Esther 2 commentary

ESTHER 2 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Esther Made Queen
1 Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided, he
remembered Vashti and what she had done and
what he had decreed about her.
BAR ES, "These events must belong to the time between the great assembly held at
Susa in Xerxes’ third year (483 B.C.), and the departure of the monarch on his
expedition against Greece in his fifth year, 481 B.C.
GILL, "After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was
appeased,.... Which went off with his wine, and so was quickly after, a few days at
most, unless this can be understood as after the expedition of Xerxes into Greece, from
whence he returned to Shushan, in the seventh year of his reign; and if he is the
Ahasuerus here meant, he married Esther that year, Est_2:16 and it seems certain, that
after his expedition he gave himself up to his amours, and in his way to Sardis he fell in
love with his brother's wife, and then with his daughter (b):
he remembered Vashti; her beauty, and was grieved, as Jarchi observes, that she was
removed from him; and so Josephus says (c), that he passionately loved her, and could
not bear parting with her, and therefore was grieved that he had brought himself into
such difficulties: the Targumists carry it further, and say that he was wroth with those
that advised him to it, and ordered them to be put to death, and that they were:
and what she had done; that it was a trivial thing, and not deserving of such a
sentence as he had passed upon her; that it was not done from contempt of him, but
from modesty, and a strict regard to the laws of the Persians:
and what was decreed against her; that she should come no more before him, but
be divorced from him; the thought of which gave him great pain and uneasiness.
HE RY, "How God put down one that was high and mighty from her seat we read in
the chapter before, and are now to be told how he exalted one of low degree, as the virgin
Mary observes in her song (Luk_1:52) and Hannah before her, 1Sa_2:4-8. Vashti being

humbled for her height, Esther is advanced for her humility. Observe,
I. The extravagant course that was taken to please the king with another wife instead
of Vashti. Josephus says that when his anger was over he was exceedingly grieved that
the matter was carried so far, and would have been reconciled to Vashti but that, by the
constitution of the government, the judgment was irrevocable - that therefore, to make
him forget her, they contrived how to entertain him first with a great variety of
concubines, and then to fix him to the most agreeable of them all for a wife instead of
Vashti. The marriages of princes are commonly made by policy and interest, for the
enlarging of their dominions and the strengthening of their alliances; but this must be
made partly by the agreeableness of the person to the king's fancy, whether she was rich
or poor, noble or ignoble. What pains were taken to humour the king! As if his power
and wealth were given him for no other end than that he might have all the delights of
the sense wound up to the height of pleasurableness, and exquisitely refined, though at
the best they are but dross and dregs in comparison with divine and spiritual pleasures.
1. All the provinces of his kingdom must be searched for fair young virgins, and officers
appointed to choose them, Est_2:3. 2. A house (a seraglio) was prepared on purpose for
them, and a person appointed to have the charge of them, to see that they were well
provided for. 3. No less than twelve months was allowed them for their purification,
some of them at least who were brought out of the country, that they might be very
clean, and perfumed, Est_2:12. Even those who were the masterpieces of nature must
yet have all this help from art to recommend them to a vain and carnal mind. 4. After the
king had once taken them to his bed, they were made recluses ever after, except the king
pleased at any time to send for them (Est_2:14); they were looked upon as secondary
wives, were maintained by the king accordingly, and might not marry. We may see, by
this instance, to what absurd practices those came who were destitute of divine
revelation, and who, as a punishment for their idolatry, were given up to vile affections.
Having broken through that law of creation which resulted from God's making man,
they broke through another law, which was founded upon his making one man and one
woman. See what need there was of the gospel of Christ to purify men from the lusts of
the flesh and to reduce them to the original institution. Those that have learned Christ
will think it a shame even to speak of such things as these which were done of them, not
only in secret, but avowedly, Eph_5:12.
II. The overruling providence of God thus brining Esther to be queen. Had she been
recommended to Ahasuerus for a wife, he would have rejected the motion with disdain;
but when she came in her turn, after several others, and it was found that though many
of them were ingenious and discreet, graceful and agreeable, yet Esther excelled them
all, way was made for her, even by her rivals, into the king's affections and the honours
consequent thereupon. It is certain, as bishop Patrick says, that those who suggest that
she committed a great sin to come at this dignity do not consider the custom of those
times and countries. Every one that the king took to his bed was married to him, and was
his wife of a lower rank, as Hagar was Abraham's; so that, if Esther had not been made
queen, the sons of Jacob need not say that he dealt with their sister as with a harlot.
Concerning Esther we must observe,
JAMISO , "Est_2:1-20. Esther chosen to be queen.
After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased — On
recovering from the violent excitement of his revelry and rage, the king was pierced with
poignant regret for the unmerited treatment he had given to his beautiful and dignified
queen. But, according to the law, which made the word of a Persian king irrevocable, she
could not be restored. His counsellors, for their own sake, were solicitous to remove his

disquietude, and hastened to recommend the adoption of all suitable means for
gratifying their royal master with another consort of equal or superior attractions to
those of his divorced queen. In the despotic countries of the East the custom obtains that
when an order is sent to a family for a young damsel to repair to the royal palace, the
parents, however unwilling, dare not refuse the honor for their daughter; and although
they know that when she is once in the royal harem, they will never see her again, they
are obliged to yield a silent and passive compliance. On the occasion referred to, a
general search was commanded to be made for the greatest beauties throughout the
empire, in the hope that, from their ranks, the disconsolate monarch might select one
for the honor of succeeding to the royal honors of Vashti. The damsels, on arrival at the
palace, were placed under the custody of “Hege, the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the
women,” that is, the chief eunuch, usually a repulsive old man, on whom the court ladies
are very dependent, and whose favor they are always desirous to secure.
K&D 1-4, "When, after these things, the wrath of King Ahashverosh was laid ( ְ‫ּך‬‫שׁ‬,
from ְ‫ך‬ ַ‫כ‬ ָ‫,שׁ‬ to be sunk, spoken of wrath to be laid), he remembered Vashti and what she
had done, and what was decreed against her (‫ר‬ַ‫ז‬ָ, to determine, to decree irrevocably;
comp. ‫ה‬ ָ‫ר‬ֵ‫ז‬ְ, Dan_4:14); a desire for reunion with her evidently making itself felt,
accompanied perhaps by the thought that she might have been too harshly treated. To
prevent, then, a return of affection for his rejected wife ensuing, - a circumstance which
might greatly endanger all who had concurred in effecting her repudiation, - the servants
of the king, i.e., the court officials who were about him, said: “Let there be young
maidens, virgins fair to look on, sought for the king.” ‫ּות‬‫ל‬‫תוּ‬ ְ , virgins, is added to ‫ּות‬‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬ְ‫,נ‬ the
latter word signifying merely young women of marriageable age. Est_2:3. “And let the
king appoint (‫ד‬ ֵ‫ק‬ ְ‫פ‬ַ‫י‬ְ‫ו‬ is the continuation of ‫שׁוּ‬ ְ ַ‫ב‬ְ‫)י‬ officers in all the provinces of his
kingdom, that they may gather together every virgin who is fair to look on to the citadel
of Susa, to the house of the women, unto the hand of Hega the king's eunuch, the keeper
of the women, and let them appoint their things for purification; and let the maiden
which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti.” To the hand of Hega, i.e., to his care
and superintendence, under which, as appears from Est_2:12, every maiden received
into the house of the women had to pass a year before she was brought before the king.
Hega (called Hegai, Est_2:8 and Est_2:15) was an eunuch, the keeper of the women, i.e.,
superintendent of the royal harem. ‫ּון‬‫ת‬ָ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬ is the infin. abs., used instead of the verb. fin. to
give prominence to the matter: let them appoint. ‫ום‬ ִ‫ק‬ ֻ‫ר‬ ְ‫מ‬ ַ , from ‫ק‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ‫,מ‬ to rub, to polish,
signifies purification and adornment with all kind of precious ointments; comp. Est_
2:12. This speech pleased the king, and he acted accordingly.
BE SO , "Esther 2:1. He remembered Vashti — With grief and shame, that in his
wine and rage he had so severely punished, and so irrevocably rejected, so beautiful
and desirable a person, and that for so small a provocation, to which she was easily
led by the modesty of her sex and by the laws and customs of Persia.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
ESTHER BECOMES QUEE I STEAD OF VASHTI

This chapter takes us into the seraglio of Xerxes, an ancient Persian ruler, most
certainly one of the vilest cesspools of immorality, selfishness, greed, hatred,
wickedness, lust and shame that existed in the ancient pagan world.
In order to protect and preserve the chosen people, God worked His will in the lives
of the evil men who controlled and directed the affairs related in this chapter. It is
somewhat distressing to this writer that there is almost no word of condemnation in
the commentaries we have consulted regarding this festering Satanic ulcer on the
body of the human race, called Shushan the palace. Yes, we know that Solomon did
it also, but it was still sinful, a rebellion against God that cried to high heaven for
vengeance.
Esther 2:16 tells us that Esther became queen in Xerxes' seventh year; and, as the
great feast mentioned in the previous chapter was in his third year (Esther 1:3), we
must understand a time lapse of some four years in between Esther 1 and Esther 2.
During this period, Xerxes fought the Grecian war.
Although the military expedition against Greece was principally concluded in the
years 481-479 B.C.,[1] the greater portion of the entire four-year gap between the
punishment of Vashti and the coronation of Esther were consumed by Xerxes'
preparations for the campaign, and by his efforts to cover some of his losses
afterward.
That Grecian campaign was an unqualified disaster for Xerxes: (1) At
Thermopylae, a handful of Spartans under Leonidas checked and delayed his
mighty army; and (2) later that same year Xerxes' navy of 1,400 ships was unable to
overcome 380 ships of the Greeks in the Battle of Salamis. (3) In 479 B.C., at
Plataea, "The bulk of the Persian army was destroyed. Meanwhile, the Greek fleet
commanded by the king of Sparta drove the Persian fleet to the Asian mainland at
Mycale. Leotychidas, the Spartan king, landed his sailors and marines farther up
the coast, destroyed the Persian fleet and inflicted heavy casualties on a supporting
army. The Ionians and the Aeolians at once rose in revolt, thus ending the Persian
invasion of Greece in the final disaster for Persia."[2]
After Xerxes' return to Shushan, Herodotus tells us that he consoled himself over
his shameful defeats by sensual indulgences with his harem.
THE SEARCH FOR A REPLACEME T FOR VASHTI
"After these things, when the wrath of king Ahashuerus was pacified, he
remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young
virgins sought for the king: and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of
his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan
the palace, unto the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegai the king's
chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given

