Commentaria in Esther
Chapter the Tenth. Synopsis of the chapter
The majesty and glory as well as virtue of Mardochai, who, verse 4, relates the explanation of his dream concerning the affliction of the Jews in Persia, and thence their deliverance and exaltation.
1. And king Ahasuerus made all the land and all the islands of the sea tributary: 2. whose strength and empire, and the dignity and greatness with which he advanced Mardochai, are written in the books of the Medes and Persians: 3. and how Mardochai of the race of the Jews was next after king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and acceptable to the people of his brethren, seeking the good of his people, and speaking those things that were for the welfare of his seed.
What is in the Hebrew I have rendered with full fidelity. But what follows I found written in the vulgate edition, which are contained in the Greek tongue and letters; and meanwhile this chapter was carried after the end of the book: which according to our custom we have marked with an obelus, that is, a spit.
4. And Mardochai said: These things are done by God. 5. I remember a dream that I saw, which signified these same things: and nothing of them hath failed. 6. The little fountain which grew into a river, and was turned into a light and sun, and abounded into many waters, is Esther, whom the king married, and made queen. 7. But the two dragons are I and Aman. 8. The nations that were assembled are they that endeavoured to destroy the name of the Jews. 9. And my nation is Israel, who cried to the Lord, and the Lord saved his people; and he delivered us from all evils, and wrought great signs and wonders among the Gentiles: 10. and he commanded that there should be two lots, one of the people of God, and the other of all the nations. 11. And both lots came to the day appointed from that time before God to all nations: 12. and the Lord remembered his people, and had mercy on his inheritance. 13. And these days shall be observed in the month of Adar, on the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the same month, with all diligence and joy of the people gathered together in one assembly, throughout all the generations hereafter of the people of Israel.
1. And king Ahasuerus made all the land and all the islands of the sea (namely those subject to himself and his empire) tributary,—that is, he burdened them with new tributes, both because he himself, more greedy of gold, was inclined to tributes; and because by his great and magnificent expenses in so ample and continuous a banquet, of which chapter i, he had exhausted the treasury; and because God wished by this tribute to chastise the Persians, who a little before had gaped for the slaughter and spoil of the innocent Jews.
3. Mardochai of the race of the Jews was next after king Ahasuerus.—He was therefore as it were the king’s vicar, and in his absence king; nay, with the king present Mardochai by his rare prudence and vigilance governed the empire, according to Josephus.
And speaking those things that were for the welfare of his seed (that is, for the advantage and prosperity of the Jews),—as if to say: Mardochai studied not his own advantages but those of his people. His illustrious deeds Scripture omits here, and sends him who desires to know them to the annals of the Medes and Persians.
Benjamin in the Itinerary relates that Mardochai and Esther were buried in the chief city of the Medes, called Hamadan the great; and says that in his time there were in it 50,000 Jews. Some suspect that the province Mardochea, which lies between Babylonia and the Persian Gulf, was named from Mardochai.
Here in the Hebrew the book of Esther ends: the rest that follow St. Jerome translated from the Greek into Latin, where note that these last seven chapters of Esther are Canonical Scripture. This is plain both from the definition of the Council of Trent, session IV, and from the Latin vulgate edition and the Greek of the Septuagint. Both of which constantly read these, though in the Greek they are not had separately, as in the Latin; but each is inserted in its own place in historical order, as before St. Jerome also the same were extant, inserted in their places, in the Latin edition. But St. Jerome, because he translated Esther from the Hebrew into Latin, and in his time these seven chapters were not extant in the Hebrew, therefore translated them from the Greek, and placed them apart, and brought them to the end of the book after the sequence of the whole history. That they were once extant in Hebrew before St. Jerome is plain from the Greek Septuagint, and the old Latin vulgate, and from Josephus, and Josippon son of Gorion, who have the same things that we have, surely from no other source than the ancient Hebrew original. It is likely that this book, like that of Tobias, was written twice in Hebrew, once more briefly, as now extant, a second time more fully; and thence flowed the Greek translation of the Septuagint, and from it our own, and therefore that it attached these patches. See Feuardentius here, and Bellarmine, book I On the Word of God, chapter vii.
4. And Mardochai said:—when, Aman now hanged, he understood the signification of his dream.
5. I remember a dream that I saw, which signified these same things.—This dream, therefore, was sent by God to Mardochai, that through it he might signify his future exaltation and that of Esther, and the struggle with Aman. Wherefore this dream is to be placed in historical order at the beginning of this book and of the whole history, as it is placed there in the Roman Greek. A like dream was sent by God to Pharao, Genesis xli; and to Nabuchodonosor, Daniel ii.
