E
S T H E R
CHAP. II.
Two things are
recorded in this chapter, which were working towards the deliverance of the
Jews from Haman's conspiracy:-- I. The advancement of Esther to be queen
instead of Vashti. Many others were candidates for the honour (ver. 1-4); but
Esther, an orphan, a captive-Jewess (ver. 5-7), recommended herself to the
king's chamberlain first (ver. 8-11) and then to the king (ver. 12-17), who
made her queen, ver. 18-20. II. The good service that Mordecai did to the king
in discovering a plot against his life, ver. 21-23.
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Esther's
Advancement; Esther Chosen Queen.
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B.
C. 514.
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1 After these things, when the wrath of king
Ahasuerus was appeased, 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 Hege the
king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification
be given them: 4 And let the maiden which pleaseth the king
be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did
so. 5 Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew,
whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of
Kish, a Benjamite; 6 Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with
the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. 7 And he
brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had
neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom
Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own
daughter. 8 So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and
his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto
Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto
the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. 9
And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily
gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and
seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king's
house: and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the
house of the women. 10 Esther had not showed her people nor her
kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not show it.
11 And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to
know how Esther did, and what should become of her. 12 Now when
every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been
twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of
their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh,
and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the
purifying of the women;) 13 Then thus came every maiden
unto the king; whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the
house of the women unto the king's house. 14 In the evening she
went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to
the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, which kept the concubines:
she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that
she were called by name. 15 Now when the turn of Esther, the
daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter,
was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the
king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained
favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her. 16 So Esther
was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is
the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 And the
king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in
his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her
head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king made
a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther's
feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to
the state of the king. 19 And when the virgins were gathered
together the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king's gate. 20
Esther had not yet showed her kindred nor her people; as Mordecai had
charged her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as when she was
brought up with him.
How God put down one that was high and mighty from her seat we read in the
chapter before, and are now to be told how he exalted one of low degree, as
the virgin Mary observes in her song (Luke i. 52) and Hannah before her, 1
Sam. ii. 4-8. Vashti being humbled for her height, Esther is advanced for her
humility. Observe,
I. The extravagant course that was taken to please the king with another wife
instead of Vashti. Josephus says that when his anger was over he was
exceedingly grieved that the matter was carried so far, and would have been
reconciled to Vashti but that, by the constitution of the government, the
judgment was irrevocable--that therefore, to make him forget her, they
contrived how to entertain him first with a great variety of concubines, and
then to fix him to the most agreeable of them all for a wife instead of Vashti.
The marriages of princes are commonly made by policy and interest, for the
enlarging of their dominions and the strengthening of their alliances; but
this must be made partly by the agreeableness of the person to the king's
fancy, whether she was rich or poor, noble or ignoble. What pains were taken
to humour the king! As if his power and wealth were given him for no other end
than that he might have all the delights of the sense wound up to the height
of pleasurableness, and exquisitely refined, though at the best they are but
dross and dregs in comparison with divine and spiritual pleasures. 1. All the
provinces of his kingdom must be searched for fair young virgins, and officers
appointed to choose them, v. 3. 2. A house (a seraglio) was prepared on
purpose for them, and a person appointed to have the charge of them, to see
that they were well provided for. 3. No less than twelve months was allowed
them for their purification, some of them at least who were brought out of the
country, that they might be very clean, and perfumed, v. 12. Even those
who were the masterpieces of nature must yet have all this help from art to
recommend them to a vain and carnal mind. 4. After the king had once taken
them to his bed, they were made recluses ever after, except the king pleased
at any time to send for them (v. 14); they were looked upon as
secondary wives, were maintained by the king accordingly, and might not marry.
We may see, by this instance, to what absurd practices those came who were
destitute of divine revelation, and who, as a punishment for their idolatry,
were given up to vile affections. Having broken through that law of creation
which resulted from God's making man, they broke through another law, which
was founded upon his making one man and one woman. See what need there was of
the gospel of Christ to purify men from the lusts of the flesh and to reduce
them to the original institution. Those that have learned Christ will
think it a shame even to speak of such things as these which were
done of them, not only in secret, but avowedly, Eph. v. 12.
