Esther 2:1 - 23
ESV - 1 After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king's young men who attended him said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king.
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✿ It is clear from Esther 2:5-7 that Mordecai was the cousin of Esther. She was his uncle's daughter, and he had raised her because she had no father or mother. Mordecai had been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar with Jehoiachin, king of Judah. This was 11 years before the final captivity of Judah and destruction of Jerusalem (2Ki. 24:1--2Ki. 25:30; Jer. 25:1). The servitude to Babylon for 70 years began in the 4th year of Jehoiakim (Jer. 25:1,9-11) ✿ If Mordecai was a young man around 20 at the time of his captivity 11 years after the beginning of the 70 years of servitude--about 627 B.C.--and Xerxes reigned 485-464 B.C., this would make Mordecai 162 years old in the 1st year of Xerxes. Esther would be an old woman by this time also. ✿ The fact is that Esther was the young and beautiful wife of Darius the Mede, of Dan. 5, and the mother of Cyrus, the commander of the Persian armies which took Babylon at the end of the 70 years of servitude. This Darius (the father of Cyrus) reigned 35 years, 33 of which were during the latter part of the 70 years of servitude of Israel to Babylon. This fits into all the historical facts about Mordecai being carried away captive with Jehoiachin as a very young man. It is possible that he lived throughout the entire captivity. He fits exactly the Mordecai of Ezra 2:2; Neh. 7:7. Some Jews did live through the 70 years of servitude and returned to see the foundation of the temple laid (Ezra 3:12). ✿ The Cyrus of this passage was so named by God 150 years before his birth to Esther and Ahasuerus, and about 200 years before this decree which fulfilled Isa. 44:28--Isa. 45:1. The events of the book of Esther came before those of Ezra and Nehemiah; and the events of Neh. 1:1--Neh. 7:4 came before Ezra 1:1-14. ✿ The truth of the matter seems to be that Cyrus was the son of Astyages and Queen Esther of the book of Esther (see Kings of Persia). Cyrus was the subject of a number of prophecies of Isaiah concerning the restoration of Israel from Babylon and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple after the captivities. (Isa. 44:28--Isa. 45:1.) In the Bible his name was predicted 175 years before he was born, the prediction even foretelling his decree to liberate the Jews and rebuild Jerusalem (2Chr. 36:22-23 Ezra 1:1-8; 3:7; 4:3-5; 5:13-17; 6:3,14; Isa. 44:28; 45:1). ✿ Four years had passed since the feast when Vashti was set aside (Esther 1:3). It was The tenth month and seventh year of his reign (January, Esther 2:16). He reigned for 35 years, so this could be 28 years before the close of his rule. If Cyrus was born to him and Esther this same year after they were married in January, then their son was about 25 years old when he commanded the armies of his father which took Babylon (Dan. 5). Astyages or Darius the Mede, Cyrus' father, reigned 2 years after this, which would make Cyrus about 27 when he began to reign and when he made the decree for the Jews to return home, fulfilling Isa. 44:28--Isa. 45:1-5,13; 46:11; 48:14-15. ✿ Darius was 62 years only when he took over Babylon (Dan. 5:31). His son, Cyrus was 25 years old when he commanded the armies of his father which took Babylon (Dan. 5). Darius must be 37 years old (62 minus 25) when he got married to Esther. Persians are modern day Iranians and they are not Jews. Their legal marriage age suggests that they prefer young people below 18 (prime of the youth). ✿ Esther must have been a "teenager" based on the historical and Biblical facts above.
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