Comentário do capítulo
Esther Capítulo 1
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Es 1:1-22.
简体中文
Original em inglês
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.
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3. 为他的首领和臣仆设摆筵席——如此盛大、且延续如此长久的筵席，古代与近代东方国家的奢华君王屡有举办。然而这一节庆时期的前一段似乎专供娱乐，尤其用来展示朝廷的宏伟与珍藏；其末了则在王宫的御园之内设一次特别筵席，连续七日。古时的书珊宫近年已从压在它上面的厚土与废墟中被发掘出来；那座宫殿无疑就是本段所指的实际建筑，其中有一座由大理石柱构成的大厅。“这座大柱廊的位置，与这里所描述的相符。它矗立于土丘中央的高处，至于土丘的其余部分，我们可以想象是按波斯的风俗布满花园与喷泉。这样，柱廊便代表了‘王宫御园的院子’，其中有‘大理石柱’。我甚至倾向于认为，‘书珊城堡’（Shushan the palace）一语，特别是指现有遗址中的这一部分，以别于书珊的卫城与书珊城”[LOFTUS，《迦勒底与苏西亚纳》]。
Original em inglês
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].
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简体中文
6. 有白色、绿色、蓝色的帐子，等等——在富贵人家，逢喜庆之时，风俗上是从墙壁中间往下，用悬挂于钩上的、五彩缤纷的锦缎或绒帷来装饰房间，并可随意取下。
床是用金、银作的——即按东方风俗，宾客所斜倚的卧榻；这些卧榻或完全用金银造成，或镶嵌以这些贵重金属的饰物，置于用彩色的各样大理石所铺的高地上。
Original em inglês
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.
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7. 用金器皿赐酒——我们有理由相信，从本段记载，以及
斯 5:6; 7:2, 7, 8
中饮酒在描述中占了最显著的位置来看，这更像是一场酒宴，而非盛宴。
Original em inglês
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.
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9. 王后瓦实提在亚哈随鲁王的宫内，也为妇女设摆筵席——庆祝是双重的；因为按东方风俗，男女并不在社交中混杂，朝廷命妇便由王后另在一处接待。
Original em inglês
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.
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10-12. 第七日，王饮酒心中快乐——随着节日的推进，饮酒越发放纵，因此筵席的尾声通常以狂欢纵欲为标记。
他吩咐……七个太监——这些是掌管后宫的太监。瓦实提拒绝顺服那要她在一群醉汉狂欢者面前有失端庄地显露自己的命令，既合乎她女性的端庄，也合乎她为王后的身分；因为按波斯风俗，王后比别人的妻子更加深居简出，远离众人的注视。若不是王的血因酒而发热，或他的理智被受伤的骄傲所压倒，他本应看出，她这端庄的举动既维护了她自己的尊荣，也维护了他自己的尊荣。
Original em inglês
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.
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13-19. 王对智慧人说——这些人大概就是玛代波斯的术士（magi），波斯王若不先咨询他们关于行事的吉时，便从不采取任何步骤；而
斯 1:14
所记的那些人，就是组成国家内阁的“七位谋臣”（参较
拉 7:14）。
看来他们所有人的智慧都被动员起来，与王商议在瓦实提违抗王命这一前所未有的事件之后当采取什么行动。在一个王意绝对的国度与朝廷中，这样一次拒绝所引起的震惊，我们几乎难以想象。聚集的众贵胄对这一胆大妄为的冒犯惊骇万分。他们随即又为可能临到各人家中的后果而忧虑；狂欢纵饮之声顿时止息，转为深刻而焦急的商议：当对这桀骜不驯的王后施以何种惩罚。然而奉承王、并使所有妇女受辖制这一目的，却要借此达成。众谋臣或因醉酒，或因谄媚，不敢反对；大家一致采纳了米母干那带有朝廷气味的建议，宣称出于对国家公共利益的明智考量，对瓦实提的惩罚不能轻于褫夺她的王后尊位。判决于是宣布，并传遍帝国各地。
Original em inglês
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.
斯 1:1-22。
亚哈随鲁王设摆王筵。
1. 亚哈随鲁——如今学者们普遍同意，本段所提及的亚哈随鲁，就是希腊历史中所载的薛西斯（Xerxes）。