Esther becomes queen
Later when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. 2 Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. 3 Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful girls into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. 4 Then let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.
This section describes the long process by which Esther became queen of Persia. Four years passed between the decree deposing Vashti and the elevation of Esther. Xerxes’ absence during the invasion of Greece may be part of the reason for this delay. The year in which Esther became queen, the seventh year of Xerxes’ reign, was 479 B.C., the year after his defeat at Salamis in Greece. Herodotus reports that Xerxes was accompanied to Greece by a wife named Amestris, who was probably Vashti. She was from a powerful family, and her son Artaxerxes became Xerxes’ successor. Xerxes may not have been able to get rid of her as easily as he had hoped. During the trip to Greece, Xerxes attempted to seduce his brother’s wife. When this attempt was unsuccessful, he instead had an affair with the woman’s daughter, who was married to Xerxes’ son. When Amestris found out about this, she avenged herself on this family by horribly mutilating the girl’s mother. This action nearly set off a rebellion against Xerxes.