Vashti’s Successor Sought
2 After these things when the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king’s attendants, who served him, said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. 3 Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let their cosmetics be given them. 4 Then let the young lady who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti.” And the matter pleased the king, and he did accordingly.
5 Now there was at the citadel in Susa a Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6 who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. 7 He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and [a]face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.
Esther Finds Favor
8 So it came about when the command and decree of the king were heard and many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s [b]palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women. 9 Now the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and [c]food, gave her seven choice maids from the king’s palace and transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem. 10 Esther did not make known her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make them known. 11 Every day Mordecai walked back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and how she fared.
A couple things stand out in this passage, the first being that Mordecai told Esther not to tell anyone that she was a Jew. The second is that Esther found so much favor with Hegai, that he put her in the best room in the harem and gave her special treatment.
So why would Mordecai not want anyone to know Esther was a Jew? Perhaps he thought the king would dismiss her as a foreigner, but that doesn’t seem incredibly likely, as kings often traded their wives to marry the sons of other kings. Thus marrying a foreign woman wouldn’t have been a big deal.
Knowing the conflict that Mordecai would have later because of his beliefs, I think it more likely that there were other folks who didn’t like the Jews, and he didn’t want Esther to to experience undue prejudice in what was already a potentially difficult situation. After all, Esther had been snatched from home to live her days in the harem for a long time (potentially for life), and if the king didn’t choose her as the queen, she would live with the hundreds of other concubines instead of her family.
It reminds me of something Paul would later write, which was to the effect of, “as much as is possible, live at peace with all men.” Whether Esther was destined to be queen, or live out her days with the other concubines, she needed to be at peace with those around her.
Apparently Esther did a good job of this also, since Hegai took special note of her. This was probably not just for her beauty, since they had gathered all the most beautiful virgins in the entire kingdom, so Esther had plenty of competition. At any rate, back to Paul, it’s noteworthy he says “all men”. He doesn’t say just the people you like, or the people you agree with. If it’s worth saying, it means there is potential for conflict, but we shouldn’t be the ones stirring it up.
Certainly, God doesn’t want us to compromise our beliefs, but in just about any case, there’s a middle ground to be found. In a culture that tries to polarize everything, we need to be the peacemakers Jesus called for in his Sermon on the Mount. Sure, our beliefs might seem extreme to some, but we still need to look for common ground with those around us, and not “pick a hill to die on.”