Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_100_t.lzh/3_181.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-18 | 7KB | 129 lines

found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right be-
fhore the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, &c]] This
eap of phrases, which signify much the same thing,
are used to work upon the king's affections, and to
shew how submissive she was to his will: let it be
written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son
of Hammedatha, the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy
the Jews which are in all the king's provinces. She
wisely takes no notice of any concern the king had in
them, but suggests as that she looked upon them as
forged by Haman, who put the king's name and seal
to them, without his knowledge and consent.
Vet. 6. For how can I endure to see the evil that shall
come unto my people? &c.] I cannot bear it; it will
break my heart; I shall die to see all my people mas-
sacred throughout the realm; the thought of it is
shocking and shuddering; to see it, intolerable: or how
can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred ? the
same thing in different words, and somewhat more ex-
press and exp1anative. She explains the evil coming
upon her people of the utter destruction of them, not
barely an oppression, but an extermination of them;
and she makes use of a word expressive of their rela-
tion to her, as more endearing, being her kindred; she
and they being, as it were, of the same family, and
with whom she could not but sympathize in distress.
Ver. 7. Then the KingAhasuerus said unto Esther the
queen, and to Mordecai the Jew, &c.] Who was pre-
sent at the same time, either at the desire of Esther,
or by virtue of Iris office, being now one of those that
saw the king's face, ver. 1. behold, I have given Esther
the house of 1taman ; see the note on ver. 1. and him
they have hanged upon the gallows; which he had pre-
pared for Mordecai, ch. vii. 10. because he laid his hand
upon the Jews; intended to do so, and had prepared for
it, and wrote letters, ordering their destruction on such
a day. Now as the king had shewn favour to Esther
and Mordecai, and had punished Haman for contriving
mischief against them and the Jews, which was pub-
licly known, the people would be fearful of doing any
thing against them, lest they should incur the kiug's
displeasure, and therefore might make themselves easy
about this matter; but, however, to give them all
the satisfaction he could, he directs them to do as
follows.
Ver. 8. Write ?/e also for the Jews as it lilceth you,
&c.] Whatever may be thought fit and proper for
their safety and security: in the king's name, and seal
it with the king's ring; as the former letters were: .for
the writing which is written in the kin,g"s name, and sealed
with the king's ring, may no man reverse; which is a
reason both for the writing and sealing of the present
letters in this manner, and wily the former could not
be reversed; nor does it appear that they were, but
that, in virtue of them, the people had power to rise
and kill the Jews on the day app9inted, if they durst,
or were so disposed; and these empowered the
Jews to rise in their own defcnce, and kill all that
made any attempts upon them, for which they had
the royal authority; and these letters coming after
the other, though they did not formally reverse
them, which might not be done, yet rendered them
ineffectual.
Ver. 9. Then were the king's scribes called at that
time, &c.] As they were to write the former letter,
ch. iii. 12. in the third month, that is the month Sioan, on
the 23d day thereof; which answers to part of May,
and part or'June. This was two months and ten days
after the writing of the former letters; so long the
Jews had been in distress by reason of them, and was
a just rebuke upon them for not returning to their
own land when' they might, as well as for other sins:
and it was written (according to all that Mordecai com-
manded) to the Jews. Mordecai dictated to the scribes,
and ordered what they should write; and which were
sent to the Jews in the first place, partly to ease them
of their present distress, and partly that they might
prepare against that time for their defence, for which
they had sufficient tithe, it being now more than nine
months to it: and to the lieutenants, and the deputies,
and the rulers of the provinces, which are from India
unto Ethiopia, 127 provinces. The letters were di-
rected to the same magistrates in the several provinces
as the tbrmer, giving orders to them, that, notwith-
standing them, they were to suffer the Jews to defend
themselves, and not punish them for what should be
done by them in seff-defence; see oh. i. 1. and if. 12.
unto every province according to the writing thereof, and
unto every people after their language, and to the Jews
according to their writing, and according to their lan-
guage; some provinces spoke the Persian language,
and used the character of it, others Chaldee, others
Syriac, .&c. and wrote in the usual characters, as the
Jews did in Hebrew, and in the characters of that
language; and now these letters were written in the
language and character of the people of the several
provinces they were sent to, that they might be easily
read and understood.
Ver. 10. And he wrote in the .King Ahasuerus'
name, and sealed it with the king's ring, &c.] Which
gave the letters authority, and made them irreversible,
and tbr this Mordecai had the king's order, ver. 8. and
sent letters by post; by runners or couriers: on horse-
baclc; that rode on horses that were racers, that ran
swiftly: and riders on mules, camels, and young drome-
daries; which were all different creatures, and swift
ones, according to our version, especially the latter;
see Jer. if. 23. which were a kind of camels, but swifter,
and would go more than 100 miles a day {a}; and, as Dio-
dorus Siculus says {b}, not less than 1,500 furlongs:
though it may be only one sort are meant, namely,
mu&s, for the next word, ahashteranim, in the Persian
language signifies mules {c}, and so Aben Ezra interprets
it, and likewise Kimchi and Ben Melech; and the last
words may be rendered sons of mares, so David de
Pomis; that is, such mules as are gendered by he-
asses and mares: and so the same writer observes, that
the word in the Arabic language signifies mares; and
such mules that come from thent he says are stronger
than those that come from she-asses; so that the whole
may be rendered to this sense, ricers on mules, (vhich
in the Persian language are called ahashtera,dm,)


{a} Isidor. Origin. l. 12. c. 1. Vid. Strabo Geograph. l. 15. p. 498.
{b} Bibliothec. l. 19. p. 683.
{c} Castell. Dictionar. Persic. col. 29. Hottinger. Smegma Oriental
l. 1. c. 5. p. 75.