CRITICAL NOTES.] ESTHER 3:1. AFTER THESE THINGS] After the events related in the former chapter. The twelfth year of the reign of Ahasuerus, five years after Esther 2:16, but here somewhat sooner. “The name _Haman_ is probably the same which is found in the classical writers under the form of Omanes... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.] ESTHER 3:7.] The first month Nisan corresponds nearly with our April. The twelfth month Adar with our March. An interval of eleven months. פּוּור is an old Persian word meaning lot (_sors_). The words “from day to day, from month to the twelfth month,” must not be understood to say... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.] ESTHER 3:8.] The Jews were at this time a people scattered abroad. From the fall of Samaria the tribes of Israel had become more and more dispersed among the people in all the provinces of the East, until their tribe divisions could be now but faintly recognized. Seneca says, “Such... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.] ESTHER 3:12.] The scribes of Xerxes are mentioned more than once by Herodotus. They appear to have been in constant attendance on the monarch, ready to indite his edicts, or to note down any occurrences which he desired to have recorded.—_Rawlinson_. אַתַשְדַּוְפָנִים and פַחוֹת ar... [ Continue Reading ]
CRITICAL NOTES.] ESTHER 3:15.] נָביֹכָה primarily does not mean that it was _distressed_ by terror or sorrow, but that it was _perplexed_, did not know what to think of such a terrible command. The remark that “Shushan was perplexed” has been attributed to Jewish conceit, but without reason. Susa w... [ Continue Reading ]