Scripture Daily

Context No. 1502 of 4322 · Esther (Greek)

Context · Reflection

Esther (Greek) 2:1-11: in context

1After this, the king’s anger was pacified, and he no more mentioned Vashti, bearing in mind what she had said, and how he had condemned her. 2Then the servants of the king said, “Let chaste, beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. 3Let the king appoint local governors in all the provinces of his kingdom, and let them select beautiful, chaste young ladies and bring them to the city Susa, into the women’s apartment. Let them be consigned to the king’s chamberlain, the keeper of the women. Then let things for purification and other needs be given to them. 4Let the woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This thing pleased the king; and he did so. 5Now there was a Jew in the city Susa, and his name was Mordecai, the son of Jairus, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin. 6He had been brought as a prisoner from Jerusalem, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried into captivity. 7He had a foster child, daughter of Aminadab his father’s brother. Her name was Esther. When her parents died, he brought her up to womanhood as his own. This lady was beautiful. 8And because the king’s ordinance was published, many ladies were gathered to the city of Susa under the hand of Hegai; and Esther was brought to Hegai, the keeper of the women. 9The lady pleased him, and she found favor in his sight. He hurried to give her the things for purification, her portion, and the seven maidens appointed her out of the palace. He treated her and her maidens well in the women’s apartment. 10But Esther didn’t reveal her family or her kindred, for Mordecai had charged her not to tell. 11But Mordecai used to walk every day by the women’s court, to see what would become of Esther.

After the king of Persia has banished Queen Vashti, a search is made throughout the empire for beautiful young women to replace her, and they are gathered into the king's harem. Among them is Esther, a Jewish orphan raised by her older cousin Mordecai, himself descended from exiles carried from Jerusalem. Esther is taken into the palace, where she finds favor with the keeper of the women. At Mordecai's charge she conceals her Jewish identity, and Mordecai walks by the court of the women every day, to see how she fares and what will become of her.

There is no obvious sign of God in this passage; his name is never mentioned in the whole book of Esther. And yet, in hindsight, we can see him working behind the scenes, quietly positioning a young Jewish orphan in the one place from which she will later be able to save her whole people from destruction. Esther did not choose these circumstances, and they were not ones anyone would have wished for; an orphan, an exile's foster-child, taken into a pagan king's harem. But God was at work in the situation she had not chosen, placing her, unknown to her, exactly where she would be needed. This is a picture of how God's providence often works, hidden inside ordinary and even troubling circumstances, positioning us for purposes we cannot yet see. Esther could not have known, as she was taken into the palace, that she was being placed there for a moment of deliverance still years away. And we, likewise, are often placed by God in situations we did not choose and may not understand, whose purpose only later becomes clear, if it becomes clear at all. The God who worked so quietly in Esther's story that he is never named is at work in ours the same way, positioning us, arranging circumstances, preparing for purposes hidden from us now. What looks like mere circumstance, even unwelcome circumstance, may be God placing us where we will be needed.

Can I trust that God is at work, even unnamed and unseen, in the circumstances I did not choose and do not understand, positioning me as he positioned Esther for a purpose I cannot yet see?

Sources