“She pleased him and won his favor..”
Character is defined as, “the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual”. We read about all of the great people in the Bible such as Moses, Joshua, and many other great Israelite leaders and we get a glimpse of their character. In chapter two of Esther, we get a small glimpse into Esther’s character.
For a review, let us start with the circumstances. First, King Xerxes was having all the beautiful virgins being paraded in front of him and he was to pick a new queen. Now I can guess this was not a very happy place to be for a young women. Being stripped away from your house and made to go through 12 months of beauty treatments just to be paraded in front of the king does not sound like a great time. The Bible says that many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Hegai was a eunuch in charge of all the things women did for the king. Esther pleased him, won his favor, and as a result she was given special treatment immediately. She was assigned seven female attendants and placed in the best spot in the harem.
When it was Esther’s turn to visit the king, she again won the favor of everyone who saw her. (verse 15). She also won the favor of the king and he approved of her more than any of the other women. Thus, Xerxes made her the queen. This played out well when Mordecai uncovered a plot to kill the king and he told Esther. The plot was uncovered and the men were impaled on poles. She gives all the credit to Mordecai, her uncle, for finding out about the plot.
Esther is queen of Persia and her uncle is a high ranking official for the king. Esther had a habit of winning everyone over and as a result, she was given favor wherever she was at. Esther’s character is not directly talked about but we can read about how her actions resulted in everyone giving her favor no matter where she was.
What is the result of your character? Can you look back and see a history of favor from people in your life or do you look back and see strife? For some of us, we look back and find broken pieces of lives in our wake. For some, we find scattered dreams and broken promises littered on the path we have chosen. Esther was a woman of God and she displayed grace and peace no matter where she was. Thus, God blessed her with favor in the eyes of fellow Jews and everyone around her. If you look around and see destruction, arguments, nasty behavior, ill treatment, anger and so on then you might just be ripe for a makeover.
Pray today for God to show you how to treat people the way Jesus treated everyone, with grace and truth. He gave us enough grace to cover any wrong doing along with enough truth not to get walked on. Even in an ungodly harem, Ester won favor in the eyes of the people around her. It may be time for you to start making that your goal and stop being someone who leaves a wake of destruction and anger in your past.
Let It Go 
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