Text:<\/strong>\u00a0Esther 2<\/p>\n The banquet mentioned in Esther 1:3 occurred during Ahasuerus\u2019 third year. Six months later Ahasuerus ends his marriage with Vashti. He marries Esther during his seventh year of reigning (Esther 2:16) which was after a year long preparation (Esther 2:12). Thus, we conclude that it took Ahasuerus about two years to calm down in regards to Vashti. The Hebrew word for the king\u2019s anger subsiding is\u00a0shakhakh<\/i>. It is the same word used to describe the receding of the flood waters in Noah\u2019s day \u2013 in other words, his anger was slow to cool down. According to history, it was during this time that Ahasuerus attempted to invade Greece and failed. After all that time, Ahasuerus began to regret his decision as he remembered all the things Vashti used to do. Unfortunately, the Medes and Persians had a rule that laws passed by the king could not be rescinded (Daniel 6:8). Calling Vashti back was not an option.<\/p>\n His attendants suggested that all the beautiful virgins in his kingdom be sent to his harem. He could then select the one who pleased him the most to be his next queen. Ahasuerus loved the idea.<\/p>\n In the capital of Susa was a Jewish man named Mordecai. His ancestors were among those who went into captivity with King Jeconiah, about 115 years earlier. Most likely it was Kish who was taken captive. He was raising his orphaned cousin, who was named Hadassah, the Hebrew word for myrtle. She also went by the Greek name Esther, which means \u201cstar.\u201d Esther was particularly beautiful, so she was selected to enter the king\u2019s harem.<\/p>\n The eunuch in charge of the virgins was named Hegai. Hegai was particularly pleased with Esther and he placed her in the best place in the harem along with select maids, cosmetics, and choice food.<\/p>\n At Mordecai\u2019s request, Esther did not mention she was an Israelite. Though Mordecai could not see Esther, he would daily walk in front of the court of the harem to gather news regarding how Esther was doing.<\/p>\n The young women were given a year to prepare. The king would have one woman come each evening. She was allowed to bring with her anything she wanted from the harem. After spending the night with the king, she was then sent to a different harem where the king\u2019s concubines resided. However, she would not return unless the king sent for her by name.<\/p>\n When it was Esther\u2019s turn, she did not ask for anything from the harem. Instead, she asked Hegai to suggest what she should bring. Being one of the king\u2019s men, Hegai would know Ahasuerus\u2019 likes and dislikes. Esther was the favorite of everyone who saw her, including the king, and she became Ahasuerus\u2019 queen.<\/p>\n The king ordered a great banquet to celebrate his marriage and invited all the princes and his servants to attend. The feast day was declared to be a national holiday.<\/p>\n Mordecai now sat at the king\u2019s gate to keep track of Esther. Likely this also indicated that Mordecai held some government position. Esther continued to follow Mordecai\u2019s advice and did not mention that she was from Israel. She had long listened to Mordecai while he was raising her and she continued that practice. Mordecai maintained control in his household in contrast to Ahasuerus losing control in his own household.<\/p>\n Because Mordecai was often at the king\u2019s gate, he happened to overhear a plot by two officials of the king\u2019s bodyguards. They were mad at the king for some reason that wasn\u2019t recorded for us and had decided to depose him. But Mordecai let Esther know what he had overheard and Esther, in turn, told the king what Mordecai had said. An investigation was ordered. The plotters were found guilty and hanged.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA Study of Esther\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Marriage of Esther Text:\u00a0Esther 2 Understanding What You Read After the king calmed down, what was on his mind? Why didn\u2019t the king just call Vashti back? (Daniel 6:8) What did the king\u2019s attendants propose? How did Mordecai end up in Susa? What relationship was Esther to Mordecai? Who took notice of Esther? What…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":20799,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21238","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22506,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/survey-of-the-bible\/survey-of-the-bible-esther\/","url_meta":{"origin":21238,"position":0},"title":"Survey of the Bible – Esther","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Survey of the Bible - Esther Text: Esther 4 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Esther\u2019s story takes place between the first return from captivity, led by Zerubbabel, and the second return lead by Ezra. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It would fall between the 6 and 7 chapters of Ezra. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The author is unknown. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not the same style as\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21793,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/esther-plays-on-hamans-pride\/","url_meta":{"origin":21238,"position":1},"title":"Esther Plays on Haman\u2019s Pride","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Esther Plays on Haman\u2019s Pride Text: Esther 5 Understanding What You Read Did the king behave as Esther had feared? Why did Esther invite the king to dinner instead of directly stating the problem? Why did the king continue to offer Esther up to half his kingdom? What ruined Haman\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21561,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/convincing-esther-to-intervene\/","url_meta":{"origin":21238,"position":2},"title":"Convincing Esther to Intervene","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Convincing Esther to Intervene Text: Esther 4 Understanding What You Read Why didn\u2019t Mordecai go directly to Esther or the king about Haman\u2019s decree? Do a word study and see if you find out why sackcloth and ashes were used at times of great agony (Genesis 18:27; II Samuel 13:19;\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22198,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/reversal-of-fortune\/","url_meta":{"origin":21238,"position":3},"title":"Reversal of Fortune","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Reversal of Fortune Text: Esther 8 Understanding What You Read How did Mordecai come to replace Haman? What did Esther request of the king? Take note of the language. How did Esther address the king when making her plea? What was allowed to be done about the law to kill\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21333,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/hamans-plot\/","url_meta":{"origin":21238,"position":4},"title":"Haman\u2019s Plot","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Haman\u2019s Plot Text: Esther 3 Understanding What You Read What order of the king did Mordecai refuse to obey? What reason did Mordecai give? How was Mordecai\u2019s refusal similar to Vashti\u2019s refusal? Why did Haman decide to destroy all the Jews? What did Haman do all year during Ahasuerus\u2019 twelfth\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21852,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/mordecai-is-honored\/","url_meta":{"origin":21238,"position":5},"title":"Mordecai Is Honored","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Mordecai Is Honored Text: Esther 6 Understanding What You Read Why was the king reviewing the chronicles of his reign? What was the king reminded of from the records? Why was Haman sent for? Why had Haman originally come? When asked about how to best honor a man, who did\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21238\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Understanding What You Read<\/h2>\n
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