The birth of Esther caused the death of her mother. Her father had died
a little while before, so she was entirely orphaned. Mordecai and his
wife interested themselves in the poor babe. His wife became her nurse,
and he himself did not hesitate, when there was need for it, to do
services for the child that are usually performed only by women. (66)
Both her names, Esther as well as Hadassah, are descriptive of her
virtues. Hadassah, or Myrtle, she is called, because her good deeds
spread her fame abroad, as the sweet fragrance of the myrtle pervades
the air in which it grows. In general, the myrtle is symbolic of the
pious, because, as the myrtle is ever green, summer and winter alike,
so the saints never suffer dishonor, either in this world or in the
world to come. In another way Esther resembled the myrtle, which, in
spite of its pleasant scent, has a bitter taste. Esther was pleasant to
the Jews, but bitterness itself to Haman and all who belonged to him.
The name Esther is equally significant. In Hebrew it means "she who
conceals," a fitting name for the niece of Mordecai, the woman who well
knew how to guard a secret, and long hid her descent and faith from the
king and the court. She herself had been kept concealed for years in
the house of her uncle, withdrawn from the searching eyes of the king's
spies. Above all she was the hidden light that suddenly shone upon
Israel in his rayless darkness.
In build, Esther was neither tall nor short, she was exactly of average
height, another reason for calling her Myrtle, a plant which likewise
is neither large nor small. In point of fact, Esther was not a beauty
in the real sense of the word. The beholder was bewitched by her grace
and her charm, and that in spite of her somewhat sallow, myrtle-like
complexion. (67) More than this, her enchanting grace was not the grace
of youth, for she was seventy-five years old when she came to court,
and captivated the hearts of all who saw her, from king to eunuch. This
was in fulfilment of the prophecy which God made to Abraham when he was
leaving the home of his father: "Thou art leaving the house of thy
father at the age of seventy-five. As thou livest, the deliverer of thy
children in Media also shall be seventy-five years old."
Another historical event pointed forward to Esther's achievement. When
the Jews, after the destruction of Jerusalem, broke out into the wail,
"We are orphans and fatherless," God said: "in very sooth, the redeemer
whom I shall send unto you in Media shall also be an orphan fatherless
and motherless." (68)
Ahasuerus put Esther between two groups of beauties, Median beauties to
right of her, and Persian beauties to left of her. Yet Esther's
comeliness outshone them all. (69) Not even Joseph could vie with the
Jewish queen in grace. Grace was suspended above him, but Esther was
fairly laden down with it. (70) Whoever saw her, pronounced her the
ideal of beauty of his nation. The general exclamation was: "This one
is worthy of being queen." (71) In vain Ahasuerus had sought a wife for
four years, in vain fathers had spent time and money bringing their
daughters to him, in the hope that one or the other would appeal to his
fancy. None among the maidens, none among the women, pleased Ahasuerus.
But scarcely had he set eyes upon Esther when he thrilled with the
feeling, that he had at last found what he had long yearned for. (72)
All these years the portrait of Vashti had hung in his chamber. He had
not forgotten his rejected queen. But once he beheld Esther, Vashti's
picture was replaced by hers. (73) Maiden grace and womanly charm were
in her united. (74)
The change in her worldly position wrought no change in Esther's ways
and manners. As she retained her beauty until old age, so the queen
remained as pure in mind and soul as ever the simple maiden had been.
All the other women who entered the gates of the royal palace made
exaggerated demands, Esther's demeanor continued modest and unassuming.
The others insisted that the seven girl pages assigned to them should
have certain peculiar qualities, as, that they should not differ, each
from her mistress, in complexion and height. Esther uttered no wish
whatsoever.
But her unpretending ways were far from pleasing to Hegai, chief of the
eunuchs of the harem. He feared lest the king discover that Esther did
nothing to preserve her beauty, and would put the blame for it upon
him, an accusation that might bring him to the gallows. To avoid such a
fate, he loaded Esther down with resplendent jewels, distinguishing her
beyond all the other women gathered in the palace, as Joseph, by means
of costly gifts lavished upon him, had singled out her ancestor
Benjamin from among his brethren.
Hegai paid particular attention to what Esther ate. For her he brought
dishes from the royal table, which, however, she refused obstinately to
ouch. Only such things passed her lips as were permitted to Jews. She
lived entirely on vegetable food, as Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah had
aforetimes done at the court of Nebuchadnezzar. (75) The forbidden
tidbits she passed over to the non-Jewish servants. (76) Her personal
attendants were seven Jewish maidens as consistently pious as herself,
whose devotion to the ritual law Esther could depend upon.
Otherwise Esther was cut off from all intercourse with Jews, and she
was in danger of forgetting when the Sabbath bath came around. She
therefore adopted the device of giving her seven attendants peculiar
names, to keep her in mind of the passage of time. The first one was
called Hulta, "Workaday," and she was in attendance upon Esther on
Sundays. On Mondays, she was served by Rok`ita, to remind her of
Rek`ia, "the Firmament," which was created on the second day of the
world. Tuesday's maid was called Genunita, "Garden," the third day of
creation having produced the world of plants. On Wednesday, she was
reminded by Nehorita's name, "the Luminous," that it was the day on
which God had made the great luminaries, to shed their light in the
sky; on Thursday by Ruhshita, "Movement," for on the fifth day the
first animated beings were created; on Friday, the day on which the
beasts came into being, by Hurfita, "little Ewelamb"; and on the
Sabbath her bidding was done by Rego`ita, "Rest." Thus she was sure to
remember the Sabbath day week after week. (77)
Mordecai's daily visits to the gate of the palace had a similar
purpose. Thus Esther was afforded the opportunity of obtaining
instruction from him on all ritual doubts that might assail her. (78)
This lively interest displayed by Mordecai in Esther's physical and
spiritual welfare is not wholly attributable to an uncle's and
guardian's solicitude in behalf of an orphaned niece. A much closer
bond, the bond between husband and wife, united them, for when Esther
had grown to maidenhood, Mordecai had espoused her. (79) Naturally,
Esther would have been ready to defend her conjugal honor with her
life. She would gladly have suffered death at the hands of the king's
bailiffs rather than yield herself to a man not her husband. Luckily,
there was no need for this sacrifice, for her marriage with Ahasuerus
was but a feigned union. God has sent down a female spirit in the guise
of Esther to take her place with the king. Esther herself never lived
with Ahasuerus as his wife. (80)
At the advice of her uncle, Esther kept her descent and her faith a
secret. Mordecai's injunction was dictated by several motives. First of
all it was his modesty that suggested secrecy. He thought the king, if
he heard from Esther that she had been raised by him, might offer to
install him in some high office. In point of fact, Mordecai was right
in his conjecture; Ahasuerus had pledged himself to make lords,
princes, and kings of Esther's friends and kinspeople, if she would but
name them.
Another reason for keeping Esther's Jewish affiliations a secret was
Mordecai's apprehension, that the fate of Vashti overtake Esther, too.
If such were in store for her, he desired at least to guard against the
Jews' becoming her fellowsuffers. Besides, Mordecai knew only too well
the inimical feelings entertained by the heathen toward the Jews, ever
since their exile from the Holy Land, and he feared that the
Jew-haters, to gratify their hostility against the Jews, might bring
about the ruin of Esther and her house. (81)
Mindful of the perils to which Esther was exposed, Mordecai allowed no
day to pass without assuring himself of her well-being. His
compensation therefore came from God: "Thou makest the well-being of a
single soul they intimate concern. As thou livest, the well-being and
good of thy whole nation Israel shall be entrusted to thee as thy
task." (82) And to reward him for his modesty, God said: "Thou
withdrawest thyself from greatness; as thou livest, I will honor thee
more than all men on earth." (83)
Vain were the efforts made by Ahasuerus to draw her secret from Esther.
He arranged great festivities for the purpose, but she guarded it well.
She had an answer ready for his most insistent questions: "I know
neither my people nor my family, for I lost my parents in my earliest
infancy." But as the king desired greatly to show himself gracious to
the nation to which the queen belonged, he released all the peoples
under his dominion from the payment of taxes and imposts. In this way,
he thought, her nation was bound to be benefited. (84)
When the king saw that kindness and generosity left her untouched, he
sought to wrest the secret from her by threats. Once when she parried
his inquiries in the customary way, saying, "I am an orphan, and God,
the Father of the fatherless, in His mercy, has brought me up," he
retorted: I shall gather virgins together the second time." His purpose
was to provoke the jealousy of Esther, "for a woman is jealous of
nothing so much as a rival."
When Mordecai noticed that women were being brought to court anew, he
was overcome with anxiety for his niece. Thinking that the fate of
Vashti might have befallen her, he was impelled to make inquires about
her. (85)
As for Esther herself, she was but following the example of her race.
She could keep silent in all modesty, as Rachel, the mother of
Benjamin, had kept a modest silence when her father gave her sister
Leah to Jacob for wife instead of herself, and as Saul the Benjamite
was modestly reserved when, questioned by his uncle, he told about the
finding of his she-asses, but nothing about his elevation to the
kingship. Rachel and Saul were recompensed for their self-abnegation by
being given a descendant like Esther. (86)