Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 2:16
So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which [is] the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
16. the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth ] In the time of the Babylonish exile the months ceased to be called by the old Canaanitish names which the Jews had previously given them, e.g. Abib (Exo 13:4), Ziv (1Ki 6:1), and were denoted by numbers only. After the exile the new Babylonish names, of which Tebeth is one, began to come into use. The name does not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament. It corresponded to the latter part of December and earlier part of January, and is derived from a Babylonian root tebu, which appears also in Hebrew, and means to sink or dip, referring to the rainfall by which it is characterised.
in the seventh year of his reign ] probably in January, b.c. 479. Xerxes had at that time lately returned from his ill-starred expedition against Greece.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Tebeth (compare the corresponding Egyptian month, Tobi or Tubi), corresponded nearly to our January.
In the seventh year of his reign – In December, 479 B.C., or January, 478 B.C. Xerxes quitted Sardis for Susa in, or soon after, September, 479 B.C. It has been regarded as a difficulty that Vashtis place, declared vacant in 483 B.C., was not supplied until the end of 479 B.C., four years afterward. But since two years out of the four had been occupied by the Grecian expedition, the objection cannot be considered very weighty.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. The tenth month – Tebeth] Answering to part of our December and January.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Into his house royal; and into his bed, as is implied; to which it is not strange if she, though a virtuous person, did in those circumstances yield, considering the infirmity of human nature, and of that sex, and the state of those times, when plurality of wives was permitted, and concubines were owned as wives; and these virgins were by this action made his wives or concubines. Besides, it is not known to us whether Mordecai and Esther had not direction or a dispensation from God in this matter; it being certain that God can dispense with his own positive laws.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
So Esther was taken unto King Ahasuerus, into his house royal,…. Did not return on the morrow to the house of the women, as those who only became the king’s concubines did, Es 2:14, but she was taken to be his wife, and designed for his queen, and so was retained in his palace, and placed in an apartment suitable to the dignity she was about to be advanced unto:
and this was done in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth; and answers to part of December and part of January; not the twelfth month Adar, as the Septuagint version, and so Josephus q, contrary to the original text: either that law had not obtained among the Persians, or the king thought himself not bound by it, which forbid marriage at any other time than the beginning of the vernal equinox r:
in the seventh year of his reign; and the divorce of Vashti being in the third year of his reign, it was four years before Esther was taken by him; who, if Xerxes, it may be accounted for by his preparation for, and engagement in, a war with Greece, which took him up all this time; and from whence he returned in the seventh year of his reign, at the beginning of it, and married Esther at the close of it, see Es 2:1 as may be suggested.
q Ut supra (Antiqu. l. 11. c.6. sect. 2.) r Strabo. Geograph. l. 1. p. 504.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(16) The month Tebeth.This extended from the new moon in January to that in February; the name occurs only here. The fifth Egyptian month, lasting from December 20 to January 20, was called Tybi. The time referred to in the verse will be the January or February of the year 478 B.C., and must have been very shortly after Xerxes return to Susa from the West. The long delay in replacing Vashti is simply to be explained by the long absence of Xerxes in Greece.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. The tenth month Tebeth Corresponding nearly with our January.
The seventh year of his reign Vashti was divorced in the third year of his reign, so that four years or more elapsed before another queen was crowned in her stead. Xerxes’ preparations for his Grecian war, and his absence from his capital during that campaign, well accounts for this long interval. Herodotus says (vii, 20) that he was four full years preparing for his Grecian war, but this may easily be a mistake, for the Greek historian’s figures are not always to be depended upon. It may have been a year or more after Vashti’s divorce before the king’s love for her returned, and then the order was given for collecting the fair young virgins at Shushan, but before it could be executed Xerxes was off for Greece. Meanwhile the order for assembling the virgins was carried out by the eunuchs, so that when the king returned again to Shushan he found his harem supplied with many virgins and soon after chose Esther as his queen.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Est 2:16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which [is] the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
Ver. 16. So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus ] And so that sweet promise was fulfilled and exemplified in her: “Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold,” Psa 68:13 . God raised up this poor orphan, this despicable exile out of the dust, and lifted this needy one out of the dunghill, that he may set her with princes, even with the princes of the people, Psa 113:7-8 . Thus he raised Moses and Joseph, David and Daniel, &c.
