WEBVTT - Esther 2 - Esther is Chosen as Queen 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:11.920 Life Audio. How do you their, faith listeners. My name 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.040 is Jen and I am the host of the Bible Explained. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:16.400 So thankful that you all are here with me to 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.320 share a delicious cup of coffee or tea this morning. 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.520 And guess what I am drinking tea for like the 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:26.320 first time in months, I have some peppermint tea here 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.080 with me because I have a bit of a stomach 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.559 ache today and I'm not doing super well, so coffee 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:34.680 I didn't think would be the best choice, so I 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.960 decided on tea instead. We'll see if it helps fix 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:42.360 my stomach ache. But that's the only time I'll generally 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.199 drink tea is if I'm desperate for coffee but I 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:49.320 can't drink coffee, which is unfortunately the case this morning. 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.319 All right, let's go ahead and dive into Esther chapter two, 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:57.040 where we are introduced finally to the woman Esther, and 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.320 we'll talk about everything that goes on with her selection 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.920 and who she was as a person a little bit. 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:05.280 But before we do that, please listen to this first 0:01:05.319 --> 0:01:09.960 sponsored ad. All right, faith listeners, grab your Bible out 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:11.840 of the version that you prefer. I'll be reading, as 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.960 always from the Web version, and also grab your delicious 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.360 cup of coffee or cup of tea this morning to 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:19.960 share with me. We'll be reading the entirety of Esther 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:24.560 chapter two. After these things, when the wrath of King 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:28.039 Aha Saras was pacified, he remembered Vashti and what she 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:30.760 had done and what was decreed against her. Then the 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.200 king's servants who served him said, let beautiful young virgins 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.840 be sought for the king. Let the king appoint officers 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.000 in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:41.759 gather together all the beautiful young virgins to the citadel 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.880 of Susa, to the women's house, to the custody of Hegai, 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.120 the King's eunuch keeper of the women. Let cosmetics be 0:01:48.240 --> 0:01:50.320 given to them, and let the maiden who pleases the 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.840 king be queen instead of Vashti. The thing pleased the king, 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:56.240 and he did so. There was a certain Jew in 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:58.880 the citadel of Susa, whose name was Mordecai, the son 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:01.000 of j R. The son of Shimei, the son of 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.600 Kish of Benjamite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:07.000 with the captives who had been carried away with Jaconia, 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:09.880 King of Judah, whom nebechon Ezer, the King of Babylon, 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:13.480 had carried away. He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.920 his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.240 The maiden was fair and beautiful, and when her father 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.880 and mother were dead, Mordechai took her for his own daughter. So, 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.440 when the king's commandment in his decree was heard, and 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:28.880 when many maidens were gathered together to the citadel of 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:32.200 Susa to the custody of Hegei, Esther was taken into 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:35.000 the king's house to the custody of Hegei, keeper of 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.440 the women. The maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:41.519 from him. He quickly gave her cosmetics and her portions 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:43.760 of food, and the seven choice maidens who were to 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:46.440 be given to her. Out of the king's house, he 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:48.520 moved her and the maidens to the best place in 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:51.639 the women's house. Estra had not made known her people 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:55.040 nor her relatives, because Mordechai had instructed her that she 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:58.160 should not make it known. Mordecai walked every day in 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:00.480 front of the court of the women's house to find 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:03.000 out how Esther was doing and what would become of her. 