Hainan would attain his object. He would be relieved of the presence of the Jews, and be able to enrich himself by the appropriation of their possessions (comp. p. 307). On the other hand, the providence of God overruling the event in the interest of the Jews, is unmistakeably evident both in Hainan's haste to satisfy his desire for vengeance, and in the falling of the lot upon so distant a day. It was only because there was so long an interval between the publication of the decree and the day appointed by lot for its execution, that it was possible for the Jews to take means for averting the destruction with which they were threatened, as the further development of the history will show.
CHAP. IV. — MORDOCHAI'S MOURNING ON ACCOUNT OF THE DECREE FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF THE JEWS, AND HIS ADMONITION TO ESTHER TO INTERCEDE FOR HER PEOPLE.
When Mordochai heard what had happened, he went mourning and lamenting about the city, and even to the king's gate; and the decree of Haman occasioned great lamentations among the Jews in all the provinces of the kingdom (1-3). When Queen Esther heard through her maids and courtiers of Mordochai's mourning, she sent him raiment that he might put off his mourning garb, but he refused to do so. She then sent an eunuch to him to inquire more particularly as to its cause. Mordochai informed him of all that had happened, giving him a copy of the decree to show to Esther, and charging her to entreat the king's favour for her people (4-8). The queen, however, expressed her hesitation to go in unto the king unsummoned, but upon Mordochai's repeated admonition, resolved to make the desired attempt, at the peril of her life (9-17).
Vers. 1-3. Mordochai learnt all that was done, — not only what had been openly proclaimed, but, as is shown by ver. 7, also the transaction between the king and Haman. Then he rent his garments, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, making loud and bitter lamentation. Comp. on the last words, Gen. xxvii. 34. The combination of ">£N with P^ $37* is an abbreviation for: put on a hairy garment and spread ashes upon his head, in sign of deep grief; comp. Dan. ix. 3, Job ii. 12, and elsewhere. — Ver. 2. And came even before the king's gate, i.e., according to ver. 6, the open space before the entrance to the royal palace; for none might enter wearing mourning. &OX> px, there is no entering, i.e. none may enter; comp. Ewald, § 321, c. — Ver. 3. Also in every province whither the king's decree arrived, there arose a great mourning among the Jews. 1KW Dip*? is an adverbial accusal, loci in apposition to rOHip"?33: in every place to which the word of the king and his decree reached, i.e. arrived. " Sackcloth and ashes were spread for many," i.e. many sat in hairy garments upon the earth, where ashes had been spread; comp. Isa. lviii. 5. The meaning is: All the Jews broke out into mourning, weeping, and lamentation, while many manifested their grief in the manner above described.
Vers. 4-8. The matter was made known to Esther by her maids and eunuchs, i.e. by her attendants. The Chethiv ru^ton does not elsewhere occur after 1 consecutive, hence the substitution of the Keri n:Nun. The object of *W: what they told her, is evidently, from what follows, the circumstance of Mordochai's appearance in deep mourning before the gate of the palace. On receiving this information the queen fell into convulsive grief (Prp/Wi, an intensive form of ^n, to be seized with painful grief), and sent to Mordochai raiment to put on instead of his sackcloth, evidently for the purpose of enabling him to enter the palace and give her the particulars of what had happened. But Mordochai did not accept the raiment. — Vers. 5-7. Then Esther sent Hatach, one of the eunuchs whom the king had set before her, i.e. appointed to attend her, to Mordochai to learn u what this, and why this," i.e. what was the meaning and the cause of his thus going about in mourning. When Hatach came forth to him in the open place of the city before the king's gate, Mordochai told him all that had happened, and the amount of the money which Haman had promised to weigh to the king's treasures
{i.e. to pay into the royal treasury) for the Jews, to destroy them, i.e. that it might be permitted him to destroy the Jews. n^S, properly a determined, accurate statement, from KHS in the sense of to determine clearly (see rem. on Lev. xxiv. 12); here, according to the context: amount, sum. This promise of Haman is here emphatically mentioned as the chief point, not so much for the purpose of raising the indignation of Esther to the highest pitch (Bertheau), as to show the resentment and eagerness with which Haman had unjed the extermination of the Jews. The Chethiv DWW1* is the rarer form for D*W1*, and is repeated viii. 1, 7, 13, ix. 15, 18. — Ver. 8. Mordochai also gave Hatach a copy of the decree published in Susa (ftf^3 \r\2y like iii. 15) to show it to the queen. The W Tarra following is more correctly drawn towards the subsequent ni^, as by Bertheau, than connected according to the accentuation with what precedes. Before this infinitive must be supplied from the context, especially from ver. 7: and Mordochai commissioned him or told him (Hatach): to declare unto her and to command her (Esther) to go in unto the king, to entreat him and to make request before him for her people.?V B>j?3, to beg, to make request for something, like Ezra viii. 23, and chap. vii. 7. ^®V?y, concerning her people, i.e. in this connection: for them.
Vers. 9-17. When Hatach brought this information to Esther, she sent word by him to Mordochai, that she might not go iiwunto the king unsummoned. '8?K ^n?.^, she ordered or commissioned him to Mordochai, viz. to tell him what follows, ver. 11: u All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces (i.e. all the officers and subjects of the king) know, that with respect to every man or woman that shall come in unto the king, into the inner court, that is not called — one (the same) law (is) for him: to put (him) to death, except him to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live." - n$W K^K'?2 precede as nominativi absol.; these are followed by two relative clauses, which are succeeded by the anacoluthic predicate irn nriK • one and the same law is for him (irn, the law concerning him, the unsummoned appearer, the matter of which is briefly stated by
IVDn?). In the inner court dwelt the king, seated on his throne (comp. v. 1). The law, that every one entering unbidden should be put to death, was subject to but one exception: 'U1 "^^P 1??, except him to whom the king stretches out, etc. twin from BB^, appearing only in the present book (v. 2, viii. 4), but frequently in Chaldee and Syriac, signifies to hold out, to extend, with i?, to or towards him. W?W, the Aramaic form for B?^, sceptre. Access to the royal presence had been already rendered difficult by an edict issued by Dejokes the Mede, Herod, i. 9; and among the Persians, none, with the exception of a few individuals (Herod, iii. 118), were permitted to approach the king without being previously announced (Herod, iii. 140; Corn. Nepos, Conon, 3). Any one entering unannounced was punished with death, unless the king, according to this passage, gave it to be understood by stretching forth his sceptre that he was to remain unpunished. It is, however, self-evident, and the fact is confirmed by Herod, iii. 140, that any who desired audience were allowed to announce themselves. Esther might, it seems, have done this. Why, then, did she not make the attempt? The answer lies in her further message to Mordochai: " and I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days." From these words it appears, that formerly she had been more frequently summoned before the king. Now, however, a whole month had passed without any invitation. Hence she concluded that the king did not much wish to see her, and for this reason dared not go unto him unbidden. Evidently, too, she was unwilling to be announced, because in that case she would have been obliged immediately to make known to the king the cause of her desiring this interview. And this she would not venture to do, fearing that, considering the great favour in which Haman stood with the king, she might, if she did not provoke his displeasure against herself through her intercession for her people, at least meet with a rejection of her petition. To set aside an