Esther 2:5–11

Esther becomes queen

Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, 6who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah. 7 Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This girl, who was also known as Esther, was lovely in form and features, and Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.

8 When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many girls were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. 9 The girl pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven maids selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem.

10 Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. 11 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.

If Vashti and Amestris were indeed the same person, her latest outrage may have been the reason Xerxes pursued the search for a new queen more aggressively after his return from Greece. Another reason for the delay was the long preparation each woman underwent and the probability that Xerxes tried out a large number of candidates for the position. It is impossible to deny the sordid nature of the whole process. Many young virgins were returned to the harem after spending a single night with Xerxes. Many of them apparently never saw him again. The marriage and sexual practices of the Persian court were a far cry from God’s intentions when he established marriage, and they also were a far cry from the standards of a pious Jew.