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:06.160 Each young woman's turn came to go into the King 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.640 Aha Sarras after her purification for twelve months. For so 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.240 were the days of their purification accomplished, six months with 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.400 oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet fragrances, and 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:20.040 with preparations for beautifying women. The young women then came 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.960 to the king like this. Whatever she desired was given 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:24.640 to her to go with her out of the women's 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:27.320 house to the king's house. In the evening she went, 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.840 and on the next day she returned into the second 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:33.160 women's house, to the custody of Shashgas, the king's eunuch, 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.280 who kept the concubines. She came into the king no 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:39.120 more unless the king delighted in her, and she was 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:42.040 called by name. Now, when the turn of Esther, the 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:44.920 daughter of Abbahil, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.240 her for his daughter, came to go into the king, 0:03:47.600 --> 0:03:50.720 she required nothing but what Hagai, the King's eunuch, the 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.200 keeper of the women, advised. Esther obtained favor in the 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:57.000 sight of all those who looked at her. So Estra 0:03:57.120 --> 0:03:59.760 was taken to King Aha Sarras into his royal house 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.320 in the tenth month, which is the month to Beth. 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.240 In the seventh year of his reign, the king loved 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:08.080 Esther more than all the women, and she obtained favor 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:11.080 and kindness in his sight, more than all the virgins, 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:14.000 so that he set the royal crown on her head 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.360 and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.320 made a great feast for all his princes and his servants, 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.440 even Esther's feast, and he proclaimed a holiday in the 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:27.279 provinces and gave gifts according to the king's bounty. When 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:30.240 the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordechai was 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:33.080 sitting in the king's gate, Esther had not yet made 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.600 known her relatives nor her people, as Mordechai had commanded her. 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:39.800 For Estor obeyed Mordechai like she did when she was 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.880 brought up by him in those days. While Mordechai was 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:45.600 sitting in the king's gate, two of the king's eunuchs, 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:49.200 big Thin and Tesh, who were doorkeepers, were angry and 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.880 sought to lay hands on King Ahaseras this thing became 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.200 known to Mordechai, who informed Esther the queen, and Esther 0:04:56.360 --> 0:04:59.800 informed the king in Mordecai's name. When this matter was 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:02.560 an investigated, it was found to be so, so they 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:05.000 were both hanged on the gallows, and it was written 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.120 in the book of the Chronicles in the king's presence. 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.520 So now we get the next part of the story, 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.920 and probably sometime has passed between chapters one and two, 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:19.200 because you'll remember in chapter one, King aha Seris, or 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:24.040 King Xerxes as history calls him, was celebrating with this 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.560 giant feast in the third year of his reign, and 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:29.279 we know that in the third year of his reign 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:33.280 he ended up going on a conquest against the Greeks, 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:38.039 trying to take Greece for himself, and did not succeed. 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:41.560 He filled very miserably. But so probably Chapter one was 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:47.400 talking about his preparation for his campaign against the Greeks, which, 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:48.880 by the way, I just found out today that that 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:53.520 was prophesied about in Daniel Levin. Interestingly enough, many many 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:57.479 years before King Xerxes was born. Here's what it says 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:01.640 in Daniel leven, verse two, I will show you the truth. Behold, 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:04.480 three more kings will stand up in Persia. The fourth 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:06.720 will be far richer than all of them. And when 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:09.200 he has grown strong through his riches, he will stir 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:12.880 up all against the realm of Greece. So now in 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:17.320 ester chapter two, it sounds like sometime has passed, because 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.400 here's what it says in verse one. After these things, 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:22.680 in other words, the things that happened in the first chapter, 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.120 when the wrath of King Azas was pacified, he remembered 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.360 Vashti and what she had done and what was decreed 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:34.040 against her. So I would guess that this probably happened 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:39.520 about three years after the account mentioned in Esther chapter one, 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.880 because it took about three years for King Xerxes to 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.440 come back home after his campaign against the Greeks, because 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.279 he failed very badly, and four years for him to 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:52.600 just kind of give up. So I would guess this 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.159 is after he came home. You know, the invasion of 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:59.840 Greece took his mind off of everything that happened with Vashti. 