irrevocable decree sealed with the king's seal, must have appeared to Esther an impossible undertaking. To have asked such a thing of the king would have been indeed a bold venture. — Vers. 12-14. When what Esther said was reported to Mordochai, he sent word back to her (a^n): " Think not in thy soul (with thyself) to be saved in the house of the king above all the Jews; for if thou boldest thy peace at this time, recovery and deliverance will arise from another place, but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed. And who knows if thou hast attained to royalty for a time such as this!" By the words: "Think not that thou wilt be saved in the king's house above all the Jew," i.e. alone of all the Jews, Mordochai does not reproach Esther with bein£ indifferent to the fate of her fellow-countrymen, but rather calls her attention to the fact that her own life is in danger. This is evident from the clause: if thou hold thy peace, will not intercede with the king for thy people, help will come from some other quarter, nn = nnri, Ex. viii. 11, avayjru%i<;y deliverance from oppressive restraint. itojP, rise up, arise, used according to later custom for Dip, as in 1 Cliron. xx. 4. The thought is: the Jewish nation cannot perish, its continuance is guaranteed by the divine promise. If thou wilt venture nothing for its safety, God will bring deliverance, but destruction will come upon thee and thy family. Though Mordochai neither speaks of God, nor alludes directly to His assistance, he still grounds his hopes of the preservation of his people upon the word and promise of God, and Brentius pertinently remarks: habes hie excellentem ac plane heroicam Mardochcei fidem, qua in prozsentissimo ac periculosissimo discrimine videt futuram liberationem. The last clause of ver. 14 is by most expositors understood as saying: and who knows whether thou hast not for a time like this attained to royalty? This agrees with the sense, but cannot be verbally justified, for DN does not mean whether not. The sentence contains an aposiopesis. The clause depending on the conditional 2K is unspoken, but understood. Besides, TO? is not in the imperfect. Hence it can only be translated: Who knows, if thou hadst not attained to royalty at or for such a time? Then the clause omitted would be: what thou then wouldst have done. JTri1 *P more frequently has the meaning of perhaps; and Mordochai says:
perhaps thou hast attained to royalty (to the dignity of queen) for a time like this, sc. to use thy position for the deliverance of thy people. In the turn thus given to the sentence it contains the most urgent injunction to Esther to use her high position for the preservation of her fellow-countrymen. — Ver. 15. This pressing monition produced its result. Esther returned answer to Mordochai: " Go, gather together all the Jews that are found in Susa, and fast ye for me: I also and my maidens will fast; and so will I go to the king against the law; and if I perish, I perish." Esther resolves to go to the king unsummoned, but begs Mordochai and all the Jews to unite in a three days' fast, during which she and her maidens will also fast, to seek by earnest humiliation God's gracious assistance in the step she proposes to take, for the purpose of averting the threatened destruction of her people. " Though c God' and ' prayer' are not here mentioned, it is yet obviously assumed that it was before God that the Jews were to humble themselves, to seek His help, and to induce Him to grant it. 1 Kings xxi. 27-29; Joel i. 14; Jonah#iii. 5 sq." (Berth.). To designate the strictness of this fasting, the words: u neither eat nor drink," are added. The " three days, night and day," are not to be reckoned as three times twenty-four hours, but to be understood of a fast which lasts till the third day after that on which it begins; for according to v. 1, Esther goes to the king on the third day. Comp. the similar definition of time, Jonah ii. 1. The addition " day and night" declares that the fast was not to be intermitted. £3% and in thus, i.e. in this state of fasting. ma N7 "1B>K: which is not according to law. to 1BW is used, like the Aramaean form N? *{, in the sense of without (comp. Ewald, § 222, c): without according to law = contrary to law. The last words: "if I perish, I perish," etc., are the expression not of despair, but of resignation, or perfect submission to the providence of God; comp. Gen. xliii. 14. — Ver. 17. And Mordochai went his way, i.e. from the place before the court of the king, to do what the queen had commanded him to do.
On the third day Esther betook herself in her royal apparel to the inner court of the palace, and was so kindly received by the king, that he promised to grant her any petition she might make; whereupon she requested the king to come with Hainan that day to a banquet which she had prepared (vers. 1-8). On returning from this banquet, Haman saw Mordochai in the king's gate, and when the latter did not bow before him, was so enraged, that, upon the advice of his wife and friends, he resolved to induce the king to permit the execution of Mordochai on the following day (vers. 9-14).
Vers. 1-8. On the third day Esther put on her royal apparel and entered the inner court of the king's house, opposite the dwelling of the king, where he was sitting on his throne before the gate (ver. 1). The third day must be counted from the day of the transaction between the queen and Mordochai (iv. 14); the first day being that on which it took place. The fasting, then, would not begin till midday; and on the third day Esther went to the king to invite him on that day to a banquet, which would surely take place in the forenoon. Thus the three days' fast would last from the afternoon of the first to the forenoon of the third day, i.e. from 40 to 45 hours. rvDp)? ^?pJ?, she put on royalty, royal dignity, i.e. arrayed herself in royal apparel. Bertheau thinks that the word K*i2? has been inadvertently omitted before Ttebo; but such a conjecture is without sufficient support, the passages vi. 8 and viii. 15 being of another kind. The expression is elliptical, and rvopp is easily completed by the notion BW furnished by the verb. — Ver. 2. When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she obtained favour in his eyes (see rem. on ii. 9), and he held out to her the golden sceptre that was in his hand; and Esther drew near and touched the top of the sceptre, probably kissed it, as the Vulgate renders the word. — Ver. 3. The king, concluding from the circumstance of her appearing there unsummoned, that she had some urgent matter to bring before him, said to her: u What wilt thou, Queen Esther? and what is thy request? To the half of the kingdom it shall be granted thee." A short expression for: if thy request relates even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be granted. Ver. 4. Esther, however, for the present requested nothing further, than that on that day (to-day) the king and Hainan should come to the banquet she had prepared.;V 31D DS like i. 19. — Ver. 5. The king commanded Haman to hasten thither, to do as the queen had said. *">[)£, hastened Haman, i,e. sent to fetch him quickly. "IHO like 2 Chron. xviii. 8, 1 Kings xxii. 9. T\\wyb} that the word of the queen might be done, carried out. — Ver. 6. At the repast, and indeed at u the banquet of wine,'* when the greatest cheerfulness would prevail, the king repeated his question as to the desire of the queen, making the same promise as in ver. 3. WVr)\ an abbreviated form of the imperfect *^fVP}9 is optative or jussive: and it shall be done. — Vers. 7 and 8. Esther answered: "My petition and my request— if I have found favour in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition and to do my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and to-morrow I will do as the king hath said," i.e. make known my request. Though the king had, in the midst of the gaiety, asked what was Esther's request, she did not esteem the time an appropriate one for expressing it. She begins: my petition and my request, — but then stops, and says only, if the king will do her the favour to come with Haman to a banquet again on the morrow, she will then bring forward her petition. Esther invited Haman with the king on both occasions, that, as Calovius remarks, eum apud regem prcesentem accusaret decreti snrrepti contra suos popular es nomine, et in os omnes cavillandi vias ei pr occluder et.
