February 20 - Xerxes & Esther

February 20 – Xerxes & Esther

Xerxes was the son of Darius and grandson of Cyrus the great, who conquered the Babylonians. It was actually Xerxes who removed the golden idol Bel from the Babylonians and had it melted down. That led to him being quite unpopular with the Babylonians, but increased his popularity among the Jews. The story of Esther becoming his queen also gave him a lot of mileage among the Jews.

The story of Esther and Xerxes is actually quite well known. She was a young Jewish woman named Hadassah, the cousin of Mordecai. After Xerxes banished his wife, Queen Vashti from his sight, he went looking for a new queen. She had to be a virgin and very beautiful. Esther became one of the many young women who were taken to the palace to begin the long drawn-out process of becoming qualified to be queen. Think of it as an ancient American Idol contest. She went through beauty treatments – an entire year of them.

Then came the fateful night – it was her final audition. The night spent with the King. She won his favor and approval and he made her his queen.

One of the most poignant parts of this process is that the young women were allowed to take anything with them to the King’s chamber from the harem. I’m certain that some took beautiful combs with which to adorn themselves, others may have taken a musical instrument so as to entertain him, others maybe took perfumes and scents to enhance the atmosphere. Esther made no obvious plays for his attention. She asked the eunuch who was in charge of the harem what she should take with her. We don’t know what it was that he suggested, but by doing that, she won the favor of everyone.

It came time for Esther to deal with the fact that evil Haman was trying to murder her people. She knew that she had the King’s ear, but she also knew that she had to play the game. He did not know that she was Jewish. Without the proper preparation, this could be a catastrophe!

What was it that she needed as she prepared for these encounters? Prayer. In Esther 4:15, Esther requested that Mordecai gather all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for her. Three days of nothing to drink or eat. She and her handmaidens would also fast.

The story of Esther is one that is filled with hope and celebration. Evil is vanquished and God’s people are lifted up.

She used the gifts that God had given her to help her people. She was put into a position so that she could offer herself as a bridge between the King and those in need. The love and honor that she had for Mordecai expanded into a desire to create justice. Xerxes recognized the goodness and love of this woman and has gone down in history as a just king.