mh_parser/vol_split/17 - Esther/Chapter 2.xml

<div2 id="Esth.iii" n="iii" next="Esth.iv" prev="Esth.ii" progress="97.50%" title="Chapter II">
<h2 id="Esth.iii-p0.1">E S T H E R</h2>
<h3 id="Esth.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Esth.iii-p1">Two things are recorded in this chapter, which
were working towards the deliverance of the Jews from Haman's
conspiracy:—I. The advancement of Esther to be queen instead of
Vashti. Many others were candidates for the honour (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.1-Esth.2.4" parsed="|Esth|2|1|2|4" passage="Es 2:1-4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>); but Esther, an orphan, a
captive-Jewess (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.5-Esth.2.7" parsed="|Esth|2|5|2|7" passage="Es 2:5-7">ver. 5-7</scripRef>),
recommended herself to the king's chamberlain first (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.8-Esth.2.11" parsed="|Esth|2|8|2|11" passage="Es 2:8-11">ver. 8-11</scripRef>) and then to the king
(<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.12-Esth.2.17" parsed="|Esth|2|12|2|17" passage="Es 2:12-17">ver. 12-17</scripRef>), who made
her queen, <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.18-Esth.2.20" parsed="|Esth|2|18|2|20" passage="Es 2:18-20">ver. 18-20</scripRef>.
II. The good service that Mordecai did to the king in discovering a
plot against his life, <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.21-Esth.2.23" parsed="|Esth|2|21|2|23" passage="Es 2:21-23">ver.
21-23</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Esth.iii-p0.1_1" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2" parsed="|Esth|2|0|0|0" passage="Es 2" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Esth.iii-p0.2_1" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.1-Esth.2.20" parsed="|Esth|2|1|2|20" passage="Es 2:1-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Esth.2.1-Esth.2.20">
<h4 id="Esth.iii-p1.9">Esther's Advancement; Esther Chosen
Queen. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Esth.iii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 514.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Esth.iii-p2">1 After these things, when the wrath of king
Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had
done, and what was decreed against her.   2 Then said the
king's servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young
virgins sought for the king:   3 And let the king appoint
officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather
together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the
house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king's
chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for
purification be given <i>them:</i>   4 And let the maiden
which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing
pleased the king; and he did so.   5 <i>Now</i> in Shushan the
palace there was a certain Jew, whose name <i>was</i> Mordecai, the
son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;
  6 Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the
captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah,
whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.   7
And he brought up Hadassah, that <i>is,</i> Esther, his uncle's
daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid
<i>was</i> fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and
mother were dead, took for his own daughter.   8 So it came to
pass, when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and
when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace,
to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the
king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.  
9 And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and
he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things
as belonged to her, and seven maidens, <i>which were</i> meet to be
given her, out of the king's house: and he preferred her and her
maids unto the best <i>place</i> of the house of the women.  
10 Esther had not showed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai
had charged her that she should not show <i>it.</i>   11 And
Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to
know how Esther did, and what should become of her.   12 Now
when every maid's turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after
that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the
women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished,
<i>to wit,</i> six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with
sweet odours, and with <i>other</i> things for the purifying of the
women;)   13 Then thus came <i>every</i> maiden unto the king;
whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the
house of the women unto the king's house.   14 In the evening
she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of
the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain,
which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more,
except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name.
  15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the
uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to
go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's
chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther
obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.
  16 So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house
royal in the tenth month, which <i>is</i> the month Tebeth, in the
seventh year of his reign.   17 And the king loved Esther
above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight
more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her
head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.   18 Then the king
made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants,
<i>even</i> Esther's feast; and he made a release to the provinces,
and gave gifts, according to the state of the king.   19 And
when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then
Mordecai sat in the king's gate.   20 Esther had not
<i>yet</i> showed her kindred nor her people; as Mordecai had
charged her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as
when she was brought up with him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Esth.iii-p3">How God put down one that was high and
mighty from her seat we read in the chapter before, and are now to
be told how he exalted one of low degree, as the virgin Mary
observes in her song (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.52" parsed="|Luke|1|52|0|0" passage="Lu 1:52">Luke i.
52</scripRef>) and Hannah before her, <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.4-1Sam.2.8" parsed="|1Sam|2|4|2|8" passage="1Sa 2:4-8">1 Sam. ii. 4-8</scripRef>. Vashti being humbled for her
height, Esther is advanced for her humility. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Esth.iii-p4">I. The extravagant course that was taken to
please the king with another wife instead of Vashti. Josephus says
that when his anger was over he was exceedingly grieved that the
matter was carried so far, and would have been reconciled to Vashti
but that, by the constitution of the government, the judgment was
irrevocable—that therefore, to make him forget her, they contrived
how to entertain him first with a great variety of concubines, and
then to fix him to the most agreeable of them all for a wife
instead of Vashti. The marriages of princes are commonly made by
policy and interest, for the enlarging of their dominions and the
strengthening of their alliances; but this must be made partly by
the agreeableness of the person to the king's fancy, whether she
was rich or poor, noble or ignoble. What pains were taken to humour
the king! As if his power and wealth were given him for no other
end than that he might have all the delights of the sense wound up
to the height of pleasurableness, and exquisitely refined, though
at the best they are but dross and dregs in comparison with divine
and spiritual pleasures. 1. All the provinces of his kingdom must
be searched for fair young virgins, and officers appointed to
choose them, <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.3" parsed="|Esth|2|3|0|0" passage="Es 2:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. 2.
