Esther vvitli reference to the offer of Haman to pay a large sum into the royal treasury for the extermination of the Jews, iii. 9, iv. 7. w, contracted after Aramaean usage from V DX, and occurring also Eccles. vi. 6, supposes a case, the realization of which is desired, but not to be expected-, the matter being represented as already decided by the use of the perfect. The last clause, 'ttl "Bjn ftf '•S, is by most expositors understood as a reference, on the part of Esther, to the financial loss which the king would incur by the extermination of the Jews. Thus Rambach, e.g., following R. Sal. ben Melech, understands the meaning expressed to be: hostis nullo modo cequare, compensare, resarcire potest pecunia sua damnum, quod rex ex nostro excidio patitur. So also Cler. and others. The confirmatory clause would in this case refer not to *l?KnpD> hut to a negative notion needing completion: but I dare not be silent; and such completion is itself open to objection. To this must be added, that JW in Kal constructed with 2 does not signify compensare, to equalize, to make equal, but to be equal; consequently the Piel should be found here to justify the explanation proposed. ny<P in Kal constructed with 3 signifies to be of equal worth with something, to equal another thing in value. Hence Gesenius translates: the enemy does not equal the damage of the king, i.e. is not in a condition to compensate the damage. But neither when thus viewed does the sentence give any reason for Esther's statement, that she would have been silent, if the Jews had been sold for slaves. Hence we are constrained, with Bertheau, to take a different view of the words, and to give up the reference to financial loss. P#W, in the Targums, means not merely financial, but also bodily, personal damage; e.g. Ps. xci. 7, Gen. xxvi. 11, to do harm, 1 Chron. xvi. 22. Hence the phrase may be understood thus: For the enemy is not equal to, is not worth, the damage of the king, i.e. not worthy that I should annoy the king with my petition. Thus Esther says, ver. 4: The enemy has determined upon the total destruction of my people. If he only intended to bring upon them grievous oppression, even that most grievous oppression of slavery, I would liave been silent, for the enemy is not worthy that I should vex or annoy the king by my accusation. — Ver. 5.
The king, whose indignation was excited by what lie had just heard, asks with an agitation, shown by the repetition of the lO&ft: " Who is he, and where is he, whose heart hath filled him (whom his heart hath filled) to do so?" Evil
— Ver. 6. Esther replies: " The adversary and enemy is this
Vers. 7-10. The kin^ in his wrath arose from the banquet of wine, and went into the garden of the house (DP is here a pregnant expression, and is also combined with ri32"i>K); but Haman remained standing to beir for his life to Queen Esther (/V $j?3 as in iv. 8), " for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king" ('"P3, and elsewhere); and hence that he had no mercy to expect from him, unless the queen should intercede for him. — Ver.
ing (•Sti as in Josh. viii. 10, Deut. xxi. 1, and elsewhere) at or on the couch on which Esther was (sitting), i.e. falling as a suppliant at her feet; and crediting Haman in the heat of his anger with the worst designs, he cried out: "Shall also violence be done to the queen before me in the house V The injin. W^y? after the interrogatory particle signifies: Is violence to be done, i.e. shall violence be done? as in 1 Chron. xv. 2 arid elsewhere; comp. Ewald, § 237, c. P33, to tread under foot, to subdue, used here in the more general sense, to offer violence. Without waiting for an explanation, the king, still more infuriated, passes sentence of death upon Haman. This is not given in so many words by the historian, but we are told immediately that: "as the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Hainan's face." "0"nn is not the speech of the king just reported, but the judicial sentence, the death warrant, i.e. the word to punish Haman with death. This is unmistakeably shown by the further statement: they covered Hainan' s face. The subject is indefinite: the attendants present. To cover the face was indeed to begin to carry the sentence of death into execution. With respect to this custom, expositors appeal to Curtius, vi. 8. 22: Philetam — capite velato in regiam adducunt; and Cicero, pro C. Rabirio iv. 13: Ilictor, colliga manus, caput obnubitOy arbori infeUci suspendito. — Ver. 9. Then said Harbonah (already mentioned i. 10), one of the eunuchs before the king, i.e. who held office before the king: " Behold also the tree which Hainan made (comp. v. 14) stands in the house of Hainan." D3 points to the fact that the other eunuchs had already brought forward various particulars concerning Haman's crime. Mordochai, who had spoken good for the king, viz. when he gave information of the conspiracy, ii. 22, vi. 2. On this tree the king ordered that Haman should be hanged, and this sentence was executed without delay. — a And the king's wrath was pacified." With this remark the narrative of this occurrence is closed, and the history pursues its further course as follows.
