Esther - Lesson Two - Day 3

DAY THREE: A Preparation Period

Please carefully read Esther 2:10-14 and answer the following questions.

1.  What had Mordecai told Esther to not do, and how did he show concern for this young woman he had taken in as his own daughter (vv. 10, 11)?

2.  What types of preparations were made for each woman’s turn to go before the king? (vv. 12, 13)?

3.  What happened to these young women when they made their appearance, and how does this demonstrate Ahasuerus’ shameful treatment of them (v. 14)?

NOTE: As we saw last week, the translators of Esther were quite genteel in how they dealt with some situations, but it doesn’t take much reading between the lines to know what was going on.  These women then became part of the king’s harem, under the custody of Shaashgaz, whose fitting name meant “servant of the beautiful.”[xi]

4.  Estimates of how many women were taken from their families to satisfy the king’s perverse lusts have ranged from 400 to 1,460; saddest of all is that these misused young women lived the rest of their lives in a state of widowhood more than marriage![xii]  Each one would only come back to see the king if he delighted in her (“unless he especially enjoyed her,” nlt) and called her by name.