The Miss Persia Pageant

Continuing from yesterday, we find that Esther was one selected to appear before the king and was put in the charge of a eunuch named Hegai. The words “was taken” in 2:8 could suggest a reluctance on her part and can be translated “taken by force”. In the end Esther found grace in the eyes of Hegai who was the Eunuch in charge of the contestants. In fact the text literally reads that, “she lifted up grace before his face”. Now there is a total package in a woman…beauty and grace. What a powerful combination. But you know what the real reason was for her finding grace in the eyes of Hegai? Because once again, God, though not mentioned by name, was working behind the scenes.

But along with being a young woman of beauty and grace (outward and inward beauty) there is another quality that Esther possessed that is well worth mentioning. She was teachable. Upon Mordecai’s advice, Esther was teachable and obedient and did not reveal her Jewish heritage (v10). This again was God working behind the scenes. He had a plan and he was putting the pieces into just the right place at just the right time. And He wasn’t just doing this in the case of Esther. Listen, He is dong the same thing behind the scenes in your life today as well.

Now this beauty pageant in Persia involving Esther was quite different than any we have witnessed today. We have seen some controversy surrounding beauty pageants, but not like this one. The last Miss America pageant made all kinds of waves recently when Miss California lost in large part do to her stated belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman. But this pageant was even more stunning. This didn’t include the normal evening gown and swimsuit portion of the judging. This pageant did not include answering softball type questions like, “If you had one wish what would you wish for?” Which the correct answer is always, “world peace!”

This pageant started with a 12-month purification process which included extensive beauty treatments…a full year’s worth. Then, each young woman was given whatever she wanted to wear including all the accompanying accessories, and then each of them spent one night with the king. Now if you think the modern day swimsuit portion of beauty pageants are scandalous, you would have really disapproved of the rules to this pageant. This was not simply a night of dinner and dancing with the king. According to verse 14, each contestant would go visit the king in the evening and not return until the morning. Now with that in mind, it is fairly easy to conclude what these women were being judged upon. And this would not be a quick pageant. The historian, Josephus, says that up to 400 women were involved. Was this moral? Of course not. But to me, that is an amazing part of God that we see in this book. He can even work behind the scenes when holiness and righteousness are not being pursued.

When it came Esther’s turn to be with the king, she requested nothing extra, only what was given to her by Hegai (v15). And it appears that upon their first meeting, the king falls in love with Esther. Learn more in my posting tomorrow.