The king bestowed the house of Haman on Esther, and advanced Mordochai to Haman's place of prime minister (vers. 1 and 2). Esther then earnestly besought the king for the abolition of the edict published by Haman against the Jews, and the king permitted her and Mordochai to send letters in the king's name to all the Jews in his kino;- dom, commanding them to stand for their life, and to slay their enemies, on the day appointed for their own extermination (vers. 3-14). These measures diffused great joy throughout the kingdom (vers. 15-17).
Vers. 1 and 2. By the execution of Haman, his property was confiscated, and the king decreed that the house of the Jews' enemy should be given to Esther. The a house of Haman" undoubtedly means the house with all that pertained to it. " And Mordochai came before the king, for Esther had told him what he was to her,'* viz. her kinsman and fosterfather, ii. 7. This information effected Mordochai's appearance before the king, i.e. his reception into the number of the high dignitaries who beheld the face of the king, i.e. were allowed personal access to him; comp. i. 10, 14, vii. 9. — Ver. 2. And the king took off his seal-ring which he had taken from Haman (comp. iii. 10), and gave it to Mordochai. }D -WOffJ, *° cause t° g° from some one, i.e. to take away. By this act Mordochai was advanced to the post of first minister of the king; comp. Gen. xli. 42, 1 Mace. vi. 15. The king's seal gave the force of law to royal edicts, the seal taking the place of the signature. See rein, on ver. 8 and iii. 10. Vers. 3-14. The chief enemy of the Jews was now destroyed; but the edict, written in the king's name, sealed with the royal seal, and published in all the provinces of the kingdom, for the destruction of all the Jews on the 13th day of the twelfth month, was still in force, and having been issued in due legal form, could not, according to the laws of the Persians and Medes, be revoked. Queen Esther therefore entreated the king to annul the designs of Haman against the Jews. Vers. 3 and 4. " Esther spake again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and wept, and besought him to do away with P*?S0, to cause to depart) the mischief of Haman the A^a^ite, and his device that he devised against the Jews. And the king held out his golden sceptre towards Esther, and Esther arose and stood before the king." This verse gives a summary of the contents of Esther's speech, which is reported verbally in vers. 5 and 6, so that we must translate the imperfects |3.nnri1 Tprn —?BF\); She spoke before the king, falling at his feet and beseeching him with weeping, that he would do away with ipn rijn, the evil that Haman had done, and his device against the Jews. The king stretched out his sceptre (comp. chap. iv. 11) as a sign that he would graciously grant her petition; whereupon she arose, stood before the king, and made known her request. — Ver. 5. The introductory formula are in part similar to those used chap. i. 19, v. 4, 8, vii. 3; but the petition referring to a great and important matter, they are strengthened by two new phrases: u If the thing is advisable ("^3, proper, convenient, advantageous, a later word occurring again only Eccles. xi. 6, x. 10. — in ii. 21, iv. 4, 5, 10 of the same book, P"1^?) before the king, and if I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be wTritten (let a writing be issued, like chap, iii. 9), to frustrate (pNfrO, *•* to put out of force) the letters, the device of Hanian... which he wrote to destroy the Jews, who are in all the provinces of the king." fen ra&HD, the device, the proposal of Haman, is added to D^DDH, briefly to characterize the contents of the letters. On the matter itself, comp. iii. 8 sq. and 12 sq. u For how shall I endure to