Keeper of the women; either,

1. Of the virgins, who are oft called women, as here, Esther 2:11,12, and elsewhere. So it is a synecdoche. Or,

2. 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. For purification, i.e. to cleanse them from all impurities and indecencies, to anoint, and perfume, and adorn, and every way prepare them for the king's presence and service; for the legal purifications of the Jews he never regarded.

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