home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Online Bible 1995 March
/
ROM-1025.iso
/
olb
/
gill
/
3_100_t.lzh
/
3_172.TXT
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-08-18
|
6KB
|
122 lines
Nisan, though the execution was not to be until the
13th of Adar, eleven months after; partly that there
might be time enough to send the letters everywhere,
even to the most distant parts; and chiefly lest
Ahasuerus should change his mind, and be pre-
vailed upon to revoke his grant; and, it may be,
either to keep the Jews in continual dread, or cause
them to flee.
Ver. 13. And the letters were sent bypost into all the
king's provinces, &c.] Or by the runners {x}; by which
it seems as if these letters were carried by running
footmen, men swift of foot; or rather they were run-
ning horses, on which men rode post with letters, and
which the Persians called Angari; a schctne invented
by Cyrus, for the quick dispatch of letters from place
to place, by fixing horses and men to ride them at a
proper distance, to receive letters one from another,
and who rode night and day Y, as our post-boys do
now; and nothing could be swifter, or done with
greater speed; neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor
night, could stop their course, we are told {z}: the pur-
port of these letters was, to destroy, to kill, and to cause
to perish, all Jews, both .,toung and old, little children
and women, in one day, even upon the 13th day of the
l2th month, .which is the month Adar ; see ver. 7. TIle
orders were to destroy, by any means whatsoever, all
the Jews, of every age and sex, all in one day, in all the
provinces which are here named, that they might be
cut off with one blow: and to take the spoil of them
for a prey; to be their own booty; which was pro-
posed to engage them in this barbarous work, to
encourage them in it to use the greater severity and
dispatch.
Ver. 14. The copy of the writing,for a commandment
to be given in every province, was published unto all peo-
ple, &c.] Not only letters were sent to the governors,
but a copy, or the sun1 of the contents of them, was
published by heralds, or stuck up as with us, in va-
rious places, that it might be publicly known by the
common people everywhere: that they should be ready
against that day; and fall upon the people of the
Jews, and slay them, and seize on their goods as a
prey.
Ver. 15. The post went out, being hastened by the
Idng's command, &c.] Both to set out and makc as
much dispatch as possible: and the decree was given
in Shushan thepalace; by the king, and with the advice
of his courtiers: and the Icing and Haman sat down to
drink; at a banquet which perhaps Haman had pre-
pared, in gratitude to the king for what he had granted
him, both being highly delighted with what had been
done: but the city Shushan was perplexed ; the court was
agreed, but the city was divided, as the former Tar-
gum says, with the joy of strange nations, and the
weeping of the people of Israel, there being many
Jews in the city; with who.m no doubt there were
many in connexion, through affinity or friendship, or
commerce, that were concerned for them; or, however,
were shocked at such a barbarous scheme; and which
they knew not where it would end, and how far they
themselves might be involved in it, when once a mob
had such a power granted to them.
THIS chapter relates the mourning of Mordecai, and
of the Jews in every province, on account of the edict
to destroy them, ver. 1--3. the information Esther
had of it, and what passe,4 between her and Mor-
decai, through Hatach, a chamberlain, by whom he
put her upon making a request to the king in their fa-
your, ver. 4--8. to which she at first ob. iected, because
of a law in Persia which forbids any to come to the
king unless called, ver. 9--1o_. but being pressed to it
by Mordecai, she agreed, and ordered a general fast
among the Jews, ver. 13--17.
Vcr. 1. When Mordecai pcrceivcd all that was done,
&c.] By the king, at the instigation of Human, against
the Jews; which hc came to the knowledge of, either
bv some of the conflicts or by common fame, or on the
sfght of the edicts which were published in Shushan;
though the Jews think it was made known to him in a
supernatural way, either by Elijah, as the former Tar-
gum{x}, or by the Holy Ghost, as the latter: Mor-
alcoal rent his clothes: both behind and before, accord-
ing to the same Targum; and this was a custom used
in mourning, not only with the Jews, but with the
Persians also, as Iterodotus {y} relates: and put on saclc-
cloth with ashes; upon his head, as the. former Tar-
gum; which was usual in mourning, even both; Job
ii. 8, l2. Dan. ix. 3. and went out into the midst of the
city; not Elam the province, as Abeu Ezra, bui the
city Shushan: and cried with a loud and bitter cry;
that all the Jews in the city might be alarmed by it,
and inquire the reason of it, and be affected with it;
and a clamorous mournful noise was used among the
Persians, as well as others, on sad occasions {z}.
Vet..o. And came even before the king's gate, &c.] Or
court, that Esther might if possible be made ac-
quainted with this dreadful calamity coming upon her
people: for none might enter into the king' s gate clothed
with sac/ccloth: or appear in such a dress at court,
where nothing was admitted to damp the pleasures
of it.
Ver. 3. And in every province whithersoever the lcing's
commandment and his decree came, &c.'] For destroy-
ing the Jews on such a day, in every place where they
were to be found: there was great mourning among the
Jews, and weeping, and wailing; which continued all
day: and many lay in sackcloth and ashes: all night;
made use of no other bed to lie on, nor clothes to cover
them with.
Ver. 4. So Esther's maids and her chamberlains came
{x} \^Myurh dyb\^ in manu cursorum, Montanus; so the Tigurine ver-
sion, Drusius, V. L. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{y} Xenophon. Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 43.
{z} Herodot. Urania, sive, l. 8. c. 98.
{x} So Midrash Esther, fol. 94. 1.
{y} Thalia, sive, l. 3. c.----. Urania, sive, l. 8. c. 99.
{z} Calliope, sive, l. 9. c. 24.