Vers. 9-14. Haman went forth from the palace satisfied and with a joyful heart. When, however, he saw Mordochai in the king's gate, who neither stood up nor trembled before him, he was full of indignation against him. 'W DjJ fcOl are circumstantial clauses following the principal clause without a copula. £pT and V\ are perfects, and K?1 — 87\ are used in the sense of neque — negne. Pt constructed with j& means to tremble before any one, to be disquieted. — Ver. 10. Haman, however, refrained himself; and without immediately giving vent to his rage at Mordochai, went home and sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh, that he mi<rht unburden himself before them, and take counsel with them for Mordochai's destruction. — Ver. 11. He first spoke to them of his wealth and domestic happiness, of the "glory of his riches and the multitude of his children." From ix. 7-10 we learn that Haman had ten sons; and many sons were not looked upon as a great blessing from God by the Israelites only, but were also esteemed a signal prosperity among the Persians, the king annually sending presents to him who had the greatest number of sons.1 Haman next recounted to them the great honours he had attained; "ifc?*03 HK, all how the king had made him great, and how lie had advanced him above the princes; comp. iii. 1. I^K is a second accusative of the means by which something is brought to pass. Finally, ver. 12, what high distinction had just been accorded him, by the queen having invited him alone to come to her banquet with the king. " Yea. Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet which she had prepared but myself; and to-morrow am I also invited unto her with the king." ^K enhances the meaning: even this honour is shown me. SfWljJ *3K, I am her invited guest = I am invited to her and by her; comp. Ew. § 295, c. — Ver. 13. And yet all his good fortune is embittered to him as often as he sees the hated Jew Mordochai. u And all this availeth me not at every time when I see the Jew Mordochai sitting in the king's gate." y rw is, not being equalled to me, i.e. not answering my desires, not affording me satisfaction. ny"P33 "1KW, at all time when = as often as. The fortune and honour he enjoys fail to satisfy him, when he sees the Jew Mordochai refuse to show him the reverence which he claims. —
Ver. 14. His wife and all his friends advise: "Let a tree be made (set up) fifty cubits high, and to-morrow speak to the king, that Mordoehai may be hanged thereon (i.e. impaled; see on njn ii. 23); and then go in merrily with the king to the banquet." The counsellors take it for granted that the king will without hesitation agree to Haman's proposal to execute Mordoehai, and therefore advise him at once to make the necessary preparations, so that the hated Jew may be hanged on the morrow before the banquet, and Haman may then go with the king to the feast prepared by the queen, free from all annoyance. '33 yv nb>y? to make, i.e. to erect a high tree. The higher the stake, the farther would it be seen. The 3d pers. plu. *B3£ stands instead of the passive: let them make = let.. be made. So too vJV for let.. be hanged. This speech pleased Haman, and he caused the stake to be erected.
The next night the king, being unable to sleep, caused the chronicles of the kingdom to be read to him. The account of the conspiracy discovered by Mordoehai, which was written therein, was thus brought before him, and he inquired of his servants whether this man had been rewarded (vers. l-3a). On receiving a negative answer, the king sent to inquire who was in the court; and Haman being found there thus early, he had him summoned, and asked him: what should be done to the man in whose honour the king delighteth. Haman, supposing that the king could intend to honour no one but himself, voted for the very highest public mark of respect (vers. 36-9), and was then obliged at the king's command to pay the proposed honour to Mordoehai (vers. 10, 11). From this humiliation his wife and friends prognosticated his speedy downfall (vers. 12-14).
Vers. 1-11. An unexpected turn of affairs. Ver. 1. On that night between Esther's first and second banquet, the king's sleep fled, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles and to read therefrom. OnHin^n nap, comp. Ezra iv. 15. The title is here more particularly stated than in ii. 23, where the book is briefly called: The book of the chronicles. DWjpj WW, and they (the chronicles) were read before the king. The participle denotes the long continuance of this reading. — Ver. 2. And it was found written therein among other matters, that Mordochai had given information concerning the two courtiers who were plotting against the king's life. This is the conspiracy related ii. 21-23. The name Bigthana is in ii. 21 written Bigthan. — Ver. 3. On this occasion the king asked: What honour and greatness hath been done to Mordochai for this? 'T^, for giving this information. And the king's servants answered: Nothing has been shown him. DV flSPJJ, to show any one something, e.g. favour; comp. 2 Sam. ii. 6, iii. 8, and elsewhere. •"i^"1?, greatness, i.e. promotion to honour. — Ver. 4. To repair this deficiency, and to do honour to the man who had done good service to the king — as the Persian monarchs were accustomed, comp. Brisson. de reg. Pers. prine. i. c. 135 — he asked, "who is in the court?" i.e. whether some minister or state functionary were there with whom he might consult concerning the honour due to Mordochai. Those who desired an audience with the king were accustomed to appear and wait in the outer court, until they were summoned into the inner court to present themselves before the monarch. From this question of the king it appears that it was already morning. And Haman, it is parenthetically remarked, was come into the outer court to speak to the king, to hang Mordochai on the tree which he had prepared. — Ver. 5. The attendants inform the king that Haman is in the court; whereupon the king commands: KfaJ, let him come in. — Ver. 6. As soon as he enters the king asks: What is to be done to the man in whose honour the king delighteth 1 i.e. whom he delights to honour. And Haman, thinking (tapa "tDN? to say in one's heart, i.e. to think) to whom will the king delight to show honour more than to me (^ftp "inr? projecting before me, surpassing me, hence adverbially, beyond me, e.g. Eccles. xii. 12, comp. ii. 15, vii. 11, 16)? votes immediately for the greatest possible mark of honour, and says, ver. 7 sq.: " As for the man in whose honour the king delighteth, let them bring the royal apparel with which the king has been clothed, and a horse on which the king has ridden, and the king's crown upon his head, and let them deliver this apparel and horse to one of the chief princes of the king, and let them array (i.e. with the royal apparel) the man in whose honour the king delighteth, and cause him to ride upon the horse through the streets of the city, and proclaim before him: Thus shall it be done to the man in whose honour the king delighteth." 'W1 IBW fc*K, ver. 7, precedes absolutely, and the predicate does not follow till *B^3pni, ver. 9, where the preceding subject is now by an anacoluthon taken up in the accusative (^NrrriK). Several clauses are inserted between, for the purpose of enumerating beforehand all that appertains to such a token of honour: a royal garment, a royal steed, a crown on the head, and one of the chief princes for the carrying out of the honour awarded. The royal garment is not only, as Bertheau justly remarks, such a one as the king is accustomed to wear, but, as is shown by the perf. W2?9 one which the king has himself already put on or worn. Hence it is not an ordinary state-robe, the socalled Median apparel which the king himself, the chief princes among the Persians, and those on whom the king bestowed such raiment were wont to appear in (Herod, iii. 84, vii. 116; Xenoph. Cyrop* viii. 3. 1, comp. with the note of Baehr on Her. iii. 84), but a costly garment, the property of the sovereign himself. This was the highest mark of honour that could be shown to a subject. So too was the riding upon a horse on which the king had ridden, and whose head was adorned with a royal crown. |ri3 is perf. Niph., not 1st pers. pi. imperf. Kal, as Maurer insists; and iBW"Q "it?K refers to the head of the horse, not to the head of the man to be honoured, as Clericus, Rambach, and most ancient expositors explain the words, in opposition to the natural sense of — f^o ^£>K i&J>N">3. We do not indeed find among classical writers any testimony to such an adornment of the royal steed; but the circumstance is not at all improbable, and seems to be corroborated by ancient remains, certain Assyrian and ancient
Persian sculptures, representing the horses of the king, and apparently those of princes, with ornaments on their heads terminating in three points, which may be regarded as a kind of crown. The in/in. absoL jinjl is a continuation of the preceding jussive W3J: and they shall give, let them give the garment — to the hand of a man, i.e. hand or deliver to him. The garment and horse are to be delivered to one of the noblest princes, that he may bring them to the individual to be honoured, may array him in the garment, set him on the horse, and proclaim before him as he rides through the city, etc. On DWnwij comp. i. 4, and on the matter itself, Gen. xl. 43. 2irn is either an open square, the place of public assemblage, the forum, or a collective. signifying the wide streets of the city, nw fD3 as in Deut. xxv. 9 and elsewhere. — Vers. 10, 11. This honour, then, the haughty Haman was now compelled to pay to the hated Jew. The king commanded him: " Make haste, take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said," i.e. in the manner proposed by thee, a and do even so to Mordochai the Jew, that sitteth at the king's gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken," i.e. carry out your proposal exactly. How the king knew that Mordochai was a Jew, and that he sat in the king's gate, is not indeed expressly stated, but may easily be supplied from the conversation of the king with his servants concerning Mordochai's discovery of the conspiracy, vers. 1-3. On this occasion the servants of the king would certainly give him particulars concerning Mordochai, who by daily frequenting the king's gate, ii. 19, v. 9, would certainly have attracted the attention of all the king's suite. Nor can doubt be cast upon the historical truth of the fact related in this verse by the question: whether the king had forgotten that all Jews were doomed to destruction, and that he had delivered them up to Haman for that purpose (J. D. Mich.). Such forgetfulness in the case of such a monarch as Xerxes cannot surprise us.