A house (a seraglio) was prepared on purpose for them, and a person
appointed to have the charge of them, to see that they were well
provided for. 3. No less than twelve months was allowed them for
their purification, some of them at least who were brought out of
the country, that they might be very clean, and perfumed, <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.12" parsed="|Esth|2|12|0|0" passage="Es 2:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Even those who were the
masterpieces of nature must yet have all this help from art to
recommend them to a vain and carnal mind. 4. After the king had
once taken them to his bed, they were made recluses ever after,
except the king pleased at any time to send for them (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.14" parsed="|Esth|2|14|0|0" passage="Es 2:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>); they were looked upon
as secondary wives, were maintained by the king accordingly, and
might not marry. We may see, by this instance, to what absurd
practices those came who were destitute of divine revelation, and
who, as a punishment for their idolatry, were given up to vile
affections. Having broken through that law of creation which
resulted from God's making man, they broke through another law,
which was founded upon his making one man and one woman. See what
need there was of the gospel of Christ to purify men from the lusts
of the flesh and to reduce them to the original institution. Those
that have <i>learned Christ</i> will think it <i>a shame even to
speak of such things as</i> these which <i>were done of them,</i>
not only <i>in secret,</i> but avowedly, <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.12" parsed="|Eph|5|12|0|0" passage="Eph 5:12">Eph. v. 12</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Esth.iii-p5">II. The overruling providence of God thus
bringing Esther to be queen. Had she been recommended to Ahasuerus
for a wife, he would have rejected the motion with disdain; but
when she came in her turn, after several others, and it was found
that though many of them were ingenious and discreet, graceful and
agreeable, yet Esther excelled them all, way was made for her, even
by her rivals, into the king's affections and the honours
consequent thereupon. It is certain, as bishop Patrick says, that
those who suggest that she committed a great sin to come at this
dignity do not consider the custom of those times and countries.
Every one that the king took to his bed was married to him, and was
his wife of a lower rank, as Hagar was Abraham's; so that, if
Esther had not been made queen, the sons of Jacob need not say that
he <i>dealt with their sister as with a harlot.</i> Concerning
Esther we must observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Esth.iii-p6">1. Her original and character. (1.) She was
one of the <i>children of the captivity,</i> a Jewess and a sharer
with her people in their bondage. Daniel and his fellows were
advanced in the land where they were captives; for they were of
those whom God sent thither <i>for their good,</i> <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.5" parsed="|Jer|24|5|0|0" passage="Jer 24:5">Jer. xxiv. 5</scripRef>. (2.) She was an orphan;
her father and mother were both dead (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.7" parsed="|Esth|2|7|0|0" passage="Es 2:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), but, when they had forsaken her,
then the Lord took her up, <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.10" parsed="|Ps|27|10|0|0" passage="Ps 27:10">Ps. xxvii.
10</scripRef>. When those whose unhappiness it is to be thus
deprived of their parents in their childhood yet afterwards come to
be eminently pious and prosperous, we ought to take notice of it to
the glory of that God, and his grace and providence, who has taken
it among the titles of his honour to be a <i>Father of the
fatherless.</i> (3.) She was a beauty, <i>fair of form, good of
countenance;</i> so it is in the margin, <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.7" parsed="|Esth|2|7|0|0" passage="Es 2:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Her wisdom and virtue were her
greatest beauty, but it is an advantage to be a diamond to be well
set. (4.) Mordecai, her cousin-german, was her guardian, <i>brought
her up, and took her for his own daughter.</i> The LXX. says that
he designed to make her his wife; if that were so, he was to be
praised that he opposed not her better preferment. Let God be
acknowledged in raising up friends for the fatherless and
motherless; let it be an encouragement to that pious instance of
charity that many who have taken care of the education of orphans
have lived to see the good fruit of their care and pains,
abundantly to their comfort. Dr. Lightfoot thinks that this
Mordecai is the same with that mentioned in <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.2.2" parsed="|Ezra|2|2|0|0" passage="Ezr 2:2">Ezra ii. 2</scripRef>, who went up to Jerusalem with the
first, and helped forward the settlement of his people until the
building of the temple was stopped, and then went back to the
Persian court, to see what service he could do them there. Mordecai
being Esther's guardian or pro-parent, we are told, [1.] How tender
he was of her, as if she had been his own child (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.11" parsed="|Esth|2|11|0|0" passage="Es 2:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): he walked before her door every
day, to know how she did, and what interest she had. Let those
whose relations are thus cast upon them by divine Providence be
thus kindly affectioned to them and solicitous for them. [2.] How
respectful she was to him. Though in relation she was his equal,
yet, being in age and dependence his inferior, she honoured him as
her father—<i>did his commandment,</i> <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p6.7" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.20" parsed="|Esth|2|20|0|0" passage="Es 2:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. This is an example to orphans;
