Esther 2:21

21 In those days, while Mordecai sat at the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those who kept the door, were wroth and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

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 And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai sat at the king's gate.

20 Esther had not yet shown her kindred nor her people, as Mordecai had charged her, for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai as when she was brought up by him.

21 In those days, while Mordecai sat at the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those who kept the door, were wroth and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

22 And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen, and Esther informed the king thereof in Mordecai's name.

23 And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out. Therefore they were both hanged on a tree, and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.