Esther
presenting features which lead to an opposite conclusion. In the answer which Mordochai sends to Esther's objection to appear before the king unbidden, " If thou boldest thy peace, there shall arise help and deliverance for the Jews from another place," is expressed the assured belief that God would not leave the Jews to perish. To this must be added, both that the Jews express their deep sorrow at the edict of Haman by fasting and lamentation (iv. 1-3), and that Queen Esther not only prepares for her difficult task of appearing before the king by fasting herself, but also begs to be assisted by the fasting of all the Jews in Susa (iv. 16). Now fasting was a penitential exercise, and the only form of common worship practised by Jews dwelling among Gentiles; and this penitential exercise was always combined with prayer even among the heathen (comp. Jon. iii. 5 sq.), though prayer and calling upon God might not be expressly mentioned. Finally, the occasion of this conflict betwreen Jews and Gentiles was a religious one, viz. the refusal of adoration to a man, from fear of transgressing the first commandment. All these things considered, we may with Stahelin appropriate what Lutz in his bibl. Hermeneutik, p. 386, says concerning this book: " A careful survey will
suffice to show, that the religious principle predominates in the book of Esther, and that there is a religious foundation to the view taken of the occurrence. For it is represented as providential, as an occurrence in which, although the name of God is unmentioned, a higher Power, a Power on the side of Israel, prevails. Even in single features a closer inspection will plainly recognise a religious tone of feeling, while the whole book is pervaded by religious moral earnestness." It
is this religious foundation which has obtained and secured its position in the canon of the inspired books of the O. T. The book is a memorial of the preservation of the Jewish people, during their subjection to a universal empire, by means of a special and providential disposition of secular events, and forms in this respect a supplement to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which relate the restoration of the Jewish community to the land of their fathers.
On the additions to the book of Esther in the Alexandrinian version, which Luther, after the example of Jerome, excluded from the book and relegated to the Apocrypha under the title of Stilche in Esther, comp. my Lehrb. der Einleitung, § 237, and O. F. Yrltzsche s kurzgef. exeget. Hdb. zu den Apohryphen des N. T. p. 68 sq.
HASHVEROSH, king of Persia, gave, in the third year of his reign, a banquet to the grandees of his kingdom then assembled in Susa, for the purpose of showing them the greatness and glory of his kingdom; while the queen at the same time made a feast for the women in the royal palace (vers. 1-9). On the seventh day of the feast, the king, " when his heart was merry with wine," sent a message by his chief courtiers to the queen, commanding her to appear before him, to show the people and the princes her beauty, and on her refusal to come, was greatly incensed against her (vers. 10-12). Upon inquiring of his astrologers and princes what ought in justice to be done to the queen on account of this disobedience, they advised him to divorce Vashti by an irrevocable decree, and to give her dignity to another and better; also to publish this decree throughout the whole kingdom (vers. 13-20). This advice pleasing the king, it was acted upon accordingly (vers. 21 and 22).
Vers. 1-8. The banquet. Vers. 1-3 mark a period. nntrp n;^y? which belongs to Wj does not follow till ver. 3, and even then the statement concerning the feast is again interrupted by a long parenthesis, and not taken up again and completed till ver. 5. On the use of WJ in historical narratives at the beginning of relations having, as in the present instance and Ruth i. 1, no reference to a preceding narrative, see the remark on Josh. i. 1. Even when no express reference to any preceding occurrence takes place, the historian still puts what he has to relate in connection with other historical occurrences by an u and it came to pass." Ahashverosh is, as has already been remarked on Ezra iv. (p. 73), Xerxes, the son of Darius Hystaspis. Not only does the name ^Tl^N point to the Old-Persian name Ks'ayar/a (with X prosthetic), but the statements also concerning the extent of the kingdom (chap. i. 1, x. 1), the manners and customs of the country and court, the capricious and tyrannical character of Ahashverosh, and the historical allusions are suitable only and completely to Xerxes, so that, after the discussions of Justi in Eichhorn's Repert. xv. pp. 3- 38, and Baumgarten, de fide, etc., pp. 122—151, no further doubt on the subject can exist. As an historical background to the occurrences to be delineated, the wide extent of the kingdom ruled by the monarch just named is next described: " He is that Ahashverosh who reiened from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces." njHP... V^f is not an accusative dependent on vP, he ruled 127 provinces, for:fej, to reign, is construed with?V or 3, but is annexed in the form of a free apposition to the statement: " from India to Cush;" as also in chap. viii. 9. vnn is in the Old-Persian cuneiform inscriptions, Hidhu; in Zend, Hendu; in Sanscrit, Sindhu, i.e. dwellers on the Indus, for Sindhu means in Sanscrit the river Indus; comp. Rcediger in Gesenius, Thes. Append, p. 83, and Lassen, Indische Alterthumsk. i. p. 2. K^3 is Ethiopia. This was the extent of the Persian empire under Xerxes. Mardonius in Herod, vii. 9 names not only the Sakers and Assyrians, but also the Indians and Ethiopians as nations subject to Xerxes. Comp. also Herod, vii. 97, 98, and viii. (55, 69, where the Ethiopians and Indians are reckoned among the races who paid tribute to the Persian king and fought in the army of Xerxes. The 127 AUHD, provinces, are governmental districts, presided over, according to chap. viii. 9, by satraps, pechahs, and rulers. This statement recalls that made in Dan. vi. 2, that Darius the Mede set over his kingdom 120 satraps. We have already shown in our remarks on Dan. vi. 2 that this form of administration is not in opposition to the statement of Herod, iii. 89 sq., that Darius Hystaspis divided the kingdom for the purpose of taxation into twenty ap-^ai which were called crarpaTrrjtat,. The satrapies into which Darius divided the kingdom generally comprised several provinces. The first satrapy, e.g., included Mysia and Lydia, together with the southern part of Phrvgia; the fourth, Syria and Phoenicia, with the island of Cyprus. The Jewish historians, on the other hand, designate a small portion of this fourth satrapy, viz. the region occupied by the Jewish community (Judah and Benjamin, with their chief city Jerusalem), as ""^IP, Ezra ii. 1, Neh. i. 3, vii. 6, xi. 3. Consequently the satrapies of Darius mentioned in Herodotus differ from the medinoth of Dan. vi. 2, and Esth. i. 1, viii. 9. The 127 medinoth are a division of the kingdom into geographical regions, according to the races inhabiting the different provinces; the list of satrapies in Herodotus, on the contrary, is a classification of the nations and provinces subject to the empire, determined by the tribute imposed on them. — Ver. 2. The words: in those days, take up the chronological statement of ver. 1, and add thereto the new particular: when King Ahashverosh sat on the throne of his kingdom in the citadel of Susa. 1"Q^ does not involve the notion of quiet and peaceable possession after the termination of wars (Clericus, Rambach), but that of being seated on the throne with royal authority. Thus the Persian kings are always represented upon a raised seat or throne, even on journeys and in battle. According to Herod, vii. 102, Xerxes watched the battle of Thermopylae sitting upon his throne. And Plutarch (Themistocl. c. 13) says the same of the battle of Salamis. Further examples are given by Baumg. I.e. p. 85 sq. On the citadel of Susa, see Neh. i. 1, and remarks on Dan. viii. 2. — Ver. 3. a In the third year of his reign he made a feast to all his princes and his servants, when the forces of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, were before him." nr\vn nby^ to make, to prepare, i.e. to give, a feast; comp. Gen. xxi. 8. The princes and the servants are, all who were assembled about him in
