Esther 10:3

_FOR MORDECAI THE JEW WAS NEXT UNTO KING AHASUERUS, AND GREAT AMONG THE JEWS, AND ACCEPTED OF THE MULTITUDE OF HIS BRETHREN, SEEKING THE WEALTH OF HIS_ Mordecia ... was next unto king Ahasuerus ... great among the Jews ... The elevation of this pious and patriotic Jew to the possession of the highest official power was of very great importance to the suffering church at that period, for it enabled him, who all along possessed the disposition, now to direct the royal influence and authority in promoting the interests and extending the privileges of his exiled countrymen. Viewed in this light, the providence of God is plainly traceable an all the steps that led to his unexpected advancement; and this providential interposition is all the more remarkable that, as in the analogous case of Joseph, it was displayed in making the ordinary and natural course of things lead to the most marvelous...

Verse Esther 10:3. Was _NEXT UNTO KING AHASUERUS_] He was his prime minister; and, under him, was the governor of the whole empire. The _Targum_ is extravagant in its encomiums upon Mordecai: "All the kings of the earth feared and trembled before him: he was as resplendent as the evening star among the stars; and was as bright as Aurora beaming forth in the morning; and he was chief of the kings." _SEEKING THE WEALTH OF HIS PEOPLE_] Studying to promote the Jewish interest to the utmost of his power. _SPEAKING PEACE TO ALL HIS SEED._] Endeavouring to settle their prosperity upon such a basis, that it might be _for ever permanent_. Here the _Hebrew_ text ends; but in the ancient _Vulgate_, and in the _Greek, ten_ verses are added to this chapter, and _six whole_ _chapters_ besides,

MORDECAI ... WAS NEXT UNTO KING AHASUERUS - See Esther 2:5 note. Artabanus (Esther 1:14 note) was favorite toward the end of Xerxes’ reign, i. e. in his 20th and 21st years....

EXPOSITION CONCLUSION.—THE GREATNESS OF AHASUERUS, AND OF MORDECAI UNDER HIM (Esther 10:1.). The Book of Esther might have been expected to terminate with the institution of the Purim feast. All that has gone before is subordinate to this, and the reader would be satisfied, and require no more, if the book stopped at the end of Esther 9:1. But the writer, perhaps from personal attachment to Mordecai, perhaps from mere patriotic pride in him, cannot bring himself to lay down the pen until he has put on record the full greatness of his hero, and the strength and support that he was to the Jews of his day. He has already told us t

FOR MORDECAI THE JEW WAS NEXT UNTO AHASUERUS,.... The second man in the kingdom, the principal of the counsellors, and prime minister of state: AND GREAT AMONG THE JEWS; highly respected by them, in great honour and esteem with them, for which there was great reason: AND ACCEPTED OF THE MULTITUDE OF HIS BRETHREN; or of many, of most, of the greatest part of them; for, let a man be ever so deserving, there are some that will envy his greatness, cavil at everything done by him, and speak evil of him without any just reason: SEEKING THE WEALTH OF HIS PEOPLE; their good, their welfare and happiness, temporal and spiritual: AND SPEAKING PEACE TO ALL HIS SEED; not only to his family, but to all the Jews who were of the same seed with him, the seed of Abraham; either speaking to them in an humble and condescending manner, being very humane, affable, and courteous; or speaking for them to th...

AHASUERUS AND MORDECAI: THE CONCLUSION CHAPTER 10 The three verses with which this book closes tell us of the greatness of King Ahasuerus. Here also is the record of the increasing greatness of Mordecai. He was next unto King Ahasuerus, great among the Jews, accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people and speaking peace to all his seed. A blessed type of Him who is greater than Mordecai and who will some day bring peace to His earthly people and who will speak peace to the nations. The precious little book ends with peace....

ESTHER 10. CONCLUSION OF THE BOOK. The final chapter is a short panegyric on Mordecai: he is praised as wise and kind, a man of high importance in imperial affairs as well as beloved by all Jews. This is really praise of Judas Maccabæ us. But the scribes did not like the praise of that hero. He was the founder of the Hasmonean dynasty, which the Sadducees supported; but the Pharisees hated that dynasty, because it placed both princedom and high priesthood in one and the same person's hands (p. 608). The Pharisees were the masters of the scribal body and methods, hence the effort of these scribes to weaken the respect for Mordecai, Esther, Purim, and our tale; and hence, perhaps, the truncations in the Heb. version. LXX has a paragraph following the praise of Mordecai, which sums up the tale as a record of Yahweh's love and care for His people, and as a token of His purpose to rule the wo...

NEXT. the second. the Grand Vizier. Compare Esther 8:2. SPEAKING PEACE. maintaining peace. HIS SEED: i.e. the People of Israel. N. B. in Persia, not Judea. Thus was prepared the way for the emancipation of the Jews, which, not long after, was proclaimed by Cyrus (Ezra 1:1), the son of Astyages and Esther (see App-57), and is further proof that this book comes, chronologically, before the book Ezra-Nehemiah. N.B. the year 461 is the midway year of the Babylonian Servitude (496-426). See special note on 2 Chronicles 36:21....

Esther 10:1-3. Mordecai's greatness The connexion of this short chapter with the rest of the Book is obscure. It may be a fragment of some other work, which, owing to its subject-matter, came to be attached to the preceding narrative. On the other hand it may be nothing more than the closing paragraph or postscript of the Book, having for its object to emphasize the power of Ahasuerus, and so to reflect glory on Mordecai. In that case the thought which inspires the chapter is that Ahasuerus, whose prime minister Mordecai was, could command the service of the continent of Asia, and the coast of the Mediterranean....

XII. Postscript, Esther 10:1-3 TEXT: Esther 10:1-3 1 And the king Ashasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea. 2 And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? 3 For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the good of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed. Today's English Version, Esther 10:1-3 King Xerxes imposed forced labor on the people of the coastal regions of his empire as