Cinderella and Esther
The story of Esther’s rise to power in the Persian Empire reminds us of the classic children’s story Cinderella. In the fairy tale of Cinderella, a prince seeks to find his true love by inviting all the eligible bachelorettes in the kingdom to a ball. The unlikely girl Cinderella captures his heart and becomes his princess. It’s a classic rags to riches story.
The story of Esther is like it in many ways. The Persian king Ahasuerus searches for a new queen by gathering eligible bachelorettes to the palace. Esther impresses him more than anyone else, so he makes her queen. Like Cinderella, Esther goes from rags to riches, from obscurity to fame. The difference is that Cinderella captured the royal heart through a dance, whereas Esther had to do more than just dance. This is why I’ve titled today’s message “A (Seedier) Cinderella Story.”
Last week, in Esther chapter 1, we saw King Ahasuerus lose his head and Queen Vashti lose her crown. A great king made a great mistake, a mistake that was part of God’s plan to save his people. Today in Esther chapter 2, we’re going to be introduced to the two main characters of the story: Esther and Mordecai, and we’re going to see how God’s plan to save his people moves forward through unlikely people and ungodly events. We’ll walk through chapter 2 and then close by considering what it teaches us.
Another Bad Idea
Verse 1 begins by telling us how Ahasuerus was feeling. The word “remembered” means more than a recalling of events. It means recalling something with affection, almost like nostalgia. Perhaps he finally realizes what he lost. Despite his regret, he can do nothing to undo “what had been decreed against her.” What was done was done. He made a mistake and lost his wife and there was nothing he could do about it.
It’s at this point that some of his “young men” come up with an idea to lift his spirits (vv. 2-4). Extravagant plans that feed his self-indulgence yet again appeal to Ahasuerus. But, yet again, he agrees to follow a shortsighted and superficial plan. He seems unable to think wisely for himself. Unlike every other Persian king, he chose to not look for a queen who has political or familial significance. The only three criteria that seem to matter to him are youth, virginity, and physical beauty.
So the king hosts a “Miss Persia” contest. But this wasn’t a contest that you applied to enter. Every young virgin in the empire was a contestant simply because they lived in the empire. The empire didn’t care if parents had other plans for their daughter, or if the young woman preferred to stay in her village and get married and raise a family. The modern slogan “My body, my choice” wouldn’t have worked in Persia because everything and everyone was owned by the empire. If the king wanted your body, he could have it. This wasn’t a purely sexist culture either. The king also needed a steady stream of boys to be castrated as eunuchs. Everyone’s sexuality was at the king’s disposal.
An Appalling Abuse of Power and Exploitation of Women
Let’s be clear on what is happening here. This is an appalling abuse of power and an exploitation of women. This wasn’t just a beauty contest. This was a sex contest. This is what verse 4 means, “The young woman who pleases the king (in bed)” will be queen. The pretty young women of the empire are “gathered” up for the king’s sexual pleasure. They’re taken away from the men who hoped to marry them and incarcerated in the harem of the most powerful man in the world.
We should therefore not see this as merely a beauty competition. None of the contestants would be going home afterwards. As one commentator says, “The king wished to add to his collection of living dolls; those chosen would live in secluded splendor for the rest of their lives, even if they were only rarely taken out and played with.”
Sure, many of the young ladies may’ve cherished an opportunity to leave their meager existence for a chance to live in the palace the rest of their lives, and possibly even be queen. For many, this would feel like winning the lottery, even if it amounted to living a pointless existence. Perhaps some were willing to live a miserable life in exchange for an elevated status and better food.
This same kind of thing still happens today. Think of how many people pour their entire lives into jobs and careers they dislike or even despise so that they can make a comfortable salary and have job security. Our world may not be too different from ancient Persia.
Even if some of these young women wanted to be in the king’s harem, they were still being exploited by the powerful men in their culture. There’s no indication that they had a choice in the matter.
The world has always been a place where powerful people treat other people as existing only for their benefit, rather than as people that should be treated with dignity and respect. The MeToo movement of the last few years is only the most recent outcry at an injustice that’s been around for millennia, namely, the injustice of powerful men exploiting women. To deny that these kinds of things still happen is to fail to recognize something that has existed in the world from ancient times: powerful men think that women were made for them rather than for God. This is the lie Ahasuerus believed, and the lie that many still believe. May it not be so among us.
We Meet Mordecai and Esther
The writer of Esther pauses the narrative in verses 5-7 to introduce us to the two main characters of the story: Mordecai and Esther. Into the middle of this story about an all-consuming empire and its king step two unknown and insignificant people.