Susa. These are specified in the words which follow as 7T\ 'D. We might supply b before 7*t\ from the preceding words, (viz.) the forces, etc.; but this would not suit the VJDp at the end of the verse. For this word shows that an independent circumstantial clause begins with 2*0, which is added to call attention to the great number of princes and servants assembled at Susa (Bertheau): the forces of Persia... were before him: when they were before him. By W} the host, the forces, Bertheau thinks the body-guard of the king, which, according to Herod, vii. 40, consisted of 2000 selected horsemen, 2000 lancers, and 10,000 infantry, is intended. There is, however, no adequate reason for limiting 7ft to the bodyguard. It cannot, indeed, be supposed that the whole militarv power of Persia and Media was with the king at Susa; but 7H without 73 can only ^signify an elite of the army, perhaps the captains and leaders as representing it, just as " the people" is frequently used for " the representatives of the people." The Persians and Medes are always named together as the two kindred races of the ruling nation. See Dan. vi. 9, who, howTever, as writing in the reign of Darius the Mede, places the Medes first and the Persians second, while the contrary order is observed here when the supremacy had been transferred to the Persians by Cyrus. On the form Di3 see rem. on Ezra 1. i. After the mention of the forces, the Partemim, i.e. nobles, magnates (see on Dan. i. 3), and the princes of the provinces are named as the chief personages of the civil government. — Ver. 4. "When he showed the glorious riches of his kingdom and the excellent honour of his greatness many days, one hundred and eighty days." This verse has been understood by most expositors as stating that the king magnificently and splendidly entertained all the grandees mentioned in ver. 3 for a full halfyear, and gave them a banquet which lasted 180 days. Clericus supposes proceedings to have been so arranged, that the proceres omnium provinciarum were not entertained at one and the same time, but alii post alios, because all could not be absent, together per sex?ne?ises a suis provinciis. Bertheau, however, thinks that the historian did not purpose to give an exact and graphic description of the proceeding, but only to excite astonishment, and that they who are astonished will not inquire as to the manner in which all took place. The text, however, does not say, that the feast lasted 180 days, and hence offers no occasion for such a view, which is founded on a mistaken comprehension of ver. 4, which combines 'Ul inanna with!W» nvy 0f ver. 3, while the whole of ver. 4 is but a further amplification of the circumstantial clause: when the forces, etc., were before him; the description of the banquet not following till ver. 5, where, however, it is joined to the concluding words of ver. 4: " when these (180) days were full, the king made a feast to ail the people that were found in the citadel of Susa, from great to small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's house." This verse is thus explained by Bertheau: after the soldiers, nobles, and princes of the district had been entertained for six months, all the male inhabitants of Susa were also entertained in a precinct of the palace garden, the women being feasted by Vashti the queen in the palace (ver. 9). It is, however, obvious, even from ver. 11, which says that on the seventh day of this banquet the king commanded the queen to appear ato show the people and the princes her beautv," that such a view of the occurrence is inadmissible. For this command presupposes, that the people and princes were assembled at the king's banquet; while, according to the view of Bertheau and older expositors, who insist on two banquets, one lasting 180 days, the other seven, the latter was given to the male inhabitants of Susa only. The princes and people of the whole kingdom did not, however, dwell in Susa. These princes and people, to whom the queen was to show her beauty, are undoubtedly the princes and servants of the king, the forces of Persia and Media, and the nobles and princes of the provinces enumerated in ver. 3. With this agrees also the description of the guests invited to the seven days feast. |BW3 D'K¥D3n Dyn"73 does not signify " all the inhabitants of Susa," but all then present, i.e. then assembled in the citadel of Susa. D^fcttOffl used of persons means, those who for some purpose are found or present in any place, in distinction from its usual inhabitants; comp. 1 Chron. xxix. 17, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 32, Ezra viii. 25; and DVn does not here signify people in the sense of population, but people who are met in a certain place, and is used both here and Neh. xii. 38 of an assembly of nobles and princes. (top *i]fl?n3ftA moreover, does not mean old and young, but high and low, the greater and lesser servants (QHZIV) of the king, and informs us that of those assembled at Susa, both princes and servants participated without exception in the banquet. — This view of 3-5 is confirmed by the consideration, that if the seven days banquet were a different one from that mentioned in ver. 3, there could be no reason for naming the latter, which would then be not only entirely unconnected with the narrative, but for which no object at all would be stated; for injonn cannot be translated, as in the Vulgate, by ut cstenderet, because, as Bertheau justly remarks, 2 cannot indicate a purpose. From all these reasons it is obvious, that the feast of which further particulars are given in 5-8 is the same »"JWB which the king, according to ver. 3, gave to his D"nb> and EHny, and that the text, rightly understood, says nothing of two consecutive banquets. The sense of vers. 3-5 is accordingly as follows: King Ahasuerus gave to his nobles and princes, when he had assembled them before him, and showed them the glorious riches of his kingdom and the magnificence of his greatness for 180 days, after these 180 days, to all assembled before him in the fortress of Susa, a banquet which lasted seven days. The connection of the more particular description of this banquet, by means of the words: when these (the previously named 180) days were over, following upon the accessory clause, ver. 4, is anacoluthistic, and the anacoluthon has given rise to the misconception, by which ver. 5 is understood to speak of a second banquet differing from the nWD of ver. 3. The purpose for which the king assembled the grandees of his kingdom around him in Susa for a whole half-year is not stated, because this lias no connection with the special design of the present book. If, however, we compare the statement of Herod, vii. 8, that Xerxes, after the re-subjection of Egypt, summoned the chief men of his kingdom to Susa to take counsel with them concerning the campaign against Greece, it is obvious, that the assembly for 180 days in Susa, of the princes and nobles mentioned in the book of Esther, took place for the purpose of such consultation. When, too, we compare the statement of Herod, vii. 20, that Xerxes was four years preparing for this war, we receive also a corroboration of the particular mentioned in ver. 3, that he assembled his princes and nobles in the third year of his reign. In this view "the riches of his kingdom," etc., mentioned in ver. 4, must not be understood of the splendour and magnificence displayed in the entertainment of his guests, but referred to the greatness and resources of the realm, which Xerxes descanted on to his assembled magnates for the purpose of showing them the possibility of carrying into execution his contemplated campaign against Greece. The banquet given them after the 180 days of consultation, was held in the court of the garden of the royal palace. |rP2 is a later form of IV3, which occurs only here and vii. 7, 8. "fi?n, court, is the space in the park of the royal castle which was prepared for the banquet. The fittings and furniture of this place are described in ver. 6. " White stuff, variegated and purple hangings, fastened with cords of byssus and purple to silver rings and marble pillars; couches of gold and silver upon a pavement of malachite and marble, mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell." The description consists of mere allusions to, or exclamations at, the splendour of the preparations. In the first half of the verse the hangings of the room, in the second, the couches for the guests, are noticed. ■Rfl from *ttn means a white tissue of either linen or cotton. Bertheau supposes that the somewhat larger form of n is intended to denote, even by the size of letter employed, the commencement of the description. DS"G, occurring in Sanscrit, Persian, Armenian, and Arabic, in Greek KapTraaos, means originally cotton, in Greek, according to later authorities, a kind of fine flax, here undoubtedly a cotton texture of various colours. Fran, deep blue, purple. The hangings of the space set apart were of these materials. Blue and white were, according to Curtius vi. 6. 4, the royal colours of the
Persians; comp. M. Duncker, Gesch. des Allertlmms, ii. pp. 891 and 951 of the third edition, in which is described also the royal table, p. 952. The hangings were fastened (ftn«) with cords of white byssus and purple to rings and pillars of white marble, riiisp, couches (divans) of gold and silver, i.e. covered with cloth woven of gold and silver thread, were prepared for the guests at the feast. These couches were placed upon a tesselated, mosaic-like floor; the tesselation being composed of stones of various colours. BH3, in Arabic a mock stone, in LXX. o-fiapayBiTT)?, a spurious emerald, i.e. a green-coloured stone resembling the emerald, probably malachite or serpentine. W is white marble; "H, Arabic j, £ >, pearl, LXX.
