And the saying pleased the king and the princes ,.... The king, and the other six princes and counsellors, approved of the proposal, and unanimously agreed to it: and the king did according to the word of Memucan ; passed a law according to his advice, and signed and sealed it, and registered it among the laws of the kingdom, not to be revoked. read more
The Book of Esther. There is a striking contrast between the Books of RUTH and ESTHER . The earlier book is an idyll; the later a chronicle. The earlier relates to lowly persons and to rural life; the later to kings and queens, and to a great Oriental metropolis. The earlier is the story of a family, and its interest is domestic; the later is a chapter from the history of a people, and deals with the intrigues of a court and the policy of a state. The religious character and aim of... read more
On the seventh day of the feast "to all in Shushan" ( Esther 1:5 ), the king having excited himself with drink, took it into his head to send a message to Vashti, requiring her to make her appearance in the banquet of the men, since he desired to exhibit her beauty to the assembled guests, as "she was fair to look on" ( Esther 1:11 ). His design must have been to present her unveiled to the coarse admiration of a multitude of semi-drunken revellers, in order that they might envy him... read more
The parody of legislature. If any be tempted at first to think of the king's conferences (as here reported) with those whom we will call his statesmen as though they were scarcely serious and in earnest,—fortunate to be carried on within the protection of closed doors; the monarch, in fact, secretly smiling at his ministers, and they in turn scarcely dissembling in his presence their real convictions of his impossible folly and of their own obsequious and shallow proposals,—yet it would be... read more
The king did according to the word of Memucan . This expression must not be pressed too closely. It does not imply more than that Memucan's advice was followed in a general way—Vashti disgraced, and the grounds of her disgrace published throughout the provinces. We cannot be sure that the decree was "written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes." Even if it was, it was always possible for a Persian king to give himself a dispensation from the law (see Herod; 3:58). read more
Esther 1:20-21. All the wives shall give to their husbands honour, &c. None will dare to disobey, when they hear that the greatness of the queen could not preserve her from such a heavy punishment. The saying pleased the king and the princes Partly because their own authority and interest were concerned in it; and especially by the singular providence of God, who designed to bring about his own great work by this small occasion. read more
1:1-2:23 ESTHER BECOMES QUEENOfficials and leading citizens from all over the Persian Empire had gathered in the winter capital for an exhibition designed to display the riches and magnificence of the royal court. The exhibition lasted six months and was brought to a fitting climax by a lavish seven-day banquet (1:1-9). The week of wine and merriment so excited the king that his sexual urges were in danger of getting out of control. Consequently, when he told his queen Vashti to display her... read more
2. The queen’s dismissal 1:10-22The Persian kings castrated many of the men who served the king and his family (Esther 1:10) so they could not have sexual relations with the female members of the royal court and start dynasties of their own."Vashti" ("best," "the beloved," or "the desired one," Esther 1:11) was evidently the Persian name of the queen whom Herodotus referred to as Amestris (her Greek name). [Note: J. Stafford Wright, "The Historicity of Esther," in New Perspectives on the Old... read more
The Disobedience and Disgrace of Queen Vashti1. Ahasuerus] LXX has ’Artaxerxes,’ but probably ’Xerxes,’ the son of Darius Hystaspis, is meant, who succeeded his father in 485 b.c.India.. Ethiopia] India here means not the peninsula of Hindostan, but the region near the Indus: Ethiopia is the modern Nubia.2. Shushan] i.e. Susa in Elam, the country lying to the E. of the Persian Gulf. The palace] lit. ’the fortress,’ as in Nehemiah 1:1.; 3. In the third year] i.e. 483 b.c. Thy power] better, ’the... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Esther 1:10-22
We have here a damp to all the mirth of Ahasuerus's feast; it ended in heaviness, not as Job's children's feast by a wind from the wilderness, not as Belshazzar's by a hand-writing on the wall, but by is own folly. An unhappy falling out there was, at the end of the feast, between the king and queen, which broke of the feast abruptly, and sent the guests away silent and ashamed. I. It was certainly the king's weakness to send for Vashti into his presence when he was drunk, and in company with... read more