Esther 2:21

In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate,.... Being, as before observed, an officer at court: two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those that kept the door; of the inner

In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and

Which kept the door; either, 1. Of the king’ s chamber. Or, 2. Of his court; and so they sat in the gate, as Mordecai did, who by that means contracting some familiar acquaintance with them, might make some discovery of their minds and design. Sought to lay hand, i.e. violent hand; to kill him, as this phrase is used, , and elsewhere.

Esther 2:21 In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king’ s gate, two of the king’ s chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.Ver. 21. In those days] While the king was drowning himself in pleasure, and dreadeth no danger; while he was ravishing and deflouring virgins, and bragging, perhaps, as Proculus, the emperor, did, that when he made war upon the Sarmatians, in fifteen days he got with child a hundred virgins of that country, there taken prisoners; while this voluptuous prince was in the glut of his carnal delights, in the flagrancy of his sinful lusts, his life is sought for, and hell gapes for him: so slippery places are great ones set in; so doth the Lord sauce their greatest prosperity with sudden and unexpected dangers. Thus Attilas, king of Huns, was hanged up in gibbets, as it were, by God’ s own hand, in the midst of his nuptials. Thus King Henry of France, upon the marriage of his sister to the king of Spain, was so overjoyed, that he called himself by a new title, Tres heureux Roy, The thrice happy king. But, to confute him, in solemnizing that marriage, he was slain, at tilt, by Montgomery, captain of his guard, though against his will, &c. Ad generum Cereris sine caede et sanguine pauci Descendunt reges, et sicca morte tyranni. (Juvenal.) While Mordecai sat in the king’ s gate] See Esther 2:19. Two of the king’ s chamberlains] In trust I have found treason, said Queen Elizabeth. So, before her, did David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Joash, Amaziah, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and who not almost? Hence some great princes have wished never to have meddled with government; as Augustus, Adrian ( felix si non imperitasset), Pertinax, who used to say that he never in all his life committed the like fault as when he accepted the empire; and many times he motioned to leave the same, and to return unto his house. Dioclesian and Maximian did so; for they found that quot servi, tot hostes; quot custodes, tot carnifices; they could not be safe from their own servants; but, Damocles-like, they sat eating with a drawn sword hanging by a twined thread over their necks. Hence Dionysius durst not trust his own daughter to barber him. And Massinissa, king of Numidia, committed his safe keeping to a guard of dogs; for men he durst not trust. Of those which kept the door] sc. Of the king’ s bedchamber. Some render it, which kept the household stuff. Men they were much intrusted, and, therefore, the more to be abhorred. Metuendum est esse sine custode, sed multo magis a custode metuendum est, said Augustus concerning his guard, whom he suspected of treachery (Dio Cass.). All or most of his successors, till Constantine, died unnatural deaths. Let great ones, therefore, commit themselves to God in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. Were wroth] What the occasion of their discontent was is uncertain.

(21) In those days.—Here the thread of Est 2:19 is taken up, “then I say, in those days—“ Bigthan.—Called Bigtha in Esther 1:10; Bigthana in Esther 6:2. Sought to lay hand on the king.—It is noticeable that Xerxes was ultimately murdered by Artabanus, captain of the guard, and Mithridates, a chamberlain.

Verse 21. Mordecai sat in the kings gate] Mordecai might have been one of the officers of the king, as the gate was the place where such usually attended to await the king's call. It is not likely that he was the porter; had he been only such, Haman could have removed him at once. Two of the king's chamberlains] Eunuchs. Why they conspired against the life of the king, we are not informed. The Targum says that they found out that Esther had intended to use her influence with the king to get them removed from their office, and Mordecai put in their place; therefore they determined to poison Esther, and slay the king in his bedchamber. It is very likely that they were creatures of Haman, who probably affected the kingdom, and perhaps were employed by him to remove the king, and so make his way open to the throne.

21. In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king’s gate] The main course of the story is thus resumed from Esther 2:19. chamberlains] eunuchs. Bigthan and Teresh] The former is possibly the Bigtha of Est 1:10. In Esther 6:2 he is called Bigthana. of those which kept the door] who guarded the entrance to the room where the king slept. It was a position in which the strictest fidelity was obviously needed, and which gave a conspirator who could attain it a great prospect of success. In point of fact Xerxes himself in the end fell a victim to a murderous attack by an officer of this kind (Diodor. xi. 69. 1), and such too was the fate of one of his successors, Artaxerxes III (Ochus), in b.c. 338.

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.

21. Bigthan — Probably the same as Bigtha, Esther 1:10. Called Bigthana in Esther 6:2. Which kept the door — Literally, guards of the threshold.