{"id":210,"date":"2023-07-09T18:32:58","date_gmt":"2023-07-09T18:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/txcolliers.net\/biblestudy\/?p=210"},"modified":"2023-07-09T18:33:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-09T18:33:00","slug":"esther-2-esther-becomes-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/txcolliers.net\/biblestudy\/?p=210","title":{"rendered":"Esther 2: Esther Becomes Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\"><strong>The Call for a New Queen<\/strong>\nEsther 2: 1-7\nBut after Xerxes\u2019 anger had subsided, he began thinking about Vashti and what she had done and the decree he had made. So his personal attendants suggested, \u201cLet us search the empire to find beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint agents in each province to bring these beautiful young women into the royal harem at the fortress of Susa. Hegai, the king\u2019s eunuch in charge of the harem, will see that they are all given beauty treatments. After that, the young woman who most pleases the king will be made queen instead of Vashti.\u201d This advice was very appealing to the king, so he put the plan into effect.\nAt that time there was a Jewish man in the fortress of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair. He was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shimei. His family had been among those who, with King Jehoiachin of Judah, had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. This man had a very beautiful and lovely young cousin, Hadassah, who was also called Esther. When her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her into his family and raised her as his own daughter.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>OK. So as we start this week, what all is WRONG with the whole situation as described in this passage?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What do we find out about Mordecai?  Where was he from, and how does this passage help us to pinpoint the time that this account takes place?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\"><strong>The Selection Process<\/strong>\nEsther 2:8-14\nAs a result of the king\u2019s decree, Esther, along with many other young women, was brought to the king\u2019s harem at the fortress of Susa and placed in Hegai\u2019s care. Hegai was very impressed with Esther and treated her kindly. He quickly ordered a special menu for her and provided her with beauty treatments. He also assigned her seven maids specially chosen from the king\u2019s palace, and he moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem.\nEsther had not told anyone of her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had directed her not to do so. Every day Mordecai would take a walk near the courtyard of the harem to find out about Esther and what was happening to her.\nBefore each young woman was taken to the king\u2019s bed, she was given the prescribed twelve months of beauty treatments\u2014six months with oil of myrrh, followed by six months with special perfumes and ointments. When it was time for her to go to the king\u2019s palace, she was given her choice of whatever clothing or jewelry she wanted to take from the harem. That evening she was taken to the king\u2019s private rooms, and the next morning she was brought to the second harem, where the king\u2019s wives lived. There she would be under the care of Shaashgaz, the king\u2019s eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would never go to the king again unless he had especially enjoyed her and requested her by name.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What do we learn about Esther from this passage?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How do we see God&#8217;s superintending of Esther&#8217;s circumstances?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\"><strong>Esther Becomes Queen<\/strong>\nEsther 2:15-20\nEsther was the daughter of Abihail, who was Mordecai\u2019s uncle. (Mordecai had adopted his younger cousin Esther.) When it was Esther\u2019s turn to go to the king, she accepted the advice of Hegai, the eunuch in charge of the harem. She asked for nothing except what he suggested, and she was admired by everyone who saw her.\nEsther was taken to King Xerxes at the royal palace in early winter of the seventh year of his reign. And the king loved Esther more than any of the other young women. He was so delighted with her that he set the royal crown on her head and declared her queen instead of Vashti. To celebrate the occasion, he gave a great banquet in Esther\u2019s honor for all his nobles and officials, declaring a public holiday for the provinces and giving generous gifts to everyone.\nEven after all the young women had been transferred to the second harem and Mordecai had become a palace official, Esther continued to keep her family background and nationality a secret. She was still following Mordecai\u2019s directions, just as she did when she lived in his home.<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How is Esther acting in a wise manner here? What was in her control? What was beyond her control?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What do you find noteworthy or surprising from this account?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What lesson or example do you find here that is worthy of emulating?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">(verses 2:21-23 will be included in next week's study)<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Call for a New Queen Esther 2: 1-7 But after Xerxes\u2019 anger had subsided, he began thinking about Vashti and what she had done and the decree he had made. So his personal attendants suggested, \u201cLet us search the empire to find beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint agents in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-esther-for-such-a-time-as-this"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Esther 2: Esther Becomes Queen - Thursday Bible Study<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/txcolliers.net\/biblestudy\/?p=210\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Esther 2: Esther Becomes Queen - Thursday Bible Study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Call for a New Queen Esther 2: 1-7 But after Xerxes\u2019 anger had subsided, he began thinking about Vashti and what she had done and the decree he had made. 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