Vers. 12-14. After this honour had been paid him, Mordochai returned to the king's crate; but Haman hasted to his house, u sad and with his head covered," to relate to his wife and friends all that had befallen him. A deeper mortification he could not have experienced than that of being obliged, by the king's command, publicly to show the highest honour to the very individual whose execution he was just about to propose to him. The covering of the head is a token of deep confusion and mourning; comp. Jer. xiv. 4, 2 Sam. xv. 30. Then his wise men, and Zeresh his wife, said to him: u If Mordochai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou wilt not prevail against him, but wholly fall before him." V?2tfl K?, non prcevalebis ei, comp. Gen. xxxii. 26.?iBfl?S%) with an emphatic in/in. absol.: wholly fall. Instead of the PJD&, VD3n are here named, or to speak more correctly, the friends of Haman are here* called his wise men (magi). Even in v. 14 Hainan's friends figure as those with whom he takes counsel concerning Mordochai, i.e. as his counsellors or advisers; hence it is very probable that there were magi among their number, who now "come forward as a genus sapientum et doctorum (Cicero, divin. i. 23)" (Berth.), and predict his overthrow in his contest with Mordochai. The ground of this prediction is stated: " If Mordochai is of the seed of the Jews," i.e. of Jewish descent, then after this preliminary fall a total fall is inevitable. Previously (v. 14) they had not hesitated to advise him to hang the insignificant Jew; but now that the insignificant Jew has become, as by a miracle, a man highly honoured by the king, the fact that the Jews are under the special protection of Providence is pressed upon them. Ex fato populorum, remarks Grotius, de singulorum fatis judicabant. Judcei gravissime oppressi a Cyri temporibus contra spem omnem resurgere coeperant. We cannot, however, regard as well founded the further remark: de Amalecitis audierant oraculum esse, eos Judceorum manu perituros, which Grotius, with most older expositors, derives from the Amalekite origin of Haman. The revival of the Jewish people since the times of Cyrus was sufficient to induce, in the minds of heathen who were attentive to the signs of the times, the persuasion that this nation enjoyed divine protection. — Ver. 14. During this conversation certain courtiers had already arrived, who hastily brought Haman to the banquet of the queen, to which he would certainly go in a less happy state of mind than on the preceding day.
At this second banquet the king again inquired of the queen what was her petition, when she entreated that her life and that of her people might be spared, for that she and her people were sold to destruction (vers. 1-4). The king, evidently shocked at such a petition, asked who was the originator of so evil a deed, and Esther named the wicked Haman as the enemy (vers. 5, 6). Full of indignation at such a crime, the king rose from the banquet and went into the garden; Haman then fell down before the queen to entreat for his life. When the king returned to the house, he saw Haman lying on the couch on which Esther was sitting, and thinking that he was offering violence to the queen, he passed sentence of death upon him, and caused him to be hanged on the tree he had erected for Mordochai (vers. 7-10).
Vers. 1-6. The king and Haman came to drink (ninBy), i.e. to partake of the •"U?^?, in the queen's apartment. — Ver. 2. At this banquet of wine the king asked again on the second day, as he had done on the first (chap. v. 6): What is thy petition, Queen Esther, etc.? Esther then took courage to express her petition. After the usual introductory phrases (ver. 3 like v. 8), she replied: u Let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request." For, she adds as a justification and reason for such a petition, u we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. And if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had been silent, for the enemy is not worth the king's damage." In this request ^y is a short expression for: the life of my people, and the preposition 3, the so-called 2 pretii. The request is conceived of as the price which she offers or presents for her life and that of her people. The expression ^"J?^ we are sold, is used by
Esther with reference to the offer of Haman to pay a large sum into the royal treasury for the extermination of the Jews, iii. 9, iv. 7. vW, contracted after Aramaean usage from v DK, and occurring also Eccles. vi. 6, supposes a case, the realization of which is desired, but not to be expected-, the matter being represented as already decided by the use of the perfect. The last clause, 'ttl "Hfn fK '•S, is by most expositors understood as a reference, on the part of Esther, to the financial loss which the king would incur by the extermination of the Jews. Thus Rambach, e.g., following R. Sal. ben Melech, understands the meaning expressed to be: hostis nullo modo cequare, compensare, resarcire potest pecunia sua damnum, quod rex ex nostro excidio patitur. So also Cler. and others. The confirmatory clause would in this case refer not to *??Qnn, but to a negative notion needing completion: but I dare not be silent; and such completion is itself open to objection. To this must be added, tiiat *W in Kal constructed with 3 does not signify compensare, to equalize, to make equal, but to be equal; consequently the Piel should be found here to justify the explanation proposed. nv<J> in Kal constructed with 3 signifies to be of equal worth with something, to equal another thing in value. Hence Gesenius translates: the enemy does not equal the damage of the king, i.e. is not in a condition to compensate the damage. But neither when thus viewed does the sentence give any reason for Esther's statement, that she would have been silent, if the Jews had been sold for slaves. Hence we are constrained, with Bertheau, to take a different view of the words, and to give up the reference to financial loss. pW, in the Targums, means not merely financial, but also bodily, personal damage; e.g. Ps. xci. 7, Gen. xxvi. 11, to do harm, 1 Chron. xvi. 22. Hence the phrase may be understood thus: For the enemy is not equal to, is not worth, the damage of the king, i.e. not worthy that I should annoy the king with my petition. Thus Esther says, ver. 4: The enemy has determined upon the total destruction of my people. If he only intended to bring upon them grievous oppression, even that most grievous oppression of slavery, I would have been silent, for the enemy is not worthy that I should vex or annoy the king by my accusation. — Ver. 5.