them; and let the maiden that pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti."
"After these things ... he remembered Vashti." This means after the Grecian
campaign, and after Xerxes had begun to seek a more normal pattern of living.
Anderson viewed the last clause here as, "A subtle suggestion that the king desired
to reinstate Vashti, but he had signed an irrevocable decree against her."[3] This is
probably true, because his son, and heir, Artaxerxes I, born during the Grecian
campaign, or just prior to it, was now, no doubt a charming child of three or four
years of age. The king found himself a victim of his own drunken and extravagant
decree against Vashti; but there was nothing he could do about it.
Of course, he might have tried to reinstate Vashti, but the king's advisors, in such a
development, might easily have fallen under the severe wrath and punishment
inflicted upon them by a restored Vashti; therefore, they proposed this shameful
rape of all the pretty girls in Persia as a prerequisite for the choice of Vashti's
successor. Evil beast that he was, Xerxes liked the idea, "and the king did so"!
"And the king did so" (Esther 2:4). This means that they searched throughout the
vast domain of the Persian empire, and brought "all the fair young virgins to
Shushan" (Esther 2:3). "What unspeakable horror this must have caused among all
the beautiful young women of Persia! They were forcibly taken from their homes,
turned over to a eunuch in the house of the women, and secluded for life among the
wretched company of the king's concubines."[4] The king would gratify his lust
upon these girls, one each night, as they came to his bed. And then what happened?
They were returned to the harem, henceforth and forever mere chattels, his
property, having no more rights than one of the king's dogs.
Anderson wrote that, "Here the author ignored the Persian custom that stipulated
that the king could marry only a Persian,"[5] insinuating that this account is
founded, not on fact, but upon legend and folklore, but such opinions are in error,
reflecting only anti-Biblical bias. Yes, Herodotus states that there was such a
custom, but it was not the sacred author of Esther who ignored it - it was the wicked
Xerxes and his evil advisers. Xerxes' own father had married a foreigner; and any
notion that Xerxes would have honored such a custom is ridiculous.
Before leaving this paragraph, it should be noted that the young women thus
conscripted as subjects of the king's lust had no choice whatever in the matter. They
were ordered into the king's harem, from which they would never be able to escape.
TRAPP, "Esther 2:1 After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was
appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed
against her.
Ver. 1. After these things] After the wine was out, the fuel of his anger spent, and
the lust thereof satisfied.

When the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased] There is nothing that a man is
more ready to keep than his wrath; therefore the Hebrews put servare for servare
iram, to keep for to keep his anger, as Jeremiah 3:5, Psalms 103:9, Leviticus 19:18.
Ahasuerus, by invading Greece, had so incensed them, that their wrath αειµνηστος,
unappeasable, for they thenceforth hated all barbarians for the Persians’ sake, and
forbade them their sacrifices, as they used to do murderers. But Ahasuerus’s wrath
against Vashti was after a time assuaged.
He remembered Vashti] ot without some remorse, but without all true repentance.
He forsook not his rash anger as a sin, but regretted it for a time, and laid it asleep,
to be raked up again upon as slight an occasion. In graceless persons vitia raduntur,
non eradicantur; absconduntur saepius, non exscinduntur; vices may be barbed or
benumbed, not mastered and mortified. A merchant may part with his goods, and
yet not hate them. A man may part with his sins for self-respects, and yet retain his
affection to them; as Phaltiel did to Michal, when he went weeping after her afar off.
He may remember his Vashti, his bosom sins from which he seemeth divorced, and
by such a sinful remembering of them, recommit them. See Ezekiel 23:21 compared
with Esther 2:8.
And what was decreed against her] But whose fault was that? Wine and anger are
the worst of all counsellors, say the ancients? and Ahasuerus found it so; as did also
Alexander the Great, and many others, but all too late. Hence they came in
afterwards with their on putaram, Had I known; which Scipio said should never
be heard out of a great man’s mouth (Plutarch). Augustus also was wont to say, that
nothing doth so ill become a commander as hastiness and rashness (Sueton.). Cicero
taxeth him for a fool, qui eundem laedit et laudat, who first wrongeth a man, and
then commendeth him.
ELLICOTT, "(1) After these things.—We have seen that the great feast at Susa was
in the year 483 B.C. , and that in the spring of 481 B.C. Xerxes set out for Greece. At
some unspecified time, then, between these limits the proposal now started is to be
placed. The marriage of Esther, however (Esther 2:16), did not come about till after
the return from Greece, the king’s long absence explaining the otherwise curious
delay, and moreover, even in this interval, he was entangled in more than one illicit
connection.
CO STABLE, "1. The plan to replace Vashti2:1-4
" early four years have passed since Vashti was deposed. During that time,
Ahasuerus directed his ill-fated Greek campaign and came home in humiliation
instead of honor." [ ote: Ibid, p711.]
Ahasuerus had second thoughts about having deposed Vashti ( Esther 2:1), but he
concluded that the action he had taken against her needed to stand. The attendants"

plan doubtless appealed to the king"s ego ( Esther 2:2-4). The writer called these
men "attendants" rather than "princes" ( Esther 1:14). They were evidently not the
same individuals who had recommended Vashti"s dismissal.
LA GE, "Esther 2:1-4. Plan for procuring a new Queen.— The history which
informs us how Ahasuerus caused virgins to be brought together from all the parts
of his kingdom; how in consequence he loved Esther in the place of Vashti, begins
properly here, at the point when the anger of the king against Vashti had allayed,
and when he thought of what she had done, and what was determined respecting
her. In view of Esther 2:16 we would be led to assume, since Esther was brought to
the king’s palace in the seventh year, and the tenth month of the year, that now we
stand in the fifth or even the sixth year of the reign of Ahasuerus. Hence there
would be between Esther 1 (comp. Esther 2:3) and chap2 a period of nearly three
years. We may assume that it did not take longer than a half year to execute the
order here given; and the preparation of the virgins described in Esther 2:12 did not
continue more than a year. Meanwhile Ahasuerus was employed in Greece during
the sixth year of his reign, but he returned in the seventh. In all probability we are
still in the time of the Grecian war. We may also very naturally conclude that under
the circumstances many years were not suffered to pass before it was thought to find
a substitute for Vashti. This resolution was formed soon after the rejection of
Vashti, but its execution may have been delayed because of the newly undertaken
Grecian war. The literal meaning of Esther 2:1 seems to be that Ahasuerus rued in
his sober moments what had passed, that hence the fear might have arisen lest he
would now direct his anger from Vashti and let it fall upon his counsellors.
‫ְך‬ֹ ‫שׁ‬ from ‫,שׁכְך‬ to let down, to lie down, is here and in Esther 7:10, spoken of the
swellings of anger, in Genesis 8:1, of movements of water, and is related to ‫ַח‬‫ח‬ָ‫,שׁ‬ to
be low or become low.‫ַר‬‫ז‬ָ‫גּ‬ is to decide, to conclude firmly, irrevocably, comp. ‫ה‬ ָ‫ָר‬‫ז‬ְ‫גּ‬,
Daniel 4:14.
PULPIT, "THE QUEST FOR MAIDE S, A D THE CHOICE OF ESTHER TO
BE QUEE I VASHTI'S PLACE (Esther 2:1-18). Vashti having ceased to be
queen, Ahasuerus appears to have been in no haste to assign her dignity to any one
else. Probably there was no one among his other (secondary) wives of whom he was
specially fond, or who seemed to him pre-eminent above the rest. And he may even
have begun to relent in Vashti's favour (as seems to be somewhat obscurely
intimated in Esther 2:1), and to wish to take her back. Under these circumstances
the officers of his court would become alarmed. Vashti's disgrace had been their
doing, and her return to power would be likely to be followed by their own
dismissal, or even by their execution. They therefore came to Ahasuerus with a fresh
piece of advice: "Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king; let officers be
appointed in every province to select fitting damsels, and send them up to the court,
for the king to choose a wife from among them." So sensual a monarch as Xerxes
(Herod; 9:108) would be strongly tempted by such a proposal (Esther 2:2, Esther
2:3). Ahasnerus embraced it at once (Esther 2:4), and orders were given
accordingly. The quest began, and among other maidens selected by the officials as
worthy of the royal consideration, there happened to be a young Jewess, named

Hadassah, the cousin and adopted daughter of a Jew called Mordecai, a eunuch
attached to the court, who had a house in Susa. Hadassah was beautiful both in
form and face (verse 7), and having been selected by those whose business it was to
make the choice, was conducted to the palace, and placed under the care of Hegai,
the eunuch who had the charge of the virgins on their arrival (verse 8). Hadassah,
who on becoming an inmate of the palace received the Persian name of Esther (=
Stella), attracted at once the special regard of Hegai, who granted her various
favours (verse 9), and after she had been "purified" for a year (verse 12), sent her in
her turn to appear before the king (verse 16). The result was such as Hegai had
perhaps anticipated. Ahasuerus, preferring her to all his wives and to all the other
virgins, instantly made her his queen, placed the crown royal upon her head, and
celebrated the joyful occasion by a grand feast, and a general remission of taxation
for a specified period (verses 17, 18). Thus the humble Jewish maiden, the orphan
dependent for her living on a cousin's charity, became the first woman in all Persia-
the wife of the greatest of living monarchs—the queen of an empire which
comprised more than half of the known world.
Esther 2:1
After these things. Probably not very long after. Between the great assembly held in
Susa in Xerxes' third year, b.c. 483, and his departure for Greece, b.c. 481, was a
period of about two years, or a little more. The application of the officers must have
been made to him, and the directions to seek for virgins given, during this space.
Ahasuerus … remembered Vashti. With favour probably, or at any rate with regret
and relenting. His anger was appeased, and balancing what she had done in one
scale, and in the other what had been decreed against her, he may have begun to
question whether her punishment had not been too severe.
BI 1, "After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he
remembered Vashti.
Acting under the impulse of rage
The king had given full sway to his passion and wounded pride, and treated his wife with
great severity. In his moments of cool reflection he probably repented of the harshness
of his proceedings towards her. Excitement is a bad guide in human affairs. He who acts
under the impulse of rage is sure to be driven astray, even as a vessel in a storm is driven
to situations of embarrassment and peril. Man in wrath speaks freely and eloquently, but
never wisely, and he works with decision and energy, but who is benefited by his
operations? He doeth much, but uniformly to a bad purpose. (J. Hughes.)
Avenging memories
O, memory! thou art a bitter avenger. (T. McEwan.)
Bitter memories
Ah! these bitter memories of earth will be ingredients in the future cup of the penal

