Esther 2:19-23

E. Sedition Revealed

TEXT: Esther 2:19-23

19

And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate.

20

Esther had not yet made known her kindred nor her people; as Mordecai had charged her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as when she was brought up with him.

21

In those days, while Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those that kept the threshold, were wroth, and sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus.

22

And the thing became known to Mordecai, who showed it unto Esther the queen; and Esther told the king thereof in Mordecai's name.

23

And when inquisition was made of the matter, and it was found to be so, they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.

Today's English Version, Esther 2:19-23

Meanwhile Mordecai had been appointed by the king to an administrative position. As for Esther, she had still not let it be known that she was Jewish. Mordecai had told her not to tell anyone, and she obeyed him in this, just as she had obeyed him when she was a little girl under his care.
During the time that Mordecai held office in the palace, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the palace eunuchs who guarded the entrance to the king's rooms, became hostile to King Xerxes and plotted to assassinate him. Mordecai learned about it and told Queen Esther, who then told the king what Mordecai had found out. There was an investigation, and it was discovered that the report was true, so both men were hanged on the gallows. The king ordered an account of this to be written down in the official records of the empire.

COMMENTS

Esther 2:19-20 Plot: Why were the virgins gathered a second time? According to Jewish tradition, when Esther became queen she refused to disclose her lineage to Xerxes, although she did tell him she was of royal lineage. She rebuked him for following the evil advice of his nobles and having Vashti slain. Esther reminded Xerxes that Babylonian emperors (Nebuchadnezzar et al.) had been wise in following the advice of Hebrew prophets like Daniel. Esther sent Xerxes to Mordecai for counsel. Xerxes asked Mordecai's counsel on how to get Esther to reveal her ancestry. Mordecai suggested that the virgins be assembled again as if the emperor was planning to change queens again. This would move Esther to jealousy and she would then be glad to tell the emperor her lineage rather than be deposed. But, so the tradition goes, this scheme was in vain. Esther did not reveal her ancestry. Others have suggested that this second increment of virgins was gathered as late arrivals from the far reaches of the empire and missed the first series of individual over-night presentations to the emperor. Still others think this is simply an historical aside noting the customary sexual promiscuity of Persian emperors. Although Xerxes loved Esther above all the women, he retained his polygamous desires for adding concubines to his harem. Whatever the case, the point of the account is the discovery of the plot against Xerxes-' life.

Esther did not let her advancement to queen of the empire rob her of respect for the man who had rescued her from an orphan's fate. She kept the word of her uncle, Mordecai, just like when she was a little Hebrew orphan-girl. The word ma-'amar is translated commandment. Ma-'amar is a word borrowed from Chaldean language; the usual word for commandment in Hebrew is mitzvah. No doubt there were pressures on this young Hebrew woman to reveal her lineage, if for nothing else, for the sake of ethnic pride; connected to this might be the temptation to shame Xerxes publicly for having a Jewess as queen of Persia and retaliate for having been wrested from her home and culture and deflowered by a pagan emperor. Furthermore, it was customary in the ancient eastern empires that a person's kinsmen usually rose in political status right along with him. One would expect that when Esther became queen, Mordecai would have been appointed to some official position that would have secured his status before the emperor. Esther would then not need to be silent about her ancestry. The very fact that Esther remains silent indicates that Mordecai had no secure official position in the emperor's palace.