ttivvivos \i6os, a pearl-like stone, perhaps mother-of-pearl, rnnb, a kind of dark-coloured stone (from ">np — "ITO, to be dark), black, black marble with shield-like spots (all three words occur only here). — Ver. 7. The entertainment: u And drinks poured into vessels of gold! and vessels differing from vessels, and royal wine in abundance, according to the hand of a king. (Ver. 8) And the drinking was according to law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house to do according to every one's pleasure." fiip^'n, inf. Hiph., to give to drink, to hand drinks, is used substantively. The golden drinking vessels were of various kinds, and each differing in form from another. Great variety in drinking vessels pertained to the luxury of Persians; comp. Xenoph. Cyrop. viii. 8, 18. JTDpD flj is wine from the royal cellar, therefore costly wine. Many interpreters understand it of the Chalybonian wine, which the Persian kings used to drink. See rem. on Ezek. xxvii. 18. "H^L1 T?» according to the hand of the king, i.e. according to royal bounty; comp. 1 Kings x. 13. The words: "the drinking was according to law, none did compel," are generally understood to say, that the king abolished for this banquet, the prevailing custom of pledging his guests. According to Grecian information (see Baumgarten, p. 12 sq.), an exceedingly large quantity of wine was drunk at Persian banquets. This sense of the words is not, however, quite certain. The argument of Baumgarten, Si hie mos vulgaris fuisset in epulis regiis, sine dubio hate omnia non cornmeinorata essent, no more holds good than his further remark: formulam illam D3& px rrj3 non puto adhibitam fuisse, nisi jam altera contraria D3K JVJ3 solemnis esset facta. The historian can have noticed this only because it was different from the Jewish custom. Bertheau also justly remarks: " We are not told in the present passage, that the king, on this occasion, exceptionally permitted moderation, especially to such of his guests as were, according to their ancestral customs, addicted to moderation, and who would else have been compelled to drink immoderately. For the words with which this verse concludes, while they imply also a permission to each to drink as little as he chose, are specially intended to allow every one to take much. JV *1B*j to appoint concerning, i.e. to enjoin, com p. 1 Chron. ix. 22. JVn 3"i; those over the house, i.e. the court officials.
Vers. 9-12. Vashti the queen also gave a banquet to the women in the royal house (palace) which belonged to King Ahashverosh, probably in the royal apartments of the palace, which were placed at her disposal for this great feast to be given to the women. The name Vashti may be compared means a beautiful woman. This statement serves as an introduction to the scene which follows. Vers. 10 and 11. On the seventh, i.e. the last day of the banquet, when the king's heart was merry with wine, he commanded his seven chamberlains to bring Vashti the queen before him, with the royal crown, to show her beauty to the people and princes. '\y\ lb 3iBZ>, when the heart of the king was merry through wine, i.e. when the wine had made him merry, comp. 2 Sam. xiii. 28, Jud. xvi. 25. It was the office of the seven eunuchs who served before the king (V.t1"^ n?.^P like 1 Sam. ii. 18) to be the means of communication between him and the women, and to deliver to them messages on the part of the monarch. Their number, seven, was connected with that of the Amshaspands; see rem. on ver. 14. The attempts made to explain tlieir several names are without adequate foundation; nor would much be gained thereby, the names being of no significance with respect to the matter in question. In the LXX. the names vary to some extent. The queen was to appear with the crown on her head (""^p, Ki&apis or /arapt?, a high turban terminating in a point), and, as is self-evident, otherwise royally apparelled. The queen was accustomed on ordinary occasions to take her meals at the king's table; com p. Herod, ix. 110. There is, however, an absence of historical proof, that she was present at great banquets. The notice quoted from Lucian in Brissonius, de regio Pers. princ. i. c. 103, is not sufficient for the purpose. — Ver. 12. The queen refused to appear at the king's command as delivered by the eunuchs, because she did not choose to stake her dignity as a queen and a wife before his inebriated guests. The audacity of Persians in such a condition is evident from the history related Herod, v. 18.
Vers. 13-15. The king, greatly incensed at this disobedience to his behest, inquired of his wise men what was to be done to Queen Vashti according to law. These wise men are ver. 13 designated as those " who knew the times," i.e. astrologers and magi, who give counsel according to celestial phenomena; comp. the wise men of Babylon, Dan. ii. 27, v. 15; Isa. xliv. 25, xlvii. 13; Jer. 1. 35. Of these he inquires, "for thus was the business of the king conducted before all that knew law and judgment." "Q"n here does not signify word or speech, but matter, business; and the meaning of this parenthetical sentence is, that in every matter, the king, before deciding, applied to those who were skilled in law and judgment to hear their opinions concerning it. With this is joined a second explanatory parenthetical sentence, ver. 14: " And those next him were Carshena, etc., the seven princes of the Persians and Medes, who behold the king's countenance, who hold the first seat in his kingdom." V?K ^lijn is indefinite, and may be understood as expressing the plural. It is perhaps questionable how this clause should be combined with what precedes, whether with H] JW TV"^1, before all that knew law and judgment and those next him, or with D^pOnb, ver. 13: he spoke to the wise men... and those next him. In any case the sense is, that the seven princes of the Persians and Medes were also numbered either among the wise men who knew the times, or those who were skilled in the law. These seven princes are the seven king's counsellors of Ezra vii. 14, and by their number of seven form a counterpart to the seven Amshaspands. They who see the face of the king, i.e. are allowed direct intercourse with him. Herod, iii. 84 relates of the seven princes who conspired the overthrow of the pretended Smerdis, that they resolved, that it should be permitted them to present themselves unannounced before the future king. Hence many expositors identify these seven princes with the authorities called the seven counsellors, but without sufficient grounds. The number seven frequently recurs, — comp. the seven eunuchs, ver. 5, the seven maidens who wraited on Esther, ii. 9, — and refers in the present case to the seven Amshaspands, in others to the days of the week, or the seven planets. nyptCI ER3K*n, who sit first, ie. in the highest place, i.e. constitute the highest authority in the realm. What the king said (ver. 13) does not follow till ver. 15: u According to law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not done the word of the king," i.e. not obeyed his command by the eunuchs? n*]3, according to law, legally, is placed first because it is intended emphatically to assert that the proceeding is to be in conformity with the law. nry with 3, to inflict something on any one.