suffering of the lost. (T. McEwan.)
Too late
Repentance may come too late. Ahasuerus could not retrace his steps. (A. B. Davidson,
D. D.)
Vain remembering
I. The regret of the king for his rash and unwarrantable act. He was sensible that he had
committed injury and that he had not only wronged Vashti, but also made himself a
sufferer.
1. He could not devise a remedy. There are wishes that even the most powerful
despots cannot get gratified, and limits to their will that even they cannot pass over.
2. The law of the Medes and Persians must stand.
II. The expedient which his counsellors suggested to free him from his difficulty.
Learn—
1. When men suffer themselves to be carried away by the impulse of any violent
passions, they may commit acts which cannot afterwards be remedied, and which
they themselves may have especially to lament.
2. It forms no excuse for sin committed, that the transgressor had reduced himself to
a condition in which he ceased to retain his full consciousness of the distinction
between right and wrong. Take an illustration from the history of Saul. He failed to
improve his privileges; the Spirit of the Lord departed and the evil spirit took
possession of him—slew prophets, etc. He was held responsible because he had laid
his heart open for the reception of the evil spirit.
3. Repentance may come too late. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
2 Then the king’s personal attendants proposed,
“Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins
for the king.
CLARKE, "Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king - This was the

usual way in which the harem or seraglio was furnished: the finest women in the land,
whether of high or low birth, 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.
GILL, "Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him,.... Fearing
that, if Vashti should be restored, vengeance would be taken on them; or however to
remove the grief and melancholy of the king, they gave the following advice:
let there be fair young virgins sought for the king; that he might enjoy them, and
choose one of them, the most agreeable to him, and put her in the room of Vashti.
BE SO , "Verse 2-3
Esther 2:2-3. Then said the king’s servants — Who, for their own interests, were
obliged to quiet the king’s mind, and procure him another amiable consort. To the
house of the women — Or rather, of the virgins; for the house of those who were
wives or concubines was different from this, and under another governor. Keeper of
the women — Of all the women, both virgins and concubines: only the virgins he
himself took care of, as requiring more care and caution, and the concubines he
committed to Shaashgaz, (Esther 2:14,) his deputy. Things for purification — That
is, to cleanse them from all impurities, to perfume, and adorn, and every way
prepare them for the king: for the legal purification of the Jews he never regarded.
TRAPP, "Esther 2:2 Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let
there be fair young virgins sought for the king:
Ver. 2. Then said the king’s servants] His friends, saith Josephus, to whom he had
opened his mind; the young courtiers, say others (green wood is ever shrinking and
warping), but most probably those seven chief counsellors, Esther 1:14, who had
persuaded him to cast off Vashti, and now feared, lest if not some way diverted, he
should fall as foul upon them as his predecessor Darius did upon those claw backs,
Daniel 6:24 or as the Athenians did upon Timagoras, Demagores, and Euagoras,
whom they condemned to die, for flattering Darius Hystaspes, the father of this
Ahasuerus.
Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king] They knew him to be a
sensualist and effeminate; they therefore agree to feed his humour, to drown him
again in pleasure, so to drive away his melancholy. Such miserable comforters are
carnal physicians; so wretched is our nature, to endure no other medicine; so justly
doth God fit the physician to the patient, the helve to the hatchet; so do the wicked
help each other forward to their deserved destruction. Ahasuerus’s courtiers and
counsellors become brokers to his lusts; neither is this anything unusual with such.
Lenocinantur, produnt, blasphemant, peierant, toxica miscent, &c., saith an
expositor here. What is it that such parasites and sycophants will not do to
ingratiate with great ones? It was not therefore without good cause, that the

primitive Christians prayed hard for the emperor, as Tertullian testifieth, that God
would send him Senatum fidelem, a faithful council, and free him from flatterers.
LA GE, "Esther 2:2. The youths[F 4] that served before the king sought to avert
the danger that threatened. Those here mentioned are his attendants (comp.
ehemiah 4:10), who were employed about his person (comp. Esther 6:3; Esther
6:5). They advised that maidens, virgins, be brought to the king, and that these
should be beautiful to look upon. ‫ְשׁוּ‬‫ק‬ַ‫ב‬ְ‫י‬, the 3 d pers. plur, represents, as is usual in
the Aram, the impersonal “one,” as a passive expression. ‫ָרוֹת‬‫ע‬ְ‫נ‬, marriageable
persons, is in itself too indefinite to be other than an appendage to ‫ְתוּלוֹת‬‫בּ‬.[F 5]
BI 2-17, "And let the king appoint officers
The weak and lowly
Poor, helpless, feeble, may be the earthward aspect of true religion.
Beggars shall be taken from the dunghill, to set them among princes. God will be
indebted to no outward help or influence. We see how God is pleased to overrule the
very sins and passions of guilty men for the accomplishment of His own designs. The
banishment of Vashti has left Ahasuerus solitary and self-reproaching. Some scheme
must be adopted by those who counselled her overthrow, to supply her place. “Let the
king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom that they may gather together all
the fair young virgins unto Shushan, the palace. And let the maiden that pleaseth the
king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king, and he did so.” How
perfectly natural was all this arrangement and plan! And yet it was but one part of God’s
Divine arrangement to bring about His own plan, a plan of which they knew nothing.
Thus He leaves men to act out their own purposes and accomplish their own ends, and
yet overrules their whole scheme for the attainment of the results which He has already
determined. This is His providence; this is the wise and perfect government of the Most
High.
1. We see a youthful female, a poor girl. Her very sex betokens weakness and
exposure. But yet woman is called “the weaker vessel,” and is so, as the crystal vase is
a weaker vessel than the oaken cask, more easily overthrown, more surely injured,
more irreparably destroyed, by the power of vicious habit or sinful temptation. To
her, exposure to evil is far the heavier, and far more dangerous. Upon her, sorrows
press with a far more grievous load. To her, misfortunes come with a far more
sharpened power. The wrongs of women have filled every age and every history. But
here, when the illustration of rising, conquering piety is brought before us, the
subject is a woman; and a woman in her weakest and most forlorn position, a lonely
girl. It is enough for us to see and know that God is there, the Father of the fatherless
and the God of the widows in His holy habitation.
2. She is an orphan girl. “She has neither father nor mother.” What a privilege are
parents spared to bless and cheer our maturity I What a joy and cause for
thanksgiving is it to be permitted even to shelter and cheer their age in our own
home! What solitude, separation, want of confidence, fear, distrust, yea, anguish,
often fill up the orphan’s heart! Few can sympathise; and even to those few it is
impossible to pour out the secret sorrows which are the burden and distress within.
But imaginary as the causes may be, the sorrows which they produce are real and
abiding. Yet, when we add poverty to the orphan’s lot, what increased bitterness do
we throw into the cup! An orphan boy may struggle. The very poverty which

oppresses him may excite his energies and call out his powers of endurance and of
action. His self-dependence is aroused. But an orphan girl in poverty! what human
case is habitually harder? Everything in her sex, and everything in her condition, is
against her. Her exposure to the wickedness and the arts of the corrupt is the subject
of constant observation and of constant dread.
(1) That God loves the lowly. Let every imagination which exalteth itself against
God be cast down. Be content to allow Him to take you from the dust in all your
sinfulness and unworthiness, and to wash and cleanse and save you by His own
grace and power alone.
(2) Forget not that your honour and happiness will always be promoted by
gaining the mind of God in this relation. This surely is the path of happiness for
us. The world says, “Happy are the rich, the luxurious, the self-indulgent.” God
says, “Happy are the poor in spirit, the meek.” The weak things of the world, if
He choose them, and love them, will confound the things that are mighty. (S. H.
Tyng, D. D.)
Esther the queen
In this chapter we find illustrated—
I. Providence. We must not judge the heathen court of Persia by our standard of
morality. Rather let us see how God overrules all these arrangements for the
accomplishment of His own purposes.
II. Adoption. In ten thousand things the strongest and wisest of us is but a lonely
orphan, needing some strong hand to protect us, the pity of some loving heart for our
comfort. How blest is he who has learned to say, “Our Father.”
III. Recompense. Think of the joy of Mordecai as he sees his adopted daughter thus
uplifted. (Mark Guy Pearse.)
Esther at court
There is, unquestionably, a difficulty connected with this 8th verse.
1. If Mordecai, of his own accord, presented Esther as a candidate for the royal
favour, then he acted in opposition to the law of Moses, which forbade that the
daughters of Israel should be given to the heathen. It would be no apology for his
conduct that he designed by what he did to advance the interests of his nation. What
is forbidden by the law must not be done that good may come of it.
2. Many interpreters suppose that those who were commissioned to select the
virgins for the king’s seraglio executed their office without respect to the feelings of
the parties interested. Esther was taken, therefore, without there being any choice
left, either to her or Mordecai, in the matter.
3. Others that, as the whole was so manifestly’ providential, Mordecai may have
received special intimation from heaven to bring his orphan cousin under the notice
of the king’s officers. There is nothing in the history to warrant this opinion;
therefore we embrace the first supposition as the most probable account of the affair.
4. But whatever may have been the feelings of Mordecai and Esther, we see the

special workings of providence in her behalf. She obtained favour of the chief of the
eunuchs above all the other maidens who had been com mitted to his care, so that,
without solicitation on her part, not only was there more than ordinary indulgence
toward her, but she was even treated with a degree of respect that seemed, as it were,
the prelude to yet higher advancement. The commencement of Esther’s life in the
palace gave promise of a prosperous issue. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
The beginning of true prosperity
Our study is in the chamber of true religion. There we see a solitary girl, and she an
orphan. She hath “neither father nor mother.” On the doctrine of earthly chances,
everything is against her. But in the scheme of the Divine government, we shall see that
she has an Almighty Friend. Her beginning is small indeed, and disastrous enough; her
latter end shall greatly increase. But there are other discouraging circumstances also,
which seem completely to forbid the latter end of advancement which is promised.
1. She is a stranger. We find her in a land not her own, though perhaps she was born
upon its soil—among a people with whom she has no affinity and no bond of
affection. A girl, an orphan, and a stranger. To wander among multitudes with whom
we have no connection and no sympathy is often a depression to the brightest spirits.
But this poor girl is not a stranger in voluntary journeying—she is a captive. She is a
servant of the true God in a land of dark idolatry; a pure, praying girl amidst a people
whose licentious profligacy made the most wasting crimes to be no dishonour. But if
piety can be made triumphant under circumstances so completely opposed to it, and
a child of God can glorify her Father’s name, and keep His commandments amidst
temptations and difficulties so numerous and pressing, how great will be the
responsibility of those who are exposed to no such contests!
2. This orphan stranger, this lonely girl, is also beautiful in person. “The maid was
fair and beautiful.” This is a gift which all naturally, perhaps not unreasonably, prize.
It is God who hath given to the youthful form and face their attractions and their
loveliness. One of the marks of His benevolence is here seen. His goodness shines in
all these aspects of His power. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Yet the
beauty of our daughters is but too frequently a snare. Sin in the heart perverts and
corrupts it. It is welcomed as a merchandise for gain. It is nourished as the food for
vanity. It is perverted to awaken an earthly taste, and to encourage a carnal mind. It
brings an attending exposure to peculiar temptations. Her parents delighted over her
childish promise, and called her Hadassah, their myrtle, their joy. They looked
forward to great parental delight in her coming bloom, when as a fragrant myrtle
they should see her blossoming at their side. But this, alas, they were not to see. She
was to bloom for the gaze of other eyes, but not for theirs. Could I lead you off from
this outward beauty to think of the fair beauty of the Lord—how much more precious
and desirable is that pure and obedient mind which we find united with Hadassah’s
loveliness of person! Outward beauty we cannot all have, But this higher and more
enduring beauty of the Spirit you may all possess.
3. The sole earthly protector of this beautiful orphan was poor and unable to defend
her. “In Shushan, the palace, there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai.
And he brought up Hadassah,” etc. When her father and her mother were obliged to
forsake her, the Lord took her up, by providing her a faithful friend in her father’s
nephew. He took her for his own daughter. But she was really one of God’s hidden
ones, chosen in His love, to be protected and loved by Him. Never forget this highest

security of His protection and His presence. There you are secure for ever. No one
can be poor who is rich in faith toward God. No one can be deserted who has the
Divine friendship and fellowship.
4. This lonely orphan girl was grateful and obedient: “Esther did the commandment
of Mordecai like as when she was brought up with him.” Happy indeed is such a
manifestation of grace as this! You may build with confidence any hope of usefulness
and any desired attainment of human excellence upon a character so true. A spirit
thus pure, subdued, affectionate and sincere, what may it not do that is lovely,
honest, and of good report? It spreads happiness for others around its path. It
converts the cares and trials of life into pleasures and delights. It crowns the whole
personal walk with loveliness and attractions. But Esther’s gratitude to her earthly
benefactor was founded on her still deeper gratitude to God. This poor and lonely,
but faithful and beautiful girl, God means to raise up to be an eminent blessing and
restorer to His people. Her latter end is to be in great prosperity. This is our great
lesson now. We are witnessing the purpose and the work of God. He is exalting a
child of His own, and showing what He can do with His own, and by His own power.
No condition is beneath His notice. No child of grace is below His care. None who
love Him can be forsaken or destroyed. We see here a low beginning; none could be
more so; but it is a very lovely one. And as we study the course through which God is
pleased to lead this child of grace, we shall see Him to be justified in His whole
course, and to come forth completely victorious in the work which He hath
undertaken. How great is the advantage of having God upon your side, and of being
under His special protection and care! (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
The mysterious beginning
This is a most important truth for us to study. Man proposes, but God disposes. The eyes
of the Lord are in every place. The government of the world is on His shoulder.
1. We may consider the object of this exaltation. This poor Jewish orphan is to be
made the Queen of Persia. The change of position is as wide and wonderful as earth
can illustrate. Why did God thus select and elevate her? He designed to give to all His
people a great illustration of His power and goodness. He would have them see, He
would have all to see, how certain and adequate is His protection to those who love
and trust Him. But He had further designs in this work. He not only intended to
show His goodness to Esther in protecting and rewarding a child whom He loved, He
also purposed to make her an eminent blessing to others. She was to be a restorer to
her people, a great blessing to her own captive nation. No one is exalted in this world
for himself alone. Whatever gifts, or gains, or influence we have, they are for the
benefit of others. No man liveth for himself. But how clearly and with what peculiar
power does God teach us this truth in the whole plan of Divine redemption. Why has
the Lord Jesus lived and died? And why is He still living as a mediator at the right
hand of God? “For us,” is the only answer to the question. He is exalted on high that
He may bestow gifts upon men. This important truth God equally teaches us in our
own enjoyment of the blessings which redemption brings to us. He enriches us with
all our gifts that we may be made the instruments of enriching others. We should
look around and ask, “Whom can I bless? Whom can I serve? To whom can I give
even a cup of cold water in my Master’s name?” We can never tell how wide may be
the appointed influences of such a spirit. We see the end of the Lord, that He is
faithful and very gracious, and we may learn from it to understand and to confide in

the loving-kindness of the Lord. When the gracious purpose of God comes out in the
result of His dispensation, we have no longer any doubt or darkness resting upon His
Word.
2. We may consider the circumstances of Esther’s exaltation. They were painful and
repulsive to her in an extreme degree. Such was the subject of violent compulsion.
Such is the true meaning of the term “brought,” literally, “brought by force.” In this
exaltation of the captive orphan, God remarkably overruled and employed the
wicked passions of men. The king consulted only his own corrupt desires. His
officers combined to minister to his wicked tempers and gratifications. No happiness
of others, no peace of violated households, no wretchedness of ruined and discarded
youth, was to be considered as an obstacle in the path. The king’s commandment and
decree must be obeyed. This does not lessen the wickedness of men. However God
may restrain and employ them, their purpose is only to sin. And whatsoever results
God may bring out of their wickedness, they must bear the guilt of their sin in the
same condemnation. God’s mercy may compel them to bless His people, and to
glorify Himself, while His justice punishes their transgression, and overthrows their
own plans of personal gain and glory. Henry VIII. was a monster of crime. His
motives appeared to be his own wicked passions alone. He murdered and he married
at his pleasure. Yet God overruled the whole result for the establishment of His
truth. This glorious Reformation has been often reproached for Henry’s crimes. It
would be just as reasonable to reproach the deliverance of the Israelites and their
subsequent prosperity with the crimes of Pharaoh. God can make even our own
pardoned sins and follies to become a blessing to us, and to bring honour to Him. (S.
H. Tyng, D. D.)
The important friendship-
What principle of Divine providence can be more important than this? To have the
friendship of God is to have all that men can ask. If He is on our side, it is of little
consequence who may be against us. But He is always on the side of those whose ways
please Him. Esther’s history shows us this. In all its aspects her exaltation was most
remarkable.
1. Mark the simple cause of this exaltation. It was the Divine tribute to her character.
Because her ways pleased the Lord, He made her enemies to be at peace with her. Do
you ask for success, for happiness, for final triumph? Do you desire a result of
blessedness for this life and for the life to come? Embrace the hope which the gospel
gives. Go to the fountain which the gospel opens. Enter into the Saviour’s ranks and
belong to Him. He will carry you safely through every trial and every contest.
2. Mark the way in which this exaltation was accomplished. God gave her favour in
the sight of others. An unseen influence and power preceded her in the path through
which she was led and prepared her way before her. And now we see the beginning of
the turning tide. “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies
to be at peace with him.” The maiden pleased Hegai, the keeper of the women, and
she obtained kindness of him. Everything now is to be in her favour. “The best place
in the house of the women” is assigned to her. “Seven maidens meet to be given to
her out of the king’s house” are appointed her attendants. So easily can your gracious
heavenly Father change and order the minds of others concerning you. He can make
all your enemies at peace with you. Thus He prepared Pharaoh’s daughter to be the
defender and the royal nurse for the infant Moses. Thus also He dealt with Daniel

and his companions. He gives a pleasant and attractive aspect to religious character,
adorns it by His Spirit with traits of meekness and spiritual beauty, makes its
influence agreeable and pleasant to those who become connected with it, and in this
way makes His servants acceptable to others and a real blessing to many. This
system of His gracious government lays out the line of personal duty for you. It is
your duty to be a blessing to all persons and at all times.
3. Mark the state of mind which true piety will display under the most trying
circumstances. This was beautifully exhibited in Esther as she passed through the
trying ordeal which was to lead to her exaltation. Esther showed great self-respect.
What is so dignified and refining as true piety? It habitually clothes the character
with grace and purity, and the manners with delicacy and elegance. We see the
poorest daughters of earth exalted by the transforming power of true religion to a
hold on the reverence of all, and often to the admiration and delight of many. True
piety is patient, quiet and unassuming. Esther showed a quiet submission to the will
of God. She asked for nothing. She desired nothing of all that she saw around her. All
the state and magnificence of her new condition were nothing to her. Her mind could
find repose only in God. How beautiful is such an example! Remember that Divine
promise (Isa_26:3): “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord
Jehovah is everlasting strength.” Esther showed entire indifference to worldly
display. But “when the turn of Esther was come to go in unto the king, she required
nothing but what Hegai, the king’s chamberlain, appointed.” She was contented to
leave her whole influence and prospects in her Father’s hands, and therefore “she
required nothing.” This was true modesty, as well as a simple and pious trust in God.
Her mind and thoughts were directed to Him, not to herself. What an example was
this to youth in the midst of the snares and artificial glare of the world! True
adorning is “not the outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or
of putting on apparel, but it is in the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not
corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of
God of great price.” What attractive beauty there is in a heavenly temper, a lowly
spiritual mind! This is a jewel of the Lord’s preparation and appointment, and
eminently becomes and adorns the children of God. Esther showed a simple and
entire trust in God. In the bitterness of her heart’s sorrow she had no other
protector. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
The myrtle that became a star
I. Hadassah, the orphan. Mordecai took the little tree, growing without shelter from the
storm, and planted it by his own hearth.
II. Look next at Hadassah, the captive.
III. Then at Hadassah, the beautiful maiden. Nobody should despise beauty of face; but
bad character spoils beauty, whilst beauty of soul may supply the lack of physical beauty.
IV. Last of all, at Esther, the queen.
V. Let us conclude with a twofold wish.
1. May you grow like a myrtle, and resemble it in two qualities: in that it is an
evergreen, and always fragrant. Be thou lovely in the dark days as well as the bright;
and do thou always cheer thy dwelling with the fragrance of godliness.

2. May you glow like a star, which God has clothed with light and placed so high in
the heavens. Do thou walk in light—Christ’s light—the light of truth, and love, and
holiness; and, finally, shine as a star in heaven, your home for evermore. (J. Edmons,
D. D.)
Beauty
Esther, in addition to her outward comeliness, was modest, engaging, contented, and
possessed all those amiable qualities which adorn the individual, while they make him
useful to society. Beauty is one of the gifts of nature; but if it consist only in symmetry of
form and fineness of colouring, it is no more than a beautiful statue; it can only gratify
the eye. That which reflects as a mirror the good qualities of the mind can alone form an
object of rational attraction. (T. McCrie.)
Esther 2:5-20
Whose name was Mordecai.
Mordecai
Providence opens avenues through which merit may attain elevation.
I. Mordecai was kind to his orphan cousin. He brought her up, adopting her as his own
daughter. He was intensely solicitous for her welfare. He was her counsellor, guardian,
friend. He seems to have possessed respect for womanhood—what Charles Lamb in one
of his Essays of Ella designates, “reverence for the sex.” Are we not justified in affirming
that this is indicative of nobility? Love of woman, as woman, produces beneficent
results, which few can afford to dispense with. It aids in developing perfection of
character.
II. He possessed good judgment. He advised Esther not to reveal her kindred. He did
not enjoin her to deny her nationality, much less to become alienated from her suffering
countrymen; but he exhorted her to maintain silence in reference to her descent. He will
await deliverance from Israel’s God, carefully watching the indications of providence,
and endeavouring, meanwhile, to induce Esther to strengthen her influence with the
king. “The prudent man looketh well to his going.”
III. He was humble. He sat as porter at the royal gate of the palace and was contented.
IV. He was loyal to justice. When two of the chamberlains sought to lay hands on the
king he disclosed the plot to the queen, who, by reporting it to the monarch, delivered
the culprits over to the vengeance of law, and “they were both hanged on a tree.”
V. He was conscientious, and to a right-minded person the approval of conscience is the
richest reward, one which depends upon himself and of which no other can rob him.
Mordecai refused to bow before Haman. “If the monkey reigns, dance before him,” is a
proverb which evidently had little force with Mordecai. If Haman does not deserve
respect, he shall not receive reverence from him. Kind, prudent, humble, just and
conscientious, need we marvel that Mordecai rose from lowly station to become chief
minister of State? Though he has saved the life of the king, he is not promoted. He
returns to his humble duties. By the simple fact that a record is made of the services of a

porter, preparation is made for the stirring events of the future. (J. S. Van Dyke, D. D.)
Tried fidelity
Here we have the fact demonstrated in a striking illustration that no man can serve God
for nought. He will never be a debtor to any of His creatures. The path of truth and
goodness, of love to God and love to men, will always advance in light and purity to a
perfect day. This is the illustration we have in the character and history of Mordecai.
Ahasuerus, Esther, Haman, and Mordecai, in their relations make a perfect dramatic
exhibition. Their paths cross each other, and their interests mingle. Their conditions and
responsibilities are in constant close connection, and are continually intermingled. Each
character is a separate living principle. And in each the operation and result of this
peculiar principle is distinctly and very beautifully displayed.
1. In this fidelity in duty we first see this path of duty beginning in the very lowest
circumstances of life. Enrich and exalt the indulgence of the world by every
imagination of its wealth and pleasure, and yet He shows its end to be vanity and
vexation of spirit. He will show the reward of fidelity in duty. He will display the
history of its certain triumph, and perfect security and success. Begin as low as you
will in human condition; make the sphere as limited as you can; multiply difficulties
around its strait and narrow path as you choose, and He will show you how easily
and how certainly He can exalt and honour it, and that by the very instruments
which have been collected to oppose it. Thus Mordecai begins a poor captive Jew,
perhaps a beggar, certainly a menial at the king’s gate. Men often think it of little
consequence what one does who is so concealed and so little known. But, ah, never
forget that there is no such distinction before God between duties great and little, or
sins venial or mortal. Whatever God requires or forbids is great. Every station which
His providence has assigned and ordered is necessary and important. Virtue must
always be tried by little things. The beginnings of all temptations are small, and the
question of resistance or compliance with them is always settled in very narrow
contingencies of trial. It is far easier to perform higher duties, and to resist greater
temptations. The real trial of human principles is in unknown and secret dangers.
When everybody is watching, it is easy to walk uprightly. The soldier on parade will
be sure to keep time and step. But when our walk is unobserved, our conduct
unnoticed, our position in life of no consequence in human sight, then are our
difficulties and our temptations always the greater and the more dangerous. “No one
will know; no one sees; example is nothing; it is of no consequence what I do; it is
impossible for me to do much good in any way.” All, not thus did. Mordecai argue,
though in these very circumstances of narrow influence Mordecai begins.
2. We see this poor and faithful man perfectly contented with his low estate. He is
unmurmuring though poor. If you would have larger and higher responsibility, gain
it and be prepared for it, by earnestly and contentedly fulfilling the obligations which
are laid upon you now.
3. We see him affectionate and liberal in his social relations. Though poor, yet
making others rich. Though poor himself, he cheerfully adopts his orphan cousin,
and divides his comforts, whatever they might be, with her. “He brought up
Hadassah, his uncle’s daughter.” The largest generosity is often among the most
straitened in earthly condition. But it is an indispensable characteristic of true virtue.
Obedience to God is imitation of God, who giveth liberally and upbraideth not. A
covetous, harsh, narrow, selfish temper can never have tasted that God is gracious,

or have known anything of the Saviour’s transforming love. He was delicate and
refined in his liberality. There is much in the way in which kindness is bestowed to
make it either acceptable or a burden. The little orphan Mordecai “took and brought
up for his own daughter.” There is nothing in the religion of the New Testament to
encourage bluntness, coarseness, or assumption of superiority. But Mordecai’s
tenderness was watchful as well as delicate. “To know how Esther did, and what
should become of her,” was the dearest interest he had on earth. And for this “he
walked every day before the court of the women’s house.”
4. We see him faithful in every claim as a subject. In his solitude he overheard the
counsel of two conspirators against the life of the king. He sought the opportunity,
therefore, to preserve the life of the king, and he succeeded. This also is an eminent
example. The virtuous, religious man is always an orderly and peaceful man.
5. We see in Mordecai especial fidelity to God. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
For she had neither father nor mother.
Religion promotes benevolence
Now there are some remarks very obviously suggested by this part of the narrative. I
should say that here we have a fine example of the practical power of true religion, in
leading to a benevolent regard for the comfort and well-being of the unprotected. (A. B.
Davidson, D. D.)
Personal benevolence
It is an easy matter for the wealthy to be charitable when their gifts, administered by
others, involve no sacrifice of time or labour, and no care and anxiety to them selves. But
the noblest exercise of charity is exhibited when we take an interest personally in the
well-being of the unprotected, and when they can look to us as their friends and
counsellors, to whom they can have recourse in their sorrows and troubles and
difficulties. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
Mordecai’s tenderness in adopting Esther
We Christians have not always been ready to give the Jew credit for such tenderness,
such ready pity, such gentle helpfulness. Let us ask ourselves if we are willing to come up
to the standard of this Jew? What is the good of any religion unless it do make us pitiful,
loving, eager to help the poor world about us? I heard a very beautiful story some time
since. A friend was telling me that one Sunday he was preaching at some little country
chapel, and went to dinner at the house of a labourer, where he found eight children. He
was struck with the fact that they seemed to run in pairs, as if they were all twins. After
dinner the good woman said, “I saw you looking at the children, sir, as if you could not
quite make them out.” “Well, yes,” said he, “I could not help wondering if they were all
twins!” The good wife laughed. “No,” said she, “they are not twins. You see they are all
ours, so to speak, and yet four of them are not. When we came into this house the man
and woman who lived here before us had just died and left four little children just the
age of our four. They had to go to the workhouse, and the van was at the door to take
them just as we came in. Three of them were in the van; but the fourth little fellow would

not go. He had got hold of the door, and was screaming with all his might. The man was
trying not to hurt him, and yet of course he wanted to make him let go. I felt very, very
sorry for them all, and said, ‘You can’t take him screaming like that. People will think
that you are murdering him. Put the three back again and come again to-morrow. We
will look after them for the night.’ The man was very glad to do it, so they all came in
again. Well, then you see our children began to play with them, and we all sat down
together at supper, and managed to get them off to bed. Well, that night I could not sleep
for thinking about them. I could not get it out of my mind what I should like anybody to
do for mine if they were left like that. As I lay tossing, John said to me, ‘I can’t help
thinking about those children.’ ‘Well, John,’ I said, ‘what do you think about them.’
‘Well, Mary, do you think if we pinched a bit that we could manage to keep them?’ ‘I am
sure we could,’ I said, and then we went to sleep. The guardians gave us six shillings a
week towards their keep, and it went on all right until John began to think that we ought
to have a Sunday-school for the children about here. ‘We have eight to start with,’ said
John. So the school was started. But there was a gentleman that set himself against the
school, and tried to put it down. However, John would not have that; so this gentleman
went to the guardians and got them to stop the six shillings a week. We could not let the
children go, for to us it was just as if they were our own. But it was hard work, for John
fell ill and was in bed for six weeks. And when he got about again he had to try and find a
new place, for his had been filled up. At last he got a job at hedging and ditching, and
that meant a stout pair of boots and a pair of leggings and a bill-hook. I had saved a few
shillings for the children’s shoes, but now I had to give all that to John, and away he
went to buy what he wanted. But as soon as he came back I said, ‘You must go again to
get the children’s shoes, John,’ and I put two sovereigns in his hand. He looked at me
wondering. I told him how that the gentleman’s daughter had called to say how sorry she
was for us, and she gave us this to keep the children. And since then we have managed to
get on right well, sir.” (Mark Guy Pearse.)
Worldly exaltation
Providence and grace have two separate dominions. The providence of God rules over
outward things for the welfare of His children. The grace of God redeems, renews,
governs and preserves their own inward heart and character. Both are the subjects of
covenant and earnest promises to them. One part of this gracious work we have seen in
Esther’s ease. God protected and preserved the captive orphan by His own power. And
all the elements of her own character are the evidences of the grace and power of her
Lord. There is something extremely beautiful and even grand in this exhibition of
youthful piety. Few will be carried through the extremes of Esther’s trial. Now we are to
look upon Esther, the queen of Persia, and see how God fulfils all His promises, and
protects and maintains in usefulness and happiness the souls of His servants.
I. In this view we see true piety in worldly exaltation This exaltation has been brought
about by a remarkable train of circumstances in the good providence of God. Every
probability was against it, and nothing could be more unlikely than the result which was
thus produced. “The king loved Esther above all the women,” etc. Remarkable as this
result was in itself, the reason given for it is yet more worthy of our attention. “She
obtained grace and favour in his sight.” Her exaltation is ascribed to a far higher power
than any that outwardly appeared. God was ruling and ordering it in His own way, You
may carry out this principle in all your expectations and plans of life. Your youthful
hearts desire earthly success. God may surely give it to you. But He would have you
realise that it is His gift. The wise and the only sure way to make the earth a blessing to

