EXPOSITION. § 3. 1 MonDEOAI 8' DIBOOVEnY 01!' A PLOT sitting in the king's gate-now Esther had AOAINST AnASUEnus' LIFE (eh. ii. 19-23). not shoi:ved her kindred or her people, as Some time nfter Esther had been made Mordecai had charged her ; for Esther d irl the command of Mordecai like as when she qneen, there was a second collection of vir- was brought up with him-in those days, gins nt Susa (ver. 19), under circumstances while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, Big- which nre not related, and which were than and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, probably of small importance. .At Ollis time being of the number of them which kept the (vcr. 21) Mordecai, still serving in his threshold, were wroth," &c. Ver. 20.-Esther had not yet showed, &c. humble office at the palace gnte, from which This is inserted to account for the humble he had not been advanced, since Esther had position still occupied by Mordecai. In the told no one that he was her relation (ver. East a person's relations usually rise with 20), happened to detect a conspiracy against him ; and the reader would naturally ex- the king's life, which had been formed by pect that when Esther was once queen, Mordecai would have become rich and great. two of the palace eunuchs, Bigthan and Esther's silence accounts for Mordecai's low Teresh, whom Ahasuerus had somehow of- estate; Mordecai's command (see ver. 10/ fended (ver. 21). Being still in the habit of accounts for Esther's silence. For Esther did holding communication with Esther, Mor- the commandment of Mordecai The royal decai was able to make her acquainted with dignity did not change Esther's heart. She was still the dutiful child she had been so the facts, of which she then informed the many years. Mordecai had forbidden her to king, telling him how she had obtained her 'tell her kindred ; he hau not removed his knowledge (ver. 22). There was nothing prohibition, so she had kept silence. surprising· or suspicious in a eunuch of the Ver. 21.-In those days. Or, "at that palace having had speech with the queen, time" - i. e. at the time when the second gathering of the virgins took place (see ver. especially when he had intelligence of such 19). Two of the king's chamberlains. importance to impart to her. On inquiry, Rather, "eunuchs." Bigthan, or Bigthana the king found that Mordecai's information (eh. vi. 2), is probably the same name as the was correct ; the conspiracy was laid bare, Bigtha of eh. L 10, and possibly the same and the conspirators put to death (ver. 23)- personage. Teresh is not mentioned else• where. Of those which kept the door. Two the facts being, as was sure to be the case, of the eunuchs who guarded the entrance to entered in the court chronicle, a daily record the king's sleeping apartment. This was of the life of the court, and of the circum- a position of the highest possible trust, stances that befell the king. It was to have and gave conspirators a terrible advantage. been expected that Mordecai would have Xerxes actually lost his life through a con- spiracy formed by Artabanus, the captain of been rewarded for his zeal ; but somehow or his guard, with Aspamitras, a eunuch and other it happened that his services were chamberlain (Ctes., ' Exe. Pers.,' § 29). overlooked-he was neither promoted from Ver. 22.-And the thing was known unto l1is humble office, nor did he receive any Mordecai Josephus says that a certain gift (eh. vi. 3). This was quite contrary to Pharnabazus, a slave of one of the conspira- tors, betrayed them to Mordecai (' Ant. ordinary Persian practice ; but the court Jud. ,' xiv. 6, § 4). One of the Targums on generally may have disliked Mordecai be- Esther attributes his discovery of the plot to cause he was a Jew. his knowledge of languages. But it is pro- bable that these are mere guesses. And Ver. 19. -When the virgins were gathered Esther certified the king thereof. The together. Rather, "When virgins." There original is simpler, "And Esther told it is no article. The fact seems to be mentioned to the king." In Mordecai's name. Mor- simply as furnishing II date, and wo must decai's name thus came first before the king. suppose both that there was n second gather- Esther mentioned him as her informant, but ing, and thnt the time when it happened was did not say that he was related to her (comp. generally known to the Jews and Persians. eh. viii. 1). Then Mordecai sat, &c. The three verses, Ver. 23.-It was found out. The suose- 19, 20, 21, hang together, and form II single quent history shows that Mordecai's inform• sentence : "When virgins were gathered to- ation was found to be correct, since he wa.1 gether a second time, and Mordecai waa ultimately adjudged to have deserved th~ THE BOOK OF ESTHER.
highest possible reward (eh. vi. 6-10). The something like the (l,Cfa diuma of the early two conspirators were condemned to death Roman empire (Tacit., 'Ann.,' xiii. 31), nnd Rnd hsnged on a tree, i. e. cmcified or specially noted whatever concerned the king. impal_ed, as. traitors and rebels commonly Ctesia.s pretended to have drawn his Persian were m Persia (see Herod., iii 169 ; iv. 43 ; history from these "chronicles" (ap. Diod. '. _Behist. Inscr. ,' col. ii. pars. 13, 14 ; col. Sic., ii. 32), and Herodotus seems to have m. par. S). And it wu written in the obtained access to some of them (see the book of the ohroniole1. Historiographers writer's 'Herodotus,' Introduction, eh. ii. were attached to the Persian court, and p. 66). Before the king. L e. "in the attended the monarch wherever he went. king's presence." This wa.s not always the We find them noting down facts for Xerxes case ; but when the matter was very im- at Doriscus (Herod., vii. 100), and again at portant the king exercised a supervision Sal&mis (iJJi.d. viii. 90). They kept a record over what was written.