see the destruction of my people?" The verbs WWrtl 23Ut are so combined that the second is governed by the first, Vjfoni standing instead of the infinitive; comp. Ew. § 285, c. riK"j cons. 3 denotes an interested beholding, whether painful or joyous, of something; comp. Gen. xliv. 34. nipto in parallelism with 2P denotes those who are of like descent, the family, members of a tribe. — Vers. 7 and 8. The king could not simply revoke the edict issued by Haman in due legal form, but, ready to perform the request of the queen, he first assures her of his good intentions, reminding her and Mordochai that he has given the house of Haman to Esther and hanged Haman, because he laid hand on the Jews (vn infcj him they have executed); and then grants them permission, as he had formerly done to Haman, to send letters to the Jews in the king's name, and sealed with the king's seal, and to write MW? 3iD3, u as seems good to you," i.e. to give in writing such orders as mifjlit in Esther's and Mordochai's judgment render the edict of Haman harmless. " For," he adds, "what is written in the king's name and sealed with his seal cannot be reversed." This confirmatory clause is added by the king with reference to the law in general, not as speaking of himself objectively as M the king." 3*Wr6 P« refers to Esther's request: 3^6 3ri3* (ver. 5). Crtnnj^ in fin. abs. used instead of the perfect. — Vers. 9-14. These letters were prepared in the same manner as those of Haman (chap. iii. 12-15), on the 23d day of the third month, the month Sivan, and sent into all the provinces. " And it was written according to all that Mordochai commanded." They were sent to the Jews and to the satraps, etc., of the whole wide realm from India to Ethiopia (see i. 1), while those of Haman had been issued only to the satraps, etc. The rest coincides with chap. iii. 12. 3rosl? and he (Mordochai) wrote. To show the speed with which the letterswere despatched, (messengers) "on horseback, on coursers, government coursers, the sons of the stud," is added to ^VJ? T?. &y)m is a collective, meaning swift horses, coursers; comp. 1 Kings v. 8. D^JTOnSj (vers. 11 and 14) answers to the Old-Persian kschatrana, from kschatra, government, king, and means government, royal, or court studs. So Haug in Ewald's bill. Jalirb. v. p. 154. The older explanation, mules, on the other hand, is founded on the modern Persian estarj which, to judge from the Sanscrit agvatara, must in ancient Persian have been agpatara. 0*3191, air. \ey. from
?JB1, answering to the Syriac |£&fl3, herd, especially a herd of horses, and to the Arabic jfc? stud, is explained by Bertheau as a superlative form for the animal who excels the rest of the herd or stud in activity, perhaps the breeding stallion, while others understand it of the stud in general. The contents of the edict follow in vers. 11 and 12: " that the king allows the Jews in every city to assemble and to stand for their life (i.e. to fight for their lives, comp. Dan. xii. 1), to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish all the power (?*n, military power) of the people and province that should assault them, children and women, and to plunder their property, upon a certain day," etc. The appointed time is thus stated as in chap. iii. 13. The Jews were thus authorized to attack and destroy all enemies who should assault them on the day appointed for their extermination. Ver. 13 coincides with chap. iii. 146, with this difference, that the Jews are to be ready on this day to avenge themselves on their enemies. Yer. 14 also is similar to chap. iii. 15, except that the expression is strengthened by an addition to DT}? as in ver. 10, and by that of D^Dirn, urged on, to Dv[!3D, hastened, to point out the utmost despatch possible.
