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Bigthan (2)

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(Heb. Bigthan', " בַּגְתָן, on the signif. (See BIGTHA); Esther 2:21; Sept. omits; Vulg. Bagathan) or Big'thana (Heb. Bigtha'na, בַּגְתָנָא, prob. the full form: Gesenius here well compares the Sanscrit bagadana,fortune- given; Sept. here also omits; Vulg. again Bagathan), the first named of the eunuchs (Auth. Vers. again chamberlains") in the court of Xerxes (Ahasuerus) 'who kept the door" (marg. "threshold," Sept. ἀρχισωματοφύλακες ); he conspired with Teresh, one of his coadjutors, against the king's life. The conspiracy was detected by Mordecai, and the culprits hung. B.C. 479. Prideaux (Conn. i, 363) supposes that these officers had been partially superseded by the degradation of Vashti, and sought revenge by the murder of Ahasuerus. This suggestion falls in with that of the Chaldee version and of the Sept. (which in Esther 2:21 interpolates the words ἐλυπήθησαν οἱ δύο εὐνοῦχοι τοῦ βασίλεως . . . . ὅτι προήχθη Μορδοχαῖος ). This person may be the same as the foregoing.