In chapter 2, physical beauty and sexual attraction become once again major themes of the story. In chapter 1, the author informed us that Vashti was stunning. After her removal from royalty, the king’s attendants seek attractive young virgins from all the provinces of the empire and bring them to the citadel of Susa. Following twelve months of beauty treatments, these young women are to be presented to the king as would-be queens (2:2–4). The young virgins who have been chosen for the royal pageant are confined inside the palace and triply secure in the citadel of Susa, in the royal harem, under the watchful eye of a eunuch named Hegai. Once in the harem, the young women seemingly have very little contact with the outside world (2:11).

Mordecai the Jew (2:5; 5:13), of the tribe of Benja…