a 24. Who was this King » Anſw. It is confeſſed and manifeſt that this was one of the Kings of Perſia : But which of them it was is not yet agreed, nor is it of any necefliry for us now to knows Bur it 1s ſuthciently evident that this was either, 1. Darizs Hyſtajpis, as divers both Jewiſh and Chriſtian Writers affirm : for his King- dom was thus vaſt, and he ſubdued dis, as Herodotus reports : and one of his Wives was called Mofa, which differs little from Ha- daſſah, which is Efther's other name.. Efth. 2:7: Or, 2. Xerxes, whoſe Wife. as Heredotus notes, was called Ameſftris, which is not much differing from Efher: by whom all theſe things were tranſa&ed whilſt he was potent and proſperous, before his unhappy expedi- tion againſt the Grecians. Or, 3. Ariazerxes Longimanus, to whom the Chara&ers of Ahaſuerus repreſented in this Book do not diſa- gree. And whereas it is obje&ed, that by this account Moracea; muſt be a man of about 140 years, and contequently Eſther, who is called his Uncles daughter, chap 2-7:muſt be too old ro make a Wite for the King ; as for Mordecai,it may be granted, there being divers inſtances of perions of greater Age than ttat in ſacred and propha,,c Hiſtorians ; and for Efther it may be faid that ſhe was his Uncles Grand-daughter, nothing being more frequent than for the names of ſons or daughters to be given to more remote Poſteriry. 6b $9 ſeven new Provinces were added to thoſe 120 mentioned Dar. 6:5.
(2 That in thoſe days, when the King Ahaſuerus face
| on the throne of his kingdom c, which was in Shuſhan [ Or, chef the || palace &, ;
city, - £ 3.e. Either was lately advanced to it : or rather was ſettled in the peacable poſſeſſion of it» d Or, thecaftle : or the chief or royal city; as both Jewiſh and Chriſtian Interpreters render it. Shuſhan might be the proper name of the Palace, which thence was given to the whole City. Here the Kings of Perfis uſed to keep their Courts chiefly in Winter, as ordinarly they were in Ecbatans in Summer. SY OE
3 In the third year of his reign,he made a feaſt unto all his princes, and his ſervants, the power e of Per- fia and Media, the nobles and princes ot the provinces
being before him.
ez. e, The mighty men ; the chief Officers of State, and Com- manders of all his Forces: whom by this ſplendid entertainment
| he endeavoured to oblige and aſſure to himſelf.
4 When he ſhewed the riches of his glorious King- dom, and the honour of his excellent majeſty, many days, even an hundred and fourſcore days f.
f Making every day a magnificent Feait either for all his Princes, or for ſome of them, who might come to the feaſt ſucceſſively, as the King ordered them to do. The Perſian Feaſts are much celebra- ted 'in Tathaks for their Jengrth and luxury.
-5: And when theſe days were expired,the king made
+ Heb. afeaſt unt all the people chat were | preſent g in Shu- found, fhan the palace, both unto greac and ſmall, ſeven days, | in the court of the garden h of the kings palace. £ Both ſuch as conſtantly reſided there, and ſuch as were come thither upon their occalions, of whatſoever condition or quality. h the Perſizh Gardens were exceeding large and pleaſanr. 6 Where were white, green, and || blue hangings faſte- 1 Oc, vi9-ned with cords of fine linnen and purple,to tilver rings, ** * * 'and pillars of marbel : the beds # were of gold, and JOr,of por- ſilver, upon a pavement || of red, and blue, and white, phyre, and and black marble» marble,and ; For in thoſe Eaſtern Countries,and ancient times,they did not alabaſter, frat Cables, as we do, butreſted or leaned upon Beds : of which and fone of 4; have many teſtimonies both in Scripture,as Eſt: 7; 8: Ames 2. 8, blew to and 6:4. John 13. 23- and in all other Authors: four. + And they gave them drink in vellels of gold, (the + Heb. Veſlels being divers one from another ) and t royal wine wine of the in abundance, F according to the ſtate of the king. kingdom. 8 And the drinking was according to the law, none + Heb-9- qjd compel & : for ſo the king had appointed to all the
cy han of Officers of his houſe, that they ſhould do according to
the king. .&Very mans pleaſure.
k 7. e. According to this Law whichthe king had now made;that none ſhould compel another to drink more than hepleaſed ; which the Perſians, and other looſe and heatheniſh Nations uſed to do ;
- though that Praftice was condemned by the wile and ſober heathens and among others by this great Prince. Or, 9 men did compel ano-
ther to drink accding to the law, 7. e. as by the Laws or Orders of
the Perſians preſcribed and uticd in their Feaſts they might have done, if not refttained by this Law,
ES IT HE K
God, Rom, 3. 2. ro keep them ſafely, and tranſmit them caveſully to Pofterity, And iti: @ that our bleſſed Lord, and his holy apefiles, who taxed the Jews with many faults beth greater which, if the Jews had been guilty, they would cerdainly have done, and by their Office were
ftlian Church, whoſe Faith was built n» leſs upon the Writings of the Prophets, than upen the Doc.
erpreters, ancient and modern, thought Te be Mordecai : who was both an holy
man of God, and aprincipal Atter in this tiftory, And therefore who ſo fit and proper for it as himſelf.
# ire Book was conſtantly received for a part of the Canon of the Scripture by
gether, bur in ſeveral places.
the People of the Jews; whaſe authority herein is the more conſiderable,
9 Alſo Vaſhti the Queen made a feaſt for the wo- men 4, iz the royal houſe which belonged to king Aha- ſuerus.
I Whilſt the King entertained the Men. For this was the com- mon cuſtom of the perſians, that Men and Womendid not feaſt ro«
Io On the ſeventh day, when the heart of the king Was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biz- tha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Car- cas, the ſeven || chamberlains m that ſerved in the pre. || Or, «. ſence of Ahaſuerus the king, _
»- Or, Eunuchs, which were much in uſe, and in favour in the Eaſtern Courts, and particularly with the Perſian Emperours,as an- cient Hiſtories inform us.
11 To bring Vaſhti the Queen before the king, with the crown royal, to ſhew the people and the princes her beauty, for ſhe was F fair to look on. FHebgud
| 12 But the queen Vaſhti refuſed to come » at the of cue kings commandment Þ by his chamberlains: therefore 7: was the kingvery wroth, and his anger burned in him. |,"
x Being favoured in this refuſal by the Laws and Cuſtoms of Per- th