Esther 2:5

_NOW 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;_ Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew. Mordecai held some office about the court. Besides his ancestors as here mentioned, the Targum on Esther reckons Uzza, one of the sons of Ehud (1 Chronicles 8:7). But 'his sitting at the king's gate' (Esther 2:21) does not necessarily imply that he was in the humble condition of porter; because, according to an institute of Cyrus, all state officers were required to wait in the outer courts, until they were summoned into the presence-chamber. He might therefore have been a person of some official dignity (Shaw's 'Travels'). This man had an orphan niece, born during the exile, under his care, wh

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 Esther 2:5. _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....

Mordecai, the eunuch Esther 2:7, Esther 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:...

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 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, Ezra 2:2, though some think this was another Mordecai; Ezra 2:2, who descended not from Kish, the father of Saul, but a later and more obscure person....

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...

A CERTAIN JEW. a man (Hebrew. _'ish_. App-14.),. Jew. The contrast between Judah and Israel was lost in. strange land; and, as Nebuchadnezzar's campaign was against Judah, so "Jew" became the name used by Gentiles. MORDECAI. Daniel and Ezekiel taken to Babylon (2 Kings 24:14; 2 Kings 24:15); Nehemiah and Mordecai to Shushan; and Mordecai dwelt in the royal palace, as did Daniel and others (Daniel 1:4; 2 Kings 20:16). A BENJAMITE. Thus Mordecai,. Benjamite, ends Jehovah's war against Amalek, Exodus 17:16. Compare...

_There was a certain Jew_ The grammatical form in the original may be intended to emphasize the abruptness with which Mordecai is brought upon the scene. The influence which he, a Jew, is to have upon the history is thus placed in significant contrast with the brilliancy of the court of Susa. _Mordecai_ It may surprise us that a name which properly means a votary of the Babylonian god Marduk, another form of Merodach (Jupiter), should be borne by a Jew. [64] It has been suggested that it may have been given to the son in compliment to a Babylonian friend or master, and without any reference to its derivation, just as, in later days, the name Martin, e.g. St Martin of Tours, is completely devoid of associations with its etymological source, Mars. Mordecai, the cousin and adoptive father of Esther, is to be distinguished from the Mordecai who was a companion of Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:2;...

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....