The promiscuity of men in authority throughout history is acknowledged by many scholars who study their lives. The kings’ harems were well populated with his former conquests, if the women caught in such circumstances could be so labeled. Who in their right minds could have desired to take part in such a thing? It was similar to a modern lottery, where the chance of being the winner of the prize is so out of reach, that it is extremely foolish to willingly participate in such an exercise. Esther was made Queen of Persia, but how many other young women failed to please the king? While it may be true that the women in the king’s harem lived luxuriously, what fulfillment did they have? Would they have desired a husband and children? …a family life? If they did, all that was lost, because no other man was permitted to be with any of them. Any hope they may have had was replaced with as much food and clothing etc. they could desire.
Sometime after Esther was crowned queen, which had to have been sometime between the seventh and twelfth year of the king’s reign (cp. Esther 2:16 and 3:7), Ahasuerus appointed officers to gather a second group of virgins for him, and they were to be taken to his harem in the palace (Esther 2:19). The time of this other gathering to populate the king’s harem seems to have been closer to the twelfth year Xerxes’ reign than his seventh. Moreover, by this time Mordecai had been appointed to some unmentioned position in the king’s service (porter, guard and magistrate are among the choices of the scholars), perhaps due to Esther’s influence.
It was ordered by Cyrus, as Xenophon informs us,[1] that all persons, who had any employment at court, should attend at the palace gate. No doubt, a proper waiting-place for their reception was also there, that they might be in a state of readiness, whenever they were wanted or called for by the king. Moreover, it seems clear that this custom was afterward continued.[2] Furthermore, it is mentioned in the text that Esther still hadn’t revealed her national identity, in accordance to the will of Mordecai, her foster father (Esther 2:20), which, in itself, demands some passage of time, because Mordecai had originally commanded her to keep her national origin secret just prior to her being made part of the king’s harem (Esther 2:10).
It was about this time, vis-à-vis when the maids of the kingdom were still being brought to the king’s harem in his palace (verse-19), that Mordecai had come to discover a conspiracy to assassinate the king! It seems that he had overheard a discussion between the two of eunuchs who guarded the king’s door, Bigthan[3] and Teresh. For a reason the text doesn’t disclose, they were angry with Ahasuerus, and conspired together to slay him (Esther 21:22). Once he understood the king was in danger, Mordecai told Esther, who then made the thing known to the king in Mordecai’s name. According to some scholars, “conspiracies inside the palace were ordinary occurrences in Persia. Xerxes was ultimately murdered by Artabanus, the captain of the guard, and Aspamitras, a chamberlain and eunuch.”[4]
After Ahasuerus had the matter investigated and understood it to be so, the king had the men hung on a tree, which probably means they were impaled, or crucified, and the thing was recorded in the king’s chronicles (Esther 2:23). According to Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, Ahasuerus was careful to name the father and town of anyone who demonstrated particular loyalty to his throne and reward him quickly and generously (Herodotus, 8:90).[5]
_________________________________________________________
[1] See Cyropaæd, lib. 8.
[2] See Herodotus, lib. 3. cap. 120, referenced in Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments at Esther 2:19.
[3] It is possible that Bigthan is also Bigtha of Esther 1:10, because his name is recorded as Bigthana in Esther 6:2.
[4] See Albert Barnes Notes on the Bible at Esther 2:21.
[5] Quoted from The Expository Notes of Dr. Constable at Esther 2:23.
Smoodock's Blog 