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Esther Chapter
Seven
New King James Version
(NKJV)
Esther 7:1. So the king and
Haman went to dine with Queen Esther.
YLT 1And the king cometh in
and
Haman
to drink with Esther the queen
So the king and
Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.
Or
"to drink with
her"F5לשתות "ut biberent"
V. L. Tigurine version; "ad bibendum"
Pagninus
Montanus
Drusius
Vatablus.
that is
wine; for in the next verse it is called a banquet of
wine; so they did according to the invitation the queen had given them
Esther 5:8.
Esther 7:2.
2 And on the second day
at
the banquet of wine
the king again said to Esther
“What is your
petition
Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your
request
up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!”
YLT 2and the king saith to
Esther also on the second day
during the banquet of wine
`What [is] thy
petition
Esther
O queen? and it is given to thee; and what thy request? unto
the half of the kingdom -- and it is done.'
And the king
said again to Esther on the second day
at the banquet of wine
....
This was the third time he
put the following question to her
being very desirous of knowing what she had
to ask of him; and it was of God that this was kept upon his mind
and he was
moved to solicit her petition
or otherwise it would not have been so easy for
her to have introduced it:
what is thy
petition
Queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request?
and it shall be performed
even to the half of my kingdom;
see Esther 5:3.
Esther 7:3.
3 Then Queen Esther answered
and said
“If I have found favor in your sight
O king
and if it pleases the
king
let my life be given me at my petition
and my people at my request.
YLT 3And Esther the queen
answereth and saith
`If I have found grace in thine eyes
O king
and if to
the king [it be] good
let my life be given to me at my petition
and my people
at my request;
Then Esther the
queen answered and said
....
Not rolling herself at the
king's knees
as SeverusF6Hist. Sacr. l. 2. writes; but rather
as
the former Targum
lifting up her eyes to heaven
and perhaps putting up a
secret ejaculation for direction and success:
if I have found
favour in thy sight
O king;
as she certainly had
heretofore
and even now:
and if it
please the king
let my life be given me at my petition;
not riches
nor honour
nor any place or post at court
or in any of the king's dominions for any friend
of her's
was her petition; but for her own life
that that might not be taken
away
which was included in the grant the king had made to Haman
though
ignorantly
to slay all the Jews
she being one of them:
and my people
at my request;
that is
the lives of her
people also
that was her request; her own life and her people's were all she
had to ask.
Esther 7:4.
4 For we have been sold
my
people and I
to be destroyed
to be killed
and to be annihilated. Had we been
sold as male and female slaves
I would have held my tongue
although the enemy
could never compensate for the king’s loss.”
YLT 4for we have been sold
I
and my people
to cut off
to slay
and to destroy; and if for men-servants and
for maid-servants we had been sold I had kept silent -- but the adversity is
not equal to the loss of the king.'
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 freeF7Alex.
ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 20. ; but that being the case would not have
been so great a loss to the king
who would have reaped some advantage by their
servitude; whereas
by the death of them
he must sustain a loss which the
enemy was not equal to
and which he could not compensate with all his riches;
which
according to Ben Melech
is the sense of the next clause:
although the
enemy could not countervail the king's damage;
or
"for the enemy
cannot"
&c. the 10
000 talents offered by him
and all the riches
that he has
are not an equivalent to the loss the king would sustain by the
death of such a multitude of people
from whom he received so large a tribute;
but this the enemy regarded not; and so Jarchi interprets it
the enemy took no
care of
or was concerned about the king's damage; but there is another sense
which Aben Ezra mentions
and is followed by some learned men
who take the
word for "enemy" to signify "distress"
trouble
and
anguish
as in Psalm 4:1 and read
the words
"for this distress would not be reckoned the king's damage"F8הצר "adversitas"
Drusius
De Dieu;
"angustia"
Cocc. Lexic. in rad. שוה.
or
loss; though it would have been a distress to the Jews to have been sold for
slaves
yet the loss to the king would not be so great as their death
since he
would receive benefit by their service.
Esther 7:5.