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:03.039 And now that he's back home, now that he's comfortable 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:07.279 in his palace again, he's probably missing his wife a 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:10.280 little bit because remember, she was the most beautiful person 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:14.440 in the eyes of King AHAs Eris. He thought that 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:18.600 she was gorgeous, and the historian Josephus actually says that 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.640 he was in love with Vashti. He snapped at her 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.360 when she embarrassed him. But now that some time has passed, 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.440 he's remembering the love he had for her, and he 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:33.720 actually misses her. But because he made that decree, he 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:37.720 can't do anything to bring Vashti back. There's nothing he 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.480 can do about it. He made that decree, and in 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:43.000 these days, when a king made a decree, it was binding. 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.920 Even the king himself could not go back on a 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:50.320 decree that he made. So he banished Vashti. Whatever that 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:52.560 looks like, whether he killed her or put her in 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:56.320 the harem or made her live somewhere else where, he 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:58.480 couldn't see her. I don't know what happened to her, 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:03.720 but he couldn't go back on his word. However, he's 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:06.280 feeling a little bit sad, a little bit bummed about 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:09.960 what he did here. So now the king's servants, probably 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.440 the friends of the king, his advisers, see that the 0:08:13.520 --> 0:08:16.520 king is upset, and they're like, you know what, you 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:19.160 need to take your mind off of Vashti. There are 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:21.760 tons of other fish in the sea. So here's what 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:24.880 we're going to do. Let beautiful young virgins verse two 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:28.080 be sought for the king. Let the King appoint officers 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:30.520 in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.720 gather together all the beautiful young virgins to the citadel 0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:36.959 of Susa, to the woman's house, to the custody of Hegei, 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:40.560 the King's eunuch keeper of the women. Let cosmetics be 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:42.839 given to them, and let the maiden who pleases the 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.360 king be queen instead of Ashti. The thing pleased the 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:50.120 king and he did so, yeah, of course it did so. Yeah. 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:52.440 This idea is that there's going to be a beauty 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:58.280 contest essentially, where all of these lovely young virgins, specifically 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:03.160 virgins would be brought to the winter palace at Susa, 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:06.040 and all of these women, one by one would be 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:11.400 given you know, ointment and perfume and delicious food and 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:15.360 cosmetics to make themselves more beautiful for the king. And 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:19.200 one by one, every single night, these young virgins would 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:21.600 come to the king. He would do the dirty with 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:25.000 them and then send them back to the Harem. And 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.560 whatever young virgin pleased the king the most, that's the 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.920 one that he would make queen instead of Vashti. So 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.480 this idea, of course pleases King Xerxes, and he's like, yeah, 0:09:35.720 --> 0:09:38.360 you know what, I need hundreds of women to get 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:43.080 my mind off of Vashti. So that's what we're gonna do. 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.719 And now this is where we are introduced to Esther. 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.199 It says in verse five that there is a certain 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:52.880 Jew in the Citadel of Susa whose name was Mordecai. 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:55.520 Now you might remember that the Citadel of Susa was 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:59.480 very close to Babylon, and that was where the Jews 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:02.080 were eggs led too, So there is a lot of 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.719 Jews at this point in time still living in Babylon, 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:09.360 many of them had not gone back home to Jerusalem yet, 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.520 and Mordecai is one of the Jews that was living 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:16.880 in Susa. And it says that he was the son 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:18.920 of ja R, the son of Shem, the son of 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:24.160 Kish of Benjamite. Now, interestingly enough, Kish, you may recall, 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:27.880 was the father of King Saul, the first king of 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:32.160 Israel's history, the one right before David. So Esther's family 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:35.040 was actually from a royal bloodline, not the royal bloodline 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:38.640 of the Judites, but still the royal bloodline of the Benjamites, 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:43.840 who God initially chose before Saul completely rejected him. And 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:47.319 you might not remember the reason why God rejected Saul. 