In the Days of Biztha, Bigtha, and Harbona

Recently, I was reading through the book of Esther and found out some most interesting bits of trivia! Most people would recognize the names of Esther and King Xerxes, and some may remember Mordecai (Esther's cousin) and Haman (bad guy, and second-in-command of Persia). But who knew that a guy named Harbona was in the book of Esther? I surely didn't, until I was reading Esther!! Here's some more little-known people mentioned in the book of Esther.

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1. The seven eunuchs who serve King Xerxes: Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas. Wow!

2. Then there's the seven nobles of Persia and Media which had special access to the king: Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan. (That's a mouthful, isn't it?)

3. Vashti. She was Xerxes' queen. When he told her to come in before his drunk guests, she stands up and refuses to come. For that she gets kicked out of the palace.

(1-3 are all from Esther 1.)

4. Jair was the father of Mordecai.

5. Esther's father was Abihail.

6. Hegai was the guy in charge of getting the girls ready to meet the king.

7. Bigthana and Teresh were two guys who tried to assassinate Xerxes. Thankfully Mordecai overhears the plot, and tells Esther. Esther in turn tells Xerxes, and his life is spared. Bigthana and Teresh's lives aren't.

(4-7 are all from Esther 2.)

8. Haman's father was Hammadatha. Now that's a mouthful!

9. Hathach was a eunuch assigned to Esther. He went to Mordecai and asked what the trouble was. (Mordecai was in sackcloth because he was mourning over Haman's degree, which was going to kill all the Jews on a certain day.)

(8-9 are all from Esther 3-4)

10. Zeresh was Haman's wife. She gave him some pretty rotten advice! To see for yourself, check out Esther 5 and 6.

11. Harbona shows up again in Esther 7, informing the king of the gallows Haman had built for Mordecai. Xerxes tells Harbona to hang Haman on those gallows instead!

12. Finally we get to Haman's sons (Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha). After their father was hanged, they got the same sentence as well. See Esther 9.

Well there you have it! While Esther, Xerxes, Mordecai, and Haman are the main players in the story, many other people were in the story as well. Isn't it fascinating and cool that the Bible would record all this information??