Esther 1:7

7 And they gave drink in vessels of gold (the vessels being diverse one from another), and royal wine in abundance, according to the king's bounty. ^[a]

Esther 1:7 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 1:7

They gave them drink in vessels of gold, the vessels being
divers one from another
In the pattern and workmanship of them, though of the same metal, which diversity made the festival the more grand; earthen cups, with the Persians, were reckoned very mean; when a king would disgrace a man, he obliged him to use earthen cups ^F4. The Targum represents these vessels to be the golden vessels of the temple at Jerusalem Nebuchadnezzar carried away; which could not be, since they had been delivered by Cyrus to Zerubbabel, ( Ezra 1:7-10 ) ,

and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king;
such as the king was able to give, the best he had, and that in great plenty; the wine the kings of Persia used to drink, as Strabo ^F5 relates, was Chalybonian wine, or wine of Helbon, as it is called, ( Ezekiel 27:18 ) , (See Gill on Ezekiel 27:18), but by the wine of the kingdom, as it may be rendered, is meant wine of the country; the wine of Schiras is reckoned the best in Persia ^F6.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Ctesias in Athenaei Deipnosoph. l. 11.
F5 Geograph. l. 15. p. 505.
F6 Universal History, vol. 5. p. 85.

Esther 1:7 In-Context

5 And when these days were expired, the king made a feast to all the people that were present in Shushan the fortress, both to great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace.

6 White, green, and blue [hangings] were fastened with cords of byssus and purple to silver rings and pillars of white marble; couches of gold and silver [lay] upon a pavement of red and white marble, and alabaster, and black marble.

7 And they gave drink in vessels of gold (the vessels being diverse one from another), and royal wine in abundance, according to the king's bounty.

8 And the drinking was, according to commandment, without constraint; for so the king had appointed to all the magnates of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure.

9 Also the queen Vashti made a feast for the women of the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or 'power;' lit. 'hand;' and so ch. 2.18.