Esther, Queen of Persia

The story of the Jewish maiden who became wife to one of the most powerful kings of antiquity, and thereby the means of delivering her nation from wholesale massacre, is unique in the Old Testament in that nowhere in the narrative is the name of God mentioned, neither is there any indication of prayer to him or faith in him for deliverance, nor yet is He credited with any part in effecting the deliverance. Many suggestions and theories have been propounded to account for this unusual factor in this particular book, but when they have all been stated the fact remains that of all the women of faith who figure in Bible history Esther stands in a class by herself as one who gives no indication of her personal standing with God, and yet undeniably was used by him to effect a great deliverance.

Esther was a city girl, born and bred in Shushan the capital of the Persian empire four generations after the Jews were taken captive into Babylon. The decree of Cyrus, permitting all who so desired to return to the land of their fathers, was fifty years in the past and the restoration of the land of Judah was in progress. Esther’s family and forebears had not seen fit to return: perhaps they considered themselves better off in prosperous Persia. Maybe the opposition and terrorist tactics which the colonists in Judea were experiencing from alien peoples in neighbouring lands deterred them from sharing the risks and fortunes of the pioneers. The situation in Judah was very much as it is in the same land today. At any rate, it would seem that Esther grew up in an atmosphere of Jewish nationalism and the Jewish faith against the background of a Gentile land, and her religious outlook must have been moulded thereby. The name of no great man of faith of the period is known—Daniel had been dead for half a century, Ezra, away in Babylon, was at the most a child of a few years old, and Nehemiah, the coming patriot, not yet born. The only name we have is that of Mordecai, Esther’s cousin, who had cared for her since she was orphaned, and of his attitude towards God we have no knowledge either.

The king of Persia at the time was the famous—or rather infamous—Xerxes, weak, dissolute, ruthless, cruel, altogether unprincipled and probably half mad. The incidents and allusions appearing in the Book of Esther fit so closely into the events of this man’s reign that there can be no reasonable doubt as to the identification. The Artaxerxes under whom Nehemiah served was Xerxes’ son and successor and this provides an additional evidence. When one compares the account of Xerxes’ reign in Herodotus, the Greek historian, who lived only a few decades later, with the character of the king displayed in the Biblical Book it is easy to believe that both accounts refer to one and the same man. ("Ahasuerus" in the Book of Esther is the Hebrew form of the Persian Khshayarsha of which the Greek form is Xerxes).

It was to this monster that the Jewish girl, probably no more than sixteen years of age, was unwillingly to yield herself. There was no choice in the matter and any objections would be brusquely overruled. The kings of Persia arrogated to themselves the right to take into their harems any unmarried woman in the realm they wished. Xerxes exercised his rights to the full and in addition to his principal wife, who enjoyed the dignity of Queen, he also maintained a harem of three hundred of the most beautiful women in the land. But now his Queen had incurred his displeasure and been degraded to a lower position, and the great king was in the market for a new Queen. Apparently none of the current three hundred appealed to his probably somewhat jaded palate and his sycophantic courtiers suggested that perhaps the time was ripe for a fresh sweep through the empire in search of new candidates.

Esther was unfortunate enough to be caught in this round‑up. There was nothing her guardian could do about it, but he did charge her not to reveal the fact that she was a Jewess. This is a little difficult to understand. There was no particular antipathy against the Jews in the Persian empire at the time; the fact that they were monotheists like the Persians was rather to their favour compared with the polytheistic Babylonians whom Persia had conquered in the days of Cyrus. If Esther’s nationality was likely to be a bar to her being taken into the harem of Xerxes one would think that Mordecai would have revealed the fact immediately. Taken in conjunction with the further behaviour of Mordecai later on, it could be surmised that he might not have been altogether averse to his ward becoming more closely connected with the king, as a possible means of serving his own personal ambition. Upon the other hand, it might only have been that Mordecai, knowing how swiftly the tide of popular feeling could turn against the Jews, and realising that from now on he could do nothing to protect his young cousin, considered it better that no one in the royal court should have any suspicion of her national origin.

