Esther 2:15

_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 15. _SHE REQUIRED NOTHING_] She left this entirely to her friend Hege, who seems to have been intent on her success. She therefore left her decorations to his judgment alone, and went in that dress and in those ornaments which _he_ deemed most suitable....

SHE REQUIRED NOTHING - The other virgins perhaps loaded themselves with precious ornaments of various kinds, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, anklets, and the like. Esther let Hegai dress her as he would....

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

NOW WHEN THE TURN OF ESTHER THE DAUGHTER OF ABIHAIL,.... For this was her father's name, and not Aminadab, as the Septuagint version: THE UNCLE OF MORDECAI, WHO HAD TAKEN HER FOR HIS DAUGHTER; which makes it quite clear that Mordecai was not Esther's uncle, as Josephus, but her own cousin: now when her turn WAS COME TO GO IN UNTO THE KING; which the virgins under purification took by turns, Esther 2:14, SHE REQUIRED NOTHING BUT WHAT HEGAI THE KING'S CHAMBERLAIN, THE KEEPER OF THE WOMEN, APPOINTED; what he ordered her to have, or to do, she submitted to, being in his hands, and so obeyed his orders; but more she asked not, either for ornament or attendance, being not at all solicitous whether the king liked her or not; for it was not of choice, but by constraint, she went unto him; nor needed she anything to recommend her, her virtue, m

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...

_Abihail_ Esther's father is mentioned again in Esther 9:29. In both places the LXX. reads _Aminadab_, which is its equivalent for _Abinadab_. The object of introducing again at this point the description of Esther's connexion with Mordecai seems to be to call attention to the contrast between the modesty of her requirements and those of her companions on an occasion on which so much depended, and which would in all likelihood prove unique for each one. Her -requiring nothing" served to emphasize the attractions of her person, and thus was intended to be reckoned to the credit of the Jewish nation....

D. Selection of Esther TEXT: Esther 2:15-18 15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her. 16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 Then 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,

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....