Esther 2:21

21 And in those days, as Mor'decai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasu-e'rus.

Esther 2:21 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 2:21

In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate
Being, as before observed, an officer at court:

two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those that kept
the door;
of the inner court, as Aben Ezra, of the doors of his bedchamber; perhaps they were the chief of his bodyguards, as the Septuagint version; in later times, such officers were about the chambers of great personages as their guards ^F1:

these were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the King Ahasuerus;
to poison him, as Jarchi and both the Targums; however, to take away his life by some means or another. Gorionides ^F2 says their design was, while the king was asleep, to cut off his head, and carry it to the king of Greece; there being at that time great wars between the kingdom of Greece and the kingdom of Persia, which exactly agrees with the times of Xerxes, and with this part of his reign, about the seventh year of it, what was the occasion of this wrath is not said, it is thought to be either the divorce of Vashti, whose creatures they were, or the marriage of Esther, and particularly the promotion of Mordecai, fearing they should be turned out of their places; so the former Targum.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Vid. Pignorium de Servis, p. 408 & Popma de Servis, p. 33. & Alstorph. de Lectis Vet. c. 12.
F2 Hist. Heb. l. 2. c. 1. p. 72.

Esther 2:21 In-Context

19 When the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mor'decai was sitting at the king's gate.

20 Now Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mor'decai had charged her; for Esther obeyed Mor'decai just as when she was brought up by him.

21 And in those days, as Mor'decai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasu-e'rus.

22 And this came to the knowledge of Mor'decai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mor'decai.

23 When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.