The king, whose indignation was excited by what he had just heard, asks with an agitation, shown by the repetition of the "HMt'S: " Who is lie, and where is he, whose heart hath filled him (whom his heart hath filled) to do so?" Evil
— Ver. 6. Esther replies: " The adversary and enemy is this
Vers. 7-10. The kin£ in his wrath arose from the banquet of wine, and went into the garden of the house (&P is here a pregnant expression, and is also combined with n32"vK); but Haman remained standing to be£ for his life to Queen Esther (/V B^3 as in iv. 8), u for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king" (AJ5, and elsewhere); and hence that he had no mercy to expect from him, unless the queen should intercede for him. — Ver.
ing Q%) as in Josh. viii. 10, Deut. xxi. 1, and elsewhere) at or on the couch on which Esther was (sitting), i.e. falling as a suppliant at her feet; and crediting Haman in the heat of his anger with the worst designs, he cried out: "Shall also violence be done to the queen before me in the house V The infin. Wttb after the interrogatory particle signifies: Is violence to be done, i.e. shall violence be done? as in 1 Chron. xv. 2 and elsewhere; comp. Ewald, § 237, c. E'23, to tread under foot, to subdue, used here in the more general sense, to offer violence. Without waiting for an explanation, the king, still more infuriated, passes sentence of death upon Haman. This is not given in so many words by the historian, but we are told immediately that: "as the word went out of the kino-'s mouth, thev covered Hainan's face." "D'jn is not the speech of the king just reported, but the judicial sentence, the death warrant, i.e. the word to punish Haman with death. This is unmistakeably shown by the further statement: they covered Haman's face. The subject is indefinite: the attendants present. To cover the face was indeed to begin to carry the sentence of death into execution. With respect to this custom, expositors appeal to Curtius, vi. 8. 22: Pliiletam — capite velato in regiam addu* cunt; and Cicero, pro C. Rabirio iv. 13: Ilictor, colliga manus, caput obnubito, arbori infellci suspendito. — Ver. 9. Then said Harbonah (already mentioned i. 10), one of the eunuchs before the king, i.e. who held office before the king: u Behold also the tree which Hainan made (comp. v. 14) stands in the house of Haman." Da points to the fact that the other eunuchs had already brought forward various particulars concerning Haman's crime. Mordochai, who had spoken good for the king, viz. when he gave information of the conspiracy, ii. 22, vi. 2. On this tree the king ordered that Haman should be hanged, and this sentence was executed without delay. — u And the king's wrath was pacified.'' With this remark the narrative of this occurrence is closed, and the history pursues its further course as follows.
The king bestowed the house of Haman on Esther, and advanced Mordochai to Haman's place of prime minister (vers. 1 and 2). Esther then earnestly besought the king for the abolition of the edict published by Haman against the Jews, and the king permitted her and Mordochai to send letters in the king's name to all the Jews in his kino;- dom, commanding them to stand for their life, and to slay their enemies, on the day appointed for their own extermination (vers. 3-14). These measures diffused great joy throughout the kingdom (vers. 15-17).
Vers. 1 and 2. By the execution of Haman, his property was confiscated, and the king decreed that the house of the Jews' enemy should be given to Esther. The " house of Haman" undoubtedly means the house with all that pertained to it. " And Mordochai came before the king, for Esther had told him what he was to her," viz. her kinsman and fosterfather, ii. 7. This information effected Mordochai's appearance before the king, i.e. his reception into the number of the high dignitaries who beheld the face of the king, i.e. were allowed personal access to him; comp. i. 10, 14, vii. 9. — Ver. 2. And the king took off his seal-ring which he had taken from Haman (comp. iii. 10), and gave it to Mordochai. }D "TOyn, to cause to go from some one, i.e. to take away. By this act Mordochai was advanced to the post of first minister of the king; comp. Gen. xli. 42, 1 Mace. vi. 15. The king's seal gave the force of law to royal edicts, the seal taking the place of the signature. See rem. on ver. 8 and iii. 10. Vers. 3-14. The chief enemy of the Jews was now destroyed; but the edict, written in the king's name, sealed with the royal seal, and published in all the provinces of the kingdom, for the destruction of all the Jews on the 13th day of the twelfth month, was still in force, and having been issued in due legal form, could not, according to the laws of the Persians and Medes, be revoked. Queen Esther therefore entreated the king to annul the designs of Haman against the Jews. Vers. 3 and 4. " Esther spake again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and wept, and besought him to do away with p*?3tf?, to cause to depart) the mischief of Haman the Afjagite, and his device that he devised against the Jews. And the king held out his golden sceptre towards Esther, and Esther arose and stood before the king." This verse gives a summary of the contents of Esther's speech, which is reported verbally in vers. 5 and 6, so that we must translate the imperfects jannril Tprn —?hn); She spoke before the king, falling at his feet and beseeching him with weeping, that he would do away with ip? WJ, the evil that Haman had done, and his device aoainst the Jews. The king stretched out his sceptre (comp. chap. iv. 11) as a sign that he would graciously grant her petition; whereupon she arose, stood before the king, and made known her request. — Ver. 5. The introductory formula are in part similar to those used chap. i. 19, v. 4, 8, vii. 3; but the petition referring to a great and important matter, they are strengthened by two new phrases: " If the thing is advisable ("M?3, proper, convenient, advantageous, a later word occurring again only Eccles. xi. 6, x. 10, — in ii. 21, iv. 4, 5, 10 of the same book, P"1^?) before the king, and if I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written (let a writing be issued, like chap. iii. 9), to frustrate (p^\)% i.e. to put out of force) the letters, the device of Haman... which he wrote to destroy the Jews, who are in all the provinces of the king." f»n rQBTO? the device, the proposal of Haman, is added to D'HSDH, briefly to characterize the contents of the letters. On the matter itself, comp. iii. 8 sq. and 12 sq. " For how shall I endure to see the destruction of my people?" The verbs WljrTI ^31K are so combined that the second is governed by the first, V^tni standing instead of the infinitive; comp. Ew. § 285, c. H*n cons. 3 denotes an interested beholding, whether painful or joyous, of something; comp. Gen. xliv. 34. FfpiD in parallelism with 2y denotes those who are of like descent, the family, members of a tribe. — Vers. 7 and 8. The king could not simply revoke the edict issued by Haman in due legal form, but, ready to perform the request of the queen, he first assures her of his good intentions, reminding her and Mordochai that he has given the house of Haman to Esther and hanged Haman, because he laid hand on the Jews (vfl ink, him they have executed); and then grants them permission, as he had formerly done to Haman, to send letters to the Jews in the king's name, and sealed with the king's seal, and to write D^jpya 2it33? " as seems good to you," i.e. to give in writing such orders as might in Esther's and Mordochai's judgment render the edict of Haman harmless. " For," he adds, " what is written in the king's name and sealed with his seal cannot be reversed." This confirmatory clause is added by the king with reference to the law in general, not as speaking of himself objectively as " the king." n^ni p*? refers to Esther's request: MfrA 3r>3| (ver. 5). Btonaij in fin. abs. used instead of the perfect. — Vers. 9-14. These letters were prepared in the same manner as those of Haman (chap. iii. 12-15), on the 23d day of the third month, the month Sivan, and sent into all the provinces. " And it was written according to all tliat Mordochai commanded." They were sent to the Jews and to the satraps, etc., of the whole wide realm from India to Ethiopia (see i. 1), while those of Haman had been issued only to the satraps, etc. The rest coincides with chap. iii. 12. 3FD*1, and he (Mordochai) wrote. To show the speed with which the letters were despatched, (messengers) "on horseback, on coursers, government coursers, the sons of the stud," is added to BTJ? T?. &y} is a collective, meaning swift horses, coursers; comp. 1 Kings v. 8. E^iwnK (vers. 11 and 14) answers to the Old-Persian kschatrana, from kschatra, government, king, and means government, royal, or court studs. So Haug in Ewald's bibl. Jahrb. v. p. 154. The older explanation, mules, on the other hand, is founded on the modern Persian estar, which, to judge from the Sanscrit agvatara, must in ancient Persian have been acpatara. D^©"}, aw. \ey. from
?]En, answering to the Syriac pVnl, herd, especially a herd of horses, and to the Arabic ^^, stud, is explained by Bertheau as a superlative form for the animal who excels the rest of the herd or stud in activity, perhaps the breeding stallion, while others understand it of the stud in general. The contents of the edict follow in vers. 11 and 12: " that the king allows the Jews in every city to assemble and to stand for their life (i.e. to fight for their lives, comp. Dan. xii. 1), to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish all the power (?]n, military power) of the people and province that should assault them, children and women, and to plunder their property, upon a certain day," etc. The appointed time is thus stated as in chap. iii. 13. The Jews were thus authorized to attack and destroy all enemies who should assault them on the day appointed for their extermination. Ver. 13 coincides with chap. iii. 146, with this difference, that the Jews are to be ready on this day to avenge themselves on their enemies. Ver. 14 also is similar to chap. iii. 15, except that the expression is strengthened by an addition to B*5nn as in ver. 10, and by that of D^rn, urged on, to &Yl]?9, hastened, to point out the utmost despatch possible.