Mordecai is from the tribe of Benjamin and has a genealogy that goes back to Kish, the father of King Saul. This connection will be important later in the story. For now, the writer wants us to know that he’s a Jew who’s related to King Saul. He also wants us to know that he is in exile. Verse 6 could literally read that Mordecai’s ancestors “had been exiled from Jerusalem with the exiles who had been exiled with Jeconiah, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar exiled.” Mordecai’s family was among the exiles sent to Babylon in 597 BC. This means that he’s living in a land not his own. His address was in Susa, but not his home. He’s an outsider and therefore weak and vulnerable.
Mordecai adopted his cousin Esther into his family, but she shared his predicament. They both lived in a land far away from their home. The author gives us her Hebrew and Persian name (v. 7), perhaps indicating the tension she lived in. Like all the exiles, she had to live in two worlds. As her life unfolds, there came a day when she, like all of us, had to decide which of the two worlds would define her.
Esther Was Taken
Esther, a young, chaste, and attractive Jewish girl has her life change forever one fateful day in Susa (v. 8). As Ahasuerus’s officials were gathering up girls for his harem, “Esther also was taken.” Was Esther willing or reluctant to be taken? Was she one of the girls who wanted to stay home and raise a family, or one who jumped at the opportunity to live in the lap of luxury, however degrading it may be? There’s no way for us to know for sure.
The Hebrew verb “was taken” doesn’t suggest anything unpleasant. It’s the same verb used in verse 7 when it says that “Mordecai took her as his own daughter.” Again, it’s impossible to know whether she was reluctant or not. However, Old Testament scholar Joyce Baldwin insightfully notes, “It is questionable whether any woman could exercise the right of choice in the face of a royal order.” In other words, no matter what Esther wanted, she couldn’t refuse the command of the king. His will superseded the wills of all the young women taken from their home to his that day.
Regardless of Esther’s intentions initially, once in the harem, she made the best of the situation (v. 9). The phrase “won his favor” is active, not passive in the Hebrew. This suggests that, once in the harem, Esther actively tried to make the best of her new situation in life. She worked to gain Hegai’s favor, wanting to be promoted and getting what she wanted.
Verse 10 says that Esther didn’t tell anyone she was a Jew. It’s easy to speculate why Mordecai told Esther to keep her Jewishness hidden. Were they being wise and discreet or cowardly? The narrator gives us nothing in either direction. All we know is that the king’s harem is apparently not a safe place to reveal your ethnic identity.
I love what verse 11 shows us. This shows us the love and care and concern a father has for his daughter. His affection for his daughter compelled him to check on her every day, just to see if she was okay. It’s good and right and normal for parents to check in on their kids – even if they’re in the king’s harem. Parent’s still have the responsibility to initiate and maintain relationship with their kids.
A Heartless Harem
Next we see how the system of the king’s harem works, in all of its heartless detail (vv. 12-14). The harem had two sections, one for the virgins and one for those who’d slept with the king. In the section for virgins, the young ladies underwent a year-long “beautifying” process. They had access to the world’s finest skin care products, cosmetics, ointments, and clothing. Every night the king would call for a new girl. When your turn came, you’d pick your outfit, makeup, and perfume and go in to the king’s bedroom to do whatever he wanted.
After your turn was over, you’d go to the other section of the harem for the concubines. You wouldn’t have another night with the king unless he summoned you by name. A whole year went in to prepare you for a few hours, and then those few hours determined what the rest of your life would be like. Each girl’s future hung on their first night of sex. Would she live the rest of her life in pointless seclusion in the harem of the concubines with the chance of the occasional night with the king until she got too old? Or would she be chosen queen?
She couldn’t just leave and she couldn’t get married. It was treason to sleep with the king’s women. These girls would likely spend the rest of their lives there. No one could or would marry them. Only one girl would be queen. Everyone else was relegated to live in luxurious and shameful seclusion for the rest of their lives.
Isn’t this heartless harem exactly how the world still works? Wherever there’s no fear of God, people will inevitably use other people for their own purposes. Don’t we all sometimes think that other people exist for what they can do for us? We’re not altogether different from King Ahasuerus and his heartless harem.
Esther’s Turn with the King
Verses 15-18 tell us what happened when it was Esther’s turn with the king. After all this build up, we finally see this beautiful young lady, Esther, walking the corridors from the virgins’ harem to the king’s bedroom. The camera slows way down, as we’re even told what month and year it is (v. 16). This is one of the most important nights in the history of the world. So much hinges on this night of immoral sex between a Jewish girl and a pagan king. As strange as it may sound, the salvation of the world hinges on this ungodly night.