Into his house royal
Flebile principium melior fortuna secuta est.
In the tenth month ] Not in the twelfth month, as Josephus hath it falsely; and yet the Papists tell us, that the common people may well want the historical part of the Bible, and for it read Josephus’s Jewish Antiquities (Barclai).
In the seventh year of his reign
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Tebeth. See App-51.
seventh year. The first feast was in the third year. The search probably took one year; the preparation another; oblations another. Other seasons are unnamed.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Est 2:16-18
Est 2:16-18
ESTHER BECOMES QUEEN OF PERSIA
“So Esther was taken unto king Ahashuerus into his house royal 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 she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther’s feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave girls, according to the bounty of the king.”
Only Almighty God could have brought to pass such a thing as this. “This humble Jewish maiden, an orphan, dependent for her living upon the charity of her cousin Mordecai – this girl became the first woman in all Persia, the wife of the most powerful living monarch on earth, the queen of an empire comprised of more than half the world of that time.”
It was always thus when God in his infinite wisdom laid his plans to preserve the chosen people from destruction. He sent Joseph to be seated next to the throne of Egypt; he brought up Moses in the palace of Pharaoh and made him an heir to the throne; in the land of their captivity, he made Daniel the third ruler in the kingdom; and now, when Satan would again make a move to destroy Israel, God placed Esther in a strategic position to prevent it; and it happened again with both Ezra and Nehemiah who had earned and received the respect of Artaxerxes; nor can we rule out the very great probability that it was the influence of Esther that, in part at least, had resulted in the honors that came to them.
“He made a release to the provinces” (Est 2:18). It is not known exactly what this was, but it may have been merely a holiday.
E.M. Zerr:
Est 2:16. Esther was in Persia, but the writer used the Jewish calendar. She was taken into the king’s house in the 10th month, named Tebeth. Ahasuerus had been reigning 7 years, and hence the selection of a woman to take the place of the deposed Vashti was in the same year that Ezra began his work (Ezr 7:17).
Est 2:17. Loved is from AHAB and Strong defines it, “a primitive root; to have affection for (sexually or otherwise).” All of the connecting circumstances show that the king’s love for Esther included both parts of the definition of the word. Her form of body and other phyiscal qualities would respond to his sexual demands, and her sweetness of spirit would certainly arouse in him the deepest of affection. And so a girl of exquisite attractions in body and temperament was the agency used by the Lord to bring about the fulfillment of a great prediction. The following parts of the story will show that the king was completely charmed by his love for this maiden. He at once placed her in the honored position of queen of the realm and the sole object of his love. Such a situation was perfectly adapted to the great scheme in the mind of God, and proves the supreme wisdom in all of his performances.
Est 2:18. The king was so happy over the finding of a companion for him in his life’s relations that he made a great feast in her honor and named it for her. Release means rest, and the king granted a general holiday throughout the provinces In respect for this new wife. It was a custom to make gifts to friends on occasions of joy and gratitude. (Neh 8:10.) According to the state means the gifts were proportionate to the state (“means”) of the king.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
tenth month
i.e. January.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the tenth month: Est 8:9
the seventh: Est 2:1, Est 2:3, Ezr 7:8
Reciprocal: Ezr 10:9 – the ninth month Est 3:7 – in the twelfth Jer 39:1 – the tenth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Est 2:16. So Esther was taken into his house-royal She was not sent back unto the second house of the women, as the rest were, but the king kept her in his own house. In the seventh year of his reign How it came to pass that it was so long before Esther was advanced to succeed Vashti, seems difficult to resolve. But we are to consider, that a great deal of time was spent in gathering the virgins together, and that it was a year after they were collected, before she was brought to the king; and besides, he took some time, it is likely, to try how he liked her wit, humour, and conversation.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which [is] the {h} month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
(h) Which contained part of December and part of January.