Vers. 15-17. The joy experienced throughout the kingdom at these measures. Ver. 15. After transacting with the king this measure so favourahle to the Jews, Mordochai went out from the king in a garment of deep blue and white material (comp. i. 6), and with a great crown of gold, and a mantle of byssus and purple. *P"]«?!?, air. Xey., in the Aramaean MSrpA, a wide mantle or covering. The meaning is not, as Bertheau remarks, that he left the king in the garment which had been, according to chap. vi. 8 sq., presented to him, nor that he left him with fresh tokens of his favour, clothed in a garment, crown, and mantle just bestowed on him, but that he left him in a magnificent state garment, and otherwise festally apparelled, that he might thus show, even by his external appearance, the happiness of his heart. Of these remarks, the first and last are quite correct; the second, however, can by no means be so, because it affords no answer to the question how Mordochai had obtained crown and mantle during his stay with the king and in the royal palace. The garments in which Mordochai left the king are evidently the state garments of the first minister, which Mordochai received at his installation to his office, and, as such, no fresh token of royal favour, but only his actual induction in his new dignity, and a sign of this induction to all who saw him issue from the palace so adorned. " The city of Susa rejoiced and was glad," i.e. rejoiced for gladness. The city, i.e. its inhabitants on the whole. — Ver. 16. The Jews (i.e. in Susa, for those out of the city are not spoken of till ver. 17) had light and gladness, and delight and honour." rniN (this form occurs only here and Ps. cix. 12), light, is a figurative expression for prosperity. TjJ!, honour — in the joy manifested by the inhabitants of Susa at the prevention of the threatened destruction. — Ver. 17. And in every province and city... there was joy and a glad day, a feast day, comp. chap. ix. 19, 22, while Haman'sedict had caused grief and lamentation, chap. iv. 3. u And many of the people of the land (i.e. of the heathen inhabitants of the Persian empire) became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them." EHnTiE, to confess oneself a Jew, to become a Jew, a denominative formed from *Wl^ occurs only here. On the confirmatory clause, comp. Ex. xv. 16, Deut. xi. 25. This conversion of many of the heathen to Judaism must not be explained only, as by Clericus and Grotius, of a change of religion on the part of the heathen, ut sibi hoc modo securitatem et regince favor em pararent, metuentes potentiam MardechceL This may have been the inducement with some of the inhabitants of Susa. But the majority certainly acted from more honourable motives, viz. a conviction, forced upon them by the unexpected turn of affairs in favour of the Jews, of the truth of the Jewish religion; and the power of that faith and trust in God manifested by the Jews, and so evidently justified by the fall of Haman and the promotion of Mordochai, contrasted with the vanity and misery of polytheism, to wrhich even the heathen themselves were not blind. When we consider that the same motives in subsequent times, when the Jews as a nation were in a state of deepest humiliation, attracted the more earnest-minded of the heathen to the Jewish religion, and induced them to become proselytes, the fact here related will not appear surprising.
On the day appointed by both edicts, the Jews assembled in the towns and provinces of the kingdom to slay all who sought their hurt, and being supported by the royal officials, inflicted a great defeat upon their enemies (vers. 1-10). At the queen's desire, the king granted permission to the Jews in Susa to fight against their enemies on the following day also (vers. 11-15), while in the other towns and districts of the kingdom they fought for their lives only on the 13th of Adar; so that in these places they rested on the 14th, but in Susa not till the 15th, and consequently kept in the latter the one day, in the former the other, as a day of feasting and rejoicing (vers. 16-19). The observance of this day of resting as a festival, under the name of Purim, by all the Jews in the Persian monarchy, was then instituted by Esther and Mordochai (vers. 20-32).
