Esther 7:4

_FOR WE ARE SOLD, I AND MY PEOPLE, TO BE DESTROYED, TO BE SLAIN, AND TO PERISH. BUT IF WE HAD BEEN SOLD FOR BONDMEN AND BONDWOMEN, I HAD HELD MY TONGUE, ALTHOUGH THE ENEMY COULD NOT COUNTERVAIL THE KING'S DAMAGE._ We are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed - i:e., by the cruel and perfidious scheme of that man who offered an immense sum of money to purchase our extermination. Esther dwelt on this contemplated atrocity in a variety of expressions, which both evinced the depth of her own emotions, and were intended to awaken similar feelings in the king's breast. BUT IF WE HAD BEEN SOLD FOR BONDMEN AND BONDWOMEN, I HAD HELD MY TONGUE. Though a great calamity to the Jews, the enslavement of that people might have enriched the national exchequer, and, at all events, the policy, if found from experience to be bad, could be altered. But the destruction of such a body of people would be an...

1-6 If the love of life causes earnest pleadings with those that can only kill the body, how fervent should our prayers be to Him, who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell! How should we pray for the salvation of our relatives, friends, and all around us! When we petition great men, we must be cautious not to give them offence; even just complaints must often be kept back. But when we approach the King of kings with reverence, we cannot ask or expect too much. Though nothing but wrath be our due, God is able and willing to do exceeding abundantly, even beyond all we can ask or think....

Verse Esther 7:4. _TO BE DESTROYED, TO BE SLAIN_] She here repeats the words which Haman put into the _decree_. See Esther 3:13. _COULD NOT COUNTERVAIL THE KING'S DAMAGE._] Even the _ten thousand_ talents of silver could not be considered as a compensation to the state for the loss of a whole nation of people _throughout all_ _their generations_....

The king now learned, perhaps for the first time, that his favorite was a Jewess. ALTHOUGH THE ENEMY ... - i. e. “although the enemy (Haman) would not (even in that case) compensate (by his payment to the treasury) for the king’s loss of so many subjects.”...

EXPOSITION AT THE SECOND BANQUET ESTHER DENOUNCES HAMAN, AND THE KING CONDEMNS HIM TO BE IMPALED ON THE CROSS PREPARED FOR HAMAN (Esther 7:1). Esther had promised to make her true petition at the second banquet (Esther 5:12), and now kept her word. When the king for the third time put the question, "What is thy petition, queen Esther? and what is thy request? It shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom_,_"_ _she opened all

FOR WE ARE SOLD, I AND MY PEOPLE, TO BE DESTROYED, TO BE SLAIN, AND TO PERISH,.... She makes use of these several words, to express the utter destruction of her and her people, without any exception; not only the more to impress the king's mind with it, but she has respect to the precise words of the decree, Esther 3:13 as she has also to the 10,000 talents of silver Haman offered to pay the king for the grant of it, when she says, "we are sold", or delivered to be destroyed: BUT IF WE HAD BEEN SOLD FOR BONDMEN AND BONDWOMEN, I HAD HELD MY TONGUE: should never have asked for deliverance from bondage, but have patiently submitted to it, however unreasonable, unjust, and afflictive it would have been; because it might have been borne, and there might be hope of deliverance from it at one time or another; though it is said, slaves with the Persians were never made free g; but t

THE SECOND BANQUET AND HAMAN'S MISERABLE END CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The second banquet and Esther's petition (Esther 7:1)_ 2. Haman's exposure (Esther 7:5) 3. Haman's miserable end (Esther 7:7) Esther 7:1. Esther at this second feast knew that the God of her fathers was at work and that all the hatred against her race came not from the heart of the king, but centered in Haman. In the events of the sleepless night and what followed she must have seen the display of the hand of God. And now she utters her delayed petition. Her petition is that her life may be spared as well as her people. How astonished the king must have look

ESTHER 7. ESTHER ACCUSES HAMAN, AND HE IS HANGED ON THE GIBBET HE HAD PREPARED FOR MORDECAI. On the same day, at her second drinking-feast, Esther suddenly bursts out in impassioned denunciation of Haman (Esther 7:6), and in cries for help from his murderous intent against her and ail she loves. A passage here (Esther 7:3 f.) has fretted students, but it is simple when simply translated. We are sold, cries Esther, I and my race, to death and utter ruin! Would that it had been for slaves and handmaids we were sold! Then had I been silent. But in our adversary there is lacking everything that will equal the king's loss. She means that slaves sold bring in cash, but murdered subjects bring none. The king's eyes are opened: in his rage at Haman he can scarce restrain himself. When the wretched Haman, in his terror, appeals

ARE. have been. SOLD. Implying that. bargain had been made. DESTROYED... SLAIN... PERISH. Note the Figure of speech _Synonymia_ (App-6), to emphasize the urgency of her petition. Compare Esther 3:13. PERISH. See note on Esther 3:13. COUNTERVAIL. make good, or compensate....

BUT IF WE HAD BEEN SOLD FOR BOND-MEN, &C.— _Would to God we had been sold for bond-men and bond-women! then I would have held my peace: although our enemy is not of so much worth that damage should be brought on the king._ Houbigant. Esther means, that Haman was not a man of such consequence as to countervail the infamy which would fall on the king, and the loss which his kingdom would sustain, by the sacrifice of a whole nation to his resentment....