you is to seek His favour with it. But it will also, which is far more, make the earthly
substance which you do gain a real and permanent blessing to you. But surely there is a
higher exultation than any which is wholly confined to earth. There is a throne above all
earthly thrones for those who conquer in the Saviour’s host. This God reserveth for those
who love Him. Seek this throne and kingdom, the kingdom of God and His
righteousness. This is the more excellent way. Make your possession of it sure. The king
of Persia made a royal feast at Esther’s exultation. It was a feast of far different character
from that which preceded the downfall of Vashti. “The king made a great feast unto all
his princes and his servants, even Esther’s feast; and he made a release to the provinces,
and gave gifts according to the state of the king.” The former feast was distinguished by
abounding selfish, sensual indulgence. This was marked by releases, gifts and acts of
favour to the destitute and the suffering. The people of God are always made a blessing
to men in the influence which they exercise, and in their final exaltation among men,
when the kingdoms of the earth shall be given to the saints of the Most High, the most
abounding gifts and mercies shall be showered upon the world around. If God shall give
you the high places of the earth, so improve and employ your influence here that others
may have reason to bless God in your behalf.
II. We see here the emptiness of earthly contrasts. No earthly contrast could be greater
than between a poor Jewish captive orphan, amidst the oppressions of a heathen land,
and the queen of all the provinces of the kingdom of Persia. Yet all this is nothing when
viewed in relation to the power and greatness of God. Man looks upon the outward
appearance. God looketh upon the heart. Let us seek to gain His mind, and learn to value
others, and to think of ourselves according to the reality of character, and not according
to the mere appendages and aspects of the outward condition. The vain mind of youth
delights in worldly elevation and grandeur. But Esther’s trials of character will be far
greater in her new condition than in her former one. Few can bear great earthly
prosperity with advantage. It is here that the principle of our text comes in, “He
preserveth the souls of His saints.” He delivers them from the destructive influence
which surrounds them. He carries them safely through the hour of trial. Prosperity
brings in the claims of worldly fashion, the examples of the exalted wicked, the hostility
of a world which at the same time tempts to transgression and scoffs at fidelity. It
introduces a multitude of new thoughts and new relations which corrupt the character
and entangle the soul. The life of piety declines. The spirit of prayer grows dull. The
modesty of dress and personal appearance is laid aside. The purity of the outward walk
is disregarded.
III. We see in Esther’s case that under the Divine guidance and grace true piety may
pass uninjured through every state. Esther’s sudden exaltation had no effect on her
fidelity to God, or on her attachment to His people. We see the same guarded self-
respect, and the same love for Mordecai afterwards as before. The proportioned
usefulness of individual piety in different stations in human life it would be very difficult
to decide. God often selects the feeblest instruments as the most important agencies to
promote His glory. We may, therefore, dismiss all anxiety about the influence of our
appointed station. He will give the blessing according to His own will. But what can
show more beautifully the reality of the work of God in the heart than the constant
exercise and display of the same kindness, tenderness, and simplicity in a high estate as
in a previous low condition? One of the most striking facts in Esther’s character is this
repeated assertion of her faithful remembrance of Mordecai and of her permanent
regard to his instructions. Ah, what a blessing do we confer when we succeed, under the
sovereign power of the Holy Spirit, in laying up in the youthful mind the principles of
true religion and real love for God! This is something real; a gift that will abide.

IV. We see Esther’s exaltation marked by sincere gratitude and affectionate care for the
appointed instrument of it. A low and upstart mind hates to acknowledge obligations;
nay, often feels a new hostility towards those from whom benefits have been received.
But a truly great and exalted mind forgets no benefits that have been conferred, and
esteems it a high privilege to be able to pay them directly back to the person who has
bestowed them. Esther acknowledges her twofold obligation, while she gives the
information which saves the life of the king, and gives it in the name of Mordecai, that it
might in some way be the instrument of promoting his advantage, and of rescuing him
from the poverty of his condition. This gratitude for kindness from our fellow-men is
always characteristic of true piety. A religious heart is ashamed of no obligations. Shun
that sinful pride which hates the feeling and the acknowledgment of dependence. A
joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful. (S. H. Tyng, D. D.)
And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women’s house.—
Mordecai’s loving solicitude
The histories of Mordecai and Esther run side by side, like the two differently-coloured
rivers—the Arve and the Rhone. But the course of the one is from time to time being
crossed and coloured by the course of the other. Esther played a leading part in the
deliverance of the Jewish nation, but she owed much to the teaching, influence, and
directions of Mordecai. She was the seen and he the unseen worker. These latter often do
the most important work.
I. Mordecai’s lovng solicitude.
II. This loving solicitude was of divine origin. God makes use of human passions for the
promotion of His merciful purposes. Human reasons may be given to account for
Mordecai’s love for Esther, but there were also Divine reasons.
III. This loving solicitude quickened mordecai’s discernment.
IV. This loving solicitude taught mordecai a true creed. Love is light. He that dwelleth in
love dwelleth in a clear apprehension of Divine truth and of Divine methods. “Although
he trusted God with his niece, yet he knew that an honest care of her might well stand
with faith in God’s providence. God must be trusted, but not tempted by the neglect of
careful means” (Trapp).
V. Mordecai’s love made him watchful.
VI. Mordecai’s love made him self-forgetful.
VII. Mordecai’s love concerned itself about esther’s highest welfare. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
She required nothing.—
Simple attire
It seems to be implied in the text that while the other maidens endeavoured by dress and
ornament to make an impression upon the heart of the king, Esther had recourse to no
such artifice. If she was to gain the royal favour, which no doubt she desired to do, she
trusted to her native graces and accomplishments as the means of obtaining it rather
than to the splendour of her attire. And such will always be the procedure of true beauty
and modesty. Excessive attention to the decoration of the person, and the lavish use of

gaudy ornament, indicate the consciousness of some personal defect, and are
inconsistent alike with good taste, with female delicacy, and with the law of Scripture.
(A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
Reality versus superficiality
She had grace in her heart, humility in her deportment, and the high attractions of
gentleness, meekness, and pity. These would speak to the heart in look and gesture, and
obtain favour for her “in the sight of all them that looked upon her.” There was realness
in contrast with superficiality, true-heartedness in opposition to mere pretension, and
the heroic love of the right and the noble over against all that is hollow, hypocritical, and
base. Even in a heathen court spiritual excellences such as these, rarely to be found
there, were sure to command respect and win the affections. (T. McEwan.)
3 Let the king appoint commissioners in every
province of his realm to bring all these beautiful
young women into the harem at the citadel of
Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai,
the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women;
and let beauty treatments be given to them.
BAR ES, "The house of the women - i. e. the “gynaeceon,” or “haram” - always
an essential part of an Oriental palace (Compare 1Ki_7:8). In the Persian palaces it was
very extensive, since the monarchs maintained, besides their legitimate wives, as many
as 300 or 400 concubines (compare Est_2:14).
CLARKE, "Hege the king’s chamberlain - ‫המלך‬ ‫סריס‬ ‫הגא‬ Hege seris hammelech,
“Hege, the king’s eunuch;” so the Septuagint, Vulgate, Targum, and Syriac. In the
Eastern countries the women are intrusted to the care of the eunuchs only.
Let their things for purification be given them - ‫תמרקיהן‬ tamrukeyhen, their
cosmetics. What these were we are told in Est_2:12; oil of myrrh, and sweet odours. The
myrrh was employed for six months, and the odours for six months more, after which
the person was brought to the king. This space was sufficient to show whether the young

woman had been chaste; whether she were with child or not, that the king might not be
imposed on, and be obliged to father a spurious offspring, which might have been the
case had not this precaution been used.
Instead of the oil or myrrh, the Targum says it was the oil of unripe olives which
caused the hair to fall off, and rendered the skin delicate.
GILL, "And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his
kingdom,.... Who best knew where beautiful virgins might be found in their respective
provinces, in which they dwelt:
that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the
palace; the metropolis of the kingdom, where was the royal palace:
to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king's chamberlain,
the keeper of the women; in which house it seems were two apartments, one for the
virgins before they were introduced to the king, the other for them when they were
become his concubines, which had a keeper also; but this Hege seems to have been over
the whole house, Est_2:14. It was not only usual with the eastern people, as with the
Turks now, for great personages to have keepers of their wives and concubines, but with
the Romans also (d):
and let their things for purification be given them; such as oil of myrrh, spices,
&c. to remove all impurity and ill scent from them, and make them look smooth and
beautiful.
BE SO , "Esther 2:6. Who had been carried away from Jerusalem — This may
refer either to Kish, Mordecai’s grandfather, last mentioned, or to Mordecai
himself, which, however, is not probable, as in that case he must have been a very
old man, not less than a hundred and forty years of age.
TRAPP, "Esther 2:3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his
kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the
palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king’s chamberlain,
keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given [them]:
Ver. 3. And let the king appoint officers] Praeficiat praefectos. Costly counsel. This
could not be done without much trouble and charge to the king. Two or three years
are spent in gathering, purifying, and preparing these choice virgins for the impure
bed of this heathen prince, while he is following the chase of his ambition, in the
wars of Greece.
In all the provinces of his kingdom] A large commission they must have, the whole
kingdom is their circuit; and note that they went not to foreigners; which those
princes that do, while thereby they seek for greatness, they many times miss
goodness; while they labour to be strong abroad (and so to have a stake in store, as
they say, however the dice chance to turn), they weaken themselves at home, and

