Esther: The Queen Who Stood in the Inner Court

Who Esther Is

Esther (אֶסְתֵּר) is a woman of the exile, the daughter of Abihail (Esther 2:15). According to Ussher, Annals of the World (1650), she was active 521 BC to 495 BC. Her name appears in forty-five verses, and every one of them stands in a single book, the book that carries her name; her first mention is Esther 2:7. She is not introduced by tribe or ancestry beyond her father, and the record does not trace her line further back. What we have of her is a concentrated stretch of court narrative, and it is enough to make her one of the most visible women in the Old Testament.

Taken Into the King's House

Her entry into the story is quiet (Esther 2:7-8), and her early days in the palace are told in short strokes, including instructions she kept and a watchfulness over her (Esther 2:10-11). Then the narrative slows down for her turn before the king:

"Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked at her. So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti" (Esther 2:15-18).

Two things stand out. She asks for nothing beyond what Hegai advises, and favor keeps finding her. The text also names her double belonging: daughter of Abihail by birth, daughter of Mordecai by adoption. Further brief notes follow her in this chapter (Esther 2:20; Esther 2:22).

The Message She Would Rather Not Have Received

The crisis reaches her through intermediaries. She hears first of distress and responds to it (Esther 4:4-5), and then the matter is put in her hands in writing:

"He also gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given out in Susa to destroy them, to show it to Esther, and to declare it to her, and to urge her to go in to the king, to make supplication to him, and to make request before him, for her people. Hathach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a message to Mordecai" (Esther 4:8-10).

Messages pass back and forth (Esther 4:12-13), and she answers again (Esther 4:15; Esther 4:17). The whole exchange happens by messenger, which is itself telling: the queen cannot simply walk to the king.

Standing in the Court

"Now on the third day, Esther put on her royal clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, next to the king's house... When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther came near, and touched the top of the scepter" (Esther 5:1-7). Offered even to the half of the kingdom, she asks only that the king and Haman come to the banquet she has prepared. She is mentioned again in the chapter (Esther 5:12), and once more as the second banquet approaches (Esther 6:14).

At the banquet she finally speaks: "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request" (Esther 7:1-3). When the king demands a name, she gives it: "An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!" (Esther 7:5-8). Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was, and his face is covered.

The aftermath does not leave her passive. The king gives her the house of Haman, she sets Mordecai over it, and she comes back for more: "Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his plan that he had planned against the Jews. Then the king held out to Esther the golden scepter. So Esther arose, and stood before the king" (Esther 8:1-4; see also Esther 8:7). Her voice continues into the closing chapter (Esther 9:12-13; Esther 9:29; Esther 9:31-32).

What the Record Does Not Say

Honesty here means naming the silences. No children of Esther are named. No tribe or people is given for her in this material. The passages set before us record no rebuke of her and no named sin; that is what the text does, and it would be dishonest either to invent a fault or to turn silence into a proof of perfection. Her death, her later years, and the end of her story are not reported here.

No New Testament reference to Esther is listed in this dossier, so no line is drawn from her forward. What remains is a woman who asked for nothing, received favor, and then spent that favor on the lives of others.