Esther 1

The Banquets of the King

1 Now it took place in the days of ¹Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned ²from India to ^[a]Ethiopia over * * provinces,

2 in those days as King Ahasuerus ³sat on his royal throne which was at the citadel in ⁴Susa,

3 in the third year of his reign ⁵he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of his provinces being in his presence.

4 ^[b]And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 * days.

5 When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least, in the court of ⁶the garden of the king's palace.

6 There were hangings of fine white and violet linen held by cords of fine purple linen on silver rings and marble columns, and ⁷couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and precious stones.

7 Drinks were served in golden vessels of various kinds, and the royal wine was plentiful ⁸according to the king's ^[c]bounty.

8 The drinking was done according to the law, there was no compulsion, for so the king had given orders to each official of his household that he should do according to the desires of each person.

9 Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the ^[d]palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus.

Queen Vashti's Refusal

10 On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was ⁹merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,

11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal ¹⁰crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes, for she was beautiful.

12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered by the eunuchs. Then the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him.

13 Then the king said to ¹¹the wise men ¹²who understood the times -for it was the custom of the king so to speak before all who knew law and justice

14 and were close to him: Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media ¹³who ^[e]had access to the king's presence and sat in the first place in the kingdom -

15 "According to law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti, because * she did not ^[f]obey the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?"

16 In the presence of the king and the princes, Memucan said, "Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.

17 "For the queen's conduct will ^[g]become known to all the women causing them ^[h]to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, 'King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to his presence, but she did not come.'

18 "This day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's conduct will speak in the same way to all the king's princes, and there will be plenty of contempt and anger.

19 "If it pleases the king, let a royal ^[i]edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so ¹⁴that it cannot ^[j]be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to ^[k]another who is more worthy than she.

20 "When the king's edict which he will make is heard throughout all his kingdom, ^[l]great as it is, then ¹⁵all women will give honor to their husbands, great and small."

21 This word pleased * the king and the princes, and the king did ^[m]as Memucan proposed.

22 So he sent letters to all the king's provinces, ¹⁶to each province according to its script and to every people according to their language, that every man should ¹⁷be the master in his own house and the one who speaks in the language of his own people.

Esther 1 Commentary

Chapter 1

We find in this book, that even those Jews who were scattered in the province of the heathen, were taken care of, and were wonderfully preserved, when threatened with destruction. Though the name of God be not in this book, the finger of God is shown by minute events for the bringing about his people's deliverance. This history comes in between (Ezra 6 and Ezra 7 ) .

The royal feast of Ahasuerus. (1-9) Vashti's refusal to appear, The king's decree. (10-22)

Verses 1-9 The pride of Ahasuerus's heart rising with the grandeur of his kingdom, he made an extravagant feast. This was vain glory. Better is a dinner of herbs with quietness, than this banquet of wine, with all the noise and tumult that must have attended it. But except grace prevails in the heart, self-exaltation and self-indulgence, in one form or another, will be the ruling principle. Yet none did compel; so that if any drank to excess, it was their own fault. This caution of a heathen prince, even when he would show his generosity, may shame many called Christians, who, under pretence of sending the health round, send sin round, and death with it. There is a woe to them that do so; let them read it, and tremble, ( habakkuk 2:15 habakkuk 2:16 ) .

Verses 10-22 Ahasuerus's feast ended in heaviness, by his own folly. Seasons of peculiar festivity often end in vexation. Superiors should be careful not to command what may reasonably be disobeyed. But when wine is in, men's reason departs from them. He that had rule over 127 provinces, had no rule over his own spirit. But whether the passion or the policy of the king was served by this decree, God's providence made way for Esther to the crown, and defeated Haman's wicked project, even before it had entered into his heart, and he arrived at his power. Let us rejoice that the Lord reigns, and will overrule the madness or folly of mankind to promote his own glory, and the safety and happiness of his people.

Cross References

• 1. Ezra 4:6; Daniel 9:1
• 2. Esther 8:9
• 3. Esther 9:30
• 4. 1 Kings 1:46
• 5. Nehemiah 1:1; Daniel 8:2
• 6. Esther 2:18
• 7. Esther 7:7, 8
• 8. Ezekiel 23:41; Amos 6:4
• 9. Esther 2:18
• 10. Judges 16:25
• 11. Esther 2:17; Esther 6:8
• 12. Jeremiah 10:7; Daniel 2:2
• 13. 1 Chronicles 12:32
• 14. 2 Kings 25:19; Matthew 18:10
• 15. Esther 8:8; Daniel 6:8
• 16. Ephesians 5:22; Colossians 3:18
• 17. Esther 3:12; Esther 8:9
• 18. Ephesians 5:22-24

