-Mordecai Connection: Uncovering the "Bible Bender" linking Esther's uncle Mordecai (son of Kish) to King Saul’s ancient conflict with the Amalekites.
• Finding Favor: How God used Hegai (the king’s eunuch) and divine providence to position a Jewish orphan for a royal crown.

The Book of Esther holds powerful wisdom we can apply to our lives today and we'll dive deeper into these three themes from Esther 2:

• God is the Master Strategist: Even when you feel like a pawn, God is moving the board to position you for a purpose you can't see yet.
• You don’t have to be perfect for God to use you: Esther’s story proves that God works through "imperfect faith" and complicated situations to bring about good.
• Favor is a Gift, Not a Hustle: We explore how Esther "won favor" not through manipulation, but through a divinely-guided character that stood out in a crowded room.

This episode invites you to stop judging appearances and start trusting God’s unseen work in your own life, even when your story doesn’t look the way you expected.

Show Notes:

Blog Post

Contact Bible Book Club

DONATE

Buy merch 

Like, comment, or message us through Bible Book Club's Instagram
Like or comment on Susan's Facebook or Instagram
Leave us an Apple review
Contact us through our website form

Thanks for listening and happy podcasting!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This is the Bible Book Club, the Book of Esther.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the club. Last time we learned that the Book of Esther follows a different narrative concerning the Jewish exiles. This story focuses on the Jews who remained in Persia rather than those who returned to Jerusalem, as in the previous two podcast seasons, the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The Book of Esther takes place in Susa, the capital city of Persia. King Xerxes was having a 180-day party to gather support for the war he wanted to wage against Greece. Well, during that party, while intoxicated, he demanded Queen Vashci display her beauty for all his guests, whom we can assume were also drunk. Vashci refused, thereby providentially paving the way for the king to seek a new queen. Because somewhere between the alcohol and his pride, the king lost his ability to reason. And his advisor's ill-advised plan to depose the queen was set in motion. The entire first chapter was the setup for the rest of the book of Esther, because Vasci's defiance set the stage for the deliverance of God's people, which will come through another queen. The most intriguing fact about the Book of Esther is that God is not mentioned at all in this book. The Book of Esther, though, is a story of how divine providence works behind the scenes through the courage and wisdom of faithful individuals to save his people.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Okay, when we left off in chapter one, it was 483 BC. The year Vashi defied King Xerxes was the third year of his reign. Now Esther was made queen in the seventh year of the king's reign. And during the four years between the two queens, Xerxes fought the war with Greece that he had been raising support for during the 100-day banquet. So much of the book of Esther is also documented in Persian historical evidence, archaeological evidence. So it's so fun to talk about this because we know what Xerxes was doing in this four-year gap. Well, when he returned to Persia, it was not pretty. He had lost the war, he had depleted Persia's wealth, and he did not even have a wife to welcome him home. The king had no queen. All he had were scheming advisors clamoring to make him happy in any way that benefited them. Scene 1. Which sounds romantic. It was not. The king was lonely because he stood alone before the public in his military defeat. It was a reminder to the public of his double humiliation, the defiance of Vashti, and the defeat by Greece. He needed a lovely queen by his side to distract the public and assuage his pride. This is not a story of romance, as some films about Esther portray it. To the Persian king, the queen was an instrument for enhancing his royal image. It was an official position. He could have multiple wives for heirs. He could have a harem of hundreds for pleasure, but only one queen. And after the humiliation of Vashti's defiance, the new queen had to be a controlled partner, not a co-ruler. She had to be beautiful, compliant, and manageable.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Esther chapter 2. Later, when King Xerxes' fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. Then the king's personal attendants proposed, let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hagai, the king's eunuch, who is in charge of the women, and let beauty treatments be given to them. Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. Well, this advice appealed to the king and he followed it.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

