When the king's anger cools he remembers Vashti. His servants propose: "Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king," gathered into the house of the women under Hegai, the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women, with ointments for purification.
"Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite; who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah." "And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother… whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter."
Esther is taken into the king's house and pleases Hegai, who gives her preparations, seven maids and the best place. "Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it." Every day Mordecai walks before the court of the women to learn how she is.
Each young woman's turn comes after twelve months, "six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours." She goes to the king in the evening and in the morning returns to the second house of the women, under Shaashgaz, keeper of the concubines; she does not return to the king unless he delights in her and calls her by name. Esther asks for nothing but what Hegai advises. She is taken to the king "in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. And the king loved Esther above all the women… and made her queen instead of Vashti."
"In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh… sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus." Mordecai tells Esther, Esther tells the king "in Mordecai's name," the two are hanged, "and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king."
Hadassah, Esther
Hadassah means "myrtle" in Hebrew. Esther may come from Persian stāra, "star," or be linked to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar; Mordecai resembles the name of the god Marduk (a man named Marduka appears as an official in Persepolis tablets). These are proposals. Many Jews in exile bore Babylonian or Persian names (Daniel 1:7; Zerubbabel).
Who was exiled?
2:5–6 can be read as saying Mordecai himself was taken with Jeconiah in 597 BC, which would make him over 110 in Xerxes' seventh year (479 BC). The relative pronoun more likely refers to his great-grandfather Kish. Jair, Shimei and Kish may also echo the family of Saul (Saul's father was Kish; Shimei was a Benjaminite of Saul's house, 2 Samuel 16:5). The site does not fix a date for Mordecai's ancestry.
"Took for his own daughter"
The Hebrew says Mordecai took her "for a daughter" (le-vat). The Greek Bible reads "he brought her up to be his wife," and the library's Greek (Giguet) has "to be his wife," naming her father Aminadab. The Talmud (Megillah 13a) also preserves a tradition reading bat ("daughter") as bayit ("house," i.e. wife). The Hebrew story itself presents an adoptive father.
No choice offered
The young women are "gathered" by royal officers (2:3, 8); nothing in the text asks their consent. Those not chosen spent their lives as concubines in the second house. Reading the chapter honestly means seeing that Esther's rise begins in coercion, without inventing details the text does not give.
The seventh year
Xerxes' seventh year was 479/478 BC, after his invasion of Greece (480–479 BC, Salamis and Plataea). Some connect the four-year gap between Vashti's removal (year 3) and Esther's selection (year 7) with the war; the text does not.
Recorded in the chronicles
Persian kings rewarded "benefactors" (orosangai) whose service was recorded (Herodotus 8.85). The plot by two eunuchs fits court life; Xerxes himself was later assassinated in a palace conspiracy (465 BC) involving courtiers. No record names Bigthan and Teresh.
Greek Addition A
Greek Esther opens before 1:1 with Mordecai's dream of two dragons, a righteous nation and a little spring that becomes a river, and a first version of the eunuchs' plot, which Mordecai reports. It frames the whole book as revelation and gives Mordecai the lead. The library's Greek (Giguet) lacks Addition A; it appears in the Vulgate and KJV Apocrypha as 11:2–12:6.
What the evidence shows
- Esther was made queen in Xerxes' seventh year. No source outside the Bible names Esther.
- "Esther" derives from Ishtar or from Persian "star."
- A Persian official named Marduka appears in Persepolis tablets. Identifying him with Mordecai is not established.
- The Greek makes Esther Mordecai's intended wife. In the library's Greek via Giguet; the Hebrew says daughter.
Continue the journey
Journey of a PassageEsther 2:5–6: Who was carried away with Jeconiah?"Mordecai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem with… Jeconiah." If "who" refers to Mordecai, he was exiled in 597 BC and would be over 110 by Xerxes' seventh year.More from this lesson
Echoes Across Civilizations
Optional: how other ancient peoples told similar stories. Open one to compare, then come back to the lesson.
Outsiders in the family lineIsraelite (later) · Jewish (Second Temple and rabbinic) · Greek
How did Israel's Scriptures and its neighbors treat foreign women who joined a people?
- Israelite (later): Ezra and Nehemiah Possible historical contact
- Jewish (Second Temple and rabbinic): Conversion traditions Possible historical contact
- Greek: Citizenship laws Resemblance only
The outsider at the king's courtAramaic / Assyrian · Egyptian · Greek
Did other ancient peoples tell stories of a wise outsider endangered and vindicated at a foreign court?
- Aramaic / Assyrian: The Story of Ahiqar Possible historical contact
- Egyptian: The Story of Sinuhe Resemblance only
- Greek: Herodotus' Persian court stories Resemblance only
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- Saul son of Kish, a Benjaminite.
- Joseph rises in a foreign court.
- Young exiles selected for a foreign king's service.