Vers. 1-10. The Jews avenged of their enemies. — Ver. 1. In the twelfth month, on the thirteenth day of the same — the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities, etc. Several parenthetical clauses succeed this definition of time, so that the statement of what then took place does not follow till vnpJ, ver. 2. These parenthetical clauses state not only the meaning of the day just named, but also give a general notice of the conflict between the Jews and their enemies. The first runs: " when the word of the kins drew nigh and his decree to be done," i.e. when the execution of the royal decree approached. The second is: " on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have the mastery of them, and it was changed (i.e. the contrary occurred), that the Jews had the mastery over them that hated them." 2 tD?^, to rule, to have the mastery over, ^psj[)? is infin. absn used instead of the imperf. aon is referred by Bertheau to DV: the day was changed from a day of misfortune to a day of prosperity for the Jews, alluding to ver. 22; but it is not a change of the day which is here spoken of, but a change of the hope of the enemies into its opposite; hence we must regard awn as neuter: it was changed, i.e. the contrary occurred. The pronoun n^n serves to emphasize the subject; comp. Ewald, § 314, a, who in this and similar cases takes RVT, ntDH in the sense of ipse, ipsi. — Ver. 2. Dn^)P3? in their cities, i.e. the cities in which they dwelt in all the dominions of the king. T. n?KVj to stretch out the hand (as also in ii. 21, iii. 6, for the purpose of killing) against those who sought their hurt, i.e. sought to destroy them. " And no one stood before them (\3B3 IDy, like Josh. x. 8, xxi. 42, and elsewhere), because the fear of them fell upon all people (see rem. on viii. 17). And all the rulers of the provinces, and the satraps and governors (comp. viii. 9), and those that did the king's business (najosn v^y, see rem. on iii. 9), supported the Jews (K'BO like Ezra i. 4), because the fear of Mordochai fell upon them." — Ver. 4. " For Mordochai was great in the king's house (was much esteemed by the king), and his fame went through all the provinces (tynf as in Josh. vi. 27, ix. 9, Jer. vi. 24); for this man Mordochai became continually greater;" comp. 2 Chron, xvii. 12, where the partic. ^]3 stands instead of the infin. abs.?na. — Ver. 5. Thus supported, the Jews inflicted, defeat upon their enemies with the sword, and. with slaughter and destruction, nan with 3, to deal a blow upon or against some one, to cause or bring about upon enemies a defeat; comp. e.g. 2 Sam. xxiii. 10, xxiv. 17, Num. xxii. 6. The notion is strengthened by '"01 innTQDj literally, to strike a stroke of the sword, and of slaughter, and of destruction, in accordance with the decree, viii. 11. u And did according to their will to those that hated them," i.e. retaliated upon their enemies at their discretion. — Ver. 6. In the citadel of Susa they destroyed (in round numbers) 500 men. — Vers. 7-10. Also they slew the ten sons of Haman, whose names are given, 7— 9;1 but on the spoil they laid not their hand, though this was allowed to them, viii. 11, as it had been commanded to their enemies by Haman's edict, iii. 13, ut ostenderent, se non aliud quam vitce suce incohtmitatem queerer e; hanc enim per~ dere volelant ii qui occidebautur. C. a Lapide.
Vers. 11-19. When on the same day an account was given to the king of the result of the conflict, and the number of those slain in Susa reported, he announced to Queen Esther: the Jews have slain in the citadel of Susa 500 men and the ten sons of Haman; u what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces?" i.e. if they have killed 500 men in Susa, how many may they not have slain in other parts of the kingdom? and then asked her what else she wished or required. With respect to the words, comp. v. 6 and vii. 2.
1 The peculiar position of the names of the sons of Haman in editions of the Bible, grounded as it is upon the ancient mode of writing, must originally have been intended merely to give prominence to the names, and facilitate their computation. The later Rabbis, however, have endeavoured to discover therein some deeper meaning. This mode of writing the names has been said to be signum voti, ut a ruina sua nunquam amplius resurgant, or also a sign quod sicut hi decern JUii in linea perpendicularly unus supra alteram, suspensi fuerint. Comp. Buxtorf, Syuagogajud. pp. 157-159 of the Basle edit. 1580. What is indicated by the smaller forms of the letters fl, £% and f, in the first, seventh, and tenth names, is not known; the larger 1 in the tenth may have been meant to give prominence, by the character employed, to this name as the last.
