Esther 2:16

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

In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king

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.

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.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," Psalms 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, Psalms 113:7-8. Thus he raised Moses and Joseph, David and Daniel, &c. Into his house royal] A place of rest and honour. Thus 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] Four or five years before Haman’ s advancement. This was a sweet providence, that God should set up one to be a deliverer to his Church so long before the danger grew on. So Joseph was sent down to Egypt before; Moses was skilled in all the learning of the Egyptians, and afterwards sent to Midian, that he might be fitted to be king in Jeshurun, &c. Oh how unsearchable are God’ s judgments, and his ways past finding out Oh the depth, &c.! Latimer’ s three last petitions were granted.

(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.

Verse 16. The tenth month - Tebeth] Answering to part of our December and January.

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 (Exodus 13:4), Ziv (1 Kings 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.

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.

16. The tenth month… Tebeth — Corresponding nearly with our January.