Esther 2:14

_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, WHICH KEPT THE CONCUBINES: SHE CAME IN UNTO THE KING NO MORE, EXCEPT THE KING DELIGHTED IN HER, AND THAT SHE WERE CALLED BY NAME._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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 14. _SHE RETURNED INTO THE SECOND HOUSE_] This was the place where the king's _concubines_ were kept. They went out no more, and were never given in marriage to any man, and saw the king's face no more unless specially called. _CUSTODY OF SHAASHGAZ_] This is probably another _Persian_ name; [Persian] _sheshkhunj, beardless_, a proper epithet of a _eunuch_; or [Persian] _sestgunj, weak loins_, for the same reason. Names of this kind at once show the reason of their imposition, by describing the _state_ of the person....

THE SECOND HOUSE OF THE WOMEN - i. e. Esther returned to the “house of the women,” but not to the same part of it. She became an inmate of the “second house,” or “house of the concubines,” under the superintendence of a distinct officer, Shaashgaz....

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

IN THE EVENING SHE WENT, AND ON THE MORROW SHE RETURNED INTO THE SECOND HOUSE OF THE WOMEN,.... Or the other apartment of the house of the women, where were kept those the king had made his concubines or secondary wives. Aben Ezra interprets it the second time, and so the Targum by "again": TO THE CUSTODY OF SHAASHGAZ THE KING'S CHAMBERLAIN, WHICH KEPT THE CONCUBINES; of which the kings of Persia had a great number; Darius, whom Alexander conquered, had three hundred and sixty q: SHE CAME IN UNTO THE KING NO MORE, EXCEPT THE KING DELIGHTED IN HER, AND THAT SHE WAS CALLED BY NAME; but remained shut up in the house, and might not lie with, nor be married to, another man. q Curt. Hist. l. 3. c. 3....

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...

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....

GOD IS IN CONTROL Book of Esther _ROBERT BRYCE_ CHAPTER 2 V1 Later, when the king was not still angry, he thought about Vashti. He remembered what she had done. And he remembered the law that he had made. Verse 1 Xerxes may have been sorry for what he had done to Vashti. We do not know if he was sorry soon afterwards. It may have happened much later. It was several years later that Xerxes made Esther queen. (See Esther 2:16-17.) The delay was probably because Xerxes was abroad. During this time, he fought wars against the armies of Greece. V2 Then the king’s personal servants gave him advice. ‘The king sho