Commentari biblici

After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.

After these things — After the wine was out, the fuel of his anger spent, and the lust thereof satisfied.

When the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased — There is nothing that a man is more ready to keep than his wrath; therefore the Hebrews put servare for servare iram, to keep for to keep his anger, as Jeremiah 3:5 Psalms 103:9 Leviticus 19:18 . Ahasuerus, by invading Greece, had so incensed them, that their wrath αειμνηστος , unappeasable, for they thenceforth hated all barbarians for the Persians’ sake, and forbade them their sacrifices, as they used to do murderers. But Ahasuerus’s wrath against Vashti was after a time assuaged.

He remembered Vashti — Not without some remorse, but without all true repentance. He forsook not his rash anger as a sin, but regretted it for a time, and laid it asleep, to be raked up again upon as slight an occasion. In graceless persons vitia raduntur, non eradicantur; absconduntur saepius, non exscinduntur; vices may be barbed or benumbed, not mastered and mortified. A merchant may part with his goods, and yet not hate them. A man may part with his sins for self-respects, and yet retain his affection to them; as Phaltiel did to Michal, when he went weeping after her afar off. He may remember his Vashti, his bosom sins from which he seemeth divorced, and by such a sinful remembering of them, recommit them. See Ezekiel 23:21 compared with Esther 2:8 .

And what was decreed against her — But whose fault was that? Wine and anger are the worst of all counsellors, say the ancients? and Ahasuerus found it so; as did also Alexander the Great, and many others, but all too late. Hence they came in afterwards with their Non putaram, Had I known; which Scipio said should never be heard out of a great man’s mouth (Plutarch). Augustus also was wont to say, that nothing doth so ill become a commander as hastiness and rashness (Sueton.). Cicero taxeth him for a fool, qui eundem laedit et laudat, who first wrongeth a man, and then commendeth him.

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Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:

Then said the king’s servants — His friends, saith Josephus, to whom he had opened his mind; the young courtiers, say others (green wood is ever shrinking and warping), but most probably those seven chief counsellors, Esther 1:14 , who had persuaded him to cast off Vashti, and now feared, lest if not some way diverted, he should fall as foul upon them as his predecessor Darius did upon those claw backs, Daniel 6:24 or as the Athenians did upon Timagoras, Demagores, and Euagoras, whom they condemned to die, for flattering Darius Hystaspes, the father of this Ahasuerus.

Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king — They knew him to be a sensualist and effeminate; they therefore agree to feed his humour, to drown him again in pleasure, so to drive away his melancholy. Such miserable comforters are carnal physicians; so wretched is our nature, to endure no other medicine; so justly doth God fit the physician to the patient, the helve to the hatchet; so do the wicked help each other forward to their deserved destruction. Ahasuerus’s courtiers and counsellors become brokers to his lusts; neither is this anything unusual with such. Lenocinantur, produnt, blasphemant, peierant, toxica miscent, …, saith an expositor here. What is it that such parasites and sycophants will not do to ingratiate with great ones? It was not therefore without good cause, that the primitive Christians prayed hard for the emperor, as Tertullian testifieth, that God would send him Senatum fidelem, a faithful council, and free him from flatterers.

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And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given [them]:

And let the king appoint officers — Praeficiat praefectos. Costly counsel. This could not be done without much trouble and charge to the king. Two or three years are spent in gathering, purifying, and preparing these choice virgins for the impure bed of this heathen prince, while he is following the chase of his ambition, in the wars of Greece.

In all the provinces of his kingdom — A large commission they must have, the whole kingdom is their circuit; and note that they went not to foreigners; which those princes that do, while thereby they seek for greatness, they many times miss goodness; while they labour to be strong abroad (and so to have a stake in store, as they say, however the dice chance to turn), they weaken themselves at home, and while by foreign matches they intend unity, it proves an occasion both of civil and foreign dissensions. We of this nation have had sad experience of these mischiefs.

That they may gather together — This could not be done without the great grief and general discontent of the king’s best subjects ( nimium serviliter huic hirco subiectorum, as one hath it), thus bereft and despoiled of their dearest daughters, the staves of their age.

All the fair young virgins — Beauty (the best pearl in a carnal eye) is all that is here looked after, quae plerumque virtute et pudicitia caret, which is oft without virtue and common honesty, as, where they meet, it is a rare mixture. The heathen man saith, Non est formosa mulier cuius crus laudatur aut brachium, sed illa cuius universa facies admirationem singulis partibus abstulit. Now if this be true, long enough might these commissionated officers look for fair young virgins, truly so called, there being very few that are not peccant in some minnum, some tittle of beauty, or other. It is a praise peculiar to the virgin daughter of Zion to be all fair, Song of Solomon 4:7 , to be αμωμος , Ephesians 5:26 , such as in whom even Momus himself could find no error.

