Esther 2:7

7 the which Mordecai was the nourisher of Hadassah, the daughter of his brother, which daughter was called Esther by another name, and she had lost both (her) father and mother; and she was full fair, and seemly of face; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her to him, and he made her his daughter. (and this Mordecai was the foster-father of Hadassah, his uncle's daughter, who was called Esther by another name, and who had lost both her father and her mother; and she was very beautiful, and comely of face; and after the death of her father and her mother, Mordecai took her unto himself, and made her his daughter.)

Esther 2:7 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 2:7

And he brought up Hadassah (that is Esther) his uncle's
daughter
Her Hebrew name was Hadassah, which signifies a myrtle, to which the Israelites, and good men among them, are sometimes compared, ( Zechariah 1:8 ) . Her Persian name was Esther, which some derive from "satar", to hide, because hidden in the house of Mordecai, so the former Targum, and by his advice concealed her kindred: or rather she was so called by Ahasuerus, when married to him, this word signifying in the Persian language a "star" ^F8 and so the latter Targum says she was called by the name of the star of Venus, which in Greek is (asthr) ; though it is said ^F9, that the myrtle, which is called "hadassah" in Hebrew, is in the Syriac language "esta"; so "asa" in the Talmud ^F11 signifies a myrtle; and, according to Hillerus ^F12, "esther" signifies the black myrtle, which is reckoned the most excellent; and so "amestris", according to him, signifies the sole myrtle, the incomparable one. Xerxes had a wife, whose name was Amestris, which Scaliger thinks is as if it was (rtoa Mh) , and the same with Esther; but to this are objected, that her father's name was Otanes, and her cruelty in the mutilation of the wife of Masistis, her husband's brother, and burning alive fourteen children of the best families of the Persians, as a sacrifice to the infernal gods; and besides, Xerxes had a son by her marriageable, in the seventh year of this reign ^F13, the year of Ahasuerus, in which he married Esther: but it is observed by some, that these things are confounded with the destruction of Haman's family, or told by the Persians to obliterate the memory of Esther, from whom they passed to the Greek historians:

for she had neither father nor mother;
according to the former Targum, her father died and left her mother with child of her, and her mother died as soon as she was delivered of her:

and the maid was fair and beautiful;
which was both the reason why she was taken and brought into the king's house, and why Mordecai took so much care of her:

whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own
daughter;
loved her, and brought her up as if she had been his daughter, and called her so, as the Targum. The Rabbins, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe, say, he took her in order to make her his wife; and so the Septuagint render it; though perhaps no more may be intended by that version than that he brought her up to woman's estate. Josephus

---

FOOTNOTES:

F14 calls him her uncle; and so the Vulgate Latin version, his brother's daughter; but both are mistaken.

F8 Castell. Lex. Persic. Latin. col. 329. Vid. Pfeiffer. difficil. Script. cent. 3. loc. 28.
F9 Caphtor Uperah, fol. 60. 2.
F11 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 44. 1.
F12 Onomastic. Sacr. p. 621, 622.
F13 Herodot. Calliope, sive, l. 9. c. 107. 111. & Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 61. 114.
F14 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 11. c. 6. sect. 2.)

Esther 2:7 In-Context

5 And a man, a Jew, was in the city of Susa, Mordecai by name, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, of the generation of Benjamin; (And there was a man in the capital city of Susa, a Jew named Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin;)

6 that was translated from Jerusalem in that time, in which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had translated Jeconiah, king of Judah; (who had been taken away from Jerusalem into captivity, at that time when Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had taken away Jeconiah, the king of Judah;)

7 the which Mordecai was the nourisher of Hadassah, the daughter of his brother, which daughter was called Esther by another name, and she had lost both (her) father and mother; and she was full fair, and seemly of face; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her to him, and he made her his daughter. (and this Mordecai was the foster-father of Hadassah, his uncle's daughter, who was called Esther by another name, and who had lost both her father and her mother; and she was very beautiful, and comely of face; and after the death of her father and her mother, Mordecai took her unto himself, and made her his daughter.)

8 And when the commandment of the king was oft published, and by his behest many fair virgins were brought to Susa, and were betaken to Hegai, the honest servant and chaste (the honest and chaste servant), also Esther among other damsels was betaken to him, that she should be kept in the number of those women. (And after the king's command was widely published, and by his order many beautiful virgins were brought to Susa, and taken to Hegai, the eunuch, also Esther, among other young women, was brought to him, to be kept in his care along with those other women.)

9 And she pleased him, and found grace in his sight, so that he hasted to take to her the ornament(s) of women, and he betook to Esther her parts of all (the) things needful to her, and (also) seven (of) the fairest damsels of the king's house; and Hegai adorned and arrayed both her and those damsels following her feet. (And Esther pleased, or impressed, Hegai, and she found favour before him, so that he hastened to give to her women's ornaments, or adornments, and anything else that she needed, as well as seven of the most beautiful young women of the king's house; and so Hegai adorned and arrayed both her, and those young women who followed her feet, that is, who served her.)