Mordechai uncovers a conspiracy
When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. 20 But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.
21 During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. 22 But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai. 23 And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were hanged on a gallows. All this was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king.
This next development in the story put Mordecai into a position in which the king would owe him a favor at the crucial time in the future when the fate of Israel hung in the balance. Any other details are only incidental to this point.
It is not clear what is meant by the phrase “when the virgins were assembled a second time” or when this event occurred. Mordecai’s presence at the palace gate implies he was an official on duty there. The gates of cities and palaces were the sites where much governmental and legal business was carried out. We are told nothing about what motivated two of the king’s officials to conspire against his life. It may have been some personal insult or a political conspiracy. Such conspiracies and power struggles were common in the Persian court. In fact, Xerxes ultimately was assassinated as the result of such a conspiracy. The important thing for us to note is how various seemingly unconnected events were all coming together to set up the circumstances in which Israel could be delivered.