He was persuaded by
the satraps that her example would teach all other ladies to think for
themselves, which did not suit these selfish men, who did not care to
have a wife for a help-meet, but only for a slave and toy; so that poor
Vashti was set aside and degraded for being a modest woman; and the
tyrant sent and swept away every beautiful girl from her home, to be
brought to his palace on trial, and if she did not become queen, to be
a slave for ever. Thus the young Benjamite orphan, Esther, whom her
kinsman, Mordecai, had tenderly trained in the right way, was taken
away, never to see his face again, but to live in the multitude of
slavish heathen women, who were taught no kind of employment, and
thought even spinning and embroidery unworthy of a queen. But even the
king's passion was made to serve God's ends. It was for no vain purpose
that the noble beauty of the family of Saul had come down to Esther, and
though she alone demanded no ornaments to set her off to advantage, she
was the only maiden who took the king's fancy. Mordecai, her cousin,
soon after found out a plot against the king's life, and sending her
warning, she told the king, and he was thus saved.
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