Esther 2


Esther 2 is the second chapter of the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The author of the book is unknown and modern scholars have established that the final stage of the Hebrew text would have been formed by the second century BCE. Chapters 1 and 2 form the exposition of the book. This chapter introduces Mordecai and his adoptive daughter, Esther, whose beauty won the approval of the king Ahasuerus, and she was crowned the queen of Persia. Given information from Mordecai, Esther warned the king of an assassination plan, so that the would-be assassins were executed on the gallows, and the king owed Mordecai his life.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the Hebrew language and since the 16th century, is divided into 23 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrinus.

The king's decision to seek a new queen (2:1–4)

To find a replacement for a Persian queen after the deposal of Vashti, the king decided to hold a nationwide contest following the advice of his counselors.

Verse 3

  • "Shushan": or "Susa".
  • "The palace" : from Hebrew word בִּירָה ; New [King James Version|NKJV]: "citadel".
  • "Hege" : spelled as "Hegai" in, ; a eunuch in charge of the virgins, while another, named "Shaashgaz", was in charge of the concubines.
  • "Their things for purification": or from Hebrew "their ointments"; cf. NIV, CEV, NLT: "beauty treatments."

    Esther's admission to the court (2:5–11)

As the requirement to enter the contest is simply her beauty, Esther's status of being Jewish, a descendant of captives, without father and mother, did not hinder her entrance to the court. Once she was in the harem, she obtained 'a favored position in eyes of the harem-master'.

Verse 5

  • "Mordecai": a name that reflects the name of the Babylonian deity Marduk; a possible common custom of many Jews at that time to have 'two names: one for secular use and the other for use especially within the Jewish community', but there is no record of Mordecai's Jewish name in the biblical text.

    Verse 6

  • "Jeconiah": is an alternative name for Jehoiachin, although a number of modern English versions use the latter name to avoid confusion.

    Verse 7

  • "Brought out" or "bringing up" : from the Hebrew term אֹמֵן which means:
  • * "attendant" of children ;
  • * "guardian" ;
  • * "nurse-maid" ;
  • * "to look after".
  • "Hadassah": is a Jewish name that may mean "myrtle"; the name Esther could be derived from the Persian word for "star," or the name of the Babylonian goddess "Ishtar".
  • "For she had neither father nor mother" from Hebrew "for there was not to her father or mother", is 'universally understood to mean Esther's father and mother were no longer alive.'
  • "Fair and beautiful": from Hebrew "beautiful of form", where the Hebrew noun תֹּאַר is used to describe 'the physical bodily shape of a beautiful woman' ; TEV: "had a good figure."
  • "Took for his own daughter": from Hebrew "had taken her to him", where the Hebrew verb לָקַח describes Mordecai adopting Esther and treating her like his own daughter, "to take as one's own property" as a daughter.

    Verse 10

  • "Made known": or "disclosed" ; "revealed the identity of". Esther was able so effectively to conceal her Jewish heritage suggests that she was not consistently observing Jewish dietary and religious requirements.
  • "Her people or her kindred": this same phrase occurs but with the word order reversed in Esther 2:20.

    Esther's accession to the throne (2:12–18)

This part contains the description of the twelve-month course of beautifying treatments for the candidates of the Persian queen. It also gives a hint of Esther's character: she might possess 'innate cunning' to distinguish herself from her competitors and at the end was chosen to be the queen.

Verse 12

  • "According to the manner of the women": from Hebrew "to be to her according to the law of the women"; NASB "under the regulations for the women."

    Verse 16

The time referred to in the verse falls in the January or February of 478 BC which would have been very shortly after Xerxes' return to Susa from the war with the Greeks, thus the long delay in replacing Vashti can be explained by the long absence of Xerxes in Greece.

Mordecai's discovery of the plot against the king (2:19–23)

This section records how Mordecai overheard a plot to assassinate the king and told Esther, so she could save the king's life based on the information "in the name of Mordecai". This episode foreshadows the future events and becomes truly functional with the rewarding of Mordecai in chapter 6.

Verse 20

  • "Had not made known": Esther was able so effectively to conceal her Jewish heritage suggests that she was not consistently observing Jewish dietary and religious requirements.
  • "Her kindred or her people": this same phrase occurs but with the word order reversed in Esther 2:10.
  • "Mordecai had commanded her": at the end of this phrase, the Greek Septuagint version has the words "to fear God".

    Verse 21

  • "Bigthan": referred to as “Bigthana,” a variant spelling of the name, in Esther 6:2.