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Esther 2:3

The Pulpit Commentary on Esther 2:3

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

The house of the women. In an Oriental palace the women's apartments are always distinct from those of the men, and are usually placed in a separate building, which the Greeks called the gynaeceum, and the Jews "the house of the women."

At Susa this was a large edifice, and comprised several subdivisions (see ). Hege, the king's chamberlain. Literally, "the king's eunuch, i.e. one of the royal eunuchs (see ). Keeper of the women.

Strictly speaking, Hege seems to have been keeper of the virgins only (see ); but he may have exercised a certain superintendence over the entire gynaeceum. Their things for purification. See .

Such a divinity lodged in the Persian king that even pure maidens had to be purified before approaching him! It would have been well if the divinity had been himself less impure.

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