II. The overruling providence of God thus bringing Esther to be queen. Had she
been recommended to Ahasuerus for a wife, he would have rejected the motion
with disdain; but when she came in her turn, after several others, and it was
found that though many of them were ingenious and discreet, graceful and
agreeable, yet Esther excelled them all, way was made for her, even by her
rivals, into the king's affections and the honours consequent thereupon. It is
certain, as bishop Patrick says, that those who suggest that she committed a
great sin to come at this dignity do not consider the custom of those times
and countries. Every one that the king took to his bed was married to him, and
was his wife of a lower rank, as Hagar was Abraham's; so that, if Esther had
not been made queen, the sons of Jacob need not say that he dealt with
their sister as with a harlot. Concerning Esther we must observe,
1. Her original and character. (1.) She was one of the children of the
captivity, a Jewess and a sharer with her people in their bondage. Daniel
and his fellows were advanced in the land where they were captives; for they
were of those whom God sent thither for their good, Jer. xxiv. 5. (2.)
She was an orphan; her father and mother were both dead (v. 7), but,
when they had forsaken here, then the Lord took her up, Ps. xxvii. 10. When
those whose unhappiness it is to be thus deprived of their parents in their
childhood yet afterwards come to be eminently pious and prosperous, we ought
to take notice of it to the glory of that God, and his grace and providence,
who has taken it among the titles of his honour to be a Father of the
fatherless. (3.) She was a beauty, fair of form, good of countenance;
so it is in the margin, v. 7. Her wisdom and virtue were her greatest
beauty, but it is an advantage to be a diamond to be well set. (4.) Mordecai,
her cousin-german, was her guardian, brought her up, and took her for his
own daughter. The LXX. says that he designed to make her his wife; if that
were so, he was to be praised that he opposed not her better preferment. Let
God be acknowledged in raising up friends for the fatherless and motherless;
let it be an encouragement to that pious instance of charity that many who
have taken care of the education of orphans have lived to see the good fruit
of their care and pains, abundantly to their comfort. Dr. Lightfoot thinks
that this Mordecai is the same with that mentioned in Ezra ii. 2, who went up
to Jerusalem with the first, and helped forward the settlement of his people
until the building of the temple was stopped, and then went back to the
Persian court, to see what service he could do them there. Mordecai being
Esther's guardian or pro-parent, we are told, [1.] How tender he was of her,
as if she had been his own child (v. 11): he walked before her door
every day, to know how she did, and what interest she had. Let those whose
relations are thus cast upon them by divine Providence be thus kindly
affectioned to them and solicitous for them. [2.] How respectful she was to
him. Though in relation she was his equal, yet, being in age and dependence
his inferior, she honoured him as her father--did his commandment, v.
20. This is an example to orphans; if they fall into the hands of those who
love them and take care of them, let them make suitable returns of duty and
affection. The less obliged their guardians were in duty to provide for them
the more obliged they are in gratitude to honour and obey their guardians.
Here is an instance of Esther's obsequiousness t Mordecai, that she did not show
her people of her kindred, because Mordecai had charged her that she
should not, v. 10. He did not bid her deny her country, nor tell a lie
to conceal her parentage; if he had told her to do so, she must not have done
it. But he only told her not to proclaim her country. All truths are not to be
spoken at all times, though an untruth is not to be spoken at any time. She
being born in Shushan, and her parents being dead, all took her to be of
Persian extraction, and she was not bound to undeceive them.
2. Her preferment. Who would have thought that a Jewess, a captive, and
orphan, was born to be a queen, an empress! Yet so it proved. Providence
sometimes raiseth up the poor out of the dust, to set them among princes,
1 Sam. ii. 8. (1.) The king's chamberlain honoured her (v. 9), and was
ready to serve her. Wisdom and virtue will gain respect. Those that make sure
of God's favour shall find favour with man too as far as it is good for them.
