Just a Girl. Becoming Queen

Just a girl. Becoming Queen

Question of the day:  What is your favorite fairy tail and why?

Good morning class.  This is perhaps my favorite part of the book of Esther because it is easy for it to feel like a fairy tale. 

READ:  Esther 2:1-18

Esther Made Queen

2 Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her. 2 Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king. 3 Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them. 4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.

5 Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, 6 who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin[a] king of Judah.7 Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.

8 When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. 9 She pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven female attendants selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her attendants into the best place in the harem.

10 Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so. 11 Every day he walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.

12 Before a young woman’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics. 13 And this is how she would go to the king: Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 In the evening she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name.

15 When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her. 16 She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

17 Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.

Before we start I want to remind us again of the overarching themes that we are looking for. 

1. The intriguing interplay of God's providence and human behavior.
2. The self-deceptive and destructive nature of pride.
3. Identification with God's people as a defining moment in life.
4. Male and female partnership in God's providence.
5. Even when God seems completely absent, He is working for you.

Here we are introduced to Esther.  What do we learn about her?

What do we learn about her from the lineage, or the list of her ancestors? 

I can't help but think of my childhood and how being in Ethiopia changed or molded me.  How much more would your family for generations living in a place affect you? So this place, was very much her home.  So she was accustomed to the customs and culture.

What else do we learn about her?

She was beautiful and it even states that she had a beautiful figure.  Interesting that this fact was important for the author to include.  Why was it or is it important?

What does her relationship with Hegai tell us about Esther?

There is a lot we will take away from this passage in class, but here on the blog I am just going to highlight one main point.  

Esther was a young girl accustomed to the local customs.  She had a name that made her fit in.  Yet she was an orphan and still an outsider.  She was however blessed with beauty.  She was also just a girl, who was wise enough to use the wisdom and guidance of Hegai.  We know from this passage she was beautiful but she was also wise and had a bit of humility too.  I'm sure this was terrifying for her, exciting for her, or perhaps even horrifying for her.  Who knows.  Maybe all of it! You could also say she was deceitful, immoral, and a whole other list of less than flattering qualities.  So what do we take away?

She was a young girl, with somethings going for her (gifts, after all beauty is a gift,) and many other things working against her and yet this girl, just a young girl, God used to save his people.  

No matter how much we feel inadequate you may feel about whatever you are facing in life, God can use whatever you have, no matter how seemingly insignificant to work out his providence.