Unto Shushan the palace — In which one place there might have been found choice enough, without speaking further; but that lust is unsatisfiable. The eye is not satisfied with seeing; and in such a multitude how could it be but that the king’s mind must needs be distracted, which one to make choice of?

To the house of the women — Such as is now the Turk’s Seraglio. See the description of the Grand Signior’s Seraglio, by Master John Greanes, chap. iv.

Unto the custody of Hege — Who was their keeper, or rather their jailer. For what was this house of women but a perpetual prison to them, clapped under hatches, as it were, and, haply, held in as great servitude as those in Barbary are at this day; where it is death for any man to see one of the Xeriff’s concubines; and for them too, it, when they see a man, though but through a casement, they do not suddenly screek out.

And let their things for purification — σμηγματα , their cleansing, to dry up the filth of the flesh, and to cleanse nature’s infirmities, that they might be six months purified with oil of myrrh, and six other months perfumed with sweet odours, as Esther 2:12 . Here the maids were first purified before the king chose one. But Christ first chooseth his spouse, and then purifieth her, Ephesians 5:26 .

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And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.

And let the maiden — Herein unhappy that she got her honour with the loss of her honesty; and that so many maids are made miserable for her sake.

That pleaseth the king — Heb. That is good in his eyes. The eye is the lamp and ornament of the whole body; and yet that most lightsome part doth ofttimes draw the soul into utter darkness; while by those windows of wickedness and loopholes of lust Satan windeth himself into the heart, and maketh it impudicitiae cloacam (as Venus’s temple on the top of Lebanon is called by Eusebius), a very sink and sewer of all lewdness and abomination.

Be queen instead of Vashti — This was held a great business, and a sufficient recompense. The bramble held it a goodly thing to reign over the trees: not so the vine and fig tree, Judges 9:15 .

And the thing pleased the king — Because it added more fuel to the fire of his lust, and that he may lengthen out his days in dalliance and wantonness: ut libidine libidinem provocante, nihil nisi muliebris fiat, saith an expositor here, that he might be the right successor of Sardanapalus, who buried himself in the bos oms of his harlots, and left behind him this infamous epitaph: πα φι λι πα λι φι-Tαυτ εχω οσσ ’ εφαγον και εφυβοισα και μετ ερωτος, πα λι φι Tεοπν επαθον τα δε αλλα και ολβια παντα λελειπται

An epitaph fit for an ox, saith Aristotle. The kings of Persia are noted for effeminate, fitter for a canopy than a camp; and affecting such sights, ubi Imperator Apparator, lanx phalanx, acies facies, bella labella, spicula pocula, scutum scortum, …

And he did so — According to the counsel of those court parasites (whose word is that of Stratocles, Mihi placer quicquid Regi placet ), he walked in the ways of his heart, and in the sight of his eyes, little thinking that for all these things God would bring him into judgment, Ecclesiastes 11:9 . But such governors the wicked world deserveth, as being itself totus in maligno positus, 1 John 5:19 When Phocas, that filthy traitor, reigned at Constantinople, Cedrinus saith that a certain honest poor man was very earnest with God to know why such a man, or rather monster, was set up; he was answered again by a voice, that there could not be a worse man found, and that the sins of Christians did require it.

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[Now] in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name [was] Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;

Now in Shushan the palace — Not in Babylon, as Josephus doteth.

There was a certain Jew — That had not returned to Jerusalem, as he ought to have done; and as another of his name did, Ezra 2:2 .

Whose name was Mordecai — That is, pure myrrh, say some; bitter contrition, say others; he is the son of contrition, that must be the son of consolation. This Mordecai was one of those few that both lived and died with glory; being not taxed for any gross sin.

The son of Jair — Happy father in such a son; much more joy might he well be to his parents than Epaminondas was to his: and of him it might be sung,

Tοις μακαρες τε κασιγνητοι τε, κασιγνηται τε (Homer).

The son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite — He descended, then, either from some other son of Kish, the father of Saul, or else from Jonathan, Saul’s son; for he only, of all the sons of Saul, left issue behind him. But the Kish here mentioned, though of his line, lived many years after Saul’s father.

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Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.

Who had been carried away from Jerusalem — Kish had, not Mordecai; unless it were in the loins of his great grandfather. Kish and his posterity were of those good figs mentioned in Jeremiah; but goodness is no target against affliction.

