Esther 1:19-21 BSB

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Esther 1:19

If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him ,.... Not only a proclamation made, but a law enacted and published by royal authority: and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and Medes that it be not altered ; for so it was, that when a law was made, and signed, and sealed, and registered among the laws of the kingdom, it remained unalterable, Daniel 6:8 , this precaution Memucan took for his own safety; for had the king acted upon his advice, without... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Esther 1:20

And when the king's decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire ,.... As it was proper it should, since the report of the queen's deed would be made everywhere: for it is great ; the empire consisting of one hundred and twenty seven provinces, Esther 1:1 , Aben Ezra and Abendana interpret it, "though" it is great, yet the decree should be published throughout; the latter observes, that this may respect the king's decree; and so the Targum is,"for his decree... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Esther 1:21

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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Esther 1:19

That it be not altered - Let it be inserted among the permanent laws, and made a part of the constitution of the empire. Perhaps the Persians affected such a degree of wisdom in the construction of their laws, that they never could be amended, and should never be repeated. And this we may understand to be the ground of the saying, The laws of the Medes and Persians, that change not. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Esther 1:1-22

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Esther 1:10-22

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Esther 1:13-20

Counsel. The king of Persia had two bad counsellors, wine and anger. It showed some degree of common-sense on his part that, instead of acting upon impulse, he waited to ask the advice of his ministers, those privileged and trusted men who were nearest to the throne. If they had advised him well he might have avoided making an exhibition of his own folly to his people. But their plan was to fall in with the inclinations of their sovereign. This, whilst we must blame it, we cannot wonder... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Esther 1:16-22

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Esther 1:19

A royal commandment . Literally, "a command of the kingdom"— i.e. a public, not a domestic, order. Under ordinary circumstances such a matter as the disgrace of a favourite wife would have been settled in the secrecy of the seraglio, without calling general attention to it. In Memu-can's opinion, the publicity of Vashti's disobedience had made it expedient that she should be disgraced publicly. Let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes . A sentence upon an individual... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Esther 1:10-22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Esther 1:19

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Esther 1:20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Esther 1:21

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Esther 1:19

The Pulpit Commentary - Esther 1:1-22

The Pulpit Commentary - Esther 1:10-22

The Pulpit Commentary - Esther 1:13-20

The Pulpit Commentary - Esther 1:16-22

The Pulpit Commentary - Esther 1:19

Group of Brands