- Oct 2, 2011
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Esther 2:
Hegai was in charge of the chosen virgins in the harem.2 Then the king’s attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king, 3 and let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom to assemble all the beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments. 4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti.”
After spending a night with Xerxes, her status changed. She returned to a different spot of the harem.12 In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months. 13 When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14 She would go there in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem
She was then a concubine of Xerxes. Shaashgaz was in charge of the concubines in the second harem.under the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines.
That's her first meeting with the king. If she impressed him, he would call her again.She would not return to the king unless he delighted in her and summoned her by name.
17 And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all of the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.
- Beautiful young women were chosen from different provinces in Xerxes' kingdom to live in the harem in Susa.
- A year later, each virgin was to spend a night with the king. She became a concubine and lived in the second harem.
- When a concubine repeatedly pleased Xerxes, he chose her to be queen and moved her to the royal palace.