Verses 17-18 tell us that it apparently went really well. The author piles up adjectives to describe the king’s delight in her. She’s crowned Queen and celebrations follow. We mustn’t think too highly of all this. The crown on Esther’s head was purely decorative, meaning that she, like Vashti, had no real power. She was a beautifully adorned puppet for the king, meant to make him look good. She’s an exiled Jew and no one knows it, so she’s in a vulnerable position. Yet she’s also been elevated to a royal position, and at this point in the story we’re left to wonder why.
A Plot is Uncovered
Esther’s installment as queen immediately starts to pay off for Ahasuerus (vv. 19-23). Mordecai “sat at the king’s gate” (v. 21), meaning he had an official position in the government. We don’t know if he had this position before Esther was queen, or as a result of her becoming queen. Either way, God has providentially placed him there. He uncovers an assassination plot against the king. This was apparently a common thing because Ahasuerus would eventually be killed by assassination in 465 BC.
Mordecai reports what he knew to Esther and she tells the king. She gives credit to Mordecai (v. 22), apparently without revealing their relationship. The plotters are executed and what happened is written down in the history books, where it gathers dust, all while ticking away like a bomb waiting for its moment to explode. The recording of this incident is yet one more thing that will lead to the salvation of God’s people. In an ironic twist, the chapter ends by showing us that the almighty Ahasuerus owes his life to a weak Jewish exile who becomes, in a sense, his savior.
Esther Could Have Resisted But Didn’t
What’s our big takeaway from this chapter? The abuse of power and exploitation of women are key themes, as is God’s providence in and behind ordinary events. But I want us to see how this seedy Cinderella story is a shadow of our stories as well.
As I said, it’s unclear whether Esther wanted to be in the king’s harem or not. We simply do not know. All we know for sure is that she was a Jew who, at Mordecai’s leading, kept quiet about her Jewishness and did many things that Jews were forbidden by God’s law to do. Things like eat non-kosher food (v. 9), sleep with men who aren’t your husband (v. 16), and marry an uncircumcised Gentile (v. 17).
Why did she choose to do these things? We don’t know. Could she have resisted like Daniel and his friends? Yes, she could have. It likely would’ve cost her her life. But she chose to conceal her identity and do things she knew weren’t right. She, like us, found herself in a really hard place, a place where she had to choose which identity would define her. Would she be Hadassah, a child of God, or Esther, a concubine of a pagan king? Also like us, she didn’t resist the pressures of the world. She chose her Persian identity over her Jewish one, at least initially.
How Could God Use Such a Person As Esther?
Many wonder how Esther could do such things and ignore her identity and compromise her beliefs. How could a heroine like her be so deeply flawed? We don’t know her motives. We just know what she did, and no doubt she did things that were wrong. But hasn’t every other person God ever used? Remember Abraham, who lied and doubted? Remember the impatience of Moses and David’s adultery and murder and Gideon’s unbelief and Peter’s denial and Paul killing Christians?
The Bible isn’t a chronicle of great moral and ethical heroes. The Bible is a story of how a sovereign and gracious God uses weak and sinful people to carry his plan of saving the world forward. Esther is in a long line of weak and frail and sinful and compromising people who God used for his glory.
How Could God Use Such a Person as You?
And you and I are in line with her. She’s culpable for her failures, just as we are. Her compromises can’t be excused or explained away, just as ours can’t. But God uses this beautiful young lady and all of her failures to do something great for his name’s sake.
This is really good news for us! This means that God can use our compromises for his glory. His providence is more powerful than our failures. God can take our regrets and griefs and disappointments and rebellion and shame and transform them by his grace into something beautiful, something that can bless others and something that honors him.
Esther teaches us that our past failures don’t write us out of God’s script for the future. Perhaps, like Esther, God has brought you where you are so that you can serve him in a unique way. Who knows how much good stuff that God plans to bring out of your bad stuff?
Esther’s story foreshadows yet another story, the story of how God raised up an insignificant Galilean peasant to do great things in his name, how God raised up an unlikely person and used ungodly events to save his people. Esther reminds us that God’s strategy has always been to win through weakness. A strategy most clearly displayed in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ victory through suffering tells us that God’s plan is to use the weak things of the world, like Esther and like you, to do something that will surprise everyone and glorify his name.