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To start with, the Bible says the king was Ahasuerus. Lots of scholars have equated that guy with Xerxes, but some disagree. Maybe it was the same guy but maybe not.
Anyway, to answer your question, I used to struggle with that because I couldn't see why God would let Esther participate in adultery and then use her in a marvelous way to save the Jews. It seemed to me that she ought to have taken a stand, refused to have sex with the king, and allowed herself to be martyred, much like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were willing to go to the fiery furnace. For this reason I was confused and frustrated by the book of Esther for a long time. Then I attended a Bible study and someone suggested, maybe by being taken in to the palace, she was officially considered one of the king's wives. So even though the king was a serious adulterer, each woman who had sex with him was in fact his wife and was therefore not committing adultery. I'm not sure this is the right answer, but at least it helped me think that maybe there is an explanation to this.

June 15 2019 • Report