200 - Esther Becomes the Queen of Persia
- Gwen Diaz
- Jul 19, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 7
JULY 19 - Nº 200 Esther 1:1 – 2:18
Back in Babylon, King Darius I became sick and died. His son Xerxes (also known as Ahasuerus) was crowned. Historical accounts inform us that Xerxes did not want to be known merely as the “King of Babylon". He preferred to be addressed as the “King of Kings.” Eventually his empire grew to include all the countries from India to Ethiopia.
One day, when Xerxes was in his winter palace in Susa (a city where many of the Jewish exiles lived), he looked around at everything he owned and thought about all that he had accomplished. He was feeling very proud of himself and wanted to show his wealth and glory to others. So, he invited every nobleman, official, and military leader in the empire to come to Susa. For 180 days they were taken through the kingdom and shown everything the king owned.
At the end of the six months, Xerxes threw an extravagant banquet in his huge palace garden. Everyone in Susa was invited. Food and drinks were on the house. The gardens were decorated with blue and white linen hangings that were fastened to marble pillars with silver rings. There were couches crafted from gold and silver that were placed on mosaic pavements made of marble and precious stones. The wine was served in golden goblets—each one of them had a different design. Meanwhile, Queen Vashti held a banquet for the women inside the palace.
The festivities lasted for seven days. On the seventh day, after the king had drunk too much wine, he decided to show the men how beautiful his wife was. He commanded his servants to bring her to the garden so he could display her as one of his prized possessions. But Queen Vashti refused to come.
The king was embarrassed and upset. He didn’t know what to do, so he consulted his advisors. They informed him that other women in the empire would soon follow her example and disregard their husbands’ wishes if Vashti wasn’t publicly disciplined. They counseled him to depose her and replace her with a new queen.
So the search began. King Xerxes sent commissioners to all the provinces in his empire to look for beautiful virgins and bring them back to the palace in Susa.
Esther was a beautiful young Jewish girl who lived in Susa. She was an orphan who had been raised by her older cousin named Mordecai. She was chosen as one of the most beautiful girls in the empire and taken to the palace. She was placed under the care of Hegai, the administrator in charge of the king’s harem.
Before she left home, Mordecai told Esther not to reveal that she was Jewish, so she kept her heritage a secret.
Hegai liked Esther very much and gave her several attendants along with special beauty treatments and food. After twelve months of treatments, each girl was brought before the king. When Esther’s turn came, she did everything that Hegai told her to do.
Everyone in the palace fell in love with Esther’s heart as well as her beauty—including King Xerxes! Esther was given the crown, and the king held another royal banquet. This time he introduced Esther as the new Queen of Persia!
No one could have guessed that a poor, orphaned, Jewish exile would become the queen of one of the greatest empires the world has ever known.
But God often uses ordinary men and women to accomplish His extraordinary purposes.
Are you ready (like Esther was) to go wherever God wants you to go--so that you can do whatever He wants you to do?
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