Esther 2:1-4

II. Promotion of Esther, Esther 2:1-23

A. Search for a Queen

TEXT: Esther 2:1-4

1

After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.

2

Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:

3

and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women; unto the custody of Hegai the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them;

4

and let the maiden that pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.

Today's English Version, Esther 2:1-4

Later, even after the king's anger had cooled down, he kept thinking about what Vashti had done and about his proclamation against her. So some of the king's advisers who were close to him suggested, Why don-'t you make a search to find some beautiful young virgins? You can appoint officials in every province of the empire and have them bring all these beautiful young girls to your harem here in Susa, the capital city. Put them in the care of Hegai, the eunuch who is in charge of your women, and let them be given a beauty treatment. Then take the girl you like best and make her queen in Vashti's place.
The king thought this was good advice, so he followed it.

COMMENTS

Esther 2:1 Remorse: Late in 480 B.C., Xerxes (Ahasuerus) returned from a disastrous military expedition to the Greek mainland (see Introduction, pg. 265). It had been three long years since he had, in a drunken rage, humiliated his beautiful queen, Vashti (she was probably executed finally). The word pacified is keosek in Hebrew and means a sinking down. Finally, after three years, his wrath settled down enough for him to remember with remorse, his beautiful Vashti, and what he had done to her. The Hebrew word zakar is the verb translated remembered. He remembered what she had done, and what was decreed against her. He had gone to Greece filled with male egotism, for a while venting his arrogance upon the Greeks, but then, suffering a humiliating defeat, he returned to Persia slightly less arrogant perhaps, than when he left. Whether Xerxes remembered Vashti before this or not, the Hebrew language does not indicate. The Hebrew verb system has no tense, at least in the sense in which past, present, and future are understood in English. Hebrew verbs have two kinds of action; complete and incomplete. It does have seven verb stems each expressing a particular voice or degree of action. The word zakar is the Qal stem of the verb and means completed action in the active voice; he remembered. Perhaps it was not until Xerxes had suffered an ego-deflation and returned to the familiar surroundings of the palace that the impact of the Vashti incident was able to sink into his heart. In the Haggadah (meaning, relate) portion of the Midrash (meaning, explanation) which is more homiletical than historical, it is conjectured that before Esther was made queen, Xerxes would compare women who entered with a statue of Vashti that stood near his bed. After his marriage the statue was replaced by one of Esther (Midrash Abba Guryon, Parashah 2). As lengendary as that may be, the biblical text seems to infer that Xerxes realized that Vashti had acted with wisdom when she refused to allow her royal highness to be profaned, and that his reaction was, at best, hasty, and worse than that, despicable!

Esther 2:2-4 Recommendations: The Hebrew noun ne-'aroth is feminine plural of na-'ar. It is translated servants; these servants were probably young maidens. Those now advising the emperor were not the seven princes of chapter one. These young maidens might well be visualizing the atmosphere in the palace should the emperor continue to brood on about his beautiful Vashti's fate and his own guilt. Quickly, with the shrewdness of feminine intuition, they suggest something that is certain to divert the attention of the male of the speciesa beauty contest to choose a new royal consort. Note that nothing is said about the social or political qualifications of the prospective queen. According to protocol, the emperor was supposed to take his wives from the seven chief families of the realm (see comments Esther 1:13-15). These young female servants knew how to change the mood of the emperor. Their suggestion was that the search for a new queen be concentrated on the physical features of womanhood. She must be fair to look upon and she must be a virgin. The word for virgin is bethulah and connotes young virgin. For a discussion of the difference between the words bethulah and -almah, both of which mean virgin, see Isaiah, Vol. I, by Butler, pub. College Press, pg. 152-153.

These women servants of the emperor suggested that elaborate procedures be instituted to find the fairest of the fair, the one young maiden in the whole Persian empire that would most please him. No possible candidate should be overlooked. All the maidens who might please the emperor were to be transported to the capital city, Susa, and housed in the house of the women. The house of the women was the emperor's harem. Ancient kings and emperors had many wives and concubines. King Solomon had a house like this to accommodate his many wives and concubines (cf. 1 Kings 7:8). In the Persian palaces the house of the women was quite large and spacious because the emperors were known to have housed as many as 300 or 400 concubines as well as their wives. Hegai was probably one of the emperor's most trusted eunuchs. The Hebrew word is saris and is translated in the RSV as eunuch. He was probably some repulsive old man, on whom the court ladies were very dependent, and whose favor they constantly courted. Some of the Hebrew kings evidently had such eunuchs (2 Kings 9:32; Jeremiah 41:16). The Hebrew word tameruqeyhen is translated things for purification in the ASV but their ointments in the RSV. It is from the root word maraq which means to make clean, bright by rubbing, to polish. It is not the Hebrew word used to legislate religious or ceremonial purification, therefore it probably had to do with some form of beauty treatment such as diet, training in royal behavior, anointment of the body with perfume, and facial make-up. It may also have been a sort of quarantine that would allow time for any latent disease or blemish to show up before the emperor made his selection.

The emperor considered this good (tov) advice. He was pleased at the prospect of looking over all the beautiful women of Persia and choosing one for a queen. It would be a welcome diversion from the tedious affairs of state.