So how did Vashti's story set everything in motion? Well, the advisors had to make a move to protect themselves. The king missed Vashti. But if he were to bring her back, we all know how that would have gone down. To save face with her, Xerxes would have blamed her banishment on the advisors. And Vashti, therefore, would have demanded that the advisors be killed for their bad advice. This is Persia, after all. They just take people out of the way if they don't like them. The advisors, knowing the king's lust for women, devised a much more entertaining plan to distract Xerxes from Vashti, thereby saving themselves. The advisors' plan was a national search for the perfect queen. King Xerxes could try out a different woman every single night until he found one he liked. Now, this was not the way a queen in Persia was normally chosen. Most often a queen was chosen from one of the noble families of Persia, which makes sense as the queen held a political and public role. This competition was a creative way to appeal to this king's lust. It worked. And the gathering of virgins began. Now a lot has been written about the social injustice against the women of Persia in general, and at this time specifically. It's worth pointing out that this is not a story of romance. There was so much more to the cruelty of the king and the time. It was not only women who suffered. Hundreds of boys were gathered and castrated to serve as eunuchs in the growing harem and in the Persian court. Everyone at this time in Persia, male or female, was at risk for being forced into the king's service.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Can you explain the king's harem and how that is different from a queen?

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah, so the king's harem, they're not married to the king. Now the king had wives also that that had more freedoms and responsibilities and usually heirs. I'm going to get into what happens to the harem's children. But there's only one queen, and she is it. She doesn't necessarily always have the heir to the throne. So for example, Esther's queen, but uh the art of Xerxes who inherits the throne after Xerxes, it is thought it says his mother is, I think her name is Amestris or something like that. They think that might have been another name for Vashti. So Vashti, very well. I didn't bring this up in the last episode, but some of the con commentaries kind of theorize that Vashti may have been pregnant at the time that the king called her out. And, you know, so there was another layer to why she didn't want to be presented to his drunken friends. Nobody knows that for sure. But some people think our mestris is, I think I'm saying that right, is in fact Vashti, and she was the mother of Artaxerxes, but no one is sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

All right. The pleasure contest for the king was the advisor's plan to conceal their mistake in advising the king to banish Vasci. But God had a plan to use it for good, for the saving of many lives. He was working behind the scenes to turn what man had planned for evil into good. God was moving the queens around like pieces on a chessboard. Vashti needed to be removed from the easily influenced king because Vashti would have done nothing to help the Jews. She was a Gentile. God moved her out so that Esther could step in. Scene 2.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Verse 5. Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai, son of Jer, the son of Shemai, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Mordecai had a cousin named Hedassa, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

This is the very kind of paragraph that I confess I normally skipped, because it's a genealogy like who's who. But numerous clues to the plot are hidden in this one paragraph, masked as a boring genealogical detail. First, who is Mordecai? Well, we're informed that Mordecai is a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin, the son of Shime, the son of Kish. Now, Kish, you may recall from our discussion way back in 1 Samuel chapter 9, was the father of King Saul. However, King Saul lived about 500 years ago. So what is the Saul Mordecai connection? We've discussed this before. Sometimes it's when it says somebody it's somebody's son, it's somebody's son like 10 generations back. The author is laying the groundwork for a coming Bible bender, irony, reversal, and fulfillment of prophecy all in one. Whoever wrote this wants us to know that Mordecai is a descendant of Saul's father Kish. So they both descended from the same man. And therefore, he has a direct connection to Saul's conflict with Amalek. In 1 Samuel 15, King Saul conquered King Agag of Amalek, but he disobeyed God's command to destroy the Amalekites completely. He spared King Agag. This failure cost Saul the kingdom. The kingship passed to David. So why did God want King Saul to destroy the Amalekites completely? Well, God had a very specific reason, and this is the backstory. In Exodus 15, the Israelites crossed the Red Sea to safety, or so they thought. Just two chapters later, as a weak, unorganized nation, they are attacked by a new enemy.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

In Exodus chapter 17, starting in verse 8, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, Choose some of our men to go out and fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands. So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered. And Moses, Aaron, and her went up on top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning. But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and her held his hands up, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered, and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

So, you know, all these poor, impoverished slaves exit Egypt, and they immediately get attacked by Amalek. Not only does Amalek attack, but they they just don't even have an army yet. And the only way they can win is helping build their trust in Moses by making the victory all about them holding Moses' arms up. But listen, listen to how God feels about this in Deuteronomy. We learn more about this attack.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Deuteronomy chapter 25, starting in verse 17. Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind. They had no fear of God. When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he's giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

