Esther 7:4

4 For I and my people be given, that we be defouled, and strangled, and that we perish; O! why not had we rather been sold into servants and servantesses, for that evil might have been suffered, and I, (now) wailing, should have been still; but now our enemy is present, whose cruelty turneth against the king. (For I and my people have been sold into slaughter, so that we be strangled, and destroyed, and that we utterly perish; O! why had we rather not been sold into slavery, yea, both men and women alike, for that evil might have been endured, and I, instead of wailing, would now be silent; and even now our enemy is present here, and his cruelty turneth against even the king.)

Esther 7:4 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 7:4

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain,
and to perish
She makes use of these several words, to express the utter destruction of her and her people, without any exception; not only the more to impress the king's mind with it, but she has respect to the precise words of the decree, ( Esther 3:13 ) as she has also to the 10,000 talents of silver Haman offered to pay the king for the grant of it, when she says, "we are sold", or delivered to be destroyed:

but if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my
tongue:
should never have asked for deliverance from bondage, but have patiently submitted to it, however unreasonable, unjust, and afflictive it would have been; because it might have been borne, and there might be hope of deliverance from it at one time or another; though it is said, slaves with the Persians were never made free ^F7; but that being the case would not have been so great a loss to the king, who would have reaped some advantage by their servitude; whereas, by the death of them, he must sustain a loss which the enemy was not equal to, and which he could not compensate with all his riches; which, according to Ben Melech, is the sense of the next clause:

although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage;
or, "for the enemy cannot" the 10,000 talents offered by him, and all the riches that he has, are not an equivalent to the loss the king would sustain by the death of such a multitude of people, from whom he received so large a tribute; but this the enemy regarded not; and so Jarchi interprets it, the enemy took no care of, or was concerned about the king's damage; but there is another sense, which Aben Ezra mentions, and is followed by some learned men, who take the word for "enemy" to signify "distress", trouble, and anguish, as in ( Psalms 4:1 ) ( 119:143 ) and read the words, "for this distress would not be reckoned the king's damage" ^F8, or loss; though it would have been a distress to the Jews to have been sold for slaves, yet the loss to the king would not be so great as their death, since he would receive benefit by their service.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Alex. ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 20.
F8 (ruh) "adversitas", Drusius, De Dieu; "angustia", Cocc. Lexic. in rad. (hwv) .

Esther 7:4 In-Context

2 And the king said also to Esther in the second day, after that he was hot of the wine, Esther, what is thine asking of me, that it be given to thee, and what wilt thou be done? Yea, though thou ask the half part of my realm, thou shalt have it. (And on the second day, after that he was hot from the wine, the king said again to Esther, Esther, what is thy asking of me, that it be given to thee, and what wilt thou be done for thee? Yea, if thou ask for half of my kingdom, thou shalt have it!)

3 To whom she answered, O! king, if I have found grace in thine eyes (if I have found favour before thee), and if it pleaseth thee, give thou my life to me, for which I pray thee now, and also the life of my people, for the which I beseech thee.

4 For I and my people be given, that we be defouled, and strangled, and that we perish; O! why not had we rather been sold into servants and servantesses, for that evil might have been suffered, and I, (now) wailing, should have been still; but now our enemy is present, whose cruelty turneth against the king. (For I and my people have been sold into slaughter, so that we be strangled, and destroyed, and that we utterly perish; O! why had we rather not been sold into slavery, yea, both men and women alike, for that evil might have been endured, and I, instead of wailing, would now be silent; and even now our enemy is present here, and his cruelty turneth against even the king.)

5 And king Ahasuerus answered, and said, Who is this, and of what power, that he be (so) (fool)hardy to do such things?

6 And Esther said, Our worst adversary and enemy is this Haman. The which thing when he heard, he was astonished at once, and he was not sufficient to bear the semblance, or the indignation, of the king and of the queen. (And Esther said, Our adversary and our enemy is this wicked Haman! And when Haman heard this, he was stunned, and he was not able to bear the indignation of both the king and the queen.)