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ומרדכי בא לפני המלך כי־הגידה אסתר מה הוא־לה

That very day ... Mordecai presented himself to the king, for Esther had revealed how he was related to her. (Ester 8.1)

Rashi does not elaborate much:

מָה הוּא לָהּ. אֵיךְ הוּא קָרוֹב לָהּ:

For those who claim that Ester was Mordechai's wife and stayed his wife through the happenings in the Megillah (Megilla 13a - "ובמות אביה ואמה לקחה מרדכי לו לבת תנא משום ר"מ אל תקרי לבת אלא לבית"), what does this Pasuk tells us - what relations did she reveal to Achashverosh (and what happened next)?

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  • You mean, that he was her husband, as opposed to...her adopted father? Her cousin?
    – DonielF
    Mar 21, 2019 at 18:41

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According to the Rambam's commentary on the Megillah, Esther only told Achashveirosh that he was her uncle and adopted father, not that he was her husband:

אמרה אסתר למלך : היועץ מרדכי הוא דודי, אחי אבי, והוא גדל אותי והוא שיעץ בענין בגתן ותרש.

Esther said to the king: The advisor Mordechai is my uncle, my father's brother. He raised me, and he is the one who advised regarding Bigsan and Seresh.

And the Rambam at least entertains the possibility that he was her husband, as per his comments to 2:7:

אמרו רז״ל, שמרדכי שהוא יעד אותה לעצמו, שתהיה לו לאשה

The Rabbis z"l said that Mordechai took her for himself, that she be to him as a wife.

(I say "entertains" because he prefaces this with a contradictory opinion that she was not married to him.)

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  • Is there a consensus that the Rambam wrote this?
    – robev
    Mar 22, 2019 at 1:24
  • @robev I didn't realize it was controversial that he did.
    – DonielF
    Mar 22, 2019 at 1:41
  • @DonielF Look here.
    – magicker72
    Mar 22, 2019 at 4:28

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