Esther 2:10

10 Esther had not shown her people nor her kindred, for Mordecai had charged her that she should not show it.

Esther 2:10 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 2:10

Esther had not showed her people nor her kindred
What nation or family she was of; it not being asked, she was under no obligation to declare it; and being born in Shushan, as very probable, she was taken to be a Persian:

for Mordecai had charged her that she should not show it;
lest she should be despised and ill treated on that account; fearing, if the king knew it, he would not marry her, as Aben Ezra; or rather, as the same writer thinks, that she might keep the law of God privately, observe the sabbath

Esther 2:10 In-Context

8 So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his decree were heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto the palace at Shushan under the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house into the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.

9 And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens who were meet to be given to her out of the king's house; and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place in the house of the women.

10 Esther had not shown her people nor her kindred, for Mordecai had charged her that she should not show it.

11 And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house to know how Esther did and what should become of her.

12 Now when every maid's turn had come to go in to King Ahasuerus, after she had been twelve months according to the manner of the women (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors and with other things for the purifying of the women),