Esther 2:17

_AND THE KING LOVED ESTHER ABOVE ALL THE WOMEN, AND SHE OBTAINED GRACE AND FAVOUR IN HIS SIGHT MORE THAN ALL THE VIRGINS; SO THAT HE SET THE ROYAL CROWN UPON HER HEAD, AND MADE HER QUEEN INSTEAD OF_ _ THAN ALL THE VIRGINS; SO THAT HE SET THE ROYAL CROWN UPON HER HEAD, AND MADE HER QUEEN INSTEAD OF VASHTI._ The king loved Esther above all the women. The choice fell on Esther, who found favour in the eyes of Ahasuerus, and elevated her to the dignity of chief wife or queen. The other competitors had apartments assigned them in the royal harem, and were retained in the rank of secondary wives, of whom Oriental princes have a great number. HE SET THE ROYAL CROWN UPON HER HEAD. This consisted only of a purple fillet, streaked with white, having the appearance of a crown of towers, bound round the forehead....

1-20 We see to what absurd practices those came, who were destitute of Divine revelation, and what need there was of the gospel of Christ, to purify men from the lusts of the flesh, and to bring them back to the original institution of marriage. Esther was preferred as queen. Those who suggest that Esther committed sin to come at this dignity, do not consider the custom of those times and countries. Every one that the king took was married to him, and was his wife, though of a lower rank. But how low is human nature sunk, when such as these are the leading pursuits and highest worldly happiness of men! Disappointment and vexation must follow; and he most wisely consults his enjoyment, even in this present life, who most exactly obeys the precepts of the Divine law. But let us turn to consider the wise and merciful providence of God, carrying on his deep but holy designs in the midst of...

Verse 17. _SET THE ROYAL CROWN UPON HER HEAD_] Made her what is now called in the East the SULTANA, the _queen_. She was the mistress of all the rest of the wives, all of whom were obliged to pay her the most profound respect....

EXPOSITION THE QUEST FOR MAIDENS, AND THE CHOICE OF ESTHER TO BE QUEEN IN VASHTI'S PLACE (Esther 2:1). Vashti having ceased to be queen, Ahasuerus appears to have been in no haste to assign her dignity to any one else. Probably there was no one among his other (secondary) wives of whom he was specially fond, or who seemed to him pre-eminent above the rest. And he may even have begun to relent in Vashti's favour (as seems to be somewhat obscurely intimated in Esther 2:1), and to wish to take her back. Under these circumstances the officers of his cour

AND THE KING LOVED ESTHER ABOVE ALL THE WOMEN,.... The virgins he made his concubines, as next explained; though Jarchi interprets it of married women, for such he supposes were gathered and brought to him, as well as virgins: AND SHE OBTAINED GRACE AND FAVOUR IN HIS SIGHT MORE THAN ALL THE VIRGINS; who had been purified, and in their turns brought to him: SO THAT HE SET THE ROYAL CROWN UPON HER HEAD, AND MADE HER QUEEN INSTEAD OF VASHTI; declared her queen, and gave her all the ensigns of royalty: so it was usual with the eastern kings to put a crown or diadem on the heads of their wives at the time of marriage, and declare them queens s. s Vid. Paschalium de Coronis, l. 10. c. 8. p. 689....

ESTHER CHOSEN QUEEN. Ere long Ahasuerus longs for his lost queen's comradeship. He is moved to issue a summons throughout all his territories, commanding all fair maidens to appear as candidates for the queenship. This command removes the fancy that a Jewess had no right to come. She had to come. Among the assembled fair ones was the cousin and ward of Mordecai, called Hadassah, _i.e._ Myrtle. Let us notice that this name is the same as that of the place Adasah in Judah where, on Adar 13th, 161 B.C., the Maccabees defeated Nicanor, the general of the armies of Syria (p. 607). That final victory set Judah free from foreign rule, so that the throne of David was established again after its destruction about 600 B.C. (see 1Ma_7:39 ff.). The maiden seems intended by our writer as a symbol of that victory. She surpasses all her rivals, and is chosen by Ahasuerus as his queen; and now she recei...

_the royal crown_ See on Esther 1:11....

SO THAT HE SET THE ROYAL CROWN UPON HER HEAD— According to this account, this Persian monarch seems to have had but one wife, at least but one in chief favour and esteem with him, though it is evident that he had a vast number of secondary wives or concubines. But in behalf of Esther it may be said, that the word ותלקח _vattilacach,_ Esther 2:8 which we render _she was brought,_ may equally signify _she was taken away, 1:_e. _by violence;_ and thus the Targum upon the passage relates the matter: "Mordecai, hearing of the king's edict for the collection of all the beautiful virgins in his dominions, hid his cousin in a private place, where the officers could not find her; but when Esther, whom all the neighbourhood knew to be a great beauty, was missing, an order from the king to Mordecai was procured, which, upon pain of death, obliged him to produce her....

D. Selection of Esther TEXT: Esther 2:15-18 15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her. 16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast; and he made a release to the provinces,

THE CHOICE OF ESTHER TO BE QUEEN. MORDECAI'S SERVICE 1. He remembered, etc.] LXX has 'he thought no more of Vashti, remembering what,' etc....