Est 2:2-4 | KingComments | STEP | connects to the previous section, without taking into account the time elapsed. Reference is made back to the anger of King Ahasuerus ( ) which is now said to have subsided. Then we are told what is going on in his mind. In his mind there are three things that, like his anger, took place in the previous chapter and have been described there. He thinks 1. of Vashti, 2. of what she has done, and 3. of what’s been decided about her. This again determines that a vacuum, a vacancy for a queen, has arisen. The story that follows is connected to that. Without any question from the king, the attendants come with an advice ( ). That advice consists of three parts: 1. Let girls be searched for who are virgins and beautiful to behold. 2. Gather those girls and give them a beauty treatment. 3. The one girl out of all those girls that is pleasing in his eyes should become queen instead of Vashti. In this advice we see an ascent. First a selection is made out of all the girls in his kingdom and from that selection comes the one girl who is chosen by Ahasuerus as queen. The word for “attendants” literally means “youngsters”. That word highlights that there is a new generation, the beginning of a new situation, and a new queen. The attendants advise the king to take something new and more beautiful instead of what he has lost, in order to forget the past. From a prophetic and typological point of view, we see in the king’s longing the longing of God for a people on earth that belongs to Him and that is entirely devoted to Him. When the church is taken away, He will find a new people after His heart on earth, born of Him. He will find these people in the future remnant of Israel. Esther is a type or example of this. In the proposal to find a new queen some recommendations are made. For example, Ahasuerus is recommended by the attendants 1. to appoint overseers to gather the girls, 2. that those girls are entrusted to a caretaker and custodian, and 3. that the gathered girls receive a beauty treatment ( ). Girls are selected with care from everywhere. The girls who possibly qualify to become queen, are chosen and treated with care. In this we see God’s care in proclaiming the gospel to draw people from the world to Himself. People who have accepted the gospel are further cared for by gifts that the Lord Jesus has given, so that they will fulfill the purpose that He has with them: to please Him. We see this in the service of Paul and his fellow ministers: “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” ( ). The efforts to please this king are an example to us. We are also prepared and used to please our Lord. Are we therefore as diligent as we have been in this history and as Paul? Do we bring the gospel and do we care for those who have accepted it?

‏ Esther 2:2-4

Proposal for a New Queen

Est 2:1 connects to the previous section, without taking into account the time elapsed. Reference is made back to the anger of King Ahasuerus (Est 1:12) which is now said to have subsided. Then we are told what is going on in his mind. In his mind there are three things that, like his anger, took place in the previous chapter and have been described there. He thinks

1. of Vashti,

2. of what she has done, and

3. of what’s been decided about her.

This again determines that a vacuum, a vacancy for a queen, has arisen. The story that follows is connected to that. Without any question from the king, the attendants come with an advice (Est 2:2-4). That advice consists of three parts:

1. Let girls be searched for who are virgins and beautiful to behold.

2. Gather those girls and give them a beauty treatment.

3. The one girl out of all those girls that is pleasing in his eyes should become queen instead of Vashti.

In this advice we see an ascent. First a selection is made out of all the girls in his kingdom and from that selection comes the one girl who is chosen by Ahasuerus as queen.

The word for “attendants” literally means “youngsters”. That word highlights that there is a new generation, the beginning of a new situation, and a new queen. The attendants advise the king to take something new and more beautiful instead of what he has lost, in order to forget the past.

From a prophetic and typological point of view, we see in the king’s longing the longing of God for a people on earth that belongs to Him and that is entirely devoted to Him. When the church is taken away, He will find a new people after His heart on earth, born of Him. He will find these people in the future remnant of Israel. Esther is a type or example of this.

In the proposal to find a new queen some recommendations are made. For example, Ahasuerus is recommended by the attendants

1. to appoint overseers to gather the girls,

2. that those girls are entrusted to a caretaker and custodian, and

3. that the gathered girls receive a beauty treatment (Est 2:3).

Girls are selected with care from everywhere. The girls who possibly qualify to become queen, are chosen and treated with care.

In this we see God’s care in proclaiming the gospel to draw people from the world to Himself. People who have accepted the gospel are further cared for by gifts that the Lord Jesus has given, so that they will fulfill the purpose that He has with them: to please Him. We see this in the service of Paul and his fellow ministers: “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Col 1:28-29).

The efforts to please this king are an example to us. We are also prepared and used to please our Lord. Are we therefore as diligent as we have been in this history and as Paul? Do we bring the gospel and do we care for those who have accepted it?