Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.

“Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women--The celebration was double; for, as according to the Oriental fashion, the sexes do not intermingle in society, the court ladies were entertained in a separate apartment by the queen.”

On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was merry with wine, he ordered the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas— to bring Queen…

“On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine--As the feast days advanced, the drinking was more freely indulged in, so that the close was usually marked by great excesses of revelry. he commanded . . .”

Some time later, when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.

“The damsels, on arrival at the palace, were placed under the custody of "Hege, the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women," that is, the chief eunuch, usually a repulsive old man, on whom the court ladies are very dependent, and whose favor they are always…”

Now there was at the citadel of Susa a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish.

“Her sweet and amiable appearance made her a favorite with all who looked upon her (Es 2:15, last clause).”

And every day Mordecai would walk back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn about Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her.

“Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house--The harem is an inviolable sanctuary, and what is transacted within its walls is as much a secret to those without as if they were thousands of miles away.”

In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months…

“Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus--A whole year was spent in preparation for the intended honor.”

Then the king held a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his officials and servants.

“The nuptials were celebrated by a magnificent entertainment, and, in honor of the auspicious occasion, "he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the state of the king."”

After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.

“After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman . . . set his seat above all the princes--that is, raised him to the rank of vizier, or prime confidential minister, whose pre-eminence in office and power appeared in the elevated state chair appropriated to that…”

On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province…

“Then were the king's scribes called . . . and there was written--The government secretaries were employed in making out the proclamation authorizing a universal massacre of the Jews on one day.”

When Esther’s maidens and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, the queen was overcome with distress.

“Then was the queen . . . grieved; and . . . sent raiment to . . . Mordecai--Her object in doing so was either to qualify him for resuming his former office, or else, perhaps, of fitting him to come near enough to the…”

Then Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs appointed to her, and she dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what was troubling him and why.

“When the commission is executed, the subaltern communicates it to the superintendent, by whom it is delivered to the queen.”

On the third day, Esther put on her royal attire and stood in the inner court of the palace across from the king’s quarters.

“In such a situation the Persian king was seated. The seat he occupied was not a throne, according to our ideas of one, but simply a chair, and so high that it required a footstool.”

As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight.

“On the Khorsabad reliefs the rod is painted red, doubtless to represent gold; proving that "the golden sceptre" was a simple wand of that precious metal, commonly held in the right hand, with one end resting on the ground, and that whether the king was…”

“Who is in the court?” the king asked. Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he…

“Now Haman was come into the outward court--This was early in the morning. It is the invariable custom for kings in Eastern countries to transact business before the sun is hot, often in the open air, and so Haman was in all probability come officially…”

Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.

“Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was--We do not know the precise form of the couches on which the Persians reclined at table. But it is probable that they were not very different from those used by the Greeks and Romans.”

Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house.

“The information he now volunteered, as well it may be from abhorrence of Haman's cold-blooded conspiracy as from sympathy with his amiable mistress, involved with her people in imminent peril.”

So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

“So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai--He has not been the only plotter of mischief whose feet have been taken in the net which they hid (Ps 9:15).”

That same day King Xerxes awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews.

“On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman . . . unto Esther--His property was confiscated, and everything belonging to him, as some compensation for the peril to which she had been exposed.”

Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal garments of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen.

“Mordecai went out . . . in royal apparel--He was invested with the khelaat of official honor. A dress of blue and white was held in great estimation among the Persians; so that Mordecai, whom the king delighted to honor, was in fact arrayed in…”

The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did as they pleased to those who hated them.

“Thus the Jews smote all their enemies--The effect of the two antagonistic decrees was, in the meantime, to raise a fierce and bloody war between the Jews and their enemies throughout the Persian empire; but through the dread of Esther and Mordecai, the provincial governors…”

Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Xerxes, both near and far,

“Mordecai wrote these things--Commentators are not agreed what is particularly meant by "these things"; whether the letters following, or an account of these marvellous events to be preserved in the families of the Jewish people, and transmitted from one generation to another.”

Therefore these days are called Purim, from the word Pur. Because of all the instructions in this letter, and because of all they had seen and experienced,

“But this was remedied by authority, which fixed the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar. It became a season of sunny memories to the universal body of the Jews; and, by the letters of Mordecai, dispersed through all parts of the Persian empire, it was established…”

For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Xerxes, preeminent among the Jews and highly favored by his many kinsmen, seeking the good of his people and speaking peace…

“Viewed in this light, the providence of God is plainly traceable in all the steps that led to his unexpected advancement.”