Глава 2

1–4. Advice from the king's associates to begin choosing a new queen. 5–7. Information about Mordecai and Esther. 8–15. Esther in Artaxerxes' harem. 16–18. Esther the queen. 19–23. Mordecai and the conspirators. Esther 2:1. After this, when the anger of King Artaxerxes subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed about her. Esther 2:2. And the king’s youths who served with him said: Let them look for young beautiful maidens for the king, “He,” i.e. Artaxerxes, remembered Vashti." It was not an easy memory. A feeling of pity for his distant wife and emptiness of heart consumed the king; this makes it quite natural and understandable that the advice that “the king’s youths who served under him” (that is, his closest courtiers) consider it necessary to give in order to heal the king from painful and unwanted “memories.” Esther 2:5. There was in Susa, the capital city, one Judean, his name was Mordecai, the son of Jairus, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin. Esther 2:6. He was exiled from Jerusalem along with the captives brought out with Jehoiachin king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had exiled. Some interpreters have tried to determine the age of Mordecai from these verses. Attributing the words of Esther 2 to Mordecai, they believed that Mordecai was resettled from Jerusalem during the time of Jehoiachin, i.e. in 599, and he was now estimated to be over 120 years old. Other interpreters were more likely to attribute the date of verse 6 not to Mordecai, but to the last mentioned ancestor of Mordecai - Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin, Mordecai's great-grandfather. In confirmation of this, they point to the very name of Mordecai - Babylonian, and not Palestinian, apparently, leading to the conclusion that Mordecai was born in Babylon. Esther 2:7. And he was the teacher of Hadassah, also known as Esther, his uncle’s daughter, since she had neither father nor mother. This girl was beautiful in figure and pretty in face. And after the death of her father and her mother, Mordecai took her to himself instead of his daughter. Esther's Hebrew name is Hadassah, which means "mitre." The Persian meaning of the name Esther is star. She was the “daughter of her uncle” Mordecai, i.e. was his cousin (cf. Esther 2:15). Esther 2:10. Esther did not speak about her people or her kindred, because Mordecai gave her orders not to speak. By order of Mordecai, Esther does not tell anyone “neither about her people, nor about her kindred.” This precaution makes it clear that the Jews even then had to reckon with prejudice against them; Moreover, as a captive people, they only in rare cases managed to gain the trust and favor of the upper classes, and especially at court. Esther 2:18. And the king made a great feast for all his princes and for his servants, a feast for the sake of Esther, and made concessions to the regions and distributed gifts with royal generosity. “Feast for Esther” – אֵת מִשְׁתֵּה אֶסְתֵּר – more literally: “near Esther’s feast”, i.e. more precisely (successive proximity): “following Esther’s (marriage) feast,” the king arranged another feast. Esther 2:19. And when the maidens were gathered the second time, and Mordecai sat at the king's gate, “When the maidens were gathered for the second time,” this is exactly the time that was just mentioned and in which, out of all the maidens, Esther was chosen to replace Vashti. After the election of Esther, another meeting of the maidens was no longer needed. This meeting was “second” in contrast to the (first) one to which Vashti was once elected, since the maidens gathered to the king in general when it was necessary to elect a queen. The second meeting of the maidens and the happy change in the fate of Esther, who became a queen, informed a change in the position of Mordecai. He “now sat at the king’s gate,” i.e. became one of the royal officials, thanks to the fact that, while keeping her Jewishness a secret, Esther did not hide her daughter's relationship with Mordecai. Esther 2:21. At this time, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, two of the king's eunuchs, Gawatha and Terah, who were guarding the threshold, became embittered [because Mordecai was preferred] and plotted to lay hands on King Artaxerxes. Esther 2:22. Having learned about this, Mordecai informed Queen Esther, and Esther spoke to the king on behalf of Mordecai. Esther 2:23. The case was investigated and found to be true, and they were both hanged from a tree. And Mordecai's good deed was written in the king's book of daily records. “Those who guarded the threshold”: designation of a special position of persons closest to the king; What this position consisted of is not known with certainty. Circumstances of the conspiracy, names of the conspirators, etc. the details generally represent everything that is repeated in the 1st addition to the book (Esth. 1:0m-0r). The only difference is that - in the sense of the addition - Mordecai’s reward, in addition to gifts, was some kind of special approach to the palace, different from the one that he had already had since the elevation of Esther to the title of queen; meanwhile - according to the meaning of the main text of the book (in this place) - it was only “inscribed about the good deed of Mordecai in the king’s book of daily records” (cf. Esther 6.3). The latter presentation of the case, apparently, is more in harmony with the main text, and makes it unnecessary to use a conspiracy to explain Mordecai’s approach to the royal court, the outcome of which itself already presupposes Mordecai’s closeness to palace life, sufficiently justified by Mordecai’s closeness to his pupil, the queen. However, Esther 8.1 seems to make it clear that Mordecai’s initial approach to the palace was not in direct connection either with his relationship with Esther, which is still unknown to anyone, or with a conspiracy that did not bring anything special to Mordecai and presupposes that Mordecai was already sufficiently close to the king. You might be interested in: