Commentaires bibliques

Esther 4:1. Mordecai rent his clothes, &c.— The latter Targum, upon the book of Esther, gives us the following account of Mordecai's behaviour upon this sad occasion: "He made his complaint in the midst of the streets, saying, What a heavy decree is this, which the king and Haman have passed, not against a part of us, but against us all, to root us out of the earth! Whereupon all the Jews flocked about him, and, having caused the book of the law to be brought to the gate of Shushan, he, being covered with sackcloth, read the words of Deu 4:30-31 and then exhorted them to fasting, humiliation, and repentance, after the example of the Ninevites."

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Esther 4:11. Whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king— Ever since the reign of Dejoces king of Media, Herodotus informs us, for the preservation of royal majesty, it was enacted, that no one should be admitted into the king's presence; but that if he had any business with him, he should transact it through the medium of his ministers. The custom passed from the Medes to the Persians; and therefore we find in the same historian, lib. 3: that after the seven princes had killed the magician who had usurped the throne, they came to this agreement, that whoever should be elected king should allow the others to have at all times a ready access to his presence (which is an implication that they had it not before), except only when he was in company with any of his wives. This, therefore, was the ancient law of the country, and not procured by Haman, as some imagine: though it cannot be denied that the reason at first might be, not only the preservation of the king's person, but a contrivance likewise of the great officers of state, that they might engross the king to themselves, by allowing admittance to none but whom they should think proper to introduce. See Le Clerc.

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