Esther 1:8

_AND THE DRINKING WAS ACCORDING TO THE LAW; NONE DID COMPEL: FOR SO THE KING HAD APPOINTED TO ALL THE OFFICERS OF HIS HOUSE, THAT THEY SHOULD DO ACCORDING TO EVERY MAN'S PLEASURE._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

1-9 The pride of Ahasuerus's heart rising with the grandeur of his kingdom, he made an extravagant feast. This was vain glory. Better is a dinner of herbs with quietness, than this banquet of wine, with all the noise and tumult that must have attended it. But except grace prevails in the heart, self-exaltation and self-indulgence, in one form or another, will be the ruling principle. Yet none did compel; so that if any drank to excess, it was their own fault. This caution of a heathen prince, even when he would show his generosity, may shame many called Christians, who, under pretence of sending the health round, send sin round, and death with it. There is a woe to them that do so; let them read it, and tremble, Habakkuk 2:15; Habakkuk 2:16....

Verse Esther 1:8. _NONE DID COMPEL: FOR SO THE KING HAD APPOINTED_] Every person drank what he pleased; he was not obliged to take more than he had reason to think would do him good. Among the Greeks, each guest was obliged to _keep the round_, or leave the company: hence the proverb ηπιθιηαπιθι; _Drink_ or _begone_. To this _Horace_ refers, but gives more license: - Pasco libatis dapibus; prout cuique libido est. Siccat inaequales calices conviva, solutus Legibus insanis: seu quis capit acria fortis Pocula; seu modicis humescit aetius. HORAT. _Sat_. lib. ii., s. vi., ver. 67. There, every

ACCORDING TO THE LAW - An exception to the ordinary practice of compulsory drinking had been made on this occasion by the king’s order....

THE GREAT FEAST OF KING AHASUERUS AT SUSA, AND THE DISGRACE OF VASHTI EXPOSITION THE GREAT FEAST (Esther 1:1). King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) in the third year of his reign, which was B.C. 484-483, entertained at a great feast in the royal palace of Susa all his princes and his servants, "the power of Persia and Media," together with all the nobles and princes of the provinces (Esther 1:2, Esther 1:3). The hospitality was extended over a s

AND THE DRINKING WAS ACCORDING TO THE LAW, NONE DID COMPEL,.... According to the law Ahasuerus gave to his officers next mentioned, which was not to oblige any man to drink more than he chose; the Targum is, `according to the custom of his body;' that is, as a man is able to bear it, so they drank: some f read it, "the drinking according to the law, let none exact"; or require it to be, according to the custom then in use in Persia; for they were degenerated from their former manners, and indulged to intemperance, as Xenophon g suggests: the law formerly was, not to carry large vessels into feasts; but now, says he, they drink so much, that they themselves must be carried out, because they cannot go upright: and so it became a law with the Greeks, at their festivals, that either a man must drink or go out h; so the master of a feast, at which Empedocles was, ordered either that he shou...

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS THE BANQUETS AND QUEEN VASHTI DISOWNED CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The first feast of the king (Esther 1:1)_ 2. The king's feast unto all the people (Esther 1:5) 3. The queen's feast for the women (Esther 1:9) 4. The queen's refusal to appear at the king's feast (Esther 1:10) 5. The queen put away (Esther 1:13) Esther 1:1. King Ahasuerus, one of the leading characters of this book, is known in history as Xerxes I. The n

ESTHER 1. THE ROYAL FEAST. VASHTI'S DISOBEDIENCE AND DEGRADATION. The opening words in MT (and it came to pass) are in good Heb style, which shows that an able scribe wrote here. But they prove that something once stood before them. Even Paton translates, And afterward! After what? He says strangely, This expression is used in continuation of a historical narrative, and adds, lamely and incorrectly, It is an imitation of the beginnings of the older histories. The tale has clearly been truncated here, doubtless because the original spoke of Yahweh. A version of the original still exists in LXX: it is a sort of preface, saying that a Jew lived in Shushan (Daniel 8:2 *), who had a Perso-Babylonian name Mordecai, i.e. related to Marduk, Lord of Fate which the scribes would dislike and he was descended from the house of king Saul, also disliked by scribes. He was a court servant of king Artax...

LAW. Heb, _dath =_ royal decree, or special mandate, as in verses: Esther 1:1; Esther 1:13; Esther 1:15; Esther 1:19; Esther 3:8; Esther 4:11; Esther 4:16....

_according to the law_ rather, according to the direction given by the king for the occasion. The words which follow suggest that ordinarily hard drinking was enforced. Drunkenness was common among the Persians. [59] [59] See the description of a drunken company put by Xenophon (_Cyropaedia_, i. 3. 12) into the mouth of Cyrus, who describes the spectacle presented by Astyages himself and his friends on the occasion of the king's birthday feast. See also Additional Note III, in the first extract from the Jewish commentary called _Targum Shçnî_....