5 So King Ahasuerus answered
and said to Queen Esther
“Who is he
and where is he
who would dare presume
in his heart to do such a thing?”
YLT 5And the king Ahasuerus
saith
yea
he saith to Esther the queen
`Who [is] he -- this one? and where
[is] this one? -- he whose heart hath filled him to do so?'
Then the King
Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen
....
The words in the original
text lie thus
"and the King Ahasuerus said
and he said to Esther the
queen"; which doubling of the word does not signify
as Jarchi suggests
that before he spoke to her by a messenger
or middle person
but
now he knew she
was of a royal family
he spoke to her himself; but it is expressive of the
ruffle of his mind
and the wrath and fury he was in
that he said it again and
again
with a stern countenance and great vehemence of speech:
who is he? and
where is he?
who is the man? and where
does he live?
that durst
presume in his heart to do so;
that has boldness
impudence
and courage enough to perpetrate so vile an action: or "that
has filled his heart"F9אשר מלאו לבו "qui replevit cor
suum"
Drusius; "implevit"
De Dieu. ; the devil no doubt filled
his heart to do it
see Acts 5:3
but the
king had either forgot the decree he had granted
and the countenance he had
given him to execute it; or
if he remembered it
he was now enraged that he
should be drawn in to such an action by him; and perhaps till now was ignorant
of Esther's descent
and knew not that she would be involved in the decree.
Esther 7:6.
6 And Esther said
“The
adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman!” So Haman was terrified before
the king and queen.
YLT 6And Esther saith
`The man
-- adversary and enemy -- [is] this wicked Haman;' and Haman hath been afraid
at the presence of the king and of the queen.
And Esther
said
the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman
....
Who was not only an enemy
to her and her people
but an adversary to the king
by advising and persuading
him to that which was to the loss of his revenues
as well as of his
reputation; also
she pointed at him
and gave him his just character; her
charge of wickedness upon him
as it was true
it was honourably made to his
face before the king
of which
if he could
he had the opportunity of
exculpating himself:
then Haman was
afraid before the king and the queen;
gave visible signs of his
confusion
consternation
and trouble of mind
by the fall of his countenance
his pale looks
his trembling limbs
and quivering lips
being struck dumb
and
not able to speak one word for himself.
Esther 7:7.
7 Then the king arose in his
wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden; but
Haman stood before Queen Esther
pleading for his life
for he saw that evil
was determined against him by the king.
YLT 7And the king hath risen
in
his fury
from the banquet of wine
unto the garden of the house
and Haman
hath remained to seek for his life from Esther the queen
for he hath seen that
evil hath been determined against him by the king.
And the king
arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath
went into the palace garden
....
Not being able to bear the
sight of Haman
who had done such an injury both to himself and to the queen;
as also that his wrath might subside
and he become more composed and sedate
and be able coolly to deliberate what was fitting to be done in the present
case:
and Haman stood
up to make request for his life to Esther the queen;
hoping that her tender
heart might be wrought upon to show mercy to him
and be prevailed on to
entreat the king to spare his life; and this request he made in the most
submissive manner:
for he saw that
there was evil determined against him by the king;
he perceived it both by
the king's countenance
by the rage he went out in
and by the threatening
words which he very probably uttered as he went out.
Esther 7:8.
8 When the king returned
from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine
Haman had fallen
across the couch where Esther was. Then the king said
“Will he also
assault the queen while I am in the house?” As the word left the king’s
mouth
they covered Haman’s face.
YLT 8And the king hath turned
back out of the garden of the house unto the house of the banquet of wine
and
Haman is falling on the couch on which Esther [is]
and the king saith
`Also
to subdue the queen with me in the house?' the word hath gone out from the
mouth of the king
and the face of Haman they have covered.
Then the king
returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine
....