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "Cush"
• [b]. Lit "When"
• [c]. Lit "hand"
• [d]. Lit "royal house"
• [e]. Lit "saw the face of the king"
• [f]. Lit "do"
• [g]. Lit "go forth"
• [h]. Lit "to despise...in their eyes"
• [i]. Lit "word go forth from"
• [j]. Lit "pass away"
• [k]. Lit "her neighbor"
• [l]. Lit "for great is it"
• [m]. Lit "according to the word of"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ESTHER

This book has its name from the person who is the principal subject of it; it is by Clemens of Alexandria {a} called the Book of Mordecai also; it is commonly called, in the Hebrew copies, "Megillah Esther", the Volume of Esther; and sometimes in the Jewish writings only "Megillah", by way of eminency, "the Volume". It was written, according to the Talmudists {b}, by the men of the great synagogue, composed by Ezra; and some think it was written by Ezra himself {c}; but Aben Ezra is of opinion it was written by Mordecai, since he was concerned in, and had perfect knowledge of, all things related in it; which is rejected by Spinosa {d}, who conceits that this, and the books of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, were written by one and the same historian long after the times of Judas Maccabaeus: as to the canonical authority of it, it has been generally received by Jews and Christians; our wise men, says Maimonides {e}, openly and plainly affirm of the book of Esther, that it was dictated by the Holy Spirit; so Aben Ezra on Es 6:6, and he himself {f} affirms, that

``all the books of the prophets, and all the Hagiographa (or holy writings), shall cease in the days of the Messiah, except the volume of Esther; and, lo, that shall be as stable as the Pentateuch, and as the constitutions of the oral law, which shall never cease.''

Though the versions of other books of Scripture might not be read in the synagogues, versions of this book might to those who did not understand Hebrew {g}; and so Luther {h} says, the Jews more esteem the book of Esther than any of the prophets. Whence Mr. Baxter {i} had that notion, I can not devise, that the Jews used to cast to the ground the book of Esther before they read it, because the name of God was not in it: nor is that any objection to its authenticity, since the hand and providence of God may be most clearly seen in it; in raising Esther to such grandeur, and that for the deliverance of the people of the Jews, and in counter working and bringing to nought the plots of their enemies, and in saving them: nor that it is not quoted in the New Testament; it is sufficient there is no disagreement between them, yea, an entire agreement, particularly in the account of the captivity of Jeconiah, which is expressed almost in the same words in Es 2:6 as in Mt 1:11,12. It stands in Origen's catalogue {k} of the books of the Old Testament; nor is it any material objection that it appears not in the catalogue of Melito {l}, since in that list is comprehended under Ezra not Nehemiah only, but Esther also, which Jerom {m} mentions along with it. This book is not only of use to the Jews, as it shows the original and foundation of a feast of theirs, still kept up by them, the feast of Purim, and makes for the glory of their nation, and therefore it is no wonder it should be so highly esteemed by them; but serves to show the singular providence of God in taking care of his people in adversity, in humbling the proud, and exalting the lowly, and saving those that pray to him, and trust in him; it furnishes out various instructions in the conduct of the several persons herein mentioned; it is a history but of ten or eleven years at most, from the third of Ahasuerus, to the twelfth of his reign, Es 1:3, 3:7.

{a} Stromat. l. 1. p. 329. {b} T. Bava Bathra, fol. 15. 1. {c} August. de Civ. Dei, l. 18. c. 36. Isidor. Origin. l. 6. c. 2. {d} Tract. Theolog. Politic. c. 10. p. 189 {e} Moreh Nevochim, par. 2. c. 45. {f} Hilchot Megillah, c. 2. sect. 18. {g} Misn. Megillah, c. 2. sect. 1. T. Bab. Megillah, fol. 18. 1. {h} Mensal. Colloqu. c. 31. p. 358. {i} The Saints Everlasting Rest, part 4. c. 3. sect. 1. {k} Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 6. c. 25. {l} Apud ib. l. 4. c. 26. {m} Ad Domnion. & Rogat. tom. 3. fol. 7. F.

\\INTRODUCTION TO ESTHER 1\\

This chapter relates, how that Ahasuerus, a great king of Persia, made a feast, first for the grandees of his kingdom, and then for his people, as his queen did for the women, Es 1:1-9, who being sent for by him, and she refusing to come, was, by the advice of one of his counsellors, divorced from him, and an order made and published throughout his dominions, that every man should bear rule in his own house, Es 1:10-22.