Vers. 16-20. The counsel of the wise men. Ver. 16. Memucan, who was the last mentioned in ver. 14, comes forward as spokesman for the rest, and declares before the king and the princes, i.e. in a solemn assembly, and evidently as the result of a previous joint consultation: Vashti the queen has not done wrong to the king alone, but also to all the princes and all the people, because the example of the queen will lead all the Median and Persian wives to despise their husbands. Therefore an irrevocable edict is to be published decreeing the divorce of Queen Vashti, and this law published throughout the whole realm, that all wives may show honour to their husbands. Vashti has not transgressed against the king alone (ver. 16), but against all the princes and people in all the provinces of King Ahashverosh (ver. 16.) In what respect, then, is the latter assertion true! We are told vers. 17 and 18. "For the deed of the queen will come abroad to {/V for?K) all women, to bring their husbands into contempt in their eyes (the injin. ninn? stating the result), while they will say," etc. (the suffix of B"JP^2 relates to the women, who will appeal to the disobedience of the queen). Ver. 18. " And this day {i.e. already) the princesses of the Persians and Medians, who hear of the act of the queen ("W, not the word, but the thing, i.e. her rejection of her husband's command), will tell it to all the princes of the king, and (there will be) enough contempt and provocation. *)>*£ is an outburst of anger; here, therefore, a provocation to wrath. Bertheau makes the words 'pi '13 *£fl the object of fiJTDKfi, which, after the long parenthesis, is united to the copula by \ and for, " to speak contempt and wrath," reads: to speak contemptuously in wrath. But this change cannot be substantiated. The expression, to speak wrath, is indeed unexampled, but that is no reason for making *]¥£ stand for *1>*P^, the very adoption of such an ellipsis showing, that this explanation is inadmissible. The words must be taken alone, as an independent clause, which may be readily completed by n\T: and contempt and wrath will be according to abundance. *"13 is a litotes for: more than enough. The object of rDTOKH must be supplied from the context: it — that is, what the queen said to her husband. In the former verse Memucan was speaking of all women; here (ver. 18) he speaks only of the princesses of the Persians and Medes, because these are staying in the neighbourhood of the court, and will immediately hear of the matter, and "after the manner of the court ladies and associates of a queen will quickly follow, and appeal to her example" (Berth.). — Ver. 19. After this argument on the queen's conduct, follows the proposal: "If it please the king (>V 3itD like Neh. ii. 5), let there go from him a word of the kingdom (i.e. a royal edict), and let it be written (entered) in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, and not pass away, that Vashti come no more before King Ahashverosh; and let the king give her queenship (her royal rank) to another who is better than she." An edict issued by the king, entered among the laws of the Persians and Medes, and sealed with the rcyal signet (viii. 8), does not pass away, i.e. remains in force, is irrevocable (comp. Dan. vi. 9). The counsellors press for the issue of such an edict, for the purpose of making it impossible to the king to take Vashti again into favour, lest they should experience her vengeance on the restoration of her influence. rimyi, her companion, is any other woman, Vashti being here regarded merely as a woman, niitsn includes both beauty and good behaviour (Berth.). By this means, add the counsellors in ver. 20, all the ill effects of Vashti's contumacy will be obviated. " And when the king's decree, which he shall make, is heard in his whole kingdom, for it is great, all wives shall give honour to their husbands, from great to small." D2rts> is according to the Keri to be pointed as the constructive state, D3ns. The expression njyy DsrjQ is explained by the circumstance, that DJD2 signifies not only edict, decree, but also thing (see on Dan. iii. 16): to do a thing. In the present verse also it might be so understood: when the thing is heard which the king will do in his whole kingdom. The parenthetical clause, for it is great, is intended to flatter the king's vanity, and induce an inclination to agree to the proposal. " From great to small " signifies high and low, old and young. Vers. 21 and 22. The saying pleased the king and the princes, and the king carried it into execution. He sent letters into all his provinces to make known his commands, and to let all husbands know, that they were to bear rule in their own houses. " In every province according to its writing, and to every people according to their speech" (comp. viii. 9), that his will might be clearly understood by all the subjects of his wide domain, who spoke different languages and used diiferent alphabetical characters. The contents of these letters follow in 'til nvnp? that every man should be master in his own house. These words state only the chief matter and object of the edict; but they presuppose that the fact which gave rise to the decree, viz. the refusal of Vashti, and her consequent deposition, were also mentioned. The last words: " and that he shall speak according to the language of his people," are obscure. Older expositors understand them to mean, that everv man was to speak only his native language in his house, so that in case he had a foreign wife, or several who spoke other languages, they might be obliged to learn his language, and to use that alone. Bertheau, on the other hand, objects that such a sense is but imported into the words, and in no wise harmonizes with the context. Both these assertions are, however, unfounded. In the words, the man shall speak according to the language of his people, i.e. he shall speak his native tongue in his house, it is implied that no other language was to be used in the house, and the application of this law to foreign wives is obvious from the context. The rule of the husband in the house was to be shown by the fact, that only the native tonrme of the head of the house was to be used in the family. Thus in a Jewish family the Ashdodite or any other language of the wife's native land could not have been used, as we find to have been the case in Judaea (Neh. xiii. 23). All other explanations are untenable, as has been already shown by Baumgarten, p. 20; and the conjecture set up after Hitzig by Bertheau, that instead of iBV jH5?3 we should read toy nifen'Sj every one shall speak what becomes him, gives not only a trivial, and not at all an appropriate thought, but is refuted even by the fact that not DV nl^5 hut only p HW (comp. iii.8) could bear the meaning: to be becoming to any one. Such a command may, indeed, appear strange to us; but the additional particular, that every man was to speak his native tongue, and to have it alone spoken, in his own house, is not so strange as the fact itself that an edict should be issued commanding that the husband should be master in the house, especially in the East, where the wife is so accustomed to regard the husband as lord and master. Xerxes was, however, the author of many strange facts besides this.
CTTAP. II. — ELEVATION OF ESTHER TO THE THRONE. SERVICE RENDERED BY MORDOCHAI TO THE KING.
When the wrath of King Ahashverosh was appeased, and he remembered his harsh treatment of Vashti, his courtiers proposed that he should send to fetch fair young virgins from all parts of his realm to the house of the women in Susa, that he might choose a new queen from among them. This proposal pleasing the king, was acted upon (vers. 1-4). In the fortress of Susa, however, there dwelt one of the Jews who had been carried into captivity from Jerusalem, and whose name was Mordochai. This man had brought up Esther, his uncle's daughter, as his own child (vers. 5—7). When, then, in pursuance with the king's commands, many maidens were gathered together in Susa, Esther also was brought into the king's house, and found favour with the keeper of the women while, according to order, she was going through a course of purification and anointing (vers. 8—14). When her turn came to be brought before the king, she found favour in his sight above all the other maidens, and was chosen by him to be queen in the place of Vashti. By Mordochai's command, however, she disclosed her race and lineage to no one (vers. 15-20). At the same time two courtiers conspired against the life of the sovereign. Their conspiracy being discovered by Mordochai, was by him revealed to Esther, who gave information of it to the king, whereupon the matter was investigated, and found to have been correctly stated. The offenders were punished, and the event duly registered in the chronicles of the kingdom.
Vers. 1-4. When, after these things, the wrath of King Ahashverosh was laid (7]b>, from 1J3B*j to be sunk, spoken of wrath to be laid), he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what was decreed against her p]3, to determine, to decree irrevocably; comp. rnT3, Dan. iv. 14); a desire for reunion with her evidently making itself felt, accompanied perhaps by the thought that she might have been too harshly treated. To prevent, then, a return of affection for his rejected wife ensuing, — a circumstance which might greatly endanger all who had concurred in effecting her repudiation,— the servants of the king, i.e. the court officials who were about him, said: " Let there be young maidens, virgins fair to look on, sought for the king." irana, virgins, is added to J"iiiVi, the latter word signifying merely young women of marriageable age. Ver. 3. "And let the king appoint (10W is the continuation of <Pj33*) officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together every virgin who is fair to look on to the citadel of Susa, to the house of the women, unto the hand of Hega the king's eunuch, the keeper of the women, and let them appoint their things for purification; and let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti." To the hand of Hega, i.e. to his care and superintendence, under which, as appears from ver. 12, every maiden received into the house of the women had to pass a year before she was brought before the king. Hega (called Hegai, vers. 8 and 15) was an eunuch, the keeper of the women, i.e. superintendent of the royal harem, fini) is the infin. abs., used instead of the verb. fin. to give prominence to the matter: let them appoint. D^lDn, from p]D, to rub, to polish, signifies purification and adornment with all kind of precious ointments; comp. ver. 12. This speech pleased the king, and he acted accordingly.
Vers.\5-7. Before relating how this matter was carried into execution, the historian introduces us to the two persons who play the chief parts in the following narrative. Ver. 5. There was (dwelt) in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the name of Mordochai (^P?, in more correct editions ^TUD), the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite {??& ^^ like 1 Sam. ix. 1). Jair, Shimei, and Kish can hardly mean the father, grandfather, and greatgrandfather of Mordochai. On the contrary, if Jair were perhaps his father, Shimei and Kish may have been the names of renowned ancestors. Shimei was probably the son of Gera, well known to us from the history of David, 2 Sam. xvi. 5 sq. and 1 Kings ii. 8, 36 sq., and Kisli the father of Saul, 1 Chron. viii. 33, 1 Sam. ix. 1; for in genealogical series only a few noted names are generally givcm; comp., e.g., 1 Chron. ix. 19, vi. 24 sq. Upon the ground of this explanation, Josephus (Ant. xi. 6) makes Esther of royal descent, viz. of the line of Saul, king of Israel; and the Targum regards Shimei as the Benjaniite who cursed David. The name Mordochai occurs in Ezra ii. 2 and Neh. vii. 7 as that of some other individual anions those who returned from captivity with Zerubbabel, but can hardly be connected with the Persian.X^*, little man.