— Ver. 13. Esther requested: u let it be granted to the Jews which are in Susa to do to-morrow also according to the decree of to-day (i.e. exactly as to-day), and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged upon the tree," i.e. their dead bodies nailed on crosses — majoris inf amice causa, according to Hebrew and Persian custom; comp. Deut. xxi. 22 and the explanation of Ezra vi. 11. On the motive for this request, see above, p. 310. — Ver. 14. The king commanded it so to be done. " Then was a decree given at Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman." The decree given in Susa does not refer to the hanging of the sons of Haman, but to the permission given to the Jews to fight against their enemies on the morrow also. This is required not only by a comparison of viii. 13, but also by the connection of the present verse; for in consequence of this decree the Jews assembled on the 14th Adar (comp. CT|3^, then they assembled themselves, ver. 15), while the hanging of the sons of Haman, on the contrary, is related in an accessory clause by a simple perfect, vfl. — Ver. 15. On this second day the Jews slew 300 more; comp. ver. 10. — Ver. 16. The rest of the Jews in the provinces, i.e. the Jews in the other parts of the kingdom, assembled themselves and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes 75,000, but upon the spoil they laid not their hand, by noy like viii. 11. The D^T«D nfol inserted between ')?V IbjA and fin*}) is striking; we should rather have expected the resting or having rest from their enemies after the death of the latter, as in vers. 17 and 18, where this is plainly stated to have taken place on the day after the slaughter. The position of these words is only explained by the consideration, that the narrator desired at once to point out how the matter ended. The narrative continues in the in/in. abs. instead of expressing this clause by the injin. constr., and so causing it to be governed by what precedes. Thus — as Ew. § 351, c, remarks — all the possible hues of the sentence fade into this grey and formless termination (viz. the use of the injin. absol. instead of the verb, fin.). This inaccuracy of diction does not justify us, however, in assuming that we have here an interpolation or an alteration in the text. The statement of the day is given in ver. 17, and then the clause following is again added in the inf. absol.: " and they rested on the 14th day of the same (of Adar), and made it a day of feasting and gladness/' — Ver. 18. The Jews in Susa, on the other hand, who were both on the 13th and 14th Adar still fighting against their enemies, and did not rest till the 15th, made this latter their day of rejoicing. — In ver. 19 it is again stated that the Jews in the country towns and villages made the 14th their day of gladness, and this statement is appended by \3~?y to make this appear the result of what precedes. The CJiethiv D^rhsn is perhaps an Aramaic expression for D\na, Deut. iii. 5 and 1 Sam. vi. 18. *P"13 means the inhabitants of the open, i.e. unfortified, towns and villages of the plains in contrast to the fortified capital; see on Deut. iii. 5. On nifJB, compare Ezek. xxxviii. 11, Zech. ii. 8. 'U1 HUD rtibtPD, and of mutual sending of gifts, i.e. portions of food; comp. Neh. viii. 10, 12.
Vers. 20-32. The feast of Purim instituted by letters from Mordochai and Esther. Ver. 20. Mordochai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews, etc. •"'JKn BTyW does not mean the contents of the present book, but the events of the last days, especially the fact that the Jews, after overcoming their enemies, rested in Susa on the 15th, in the other provinces on the 14th Adar, and kept these days as days of rejoicing. This is obvious from the object of these letters, ver. 21: 'til DiTTJJ Dsj?7, to appoint among them "that they should keep the 14th day of the month Adar and the 15th day of the same yearly, as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and as the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a glad day, that they should keep them as days of feasting and joy, and of mutual sending of portions one to another, and gifts to the poor." EV nfry, to keep, to celebrate a day. The tiftpp rtw, ver. 21, is after long parentheses taken up again in DHiU nit^yp. D*£, to establish a matter, to authorize it, comp. Ruth iv. 7. Both the 14th and 15th Adar were made festivals because the Jews on them had rest from their enemies, and celebrated this rest by feasting, some on the former, some on the latter day. — Ver. 23. And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordochai had written to them. They had begun, as ver. 22 tells us, by keeping both days, and Mordochai wrote to them that they should make this an annual custom. This they agreed to do in consequence of Mordochai's letters. The reason of their so doing is given in vers. 24 and 25, and the name of this festival is explained, ver. 26, by a brief recapitulation of the events which gave rise to it. Then follows, vers. 2Qb and 27, another wordy statement of the fact, that it was by reason of this letter, and on account of what they had seen, i.e. experienced, that the annual celebration of this feast was instituted for a perpetual memorial to all Jews at all times (vers. 28 and 29). — Ver. 24. For Haman, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them (comp. iii. 1, 6 sq.), and had cast Pur, that is the lot (see on iii. 7), to consume them and to destroy them. Don, mostly used of the discomfiture with which God destroys the enemies, Ex. xiv. 24, Deut. ii. 15, and elsewhere. — Ver. 25. IW331, and when it (the matter), not when she, Esther, came before the king, — for Esther is not named in the context, — he commanded by letters (viii. 8), i.e. he gave the written order: let the wicked device which he devised against the Jews return upon his own head; and they hanged him and his sons upon the tree. — Ver. 26. Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name Pur. This first \3'V refers to what precedes and states the reason, resulting from what has just been mentioned, why this festival received the name of Purim. With the second |3"?y begins a new sentence which reaches to ver. 28, and explains how it happened that these feast-days became a general observance with all Jews; namely, that because of all the words of this letter (of Mordochai, ver. 20), and of what they had seen concerning the matter (i*D3"py? concerning so and so), and what had come upon them (therefore for two reasons: (1) because of the written injunction of Mordochai; and (2) because they had themselves experienced this event), the Jews established, and took upon themselves, their descendants, and all who should join themselves unto tliem (proselytes), so that it should not fail (i.e. inviolably), to keep (to celebrate) these two days according to the writing concerning them and the time appointed thereby year by year. — Ver. 28. And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and these days of Purini are not to pass away among the Jews, nor their remembrance to cease among their seed. The participles DTOJ1 Dnun still depend on Tfrrb ver. 27. Not till the last clause does the construction change in TOR **' to the temp, finit. "toC **?} is a periphrasis of the adverb: imperishably, inviolably. Bliros, secundum scriptum eorum, i.e. as Mordochai had written concerning them (ver. 23). B|*???, as he had appointed their time. \0 *V>D? to come to an end from, i.e. to cease among their descendents.
Vers. 29-32. A second letter from Queen Esther and Mordochai to appoint fasting and lamentation on the days of Purim. Ver. 29. And Esther the queen and Mordochai the Jew wrote with all strength, that is very forcibly, to appoint this second letter concerning Purim, i.e. to give to the contents of this second letter the force of law. nw? refers to what follows, in which the contents of the letter are briefly intimated. The letter is called JWgfn with reference to the first letter sent by Mordochai, ver. 20 sq. — Ver. 30. And he (Mordochai) sent letters, i.e. copies of the writing mentioned ver. 29, to all the Jews in the 127 provinces (which formed) the kingdom of Ahashverosh, words of peace and truth, i.e. letters containing words of peace and truth (ver. 31), to appoint these days of Purim in their portions of time according as Mordochai the Jew and Esther the queen had appointed, and as they (the Jews) had appointed for themselves and for their descendants, the things (or words =z precepts) of the fastings and their lamentations. DiTjjDD, in their appointed times; as the suffix relates to the days of Purim, the D^DT can mean only portions of time in these days. The sense of vers. 29-31 is as follows: According to the injunctions of Esther and Mordochai, the Jews appointed for themselves and their descendants times also of fasting and lamentation in the days of Purim. To make tin's appointment binding upon all the Jews in all provinces of the Persian monarchy, Esther and Mordochai published a second letter, which was sent by Mordochai throughout the whole realm of King Ahashverosh. To this is added, ver. 32, that the decree of Esther appointed these matters of Purim, i.e. the injunction mentioned vers. 29-31, also to fast and weep during these days, and it was written in the book. "ison, the book in which this decree was written, cannot mean the writing of Esther mentioned ver. 29, but some written document concerning Purim which has not come down to us, though used as an authority by the author of the present book. The times when the fasting and lamentation were to take place in the days of 'Purim, are not stated in this verse; this could, however, only be on the day which Haman had appointed for the extermination of the Jews, viz. the 13th Adar. This day is kept by the Jews as ">ni?N JT^yri^ Esther's fast.1
Ver. 1. And King Ahashverosh laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea. Ver. 2. And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the statement of the greatness of Mordochai to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? Tlie Chetldv BhpriK is a clerical error for th)Vfrv&. The word DD? service,
1 According to 2 Mace. xv. 36, the victory over Nicanor was to be celebrated on the 13th Adar, but, according to a note of Dr. Cassel in Grimm's kurzejef. exeget. Handb. za den Apokryphen, on 2 Mace. xv. 36, the festival of Nicanor is mentioned in Jewish writings, as Megillat Taanit, c. 12, in the Babylonian Talmud, tr. Taanit, f. 186, in Massechet So/rim 17, 4, but has been by no means observed for at least the last thousand years. The book Scheiltot of R. Acha (in the 9th century) speaks of the 13th Adar as a fast-day in memory of the fast of Esther, while even at the time of the Talmud the u Fast of Esther " is spoken of as a three days fast, kept, however, after the feast of Purim. From all this it is obvious, that a diversity of opinions prevailed among the Rabbis concerning the time of this fast of Esther.
