Esther 1

Es 1:1-22.

AHASUERUS

MAKES

ROYAL

FEASTS.

1. Ahasuerus--It is now generally agreed among learned men that the

Ahasuerus mentioned in this episode is the Xerxes who figures in

Grecian history.

3. made a feast unto all his princes and his servants--Banquets on so

grand a scale, and extending over so great a period, have been

frequently provided by the luxurious monarchs of Eastern countries,

both in ancient and modern times. The early portion of this festive

season, however, seems to have been dedicated to amusement,

particularly an exhibition of the magnificence and treasures of the

court, and it was closed by a special feast of seven days' continuance,

given within the gardens of the royal palace. The ancient palace of

Susa has been recently disinterred from an incumbent mass of earth and

ruins; and in that palace, which is, beyond all doubt, the actual

edifice referred to in this passage, there is a great hall of marble

pillars. "The position of the great colonnade corresponds with the

account here given. It stands on an elevation in the center of the

mound, the remainder of which we may well imagine to have been

occupied, after the Persian fashion, with a garden and fountains. Thus

the colonnade would represent the 'court of the garden of the king's

palace' with its 'pillars of marble.' I am even inclined to believe the

expression, 'Shushan the palace,' applies especially to this portion of

the existing ruins, in contradistinction to the citadel and the city of

Shushan" [LOFTUS, Chaldaea and Susiana].

6. Where were white, green, and blue hangings, &c.--The fashion, in

the houses of the great, on festive occasions, was to decorate the

chambers from the middle of the wall downward with damask or velvet

hangings of variegated colors suspended on hooks, or taken down at

pleasure.

the beds were of gold and silver--that is, the couches on which,

according to Oriental fashion, the guests reclined, and which were

either formed entirely of gold and silver or inlaid with ornaments of

those costly metals, stood on an elevated floor of parti-colored

marble.

7. they gave them drink in vessels of gold--There is reason to believe

from this account, as well as from

Es 5:6; 7:2, 7, 8,

where the drinking of wine occupies by far the most prominent place in

the description, that this was a banquet rather than a feast.

9. 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.

10-12. 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 . . . the seven chamberlains--These were the eunuchs who

had charge of the royal harem. The refusal of Vashti to obey an order

which required her to make an indecent exposure of herself before a

company of drunken revellers, was becoming both the modesty of her sex

and her rank as queen; for, according to Persian customs, the queen,

even more than the wives of other men, was secluded from the public

gaze. Had not the king's blood been heated with wine, or his reason

overpowered by force of offended pride, he would have perceived that his

own honor, as well as hers, was consulted by her dignified conduct.

13-19. Then the king said to the wise men--These were probably the

magi, without whose advice as to the proper time of doing a thing the

Persian kings never did take any step whatever; and the persons named in

Es 1:14

were the "seven counsellors" (compare

Ezr 7:14)

who formed the state ministry. The combined wisdom of all, it seems,

was enlisted to consult with the king what course should be taken after

so unprecedented an occurrence as Vashti's disobedience of the royal

summons. It is scarcely possible for us to imagine the astonishment

produced by such a refusal in a country and a court where the will of

the sovereign was absolute. The assembled grandees were petrified with

horror at the daring affront. Alarm for the consequences that might

ensue to each of them in his own household next seized on their minds;

and the sounds of bacchanalian revelry were hushed into deep and

anxious consultation what punishment to inflict on the refractory

queen. But a purpose was to be served by the flattery of the king and

the enslavement of all women. The counsellors were too intoxicated or

obsequious to oppose the courtly advice of Memucan was unanimously

resolved, with a wise regard to the public interests of the nation,

that the punishment of Vashti could be nothing short of degradation

from her royal dignity. The doom was accordingly pronounced and made

known in all parts of the empire.