Aben Ezra, Lightfoot, and others, indeed, are of opinion that the Mordochai of the present book really came up with Zerubbabel, but subsequently returned to Babylon. Identity of name is not, however, a sufficient proof of identity of person. The chronological statement, ver. 6: who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah, king of Judah, etc., offers some difficulty. For from the captivity of Jeconiah in the year 599 to the beginning of the reign of Xerxes (in the year 486) is a period of 113 years; hence, if the "1KW is referred to Mordochai, he would, even if carried into captivity as a child by then, have reached the age of from 120 to 130 years, and as Esther was not made queen till the seventh year of Xerxes (ii. 16), would have become prime minister of that monarch at about the age of 125. Rambach, indeed, does not find this age incredible, though we cannot regard it as probable that Mordochai should have become minister at so advanced an age.1 On this account Clericus, Baum£arten, and others refer the relative 1KW to the last name, Kish, and understand that he was carried away with Jeconiah, while his great-grandson Mordochai was born in captivitv. In this case Kish and Shimei must be regarded as the great-grandfather and grandfather of Mordochai. We grant the possibility of this view; nevertheless it is more
1 Baumg. aptly remarks, I.e., p. 125: Etsi concedendum est, mm esse contra naturam, si Mordechaeus ad Mam xtatem pervenerit, et summa hac constitutus senectute gravissimis negotiis per/iciendis par fuerit, tamen est hoc rarissimum et nisi acted 'it cer turn testimonium, difficile ad credeuditm.
in accordance with the Hebrew narrative style to refer ">K;K to the chief person of the sentence preceding it, viz. Mordochai, who also continues to be spoken of in ver. 7. Hence we prefer this reference, without, however, attributing to Mordochai more than 120 years of age. For the relative clause: who had been carried away, need not be so strictly understood as to assert that Mordochai himself was carried away; but the object being to give merely his origin and lineage, and not his history, it involves only the notion that he belonged to those Jews who were carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar with Jeconiah, so that he, though born in captivity, was carried to Babylon in the persons of his forefathers. This view of the passage corresponds with that formerly presented by the list of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Jacob who went down with him to Egypt; see the explanation of the passage in question.1 Ver. 7. Mordochai was fEK, keeper, bringer up, i.e. fosterfather, to Hadassah (|EK constructed as a participle with tWf). ncnn means a myrtle (tnn in the Shemitish), like the Greek name Mvpria, Mvppivr). " That is Esther," the queen known by the name of Esther. The name "ifipN is the Old-Persian stara with N prosthetic, and corresponds with the Greek acnrjp) star, in modern Persian sitareh. She was V*% Ji3, daughter of his father's brother, and adopted by Mordochai after the death of her parents; we are told, moreover, that she had a fine figure and beautiful countenance. Her father, whose name, according to ver. 15, was Abihail, was uncle to Mordochai, and hence Esther was his cousin.
Vers. 8—11. When, then, the king's commandment and decree was heard, i.e. proclaimed throughout the kingdom, and many maidens gathered together in Susa, Esther also
1 Baumgarten also considers this view admissible, rightly remarking, p. 127: Scriptoribus sacris admodam familiare est singulos homines non ]>er se et sepositos spectare, sed familias et gentes ut corpora quasi individua complecti, ita ut posteri majorum personis quasi contenti et inclusi, majores vero inposteris ipsi subsistere et vivere existimentur. Ex hac ratione Mordechseus captus esse did potest, quamvis ipse satis diu post Jechonix tempora ex iis} qui a Nebucadnezaro abducti sunt, natusfuerit.
was received into the royal harem, under the keeping of Hegai. The maiden pleased him and won his favour (K^3 ion, to bear away love, i.e. to obtain favour, synonymous with |n N^J, ver. 15 and chap. v. 2). 'U1 'D?53 and he hastened to give her her ointments for purification, and the seven maidens appointed to her from the king's house. The infinitives nj nrp are, according to the Aramaean idiom, placed after their objects and dependent on /H?!- On tfpnDfl, see on ver. 3. A^o, portions, are here portions of food, as in chap. ix. 19, 22, and 1 Sam. i. 4. The seven maidens (ni"W3n with the article) are the maids appointed to wait upon a young virgin selected for the king. The participle flisN"!: chosen for a particular purpose, — in the Talmud and rabbinical Hebrew *ttTJ, dignus, decens, conveniens, — occurs only here. J|?^ he changed her and her maids into the best of the house of the women, i.e. he took them out of the ordinary rooms and placed them in the best apartments, probably in the state-rooms, where those who were accustomed to be brought to the king used to dwell. — Ver. 10 contains a supplementary remark. This kind and respectful treatment was shown to Esther, because, in obedience to Mordochai's command, she had not shown her people nor her kindred, i.e. her Jewish extraction; for a Jewish maiden would hardly have experienced such friendly usage. Ver. 11 also contains an additional notice, prefixed here to enable wdiat follows to be rightly understood, and repeated in another connection ver. 19, and on several other occasions: Mordochai walked every day before the court or enclosure of the women's house, to know the welfare (D^) of Esther and what became of her (nzi n^T, properly, what was done to her). Hence Mordochai was in constant communication with Esther. How this communication was effected is not more particularly stated; probably by means of the maids appointed to wait on her. Jewish expositors are of opinion, that Mordochai held high office, and that having consequently free access to the roya( palace, he could easily find the means of communicating with his relative.
