Esther 1:4

4 Every day for 180 days he showed his guests the great wealth of his kingdom. He also showed them how glorious his kingdom was.

Esther 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 1:4

When he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom
Xerxes was the fourth king of the Persian monarchy, and was "far richer than all" that went before him, all their riches coming into his hands, ( Daniel 11:2 ) , and now that prophecy began to be fulfilled, "that by his strength, through his riches, he should stir up all against the realm of Grecia"; which he began to do in the third year of his reign, and for which these his nobles might be called together, as to have their advice, so to animate them to come in the more readily into the expedition, by showing them the riches he was possessed of; for to none of the kings of Persia does this largeness of riches better belong than to Xerxes:

and the honour of his excellent majesty;
the grandeur he lived in, the pomp and splendour of his court; he was the most grand and magnificent of all the kings of the Medes and Persians ^F9:

and this he did many days, even an hundred and fourscore days;
to which seven more being added, as in the following verse, it made one hundred and eighty seven, the space of full six months; though some think the feast did not last so long, only seven days, and that the one hundred and eighty days were spent in preparing for it; but the Persian feasts were very long, large, and sumptuous. Dr. Frye ^F11 says, this custom of keeping an annual feast one hundred and eighty days still continues in Persia. Cheus ^F12, a Chinese emperor, used frequently to make a feast which lasted one hundred and twenty days; though it cannot be well thought that the same individual persons here were feasted so long, but, when one company was sufficiently treated, they removed and made way for another; and so it continued successively such a number of days as here related, which was six months, or half a year; a year then in use consisting of three hundred and sixty days, as was common with the Jews, and other nations, and so the Persians ^F13.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Pausan. Laconica, sive, l. 3. p. 165.
F11 Travels, p. 348. apud Patrick in loc.
F12 In Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 3. p. 78.
F13 Prideaux's Connect. par. 1. p. 197.

Esther 1:4 In-Context

2 He was ruling from his royal throne in the safest place in Susa.

3 In the third year of his rule King Xerxes gave a big dinner. It was for all of his nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media were there. So were the princes and the nobles of the territories he ruled over.

4 Every day for 180 days he showed his guests the great wealth of his kingdom. He also showed them how glorious his kingdom was.

5 When those days were over, the king gave another big dinner. It lasted for seven days. It was held in the garden of the king's courtyard. It was for all of the people who lived in the safest place in Susa. Everyone from the least important person to the most important was invited.

6 The garden was decorated with white and blue linen banners. They hung from ropes that were made out of white linen and purple cloth. The ropes were connected to silver rings on marble pillars. There were gold and silver couches in the garden. They were placed on a floor that was made out of small stones. The floor had purple crystal, marble, mother-of-pearl and other stones of great value.