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.520 But there was two reasons. The first one was that 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:54.760 Saul did not obey the command to kill all of 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:59.640 the Amalekites, all right, And I talked at length actually 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.000 about that when we covered that in I think it 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:04.800 was first Samuel, So I will link that episode actually 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:07.000 in the description of this episode, so you guys can 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.960 listen to that one. But that is a very important 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.760 to note moving forward. Okay, we'll talk about that more 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.760 in a different chapter. But all that being said, Esther's 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:20.800 family was from the royal line of the Benjamites, and 0:11:20.800 --> 0:11:23.800 it mentions this man Mordecai right here, who happened to 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:27.200 be Esther's cousin. It says there was a certain Jew 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:29.720 in the citadel of Susa whose name was Mordecai, who 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.400 had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:35.400 had been carried away with a Jaconia king of Judah. 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:41.199 So either Mordechai was extremely old, because this was about 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:47.000 what seventy years prior eighty ninety. I don't know yours prior, 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:49.440 so I don't think it was Mordecai who got carried 0:11:49.440 --> 0:11:55.080 away with the first Babylonian takeover of Judah. But probably 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:59.160 his family was, and so during this time his young 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:04.680 cousin es Her was without parents. They got killed somehow, 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:07.040 and so Esther was without a father and a mother, 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:11.160 and Mordecai adopted her. So it says in verse eight 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.800 that when the king's commandment and decree was heard, and 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:16.760 when many maidens were gathered together to the citadel of Susa, 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:20.080 to the custody of Heguy, Esther was taken into the 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:24.920 King's house. Notice it says that Esther was taken I 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:29.800 don't think this was a beauty pageant that women were 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:34.400 like competing for. It. Kind of sounds like men were 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:38.280 going from house to house trying to find beautiful young virgins, 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:41.079 and any of the ones that fit the bill. They 0:12:41.120 --> 0:12:45.080 were probably forced to go into the king's house. It 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.840 did not matter if they wanted to or not. I'm 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:51.280 going to guess anyway. And Esther was one of these 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:54.800 beautiful young women, and she immediately goes into the custody 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:59.080 of Heguy. It says the maiden pleased him or Hegui, 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:02.800 and she obtained kindness from him, so he ended up 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:05.280 liking her for whatever reason. Even though I'm sure many 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.280 of the virgins that came to his care. Very beautiful. 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:12.400 There was something beautiful about Esther's countenance. There is something 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:16.719 beautiful about her personality, something that attracted people to her. 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:19.600 Is kind of what it sounds like. And if you 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:23.200 read through who Esther is in the entire book, she's 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:28.040 very kind, she's very humble. She's probably a believing Jewish woman, 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:32.640 and she had just a different kind of personality I 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.600 suppose than some of these other young women did who 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:39.160 worshiped other idols. And that shows the difference, I suppose 0:13:39.200 --> 0:13:43.720 between Yahism and idolatry. So he guy ends up immediately 0:13:43.760 --> 0:13:47.280 liking Esther, and she obtained kindness from him, and he 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:50.840 quickly gave her cosmetics and portions of food and the 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.160 seven choice maidens who are to be given to her 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:56.240 out of the king's house, and he moved her and 0:13:56.280 --> 0:14:00.240 her maidens to the best place in the woman's house. Now, 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:02.480 during all this time, it says in verse ten that 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:06.200 Esther had not made known her people nor her relatives, 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:10.000 because Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:14.120 it known. So Mordecai was very clear to Esther, you 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:18.480 cannot tell people who you're related to or who your 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:22.080 relatives are, and the fact that Mordecai had adopted her 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.640 was probably helpful for all of this because she could 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.360 get away with saying, I'm an orphan, I don't have 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:32.880 any parents, I was just adopted by Mordecai, and she 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.680 didn't necessarily have to tell anybody that he was her cousin. 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:39.240 And it turns out that this was a very wise 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.360 thing to do, as we will find out later on, 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.560 because the Jews at this point in time were hated 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:49.000 and I'm sure that Mordecai could see persecution on the 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:53.640 horizon with how the Jewish people in Persia were being treated. 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:59.240 So Esther would have absolutely been better off not telling 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:03.520 people that she was a Jewish woman. But Mordecai kept 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.280 tabs on Esther. It says he walked every day in 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:08.160 front of the court of the women's house to find 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:10.800 out how Esther was doing and what would become of her. 