Man living at the time of Exile and Return
Hegai was a eunuch in charge of King Ahasuerus' harem, responsible for preparing Esther for her night with the king.
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Also known as Hege
Hegai was a eunuch who served in the court of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I) of Persia. He was in charge of the king's harem, which was the living quarters for the king's concubines and prospective brides. When Esther was brought into the king's harem, Hegai was responsible for her care and preparation (Est.2.3,8). He provided Esther with cosmetics, special food, and seven choice maidservants from the king's palace (Est.2.9). Hegai was also instrumental in advising Esther on how to approach the king and win his favor (Est.2.15). Esther found favor with Hegai and received the best place in the harem (Est.2.9). (Est.2.3,8,15).
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Eunuch, had charge of the harem of Ahasuerus (Esther 2:8).
(eunuch), one of the eunuchs of the court of Ahasuerus. (Esther 2:8,15) (B.C. 474.)
or Hege, meditation; word; groaning; separation
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
3 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H1896
and let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom to assemble all the beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the kingʼs eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments.
When the kingʼs command and edict had been proclaimed, many young women gathered at the citadel of Susa under the care of Hegai. Esther was also taken to the palace and placed under the care of Hegai, the custodian of the women.
Now Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle from whom Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter. And when it was her turn to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the kingʼs trusted official in charge of the harem, had advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.