The Book of Esther
Esther 2
Chapter II · Vol. II, pp. 926–930
1 Out of the choice of virgins a queen is to be chosen. 5 Mordecai the nursing father of Esther. 8 Esther is preferred by Hegai before the rest. 12 The manner of purification, and going in to the king. 15 Esther best pleasing him, is made queen. 21 Mordecai discovering a treason, is recorded in the chronicles.
1 After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he aremembered Vashti,1 and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
B.C. 515 or 459.
a Da.6.18. ch.6.1.
1 Not that he had forgotten her, for if he had, his wrath had no object; but he now remembers her with returning tenderness, and the judges who had pronounced sentence against her are anxious to prevent her restoration, lest it might lead to their dismissal or punishment.—C.
2 Then said the king's bservants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:
b ch.1.16; 6.5.
3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather2 together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody3 of cHege the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women;4 and let their dthings for purification5 be given them:
2 This proposal was perhaps intended to divert the king's thoughts. It was, however, the usual way in which the harem or seraglio was furnished; the finest women in the land, whether of high or low degree, were sought out and brought to the harem. They all became the king's concubines; but one was raised as chief wife or sultana to the throne, and her issue was specially entitled to inherit.—I.
3 Heb. unto the hand.
c Or, Hegai, ver.8.
4 There is still an officer in the Persian court called Daroga, and his authority over the harem is next to that of the king.—C.
d Or, ornaments, ver.12-14. Is.3.18-23.
5 Baths, unguents, and in modern language all the necessaries of an eastern toilette.—C.
4 And let the maiden which pleaseth the king hbe queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.
5 Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain iJew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;
i ver.15; ch.3.3; 8.2; 10.3.
6 Whok had been carried away from Jerusalem6 with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.
k 2 Ki.24.6,15. 2 Ch.36.10. Je.24.1.
6 That is, not Mordecai, but Kish, who had been carried away. This must be the meaning, as this event occurred about 140 years after the time of Jeconiah's captivity.—C.
7 And he brought up7 Hadassah, (that is, Esther,l) his uncle's daughter; for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful:8 whom Mordecai (when her father and mother were dead) took for his own daughter.
7 Heb. nourished.
A.M. 3489 B.C. 515
l Da.1.7; v.; 8.15-17. ch.iv.-viii.
8 Heb. fair of form, and good of countenance.
8 So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai,m that Esther was brought also unto the king's house,9 to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.
m ver.3.
9 Some have accused Mordecai of permitting Esther to be taken; the Jews, in extenuation, say he hid her, but she was discovered. But, whatever may have been Mordecai's wishes, he had no power to resist an absolute monarch.—Note, How grateful should we feel for a government where the law is above the king, as well as the subjects, and God and Scripture above every human law!—C.
9 And the maiden pleased him, and she obtainedn kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her,1 and seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king's house: and he preferred2 her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women.
n Ge.39.21. 1 Ki.8.50. Ne.2.8. Ps.106.46. Pr.16.7. Da.1.9. ver.15,17.
1 Heb. her portions.
2 Heb. he changed her. [In the Persian harem the chief eunuch or keeper is a person of great importance. Next to that of the king himself, it is the interest of the women to endeavour to secure his favour, as their comfort is very much in his power.—I.]
10 Esther had not showed her people, nor her kindred:3 for Mordecai had charged her that she oshould not show it.
11 And Mordecai pwalked every day before the court of the women's house, to know4 how Esther did, and what should become of her.5
p Jn.10.23.
4 Heb. to know the peace of.
5 There can be no difficulty in understanding how Esther might communicate with Mordecai, when the kindness of Hegai is recollected, ver. 9.—C.
12 Now, when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)
13 Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was given her, to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house.
14 In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house6 of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz the king's chamberlain, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name.
6 The house of the concubines. The Persian monarch seems to have had but one wife, at least but one in chief favour and esteem with him, though he must have had many secondary wives or concubines. This was the name of every one that was taken from among the virgins (who had a separate house for themselves), and conducted to the king's bed; where, having passed a night, she returned no more to the virgins' apartments, but was the next morning received into the house of the concubines, and there treated in the state and port of one of the king's wives; for such they were accounted. No man was permitted to marry them as long as the king lived; and upon his demise they generally fell to his successor. Of these Darius Nothus is reckoned to have had no less than 360.—Poole.
15 Now when the qturn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail, rthe uncle of Mordecai, (who had taken her for his daughter,) was come to go in unto the king, she srequired nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed: and Esther tobtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.
16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus, into his house-royal, in the utenth month, (which is the month Tebeth,) in the seventh year of his reign.6
u With ch.1.7; 8.9.
6 The divorce of Vashti took place in the third year of Ahasuerus, and Esther's accession four years after. C.——It was in the seventh year of his reign Xerxes returned from his unsuccessful and disastrous expedition against Greece. Humiliated as a soldier, it was quite characteristic of an eastern despot to drown his cares in revelry and licentiousness. In the third year of his reign he dethroned and divorced Vashti; from that time till the seventh year he had been immersed in war, and had no time to think of domestic matters.—P.
17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and 7favour xin his sight more than all the virgins; so that he yset the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18 Then the king zmade a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast; and he made a 8release9 to the provinces, and agave gifts, according to the state of the king.
z ch.1.3,5. Ge.29.22. Ju.14.10,17.
8 Heb. rest.
9 A remission of taxes, or release of prisoners.—C.
a Ne.8.12. ch.9.22.
19 And when the virgins were gathered together the second time,1 then Mordecai sat in the king's2 gate.3
1 They had first been collected when Vashti was made queen; now, the second time, at the selection of Esther.—C.
2 Had some office there.
3 Hence some think he was one of the porters; but this does not follow from his sitting in the gate; it rather conveys the idea of some judicial dignity, or official appointment about the court and person of the king, probably obtained through the influence of Esther with Hegai, through whose kindness, as is evident from ver. 22, Mordecai kept up a correspondence, or obtained an interview with his lovely and obedient relative.—C.
20 Esther had bnot yet showed her kindred nor her people, as Mordecai had charged her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as when she was brought up with him.
b ver.10.
21 In those days, (while Mordecai sat in the king's gate,) two of the king's chamberlains, cBigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door,4 were dwroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.
22 And the thing was eknown to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the king thereof in fMordecai's name.
23 And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both ghanged on a tree:5 and it was hwritten in the book of the Chronicles before the king.
Notes
Reflections.—What is done in haste and passion issues in bitter repentance and grief. And what odd shifts crafty courtiers will take to avoid coming under the power of a female whom they have injured. Yea, men will practise the greatest extravagance and wickedness to gratify their fleshly lusts. Surely we may here observe the need there was of the gospel, in order to reduce men to the observance even of the plainest laws of nature: and at the same time we discern the wisdom of God in carrying on his wise and holy designs by means of the most simple methods. What care he takes of orphans and fatherless! And great is the care which men ought to take of them. Yea, it is comely when near relations have a tender and fixed regard for one another. Great prudence is sometimes necessary to enable us to discern what truths may be told, and what concealed, without bordering on falsehood. And the guardians of virgins ought to take the greatest care of them, especially if they are brought into slippery and dangerous situations. How strangely God brings treasonable plots to light! And it is an advantage for courts to have faithful attendants; and very honourable to risk our own life for the sake of our sovereign, even when we have no prospect of reward.