Then these men assembled to the king
Who had left him for a while to consider of the case; or they
departed to consult among themselves about the king's proposals
to them; or went home to their own houses to dinner, and returned
in a body; they came in a tumultuous way, as the word signifies;
see ( Daniel
6:6 ) , they cluttered about him, and were very rude and
noisy, and addressed him in an authoritative and threatening
manner: and said unto the king, know O king, that the law
of the Medes and
Persians is, that no decree nor statute which the king
establisheth
may be changed;
they perceived that he was desirous of altering or nullifying the
decree he had made, which to have done would have been to his
reputation; and to this they oppose a fundamental law of the
realm, that no decree ratified by the king could be altered; to
attempt to do this would be a breach of their constitution, and
of dangerous consequence; it would lessen the king's authority,
and be a means of his subjects rising up in rebellion against
him: for that there was such a law, the king knew as well as
they; nor do they say this by way of information, but to urge him
to the execution of the decree; and there is no doubt to be made
that there was such a fundamental law, though a foolish one, and
which afterwards continued, ( Esther 1:19 ) , but the
instance which some writers give out of Diodorus Siculus
F6, concerning Charidemus, a general of
the Athenians, whom another Darius king of Persia condemned to
die for the freedom of speech he used with him and afterwards
repented of it, but in vain; for his royal power, as the
historian observes, could not make that undone which was done;
this is no proof of the immutability of the laws of the Persians,
since the king's repentance was after the general's death, which
then was too late.
F6 Bibliothec. Hist. l. 17. p. 510.
