John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Esther 1:10
On the seventh day ,.... Of the feast, the last day of it, which the Rabbins, as Jarchi observes, say was the sabbath day, and so the Targum: when the heart of the king was merry with wine ; when he was intoxicated with it, and knew not well what he said or did; and the discourse at table ran upon the beauty of women, as the latter Targum; when the king asserted there were no women so beautiful as those of Babylon, and, as a proof of it, ordered his queen to be brought in: he... read more
John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Esther 1:9
Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women .... For it was not customary with the Persians, nor other eastern nations, to admit of women to their festivals F13 Justin c Trogo, l. 41. c. 3. , but they feasted by themselves. Who Vashti was is not known with any certainty. Bishop Usher, who takes Ahasuerus to be Darius Hystaspis, thinks Vashti was Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, whom he married. The Targumist says, she was the daughter of Evilmerodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar. Her... read more