while by foreign matches they intend unity, it proves an occasion both of civil and
foreign dissensions. We of this nation have had sad experience of these mischiefs.
That they may gather together] This could not be done without the great grief and
general discontent of the king’s best subjects ( nimium serviliter huic hirco
subiectorum, as one hath it), thus bereft and despoiled of their dearest daughters,
the staves of their age.
All the fair young virgins] Beauty (the best pearl in a carnal eye) is all that is here
looked after, quae plerumque virtute et pudicitia caret, which is oft without virtue
and common honesty, as, where they meet, it is a rare mixture. The heathen man
saith, on est formosa mulier cuius crus laudatur aut brachium, sed illa cuius
universa facies admirationem singulis partibus abstulit. ow if this be true, long
enough might these commissionated officers look for fair young virgins, truly so
called, there being very few that are not peccant in some minnum, some tittle of
beauty, or other. It is a praise peculiar to the virgin daughter of Zion to be all fair,
Song of Solomon 4:7, to be αµωµος, Ephesians 5:26, such as in whom even Momus
himself could find no error.
Unto Shushan the palace] In which one place there might have been found choice
enough, without speaking further; but that lust is unsatisfiable. The eye is not
satisfied with seeing; and in such a multitude how could it be but that the king’s
mind must needs be distracted, which one to make choice of?
To the house of the women] Such as is now the Turk’s Seraglio. See the description
of the Grand Signior’s Seraglio, by Master John Greanes, chap. iv.
Unto the custody of Hege] Who was their keeper, or rather their jailer. For what
was this house of women but a perpetual prison to them, clapped under hatches, as
it were, and, haply, held in as great servitude as those in Barbary are at this day;
where it is death for any man to see one of the Xeriff’s concubines; and for them too,
it, when they see a man, though but through a casement, they do not suddenly
screek out.
And let their things for purification] σµηγµατα, their cleansing, to dry up the filth of
the flesh, and to cleanse nature’s infirmities, that they might be six months purified
with oil of myrrh, and six other months perfumed with sweet odours, as Esther 2:12.
Here the maids were first purified before the king chose one. But Christ first
chooseth his spouse, and then purifieth her, Ephesians 5:26.
ELLICOTT, "(3) The house of the women.—The harem, then as now, a prominent

feature in the establishment of an Eastern king.
Hege.—Called Hegai in Esther 2:8; a eunuch whose special charge seems to have
been the virgins, while another, named Shaashgaz (Esther 2:14), had the custody of
the concubines. The whole verse shows, as conclusively as anything could do, in how
degrading an aspect Eastern women were, as a whole, viewed. It was reserved for
Christianity to indicate the true position of woman, not man’s plaything, but the
help meet for him, able to aid him in his spiritual and intellectual progress, yielding
him intelligent obedience, not slavery.
LA GE, "Esther 2:3. They also gave the plan of execution of this project: The king,
through his appointed officers, or through specially authorized men, was to cause to
be brought together from all the provinces of his kingdom the most beautiful
virgins, and placed under the hand of Hege in the house of the women. This Hege
was the chief eunuch of the king, the keeper of the women, under whose care and
direction every young maiden taken into the harem was placed, and by him
prepared for one whole year to go into the presence of the king (comp. Esther 2:12).
‫ֵא‬‫ג‬ֵ‫ה‬ in Esther 2:8; Esther 2:15 called ‫ַי‬‫ג‬ֵ‫ה‬, was, as above stated, the chief overseer of
the king’s harem.[F 6]And let their things for purification be given (them).—‫ָתוֹן‬‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬,
the infin. absol, gives prominence to the act purely as such, since it presupposes the
subject as being self-evident: “Let them be given” [rather, “Let there be a giving”].
‫ְרוּק‬‫מ‬ַ‫תּ‬ (comp. Esther 2:9; Esther 2:12), from ‫ק‬ ַ‫ָר‬‫מ‬, to rub, to cleanse, to make clean, is
an abstract image, purification in the sense of cleansing; while ‫ִים‬‫ק‬‫ְרוּ‬‫מ‬ in Esther 2:12
means rather [passively] become cleansed, or pure. Evidently such a purification
meant a cleansing and anointing with precious oils, Esther 2:4. Their purpose was
that the one who should please the king might become queen in the room of Vashti.
‫ְַך‬‫ל‬ָ‫מ‬ here speaks of the queen, as it elsewhere does of the king. Ahasuerus approved
of this proposition also (comp. Esther 1:21).
PULPIT, "Esther 2:3
The house of the women. In an Oriental palace the women's apartments are always
distinct from those of the men, and are usually placed in a separate building, which
the Greeks called the gynaeceum, and the Jews "the house of the women." At Susa
this was a large edifice, and comprised several subdivisions (see Esther 2:14). Hege,
the king's chamberlain. Literally, "the king's eunuch, i.e. one of the royal eunuchs
(see Esther 1:10). Keeper of the women. Strictly speaking, Hege seems to have been
keeper of the virgins only (see Esther 2:14); but he may have exercised a certain
superintendence over the entire gynaeceum. Their things for purification. See
Esther 2:12. Such a divinity lodged in the Persian king that even pure maidens had
to be purified before approaching him! It would have been well if the divinity had
been himself less impure.

4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king
be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed
to the king, and he followed it.
GILL, "And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of
Vashti,.... Have the royal estate, that was taken from Vashti, given to her, the crown
royal set on her head, &c.
and the thing pleased the king, and he did so; appointed officers in all his
provinces to seek out the most beautiful virgins, and bring them to his palace; so with
the Chinese now, the king never marries with any of his kindred, though ever so remote;
but there is sought throughout his kingdom a damsel of twelve or fourteen years, of
perfect beauty, good natural parts, and well inclined to virtue; whence, for the most part,
the queen is the daughter of some artisan; and in their history (e), mention is made of
one that was the daughter of a mason.
TRAPP, "Esther 2:4 And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of
Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.
Ver. 4. And let the maiden] Herein unhappy that she got her honour with the loss of
her honesty; and that so many maids are made miserable for her sake.
That pleaseth the king] Heb. That is good in his eyes. The eye is the lamp and
ornament of the whole body; and yet that most lightsome part doth ofttimes draw
the soul into utter darkness; while by those windows of wickedness and loopholes of
lust Satan windeth himself into the heart, and maketh it impudicitiae cloacam (as
Venus’s temple on the top of Lebanon is called by Eusebius), a very sink and sewer
of all lewdness and abomination.
Be queen instead of Vashti] This was held a great business, and a sufficient
recompense. The bramble held it a goodly thing to reign over the trees: not so the
vine and fig tree, 9:15.
And the thing pleased the king] Because it added more fuel to the fire of his lust,
and that he may lengthen out his days in dalliance and wantonness: ut libidine
libidinem provocante, nihil nisi muliebris fiat, saith an expositor here, that he might
be the right successor of Sardanapalus, who buried himself in the bosoms of his
harlots, and left behind him this infamous epitaph: πα φι λι πα λι φι-Tαυτ εχω οσσ ’

εφαγον και εφυβοισα και µετ ερωτος, πα λι φι Tεοπν επαθον τα δε αλλα και ολβια
παντα λελειπται
An epitaph fit for an ox, saith Aristotle. The kings of Persia are noted for
effeminate, fitter for a canopy than a camp; and affecting such sights, ubi Imperator
Apparator, lanx phalanx, acies facies, bella labella, spicula pocula, scutum scortum,
&c.
And he did so] According to the counsel of those court parasites (whose word is that
of Stratocles, Mihi placer quicquid Regi placet), he walked in the ways of his heart,
and in the sight of his eyes, little thinking that for all these things God would bring
him into judgment, Ecclesiastes 11:9. But such governors the wicked world
deserveth, as being itself totus in maligno positus, 1 John 5:19 When Phocas, that
filthy traitor, reigned at Constantinople, Cedrinus saith that a certain honest poor
man was very earnest with God to know why such a man, or rather monster, was set
up; he was answered again by a voice, that there could not be a worse man found,
and that the sins of Christians did require it.
5 ow there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the
tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair,
the son of Shimei, the son of Kish,
BAR ES, "Mordecai, the eunuch Est_2:7, Est_2:11, has been conjectured to be the
same as Matacas, who, according to Ctesias, was the most powerful of the eunuchs
during the latter portion of the reign of Xerxes. Mordecai’s line of descent is traced from
a certain Kish, carried off by Nebuchadnezzar in 598 B.C. - the year of Jeconiah’s
captivity - who was his great-grandfather. The four generations, Kish, Shimei, Jair,
Mordecai, correspond to the known generations in other cases, for example:
High priests kings of Persia Royal stock of
Judah
Seraiah Cambyses Jeconiah
Jozadak Cyrus Salathiel

