Esther - Chapters 1-2

The Amazing Bible. Book Club

The story of Esther is during the time that the exiles were allowed to go home to Judah, but not all went. Those who went back, finally finished the temple, under the edict and financial support of Darius I, king of Persia. Darius, who brought the Persian empire to it's peak, has now died, and his son Xerxes, also known as Ahasuerus, is in his third year, and he is celebrating. When he was, "in high spirits from wine," he sent his eunuchs to get Queen Vashti, who was giving a banquet for the women of the court, to come wearing her royal crown in order to display her beauty to everyone. The Bible does not say why she declined, but this angered the king, and when he sought council, all the men said he needed to declare that Vashti will never see the king's face again, she is removed as queen, and he will find a new queen. That was what the king did. Chapter 2 starts, "Later when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her." His personal assistants encouraged him to find a new queen, and a decree went forth to all the beautiful virgins of the land. A Hebrew girl, Hadassah, whose other name was Esther went to the citadel with the other women. Mordecai, her cousin, who raised her because her parents had both died, told her to not reveal that she was a Jew, and he checked in on her every day. Esther followed the wisdom of Mordecai, and after the year of beautification, she listened to Hegai, who was in charge of the Harem, and took in only the things he suggested. The king was so pleased with Esther that he made her queen in place of Vashti. Chapter two ends with Mordecai sharing news to queen Esther about a plot to assassinate the king, who then shared the news with the king, and then once it was found out to be true, those men were killed. This was recorded in the king's annals in the presence of the king.