the nsuRl Oriental prostration as unlawful, lllordeoai bowed not. Greeks occasionnlly ""C cannot se.y for certain ; but e.t any mte refused to prostrate themselves before the ho would not do as his fellows did, not even Gree.t King himself, sa;ring that it ,ve.s not when they romonstr&ted with him and taxed their custom to worship men (Herod., vii. 186; Plut., 'Vit. Artax.,' § 22; Arrinn., him with disobedience to the royal order 'Exp. Alex.,' iv. 10-12, &c.). Mordecai (ver. 3). In the course of their remon- seems to he.ve l1ad the same feeling. Pros- strances-probe.bly in order to account for his tr&tion was, he thought, e.n act of worship, reluctance-Mordecai stated himself to be a and it was not proper to worship any one Jew (ver. 4). It would seem to have been excepting God (see Rev. xxii. 9). Vers. 3, 4.-The king's servants, which after this that Haman's attention was first were in the gate with Mordecai, were the called by the other porters to Mordecai's first to observe his disrespect, and e.t once want of respect-these persons being desirous took up tl1e rue.tter. Why were they to of knowing whether his excuse would be bow down, e.nd Mordecai not 7 Was he e.ny allowed and the oheisance in his case dis- b_etter or any grander than they! Wbe.t nght had he to transgress the king's com- pensed with. Haman was violently enraged mandment 1 When they urged him on the (ver. 5) ; but instead of taking proceedings point day after day, Mordece.i seems e.t fast against the individual, he resolved to go to to have explained to them what his objection the root of the matter, and, if Mordecai was, e.nd to he.ve said that, as a Jew, he was would not bow down to him because he was precluded from prostre.ting himself before a man. He.ving heard this, they told Raman, a Jew, then there should be no more Jews- being curious to see whether lllordecai's he would have foem exterminated (ver. 6). matters (or, re.ther, "words") would stand, It did not occur to him that this would be a i. e. whether his excuse would be allowed, as matter of much difficulty, so confident was he we.s that of the Spartan ambasse.dors who of his own influence over Ahasuerus, and so declined to bow down before Artaxerxes Longimanus (Herod., 1. s. c.). certain that he would feel no insuperable re- Ver. 5.-When Raman saw. Apparently pugnance to the measure. The event justi- Mordecai's disrespect bad not been observed fied his calculations, as appears from the by Haman until the "kiDg's servants" latter part of the chapter (vers. 10-15). called his attention to it. Then, ne.ture.lly enough, he was greatly offended,. and felt Ver. 1.-After these thing&. Probably exceedingly e.ngry at whe.t seemed to him a some years after-about B.C. 476 or 475. gross impertinence. Mordecai's excuse did Rama.n, the sou of llammedatha. "Haman" not pacify him-perhaps seemed to him to is perhaps Umani.sh, the Persian equivalent make the matter worse, since, if allowed, it of the Greek Eumenes. '' Hammedatha" would justify a.II the Jews in the empire in has been explained as " given by the moon " withholding from him the respect that he (Maliadata), the initial h being regarded as considered his due. the Hebrew article. But this mixture of Yer. 6.-He thought scom to lay hands languages is not probable. The Agagite. on lllordecai alone, If Hame.n had simply The Septuagint has Bovyai:o,, "the Bugman." said to Ahasuerus, " There is one of your Both terms a.re equally inexplicable, with our menials who persistently disobeys a roye.l present knowledge ; but most probably the edict, and at the same time insults me," term used was a. focal one, marking the place Aha.suerus would, as a matter of course, have of Ha.man's birth or bringing up. A refer- told him to put the menial to death. But ence to descent from the A.ma.lekite king Agag the revengeful temper of the man was such (Joseph., 'Allt. Jud.,' ri 6, § 5) is scarcely that this seemed to him insufficient. Mor- possible. decai had insulted him as a Jew, e.nd the Ver. 2.-All the king'• servants. Liter- Jews should pay the penalty. Mordecai ally, "the king's slaves "-the lower officers should be punished not only in person, but of the court, porters and others, of about the in his kindred, if he had any, and in his same rank as Mordecai. :Bowed and rever- nation. The nation itself we.a contumacious enced Ha.man. I. e. prostrated themselves and troublesome (ver. 8); it would be well before him in the usual Oriental fashion. For to get rid of it. And it would be e. grand the king had 10 commanded. No reason is thing to wipe out e.n insult offered by an e.ssigned for this order, which was certainly individual in the blood of e. whole people. unusual, since the prostration of an inferior Ha.man therefore aonght to destroy all the before a auperior we.a e. general rule (Herod., lewa that were throughout the whole king- i. 134). Perhe.pe Ha.man had been eleve.ted dom of Aha■ uerus. Massacres on e. large from a very low position, and the king sea.le-not unknown in the West, witness therefore thought a special order reciuisite, St, Bartholomew's-are offre4uent occurrence cm. m. 1-6.J THE BOOK OF ESTHER. 63
in tho East, where human life is not held in the father of Xerxes (Herod., iii. 79), and much regCLrd, CLnd the caprices of e,bsolute one of Scythians about a century before monCLrchs determine the course of history, (ibid. L 106), These were examples whieh There hod been a general massacre of the might occur to Haman. A later one is the Magi upon the accession of Darius Hystaspis, Roman massacre of Mithridates in B,C. 88,