Did Esther Have Sex With Xerxes Before They Were Married?
- Edward D. Andrews
- 15 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Reading Esther 2 With Historical-Grammatical Care
The question turns on what the text actually says, what Persian royal practice involved, and what the biblical writer intends the reader to understand by the language of “going in” to the king and being taken into the “house of the women.” Esther is set in the Persian court, where the king’s household functioned with structures very different from Israelite family life. The narrative is not a romance. It is a court account that shows how a young Jewish woman, living among the exiles, is swept into a royal system she did not design and could not control. The writer reports what happened with restraint, but the details given are not vague. They are precisely the kind of details that, in the ancient world, signaled sexual access and royal selection.
The key section is Esther 2:12–18. The women undergo a long period of preparation, then each has a turn to go to the king, and afterward she does not return to the same place but is transferred to a different residence for women. The writer distinguishes two locations: the first is the initial “house of the women” under Hegai (Esther 2:8, 2:12–14). After the night with the king, the woman is moved to the “second house of the women” under Shaashgaz (Esther 2:14). The text explains the meaning of that second placement: she would not come to the king again unless he delighted in her and she was summoned by name (Esther 2:14). In other words, the first visit is not an interview. It is a consummated royal encounter that, for most women, ends with permanent relegation to the status of a concubine, dependent on the king’s occasional summons.
What The Text Implies By “Went In” And By The Second House Of The Women
Esther 2:13–14 describes the process plainly: “In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women … She would not go in to the king again unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.” In royal contexts, “go in to” a man is standard biblical language for sexual relations. It is used repeatedly in Scripture as a modest expression for intercourse. For example, Jacob “went in to” Rachel (Genesis 29:23, 29:30), and the same idiom is used broadly throughout the Old Testament in contexts that are clearly sexual. The Esther narrator uses the same restrained idiom, and then he adds the structural detail that confirms the meaning: the woman’s status changes the next morning, and her access to the king becomes exceptional rather than routine. That is exactly what would be expected after sexual initiation into the king’s harem.
The narrative also emphasizes the year-long beautification regimen, including six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics (Esther 2:12). This is not a preparation for a banquet conversation. It is preparation for being presented as sexually available to the king. The language remains dignified, but it is not ambiguous.
When Esther’s turn comes, the writer states, “Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus … in the tenth month” (Esther 2:16). Then, “The king loved Esther more than all the women … so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen” (Esther 2:17). In context, the “love” described is not covenantal, God-centered marital love in the Israelite sense. It is the king’s favored affection expressed through choosing her as queen from among the women who had already been brought to him. The sequence the narrative has already established is evening entrance, morning return to the second house, and only later possible summons. Esther is chosen because the king delights in her and elevates her, but the text has already defined what the “turn” involved.
Were They “Married” Before That Night, Or Did That Night Function As Royal Marriage?
If the question is, “Did Esther have sex with Xerxes before a wedding ceremony like an Israelite marriage?” the court setting itself answers: Persian kings did not operate by Israel’s covenant patterns. Esther is not portrayed as negotiating a betrothal. She is “taken” (Esther 2:8, 2:16), language that emphasizes her lack of control. The king’s decision makes her queen. The public celebration comes after: “Then the king gave a great banquet … Esther’s banquet … and he granted a remission of taxes … and gave gifts with royal generosity” (Esther 2:18). The feast is the announcement and celebration of what the king has already decided, not a prerequisite that protects Esther from what the harem system required.
If the question is, “Were they married when she went in to him?” the answer depends on what one means by “married.” In Persian royal terms, her presentation to the king and his subsequent claiming of her as queen is the act that establishes her status. The narrative does not describe a prior covenantal ceremony. It describes a royal selection process that includes a night with the king and then, in Esther’s case, a formal elevation. The text does not present this as premarital intimacy chosen by Esther. It presents it as the machinery of a pagan empire.
Moral And Spiritual Clarity Without Forcing The Text To Say What It Does Not Say
Some readers feel pressure to either defend Esther as though the Persian harem were morally clean, or to condemn her as though she were acting with full freedom. Neither response fits the text. Esther is a Jewish woman in exile, under a system where refusal is not portrayed as a real option. Esther 2 repeatedly uses passive, coerced language: she was gathered; she was taken; she was brought. The story is not endorsing Persian sexual ethics. It is reporting what happened in a fallen world dominated by imperial power. Scripture often records sinful structures without approving them. The book of Esther does not sanitize the court. It exposes its instability, its vanity, and its capacity for injustice, even while showing how Jehovah can advance His purposes in hostile environments, without needing to be named explicitly in every verse.
It also matters that Esther’s Jewish identity is concealed at Mordecai’s direction until the right moment (Esther 2:10, 2:20). She is not portrayed as advertising her faith or negotiating Torah observance in the harem. The narrative tension comes from survival under domination. When the crisis arrives, Esther must choose whether to identify with Jehovah’s people at great personal risk (Esther 4:13–16). The book highlights courage and costly loyalty, not sexual freedom.
What Can Be Said With Scriptural Support
The strongest statement the text supports is that Esther participated in the standard process by which women were presented to the king, a process that included a night with him, after which most women lived as concubines and were seldom summoned again (Esther 2:12–14). Esther’s experience culminated in her being loved, favored, crowned, and publicly celebrated as queen (Esther 2:17–18). The idiom of “going in” and the structural distinction between the first and second house of the women indicates sexual relations occurred in that process (Esther 2:13–14, 2:16–17). Beyond that, Scripture does not invite imaginative reconstruction. The narrative gives sufficient detail to understand what happened without indulging curiosity.
About the Author
EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 220+ books. In addition, Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).
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