What Does Esther 2:12 Mean?
Now when the turn came for each young woman to come in to king Ahasuerus, at the end of twelve months, according to the manner of the women, for so the days of their ointments were filled, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with sweet odours, and with the ointments of the women.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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;)THE KEY
The word translated “purifications” shares its root with “furbish” for spears: the language of bodily preparation carries the same polish as preparation for battle.
THE MEANING
A body can be made to wait for access to power through a prescribed season of preparation. Here, the turn to enter the king’s presence follows a full year: six months with myrrh oil, then six with perfumes and other preparations. The regimen is named in detail, while the woman’s own desire is left unspoken.
THE ROOT
מְרוּקֵיהֶן
meruqeihen
GROWS FROM
מרק
To rub smooth, scour, or polish; by extension, to cleanse.
“ointments of the women” in this verse is meruqeihen. The word rendered “purifications” carries the sense of polishing or scouring. That same root is used for furbishing spears, so the verse’s language of preparation holds a sharper edge than “purification” alone suggests.
ALSO GROWS
meruqeihen: Their polishings or cleansings
מְרוּקֵיהֶן
This is the verse’s word for the women’s preparations, presenting them as a process of polishing or cleansing.
mirqu: Furbish, polish
מִרְקוּ
Jeremiah uses this form for furbishing spears, revealing the same root in preparation for battle.
חֹדֶשׁ
chodesh
GROWS FROM
חדש
Newness, renewal.
“months” in this verse is chodesh. The Hebrew word for month shares its root with the word for “new.” The year’s preparation is counted in twelve lunar renewals, not only as an abstract stretch of waiting.
ALSO GROWS
chodesh: Month; new moon
חֹדֶשׁ
The verse measures the regimen in months, whose name belongs to the language of renewal.
chadash: New, fresh
חָדָשׁ
This related word makes the connection between the passage of each month and recurring newness visible.
THE PATTERN
Readiness for access or encounter is represented through a formed process of bodily preparation.
And the king measured out for them a daily portion of the king's bread and of the wine he drank, growing them for three years, so that at its edge they might stand before the face of the king.And the LORD said to Moses, Go to the people, and set them apart today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.Let us draw near with a true heart in the fullness of trust, our hearts sprinkled from a burdened shared sight, and our bodies bathed in clean waters.THE THREAD
Harness the horses, and mount, you riders; take your stand in your helmets, and polish the spears, and clothe yourselves in scale armor.Esther’s “purifications” and Jeremiah’s “furbish” share the root מרק (m-r-q), meaning to scour or polish. One verse names preparations before a woman enters a king’s presence; the other names the polishing of spears before battle, and the shared word keeps preparation’s edge visible.
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