John Gill Commentary Esther 1

Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus. Who he was is not easy to say; almost all the kings of Persia are so named by one or another writer. He cannot be the Ahasuerus in (Daniel 9:1); he was Astyages, the father of Cyaxares or Darius the Mede. But this must be one who had his royal palace in Shushan, which was never the royal city of the Medes, but of the Persians only.

Nor does he seem to be the Ahasuerus in (Ezra 4:6), who is thought to be Cambyses, the son and successor of Cyrus. Since, according to the canon of Ptolemy, he reigned but eight years, whereas this Ahasuerus at least reigned twelve, (Esther 3:7), though indeed some account for it by his reigning in his father's lifetime. Besides, Cambyses was always an enemy to the Jews, as this was not; and yet this way go many of the Jewish writers ^F14.

And so a very learned man, Nicolaus Abram ^F15 ; according to Bishop Usher ^F16 , this was Darius Hystaspis, who certainly was a friend to the Jewish nation; but he is rather the Artaxerxes of Ezra and Nehemiah; and so says the Midrash ^F17 . Dr. Prideaux ^F18 thinks Ahasuerus was Artaxerxes Longimanus, which is the sense of Josephus {s}, and who is thought by many to be the Artaxerxes in the foresaid books. Capellus ^F20 is of opinion, that Darius Ochus is meant, to which Bishop Patrick inclines.

But I rather think, with Vitringa ^F21 and others ^F23 , that Xerxes is the Ahasuerus that was the husband of Esther here spoken of; so the Arabic writers ^F24 . And as he was the son and successor of Darius Hystaspis, if he is meant by Artaxerxes in the preceding books, the history of which is carried to the thirty second year of his reign, (Nehemiah 13:6) and who reigned but four years more; this book of Esther stands in right order of time to carry on the history of the Jewish affairs in the Persian monarchy. And Mr. Broughton ^F25 owns, that the name of Xerxes, in Greek, agrees with Achasuerus in Hebrew; and in (Esther 10:1) his name is Achashresh, which, with the Greeks, is Axeres or Xerxes ^F26 :

this is Ahasuerus, who reigned from India even unto Ethiopia, properly so called. The Ethiopians had been subdued by Cambyses the son and successor of Cyrus ^F1 , and the Indians by Darius Hystaspis the father of Xerxes ^F2 . And both, with other great nations, were retained in subjection to him ^F3 . And many of both, as well as of other nations, were with him in his expedition into Greece ^F4 :

over an hundred and twenty and seven provinces; there were now seven provinces more under his jurisdiction than were in the times of Darius the Mede, (Daniel 6:1) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: Targum & Jarchi in loc. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 29. Zuta, p. 108.
• F15: Pharus Vet. Test. l. 11. c. 12. p. 305.
• F16: Annal. Vet. Test. p. 160. so Broughton, Works, p. 38, 259, 581.
• F17: Midrash Esther, fol. 86. 2.
• F18: Connection par. 1. B. 4. p. 252, &c.
• F20: Chronolog. Sacr. p. 294.
• F21: Hypotypos. Hist. Sacr. p. 110.
• F23: Schichart. de Festo Purim. Rainold. Praelect. 144. p. 231. Alsted. Chronolog. p. 126, 181.
• F24: In Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 87.
• F25: Ut supra. (Broughton, Works, p. 38, 259, 581.)
• F26: Vid. Hiller. Arcan. Keri & Ketib, p. 87. & Onomastic. Sacr. p. 639.
• F1: Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 97.
• F2: lb. Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 44.
• F3: lb. Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 9.
• F4: lb. c. 65, 69, 70.

That in those days, when the King Ahasuerus sat on the throne
of his kingdom
Not only was placed upon it, but settled in it; after Xerxes had subdued Egypt, in the second year of hisreign ^F5, and enjoyed great peace and tranquillity:

which was in Shushan the palace ;
that is, the throne of his kingdom was in Shushan, the royal city of the kings of Persia; of which (SeeGill on Nehemiah 1:1) (See Gill on Daniel 8:2).

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: Herodot. ib. (Thalia, sive, l. 3.) c. 7.