So because the Amalekites took advantage of the weak, those who were at the rear of the Exodus trail, most likely the elderly, the sick, or the orphaned, God commanded the Israelites to blot out the name of Amalek. In other words, completely destroy them. God was very insistent. These people were against him and his people, and they were never to forget it. Well, in 1 Samuel 15, the first king of Israel, Saul, is given the opportunity to wipe out this vile enemy of God.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

1 Samuel chapter 15, starting in verse 3. Now, go attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them. Put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

God could not have been more clear. Yet Saul did not obey.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Instead, 1 Samuel chapter 15, verse 9, Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the cattle, the fat calves and lambs, everything that was good. Saul spared them.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

And the Amalekites lived on. And in particular, that King Agag. Remember that name. It's going to come up again. So back to our story, hundreds of years later, and back to the connection between Mordecai in this story and Saul from that story. Mordecai is a member of Saul's tribe, the tribe of Benjamin, and they are descended from the same ancestor, Kish. Will God, he's setting us up here, accomplish what he promised to wipe out the Amalekites for what they did to the Israelites? And will the fulfillment of this promise come from the tribe that failed before? The tribe of Benjamin and the family of Kish. Stay tuned. Another obscure but important detail in this one paragraph from Esther 2 that Heather just read is why does the author introduce Esther by her two names? Mordecai is recorded with only one name, a name derived from a Babylonian god. The author doesn't give him a Hebrew name. Again, the author is seeding the narrative, preparing us for a future hidden lesson. You see, this story is about a young, orphaned woman who will be forced to live between two worlds with two different identities. The humble Jewish world in which she had been raised by her Jewish cousin Mordecai, and the lavish, sophisticated Persian world where she must hide her Jewish origins. The author wants us to see Hadatha and to appreciate the transformation to Queen Esther. It was painful, physically frightening, spiritually convicting, emotionally confusing, and socially and politically threatening. Who she was and who she became were all wrapped up in this. In the cocoon of the harem, all alone, far from her family and her God, Hadassah transforms from an innocent young girl, most likely in her teens, into Esther, a wise, courageous woman capable of fulfilling God's plan for her people, the saving of many lives. Scene 3.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Esther finds favor. And now back to our story in Esther chapter 2, continuing in verse 8. When the king's order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Haggai. Esther also was taken to the king's palace and entrusted to Hagai, who had charge of the harem. She pleased him and won his favor. Immediately, he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven female attendants selected from the king's palace and moved her and her attendants into the best place in the harem. Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. Every day, he walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

Much is written about this contest to be queen. Most of it concerns was Esther forced to compete to be queen or did she volunteer? The majority opinion is that these women were forced. Two factors contribute to this opinion. One, the language used is that they were taken or gathered. There is never any mention of consent. The second reason most scholars agree is that after the women spent one night with the king, they were confined as concubines for the rest of their lives. Think about that. Young women were in a patriarchal society under the protection of their parents at this time. Few parents would choose to have their daughter locked away, never to be seen again. And no woman would want that. This was a sentence of isolation. They were never released from the harem. They could never marry or have children unless they pleased the king enough to be called back for enough nights to get pregnant. In this pleasure contest of virgins, it is assumed that participants received only one night. Mordecai had yet another reason for not wanting this life for his little Hadassah. She was Jewish. Mordecai's instruction to conceal her identity implies he had good reason to fear antisemitism was lurking in the palace. And it was most likely why he daily paced in front of the palace, hoping to find out what had happened to her. Mordecai was worried. If they discovered she was Jewish, she might be in danger for her life. And Mordecai was right. Hadassah is taken, Mordecai is worried, the child he raised is gone. He can't see her, communicate with her. He can't protect the child he has cared for since the day her parents died. He could only wonder how was she coping? How could she survive this? Well, what was Esther doing at this time? Esther was finding favor. Here we go. It's the phrase I love to analyze. We ended the book of Nehemiah with Nehemiah seeking favor with God. Joseph found favor with Potiphar, the prison warden, and Pharaoh. Esther, we will learn, is a fair competitor for Joseph. First, she has found favor. With Hagai, the head eunuch. How did she just happen to be placed in the care of the head of the harem? Divine providence is my only answer. How did she find favor? We don't know. But she immediately pleased Haggai, and he provided her with what appears to be more than the other women were provided for. My guess is that the young Hadassah's character reflects her name. Hadassah means myrtle. In Jewish tradition, the myrtle tree was associated with peace and prosperity. And because the tree has a sweet fragrance, it symbolizes good deeds and a pleasant character. One more thing to note, the name Esther means star, and the myrtle tree's blossoms are little white stars. Would sweet Hadassah blossom into the star named Esther was the transformation of the young woman to a queen hidden in the meaning of her two names. Okay, scene four. Three hundred and sixty-five days of preparation for one night of opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Verse 12. Before a young woman's turn came to go into King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh, and six with perfumes and cosmetics. And this is how she would go to the king. Anything she wanted was given to her to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. In the evening, she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem, to the care of Shashagaz, the king's eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name. When the turn came for Esther, the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abbi Hale, to go to the king. She asked for nothing other than what Hagai, the king's eunuch, who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.