here stands for tribute. As the provinces of the kingdom paid the imposts for the most part in natural produce, which they had reared or obtained by the labour of their hands, their labour (agriculture, cattle-keeping, etc.) was to a certain extent service rendered to the king. The matter of ver. 1 seems extraneous to the contents of our book, which has hitherto communicated only such information concerning Ahashverosh as was necessary for the complete understanding of the feast of Purim. " It seems " — remarks Bertheau — " as though the historian had intended to tell in some further particulars concerning the greatness of King Ahashverosh, for the sake of giving his readers a more accurate notion of the influential position and the agency of Mordochai, the hero of his book, who, according to ix. 4, waxed greater and greater; but then gave up his intention, and contented himself with referring to the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia, which contained information of both the power and might of Ahashverosh and the greatness of Mordochai." There is not, however, the slightest probability in such a conjecture. This matter may be simply explained by the circumstance, that the author of this book was using as an authority the book of the chronicles alluded to in ver. 2, and is quite analogous with the mode observed in the books of Kings and Chronicles by historians both of Babylonian and post-Babylonian days, who quote from the documents they make use of such events only as seem to them important with regard to the plan of their own work, and then at the close of each reign refer to the documents themselves, in which more may be found concerning the acts of the kings, at the same time frequently adding supplementary information from these sources, — comp. e.g. 1 Kings xiv. 30, xv. 7, 23, 32, xxii. 47-50, 2 Kings xv. 37, 2 Chron. xii. 15, — with this difference only, that in these instances the supplementary notices follow the mention of the documents, while in the present book the notice precedes the citation. As, however, this book opened with a description of the power and glory of King Ahashverosh, but yet only mentioned so much concerning this ruler of 127 provinces as was connected with the history of the Jews, its author, before referring to his authorities, gives at its close the information contained in ver. 1, from the book of the chronicles of the kingdom, in which probably it was connected with a particular description of the power and greatness of Ahashverosh, and probably of the wars in which he engaged, for the sake of briefly intimating at the conclusion whence the king derived the means for keeping up the splendour described at the commencement of the book. This book of the chronicles contained accounts not only of the power and might of Ahashverosh, but also a n^")?, a plain statement or accurate representation of the greatness of Mordochai wherewith the king had made him great, i.e. to which he had advanced him, and therefore of the honours of the individual to whom the Jews were indebted for their preservation. On this account is it referred to. For Mordochai was next to the king, i.e. prime minister of the king (n.^P, comp. 2 Chron. xxviii. 7), and great among the Jews and acceptable to the multitude of his brethren, i.e. he was also a great man among the Jews and was beloved and esteemed by all his fellow-countrymen (on ^^TJ, comp. Deut. xxiii. 24), seeking the good of his people and speaking' peace to all his race. This description of Mordochai's position with respect both to the king and his own people has, as expressive of an exalted frame of mind, a rhetorical and poetic tinge. Hence it contains such expressions as vnx 21, the fulness of his brethren, 3iD &Tl~i comp. Ps. cxxii. 9, Jer. xxxviii. 4. On DW "\2ly comp. Ps. Ixxxv. 9, xxxv. 20, xxviii. 3. UHT in parallelism with toy is not the descendants of Mordochai, or his people, but his race. Comp. on this signification of JHT, 2 Kings xi. 1, Isa. lxi. 9. The meaning of the two last phrases is: Mordochai procured both by word and deed the good and prosperity of his people. And this is the way in which honour and fortune are attained, the way inculcated by the author of the 34th Psalm in vers. 13-15, when teaching the fear of the Lord.