And he brought up Hadassah, that [is], Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid [was] fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.
Ver. 7. And he brought up] He both nourished and nurtured her in the true religion and admonition of the Lord, Ephesians 6:4, he was her foster-father and her instructor.
Hadassah] Not the same with Atossa, as Tremellius would have it. Hadassah was the name given her by her parents, and it signifieth a myrtle tree, which loveth to grow in a bottom; whence the Church is compared to it for her lowly mindedness, Zechariah 1:8. See Trapp on " Zec 1:8 "
That is, Esther] This was her Persian name, say some: in heathen histories she is called Amestris (Herod. lib. 7, Sealig.).
His uncle's daughter] Not his brother's daughter, as the Vulgate rendereth it, after Josephus and Aben Ezra. She was his first cousin, and this was one reason that moved him to adopt her, viz. the bond of nature.
For she had neither father nor mother] A poor orphan she was; but Christ left her not comfortless, John 14:18. He had provided and enabled Mordecai, to feed her and raise her; to train her up in the fear of God, and to defend her chastity from the rage of lust; besides that her head was by him destined to a diadem; Esther the captive shall be Esther the queen; Esther, the fatherless and motherless, shall be a nursing mother to the Church; and meanwhile meet with a merciful guardian, Mordecai. Why, then, should we not trust God with ourselves and our children?
And the maid was fair and beautiful] See Trapp on " Est 2:3 " Gratior est pulchro, &c. For her beauty she was brought to the king; and not without some respect to this it was that she was raised by Mordecai. This beauty was a privilege of nature; and because of the forcible battery that would be laid to it, God gives her a guarding. Esther was now in the flower of her age, and her beauty was the flower of her virtue, as Chrysippus called it.
Whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead] And so she might have been put to seek her bread in desolate places, being left to the wide world, as they say; but the Lord was her rereward, Isaiah 58:8, he took her up, Psalms 27:10, as the gathering army or rear guard did the lame, feeble, and sick Israelites, Joshua 6:9. In the civil law provision is made for orphans, and such as were cast out; some hospitals to entertain them, some liberties to comfort and compensate their troubles. Among us also, besides harbours and hospitals for such, to the great commendation of the founders, very good provision is made by the laws, and many lives thereby preserved. God oft professes himself the pupils' patron; gives great charge to all not to hurt them, and menaces the Jews for their hardheartedness toward them. Let, therefore, the dying parents of such (though they have as little to leave them as Esther's had) cast them by faith into God's everlasting arms, who hath charged his angels with them, and hath promised heaven to them; commanding his best creatures to cater for them, Hosea 2:21,22 .
Took for his own daughter] He hid not his eyes from his own flesh, Isaiah 58:7, as some unnatural ostrich or sea monster; he made not, as many do, tuition a broker for private gain; he made not instead of a daughter a slave, or spunge, of his pupil; he devoured her not under pretence of devotion; but freely took her for his child, and bred her in the best manner. Now the Jews at this very day account a child's tutor or monitor worthy of more respect than his father; for he, say they, hath given him only his being, but the other his well-being (Leo. Mod.).