SPEAKER_01 22:16

It appears that the king had only three requirements of the queen. She had to be beautiful, only beautiful women were taken to be in this competition. She had to be obedient, because that was made law when Vashie was defiant. And she had to please him. But how? Was it physically, emotionally, sexually, all three? It is unclear. But the preparation for that one night with the king is very clear and extensive. Twelve months of treatments, no expense spared, oils, perfumes, cosmetics. What were Persian cosmetics? Is what I wanted to know. I don't know what those were like. At the end of the 12-month period, the woman was given anything she wished to take with her, most certainly clothes and probably jewelry. And it is implied that they are to keep whatever they took. So did many of the girls lavishly just load up, like I am just gonna put it all on so I can keep it. But humble, compliant, Hadassah Esther did not. When it came time for her night with the king, she turned to Hagai, the head of the harem, and deferred to his wisdom. She was not tempted by the largest jewels, but trusted Hagai to make her selection. The result? Esther found favor with all who saw her. God used Haggai, a Gentile, the head of the harem, the one man who more than anyone would know how to please the king and how to make a woman look her best. And because Esther had already found favor with Haggai, he assisted her. And as a result, she found favor with everyone who saw her. Quite simply, she looked stunning. How do compliance and favor work together? Because of Hadatha's sweet nature, she found favor. Compliance is the act of adhering to a request or rule performed as a favor to maintain goodwill or secure a beneficial outcome from an authority figure. Esther complied with Hagai's advice and found favor with the king. But I want to point out something. Just as we cannot judge Vashi's defiance, was it right or wrong? We don't have enough detail. We cannot judge Esther's deference. And sometimes compliance and deference are looked upon in our culture as a bad thing. Was it wrong of her as a Jew to comply with or defer to whatever the Gentiles asked of her? Well, the point of this story is not judgment. And this is where the commentaries and theologians spiral out and agree, we cannot judge. The point is the hand of God was using a young girl known for her sweet, compliant nature to further his redemption. For if the Jews were exterminated, so would the Messiah with them. For God had promised the saving seed of the world would come from the line of David. Now for Esther, this story continues, but I don't want to forget the women that were left behind. For the other women, after their one night with the king, they were taken, not willingly, I am sure, to the other harem, the one for concubines. They could not marry, they could not return to their family, they could not even see the king again unless he remembered them by name. With 365 women a year, names would be tough. The fact that Esther stood out is a miracle. Then for these other women, any child conceived in one night was raised to serve their father in a high position, but they were not legitimate heirs to the throne. You had to be a wife for that. For these women, their one night with the king was followed by thousands of knights alone.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Do you think that they were mistreated while in there? Or do you think they had like somewhat of an okay life?

SPEAKER_01 26:42

No, it's very clearly states um in in the historical documents that this was a very lavish they went under that other eunuch, Shashgaza or whatever his name was, and they lived a very luxurious life. But it was lonely, you're saying. It was just all a bunch of women. Okay. Yeah. And they're considered concubines, there for the king's use, but because there had been so many during this competition, they were just left there to die. Yeah, but they weren't being abused or mistreated or anything. Well, I think there was emotional abuse in the fact that they were locked away. They had no freedom. Right. Yeah. It was very abusive. I mean, who wants to live their whole life knowing there's nothing in front of them? It must have been very depressing. And 365, I mean, how many years did this go on? How many hundreds of women do you have living together with nothing but luxury and food? That's a lot of women. And it's just a lot of boredom. And it's a lot of no children, no purpose, no nothing. Scene five, from humble Hadatha to exalted Esther.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Verse 16. She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tibeth, in the seventh year of his reign. Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. And the king gave a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.

