We’re moving through Esther, a story of God’s protection for his people. To put a new queen in place to counteract the forces of evil, God had to first get rid of the old queen. Then the king’s counselors kick in again:

The king’s young attendants stepped in and got the ball rolling: “Let’s begin a search for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint officials in every province of his kingdom to bring every beautiful young virgin to the palace complex of Susa and to the harem run by Hegai, the king’s eunuch who oversees the women; he will put them through their beauty treatments. Then let the girl who best pleases the king be made queen in place of Vashti.” The king liked this advice and took it. (Esther 2.2 – 4, MSG)

(It’s interesting that the advisors in chapter 1 were the oldest, wisest men in the kingdom. In chapter 2, it’s his “young attendants.”)

And so we meet the protagonists of our story: Esther and Mordecai:

Now there was a Jew who lived in the palace complex in Susa. His name was Mordecai…His ancestors had been taken from Jerusalem with the exiles and carried off with King Jehoiachin of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon into exile. Mordecai had reared his cousin Hadassah, otherwise known as Esther, since she had no father or mother. The girl had a good figure and a beautiful face. After her parents died, Mordecai had adopted her. When the king’s order had been publicly posted, many young girls were brought to the palace complex of Susa and given over to Hegai who was overseer of the women. Esther was among them. (Esther 2.5 – 8, MSG)

Again, God at work behind the scenes. She finds favor with Hegai, who was in charge of the harem:

Hegai liked Esther and took a special interest in her. Right off he started her beauty treatments, ordered special food, assigned her seven personal maids from the palace, and put her and her maids in the best rooms in the harem. Esther didn’t say anything about her family and racial background because Mordecai had told her not to. (Esther 2.9, 10, MSG)

It’s worth a pause here to talk about “purity.” We frequently read stories of Christians refusing to do this or that because it violates their beliefs “You can’t make me deliver mail on Sunday!” Do we ever stop to think about what Esther is being asked to do? Be part of the harem of a pagan king?! Instead of loudly proclaiming her Jewishness and obstinately refusing to have her virginity violated, she hides her Jewishness and submits to the process…and wins the contest:

When it was Esther’s turn to go to the king, … she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, had recommended. Esther, just as she was, won the admiration of everyone who saw her. She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of the king’s reign. The king fell in love with Esther far more than with any of his other women or any of the other virgins—he was totally smitten by her. He placed a royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. (Esther 2.15 – 17, MSG)

Chapter 2 ends with a seemingly irrelevant event which will become important later in the story:

On this day, with Mordecai sitting at the King’s Gate, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had it in for the king and were making plans to kill King Xerxes. But Mordecai learned of the plot and told Queen Esther, who then told King Xerxes, giving credit to Mordecai. When the thing was investigated and confirmed as true, the two men were hanged on a gallows. This was all written down in a logbook kept for the king’s use. (Esther 2.21 – 23, MSG)

God’s queen is in place. We meet the villain in chapter 3.

For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, And exalts another. (Psalm 75.6, 7, NKJV)