Esther 1:10. The seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king.
Sarisim is variously rendered “chamberlains,” “officers” and “eunuchs.” They were emasculated persons who had charge of the harems of Oriental monarchs, and who were also employed by them in various offices about the court. They often became the confidential advisers of the monarch, and were frequently men of great influence, and sometimes had high military office. See Jeremiah 39:3. This was especially the case in Persia, where they acquired great political power, and filled positions of great prominence, and sometimes engaged in conspiracy against the life of the king, an illustration of which may be found in Esther 2:21.
The Hebrew monarchs had them in their courts. See 1 Samuel 8:15; 1 Kings 22:9; 2 Kings 8:6; 9:32; 23:11; 25:19; 1 Chronicles 28:1; Jeremiah 29:2; 34:19; 38:7; 52:25.
Though it was the barbarous custom of Eastern sovereigns to mutilate many of their young prisoners in the manner here indicated, there is no evidence that the Hebrew kings ever did this. The eunuchs employed by them are supposed to have been imported. It is thought that Daniel and his companions were thus maltreated by the king of Babylon in fulfillment of the prediction contained in 2 Kings 20:17-18; Isaiah 39:7.