The Pulpit Commentary — Esther — Section 6

medinah (Ezra ii. l ; Neh. xi. 3), though not suppose that the same fersons were enter- OD lr a small part of the satrapy of Syria. tained during ths whole o this period. All 'or. 2.-The throne ofhia kin§'dom, which the l?rovincial governors could not quit their we.e in Shushan. Though the I ersian court provinces at the so.me time, nor could any of resided a part of the year at Ecbatana, and them remain away very long. There wns no occasiorntlly visited Persepolis and Babylon doubt a succession of guests during the six (Xen., 'Cyrop.,' viii. 6, § 2; 'Anab.,' iii. months that the entertainment lnsted. 6, § 15), yet Susa was decidedly the ordinary Ver. 5.-A feast unto all the people that seat of government, and ranked as the capital were found in Susa. The males only o.re of the empire (see Herod., iii. 49; .lEschyl., intended, as appears from ver. 9. So Cyrus 'Pers.,' 11. 122, 123; Ctes., 'Exe. Pers.,' on one occasion feasted " the en tire Persian passim, &c.). "Shushon the palace" is army," slaughtering for them all his father's aistinguished from Shushan the city (eh. ix. flocks, sheep, goats, and oxen (Herod., i. 126). 12-15), the one occupying a lofty but arti- In the court of the garden. The " court o( ficial eminence towards the west, while the . the garden" is probably the entire space other lay at the base of this mound, stretch- surrounding the central he.II of thirty-six ing out a considerable distance towards the pillars at Susa, including the three detached east. porticoes of twelve pillars each, described by Ver. 3. -In the third year of his reign. Mr. Loftus in his 'Chaldrea and Susiana' In B.C. 483, probably in the early spring, (pp. 365-372). This is a space nearly 350 when the court, having spent the winter at feet long by 250 wide, with a square of 145 Babylon (Xenophon), returned to Susa to feet taken out of it for the central building. enjoy the most charming season of the year. The area exceeds 60,000 square feet. He made a feast unto all his princes and Ver. 6.-Where were white, green, and his servant&. Persian kings, according to blue hangings. There is nothing in the Ctesias and Duris, ordinarily entertained at original corresponding to "green." The their table 15,000 persons! This is of course "hangings," or rather awning, was of white an exaggeration ; but there can be no doubt cotton (karphas) and violet. Mr. Loftus that their hospitality was on a scale unex- supposes that it was carried across from the ampled in modern times. The vast pillared central pillared hall to the detached porti• halls of the Persepolitan and Susau palaces coes, thus shading the guests from the in- could acco=odate many hundreds, if not tense heat of the sun (' Chaldrea and Susiana, • thousands. The power of Persia and Media. p. 375). Fastened with cords of fine linen The empire of the Achremenian kings was and pnrple. Very strong cords would be Perso-Medic rather than simply Persian. The needed to support the awning if it wa~ llledes were not only the most favoured of carried across as above suggested, over a the conquered nations, but were really placed space of nearly sixty feet. To rings of silver_ nearly on a par with their conquerors. Many The exact use of the rings is doubtful. of the highest offices were conferred on them, Perhaps they were inserted into the stone and they formed no doubt a considerable work in order that the cords might be made section of the courtiers. The nobles. Liter- fast to them. Pillars of marble. The ally, "the first men,'' ha-partemim. The pillars at Susa are not of marble, but of a word used is a Persian term Hebraised. It dark-blne limestone. Perhaps the Hebrew occurs only in this place. And prince■ of aMsk designated this stone rather than the provinces_ I. e- satraps. The presence marble. The beds were of gold and silver. of such persons at the great gathering at Susa The couches on which the guests reclined preparatory to the Grecian war is witnessed a.re intended (comp. eh. vii. 8). These were to by Herodotus (vii 19). . either covered with gold and silver cloth, or Ver. 4. - When he showed the riches. had their actual framework of the precious Ostentation was a main feature in the cha- metals, like those which Xerxes took with =ter of Xerxes. The huge army with which him into Greece (see Herod., ix. 82). Upon he invaded Greece was more for display than a pavement of red, and blue, and white, for service. Vain parade is apparent at and black marble. The four words which every step of his expedition (Herod., vii 31, follow "pavement" are not adjectives de- jO, 41, 44, 59, &c.). He now exhibits noting colours, but the names of four differ- "the riches of his kingdom" to his nobles ent materials. One is aMsh, the material of and chief officers, showing them doubtless all the pillars, which accords with the fact that the splendours of the palace, the walls draped such pavement slabs as have been found e.t with gold (.lEschyL, 'Pers.,' I. 161), the marble Susa are, like the columns, of a blue lime- pillars and rich hangings, the golden plane stone. The other materials are unknown to tree and the golden vine (Herod., vii 27), us, and we cannot say what the exact colours and perhaps the ingots of gold wherewith were ; but no doubt the general result was a Darius had filled the treasury (ibid. iiL 96). mosaic pavement of four different hues. An hundred and foW"score da71. We need Ver. 7.-The7 gave them drink in vessel• OR. I. 1-9.) THE BOOK OF ESTHER. 3