Esther 1:1

THE BOOK OF ESTHER

Chronological Notes relative to this Book

-Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3540.

-Year before the birth of Christ, 460.

-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 464.

-Year of the Julian Period, 4250.

-Year since the flood of Noah, 1904.

-Year of the Cali Yuga, or Indian era of the Deluge, 2638.

-Year from the vocation of Abram, 1458.

-Year from the destruction of Troy, 721.

-Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple. 547.

-Year since the division of Solomon's monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 511.

-Year of the era of Iphitus, 421.

-Year since Coroebus won the prize at the Olympic games, 313.

-First year of the seventy-ninth Olympiad.

-Year of the Varronian era of the building of Rome, 290.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to Cato and the Fasti Consulares, 289.

-Year from the building of Rome according to Polybius the historian, 288.

-Year from the building of Rome, according to Fabius Pictor, 284.

-Year of the era of Nabonassar, 284.

-Year since the commencement of the first Messenian war, 280.

-Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, 258.

-Year since the commencement of the second Messenian war, 222.

-Year from the destruction of Solomon's temple by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, 125.

-Year since the publication of the famous edict of Cyrus, king of Persia, empowering the Jews to rebuild their temple, 72.

-Year since the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses, 62.

-Year since the abolition of the tyranny of the Pisistratidae at Athens, 43.

-Year since the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome, which put an end to the regal government of the Romans, 44.

-Year since the famous battle of Marathon, 26.

-Year after the commencement of the third Messenian war, 2.

-Year before the commencement of the first sacred war concerning the temple at Delphi, 17.

-Year before the commencement of the celebrated Peloponnesian war, 34.

-Year before the celebrated retreat of the ten thousand Greeks, and the expulsion of the thirty tyrants from Athens by Thrasybulus, 65.

-Year before the commencement of the era of the Seleucidae, 152.

-Year before the formation of the famous Achaean league, 183.

-Year before the commencement of the first Punic war, 200.

-Year before the fall of the Macedonian empire, 296.

-Year before the destruction of Carthage by Scipio, and of Corinth by Mummius, 317.

-Year before the commencement of the Jugurthine war, which continued five years, 354.

-Year before the commencement of the Social war, which continued for five years, and was finished by Sylla, 374.

-Year before the commencement of the Mithridatic war, which continued for twenty-six years, 376.

-Year before the commencement of the Servile war, under Spartacus, 392.

-Year before the extinction of the reign of the Seleucidae in Syria, on the conquest of that country by Pompey, 399.

-Year before the era of the Roman emperors, 433.

-Year of Archidamus, king of Lacedaemon, and of the family of the Proclidae, or Eurypontidae, 6.

-Year of Plistoanax, king of Lacedaemon, and of the family of the Eurysthenidae, or Agidae, 3.

-Year of Alexander, the tenth king of Macedon, 34.

-Year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of Persia, 1.

-Roman Consuls, Aulus Postumius, and Sp. Furius.

CHAPTER I

Ahasuerus makes royal feasts for his nobles and people, 1-9.

Vashti is sent for by the king, but refuses to come, 10-12.

Vashti is disgraced; and a law made for the subjection of

women, 13-22.

The whole history of this book in its connected order, with the occurrences in the Persian empire at that time, will be found in the introduction: to which the reader is referred.

Concerning the author of this book there are several opinions: some attribute the work to Ezra; some to one Joachim, a high priest; others, to the men of the Great Synagogue; and others to Mordecai. This latter is the most likely opinion: nor is that to be disregarded which gives to Mordecai for co-partner Ezra himself; though it is likely that the conclusion, from Esther 9:23 to the end of the book, was inserted by another hand, and at a later time. Though some Christians have hesitated to receive the book of Esther into the sacred canon; yet it has always been received by the Jews, not only as perfectly authentic, but also as one of the most excellent of their sacred books. They call it megillah, THE VOLUME, by way of eminence; and hold it in the highest estimation. That it records the history of a real fact, the observation of the feast of Purim, to the present day, is a sufficient evidence. Indeed, this is one of the strongest evidences that any fact can have, viz., that, to commemorate it, a certain rite, procession, feast, or the like, should have been instituted at the time, which, without intermission, has been continued annually through every generation of that people, and in whatsoever place they or parties of them may have sojourned, to the present day. This is the fact concerning the feast of Purim here mentioned; which the Jews, in all places of their dispersion, have uninterruptedly celebrated, and do still continue to celebrate, from the time of their deliverance from the massacre intended by Haman to the present time. Copies of this book, widely differing from each other, exist in Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Greek, and Latin. All these differ much from the Hebrew text, particularly the Greek and the Chaldee: the former has many additional paragraphs; and the latter, as it exists in the London Polyglot, contains five times more than the Hebrew text. To notice all the various readings, additions, and paraphrases, in the above copies, would require a volume of no inconsiderable magnitude. The reader who is curious may consult the above Polyglot. This book does not appear to be extant in Arabic, or in any other of the Oriental languages, besides the Hebrew and Syriac.

The question may naturally arise, What was the original of this book? or, In what language was it written? Though learned men in general decide in favour of a Hebrew original, yet there are many reasons which might be urged in favour of the Persian. Several of the proper names are evidently of a Persian origin; and no doubt all the others are so; but they are so transformed by passing through the Hebrew, that they are no longer discernible. The Hebrew has even retained some of the Persian words, having done little else than alter the character, e.g., Esther, Mehuman, Mishak, Melzar, Vashti, Shushan, Pur, Darius, Paradise, c., several of which will be noted in their proper places. The Targum in the London Polyglot is widely different from that in the Complutum, Antwerp, and Paris editions. The principal additions in the Greek are carefully marked in the London Polyglot, but are too long and too numerous to be inserted here. It is a singular circumstance that the name of God does not once occur in the whole of this book as it stands in Hebrew.

NOTES ON CHAP. I

Verse Esther 1:1. Now it came to pass] The Ahasuerus of the Romans, the Artaxerxes of the Greeks and Ardsheer of the Persians, are the same. Some think that this Ahasuerus was Darius, the son of Hystaspes but Prideaux and others maintain that he was Artaxerxes Longimanus.

Reigned from India even unto Ethiopia] This is nearly the same account that is given by Xenophon. How great and glorious the kingdom of Cyrus was beyond all the kingdoms of Asia, was evident from this: Ὡρισθῃ μεν πρως ἑῳ τῃ Ερυθρᾳ θαλαττῃ· προς αρκτον δε τῳ Ευξεινῳ ποντῳ· προς ἑσπεραν δε Κυπρῳ και Αιγυπτῳ· προς μεσημβριαν δε Αιθιοπιᾳ. "It was bounded on the east by the Red Sea; on the north by the Euxine Sea; on the west by Cyprus and Egypt; and on the south by Ethiopia." - CYROP. lib. viii., p. 241, edit. Steph. 1581.