Esther

Esther and her uncle Mordecai were among the group of jews who did not elect to return to Israel following Cyrus' decree. A remnant stayed behind in Persia, and as in Moses' time with Pharoah and in recent history with the Nazis, the Jews became a threat and a scourge to the government in power. Haman, the Hitler of his day, devised a plan to exterminate the entire population of Jews and it is into this scene that Esther rises to prominence. But, we need to set the stage...

Xerxes (Artaxerxes) was a title, not a name, in similar fashion to Pharoah or Caesar. There are two other Atraxerxes mentioned in the Bible. The book of Esther opens with the account of a drunken Xerxes calling for his queen to parade her in front of his drinking buddies. Queen Vashti declined the indecent invitation and was permanently shunned by the King in order to teach the women of the kingdom a lesson in subservience. So the charge was given to find a new queen and a beauty pageant was conducted. The process by which Xerxes "test-drove" each of the candidates is abhorrent and gives us a peek into the culture of the royal harem. If the king was not impressed with a concubine, she may never be called back into service and would spend the rest of her life just idling in the harem with the eunuchs and other concubines. Again, we have to remember that the Bible reports many things which God does not endorse. this is simply the truth about what was happening at this time in history.

As an aside, I looked up the definition of "eunuch" to be sure I knew what they were. A eunuch is described as an emasculated male; a condition either self-inflicted as a way of denying oneself the pleasure of a woman for reasons of religious piety, or a condition rendered by others for a variety of reasons. Eunuchs were the perfect choice for guarding the king's harem because they were able to protect them but not able to have sex with them! Castration was not practiced among the Jews, so eunuchs mentioned in the Bible were generally from another nationality. The practice was very common among the people-groups surrounding Israel. Some homosexual advocates have suggested that the word eunuch means homosexual, but the meaning has nothing to do with sexual behavior but sexual capabilities. Eunuchs had no testicles.

Esther found favor with the king and was made queen during the time that the Israelites were targeted for destruction. the king's edict was recorded in the "Book of History of king xerxes", which to date has not been recovered in the ruins of ancient Persia.

Tomorrow's reading: Esther 5-10:3