EXPOSITION
THE QUEST FOR MAIDENS, AND THE CHOICE OF ESTHER TO BE QUEEN IN VASHTI'S PLACE (Esther 2:1-18). Vashti having ceased to be queen, Ahasuerus appears to have been in no haste to assign her dignity to any one else. Probably there was no one among his other (secondary) wives of whom he was specially fond, or who seemed to him pre-eminent above the rest. And he may even have begun to relent in Vashti's favour (as seems to be somewhat obscurely intimated in Esther 2:1), and to wish to take her back. Under these circumstances the officers of his court would become alarmed. Vashti's disgrace had been their doing, and her return to power would be likely to be followed by their own dismissal, or even by their execution. They therefore came to Ahasuerus with a fresh piece of advice: "Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king; let officers be appointed in every province to select fitting damsels, and send them up to the court, for the king to choose a wife from among them." So sensual a monarch as Xerxes (Herod; 9:108) would be strongly tempted by such a proposal (Esther 2:2, Esther 2:3). Ahasnerus embraced it at once (Esther 2:4), and orders were given accordingly. The quest began, and among other maidens selected by the officials as worthy of the royal consideration, there happened to be a young Jewess, named Hadassah, the cousin and adopted daughter of a Jew called Mordecai, a eunuch attached to the court, who had a house in Susa. Hadassah was beautiful both in form and face (verse 7), and having been selected by those whose business it was to make the choice, was conducted to the palace, and placed under the care of Hegai, the eunuch who had the charge of the virgins on their arrival (verse 8). Hadassah, who on becoming an inmate of the palace received the Persian name of Esther (= Stella), attracted at once the special regard of Hegai, who granted her various favours (verse 9), and after she had been "purified" for a year (verse 12), sent her in her turn to appear before the king (verse 16). The result was such as Hegai had perhaps anticipated. Ahasuerus, preferring her to all his wives and to all the other virgins, instantly made her his queen, placed the crown royal upon her head, and celebrated the joyful occasion by a grand feast, and a general remission of taxation for a specified period (verses 17, 18). Thus the humble Jewish maiden, the orphan dependent for her living on a cousin's charity, became the first woman in all Persia- the wife of the greatest of living monarchs—the queen of an empire which comprised more than half of the known world.