So is the king going to fire her, or whatever King do to queens? He’s not going to behead her like King Henry the VIII did, is he?
“After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:
And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them:
And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.
Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was1 Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;
Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.
And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.
So it came to pass, when the king’s commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.
And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king’s house: and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women.
Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it.
And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women’s house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her.
Now when every maid’s turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)
Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was
given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king’s house.
In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s chamberlain, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name.
Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.
So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther’s feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the state of the king.
And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king’s gate.
Esther had not yet shewed her kindred nor her people; as Mordecai had charged her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as when she was brought up with him.
In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king’s gate, two of the king’s chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus.
And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai’s name.
And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king” (Est 2:1-23).
1 The name Mordechai is of uncertain origin but is considered identical to the name Marduka or Marduku attested as the name of officials in the Persian court in thirty texts (the Persepolis Texts) from the period of Xerxes I and his father Darius, and may refer to up to four individuals, one of which might very well be the biblical Mordecai.
The name is commonly interpreted as a theophoric name referring to the god Marduk with the understanding that it means servant/follower/devotee of Marduk in Aramaic. The Book of Daniel contains similar accounts of Jews living in exile in Babylonia being assigned names relating to Babylonian gods.
Ahasuerus/Xerxes
Ahasuerus/Xerxes was the son of Darius the Great, mentioned in Dan 9:1, the grandson of Cyrus the Great and the king of Persia mentioned in the book of Esther. There is no doubt that he is the well-known historical Xerxes who reigned from 486-465 B.C.
The main support for this identification is to be found in the linguistic equivalence of the names of KJV “Ahasuerus” and the NIV “Xerxes.” In addition, a close similarity has been noted between the character of the historical Xerxes and the character of the king of the Persians portrayed in the Book of Esther.
There are also historical correlations. The feast that was held in the 3rd year of the reign of Xerxes at Susa (Est 1:3) corresponds to an assembly held by Xerxes in his 3rd year in preparation for the invasion of Greece. Herodotus states that Xerxes, following his defeat at Salamis and Plataea, consoled himself in his 7th year with the pleasures of the harem.
This parallels the biblical account that relates that Ahasuerus replaced Vashti by marrying Esther in his 7th year (Est 2:16) after gathering all the fair young virgins to Susa. The Xerxes of Ezra 4:6, whom were written accusations against the Jews of Jerusalem is in all probability the same Xerxes, though sometimes identified with Cambyses, son of Cyrus.
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