Esther 2:8

_WHO HAD BEEN CARRIED AWAY FROM JERUSALEM WITH THE CAPTIVITY WHICH HAD BEEN CARRIED AWAY WITH JECONIAH KING OF JUDAH, WHOM NEBUCHADNEZZAR THE KING OF BABYLON HAD CARRIED AWAY._ 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...

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

SO IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THE KING'S COMMANDMENT AND DECREE WAS HEARD,.... In the several provinces of his kingdom: AND WHEN MANY MAIDENS WERE GATHERED UNTO SHUSHAN THE PALACE, TO THE CUSTODY OF HEGAI; Josephus o says, there were gathered to the number of four hundred: THAT ESTHER WAS BROUGHT ALSO UNTO THE KING'S HOUSE, TO THE CUSTODY OF HEGAI, THE KEEPER OF THE WOMEN: by force, as Aben Ezra and the former Targum, and so the word is sometimes used. o Ibid. (Antiqu. l. 11. c. 6. sect. 2.)...

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...

COMMANDMENT. word. Hebrew. _dabar._ See note on Esther 1:12. DECREE. Imperial decree. Hebrew. _dath_, as in Esther 3:15; Esther 4:3; Esther 4:8; Esther 8:14; Esther 8:17; Esther 9:1; Esther 9:13; Esther 9:14....

_the king's commandment and his decree_ the former substantive referring to his orally expressed order, the latter being the same word as that used for -the laws of the Persians and the Medes" (Esther 1:19). _Hegai_ See Esther 2:3. _was taken_ The _Targum Shçnî_says that Esther was hidden by Mordecai, before being removed from his custody by the exercise of the king's authority....

B. Solicitude of Mordecai TEXT: Esther 2:5-11 5 There was a certain Jew in Shushan the palace, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, 6 who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives that had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. 7 And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter. 8 So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken into the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women....

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