Vers. 12-18. Before relating the appearance of Esther before the king, the narrator more particularly describes in vers. 12-14 the preparations for this event, and how Esther behaved with respect to them. — Vers. 12 and 13. "When every maid's turn came (i.e. at every time that any maid's turn came) to go in to King Ahashverosh, after the time when it had been done to her twelve months according to the law of the women — for thus were the days of their puri* fication accomplished: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with balsam and ointments of purification for women — and the maiden came to the king, all that she desired was given her to go with her out of the women's house unto the king's house." "lin, turn in succession, used only here and ver. 15. The turn to go in unto the king olid not come to any maid until '131 nrn)*$D, at the end of the time when it had been done to her according to the law.... This time lasted twelve months after her reception into the house of the women; and the law of the women, according to which it was done to her, was, that she should be purified for six months with oil of myrrh, and as long with EM?p3, sweet odours and other ointments. nN3 rnsan TO* (ver. 13) forms the continuation of the antecedent clause commencing with JP3H3, or, to speak more correctly, of a second antecedent with which the conclusion "lK'K'Pa n^ is connected. Some expositors understand HT3, with the LXX., of the time: Mo sc. tempore; others of the condition: hoc modo ornata or ea lege (Cler.), and therefore as parallel in meaning with the J3 of chap. iv. 16. Either view is admissible and suits the sense, but the latter is more in harmony with the parallel passage chap. iv. 16, and therefore preferable. All that was to be given her, can only relate to ornaments and jewels, which were to be given that each might appear before the king adorned and dressed after her own taste. — Ver. 14. In the evening she went (to the king), and on the morrow she returned to the women's house, a second (time) to the hand (under the keeping of) Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, who kept the concubines; she came no more to the king, except the king delighted in her and she were called by name, i.e, specially. HM? instead of ^:c'? like Neb. iii. 30. —
Ver. 15. When Esther's turn came to go in unto the king, she required nothing (to take with her, see ver. 13) but what Hegai the king's chamberlain appointed (hence was not concerned to please the king by special adornment), and she obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her, namely, by her modesty and humility. On |n K6W,see remarks on ver. 9. — Ver. 16. She was taken into the king's house (JTDpd FP3 instead of sjPBH JT3, the palace of the kingdom, the royal residence) in the tenth month, i.e. the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. — Ver. 17. And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; and he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. The meaning evidently is, that the king, immediately after their first meeting, bestowed his affections upon Esther in preference to all the women and maidens, and chose her queen. — Ver. 18. To celebrate Esther's elevation to the crown, the king made a great feast, called Esther's feast, to all his princes and servants, and granted release to the provinces. The verbale Hiph. nmn is translated in the LXX. afecns, Vulg. requies, and understood either of a remission of taxes or a remission of labour, a holiday. Although the Chald. understands it of a remission of taxes, yet the use of the verb nw rather favours the latter meaning, viz. the appointment of a holiday, on which there would be a resting from labour. Finally, he gave gifts with royal munificence ns^Dlike Amos v. 11, Jer. xl. 5; tfean T| like chap. i. 7.— It seems strange that a period of four years should intervene between the repudiation of Vashti in the third year of Ahashverosh and the elevation of Esther in the seventh, an interval whose length cannot be adequately accounted for by the statements of the present book. Only a few days could have elapsed between the disgrace of Vashti and the time when the king remembered her; for this took place, we are told, when the king's wrath was appeased. The proposal to collect virgins from all parts of his kingdom to Susa was then immediately made. Now, if the carrying out of this proposal took half a year, and the preparation of the virgins by anointing, etc., lasted a year, Esther, even if her turn to go in unto the king had not come for six months, might have been made queen two years after the repudiation of Vashti. As she obtained the favour of Hegai immediately upon her reception into the women's house, so that he hastened her purifications (ver. 9), she would not be brought before the king among the last, but -would rather be one of the first to go in. The long interval which elapsed between the repudiation of Vashti and the elevation of Esther, can only be satisfactorily explained by the history of the reign of Xerxes; in fact, by the circumstance that his campaign against Greece took place during this time.
Vers. 19-23 relate the intervention of an incident of great importance in the subsequent development of the narrative. When virgins were for the second time gathered together, two courtiers were incensed with the king, and sought to lay hands upon him. This thing was known to Mordochai, who sat in the gate of the palace and kept up a constant communication with Esther even after she became queen, and by him communicated to her, that she might bring it to the knowledge of the king. The matter being investigated and found to have been truly reported, the offenders were punished, and an entry of the particulars made in the chronicles of the kingdom. The words " when virgins were assembled for the second time," which serve to define the time when the conspiracy of the two courtiers took place, as is obvious from the circumstance that E\}n D^o;2, ver. 21, refers to 'nn J^na, ver. 19, are obscure. The obscurity lies in the fact that no reason for assembling virgins can be perceived, after the choice of Ahashverosh had fallen upon Esther. The sentence nw rriS>in3 paijrD* unmistakeably corresponds with ni"ip K?i?!?^ °f ver« 8. This was already rightly perceived by Grotius, who, however, wrongly infers: est irravoSos (retrogressio)y referendum enim hoc ad ilia quce supra, ii. 2. This is, however, not only incompatible with BftB?, but also with the circumstance that, according to the correct understanding of the sentences in vers. 21 and 22, Esther was then already queen, and Mordochai was sitting in the gate of the king's palace, and thence keeping up communication with her; while as long as Esther was in the women's house preparing for her interview with the king, under the guardianship of Hegai, he walked day by day before the court of the women's house (ver. 11). Still less admissible is the view of Drusius, received by Bertheau, that the gathering of the virgins for the second time is to be understood from the circumstance, that after going in to the king, they had to go into the second house of the women, under the stricter guardianship of Shaashgaz (ver. 14). For, being no longer nv*TI3, but D^tW^S (ver. 14), their reception into the house of the concubines could not be called a second gathering together, since as virgins they were formerly in a different house. The only explanation of the JV38P left us is the view, that even after the choice of Esther to be queen, a second gathering together of virgins actually took place; for this, as C. a Lapide remarks, is what the words undoubtedly declare. The matter itself was in accordance with the prevailing custom of polygamy, which kings carried to such an extent, that, as C a Lapide points out, Solomon, e.g., had 700 wives and 300 concubines, i.e. secondarias uxores. From WfO*, ver. 19, onwards, explanatory circumstantial clauses follow: "Then Mordochai sat in the king's gate " introduces the parenthetical sentence, " Esther had not yet showed her kindred and her people (comp. ver. 10), as Mordochai had charged her; for Esther did the commandment of Mordochai as when she was under his care;" i.e. Esther obeyed, after her elevation to be queen, the command of Mordochai not to make her Jewish descent known, as she had formerly done while she was yet his foster-daughter. njBKj care, education, is a substantive derived from |DK. — Ver. 21. The definition of time in ver. 19 is again taken up by the words: in those days; then the explanatory clause, ver. 20, is repeated; and after this we are informed what it was that had then occurred. In those days Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's courtiers, who were the threshold-keepers (palace-watchers, LXX. dpyLacofiaTocpuXatces), were wroth, and sought to lay hands on Kin or Ahashverosh, i.e. to slay him. Ver. 22. This thing wa.i known to Mordocliai, and by him communicated to Esther, who told it, in Mordochai' s name, to the king. Ver. 23. The matter was investigated (sc. by the king), and found out, sc. as Mordochai had testified. The two criminals were hanged on a tree, i.e. impaled on a stake, a sort of crucifixion, — see rem. on chap. vi. 11, — and the circumstance entered in the book of the chronicles, i.e. the chronicles of the kingdom. TjpDH \3Spj before the king, i.e. in his presence, immediately after sentence had been passed by a court over which the monarch presided.
King Ahashverosh promoted Ham an the Agagite above all the princes about him, and commanded all his servants to fall down before him. This mark of reverence was refused by Mordochai the Jew from religious scruples. When intelligence of this was broufidit to Haman, he sought to obtain the extermination of the Jews throughout the kingdom (1-6). The twelfth month was appointed by the casting of lots for this purpose; and Haman, by exciting the suspicion of the kinf against the Jews as an exclusive and law-opposing people, obtained from him an edict to this effect (7-11), and sent it, by letters sealed with the king's seal, by the hand of messengers into all the provinces of the kingdom in the first month, that they might be ready to carry it into execution in the twelfth month; whereat the city of Susa was much perplexed (12-15).
Vers. 1-6. The elevation of Haman above all the princes of the kingdom is said in a general manner to have taken place " after these things," i.e. after the matters related in chap. ii. 75J, to make great, to make any one a great man; Nfett, elevated, is more precisely defined by the sentence following: he set his seat above all the princes that were with him, i.e. above the seat of all the princes about the king; in fact, advanced him to the highest post, made him his grand vizier. Haman is called the son of Hammedatha ^J^n, the Agagite, or of the Agagites. "^X recalls JJN king of the Amalekites, conquered and taken prisoner by Saul, and hewn In pieces by Samuel, 1 Sam. xv. 8, 33. Hence Jewish and Christian expositors regard Haman as a descendant of the Amalekite king. This is certainly possible, though it can by no means be proved. The name Agag is not sufficient for the purpose, as many individuals might at different times have borne the name JJN, i.e. the fiery. In 1 Sam. xv., too, Agag is not the nomen propr. of the conquered king, but a general nomen dignitatis of the kings of Amalek, as Pharaoh and Abimelech were of the kings of Egypt and Gerar. See on Num. xxiv. 7. We know nothing of Haman and his father beyond what is said in this book, and all attempts to explain the names are uncertain and beside the mark. — Ver. 2. All the king's servants that were in the gate of the king, i.e. all the court officials, were to kneel before Haman and bow themselves to the earth. So had the king commanded concerning him. This mark of reverence was refused byMordochai. — Vers. 3 and 4. When the other officials of the court asked him from day to day, why he transgressed the king's commandment, and he hearkened not unto them, i.e. gave no heed to their words, they told it to Haman, u to see whether Mordochai's words would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew." It is obvious from this, that Mordochai had declared to those who asked him the reason why he did not fall down before Haman, that he could not do so because he was a Jew, — that as a Jew he could not show that honour to man which was due to God alone. Now the custom of falling down to the earth before an exalted personage, and especially before a king, was customary among Israelites; comp. 2 Sam. xiv. 4, xviii. 28, 1 Kings i. 16. If, then, Mordochai refused to pay this honour to Haman, the reason of such refusal must be sought in the notions which the Persians were wont to combine with the action, i.e. in the circumstance that they regarded it as an act of homage performed to a king as a divine being, an incarnation of Oromasdes. This is testified by classical writers; comp. Plutarch, Themist. 27; Curtius, viii. 5. 5 sq., where the latter informs us that Alexander the Great imitated this custom on his march to India, and remarks, § 11:
Persas quidem non pie solum, sed etiam prudenter reges suos inter Deos colere; majestatem enim imperii salutis esse tutelam. Hence also the Spartans refused, as Herod, vii. 136 relates, to fall down before King Xerxes, because it was not the custom of Greeks to honour mortals after this fashion. This homage, then, which was regarded as an act of reverence and worship to a god, was by the command of the king to be paid to Haman, as his representative, by the office-bearers of his court; and this Mordochai could not do without a denial of his religious faith. — Ver. 5. When, then, Haman, whose attention had been called to the fact, saw, when next he went in unto the king, that Mordochai did not fall down before him, he was full of wrath, and (ver. 6) thought scorn, i.e. in his pride esteemed it too contemptible, to lay hands on Mordochai alone, i.e. to execute him alone, for this opposition to the royal commands; for they had showed him the people of Mordochai, i.e. had told him that as a Jew Mordochai had refused this act of worship, and that the whole Jewish nation thought and acted accordingly. Therefore he sought to destrov all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahashverosh, the people of Mordochai. The subject Haman is repeated before B^?^ for the sake of clearness, because it was not expressly named with 12\ W"}B Dy is in apposition to DHtfWrts: all the Jews as the people of Mordochai, because they were the people of Mordochai and shared his sentiments.
Vers. 7-11. To ensure the success of this great undertaking, viz. the extermination of all the Jews in the kingdom, Haman had recourse to the lot, that he might thus fix on a propitious day for the execution of his project. Astrology plays an important part among all ancient nations, nothing of any magnitude being undertaken without first consulting its professors concerning a favourable time and opportunity; comp. rem. on Ezek. xxi. 26. — Ver. 7. "In the first month, i.e. Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahashverosh, they cast Pur, i.e. the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to the twelfth month, i.e. the month Adar." The subject of ^sn is left indefinite, because it is self-evident that this was done by some astrologer or magician who was versed in such matters. Bertheau tries unnaturally to make Haman the subject, and to combine the subsequent |E>? V.^r with Tiian: " Haman cast Pur, i.e. the lot, before Haman," which makes Pur signify: the lot before Haman. jftn \jd? means in the presence of Haman, so that he also might see how the lot fell, "fta is an Old-Persian word meaning
Turco- Arabic and Persian Lexicon, pp. 162 and 229. The words u from day to day, from month to the twelfth month," must not be understood to say, that lots were cast day by day and month by month till the twelfth; but that in the first month lots were at once cast, one after the other, for all the days and months of the year, that a favourable day might be obtained. We do not know the manner in which this was done, "the way of casting lots being unknown to us." The words: from month to the twelfth month, are remarkable; we should expect from month to month till the twelfth month. Bertheau supposes that the words Ttifif DV by fnitfl &g KHni> "CT were omitted after ^nft} through the eye of the transcriber passing on from the first B^n? to the second. The text of the LXX. actually contains such words, and the possibility of such an oversight on the part of a transcriber must certainly be admitted. In the book of Esther, however, the LXX. translation is no critical authority, and it is just as possible that the author of the Hebrew book here expresses himself briefly and indefinitely, because he was now only concerned to state the month determined by lot for the undertaking, and intended to mention the day subsequently. — Ver. 8. Haman having by means of the lot fixed upon a favourable day for the execution of the massacre, betook himself to the king to obtain a royal decree for the purpose. He represented to the monarch: u There is a people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws are different from all other people (i.e. from the laws of all other people), and they keep not the laws of the king, and it is not fitting for the king to leave them alone. Ver. 9. If it seem good to the king, let it be written (i.e. let a written decree be published) to destroy them; and I will weigh ten thousand talents of silver to those who do the business, that they may bring them into the treasuries of the king." This proposal was very subtilly calculated. First Haman casts suspicion on the Jews as a nation scattered abroad and dwelling apart, and therefore unsociable,— as refractory, and therefore dangerous to the state; then he promises the king that their extermination will bring into the royal treasury a very considerable sum of money, viz. the property of the slaughtered. Ten thousand talents of silver, reckoned according to the Mosaic shekel, are £3,750,000, according to the civil shekel £1,875,000; see rem. on 1 Chron. xxii. 14. rOKTBTI tyy those who execute a work, builders in 2 Kings xii. 12, are here and ch. ix. 3 the king's men of business, who carry on the king's business with respect to receipts and disbursements, the royal financiers. — Ver. 10. The king agreed to this proposal. He drew his signet ring from his hand, and delivered it to Haman, that he might prepare the edict in the king's name, and give it by the impression of the royal seal the authority of an irrevocable decree; see rem. on viii. 8. u To the enemy of the Jews" is added emphatically. — Ver. 11. Lest it should appear as though the king had been induced by the prospect held out of obtaining a sum of money, he awards this to Haman. a The silver be given to thee, and the people to do to them (let it be done to them) as seemeth good to thee." QjWJ] precedes absolutely: as for the people of the Jews, etc.
