Esther 1:8

8 And this banquet was not according to the appointed law; but so the king would have it: and he charged the stewards to perform his will and that of the company.

Esther 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 1:8

And the drinking was according to the law, none did compel,
&c.] According to the law Ahasuerus gave to his officers next mentioned, which was not to oblige any man to drink more than he chose; the Targum is,

`according to the custom of his body;'

that is, as a man is able to bear it, so they drank: some ^F6 read it, "the drinking according to the law, let none exact"; or require it to be, according to the custom then in use in Persia; for they were degenerated from their former manners, and indulged to intemperance, as Xenophon ^F7 suggests: the law formerly was, not to carry large vessels into feasts; but now, says he, they drink so much, that they themselves must be carried out, because they cannot go upright: and so it became a law with the Greeks, at their festivals, that either a man must drink or go out ^F8; so the master of a feast, at which Empedocles was, ordered either that he should drink, or the wine be poured on his head ^F9; but such force or compulsion Ahasuerus forbad: and thus with the Chinese now, they force none to drink, but modestly invite them ^F11:

for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that
they should do according to every man's pleasure;
to let them have what wine they would, but not force them to drink more than was agreeable to them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Vid. Drusium in loc.
F7 Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 51.
F8 Cicero. Tusculan. Quaest. l. 5.
F9 Laert. in Vit. ejus, l. 8. p. 608.
F11 Semedo's History of China, par. 1. c. 13.

Esther 1:8 In-Context

6 adorned with of fine linen and flax on cords of fine linen and purple, fastened to golden and silver studs, on pillars of Parian marble and stone: golden and silver couches on a pavement of emerald stone, and of pearl, and of Parian stone, and open-worked coverings variously flowered, roses worked round about;

7 gold and silver cups, and a small cup of carbuncle set out of the value of thirty thousand talents, abundant and sweet wine, which the king himself drank.

8 And this banquet was not according to the appointed law; but so the king would have it: and he charged the stewards to perform his will and that of the company.

9 Also Astin the queen made a banquet for the women in the palace where king Artaxerxes .

10 Now on the seventh day the king, being merry, told Aman, and Bazan, and Tharrha, and Barazi, and Zatholtha, and Abataza, and Tharaba, the seven chamberlains, servants of king Artaxerxes,