Not by Chance but by Design

December 30, 2017

Esther 2:5-20

We are introduced to two men who were eunuchs; they had been castrated and put into the king’s services.  The first was named Hegai, and he was in charge of a harem in Susa.   Hegai’ job was a long process, once the young virgins were brought in for beauty treatments.  First, they did not have a choice, and we are introduced to Esther who also was taken into the King's palace and put into the custody of Hegai who had charge of the women.  This is the first time we have seen the hand of God, in that Esther finds favor in the sight of Hegai.  Many a Church person has said, how lucky for her, but that is a worldly term, and should never be used by a believer, because it states it was by chance and not design.  Verse 9, “The young woman pleased him and gained his favor so that he accelerated the process of the beauty treatments and the special diet that she received. He assigned seven hand-picked female servants to her from the palace and transferred her and her servants to the harem’s best quarters.”

 I forgot this small detail, Esther was a 12 on the chart when the scale was only one as low and ten as the highest number, and the Bible states she had the best figure and was lovely to look on.  We would refer to her today as a knockout, and both of her parents were dead, and a cousin by the name of Mordecai took her as his daughter.

In verse 10 we are told that each of the young women spent a year in special beauty treatments under the watchful eye of Hegai and that Esther was instructed by Mordecai to not share with anyone her ethnic background or her birthplace.  We are told that each day Mordecai took a walk through the harem’s courtyard to learn how Esther was doing.

You might find verses 13 -14 of interest, “When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the palace. She would go in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem under the supervision of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines. She never went to the king again, unless he desired her and summoned her by name.”

When it was Esther’s time to go to the king, she did not ask for anything, and only took what Hegai suggested, and she won the approval of all who saw her.  Let us continue the story in verses 16-20, “She was taken to King Ahasuerus in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the other women. She won more favor and approval from him than did any of the other young women. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. The king held a great banquet for all his officials and staff. It was Esther’s banquet. He freed his provinces from tax payments and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.
When the young women were assembled together for a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate. Esther still had not revealed her birthplace or her ethnic background, as Mordecai had directed. She obeyed Mordecai’s orders, as she always had while he raised her.”

In closing this paper, three things stand out, God is all over Esther and she still honors Mordecai as her dad, and last, Mordecai must have been some officer in the king's court to be at the gate.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice