Book of Esther: Chapter 2 (revised study)

Previously, we have come to learn what queen Vashti did and what had been ruled about her. It was certainly not a very wise decision made by the king. But, what was done could not be undone. It was the rule of law and also the king could not otherwise than show it its utmost respect. After all, he stands as an example to his constituencies. Anyhow, now that he was sober again, he began to realize the extend of the biggest mistake of his life that he had fallen prey to. The festivities had taken place and it had also taken its toll. In the eyes of the king, it was the worst nightmare that could have happened to him because he clearly loved Vashti, and we may therefore be assured that no shortcomings will have fallen upon her, even when she was to be no queen anymore. She was still one of his wives who he regarded with high esteem, and would therefore stay living for the rest of her life within the palace. At the same time do we again witness the element of silence. As queen Vashti was about to be replaced as queen within one year, and would become a ray of hope and wisdom to the kingdom, she had every opportunity to guide the new queen to be, to educate her and to make the king love her. You would almost start to wonder if the king's chamberlain Hegai did not do what he did based on the vision of Vashti. After all, having the privilege of being a queen, a very wise one indeed, she knew the talents a person in such a dignified position had to have, more than anyone else. It was not so much about the beauty of the body, rather the one that lives within. Every human being, as said with regard to the previous chapter, has it in him/her. Of course, it does not give us the guarantee that we will live by it, nor was this the case thus for all the beautiful virgins that were to be brought unto Shushan the castle, to the house of the women. Nevertheless, one single person ran unknowingly into the spotlight, namely Hadassah, the daughter of Mordechai's uncle. There was something special about her. She was no princess, as she was not raised to be one. Only a very humble person, as Mordechai was, did raise her as the person she had become, immerging her into the wisdom of Torah, as was appropriate for a woman.

True, it is written that Esther pleased Hegai the king's chamberlain, and that she obtained kindness of him in return. Nevertheless, we are not told the reason behind this behavior. In that light, we may probably not forget that he also knew Vashti very well, the queen knowing her husband even better than Hegai or any other king's chamberlain for that matter. Anyhow, it does reveal to us the brilliance of queen Vashti, the beauty of her personality. She felt no remorse at all, on the contrary. She handled the entire new situation as a queen properly befits. What she had done was the right thing to do at the very time that it had to be done, not later and not sooner, just right on time. An opportunity did present to her, and she took it firmly with both hands knowing what the consequences would be when fulfilling the cause of action, that, let us not forget, was a good deed indeed. But, the responsibility would lay entirely with her, and hers alone. So, knowing very well which place she as a woman occupied within the king's palace, it was most appropriate for her to take now a step backwards, keeping a low profile, working behind the scenes, accepting with dignity and honor the king's decision, and as such keep on caring for the well-being of the king's empire. Therefore, she was, in her very own capacity and personality, the most appropriate character within Shushan the castle who could with an almost 100% certainty pick out the virgin who clearly would befit a queen's delicate and most important position. The whole scenario fits well into the place and time of what we are becoming immersed into. And it's for certain no fairy-tale. Hence, those tales are often constructed around things that really do have happened in the first place. No, Hadassah's beauty was so overwhelmingly visible to everyone that she truly had the qualities of a queen. She only needed her presence, being who she truly was, and nothing else when it would become her turn to be brought before the king. Still, the decision was for the king to make, not the chamberlain nor Vashti. Of course, a little bit of a gentle push into the right direction would be not wrong in this case as the daughter of Mordechai's uncle Abigail did befit the profile that even Vashti will have lived by, and thus her real beauty in the king's eyes, the one he truly did love very much.

Nevertheless, as the Midrash does teach us, it could have been Mordechai's wish that the king would not choose her. It is told that she truly was a princess after all as she descended from king Saul, the very Hebrew king who thanks to his degree of appeasement would also give rise to Haman now. Thus, when we take this angle of view into consideration, then it seems that something did have to become rectified, and strangely enough came befalling on the shoulders of the same royal house that caused it to occur in the first place. Naturally, at the time, it's useless to look at the past wrongs because what happened did happen and nothing can be done about it. We can only look ahead and try to correct our mistakes as best as possible. And here, they manifested themselves within a veiled concept because as good as no one was aware of this important detail that only became revealed to many more after a thorough study of the events in question. Yes, through miraculous circumstances the house of Esther became in the possibility of putting things back straight. But G-d would not be G-d if He would not present it within the kind of freedom He is so well-known about throughout the Judaic world. As such, in a veiled manner of perception, every individual kept his/her free will, to choose this or that. No one was pushed into one decision only, just as was the case in the time of king Saul. After all, no one was aware of what was about to happen truly. Mordechai had to rely on what he heard at the king's gate from a possible third person unless Bigthan and Teresh could not have seen him sitting, and would therefore have thus been not aware of his presence. Or as some suggest, that they wrongly thought that he could not understand them. But, based on the English phrasing of the sentence, we perhaps may fairly accept that another person told Mordechai about the intentional plan to murder the king. As a result in either way, he told Esther, who had to rely on the honesty of that same third personality, and the king had to rely on Esther's word, already queen Esther. At the end, the matter became proven right. So, not Mordechai nor Esther and certainly not that unknown person had to do what they all did. Neither had the king to accept it and order an investigation into the matter. They all freely choose what they thought was the right thing to do at that moment. And it was right and just to act as they did in the given circumstances!!

(If you want to read the entire revised study, then please feel free to follow this link: http://users.skynet.be/JT/NewDesign/Words/Esther/Esthercenter.html -- Thank you)