Esther — Chapter 2

Recordatus est Vasthi et quae fecisset

The king remembered Vashti and what she had done, or what sentence had been passed on her — namely, repudiation and deprivation of her queenship. So grief and sadness entered the king's heart both on his own account and for Vashti whom he loved. To wipe away his sorrow, the king's ministers suggest that he seek a more beautiful wife throughout all his kingdom, lest he revoke the repudiation decree and thereby lose something of the royal constancy and authority — just as one nail drives out another, so one love drives out another.

Egei eunuchi, qui est praepositus et

The name \"Egei\" corresponds to the Persian \"Vagao\" or \"Bagous,\" which in Persian means eunuch. See what was said at Judith 12:10. For the eunuchs in ancient times were the king's intimate companions and chief courtiers, who saw the king's face and were his most familiar attendants, as is clear from ch. 2 v. 10, where the Chaldean paraphrase renders \"eunuchs\" as \"satraps.\"

Erat vir Judaeus in Susan civitate, vocabulo

Although Mordecai had returned from Babylon to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and Joshua the High Priest under Cyrus, and was indeed among the leading men and chiefs of those returning (as appears from 1 Esdras ch. 2 v. 2), yet he himself soon returned from Jerusalem to Susa, because he was \"a great man and among the chief men of the king's court,\" as is said in ch. 11 v. 4. For he was \"at the king's gate\" as his doorkeeper, chamberlain, and guardian of the royal person. Xenophon and Herodotus attest that the doorkeepers of the king were the king's bodyguard. Hence Josephus ben Gorion says Mordecai was one of three Parthenims, i.e., of the courtiers and palace officials. The name \"Mordecai\" in Hebrew is the same as Mardachat, meaning \"myrrh,\" or \"bitterness of contrition,\" or \"pure myrrh.\" Thus Serarius. Or: teaching contrition, or purest myrrh.

Qui translatus fuerat de Jerusalem eo

Regarding the phrase \"who had been carried away\" — Rupertus, Cajetan, Scaliger, and Serarius refer \"who\" to \"Cis,\" as if Cis had been carried away with Jeconiah, not Mordecai; for they argue that otherwise Mordecai would have lived about two hundred years, which was extraordinary in that age. However, it is clear that \"who\" refers to \"Mordecai\" and not to \"Cis,\" both from the context and the plain construction, which throughout concerns Mordecai, and because it is expressly said in ch. 11 v. 4 that Mordecai himself was carried away with Jeconiah. From this I collect and conclude that this history took place not under Artaxerxes Longimanus as many hold, much less under Artaxerxes Mnemon — for Mordecai could not have lived so long. Computing from his deportation as a child of about three years, adding seventy years of Babylonian captivity, then three years of Cyrus, six of Cambyses, and three of Darius Hystaspes (for in his third regnal year he married Esther), we arrive at about 85 years for Mordecai's age — so that Esther, born of Mordecai's younger brother, would have been about 30 years old, in the flower of youth and suited for marriage. This confirms that the history occurred under Darius Hystaspes.

Qui fuit nutritius filiae fratris sui Edissae

The Hebrew, Chaldean, and Septuagint have \"the daughter of his father's brother,\" that is, of his uncle — meaning Esther was Mordecai's first cousin, not his niece. In Hebrew she was called Hadassah (our Latin has \"Edissa\"), meaning \"myrtle\" or \"myrtle tree\"; and when she was received into the bed of Darius king of Persia, she was called Esther. Hence Xerxes the son of Darius had a wife whose name Herodotus bk. VII gives as \"Amestris\" or \"Amester\" — almost the same as \"another Esther.\" Hadassah, or Edissa, in Hebrew means \"myrtle\" — so called for her eminent beauty, uprightness, affability, and charm of body and character, especially for her virginal modesty and chastity, in which she was a type of the Blessed Virgin and of all holy virgins, as I showed more fully at Zechariah 1:8. The name \"Esther\" — from Hebrew \"I will hide\" (root סתר satar); also meaning \"receptress and protectress\" — for she protected the Jews destined for death. \"Esther\" in Chaldean and Syriac also means \"to oppose, contradict, and destroy\" — which is what Esther did to Haman, opposing and destroying him and having him crucified. Allegorically, Esther is the Blessed Virgin, who receives under her wings sinners and afflicted just persons who flee to her, and who is the joy and gladness of the saints and the faithful.

