Verse 19
19. That it be not altered Literally, and it shall not pass away; that is, it shall remain as a precedent, and be a permanent law for such matters in the empire. On the proverbial inviolability of the laws of the Medes and Persians, compare the marginal references. It originated, probably, in a desire to enhance in the national mind the sacredness of law, and also to forestall capricious and hasty changes in administration. But it was a defective and pernicious principle, making no provision against the capricious enactment of rash and harmful laws, and then allowing no repeal nor modification of them. Practically, however, it was often evaded, and the monarch found some way to make it lawful to do as he pleased.
Her royal estate The queenly privileges and honours with which the king had been pleased to distinguish her.
Unto another Hebrew, her female companion. This expression indicates that she herself was but a concubine, for the monarch’s legitimate marriage with one who was to be principal wife, and who, according to Persian law, ( Herod., 3:84,) could be taken only from one of the seven princely families of the empire, would hardly be spoken of in this way.
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