Jeshua Darius Zerubbabel
Joiakim Xerxes Hananiah
The age of Mordecai at the accession of Xerxes may probably have been about 30 or
40; that of Esther, his first cousin, about 20.
CLARKE, "Whose name was Mordecai - The Targum says, “He was the son of
Jair, the son of Shimea, the son of Gera, the son of Kish.” And “this was the same Shimea
that cursed David; and whom David forbade Joab to slay because he saw, in the spirit of
prophecy, that he was to be the predecessor of Esther and Mordecai; but when he
became old, and incapable of having children, David ordered Solomon to put him to
death.
GILL, "Now in Shushan the palace was a certain Jew,.... Not one of the tribe of
Judah, for he was afterwards called a Benjaminite; but was so called, because he was of
the kingdom of Judah, which consisted of both tribes. Jarchi says, all that were carried
captive with the kings of Judah were called Jews among the nations, though of another
tribe:
whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of
Kish, a Benjamite; who was among those that came with Zerubbabel from Babylon to
Jerusalem, and returned to Persia again, Ezr_2:2, though some think this was another
Mordecai; See Gill on Ezr_2:2, who descended not from Kish, the father of Saul, but a
later and more obscure person.
JAMISO , "Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew — Mordecai
held some office about the court. But his “sitting at the king’s gate” (Est_2:21) does not
necessarily imply that he was in the humble condition of a porter; for, according to an
institute of Cyrus, all state officers were required to wait in the outer courts till they were
summoned into the presence chamber. He might, therefore, have been a person of some
official dignity. This man had an orphan cousin, born during the exile, under his care,
who being distinguished by great personal beauty, was one of the young damsels taken
into the royal harem on this occasion. She had the good fortune at once to gain the good
will of the chief eunuch [Est_2:9]. Her sweet and amiable appearance made her a
favorite with all who looked upon her (Est_2:15, last clause). Her Hebrew name (Est_
2:7) was Hadassah, that is, “myrtle,” which, on her introduction into the royal harem,
was changed to Esther, that is, the star Venus, indicating beauty and good fortune
[Gesenius].
K&D 5-7, "Before relating how this matter was carried into execution, the historian
introduces us to the two persons who play the chief parts in the following narrative. Est_
2:5. There was (dwelt) in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the name of Mordochai (‫י‬ ַ‫כ‬ ְ ְ‫ר‬ ָ‫,מ‬ in
more correct editions ‫י‬ ַ‫כ‬ ֳ‫ד‬ ְ‫ר‬ ָ‫,)מ‬ the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a

Benjamite (‫י‬ִ‫ינ‬ ִ‫מ‬ְ‫י‬ ‫ישׁ‬ ִ‫א‬ like 1Sa_9:1). Jair, Shimei, and Kish can hardly mean the father,
grandfather, and great-grandfather of Mordochai. On the contrary, if Jair were perhaps
his father, Shimei and Kish may have been the names of renowned ancestors. Shimei
was probably the son of Gera, well known to us from the history of David, 2Sa_16:5. and
1Ki_2:8, 1Ki_2:36., and Kish the father of Saul, 1Ch_8:33; 1Sa_9:1; for in genealogical
series only a few noted names are generally given; comp., e.g., 1Ch_9:19; 1Ch_6:24.
Upon the ground of this explanation, Josephus (Ant. xi. 6) makes Esther of royal
descent, viz., of the line of Saul, king of Israel; and the Targum regards Shimei as the
Benjamite who cursed David. The name Mordochai occurs in Ezr_2:2 and Neh_7:7 as
that of some other individual among those who returned from captivity with Zerubbabel,
but can hardly be connected with the Persian mrdky, little man. Aben Ezra, Lightfoot,
and others, indeed, are of opinion that the Mordochai of the present book really came up
with Zerubbabel, but subsequently returned to Babylon. Identity of name is not,
however, a sufficient proof of identity of person. The chronological statement, Est_2:6 :
who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away
with Jeconiah, king of Judah, etc., offers some difficulty. For from the captivity of
Jeconiah in the year 599 to the beginning of the reign of Xerxes (in the year 486) is a
period of 113 years; hence, if the ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ is referred to Mordochai, he would, even if carried
into captivity as a child by then, have reached the age of from 120 to 130 years, and as
Esther was not made queen till the seventh year of Xerxes (Est_2:16), would have
become prime minister of that monarch at about the age of 125. Rambach, indeed, does
not find this age incredible, though we cannot regard it as probable that Mordochai
should have become minister at so advanced an age.
(Note: Baumg. aptly remarks, l.c., p. 125: Etsi concedendum est, non esse contra
naturam, si Mordechaeus ad illam aetatem pervenerit, et summa hac constitutus
senectute gravissimis negotiis perficiendis par fuerit, tamen est hoc rarissimum et
nisi accedit certum testimonium, difficile ad credendum.)
On this account Clericus, Baumgarten, and others refer the relative ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ to the last name,
Kish, and understand that he was carried away with Jeconiah, while his great-grandson
Mordochai was born in captivity. In this case Kish and Shimei must be regarded as the
great-grandfather and grandfather of Mordochai. We grant the possibility of this view;
nevertheless it is more in accordance with the Hebrew narrative style to refer ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ to the
chief person of the sentence preceding it, viz., Mordochai, who also continues to be
spoken of in Est_2:7. Hence we prefer this reference, without, however, attributing to
Mordochai more than 120 years of age. For the relative clause: who had been carried
away, need not be so strictly understood as to assert that Mordochai himself was carried
away; but the object being to give merely his origin and lineage, and not his history, it
involves only the notion that he belonged to those Jews who were carried to Babylon by
Nebuchadnezzar with Jeconiah, so that he, though born in captivity, was carried to
Babylon in the persons of his forefathers. This view of the passage corresponds with that
formerly presented by the list of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Jacob
who went down with him to Egypt; see the explanation of the passage in question.
(Note: Baumgarten also considers this view admissible, rightly remarking, p. 127:
Scriptoribus sacris admodum familiare est singulos homines non per se et sepositos
spectare, sed familias et gentes ut corpora quasi individua complecti, ita ut posteri
majorum personis quasi contenti et inclusi, majores vero in posteris ipsi subsistere
et vivere existimentur. Ex hac ratione Mordechaeus captus esse dici potest, quamvis
ipse satis diu post Jechoniae tempora ex iis, qui a Nebucadnezaro abducti sunt,

natus fuerit.)
Est_2:7. Mordochai was ‫ן‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫א‬, keeper, bringer up, i.e., foster-father, to Hadassh (‫ן‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫א‬
constructed as a participle with ‫ת‬ ֵ‫.)א‬ ‫ה‬ ָ ַ‫ד‬ ֲ‫ה‬ means a myrtle (‫ס‬ ַ‫ד‬ ֲ‫ה‬ in the Shemitish), like the
Greek name Μυρτία, Μυሜምίνη. “That is Esther,” the queen known by the name of Esther.
The name ‫ר‬ ֵ ְ‫ס‬ ֶ‫א‬ is the Old-Persian stara with ‫א‬ prosthetic, and corresponds with the
Greek ᅊστήρ, star, in modern Persian sitareh. She was ‫ּו‬‫ד‬ּ ‫ת־‬ ַ , daughter of his father's
brother, and adopted by Mordochai after the death of her parents; we are told,
moreover, that she had a fine figure and beautiful countenance. Her father, whose name,
according to Est_2:15, was Abihail, was uncle to Mordochai, and hence Esther was his
cousin.
COFFMA , "Verse 5
THE I TRODUCTIO OF MORDECAI A D ESTHER
"There was a certain Jew in Shushan the palace whose name was Mordecai the son
of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been carried away
from Jerusalem with the captives that had been carried away with Jeconiah king of
Judah, whom ebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. And he
brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father
nor mother, and the maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and
mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter."
"Mordecai" (Esther 2:5). This name is said to be derived from the pagan god
Marduk, meaning "dedicated to Mars."[6]
"Carried away from Jerusalem (by) ebuchadnezzar" (Esther 2:6). That
deportation of Jews was more than a century prior to the events of this chapter; and
the meaning appears to be that Mordecai's parents or grandparents were the ones
carried away. Mordecai's name suggests that he was born in Babylon, although the
Babylonians generally changed the names of people whom they employed, as in the
case of Daniel and others.
These three verses serve the purpose of introducing the persons around whom the
rest of the narrative is woven.
COKE, "Esther 2:5. Whose name was Mordecai— Mordecai, from his attendance
at the king's gate, Esther 2:19 is thought to have been one of the porters at the royal
palace; but, probably, he was an officer of higher rank; for it was an order
instituted by Cyrus, as Xenophon informs us, Cyropaed. lib. 8: that all persons
whatever, who had any employment at court, should attend at the palace-gate
(where there was, doubtless, a proper waiting-place for their reception), that they
might be in readiness whenever they were wanted or called for; and that this custom
was afterwards continued, we may learn from Herodotus, lib. 3: cap. 120. See Le
Clerc.

TRAPP, "Esther 2:5 [ ow] in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose
name [was] Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a
Benjamite;
Ver. 5. ow in Shushan the palace] ot in Babylon, as Josephus doteth.
There was a certain Jew] That had not returned to Jerusalem, as he ought to have
done; and as another of his name did, Ezra 2:2.
Whose name was Mordecai] That is, pure myrrh, say some; bitter contrition, say
others; he is the son of contrition, that must be the son of consolation. This
Mordecai was one of those few that both lived and died with glory; being not taxed
for any gross sin.
The son of Jair] Happy father in such a son; much more joy might he well be to his
parents than Epaminondas was to his: and of him it might be sung,
Tοις µακαρες τε κασιγνητοι τε, κασιγνηται τε (Homer).
The son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite] He descended, then, either from
some other son of Kish, the father of Saul, or else from Jonathan, Saul’s son; for he
only, of all the sons of Saul, left issue behind him. But the Kish here mentioned,
though of his line, lived many years after Saul’s father.
CO STABLE, "2. Esther"s selection2:5-11
Apparently it was Kish, Mordecai"s great-grandfather, who went into captivity
with Jehoiachin ( Esther 2:5-6). [ ote: Wright, p38.] This means Mordecai and
Esther were probably descendants of the leading citizens of Jerusalem who went
into exile in597 B.C, perhaps nobility (cf. 2 Kings 24:12).
Mordecai"s name is Persian, as is Esther"s, and it has connections with the god
Marduk. [ ote: Horn, p16.] All the same, it was common for the Jews in captivity to
receive and to use pagan names (cf. Daniel 1:7; Ezra 1:8). This does not necessarily
indicate that they were apostate Jews (cf. Daniel 1:7). The Marduk tablet, an extra-
biblical cuneiform document, may contain a reference to Mordecai. [ ote: See
Whitcomb, pp47-48; and Horn, pp20-22.] The writer mentioned Mordecai58 times
in this book, and seven times identified him as a Jew ( Esther 2:5; Esther 5:13;
Esther 6:10; Esther 8:7; Esther 9:29; Esther 9:31; Esther 10:3). Obviously, this is a
story in which ethnicity is important.

Esther 2 commentary

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Esther 2 commentary