Question from the Sermon on Nov 25, 2018: “How did Mordecai have access to the queen?”
Given King’s Xerxes’ desire to protect his harem and queen, few had access to them other than the king himself. Those with access were eunichs, those who were unable to ‘spoil the goods.’ Yet, Esther 2:22 tells us Mordecai was able to tell the Queen about the assassination plot. How he had access to the queen is, indeed, a great question. While the Bible does not itself tell us any details about this interaction, one will have to make some assumptions. However, I do not want to just give an opinion; I want my opinion to be based upon research resulting in an informed conclusion (an educated guess).
Mordecai’s job involved sitting at the King’s Gate (Est 2:19). The gate was not only a mere door, but rather was an entire building, which was large, consisting of a central hall that led into the royal compound and two rectangular side rooms (Prudence, 1992, p216). Since the Queen would spend time in the royal compound, she could choose to visit with her family, especially when he works in the same building. After all, who’s going to tell the Queen ‘no?’
Mordecai also routinely checked up on Esther to see how she was doing (Est 2:11). In this instance Mordecai walked near the courtyard of the harem, which was more heavily guarded (the Queen had more freedom to access the palace because she was the Queen, those in the harem had more restrictions).
It is my belief - written in pencil as I reserve the right to erase and rewrite a different one later - that the Queen was able to have access to Mordecai, not necessarily the other way around, and during her visit with her adopted father, Mordecai was able to inform her about the assassination plot.
References
Jobes, Karen, “Esther: The NIV Application Commentary,” Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI, 1999.
Prudence, Harper, “The Royal City of Susa,” New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, 1992.