Quae placuit ei, et invenit gratiam

Esther pleased Hegai the eunuch and found favor with him. He commanded that her beautifying treatments be accelerated and that her portions be given her, along with seven chosen maidens from the king's household as her honorable companions and attendants. The rations (Manoth in Hebrew) are the servings allotted to each person individually, such as Hannah received from Elkanah (1 Reg. 1) and Saul from Samuel (1 Reg. 10). Esther, a religious woman, undoubtedly abstained from foods forbidden by the law of Moses, as she herself professes to have abstained from the food of idolaters (ch. 14 v. 17).

Mensis duodecimus vertebatur, ita duntaxat

For a whole year each virgin was prepared and adorned before approaching Assuerus; namely, for the first six months they were anointed with myrrh oil and for the second six months with certain pigments and delicate aromatics and perfumes. The reason was that Jewish and Persian women, owing to the heat of the region, smell strongly and exhale a goat-like odor under the arms, which must be gradually expelled by the unguents absorbed into the body, so that they exhale the pleasant fragrance with which they are imbued. Hence Pliny bk. XIII ch. 1 attributes the origin and custom of anointing to the Persians: \"The unguent is the gift of the Persian race; they are saturated with it, and by the acquired commendation they extinguish the virus born of their gluttony.\"

Ducta est itaque ad cubiculum regis Assueri

Esther was brought to the king's chamber in the tenth month — which corresponds partly to our December and partly to January — in the seventh year of his reign. She had therefore waited four full years on account of the multitude of virgins who were brought, before she herself was brought to Assuerus. For in his third regnal year, having repudiated Vashti, he ordered other beautiful women to be sought, among whom was Esther. These women, by the very fact of being brought to Assuerus, became his concubines, i.e., secondary wives; from among them the king then chose one as primary, whom he made queen — as he here chose Esther. Josephus bk. XI ch. 6: \"When Esther came to the king, he was delighted with her, captivated by love for her, and lawfully married her and solemnized the nuptials with her in the twelfth month of the seventh year of his reign, which month is called Adar.\"

Et adamavit eam rex plus quam omnes

The king loved Esther more than all women, because Esther surpassed all in beauty, modesty, reserve, purity, grace, and holiness — thus she was a type of the Blessed Virgin, whom the angel greeted saying: \"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women\" (Luke 1).

Et dedit requiem universis provinciis

He gave rest to all the provinces — that is, he remitted tributes and other burdens. For Herodotus bk. III shows that Darius had imposed many tributes: \"Under Cyrus and afterward under Cambyses nothing had yet been arranged about tributes, but gifts were brought. On account of this arrangement of tribute and other such things, the Persians say Darius was a merchant, Cambyses a master, and Cyrus a father.\" Others understand \"rest\" as a holiday from labors — the king ordered everyone to rest from work and to keep festival days with joy and banquets on account of such a distinguished marriage.

Cumque secundo quaererentur virgines et

From this it appears that virgins were sought for Assuerus twice, for so these words sound. Polygamy was common then, especially among kings. Hence Solomon had 700 queens and 300 concubines, i.e., secondary wives. Thus even today the kings of the Turks, Arabs, and Indians have a great throng of wives. For lust is insatiable, as well as fastidious and curious.

Ita cuncta faciebat, ut eo tempore solita

See here the rare obedience of Esther, who, now made queen and indeed empress, nevertheless obeyed Mordecai just as she had obeyed him as a little child; and through this obedience God most wisely directed her in all things, that she might supplant Haman and deliver her people from death.

Irati sunt Bagathan et Thares duo eunuchi

The two eunuchs who were palace doorkeepers conspired against King Artaxerxes. Why? Various scholars assign various plausible reasons. The Septuagint gives this reason: that the king had preferred Mordecai over them. Others say it was because he had repudiated Vashti and substituted Esther. More plausibly, others say they wished to transfer the kingdom to Haman, who was the first after the king — whence Josephus son of Gorion says: \"When Mordecai sat at the king's gate, he overheard the whisper of two of the king's eunuchs who were guarding the gate and consulting how they might lay hands on the king and bring his head to the king of Macedon, who had already declared war on the kings of Persia.\" This fits with Alexander the Great later transferring the monarchy from Darius and the Persians to himself and the Macedonians.