Vers. 15-17. The joy experienced throughout the kingdom at these measures. Yer. 15. After transacting with the king this measure so favourable to the Jews, Mordochai went out from the king in a garment of deep blue and white material (comp. i. 6), and with a great crown of gold, and a mantle of byssus and purple. T"PJII, air. \ey., in the Aramaean NS'nDrij a wide mantle or covering. The meaning is not, as Bertheau remarks, that he left the king in the garment which had been, according to chap. vi. 8 sq., presented to him, nor that he left him with fresh tokens of his favour, clothed in a garment, crown, and mantle just bestowed on him, but that he left him in a magnificent state garment, and otherwise festally apparelled, that he might thus show, even by his external appearance, the happiness of his heart. Of these remarks, the first and last are quite correct; the second, however, can by no means be so, because it affords no answer to the question how Mordochai had obtained crown and mantle during his stay with the king and in the royal palace. The garments in which Mordochai left the king are evidently the state garments of the first minister, which Mordochai received at his installation to his office, and, as such, no fresh token of royal favour, but only his actual induction in his new dignity, and a sign of this induction to all who saw him issue from the palace so adorned. " The city of Susa rejoiced and was glad," i.e. rejoiced for gladness. The city, i.e. its inhabitants on the whole. — Ver. 16. The Jews (i.e. in Susa, for those out of the city are not spoken of till ver. 17) had light and gladness, and delight and honour." •'HiK (this form occurs only here and Ps. cix. 12), light, is a figurative expression for prosperity. 1^!, honour — in the joy manifested by the inhabitants of Susa at the prevention of the threatened destruction. — Ver. 17. And in every province and city... there was joy and a glad day, a feast day, comp. chap. ix. 19, 22, while Haman'sedict had caused grief and lamentation, chap. iv. 3. u And many of the people of the land (i.e. of the heathen inhabitants of the Persian empire) became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them." BTE5?i to confess oneself a Jew, to become a Jew, a denominative formed from HVi^ occurs only here. On the confirmatory clause, comp. Ex. xv. 16, Deut. xi. 25. This conversion of many of the heathen to Judaism must not be explained only, as by Clericus and Grotius, of a change of religion on the part of the heathen, ut sibi hoc modo securitatem et regince favorem pararent, metuentes potentiam Mardechcei. This may have been the inducement with some of the inhabitants of Susa. But the majority certainly acted from more honourable motives, viz. a conviction, forced upon them by the unexpected turn of affairs in favour of the Jews, of the truth of the Jewish religion; and the power of that faith and trust in God manifested by the Jews, and so evidently justified by the fall of Haman and the promotion of Mordochai, contrasted with the vanity and misery of polytheism, to which even the heathen themselves were not blind. When we consider that the same motives in subsequent times, when the Jews as a nation were in a state of deepest humiliation, attracted the more earnest-minded of the heathen to the Jewish religion, and induced them to become proselytes, the fact here related will not appear surprising.
On the day appointed by both edicts, the Jews assembled in the towns and provinces of the kingdom to slay all who sought their hurt, and being supported by the royal officials, inflicted a great defeat upon their enemies (vers. 1-10). At the queen's desire, the king granted permission to the Jews in Susa to fight against their enemies on the following day also (vers. 11-15), while in the other towns and districts of the kingdom they fought for their lives only on the 13th of Adar; so that in these places they rested on the 14th, but in Susa not till the 15th, and consequently kept in the latter the one day, in the former the other, as a day of feasting and rejoicing (vers. 16-19). The observance of this day of resting as a festival, under the name of Purim, by all the Jews in the Persian monarchy, was then instituted by Esther and Mordochai (vers. 20-32).
Vers. 1-10. The Jews avenged of their enemies. — Ver. 1. In the twelfth month, on the thirteenth day of the same — the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities, etc. Several parenthetical clauses succeed this definition of time, so that the statement of what then took place does not follow till l/n|tt, ver. 2. These parenthetical clauses state not only the meaning of the day just named, but also give a general notice of the conflict between the Jews and their enemies. The first runs: " when the word of the kins drew nigh and his decree to be done," i.e. when the execution of the royal decree approached. The second is: " on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have the mastery of them, and it was changed (i.e. the contrary occurred), that the Jews had the mastery over them that hated them." 2 E7^? to rule, to have the mastery over. ^SHi is infin. ahs., used instead of the imperf. NV1 is referred by Bertheau to Di": the day was changed from a day of misfortune to a day of prosperity for the Jews, alluding to ver. 22; but it is not a change of the day which is here spoken of, but a change of the hope of the enemies into its opposite; hence we must regard wn as neuter: it was changed, i.e. the contrary occurred. The pronoun »~!E>ri serves to emphasize the subject; comp. Ewald, § 314, a, who in this and similar cases takes Nin, n£>n in the sense of ipse, ipsi. — Ver. 2. Dn^J735 in their cities, i.e. the cities in which they dwelt in all the dominions of the king. V. rwv, to stretch out the hand (as also in ii. 21, iii. 6, for the purpose of killing) against those who sought their hurt, i.e. sought to destroy them. " And no one stood before them (*JB3 loy, like Josh. x. 8, xxi. 42, and elsewhere), because the fear of them fell upon all people (see rem. on viii. 17). And all the rulers of the provinces, and the satraps and governors (comp. viii. 9), and those that did the king's business (nDN7E>n *feto see rem. on iii. 9), supported the Jews (Nfeo like Ezra i. 4), because the fear of Mordochai fell upon them." — Ver. 4. " For Mordochai was great in the king's house (was much esteemed by the king), and his fame went through all the provinces (typt? as in Josh. vi. 27, ix. 9, Jer. vi. 24); for this man Mordochai became continually greater;" comp. 2 Chron.
xvii. 12, where the partic. 7^3 stands instead of the infin. abs.?H3. — Ver. 5. Thus supported, the Jews inflicted defeat upon their enemies with the sword, and with slaughter and destruction, nsn with 3, to deal a blow upon or against some one, to cause or bring about upon enemies a defeat; comp. e.g. 2 Sam. xxiii. 10, xxiv. 17, Num. xxii. 6. The notion is strengthened by 'Ul 3irrn3D? literally, to strike a stroke of the sword, and of slaughter, and of destruction, in accordance with the decree, viii. 11. u And did according to their will to those that hated them," i.e. retaliated upon their enemies at their discretion. — Ver. 6. In the citadel of Susa they destroyed (in round numbers) 500 men. — Vers. 7-10. Also they slew the ten sons of Haman, whose names are given, 7-9;* but on the spoil they laid not their hand, though this was allowed to them, viii. 11, as it had been commanded to their enemies by Hainan's edict, iii. 13, ut ostenderent, se non aliud quam vita? sua? incohimitatem queer er e; hanc enim perdere valebant ii qui occidebantur. C. a Lapide.