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:15.040 So he visited every single day, maybe not necessarily seeing Esther, 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.720 but asking somebody, Hey, what's happening to the women today? Hey, like, 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.400 what's going on? Have you heard anything about Esther? How 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:25.000 is she doing? That kind of stuff, And he was 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:29.600 discreetly learning about her without revealing that he was her cousin, 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.040 and because he lived close by, you know, he was 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:37.160 in Sousa already, and that's where Esther was taken. It 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:39.880 worked out that he could walk every single day to 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:42.520 go see how she was. So now in verse twelve, 0:15:42.560 --> 0:15:48.000 it mentions this big silly beauty pageant that takes place. 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.920 Each young women's turn came to go into King Aha 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:56.240 Seras after her purification for twelve months. So this entire 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.520 thing took a year. Okay, that was the days of 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:03.120 the pyrefifcation accomplished six months with oil of merch and 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:07.320 six months with sweet fragrances and with preparations for beautifying women. 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.880 So these women were apparently not clean enough to go 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:14.760 in to the king because they were probably many of 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:17.240 them commoners. You know. The king, I don't think, really 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:20.320 cared who these young women were as long as they 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.800 were beautiful and pleased him. And so they were dirty 0:16:23.880 --> 0:16:27.240 and had to you know, do a purification ritual for 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.800 a year I almost said a month a year before 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:34.840 they went to see King Xerxes. Right, So now every 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:39.160 single night after this purification was done, the young women 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:42.320 then came to the king like this, whatever she desired 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.160 was given to her to go with her out of 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.880 the women's house to the king's house. So basically she 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:50.440 could choose her own outfits, she could choose her own jewelry, 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:55.000 she could choose her own cosmetics, and she would probably 0:16:55.000 --> 0:16:57.720 try to choose something that the king liked. And in 0:16:57.760 --> 0:16:59.920 the evening she went and on the next day she 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:04.400 returned into the second women's house to the custody of Shashgaz, 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:08.400 the king's eunuch who kept the concubines, and she came 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.439 to the king no more unless the king delighted in 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:15.320 her and she was called by name, So that means 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:18.640 that after dressing up, she went to the king, he 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:21.720 slept with her, she came back and moved into a 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:25.159 different house, specifically the house of the concubines, and that 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:27.280 is where she remained for the rest of her life 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.440 unless the king specifically liked her and called her back 0:17:31.600 --> 0:17:35.400 by name. Otherwise, that poor young girl was stuck as 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:39.800 a concubine, without any chance of family, without any chance 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:44.359 of real love, just living as essentially the king's reject 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:48.080 for the rest of her life. Pretty sad and miserable life, 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.040 I would say, but I don't know what's worse being 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:54.280 a concubine where you never have to see the king 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:58.760 again and you're out of danger, or being in Esther's position, 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.800 where you become the queen and you're in danger every 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:05.320 single day of your life. It was not an easy life. 0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:08.280 I can tell you that because that's what happens to Esther. 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:11.960 It says right here that when the turn of Esther, 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.240 the daughter of Abba Hail, the uncle of Mordecai, who 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:17.800 had taken her for his daughter, came to go into 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:20.879 the king, she required nothing but what had Guy, the 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:24.919 king's eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. So Esther 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:27.280 was very smart, very wise, and she did not try 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.680 to choose her own outfit. And she asked, hey, Gui, 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:33.080 what do you think is the best thing for me 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:36.760 to go in? And hey, Guy gave his opinion, and 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:40.080 that is what she went in. And because it sounds 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:42.959 like she was a sweet and humble girl, Esther obtained 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:44.840 a favor in the sight of all those who looked 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:50.000 at her, including King Xerxes. So Esther was taken to 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.480 King Aha sarahs Verse sixteen or King Xerxes into his 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.200 royal house in the tenth month, which