6. The little fountain which grew into a river, and was turned into a light and sun, and abounded into many waters, is Esther, whom the king married, and made queen.—Mardochai therefore dreamed, as is told in the next chapter, verse 5, that he saw a little fountain which grew into a river and was turned into light and sun; and afterwards understood that this fountain was Esther, who, once abject and mean, afterwards so grew that she was made queen, and wonderfully increased the nation of the Jews in number, strength and glory, and therefore like a sun shone in Persia and the whole world with the rays of her virtue and majesty. Aptly is Esther compared to a fountain: first, because as a fountain continually pouring out waters produces a mighty river, so Esther by her work and zeal produced a mighty people of the Jews, and converted many of the Gentiles to God and Judaism, as was said in chapter ix, last verse; second, she with her eyes and tears as fountains quenched the immense fire kindled by Aman against the Jews, as well as the wrath of God; third, with the same waters as with great and violent torrents she overwhelmed and drowned 75,000 Gentiles opposing the Jews; fourth, this fountain, which before was in darkness, chapter xi, 8, that is, in utmost grief and anguish, was turned INTO LIGHT AND SUN, that is, into the shining sun (it is a hendiadys), namely into the utmost gladness and felicity, when she delivered the Jews from death and made them triumph over their enemies.
Furthermore it is aptly said here that the fountain was turned into light and sun, because there is great affinity and analogy between fountain and sun: first, because as a fountain is the origin and spring of a river, so the sun is of light; for as a river flows from a fountain, so light from the sun; for the production, flow and emanation of each is alike; hence Hebrew ner, that is, light and lamp, alludes to nahar, that is, river, and to or, that is, light, because it signifies the outflow or propagation of light as of a river, that is, of seed and posterity; second, because what the fountain is on earth the sun is in heaven; for as a fountain is as it were the eye of the earth, so the sun is as it were the eye of heaven, surveying and adorning the whole heaven and world. Hence Hebrew ain signifies both eye and fountain, because what the eye is in man the fountain is on earth and the sun in heaven; third, because a river flowing from a fountain, while it is limpid, is transparent and clear like crystal (nay crystal is nothing else than the frozen water of a fountain), and lit by the rays of the sun gleams like the sun; fourth, because from the fountain and primeval waters the sun and heavens were created. Hence they too are called in Hebrew Schamaim, as if to say There waters, as I showed at length on Genesis i, 7. In like manner and analogy Esther here, as it were watery, that is, poor and abject, raised by Ahasuerus to the royal throne as to heaven, became glorious and radiant as the sun, so that she may rightly be called the fountain of the sun, of which Josue xv, 7, and chapter xviii, 17, according to what is said of her in chapter xi, 11: “The light and the sun rose, and the humble were exalted, and devoured the glorious.”
Hence Holy Scripture often combines light and river, as Psalm xxxv, 10: “O Lord, with thee is the fountain of life; and in thy light we shall see light.” And Apocalypse xxii, 4, the light of the glory of the blessed is described by the river of paradise, when it says: “And he showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Finally in fountains the sun by reflection of rays often expresses its image and makes a parhelion, that is, a second sun as it were, so that the fountain itself seems to be the sun, as I shall say in the next chapter, 10 and 11. This, then, is the paradoxical, hieroglyphic dream of Mardochai: “From waters the sun,” that is, from tribulation joy arises, from adversity prosperity, from desolation consolation, from grief gladness, from humiliation exultation, from mortification resurrection. The Poets feign that the sun, when it sets panting from the daily labour, plunges itself into the waters and the sea, to wash and cool itself by night; wherefore in the morning it comes forth again refreshed from the same and is born anew; so the waters of humiliation cool the mind glowing with works of charity, that humbler and more vigorous it may rise from them again to the same and go forward. Then is fulfilled what is said Job xi, 16: “Thou shalt forget misery, and remember it as waters that are passed away. And brightness like that of noonday shall arise to thee at evening; and when thou shalt think thyself consumed, thou shalt rise as the day-star, and the sun of justice and health in his wings; and you shall go forth, and shall leap like calves of the herd.” See what is said there. Finally this dream alluded to the custom of the Persians, who worshipped the sun as a divinity, and called their kings suns. Hence Cyrus in Persian is the same as sun. And Sapor king of the Persians, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, book XVII, writing to the Emperor Constantius, arrogates to himself this title: “Sapor king of kings, partner of the stars, and brother of the sun and moon, to Constantius my brother, greeting.” When therefore Mardochai saw in a vision Esther as a sun, he soon after understood that she would be queen of the Persians, and would wear on her head a solar crown, that is, distinguished with golden rays as of the sun. Josippon son of Gorion adds, book II, chapter ii, that Mardochai consoled Esther, afflicted in the persecution of Aman, by recalling this dream of his, and thence with certain hope of the deliverance to follow. Say the same of the whole four years in which Esther lay hidden in the house of Ahasuerus as mean, unknown and forgotten; for in the second year of Ahasuerus she was brought into his house; but only in the seventh year was she brought in to him, as is plain from chapter ii, verse 16. This, surely, is the way and method which the Lord uses, who kills and gives life, brings down to hell and brings back. 1 Kings chapter ii, verse 6.
Allegorically this fountain turned into the sun, literally signifying Esther, mystically represents the Blessed Virgin, who in Apocalypse xii, 1, is called a woman clothed with the sun. Hence St. Fulgentius, sermon On the praise of the Virgin: “Mary,” he says, “was made the window of heaven, because through her God poured out the true light of the world.” Blessed Damascene, Oration 4 On the Nativity of the Virgin, calls her “Gate of life, Fountain of light,” by which name very many others call her. Epiphanius, sermon On the praise of the Virgin, in these words: “O holy Virgin, mother of eternal light; of the light, I say, which in the heavens illumines the hosts of Angels; of the light which illumines the incomprehensible eye of the very Seraphim; of the light which illumines the sun with splendid torches; of the light which illumines the ends of the earth to believe in the Trinity; of the light which said: I am the light of the world; of the light which said: I, the light, came into the world; of the light which was assumed, and illumined all things that are in the heavens and on earth.” And again: “O womb having the inextinguishable light of sevenfold shining grace.” Chrysippus, Oration to the Mother of God: “Hail,” he says, “fountain of light enlightening every man; hail, rising of the sun that can bear no setting.” Ildephonsus, sermon 4 On the Assumption: “Mary,” he says, “according to the Hebrew word is interpreted star of the sea; the sea is the present world, and the star is the Blessed Virgin Mary, of whom was born he by whom the whole world is illumined. Hence approach more securely to the praise of the Virgin, and be enlightened, because she is the one through whom the true light shone forth on the sea of this world.” The Church in the Mass, in the preface of the Blessed Virgin, uses this same metaphor in these words: “Whose glory of virginity remaining, she poured forth upon the world the eternal light, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Ephrem, sermon On the praises of the Virgin: “Hail,” he says, “most shining star, from whom Christ proceeded; hail, through whom the brightest sun of justice has shone upon us.” And again he calls her “Light-bearer (Lucifera)”; likewise Cyril, book I On the right faith to the Queens: “Mary,” he says, “mother of life, mother of beauty, bearer of the greatest Light-bearer.”
7. But the two dragons are I and Aman.—These two dragons fought with each other, as is said in the next chapter, verse 6, to signify the struggle of Mardochai with Aman, and his supplanting. For dragons are the badges and emblems of soldiers and leaders: for they note their endowments, of which three are chief, namely vigilance, strength, and swiftness in accomplishing things. For the dragon is the providence of God, to humble first those whom he wills to exalt and glorify, and to make them mean and ignoble. He who therefore experiences this in himself, ever watchful, sees most keenly; hence the dragon is called by the poets from derkein, that is, from seeing. The same is strongest and swiftest; hence in Arabia it flies, wherefore let him raise his mind with the sure hope of better things, and know that he is in the right way by which God leads his own to loftiness and glory; because, as the Wise Man says: “Humility goeth before glory.” And: “The Lord first killeth, and then maketh alive; first bringeth down to hell” it bears something divine; for which reason the ancients assigned to the dragon the guarding of houses, temples, oracles, treasures, and of the infancy of heroes; as the Poets fabled of Hercules, nay of Nero. Hence again the dragon was with the ancients the symbol of prudence, wisdom, nay of prophecy, as Charles Paschal teaches, book IX On Crowns, chapter xv, at the end. Add (what is apt and proper to this) that the Parthians, or Persians, once in battle sent lions and dragons ahead against the enemy to consume them, as Brisson teaches from Lucian and Ennius, book II On the Kingdom of the Persians, page 310. A like dream about a dragon was had by Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, by which empire and monarchy were portended to him, as a dragon portended the same to Augustus, Aurelian, Severus, Scipio and others, according to Pierius, Hieroglyphics xv. Hence also Pharao is called a great dragon, Ezechiel xxix, 3. Hence also anciently in war those were called Draconarii who are now called standard-bearers. Finally, as the dragons of Moses devoured the dragons of the Magi, Exodus vii, 12, so Mardochai devoured Aman. So even now soldiers of great strength are commonly called dragons, namely horsemen who take a foot-soldier from behind, so that, setting him down on the ground in battle, both horsemen and foot-soldiers fight against the enemy.
10. And he commanded that there should be two lots, one of the people of God, and the other of all the nations.—Of the people of God, that is, against the Jews, adversaries and enemies; for Aman cast a lot for the slaying of the Jews;
but Mardochai gave a lot for the slaying of the nations enemies of the Jews.
11. And both lots came to the day appointed from that time before God to all nations,—as if to say: Both lots fell upon the same day appointed by God from eternity, namely the 13th and 14th of Adar, or February; but this day was to the Jews fortunate and joyful, but to the nations enemies of the Jews unlucky and deadly, because.
12. The Lord remembered his inheritance,—that is, the people of Israel, whom as his inheritance and peculiar possession God singularly loves; and therefore protects, saves and defends.
Symbolically St. Prosper, book I On the Calling of the Gentiles, chapter ii, takes the two lots to be of the faithful and the unbelieving; for God chose the Jews as faithful to grace and glory, from whom he excluded the unbelieving nations, yet so as not to deny them the common course of his providence and grace, as Prosper shows there; but for the Jews faithful to him he wrought great signs and wonders among the Gentiles, as when by Moses he afflicted Egypt with ten plagues, when by Josue he subdued the Chanaanites, by David the Philistines, etc. For to these wonders reference is made here.