Esther 2:21-23 Punishment: Hebrew tradition has it that Mordecai was appointed to the king's gate. His task was to inform the emperor of any conspiracy against him. Bigthan and Teresh, who had previously kept the gate, became incensed, saying, The king has removed two officials and replaced them by this single barbarian. They devised a plan to prove that the emperor should not have given their job to a Jewthey planned to kill the emperor. By this rather drastic scheme, they intended to prove that the Jew, Mordecai, was an unfit keeper of the gate. These two gate-keepers did not realize that Mordecai was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin and knew 70 different languages. So when they plotted together in their native tongue about killing the emperor, Mordecai understood, informed Esther, and Esther informed the emperor who had the two executed. So goes the rabbinic tradition. However, as stated earlier, our biblical text seems to imply that Mordecai had no official capacity. He was probably sitting in the gate, as before (Esther 2:11), to learn news of Esther's fate. The gate was the usual large, fortified entrance to the palace enclosure. Gates to the royal residence have always been used in the East as courts of justice, public forums and places to learn daily news. To be placed in command or guardianship of these gates was a signal of high honor and showed that the occupant of the palace (the emperor) placed explicit trust in those so appointed. For some reason these two well-trusted officials were wroth with the emperor and were deciding to kill him. Bigthan may very well be the same person as the Bigtha of the group listed earlier (Esther 1:10). Both these men were eunuchs (sariymey in Hebrew). Conspiracies within the structure of Persian politics were common occurrences. Xerxes was ultimately assassinated by Artabanus, the captain of the guard, and Aspamitras, a chamberlain and eunuch. Just how this conspiracy became known to Mordecai we are not told. Whether Mordecai knew 70 different languages or not, it is almost certain he knew the language spoken by these Persian eunuchs. Mordecai had been born and reared in Persia. It was his home almost as much as theirs. Josephus says that a Jewish slave of the palace came to Mordecai with a report of the conspiracy. Whatever the source, Mordecai revealed it to Esther and Esther told the emperor. What was Mordecai's motive for trying to avert the assassination of the emperor? Perhaps it was his humane concern for the emperor's life. More likely, Mordecai had Esther's interest and the interest of the whole Jewish community as his first priority. If Xerxes should be assassinated, Esther would probably be deposed by the perpetrators of the coupperhaps even murdered by them. If not by them, she would surely be deposed by the next emperor. Thus the Jewish people would be deprived of one of their own on the throne. If this seems harsh judgment of Mordecai's motives, one must remember that he dares risk Esther's life for the sake of the whole Jewish community later (Esther 4:10-17).

When the plot was revealed to the emperor and the matter thoroughly investigated and guilt established, Xerxes ordered the two conspirators executed. The Hebrew word talah is rendered hang but it probably does not mean to execute by hanging as Western cultures know it, The Jews executed usually by stoning the convicted culprit to death. There are only two clear instances of Jews dying by hanging and those were suicides (Ahitophel and Judas). Occasionally the Jews would hang a corpse on a tree (or stake) after execution or death (cf. 2 Samuel 4:12; Genesis 40:19; Deuteronomy 21:22; Joshua 8:29; Joshua 10:26-27). The Philistines did this to Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 21:12). The tree was a pole or stake that could be lowered to receive its victim and then raised and fixed into the ground so the public could view it. The Persians, according to Herodotus (III; 125 and IX; 78) and Plutarch, impaled the dead bodies of criminals and others executed on sharpened poles. This is apparently what is meant by the word gallows in Esther 6:4; Esther 7:10; Esther 8:7; Esther 9:13; Esther 9:25. The word in Hebrew there is ha -etz and means literally, the wood, or the tree. Archaeological inscriptions have been found of the Mesopotamian civilizations which confirm that impaling victims on stakes was a method of execution.

All affairs of state were entered into the king's personal chronicles (somewhat like our Presidential Papers) and whenever the king wanted to be reminded of past events they would be read out to him. The information given by Mordecai about the assassination plot was very important information! Xerxes intended that this event be permanently recorded for future reference and use. Xerxes probably did not record it for Mordecai's benefit, but this event later played a crucial part in the survival of Mordecai, Esther and the whole Jewish community (Esther 6:1 ff).

We may learn the following lessons from this chapter:

1.

The male ego is insatiable and feeds on sexual promiscuity.

2.

God blesses those who care for orphans.

3.

It is not unethical to withhold information, the revealing of which would benefit no one.

4.

Some people (Esther) are willing to make almost unbelievable personal sacrifices for what they think may benefit others.

5.

Plotting violence on another's person usually returns in violence to the plotter.