Esther: Silent but Sovereignনমুনা

Esther was given special treatment by Hegai when she entered the king’s harem. She was given her own maids, the best living quarters, and special food. Her beauty treatments were started immediately (v. 9), so she would have been one of the first women to be ready to meet the king. 

At least a year later, when each woman was ready to be presented to the king, verse 13 tells us that ‘anything she wanted was given to her to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace’. But Esther showed restraint and self-control, asking ‘for nothing other than what Hegai ... suggested’ (v. 15). 

The point of the contest was to please the king and gain his favor, in order to be named the next queen. Most women would have taken advantage of every possible extravagance offered them so that they could make themselves as appealing as possible to win the king’s favor. Esther displayed a modest restraint that reflected her trust in God for her future. She had no particular ambition to be crowned a queen. 

Isaiah 30:15 says, ‘in quietness and trust is your strength’. Israel didn’t live out this promise and consequently ended up in captivity, but it seems that in the intimidating and godless palace of proud King Xerxes, Esther displayed a quiet trust in God and this was her strength. 

The replacement queen was not judged by King Xerxes on her looks alone. We’re told that when a young woman was summoned, she spent the night with the king (v. 14). As well as pleasing him with her beauty, she also had to satisfy him sexually. Part of Esther’s preparation would have been to teach her how to successfully seduce King Xerxes, but the respect he shows Esther in the chapters that follow suggests Esther retained her dignity despite this. It is possible for godly people to maintain their dignity even in the most undignified of situations. It is possible to lift up grace even in the most humiliating and degrading of circumstances. 

Helen Roseveare worked as a missionary doctor in the Congo during the 1960s. She was held as a prisoner for five months and raped by rebel soldiers during the country’s civil war. She writes in Give Me This Mountain, 

They were brutal and drunken. They cursed and swore, they struck and kicked, they used the butt-end of rifles and rubber truncheons. We were roughly taken, thrown in prisons, humiliated, threatened.

Helen was later able to thank God for trusting her with this suffering and to consider it a privilege to suffer for Jesus. Despite being treated in an undignified and humiliating way, she was able to maintain her dignity and honor Christ with her submissive response to that trial.

Reflection

Pray for ‘the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight’ (1 Pet. 3:4).