So Esther was taken to the royal palace and assigned her place in the "house of the women," a luxurious building the ruins of which still exist amongst the complex of broken‑down walls and standing pillars, fragments of sculpture and tiled pavements, which is all that is left of the magnificent palace of the Persian kings at Shushan, now known as Persepolis. The whole area was excavated during the years 1931‑1939 and the great throne room where Esther stood with her royal husband, the Hall of One Hundred Columns, an immense apartment over two hundred and thirty feet square, can still be traced by bits of broken wall and pavements. Pieces of the wall panels of multi‑coloured enamelled and glazed bricks, arranged in ornate designs, still remain to give mute evidence to the accuracy of the description in Esther 1:6. And here Esther had to spend a probationary period of twelve months before she would be called into the presence of the king.

The first real picture of Esther we have comes at this point. The eunuch who had charge of the harem—an important and trusted official—took an instant liking to the Jewish maiden and immediately promoted her to a leading place among her companions, giving her seven handmaids as personal attendants and the best quarters he had at his disposal. It is probable that the king relied upon his judgment a great deal and that he was impressed by a non‑assuming modesty and quiet dignity which may have distinguished Esther above the others. And this impression may well have been advanced when Esther, called at last into the king’s presence, instead of claiming for herself, as was apparently the custom, every conceivable aid to attractiveness in the way of clothing or jewellery that could be suggested, was content to be arrayed according to the eunuch’s judgment. When she was ready, she "obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her." (Est.2:15)

She might have been several years at the palace awaiting this moment, for the king had been away for two years fighting the Greeks. The great feast described in the first chapter as taking place in the third year of his reign was evidently in connection with an important council of all his nobles and generals held in that year in which Xerxes planned the invasion of Greece as a preliminary to his projected conquest of Europe. (Xerxes was nothing if not ambitious and never erred on the side of modesty, as witness one of his inscriptions found at Shushan; "I am Xerxes, the great king, the only king, the king of all countries which speak all kinds of languages, the king of this entire big and far‑reaching earth"). His plans laid, he set out with a vast army and a great fleet of war‑galleys, drawn from all the countries of his empire, built a bridge of boats across the Hellespont (near the modern Dardanelles) to convey his forces into Europe, and so marched into Greece. The Greek war‑galleys were outnumbered three to one, but at the memorable naval battle of Salamis in 480 B.C. the Persian fleet was completely destroyed, and on land the Greeks defeated and decimated the invaders. Xerxes left his most able general, Mardonius, to hold back the enemy whilst he himself with a few picked troops fled back to Persia as fast as he could, two years after he so boastfully set out. Comparison of Herodotus with the Book of Esther shows that Esther was probably brought into his presence about a month after his return to Shushan.

The king was captivated by this young maiden, more so than by any of the others who had been collected for him, and immediately chose her to replace the discarded Vashti. So, in the seventh year of the king’s reign, Esther became Queen of Persia, an exalted position which would probably have separated her for ever from her own people and had no place in the outworking purposes of God had it not been for the machinations of Haman.

Haman was an influential noble at Court who had contrived to become the king’s right‑hand man. He was ambitious, arrogant, and an enemy of the Jews. Arising from the consistent refusal of Mordecai to pay him the deference shown by others he conceived the idea of destroying the entire Jewish community in the Persian empire. He obtained the king’s permission quite easily and the decree went forth throughout the empire, naming a day twelve months hence when the carnage should commence. In the ensuing consternation and distress Mordecai appealed to Esther to use her influence with the king to have the decree rescinded. Esther at first was hesitant; to go to the king uninvited was to risk death unless he should extend his sceptre towards the applicant, indicating his favour, "and I" said Esther, "have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days." (4:11 RSV) It may have been that, after five years as Queen, the notoriously fickle Xerxes was beginning again to look elsewhere. At any rate Esther was apprehensive of her personal safety if she interfered.

