Trusting God's Plan When You Don't See Him: Lessons From the Book of Estherنموونە

Yay, we finally get to meet our two heroes of this story, Esther and Mordecai! They are Jewish exiles living in Persia. Esther’s parents have died, and her cousin Mordecai has raised her as his daughter. So even though she doesn’t call him dad in this story, he is like a father to her.

Xerxes’ anger, and might I add drunkenness, have finally subsided, and he begins to remember Vashti. Perhaps he really cared for her because she was not executed for her actions. It’s possible he regrets his actions, but the decree he made is in effect, and she’s banished for good. His personal assistants suggest he put out a kingdom-wide search for “beautiful young virgins.”

Many times when we hear the story of Esther, we romanticize what happened because it sounds like a lavish beauty pageant and love story. But the sad reality is these young girls were being taken from their families, most likely against their will, to be placed in the royal harem. I don’t see where these young ladies were given a choice. Can you imagine a daughter or sister being taken from her home against her will and losing her innocence in the process? It's truly heartbreaking.

Esther was one of those girls taken, but as we soon see, the favor of God was on her. Hegai, the man in charge of the harem, was immediately impressed by her. He assigned her seven maids and put her in the best place in the harem. This special royal treatment was already preparing Esther for what it would be like as the queen, with attendants caring for her. According to the scriptures, before any woman could see the king, she was given 12 months of beauty treatments. That’s some seriously long prep time at the spa. Think of all the things Esther was learning about the palace and the role of a future queen during that year.

There’s a verse I want to make sure you didn’t miss. “Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so” (Esther 2:10). Mordecai had his reasons, and they will be crucial to the story later on.

Finally, please don’t overlook the historical fact that once the young virgin was called in to see the king, she was going into his bedroom to sleep with him, thereby losing her virginity. And the saddest part of all, if he was not pleased with her, she would leave the next day to live in a separate part of the king’s harem that was designated for concubines. That’s the reality of what Esther was facing. These scared young girls were losing their purity, and 99% of them would not be chosen to be the queen. No wonder we see Mordecai checking on Esther all the time. He was probably wondering when it would be her time to see the king and secretly hoping the king would pick someone else before Esther’s time.

Questions:

1. Why do you think the Lord allowed Hegai to show favoritism towards Esther over the other girls?

2. Despite Esther being put in a terrible situation, can you see how God was watching over her and showing his favor upon her?

3. Could there be a situation in your life that seemed terrible, but looking back, you can see the hand of God protecting you and guiding you through?