Vers. 12-15. Haman, without delay, causes the necessary writings to be prepared, and sent into all the provinces of the kingdom. Ver. 12. u Then were called the king's scribes in the first month, on the thirteenth day of it (i3, in it, in the said month); and there was written according to all that Haman commanded, to the satraps of the king, and to the governors who (were placed) over every province, and to the rulers of every people, to each several province according to its writing, and to each different people according to their language (comp. rem. on i. 22); in the name of King Ahashverosh was it written, and sealed with the king's seal." D*3B"HKTIK and niriQ placed in juxtaposition, as in Ezra viii. 36, are the imperial officials. Beside these are also named the D^^ of every people, the native princes of the different races. The writing was finished on the thirteenth day of the month, because this day of the month had been fixed upon as propitious by the lot. — Ver. 13. And the letters were sent (nWJj infin. abs. NipJi. instead of the verb, fin.) by posts. D*inn are the post-riders, the aggaroi, who were stationed on the high roads of the realm, generally four parasangs apart, to transmit with the more speed the royal letters and messages. Herod, v. 14, viii. 98 (Berth.), comp. Brisson. de reg. Pers. princ. i. c. 238 sq. 'ui *W?&\}?9 to destroy, to kill, and cause to perish all Jews from the youth to the old man, children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, and to deprive them of their spoil. The three verbs are combined to give strength to the expression. E??E> is their property, which is called spoil because, it was delivered up to plunder. Haman having held out the prospect of a large sum as the result of exterminating the Jews, and the king having bestowed this upon Haman, the plundering of the Jews, thus permitted to all the inhabitants of the kingdom who should assist in exterminating them, must be understood as implying, that they would have to deliver a portion of the booty thus obtained to Haman. — Ver. 14. The copy of the writing, that the law might be given in every province, was opened to all people, that they might be ready by this day. This verse does not announce a copy of the royal decree that had been prepared and sent by the posts, which would in that case be replaced by a mere allusion to its contents (Bertheau). The words contain no trace of an announcement such as we find in Ezra iv. 11, vii. 11, but the historical notice, that the copy of the writing which was sent as a law into the provinces was *vl, opened, i.e. sent unclosed or unsealed to all people. 'v3 is the predicate to the subject 'til JJBT19 (comp. on this word the note to Ezra iv. 14), and between the subject and predicate is inserted the infinitive clause *W JTi jnjrp for the purpose of once more briefly mentioning the contents and destination of the 3H3: that a law might be given in every province. To attain this object the more certainly, the copy of the decree, which was brought into every province by the posts, was open or unsealed, that all people might read its contents, and keep themselves in readiness for the execution of what was therein commanded on the appointed day. FW1 Dis? is the thirteenth day of the twelfth month named in the letter. — Ver. 15. The posts went forth hastening (^n^ like 2 Chron. xxvi. 20) at the king's commandment, and the decree was given (promulgated) in the citadel of Susa, — an explanatory clause; and the king and Haman sat down to drink while the messengers went forth with the decree, but the city of Susa, in which it was first published, was in perplexity (on nataj comp. Ex. xiv. 3, Joel i. 18). The cruel measure could not but fill all peace-loving citizens with horror and anxiety. — Here the question is forced upon us, why the decree should have been so prematurely published. The scribes were summoned to prepare it on the thirteenth day of the first month. For this purpose, even though many copies had to be made in different languages, no very long time would be required in a well-appointed government office. As soon as the scribes had finished their work, the decree was sent out by the posts into all quarters of the realm, and would arrive in even the most distant provinces in three weeks at furthest. This would place almost eleven, and in the remotest parts about ten months between the publication and execution of the decree. What then was the motive for such an interval? Certainly so long a time could not be required for preparing to carry it out, nor is this hinted at in the text, as Bertheau supposes. Nor could it be intended that the Jews should suffer a long period of anxiety. On the contrary, the motive seems to have been, as Clericus and others have already conjectured, to cause many Jews to leave their property and escape to other lands, for the sake of preserving their lives. Thus
Human 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. — MORDOCHAl'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 "iSK with p& && 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 rovai palace; for none might enter wearing mourning. NU? j\s\ 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. "IC'K Dipp is an adverbial accusat. loci in apposition to nanp"733: 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 ronton does not elsewhere occur after 1 consecutive, hence the substitution of the Keri n:stan. 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 (?!!ynnri, 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. '"^"J?, properly a determined, accurate statement, from BHS 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 ur^ed the extermination of the Jews. The Chethiv D,s"HiT is the rarer form for D*P»T, and is repeated viii. 1, 7, 13, ix. 15, 18. — Ver. 8. Mordochai also gave Hatach a copy of the decree published in Susa (|WB?3 \F\2y like iii. 15) to show it to the queen. The *v TOiTO following is more correctly drawn towards the subsequent nittj?^ 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 K>i?3, to beg, to make request for something, like Ezra viii. 23, and chap. vii. 7. ^®V?P, 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 iiuunto the king unsummoned. '&?N ^n?.V^, she ordered dr 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." - "IBW \PHT7I precede as nominativi absol.; these are followed by two relative clauses, which are succeeded by the anacoluthic predicate ttTj nnN • one and the same law is for him (irn, the law concerning him, the unsummoned appearer, the matter of which is briefly stated by
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: *W1 ">t?WD ^r5, 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)?, to or towards him. D%?}^, the Aramaic form for B?E>, 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: u 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 (3N?»J): " Think not in thy soul (with thyself) to be saved in the house of the king above all the Jews; for if thou holdest 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 beincj indifferent to the fate of her fellow-countrymen, but rather calls her attention to the fact that her own life is in danger. Tiiis 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, ava^frv^L^y deliverance from oppressive restraint, ito^ 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 prcesentissimo ac perieulosissimo diserimine videt futaram 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 DX does not mean whether not. The sentence contains an aposiopesis. The clause depending on the conditional 2K is unspoken, but understood. Besides, t}Vf} 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. V'ly ^> 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 i God' and i 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 u 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. f33*, and in thus, i.e. in this state of fasting. nil N7 1B>*K: which is not accord in g to law. K? IBW is used, like the Aramaean form fcO H, 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. — Yer. 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 kin£ 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. TW&Q B'a'pri, she put on royalty, royal dignity, i.e. arrayed herself in royal apparel. Bertheau thinks that the word tt*Op has been inadvertently omitted before rviDpD; but such a conjecture is without sufficient support, the passages vi. 8 and viii. 15 being of another kind. The expression is elliptical, and ITiDpp is easily completed by the notion 8w 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: " 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 Haman should come to the banquet she had prepared.?V 2iD DS like i. 19. — Ver. 5. The king commanded Haman to hasten thither, to do as the queen had said. *Ol)*?, hastened Haman, i.e. sent to fetch him quickly. ">HO like 2 Chron. xviii. 8, 1 Kings xxii. 9. ntfBJgfr, that the word of the queen might be done, carried out. — Ver. 6. At the repast, and indeed at " 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 nvyfi, 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-mjrrow 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 surrepli contra suos populares nomine, et in os omnes cavillandi vias ei prcecluderel.
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. '\$\ DjJ k>) are circumstantial clauses following the principal clause without a copula. D|J and V\ are perfects, and fO — N/1 are used in the sense of neqne — nerjue. PT constructed with \0 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 might 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^w3 ns all how the king had made him great, and how he 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. u 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. Fp-OTIjJ "OK, 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. " 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. J"Wv33 "i^N, 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 Mordochai may be hanged thereon (i.e. impaled; see on npn 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 Mordochai, 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. r33 YV nfe^ to make, i.e. to erect a high tree. The higher the stake, the farther would it be seen. The 3d pers. plu. WJP stands instead of the passive: let them make = let.. be made. So too vJV for let.. be hanged. This speech pleased Hainan, 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 Mordochai, 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 Mordochai (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. On nfalDtfl "»Qp, 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. B^i?? W?3j 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 >"OT, to show any one something, e.g. favour; comp. 2 Sam. ii. 6, iii. 8, and elsewhere, ^J**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. princ. 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: Nto^ 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? i.e. whom he delights to honour. And Haman, thinking (top2 "*>?**, to say in one's heart, i.e. to think) to whom will the king delight to show honour more than to me (*3©» inv? 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." rT51 "iKW £"K, ver. 7, precedes absolutely, and the predicate does not follow till *B^a?rn, ver. 9, where the preceding subject is now by an anacoluthon taken up in the accusative (B>*NrrnK). 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 shewn by the perf. BOP, 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. JW is perf. Niph., not 1st pers. pi. imperf. Kal, as Maurer insists; and iK^oa "lB/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 — ]W ^B/K iK>&TJ2i. 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 infin. absol. jinjl is a continuation of the preceding jussive ^TOP: 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 DWnSHj comp. i. 4, and on the matter itself, Gen. xl. 43. 2im is either an open square, the place of public assemblage, the forum, or a collective. signifying the wide streets of the city. TWW PD3 as in Deut. xxv. 9 and elsewhere. — Vers. 10, 11. This honour, then, the haughty Hamau 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, u 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." 6?3tfl N?, non prcevalebis ei, comp. Gen. xxxii. 26.?isn?toj with an emphatic in/in. absoL: wholly fall. Instead of the V'ZinK, VDjn are here named, or to speak more correctly, the friends of Haman are here* called his wise men (magi). Even in v. 14 Haman'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: u 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 caeperant. 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 wrould 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 (ninKv), i.e. to partake of the HWDj 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: " 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 Vsy is a short expression for: the life of my people, and the preposition 3, the so-called 3 pretii. The request is conceived of as the price which she offers or presents for her life and that of her people. The expression tt")?9?> we are sold, is used by