Esther
2
- Later when the anger of King Xerxes had
subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed
about her.
- Then the king's personal attendants proposed,
"Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king.
- 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.
- Then let the girl who pleases the king be
queen instead of Vashti." This advice appealed to the king, and he followed
it.
- 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,
- who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem
by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin
king of Judah.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Esther had not revealed her nationality
and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so.
- 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.
- Before a girl's turn came to go in to King
Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed
for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.
- And this is how she would go to the king:
Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king's
palace.
- In the evening she would go there and in
the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz,
the king's eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return
to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name.
- When the turn came for Esther (the girl
Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king,
she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king's eunuch who was in
charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw
her.
- She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal
residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of
his reign.
- Now the king was attracted to Esther more
than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than
any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her
queen instead of Vashti.
- And the king gave a great banquet, Esther's
banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout
the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.
- When the virgins were assembled a second
time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate.
- 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.
- 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.
- But Mordecai found out about the plot and
told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai.
- 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.
Back
|
Home |
Next