- -, B-Hebrew, [], 12 Oct 2005 - Yigal Levin: Bethulah means "virgin". Na'arah neans "young woman" - either unmarried or betrothed but unconsumated. Ahasuerus collected "na'aroth bethuloth" "young virgins", kept them in his harem, but only consumated his "marriage" to them after a year - up to that point, they were still virgins. So that in 2:17, Esther is compaired to the other "women" and "virgins".
2:19 seems to be a problem, since after their first night with the king, the women were no longer virgins. Might it mean that he had a second round of collectng virgins; maybe this was why Mordecai was worried - he thought that Esther had failed at her mission!
Vertaling Bijbel, Kanttekeningen SV, [], En de koning beminde Esther boven alle [45]vrouwen, en zij verkreeg genade en gunst voor zijn aangezicht, boven alle maagden; en hij zette [46]de koninklijke kroon op haar hoofd, en hij maakte haar koningin in de plaats van Vasthi. 45. Dat is jonkvrouwen, of vrouwspersonen. 46. Hebreeuws, de kroon des koninkrijks.