Eunuch

A eunuch in the ancient world was typically a castrated male employed in royal households as a court official, chamberlain, or guardian of the harem — a practice common in Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and other Near Eastern courts. In Scripture the term sometimes retains its literal meaning (2 Kings 9:32; Esther 2:3, 15; Isaiah 56:3–5) and sometimes designates a court official without necessarily implying castration (Daniel 1:3, 7–18). The Mosaic law excluded eunuchs from the assembly (Deuteronomy 23:1), a restriction explicitly overturned in Isaiah 56:3–5, which promises eunuchs who keep the Sabbath and hold fast the covenant a memorial name better than sons and daughters. Jesus uses the term in Matthew 19:12 in three metaphorical senses — those born so, those made so by others, and those who choose celibacy for the sake of the kingdom — commending the latter as a gift to those able to receive it.