Commentaria in Esther
Chapter the First. Synopsis of the chapter
Ahasuerus, to display his power, holds a solemn banquet lasting half a year. To it he summons Vashti, but when she refuses to come he repudiates her (1).
1. In the days of Ahasuerus, who reigned from India to Ethiopia over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces; 2. when he sat on the throne of his kingdom, Susan was the beginning of his kingdom. 3. Therefore in the third year of his reign he made a great banquet for all the princes and his servants, the bravest of the Persians, and the most noble of the Medes, and the governors of the provinces, before him, 4. that he might show the riches of the glory of his kingdom, and the greatness and boasting of his power, for a long time, to wit, a hundred and eighty days. 5. And when the days of the banquet were fulfilled, he invited all the people that were found in Susan, from the greatest to the least: and commanded a banquet to be prepared seven days in the porch of the garden and of the wood, which was planted with a royal care and the hand of man. 6. And there hung on every side pavilions of sky colour, and white, and hyacinth, hanging on cords of silk and purple, which were put into rings of ivory, and were held up with marble pillars. Beds also of gold and silver were set, by the pavement paved with emerald and parian stone: which was beautified with a wonderful variety of painting. 7. And they that were invited drank in golden cups, and the meats were brought in diverse vessels one after another. Wine also, in great plenty and of the best, was set on, as was worthy of a king’s magnificence. 8. Neither was there any one to compel them to drink that were not willing, but as the king had appointed, who set over every table one of his nobles, that every man might take what he would. 9. Vasthi the queen also made a feast for the women in the palace, where king Ahasuerus was used to dwell. 10. So on the seventh day, when the king was merry, and after very much drinking was well warmed with wine, he commanded Mauman, and Bazatha, and Harbona, and Bagatha, and Abgatha, and Zethar, and Charchas, the seven eunuchs who served in his presence, 11. to bring in queen Vasthi before the king, with the crown set upon her head, to show her beauty to all the people and the princes: for she was exceedingly beautiful. 12. But she refused, and slighted the king’s commandment, which he had sent by the eunuchs. Whereupon the king, being angry, and inflamed with exceeding fury, 13. asked the wise men who according to the king’s custom were always near him, and did all things by their counsel, who knew the laws and ordinances of their forefathers (14. Now those who were the first and nearest to him were Charsena, and Sethar, and Admatha, and Tharsis, and Mares, and Marsana, and Mamuchan, seven princes of the Persians and Medes, who saw the face of the king, and were used to sit first after him), 15. What sentence the queen Vasthi deserved, who had refused to do the commandment of king Ahasuerus, which he had sent by the eunuchs. 16. And Mamuchan answered, the king and the princes hearing: Queen Vasthi hath not only injured the king, but also all the people and the princes that are in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus. 17. For this deed of the queen will go abroad to all women, so that they will despise their husbands, and say: King Ahasuerus commanded that queen Vasthi should come in to him, and she would not. 18. And by this example all the wives of the princes of the Persians and Medes will slight the commands of their husbands: wherefore the king’s indignation is just. 19. If it please thee, let an edict go out from thee, and be written according to the law of the Persians and Medes, which it is not lawful to pass over, that Vasthi come in no more to the king, but another, who is better than she, take her kingdom. 20. And let this be published in all the empire (which is very wide) of thy provinces, and let all wives, as well of the greater as of the lesser, give honour to their husbands. 21. His counsel pleased the king and the princes: and the king did according to the counsel of Mamuchan. 22. And he sent letters to all the provinces of his kingdom, as every nation could hear and read, in diverse languages and characters, that the husbands should be the rulers and masters in their houses, and that this should be published to all peoples.
1. In the days of Ahasuerus.—The Septuagint has Artaxerxes; that is, Darius son of Hystaspes, as I have already said: for Ahasuerus was a name common to the kings of the Medes (whence Darius the Mede, Daniel ix, 1, is called the son of Ahasuerus, that is, of Astyages, the last king of the Medes), Artaxerxes to those of the Persians; and Darius was king of both. See what is said on 1 Esdras, chapter iv, verse 1. Add that in Persian these three names, Darius, Xerxes, Artaxerxes, signify nearly the same thing. For Darius is the same as restrainer; Xerxes the same as warrior; Artaxerxes the same as great warrior, says Pari. and Herodotus, book VI, page 175, although Hesychius in his Lexicon asserts that Darius in Persian is the same as prudent, wise.
2. Susan was the beginning of his kingdom.—This was the royal city of Darius and of the kings of the Persians, in which Darius in the third year of his reign wished to be crowned king most solemnly, a public royal banquet being given, which is described in this chapter. Susa is situated near the river Choaspes in a most pleasant place, so called from the abundance of lilies, from the fruitfulness and abundance of lilies, as Athenaeus testifies, book XII; Eustathius on the Dionysiaca, and the Etymologicum Magnum: for Susan in Hebrew is a lily; hence the Phoenicians, Persians and others call the lily Susan, or Susanna: hence also is named the Susinian ointment, of which the chief material was lilies, as Hesychius testifies at the word eov, and Pliny, book III, chapter 1; although Stephanus, in his book On Cities, thinks Susa Susa. In like manner cities have been named variously from flowers; Rhodes from the rose (for rhodon is a rose), Florence from flowers.
Furthermore Susa was first founded by Memnon son of Tithonus, say Herodotus, Aelian, Strabo and Cassiodorus; hence it was surnamed Memnonia: but Darius son of Hystaspes enlarged it and made it illustrious with new palaces, and adorned it as a royal seat, according to Aelian. There are those who think Susa to be Tauris, which today is the royal seat of the Sophi, king of the Persians. Moreover, the kings of the Persians, says Xenophon, book VIII of the Cyropaedia, pass the winter at Babylon, which is a very warm region; the spring at Susa, the summer at Ecbatana, and therefore, he says, they feel neither winter nor summer, but for them the sky and season are perpetual spring. But Aelian and Athenaeus, book XII, chapter iii, say that the kings of the Persians spend the winter in Susa, the summer in Ecbatana.
3. Therefore in the third year of his reign he made a great banquet.—The Chaldeans fable here that Ahasuerus wished to sit on the throne of Solomon, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried from Jerusalem to Babylon, and Cyrus from Babylon to Persia, and that when the throne could not hold Darius, he ordered another like it to be made, and that the craftsmen laboured two years in forming it; and that therefore in the third year Darius sat on it and prepared this banquet. Some think that Darius prepared this feast in order to celebrate his birthday with public rejoicing. For Athenaeus, book IV, chapter vi, and Plato in the Alcibiades, teach that this was the custom of the Persians.
And the most noble of the Medes.—In Hebrew Partemim, which some translate paratimi, as if these were the same as the homotimoi in Xenophon; that is, those held in equal honour and condition, as if to say “equal princes.” It is truer that Partemim is not Greek, but a Persian name of satraps.