Esther 2:14

14 In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, who kept the concubines: she came in to the king no more, except that the king delighted in her, and she was called 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 every maid's turn had come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that 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;)

13 Then thus came [every] maiden to the king; whatever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women to the king's house.

14 In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, who kept the concubines: she came in to the king no more, except that the king delighted in her, and she was called by name.

15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, had come to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all them that looked upon her.

16 So Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which [is] the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.