Esther 2:13

_THEN THUS CAME EVERY MAIDEN UNTO THE KING; WHATSOEVER SHE DESIRED WAS GIVEN HER TO GO WITH HER OUT OF THE HOUSE OF THE WOMEN UNTO THE KING'S HOUSE._ Then thus came every maiden unto the king. 'Gynaeceum, the women's apartment, was, in the Susa palace at any rate, building distinct from the general edifice, separated from "the king's house" by a court. It was itself composed of at least three sets of apartments, namely, apartments for the virgins, who had not yet gone into the king, apartments for the concubines, and apartments for the queen-consort and the other wives. These different portions were under the supervision of different persons. Two eunuchs of distinction had the charge respectively of the "first" and of "the second house of the women." The queen-consort was, at any rate nominally, paramount in the third, her authority extending over all its inmates, male and female' (Rawl...

1-20 We see to what absurd practices those came, who were destitute of Divine revelation, and what need there was of the gospel of Christ, to purify men from the lusts of the flesh, and to bring them back to the original institution of marriage. Esther was preferred as queen. Those who suggest that Esther committed sin to come at this dignity, do not consider the custom of those times and countries. Every one that the king took was married to him, and was his wife, though of a lower rank. But how low is human nature sunk, when such as these are the leading pursuits and highest worldly happiness of men! Disappointment and vexation must follow; and he most wisely consults his enjoyment, even in this present life, who most exactly obeys the precepts of the Divine law. But let us turn to consider the wise and merciful providence of God, carrying on his deep but holy designs in the midst of...

Verse 13. _WHATSOEVER SHE DESIRED_] When any of the young women were called to go to the king, it appears that it was an ordinance that whatever kind of _dress stuff, colour, jewels_, c., they thought best to set off their persons, and render them more engaging, should be given them....

EXPOSITION THE QUEST FOR MAIDENS, AND THE CHOICE OF ESTHER TO BE QUEEN IN VASHTI'S PLACE (Esther 2:1). 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 cour

THEN THUS CAME EVERY VIRGIN UNTO THE KING,.... When her twelve months were up, and she was purified in the manner before observed: WHATSOEVER SHE DESIRED WAS GIVEN HER TO GO WITH HER OUT OF THE HOUSE OF THE WOMEN UNTO THE KING'S HOUSE; whatever she commanded the chamberlain was obliged to furnish her with, or grant it to her, whether for ornament, as jewels, rich apparel, c. or for attendance whatever prince or peer she required to accompany her to the king, was to be obtained for her, as the Targum: and everything for mirth, all kinds of songs, or instruments of music, as Jarchi....

ESTHER CHOSEN QUEEN. Ere long Ahasuerus longs for his lost queen's comradeship. He is moved to issue a summons throughout all his territories, commanding all fair maidens to appear as candidates for the queenship. This command removes the fancy that a Jewess had no right to come. She had to come. Among the assembled fair ones was the cousin and ward of Mordecai, called Hadassah, _i.e._ Myrtle. Let us notice that this name is the same as that of the place Adasah in Judah where, on Adar 13th, 161 B.C., the Maccabees defeated Nicanor, the general of the armies of Syria (p. 607). That final victory set Judah free from foreign rule, so that the throne of David was established again after its destruction about 600 B.C. (see 1Ma_7:39 ff.). The maiden seems intended by our writer as a symbol of that victory. She surpasses all her rivals, and is chosen by Ahasuerus as his queen; and now she recei...

_then in this wise_ better than _then thus_of A.V., as marking more forcibly the commencement of the apodosis, answering to the somewhat distant -Now when" at the beginning of Esther 2:12....

WHATEVER SHE DESIRED WAS GIVEN HER— _Whosoever she desired,_ &c. Houbigant....

C. Season of Preparation TEXT: Esther 2:12-14 12 Now when the turn of every maiden was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that it had been done to her according to the law for the women twelve months, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors and with the things for the purifying of the women,) 13 then in this wise came the maiden unto the king: whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king's house. 14 In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, who kept the concubines; she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and she were called by name. Today's English Version,...

THE CHOICE OF ESTHER TO BE QUEEN. MORDECAI'S SERVICE 1. He remembered, etc.] LXX has 'he thought no more of Vashti, remembering what,' etc....