Being a little cooler
and
more composed in his mind
see See Gill on Esther 1:5.
and Haman was
fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was;
not the bed she lay on to
sleep in the night
(for it cannot be thought that it was a bedchamber in which
the banquet was
) but on the bed or couch on which she sat or reclined at the
banquet
as was the custom in the eastern countries; now
"by"
or
"near" this
as the word may be rendered
Haman fell down
even at
the feet of the queen
begging for mercy; and some think he might embrace her
feet or knees
as was the custom of the Greeks and Romans as they were
supplicatingF11"Genibusque suas"
&c. Claudian. de
Raptu Proserpin l. 1. ver. 50. & Barthius in ib. Vid. Homer. Iliad. 21. l.
75. Plin. l. 1. Ep. 18. ; and so it seems to have been with the Jews
see 2 Kings 4:27
and
being in this posture
it might appear the more indecent
and give the king an
opportunity to say as follows:
then said the
king
will he force the queen also before me in the house?
that is
ravish her; not
that he really thought so; it was not a time nor place for such an action; nor
can it be thought that Haman
in such terror and confusion he was in
could be
so disposed; and besides there were others present
as the next clause shows:
but this he said
putting the worst construction on his actions
and plainly
declaring his opinion of him
that he thought him a man capable of committing
the vilest of crimes
and that his supplications were not to be regarded:
as the word
went out of the king's mouth
they covered Haman's face;
the servants present
as a
man unworthy to see the light; and they took what the king said to amount to a
sentence of condemnation
and that it was his will he should die; and they
covered his face
as condemned malefactors used to be; which was a custom among
the Greeks and Romans
of which many instances may be givenF12"Caput
obnubito"
&c. Ciceron. Orat. 18. "pro Rabirio"
Liv. Hist.
l. 1. p. 15. Curt. Hist. l. 6. c. 11. Vid. Solerium de Pileo
sect. 2. p. 20.
& Lipsii not. in lib. 1. c. 1. de Cruce
p. 203
204. ; though Aben Ezra
says it was the custom of the kings of Persia
that their servants covered the
face of him the king was angry with
that he might not see his face any more
which was well known in the Persian writings.
Esther 7:9.
9 Now Harbonah
one of the
eunuchs
said to the king
“Look! The gallows
fifty cubits high
which Haman
made for Mordecai
who spoke good on the king’s behalf
is standing at the
house of Haman.” Then the king said
“Hang him on it!”
YLT 9And Harbonah
one of the
eunuchs
saith before the king
`Also lo
the tree that Haman made for
Mordecai
who spake good for the king
is standing in the house of Haman
in
height fifty cubits;' and the king saith
`Hang him upon it.'
And Harbonah
one of the chamberlains
said before the king
....
One of the seven
chamberlains
see Esther 1:10
his
name
with JosephusF25Antiqu. l. 11. c. 6. sect. 11.
is
Sabouchadas.
Behold also
the gallows fifty cubits high
which Haman had made for Mordecai
who had
spoken good for the king
standeth in the house of Haman.
This man
perhaps
had
seen it there
when he went with others to fetch Haman to the banquet
Esther 6:14. The
sin of Haman is aggravated by preparing a gallows for a man before he was
accused to the king
or condemned
or had a grant for his execution
and for a
man that had well deserved of the king for discovering a conspiracy against
him
and whom now the king had delighted to honour:
then the king
said
hang him thereon;
immediately
being ready
prepared
the king's word was enough
being a sovereign and tyrannical prince.
Esther 7:10.
10 So they hanged Haman on
the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath subsided.
YLT 10And they hang Haman upon
the tree that he had prepared for Mordecai
and the fury of the king hath lain
down.
So they hanged
Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai
....
Not within his house
Esther 7:9
but
more probably in his courtyard
in the sight of his family and friends; or
it
may be
the gallows was taken from thence
and set up without the city
where
he was hanged: for so it is said in the additions of the book of
Esther
"For he that was the worker of these things
is hanged at the gates
of Susa with all his family: God
who ruleth all things
speedily rendering
vengeance to him according to his deserts.' (Esther 16:18)that he was
hanged without the gates of Shushan; see Psalm 7:15
then was the
king's wrath pacified;
having inflicted
punishment on such a wicked counsellor of his
and the contriver of such
mischief.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》