Vers. 11-19. When on the same day an account was given to the king of the result of the conflict, and the number of those slain in Susa reported, he announced to Queen Esther: the Jews have slain in the citadel of Susa 500 men and the ten sons of Haman; u what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces'?" i.e. if they have killed 500 men in Susa, how many may they not have slain in other parts of the kingdom? and then asked her what else she wished or required. With respect to the words, comp. v. 6 and vii. 2.
1 The peculiar position of the names of the sons of Haman in editions of the Bible, grounded as it is upon the ancient mode of writing, must originally have been intended merely to give prominence to the names, and facilitate their computation. The later Rabbis, however, have endeavoured to discover therein some deeper meaning. This mode of writing the names has been said to be signum voti, ut a ruina sua nunquam amplius resurgartt, or also a sign quod sicut hi decern /Hi in lima perpendiculari, units supra alteram, suspensi /tier int. Comp. Buxtorf, Sy)tagoga jud. pp. 157-159 of the Basle edit. 1580. What is indicated by the smaller forms of the letters fl, £>, and f, in the first, seventh, and tenth names, is not known; the larger) in the tenth may have been meant to give prominence, by the character employed, to this name as the last.
— Ver. 13. Esther requested: u let it be granted to the Jews which are in Susa to do to-morrow also according to the decree of to-day (i.e. exactly as to-day), and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged upon the tree," i.e. their dead bodies nailed on crosses — majoris inf amice causa, according to Hebrew and Persian custom; comp. Deut. xxi. 22 and the explanation of Ezra vi. 11. On the motive for this request, see above, p. 310. — Ver. 14. The king commanded it so to be done. " Then was a decree given at Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman." The decree given in Susa does not refer to the hanging of the sons of Haman, but to the permission given to the Jews to fight against their enemies on the morrow also. This is required not only by a comparison of viii. 13, but also by the connection of the present verse; for in consequence of this decree the Jews assembled on the 14th Adar (comp. vpjW, then they assembled themselves, ver. 15), while the hanging of the sons of Haman, on the contrary, is related in an accessory clause by a simple perfect, vJJ. — Ver. 15. On this second day the Jews slew 300 more; comp. ver. 10. — Ver. 16. The rest of the Jews in the provinces, i.e. the Jews in the other parts of the kingdom, assembled themselves and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes 75,000, but upon the spoil they laid not their hand, 5>J> "TO like viii. 11. The ttpykg r\)l] inserted between 'J 'V I'W and SHjTj is striking; we should rather have expected the resting or having rest from their enemies after the death of the latter, as in vers. 17 and 18, where this is plainly stated to have taken place on the day after the slaughter. The position of these words is only explained by the consideration, that the narrator desired at once to point out how the matter ended. The narrative continues in the injin. abs. instead of expressing this clause by the infin. constr., and so causing it to be governed by what precedes. Thus — as Ew. § 351, c, remarks — all the possible hues of the sentence fade into this grey and formless termination (viz. the use of the infin. absol. instead of the verb. fin.). This inaccuracy of diction does not justify us, however, in assuming that we have here an interpolation or an alteration in the text. The statement of the day is given in ver. 17, and then the clause following is again added in the inf. absoL: " and they rested on the 14th day of the same (of Adar), and made it a day of feasting and gladness." — Ver. 18. The Jews in Susa, on the other hand, who were both on the 13th and 14th Adar still fighting against their enemies, and did not rest till the 15th, made this latter their day of rejoicing. — In ver. 19 it is again stated that the Jews in the country towns and villages made the 14th their day of gladness, and this statement is appended by \3~pV to make this appear the result of what precedes. The Chethiv P^TfaW is perhaps an Aramaic expression for D\n3, Deut. iii. 5 and 1 Sam. vi. 18. VilS) means the inhabitants of the open, i.e. unfortified, towns and villages of the plains in contrast to the fortified capital; see on Deut. iii. 5. On nipQ, compare Ezek. xxxviii. 11, Zech. ii. 8. 'Ul J"IUE> TOW, and of mutual sending of gifts, i.e. portions of food; comp. Neh. viii. 10, 12.
Vers. 20-32. The feast of Purim instituted by letters from Mordochai and Esther. Ver. 20. Mordochai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews, etc. •wri ^"ll'in does not mean the contents of the present book, but the events of the last days, especially the fact that the Jews, after overcoming their enemies, rested in Susa on the 15th, in the other provinces on the 14th Adar, and kept these days as days of rejoicing. This is obvious from the object of these letters, ver. 21: 'til D»Jv8 &.si??, to appoint among them "that they should keep the 14th day of the month Adar and the 15th day of the same yearly, as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and as the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a glad day, that they should keep them as days of feasting and joy, and of mutual sending of portions one to another, and gifts to the poor." DV nb*y, to keep, to celebrate a day. The CSpy rtw, ver. 21, is after long parentheses taken up again in DniK 1WV7. D*j5, to establish a matter, to authorize it, comp. Ruth iv. 7. Both the 14th and 15th Adar were made festivals because the Jews on them had rest from their enemies, and celebrated this rest by feasting, some on the former, some on the latter day. — Ver. 23. And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordochai had written to them. They had begun, as ver. 22 tells us, by keeping both days, and Mordochai wrote to them that they should make this an annual custom. This they agreed to do in consequence of Mordochai's letters. The reason of their so doing is given in vers. 24 and 25, and the name of this festival is explained, ver. 26, by a brief recapitulation of the events which gave rise to it. Then follows, vers. 2Qb and 27, another wordy statement of the fact, that it was by reason of this letter, and on account of what they had seen, i.e. experienced, that the annual celebration of this feast was instituted for a perpetual memorial to all Jews at all times (vers. 28 and 29). — Ver. 24. For Haman, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them (comp. iii. 1, 6 sq.), and had cast Pur, that is the lot (see on iii. 7), to consume them and to destroy them. DEn? mostly used of the discomfiture with which God destroys the enemies, Ex. xiv. 24, Deut. ii. 15, and elsewhere. — Ver. 25. FWjiH, and when it (the matter), not when she, Esther, came before the king, — for Esther is not named in the context, — he commanded by letters (viii. 8), i.e. he gave the written order: let the wicked device which he devised against the Jews return upon his own head; and they hanged him and his sons upon the tree. — Ver. 26. Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name Pur. This first |?/P refers to what precedes and states the reason, resulting from what has just been mentioned, why this festival received the name of Purim. With the second p~?V begins a new sentence which reaches to ver. 28, and explains how it happened that these feast-days became a general observance with all Jews; namely, that because of all the words of this letter (of Mordochai, ver. 20), and of what they had seen concerning the matter (n??~''y, concerning so and so), and what had come upon them (therefore for two reasons: (1) because of the written injunction of Mordochai; and (2) because they had themselves experienced this event), the Jews established, and took upon themselves, their descendants, and all who should join themselves unto them (proselytes), so that it should not fail (i.e. inviolably), to keep (to celebrate) these two days according to the writing concerning them and the time appointed thereby year by year. — Ver. 28. And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and these days of Purim are not to pass away among the Jews, nor their remembrance to cease among their seed. The participles &wyy\ Dnjg still depend on nrr6, ver. 27. Not till the last clause does the construction change in V"QJ£ to to the temp, finit. "taK ^\ is a periphrasis of the adverb: imperishably, inviolably. DIirDS, secundum scriptum eorum% i.e. as Mordochai had written concerning them (ver. 23). Bf*??9, as ^e ^a(^ aP~ pointed their time. \0 *]1D? to come to an end from, i.e. to cease amoncr their descendents.
