According to the manner of the women Who were kept so long, partly for their better purification, as it here follows; partly out of state, as that which became so great a king; and partly that, being so long in safe custody, the king might be sure he was not imposed upon by a child begotten by another man. Six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours It is observed by Pliny, lib. 13, cap. 1, that ointments were first invented by the Persians. Oil of myrrh was used, not only on account of its fragrancy, but to make the skin soft and smooth, and to clear it from all manner of scurf; and the sweet odours were necessary, in those hot countries, to take away all ill scents, and, as some think, to enliven and invigorate the constitution.
Related Commentaries of Esther 2:12
Esther 2:12
12 Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)