What were they doing there?

We covered Esther Ch2 this morning. Something I'd never noticed before was that Mordicai, and therefore Esther, were related to Saul, the first king of Israel. That connection was probably quite distant. But a closer relative was Shimei, who cursed David when he had to leave Jerusalem. The question is what were Mordicai and Esther still doing in the capital of Persia when many Jews had already made their way back to Israel?

One suggestion is that they were doing quite well in Persia. They were in the capital, they were probably quite well off relatively speaking. Had they sold out to the Persian lifestyle? Had they forgotten their heritage, at least as the story begins? Here's another possibility. Maybe it was known that Mordicai had influential, even Royal, connections. So he had no been allowed to return with other exiles, lest he be involved in fermenting rebellion in the empire. In any case, here we have two of the more resourceful of God's people, just where they needed to be. The miracle that is the tapestry of providence.