Esther Becomes Queen

The event

The book of Esther opens in the Persian capital of Susa during the reign of Ahasuerus — almost certainly the same king Greek historians call Xerxes I, who reigned from 486 to 465 BC. A lavish 180-day display of royal wealth ends with Queen Vashti's banishment for refusing to appear before the king's drunken guests, leaving the throne open and setting in motion an empire-wide search for a new queen.

Among the young women gathered to the harem was Esther, a Jewish orphan raised by her older cousin Mordecai after her parents' deaths — her Hebrew name was Hadassah, though she went by the Persian name Esther in the palace. At Mordecai's instruction she kept her Jewish identity hidden, yet "the young woman pleased him and won his favor" more than any other, and in the king's seventh year, around 479 BC, Ahasuerus set the royal crown on Esther's head.

Around the same time, Mordecai — who kept close watch near the palace gate — overheard and reported a plot by two officers to assassinate the king, a service duly recorded in the royal chronicles though initially unrewarded. Nothing in this chapter mentions God by name, yet the placement of a faithful Jewish woman on Persia's throne, and a forgotten act of loyalty quietly filed away for later, together read as the fingerprints of a providence working patiently behind the scenes — precisely the theme the rest of the book will make unmistakable.

Dating

Ahasuerus is traditionally identified with Xerxes I of Persia (reigned 486-465 BC), whose seventh year (Esther 2:16) corresponds to about 479 BC. This identification is the standard view across both evangelical and secular historical scholarship.

Scripture references

• Esther 2:1-18
• Esther 2:19-23