SPEAKER_01 28:16

So it's time Esther was taken to the king. Now the word choice is specific again. If the author had said Esther went to the king or was dragged to the king, we could assume she was willing or unwilling. The fact that she was taken to the king implies that it was beyond her control. The author provides no hint of how she felt about this night. It cannot, however, have been positive. So much of who she was or wanted to be faded with each step she took down that corridor to the king's room. Gone were the dreams of her marrying a nice Jewish boy and raising children to be spoiled by their grandfather Mordecai. Gone were the virtues she aspired to as a good Jewish girl in the eyes of God. Gone were any hopes of ever seeing her family and friends again. It had to be frightening. She was a virgin in her teens. The king was well over twice her age at 39 years old. On top of that, he had a notorious reputation for insatiable lust proven by this very competition in which she is in. She knew that he would have no regard for her after this night. She would be used and discarded like the hundreds of women before her. Despite all her feelings of fear, regret, helplessness, frustration, and maybe even anger, she had to perform. Her life, her future, depended on it. The sad reality was, as a Jew, she despaired that she could not win either way. If she became queen, she would be in violation of Jewish law for marrying a pagan king. And if she did not become queen, she would suffocate, trapped in a harem of hundreds after having been sexually assaulted by a pagan king. How did she do it? How did she overcome her fear and despair? How did this innocent young woman girl, in my mind, she's still such a girl, please the experienced, insatiable, depraved king? We don't know how. It says only that she won his favor. Favor. I don't think it had anything to do with whatever Esther did that night. It wasn't her, it was God. She found favor because God moved the king of Persia. The irony here is that the advisors had been moving the king where they thought they wanted him. They persuaded the king to banish Vashti. Then they persuaded the king to hold the virgin competition. Each time the advisors planned to move the king, they thought they were moving him where they wanted him to be. When in reality, they were moving the king where God wanted him. And that was with Esther. There is no mystery here. With the odds stacked against her, Esther found favor. It was not a coincidence. It was divine providence. Esther won the crown, the king, and a whole new public identity. The competition is over, but the ironies in this story and the reversals continue. Ironically, there was another great banquet, the fourth in this story. Vashti's crown was taken for not attending a banquet. Esther was given the crown and a banquet. The queen of defiance, Vashti, was replaced by a queen of compliance, Esther. And ironically, Persia celebrates the marriage of a Jewish Esther to Gentile Xerxes at about the same time when Jerusalem mourns the marriages of Jewish exiles to Gentiles. In fact, it's during the same time period that Ezra and Nehemiah were pulling their hair out because of intermarriage. Yet here in this story, they're celebrating it. Of course, they don't know it's an intermarriage. You can check that out back in Ezra chapter 9 and Nehemiah 13. And ironically, Esther does not rise to her high position by consistent obedience, like Joseph in Exodus and David in 1 Samuel. Esther is given the opportunity to save despite her imperfect faithfulness. She just had sex outside of marriage with a Gentile. It's like the opposite. It's so ironic. What is God doing here? God is encouraging us. No matter how difficult, crazy, or just plain wrong our circumstances are, God can turn them around and make them right. No matter what our past mistakes, God gives us new opportunities to do the right thing. It is also a great lesson for all of us to refrain from judging others. We do not know the heart of man, or in this case, a woman, nor do we know the plan, path, or purpose of God for each man and woman. And because we don't know, we cannot judge. Many of the commentaries judge Esther for what she did. But God will use the imperfect faith of people to complete his perfect plan. It will all come together for good. Well, it appears that all of this took place so that King Xerxes would have everything he wanted a beautiful, compliant queen who satisfied his desires, who just happens to be hiding a secret, a divinely provident secret. And as our heroine rises, so does the villain in our next episode.