ABAGTHA

(A·bagʹtha).

The name of one of seven court officials who ministered to the Persian king Ahasuerus, the husband of the Jewess Esther, in his palace in Shushan, the capital of Persia. The name is evidently Persian, and some connect it with the Sanskrit word bagadata and thereby give its meaning as “given by fortune.”—Esther 1:10.

In the King James Version Abagtha is said to be one of seven “chamberlains,” and the marginal reading says “eunuchs.” While eunuchs were frequently used as trusted servants within royal households in Eastern countries, yet the original Hebrew word sa·risʹ primarily has the meaning of “court official,” and only secondarily, a castrated person. Since these seven court officials were attendants of the king and apparently not assigned as guardians of the women (as was Hegai, the king’s eunuch mentioned at Esther 2:3), they may not have been eunuchs in the physical sense.