Mordecai was not prepared to tolerate this. "Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews" he told her sternly "for if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father’s house shall perish: and who knowest whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (4:13‑14 RV) That last phrase is the nearest approach to any consciousness of Divine oversight and power that appears in this book, and even then it may be questioned whether Mordecai had any thought of Divine overruling in his mind. It is noteworthy that all the transactions which appear in the story seem to be on the basis of human effort and power and no indication of prayer or faith in time of need is given. Esther’s response bears this out. She told Mordecai to go back to his fellows and get them to engage in a three days’ fast; she with her attendants would do the same, and then she would take her life in her hands and intrude upon the presence of the king uninvited; "and if I perish, I perish." (v.16) It does not sound like the assurance of faith neither does it seem that the Queen felt she had a Protector whose power exceeded even that of the king of Persia. Joseph stood before Pharaoh of Egypt and Daniel before King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, and these were comparable occasions to this one, but those men both prepared themselves beforehand by prayer and supplication to God and then appeared before their respective monarchs in serene confidence that God was with them and would direct the issue. There is no evidence that Queen Esther felt like that. It looks almost as if she relied upon women’s wiles, arraying herself in her royal apparel and appearing before the king in as alluring a fashion as possible, rather than believe that help could come from above.

The great king was in a good mood that day. At sight of his Queen he extended the sceptre, permitting her to approach, and even before she had time to introduce her request he enquired her wish and promised in advance that he would grant it, even to the half of his kingdom. Esther had probably heard such promises before; it is likely that, knowing the unpredictable nature of her royal spouse, she felt that a gradual approach to the subject at issue was best calculated to achieve a satisfactory outcome. She asked therefore that the king and Haman his chief adviser would honour her with their presence at a little private banquet that she had arranged for them in her own apartments. The Xerxes of history is known for never refusing an opportunity of good food and good wine and it is quite in character to read here that he commanded Haman to make haste to accompany him to this unexpected treat.

At the banquet, the king repeated his question and renewed his promise. He was astute enough to recognise that there was more to this than the desire to have a meal together. Esther, still playing her cards close, responded with an invitation to another banquet on the morrow, and a promise to make her real request known on that occasion.

Thus it was that on the morrow the two august personages had cups in their hands again. The Hebrew expression really means something in the nature of a drinking session and it is more than possible that King Xerxes was rapidly passing into a benign condition of mind as once more he repeated his question, "what is thy petition, Queen Esther?…It shall be granted thee...What is thy request?…It shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom." (7:2) Esther realised that the psychological moment was now and came straight out with a moving plea for her own life and the lives of her people, all subjects of a decree which appointed them to destruction and death. With the swift upsurge of anger for which this king is noted he demanded "who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so? " (7:5) conveniently forgetting that he himself had approved the decree. But he had not known then that his favourite wife and Queen was a Jewess—and neither had Haman, who now realised that he had badly overplayed his hand. Esther’s next words in answer to the king greatly increased the schemer’s panic: "the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman" (v.6) and at that the king, in uncontrollable wrath, went out into the garden, perhaps to cool off. It is probable that the only one who remained perfectly calm and self‑possessed was Esther herself, who now had the entire situation in her own hands. Haman, in blind unreasoning terror, had thrown himself on the divan upon which Esther was reclining, to plead for his life, and the king, coming back at that unfortunate moment, in blazing anger accused him of committing an assault upon the person of the Queen. Of course, he did not really believe that, but his wrathful outburst was sufficient hint to the attendants, who promptly took Haman into custody and stood awaiting orders. Haman had already erected a gallows on which he hoped to see Mordecai crucified, and the attendants, who seem to have had no love for him, knew this. One of them mentioned the fact, in a tentative fashion, to the king, who immediately whirled round and uttered the dread words "Hang him thereon." (v.9) So Haman was hurried away and crucified on the gallows he had intended for Mordecai.

The instigator of the decree was dead, but the decree remained. The true relationship of Mordecai to Esther was now revealed, and the king, doubtless further to please his wife, advanced Mordecai to high honour. To Esther he gave all the household and property of the executed Haman. Now Esther set about the business of annulling the decree. This was approached by falling at the king’s feet and beseeching him with tears. She may or may not have known that under the constitution of Persia a royal decree once issued could not be revoked, even by the king. One of Xerxes’ predecessors, Darius the Mede, found himself in this same dilemma when he was tricked into having Daniel cast into the lion’s den. In that instance God delivered. This time plans for deliverance seem to have been made without calling upon God for help. The king appears to have indicated to Esther and to Mordecai that whilst he could not revoke the decree giving leave to his subjects to attack and massacre Jews to their hearts’ content on the thirteenth day of the forthcoming twelfth month, there was nothing to stop him issuing a further decree giving the Jews leave to take whatever steps they thought fit to defend themselves and slay any who displayed enmity towards them. No sooner said than done; Mordecai, armed with royal authority, and the royal seal wherewith to authorise his letters, promulgated this second decree throughout the empire, also bringing it to the notice of all "the lieutenants, and deputies and rulers" (8:9) of the political divisions of the empire; these worthies, perceiving the direction in which the wind was now blowing, could be relied upon to assist the king’s new favourites and see that the Jews were by no means hindered, and possibly somewhat helped, in their plans to wreak revenge upon their enemies.