All that looked upon Esther admired her (v. 15) and concluded that she
was the lady that would win the prize, and she did win it. (2.) The king
himself fell in love with her. She was not solicitous, as the rest of the
maidens were, to set herself off with artificial beauty; she required
nothing but just what was appointed for her (v. 15) and yet
she was most acceptable. The more natural beauty is the more agreeable. The
king loved Esther above all the women, v. 17. Now he needed not to
make any further trials, or take time to deliberate; he is soon determined to set
the royal crown upon her head, and make her queen, v. 17. This was
done in his seventh year (v. 16) and Vashti was divorced in his third
year (ch. i. 3); so that he was four years without a queen. Notice is
taken, [1.] Of the honours the king put upon Esther. He graced the solemnity
of her coronation with a royal feast (v. 18), at which perhaps
Esther, in compliance with the king, made a public appearance, which Vashti
had refused to do, that she might have the praise of obedience in the same
instance in which the other incurred the blot of disobedience. He also granted
a release to the provinces, either a remittance of the taxes in arrear
or an act of grace for criminals; as Pilate, at the feast, released a
prisoner. This was to add t the joy. [2.] Of the deference Esther continued to
pay to her former guardian. She still did the commandment of Mordecai, as
when she was brought up with him, v. 20. Mordecai say in the
king's gate; that was the height of his preferment: he was one of the
porters or door-keepers of the court. Whether he had this place before, or
whether Esther obtained it for him, we are not told; but there he sat
contentedly, and aimed no higher; and yet Esther who was advanced to the
throne was observant of him. This was an evidence of a humble and grateful
disposition, that she had a sense of his former kindnesses and his continued
wisdom. It is a great ornament to those that are advanced, and much to their
praise, to remember their benefactors, to retain the impressions of their good
education, to be diffident of themselves, willing to take advice, and thankful
for it.
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Mordecai's
Discovery of a Plot.
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B.
C. 510.
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21 In those days, while Mordecai sat in the
king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those
which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.
22 And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the
queen; and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai's name.
23 And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore
they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the
chronicles before the king.
This good service which Mordecai did to the government, in discovering a plot
against the life of the king, is here recorded, because the mention of it will
again occur to his advantage. No step is yet taken towards Haman's design of
the Jews' destruction, but several steps are taken towards God's design of
their deliverance, and this for one. God now gives Mordecai an opportunity of
doing the king a good turn, that he might have the fairer opportunity
afterwards of doing the Jews a good turn. 1. A design was laid against the
king by two of his own servants, who sought to lay hands on him, not
only to make him a prisoner, but to take away his life, v. 21. Probably
they resented some affront which they thought he had given them, or some
injury which he had done them. Who would be great, to be so much the object of
envy? Who would be arbitrary, to be so much the object of ill-will? Princes,
above any mortals, have their souls continually in their hands, and often go
down slain to the pit, especially those who caused terror in the
land of the living. 2. Mordecai got notice of their treason, and, by
Esther's means, discovered it to the king, hereby confirming her in and
recommending himself to the king's favour. How he came to the knowledge of it
does not appear. Whether he overheard their discourse, or whether they offered
to draw him in with them, so it was that the thing was known to him.
This ought to be a warning against all traitorous and seditious practices:
though men presume upon secresy, a bird of the air shall carry the voice.
Mordecai, as soon as he knew it, caused it to be made known to the king, which
ought to be an instruction and example to all that would be found good
subjects not to conceal any bad design they know of against the prince or the
public peace, for it is making a confederacy with public enemies. 3. The
traitors were hanged, as they deserved, but not till their treason was, upon
search, fully proved against them (v. 23), and the whole matter was
recorded in the king's journals, with a particular remark that Mordecai was
the man who discovered the treason. He was not rewarded presently, but a book
of remembrance was written. Thus with respect to those who serve Christ,
though their recompence is adjourned till the resurrection of the just, yet an
account is kept of their work of faith and labour of love, which God
is not unrighteous to forget, Heb. vi. 10.
Contents
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