is the month 0:18:56.320 --> 0:18:58.840 to Beth in the seventh year of his reign, and 0:18:58.880 --> 0:19:02.239 the king loved Esther more than all the women, and 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.560 she obtained favoring kindness in his sight, more than all 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.159 the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.720 her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. And 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:16.280 all of this happened in the seventh year of King 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:21.359 Aha Sarahs's reign. So yes, certainly sometime has passed between 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:25.880 chapters one and two. Esther now is the queen. And 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:28.320 in verse eighteen, the king made a great feast for 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:31.320 all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast, and 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.680 he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave gifts 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.560 according to the king's bounty. So there was this huge 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:42.439 wedding feast, these festivities that took place, and Esther finds 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:45.800 herself the queen, and she had no choice in the matter. 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:50.159 She was stuck doing this whether she wanted to or not. 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:54.200 She has become the queen. So here's the first recorded 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.720 thing she does as the queen in verses nineteen through 0:19:57.720 --> 0:20:01.160 twenty three, when the virgins were gathered together the second time, 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:07.800 Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate. When the virgins 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:11.719 were gathered together the second time, what does that tell you? 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:17.840 That tells you that King Aha Sarras was not satisfied 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:21.280 with just one set of virgins. He needed to go 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:24.560 out and get some more virgins to fill up his harem. 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:28.240 So he had even more women do this. That is 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.800 how much he liked this idea. Didn't matter. By the way, 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.080 if Esther was already the queen, the king could have 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:38.679 as many women in his harem as he wanted. I mean, 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:42.719 look at King Solomon. He had seven hundred wives and 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:46.359 three hundred concubines, or maybe it wasn't wait, hold on, 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:49.200 that might have been mixed. Was it three hundred wives 0:20:49.240 --> 0:20:52.919 and seven whatever? He had a thousand women in his 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:57.320 direct vicinity. This is not uncommon for kings to do 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:01.280 throughout the ages. Many of them have had many many queens, 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:07.560 many many women that they just bounced between. So, yes, 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:11.879 virgins were gathered again a second time, and Mordecai was 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:13.879 sitting in the king's gate. And by the way, Esther 0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:16.200 is already queen at this point. That's what it says 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:20.200 in verse where is it twenty two? Which we'll get 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:22.160 to that in a second, it says in verse twenty 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:25.240 that Esther had not yet made known her relatives nor 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:29.200 her people, as Mordecai had commanded her for Esther obeyed 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:31.600 Mordecai like she did when she was brought up by him, 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:34.359 so she was obedient as well. That's probably another reason 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:38.800 why people really liked her in those days. While Mordecai 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:41.840 was sitting in the king's gate, two of the king's eunuchs, 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:45.520 big Thin and Teresh, who were doorkeepers, were angry and 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:48.640 sought to lay hands on the King Aha Seris. This 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:51.920 thing became known to Mordecai, who informed Esther the queen, 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:55.239 and Esther informed the king in Mordecai's name. When this 0:21:55.280 --> 0:21:57.960 matter was investigated, it was found to be so they 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:00.159 were both hanged on gallows and it was written in 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:04.120 the book of the Chronicles in the king's presence. So yeah, 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:08.639 somehow Mordechai found out about this plot against King Aha 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:13.600 Sarahs's life, and he ended up telling Esther about it. 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:16.840 He's like, hey, there's these two guys I heard about 0:22:17.040 --> 0:22:20.359 that are plotting to end the king's life. So Esther 0:22:20.520 --> 0:22:22.879 actually went to the king and told him about it, 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:26.400 and she gave credit to Mordecai, and when the King 0:22:26.440 --> 0:22:29.320 investigated it, he found it to be so he found 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:32.320 out that these men were truly plotting his life, and 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:35.719 so they were hanged on gallows, and it was written 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:38.960 in the Book of the Chronicles in the King's presence. 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:44.120 So that now is Esther Chapter two, and the rest 0:22:44.119 --> 0:22:47.119 of the Book of Esther gets even more intense. I 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:50.080 think that every single chapter gets a little bit more 0:22:50.119 --> 0:22:53.320 intense than the last chapter, as we find out what 0:22:53.560 --> 0:22:57.440 happens to Queen Esther, as we find out what happens 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:01.600