It would seem that Esther was now firmly in the saddle and could do almost what she liked with King Xerxes. The time came for the implementation of both decrees, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, and the Jews throughout the empire acquitted themselves well in the use of carnal weapons. In the royal city Shushan five hundred were slain and in the rest of the empire seventy‑five thousand according to the Masoretic text, fifteen thousand according to the Septuagint. The king, quite unperturbed at the loss of so many of his subjects, came to Esther with the news, and asked her what more she wanted. "Now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done. " (9: 12) Esther has been criticised for requesting at this point that the Jews in Shushan be given leave to spend one more day slaying their enemies. She is described as bloodthirsty and revengeful. Unless the full facts of the case are known it may be wise to defer judgment. It may have been that in the royal city itself there were many enemies of the Jews still unaccounted for and they could be a source of trouble in the future. While the admittedly changeable king was in his present mood it were better to crush the anti‑Jew party for good and all. It is probable anyway that in this the queen was advised by Mordecai and he appears as a shrewd and relentless politician who intended to secure his own nation’s future by any possible means. So another three hundred were slain in the city before the fighting ceased.

After all, men like David, Joshua, Gideon, were responsible for much heavier slaughter of the enemies of Israel and have been—perhaps unwisely—lauded as the champions of God. Esther, a true daughter of her people, took advantage of the opportunity she had as Queen of Persia to defend that people from enemies who would have spoiled and massacred them without cause.

So the story of Esther closes, in about the fourteenth or fifteenth year of Xerxes’ reign, when she had been queen for about seven years, with the Jews enjoying prosperity and royal favour, Mordecai the Jew an important man at Court, and Esther herself firmly established as the consort of the great King. Whether this happy state continued for the remainder of the king’s reign is not known. Mordecai has been identified with Matacas, who is recorded in history as one of the most powerful men at court during Xerxes’ reign, but the identification is uncertain. The suggestion sometimes made that Esther was the Amestris, wife of Xerxes in the pages of Herodotus, is certainly incorrect. Amestris was the daughter of Xerxes’ uncle Otanes and married him long before he became king; their son Darius was at least twenty years old at Xerxes’ accession to the throne. It is possible that the Vashti of the Book of Esther was Amestris and it is noticeable that although Darius was the eldest son he did not succeed as king; a younger son of Xerxes, Artaxerxes I became king after him. This of itself is interesting. Certain native Persian historians have said that the mother of Artaxerxes was a Jewess; it is also recorded that Artaxerxes was a somewhat mild and weak‑willed man dominated by his mother and sister. He reigned for the unusually long period of forty years, indicating accession at an early age. If he was in fact the son of Esther he could not have been more than thirteen years of age when his father died—murdered—so that the queen would obviously act as Regent and adviser for a number of years. The brief glimpses we have of her character would seem to infer that she would not let go the reins of power easily. And if Esther did indeed bear a son to her husband in those early years it becomes easier to understand the somewhat excessive infatuation he seems to have had for her; she had given him a son, born during his reign, to reign as king after him. Xerxes himself succeeded to the throne only because his own elder brother was born before their father became king. It is a fascinating thought, that the simple Jewish maid who against her will had been exalted to become Queen of Persia may have been a means in the Lord’s hand to assure Israel’s peace and security for more than a century. From the Restoration from Babylon under Cyrus to the end of the Old Testament in the time of Malachi was about a hundred and thirty years. That time of rebuilding the nation is illumined by a gallery of famous names who rendered yeomen service in the work of restoration—Daniel, Zerubbabel, Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, Nehemiah and Malachi. Perhaps to that company of stalwarts raised up to perform the good purposes of God we should add the name of one woman—Esther, Queen of Persia.

AOH