In the third year of his reign he made a feast to all his
princes, and his servants
The nobles and officers in his court; on what account this was cannot be said with certainty, whether thefirst day of it was his birthday, or the day of his coming to the throne, on which day Xerxes used to make afeast annually, as Herodotus relates ^F6 :

the power of Persia and Media ;
the mighty men therein, the potentates thereof; or the "army", the principal officers of it:

the nobles and princes of the provinces being with him .
The first word Aben Ezra declares his ignorance of, whether it is Hebrew or Persian; Jarchi interprets it governors; and the persons intended by both seem to be the deputy governors of the one hundred and twenty seven provinces who were present at this feast.

Xerxes, having reduced Egypt, meditated a war with Greece, to which he was pressed by Mardonius, a relation of his; upon which he summoned the chief men of his kingdom, to have their advice about it ^F7 , which perhaps was taken at this time; for it was in the third year of his reign he resolved upon the war, and began to make preparations for it; and it was usual, at banquets and feasts, that the Persians debated their most important affairs ^F8 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: lb. (Herodot.) Calliope, sive, l. 9. c. 109.
• F7: Ib. l. 7. c. 8.
• F8: lb. Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 133.

When he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom
Xerxes was the fourth king of the Persian monarchy, and was "far richer than all" that went before him, all their riches coming into his hands, (Daniel 11:2) , and now that prophecy began to be fulfilled, "that by his strength, through his riches, he should stir up all against the realm of Grecia"; which he began to do in the third year of his reign, and for which these his nobles might be called together, as to have their advice, so to animate them to come in the more readily into the expedition, by showing them the riches he was possessed of; for to none of the kings of Persia does this largeness of riches better belong than to Xerxes:

and the honour of his excellent majesty ;
the grandeur he lived in, the pomp and splendour of his court; he was the most grand and magnificent of all the kings of the Medes and Persians ^F9 :

and this he did many days, even an hundred and fourscore days ;
to which seven more being added, as in the following verse, it made one hundred and eighty seven, the space of full six months; though some think the feast did not last so long, only seven days, and that the one hundred and eighty days were spent in preparing for it; but the Persian feasts were very long, large, and sumptuous.

Dr. Frye ^F11 says, this custom of keeping an annual feast one hundred and eighty days still continues in Persia. Cheus ^F12 , a Chinese emperor, used frequently to make a feast which lasted one hundred and twenty days; though it cannot be well thought that the same individual persons here were feasted so long, but, when one company was sufficiently treated, they removed and made way for another; and so it continued successively such a number of days as here related, which was six months, or half a year; a year then in use consisting of three hundred and sixty days, as was common with the Jews, and other nations, and so the Persians ^F13 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Pausan. Laconica, sive, l. 3. p. 165.
• F11: Travels, p. 348. apud Patrick in loc.
• F12: In Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 3. p. 78.
• F13: Prideaux's Connect. par. 1. p. 197.

And when these days were ended
The one hundred and eighty, in which the nobles, princes, and great men of the kingdom were feasted:

the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan
the palace, both unto great and small ;
of every age, rank, state and condition of life; these were the common people, whether inhabitants of the city or country people there on business, whether natives or foreigners; according to the Targum, there were Israelites there, but not Mordecai and his family; yea, it is said in the Midrash ^F14 , that they were all Jews, and that their number was 18,500; but this is not probable; it is very likely there were some Jews among them, as there were many in the army of Xerxes, when he made his expedition into Greece, according to the poet Choerilus ^F15 ; which is not to be wondered at, since there were so many of them in his dominions, and they men of valour and fidelity, and to whose nation he was so kind and favourable: and this feast was kept

seven days in the court of the garden of the king's palace ;
which no doubt was very large, and sufficient to hold such a number as was assembled together on this occasion, when there was not room enough for them in the palace. There is in history an account of a Persian king that supped with 15,000 men, and in the supper spent forty talents ^F16 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: Midrash Esther, fol. 94. 1.
• F15: Apud Joseph. contr. Apion. l. 1. c. 22.
• F16: Ctesias & Dinon in Athenaei Deipnosoph. l. 4.