Labentem texit pietas (Virg.).

With the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah — The good figs were carried away at the same time with the bad, but in several baskets, Jeremiah 34:1 . Kish, and others like him, as Daniel, Ezekiel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, …, were not only good men, but very good, like the figs that are first ripe, Jeremiah 24:2 , such as God’s soul desireth, Micah 7:1 , and yet they were carried away with Jeconiah and the rest that were nought, stark nought, Jeremiah 24:2 . The best may have their share in a common calamity; but God will not fail even then to set his eyes upon them for good, Jeremiah 24:6 . The husbandman cutteth down his corn and weeds together, but for different purpose. Excellently Austin, Una eademque vis irruens bonos probat, purificat, eliquat; malos damnat, vastat, exterminat: One and the same common calamity proveth, melteth, purifieth the good; damneth, wasteth, destroyeth the evil (De Civit. Dei, lib. 1, cap. 8): these have an evil, an only evil, Ezekiel 6:5 , without mixture of mercy; and that because they are nought, very nought, figs that cannot be eaten, they are so nought, Jeremiah 24:2 .

Whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away — Lo, here the rod in God’s hand for the chastisement of his children; that, being chastened of the Lord, they may not be condemned with the world, 1 Corinthians 11:32 . This rod, when he had worn to the stumps, he cast into the fire.

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And he brought up Hadassah, that [is], Esther, his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid [was] fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.

And he brought up — He both nourished and nurtured her in the true religion and admonition of the Lord, Ephesians 6:4 , he was her foster-father and her instructor.

Hadassah — Not the same with Atossa, as Tremellius would have it. Hadassah was the name given her by her parents, and it signifieth a myrtle tree, which loveth to grow in a bottom; whence the Church is compared to it for her lowly mindedness, Zechariah 1:8 . See Trapp on " Zechariah 1:8 "

That is, Esther — This was her Persian name, say some: in heathen histories she is called Amestris (Herod. lib. 7, Sealig.).

His uncle’s daughter — Not his brother’s daughter, as the Vulgate rendereth it, after Josephus and Aben Ezra. She was his first cousin, and this was one reason that moved him to adopt her, viz. the bond of nature.

For she had neither father nor mother — A poor orphan she was; but Christ left her not comfortless, John 14:18 . He had provided and enabled Mordecai, to feed her and raise her; to train her up in the fear of God, and to defend her chastity from the rage of lust; besides that her head was by him destined to a diadem; Esther the captive shall be Esther the queen; Esther, the fatherless and motherless, shall be a nursing mother to the Church; and meanwhile meet with a merciful guardian, Mordecai. Why, then, should we not trust God with ourselves and our children?

And the maid was fair and beautiful — See Trapp on " Esther 2:3 " Gratior est pulchro, … For her beauty she was brought to the king; and not without some respect to this it was that she was raised by Mordecai. This beauty was a privilege of nature; and because of the forcible battery that would be laid to it, God gives her a guarding. Esther was now in the flower of her age, and her beauty was the flower of her virtue, as Chrysippus called it.

Whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead — And so she might have been put to seek her bread in desolate places, being left to the wide world, as they say; but the Lord was her rereward, Isaiah 58:8 , he took her up, Psalms 27:10 , as the gathering army or rear guard did the lame, feeble, and sick Israelites, Joshua 6:9 . In the civil law provision is made for orphans, and such as were cast out; some hospitals to entertain them, some liberties to comfort and compensate their troubles. Among us also, besides harbours and hospitals for such, to the great commendation of the founders, very good provision is made by the laws, and many lives thereby preserved. God oft professes himself the pupils’ patron; gives great charge to all not to hurt them, and menaces the Jews for their hardheartedness toward them. Let, therefore, the dying parents of such (though they have as little to leave them as Esther’s had) cast them by faith into God’s everlasting arms, who hath charged his angels with them, and hath promised heaven to them; commanding his best creatures to cater for them, Hosea 2:21-22 .

Took for his own daughter — He hid not his eyes from his own flesh, Isaiah 58:7 , as some unnatural ostrich or sea monster; he made not, as many do, tuition a broker for private gain; he made not instead of a daughter a slave, or spunge, of his pupil; he devoured her not under pretence of devotion; but freely took her for his child, and bred her in the best manner. Now the Jews at this very day account a child’s tutor or monitor worthy of more respect than his father; for he, say they, hath given him only his being, but the other his well-being (Leo. Mod.).

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So it came to pass, when the king’s commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.

Esther 2:8 So it came to pass, when the king’s commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.

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