Strange Story: Esther 2 – This Was Not a Beauty Contest; It Was a Test of Character
Of course the new queen would be beautiful; that was assumed. But what the king was after was someone that “looked good” on the inside as well as the outside.
If he was most interested in inner beauty, why all the emphasis on beauty treatments?
One possibility for why a year-long process was needed was because they were doing more than just opening the pores of the skin and making a beautiful appearance even more beautiful; they were trying to look inside the mind of each girl and evaluate her character.
If this was true, then it was more than a beauty contest, it was a test of character and perception of reality. However, they could not make known what the king’s true intentions were, or the women would tell him what they thought he wanted to hear. So outwardly they kept the emphasis on physical beauty.
If you put that many 13 year old girls, think 8th grader girls, together in close quarters, you are sure to have all kinds of “interesting” interpersonal issues develop. To say it another way, I worked for two years in an inner-city middle school, so I know how girls fight compared to how boys fight. It was much easier to deal with the boys who were driven by their pride, than the girls who were driven by their emotions. Unbeknown to the virgins gathered in the capital of Persia, they were being watched carefully to see how they handled all those “situations”.
Up to that point a girl had spent most of her time at home under the protective eye of her father and the purposeful tutelage of her mother. Now she was suddenly thrown into a situation in which there was no adult present to continue her formation and development. It was like putting her in a public middle school setting, but she never went home; she lived at the middle school 24/7. Now her primary influencers were other eighth grade girls. In those types of settings, the negative influencers can usually take advantage of the situation more than the positive influencers. This gave the eunuchs plenty of opportunity to see what these girls were made of.
Esther 2:9 tells us that Esther pleased the head eunuch. She must have done this right at the very beginning because it says he immediately provided her with the skin treatments described in verse 12 and special food (which is not described) and he also assigned 7 hand maids to her and together they were moved into the best place in the harem. In other words she made a first impression on him that made her his favorite. I doubt that was accomplished just with her physical beauty. I envision it happening something like this. As the new batch of virgins arrived, the head eunuch announced that the shipment of skin treatments had not yet arrived and so they were low on supplies. Therefore, some would have to wait a few days or more to start their skin treatments. In response, many of the girls clamored for the coveted oil and demanded that they get it first. I envision Esther doing the opposite, she backed away from the clamor and kept quiet. This won the respect of the head Eunuch who rewarded her immediately as described above.
But why would a girl in a setting where all her needs were provided need 7 hand maids? I think this was part of the test of character. The head eunuch’s perception that she might make a better candidate for queen than the others meant he had to test her more severely than the others. He had to do this in order to do his job properly. The passage sounds like the things he gave her were special privileges and special treatment, and they were. But those things would bring contempt from the other girls and more opportunity for the Eunuch to see what she was made of.
I believe the head eunuch and his staff of eunuchs were also watching to see how the young ladies treated the maids that were placed under them. Few things reveal more about a person than how they treat the “insignificant” people around them.
One would think that the other girls would see how the head eunuch rewarded Esther’s selflessness, and seek to do the same, but they probably accused him of favoritism. The way this beauty contest placed a constant emphasis on physical beauty was all that they could think about.
What’s more, I believe most of these young ladies were from the middle or lower classes because the upper class had become corrupted by a form of feminism, as exemplified by the former queen, Vashti. Therefore, they were also being watched to see how they would handle being thrust into the lap of luxury. If their eyes were on gaudiness, what we call bling, it would show in several ways, including what they chose to take with them when they went to the king.
It was a year of testing on a daily basis without even knowing it. The girls thought it was all about physical beauty, but it was not. The eunuchs acted like evaluators who graded daily attitudes and actions, while the king gave the final exam. I imagine that the king and his advisors had come up with a final test that he could give each virgin as she came to him which would give him a good picture of what was in her mind and heart (not a written test, but situations he placed her in).
After spending one night with the king, they went to stay at a different place, for two reasons. First, they were no longer virgins and were considered concubines (Esther 2:14), but secondly, they would not be able to tell the others what to expect when they were with the king. They could not tell others that is was about character, not beauty.
The king did not seem to be in a hurry to choose a new queen. Vashti was deposed in the third year of King Xerxes reign and Esther was chosen in October of the seventh year. This agrees with my theory that the king was not looking for physical beauty, but for someone who was fitting to be queen in a number of ways. He was looking for character. He did not want another bad experience with a queen who would not fulfill her role properly. In such a large kingdom, it was no challenge at all to find a beautiful girl who could give the king a good time in the bedroom; but it proved to be a huge challenge to find a young lady with the character traits he was looking for.
SPIRITUAL LESSONS FOR TODAY
Character and good attitudes should be shown always; we never know when someone might be watching us. If I am right with my test of character idea, none of the girls knew they were being watched for character traits, but Esther had a solid moral core and remained true to it.
Don’t let what others are doing shape your own actions and attitudes. When Esther found herself in the harem during the year of beauty treatments, everyone was trying to gain an advantage in whatever way possible. That is, everyone except Esther.
Even in the situations when no one expects to find a person with good attitudes, be that person anyway.
How we treat those who don’t like us and how we treat the insignificant people under us are very important things. These two things will demonstrate whether our focus is on us, or on others.