Tafsiran Daniel 1:3: Rashi & Ibn Ezra

the nobles Heb. הַפַּרְתְּמִים, dukes.

[Daniel 1:3] Va-yomer ha-melech (וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ - Then the king ordered): This Ashpenaz was a saris (סָרִיס) [official/eunuch – Ibn Ezra will discuss the term below], and he was the appointed officer over all the sarisim (סָרִיסִים) [officials/eunuchs] who served [the king] and his wives. And it is written [in Isaiah, quoting the prophecy given to Hezekiah concerning his descendants]: “and they shall be sarisim [officials/eunuchs] in the palace of the king of Babylon” [Isaiah 39:7].

[Daniel 1:3] Rav (רַב - Chief): [Means] great, as in “the city of a great king” [Psalms 48:3]. Therefore, Yefet [ben Ali] said that they [those brought under this order] were Daniel and his companions, and his proof is that it says “of royal descent.” But he did not speak correctly. For the verse [Daniel 1:6] states: “And among these were, of the children of Judah...” [implying Daniel's group was specifically from Judah], and others [chosen were] “of royal descent” [and nobility, as per v. 3]. [Yefet implies] that they [Daniel and companions] were sarisim [in the sense of eunuchs]. But you will not find [any indication] that Daniel was a saris [eunuch]. Rather, it is written about him and his companions: “youths in whom there was no blemish” [Daniel 1:4]. And there is no blemish more severe than [being made] a saris [eunuch]! Furthermore, the king did not command [Ashpenaz] to teach Daniel and his companions the “script” (which is the writing of the Chaldeans) and their language merely [for any service], but specifically “that they might stand before the king” [Daniel 1:5], and not [primarily] before his wives [a role often assigned to eunuchs]. And if an objector argues: If your words are true that they were not sarisim [eunuchs], why did the king appoint the Chief of the Sarisim over them? The answer: Because the king commanded to seek from Israel “youths... handsome in appearance” [Daniel 1:4]. And wicked men, even today, are known for homosexual practices. Furthermore, if a youth is castrated (yesoras - יְסֹרַס), his intellect diminishes, and he [Nebuchadnezzar] was seeking for those standing before him to be knowledgeable in all wisdom, as [the text later] explains [Daniel 1:4]. And Rabbi Yehoshua said: The word sarisim (סָרִיסִים) in the Holy Tongue [Hebrew] has two meanings: The first is castrated ones [eunuchs, cf. Esther 1:10]. The second is ministers/officials/servants [cf. II Kings 24:15]. Thus, the Chief of the Sarisim was the chief over the king's ministers/servants. Like [an example using the word is]: “...with the sarisim and the mighty men (gibborim - גִּבֹּרִים)” [II Kings 24:14 - listing groups exiled]. And there is no need [to think based on this listing that] the sarisim were necessarily officers over the mighty men, simply because they were servants of King David [or perhaps, servants of the king, like David's officials were]. He [Nebuchadnezzar] did not castrate them [Daniel and companions]; rather, he took them thus in captivity. [While other captives] might have become guardians of his wives, according to the practice of kings to this day [and those might be eunuchs]. And similarly [an example where saris likely means official]: “...and the king’s wives and his sarisim” [II Kings 24:15, listing Jehoiachin's exiled household]. And it is [also] written: “And from the city he took one saris who was appointed over the men of war” [Jeremiah 52:25]. [This clearly shows saris can mean a high-ranking military official, not necessarily a eunuch].