Vers. 29-32. A second letter from Queen Esther and Mordochai to appoint fasting and lamentation on the days of Purim. Ver. 29. And Esther the queen and Mordochai the Jew wrote with all strength, that is very forcibly, to appoint this second letter concerning Purim, i.e. to give to the contents of this second letter the force of law. Hfcftn refers to what follows, in which the contents of the letter are briefly intimated. The letter is called JVWn with reference to the first letter sent by Mordochai, ver. 20 sq. — Ver. 30. And he (Mordochai) sent letters, i.e. copies of the writing mentioned ver. 29, to all the Jews in the 127 provinces (which formed) the kingdom of Ahashverosh, words of peace and truth, i.e. letters containing words of peace and truth (ver. 31), to appoint these days of Purim in their portions of time according as Mordochai the Jew and Esther the queen had appointed, and as they (the Jews) had appointed for themselves and for their descendants, the things (or words = precepts) of the fastings and their lamentations. DiTjjDTS, in their appointed times; as the suffix relates to the days of Purim, the E^DT can mean only portions of time in these days. The sense of vers. 29-31 is as follows: According to the injunctions of Esther and Mordochai, the Jews appointed for themselves and their descendants times also of fasting and lamentation in the days of Purini. To make this appointment binding upon all the Jews in all provinces of the Persian monarchy, Esther and Mordochai published a second letter, which was sent by Mordochai throughout the whole realm of King Ahashverosh. To this is added, ver. 32, that the decree of Esther appointed these matters of Purim, i.e. the injunction mentioned vers. 29-31, also to fast and weep during these days, and it was written in the book. 1BBH, the book in which this decree was written, cannot mean the writing of Esther mentioned ver. 29, but some written document concerning Purim which has not come down to us, though used as an authority by the author of the present book. The times when the fasting and lamentation were to take place in the days of 'Purim, are not stated in this verse; this could, however, only be on the day which Haman had appointed for the extermination of the Jews, viz. the 13th Adar. This day is kept by the Jews as "H?pK JTW, Esther's fast.1
Ver. 1. And King Ahashverosh laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea. Ver. 2. And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the statement of the greatness of Mordochai to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? Tlie C/ieihiv tthpriK is a clerical error for &n.!^nN. The word D?p? service,
1 According to 2 Mace. xv. 36, the victory over Nicanor was to be celebrated on the 13th Adar, but, according to a note of Dr. Cassel in Grimm's kurzrjef. exeget. Handb. zu den Apokryphen, on 2 Mace. xv. 36, the festival of Nicanor is mentioned in Jewish writings, as Megillat Taanit, c. 12, in the Babylonian Talmud, tr. Taanit, f. 186, in Massechet So/rim 17, 4, but has been by no means observed for at least the last thousand years. The book Scheiltot of R. Acha (in the 9th century) speaks of the 13th Adar as a fast-day in memory of the fast of Esther, while even at the time of the Talmud the u Fast of Esther " is spoken of as a three days fast, kept, however, after the feast of Purim. From all this it is obvious, that a diversity of opinions prevailed among the Rabbis concerning the time of this fast of Esther.
here stands for tribute. As the provinces of the kingdom paid the imposts for the most part in natural produce, which they had reared or obtained by the labour of their hands, their labour (agriculture, cattle-keeping, etc.) was to a certain extent service rendered to the king. The matter of ver. 1 seems extraneous to the contents of our book, which has hitherto communicated only such information concerning Ahashverosh as was necessary for the complete understanding of the feast of Purim. " It seems " — remarks Bertheau — u as though the historian had intended to tell in some further particulars concerning the greatness of King Ahashverosh, for the sake of giving his readers a more accurate notion of the influential position and the agency of Mordochai, the hero of his book, who, according to ix. 4, waxed greater and greater; but then gave up his intention, and contented himself with referring to the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia, which contained information of both the power and might of Ahashverosh and the greatness of Mordochai." There is not, however, the slightest probability in such a conjecture. This matter may be simply explained by the circumstance, that the author of this book was using as an authority the book of the chronicles alluded to in ver. 2, and is quite analogous with the mode observed in the books of Kings and Chronicles by historians both of Babylonian and post-Babylonian days, who quote from the documents they make use of such events only as seem to them important with regard to the plan of their own work, and then at the close of each reign refer to the documents themselves, in which more may be found concerning the acts of the kings, at the same time frequently adding supplementary information from these sources, — comp. e.g. 1 Kings xiv. 30, xv. 7, 23, 32, xxii. 47-50, 2 Kings xv. 37, 2 Cliron. xii. 15, — with this difference only, that in these instances the supplementary notices follow the mention of the documents, while in the present book the notice precedes the citation. As, however, this book opened with a description of the power and glory of King Ahashverosh, but yet only mentioned so much concerning this ruler of 127 provinces as was connected with the history of the Jews, its author, before referring to his authorities, gives at its close the information contained in ver. 1, from the book of the chronicles of the kingdom, in which probably it was connected with a particular description of the power and greatness of Ahashverosh, and probably of the wars in which he engaged, for the sake of briefly intimating at the conclusion whence the king derived the means for keeping up the splendour described at the commencement of the book. This book of the chronicles contained accounts not only of the power and might of Ahashverosh, but also a n5TJ?, a plain statement or accurate representation of the greatness of Mordochai wherewith the king had made him great, i.e. to which he had advanced him, and therefore of the honours of the individual to whom the Jews were indebted for their preservation. On this account is it referred to. For Mordochai was next to the king, i.e. prime minister of the king (n.^'P, comp. 2 Chron. xxviii. 7), and great among the Jews and acceptable to the multitude of his brethren, i.e. he was also a great man among the Jews and was beloved and esteemed by all his fellow-countrymen (on ^Sl, comp. Deut. xxiii. 24), seeking the good of his people and speaking' peace to all his race. This description of Mordochai's position with respect both to the king and his own people has, as expressive of an exalted frame of mind, a rhetorical and poetic tinge. Hence it contains such expressions as vritf 2iy the fulness of his brethren, 3iD &VI; comp. Ps. cxxii. 9, Jer. xxxviii. 4. On Dw' "i^n, comp. Ps. Ixxxv. 9, xxxv. 20, xxviii. 3. fan? in parallelism with toy is not the descendants of Mordochai, or his people, but his race. Comp. on this signification of JHT, 2 Kings xi. 1, Isa. lxi. 9. The meaning of the two last phrases is: Mordochai procured both by word and deed the good and prosperity of his people. And this is the way in which honour and fortune are attained, the wray inculcated by the author of the 34th Psalm in vers. 13-15, when teaching the fear of the Lord.