Esther 2:14

14 In the evening she would go in and in the morning she would return to the second harem *, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not again go in to the king unless * the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.

Esther 2:14 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 2:14

In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into
the second house of the women
Or the other apartment of the house of the women, where were kept those the king had made his concubines or secondary wives. Aben Ezra interprets it the second time, and so the Targum by "again":

to the custody of Shaashgaz the king's chamberlain, which kept the
concubines;
of which the kings of Persia had a great number; Darius, whom Alexander conquered, had three hundred and sixty F17:

she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her,
and that she was called by name;
but remained shut up in the house, and might not lie with, nor be married to, another man.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 Curt. Hist. l. 3. c. 3.

Esther 2:14 In-Context

12 Now when the turn of each young lady came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women -for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and the cosmetics for women -
13 the young lady would go in to the king in this way: anything that she desired was given her to take with her from the harem to the king's palace.
14 In the evening she would go in and in the morning she would return to the second harem , to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not again go in to the king unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.
15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his daughter, came to go in to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her.
16 So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal palace in the tenth month which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

Footnotes 1

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