if they fall into the hands of those who love them and take care of
them, let them make suitable returns of duty and affection. The
less obliged their guardians were in duty to provide for them the
more obliged they are in gratitude to honour and obey their
guardians. Here is an instance of Esther's obsequiousness to
Mordecai, that she did not <i>show her people of her kindred,</i>
because Mordecai had charged her that she should not, <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p6.8" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.10" parsed="|Esth|2|10|0|0" passage="Es 2:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. He did not bid her deny
her country, nor tell a lie to conceal her parentage; if he had
told her to do so, she must not have done it. But he only told her
not to proclaim her country. All truths are not to be spoken at all
times, though an untruth is not to be spoken at any time. She being
born in Shushan, and her parents being dead, all took her to be of
Persian extraction, and she was not bound to undeceive them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Esth.iii-p7">2. Her preferment. Who would have thought
that a Jewess, a captive, and orphan, was born to be a queen, an
empress! Yet so it proved. Providence sometimes <i>raiseth up the
poor out of the dust, to set them among princes,</i> <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.8" parsed="|1Sam|2|8|0|0" passage="1Sa 2:8">1 Sam. ii. 8</scripRef>. (1.) The king's
chamberlain honoured her (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.9" parsed="|Esth|2|9|0|0" passage="Es 2:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>), and was ready to serve her. Wisdom and virtue will
gain respect. Those that make sure of God's favour shall find
favour with man too as far as it is good for them. All that looked
upon Esther admired her (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.15" parsed="|Esth|2|15|0|0" passage="Es 2:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>) and concluded that she was the lady that would win
the prize, and she did win it. (2.) The king himself fell in love
with her. She was not solicitous, as the rest of the maidens were,
to set herself off with artificial beauty; she <i>required
nothing</i> but just what was <i>appointed</i> for her (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.15" parsed="|Esth|2|15|0|0" passage="Es 2:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>) and yet she was most
acceptable. The more natural beauty is the more agreeable. <i>The
king loved Esther above all the women,</i> <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.17" parsed="|Esth|2|17|0|0" passage="Es 2:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Now he needed not to make any
further trials, or take time to deliberate; he is soon determined
to <i>set the royal crown upon her head, and make her queen,</i>
<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.17" parsed="|Esth|2|17|0|0" passage="Es 2:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. This was done
in his seventh year (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p7.7" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.16" parsed="|Esth|2|16|0|0" passage="Es 2:16"><i>v.</i>
16</scripRef>) and Vashti was divorced in his third year (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p7.8" osisRef="Bible:Esth.1.3" parsed="|Esth|1|3|0|0" passage="Es 1:3"><i>ch.</i> i. 3</scripRef>); so that he was four
years without a queen. Notice is taken, [1.] Of the honours the
king put upon Esther. He graced the solemnity of her coronation
with a <i>royal feast</i> (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p7.9" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.18" parsed="|Esth|2|18|0|0" passage="Es 2:18"><i>v.</i>
18</scripRef>), at which perhaps Esther, in compliance with the
king, made a public appearance, which Vashti had refused to do,
that she might have the praise of obedience in the same instance in
which the other incurred the blot of disobedience. He also granted
a <i>release to the provinces,</i> either a remittance of the taxes
in arrear or an act of grace for criminals; as Pilate, at the
feast, released a prisoner. This was to add to the joy. [2.] Of the
deference Esther continued to pay to her former guardian. She still
<i>did the commandment of Mordecai, as when she was brought up with
him,</i> <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p7.10" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.20" parsed="|Esth|2|20|0|0" passage="Es 2:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>.
Mordecai sat <i>in the king's gate;</i> that was the height of his
preferment: he was one of the porters or door-keepers of the court.
Whether he had this place before, or whether Esther obtained it for
him, we are not told; but there he sat contentedly, and aimed no
higher; and yet Esther who was advanced to the throne was observant
of him. This was an evidence of a humble and grateful disposition,
that she had a sense of his former kindnesses and his continued
wisdom. It is a great ornament to those that are advanced, and much
to their praise, to remember their benefactors, to retain the
impressions of their good education, to be diffident of themselves,
willing to take advice, and thankful for it.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Esth.iii-p0.3" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.21-Esth.2.23" parsed="|Esth|2|21|2|23" passage="Es 2:21-23" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Esth.2.21-Esth.2.23">
<h4 id="Esth.iii-p7.12">Mordecai's Discovery of a
Plot. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Esth.iii-p7.13">b. c.</span> 510.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Esth.iii-p8">21 In those days, while Mordecai sat in the
king's gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of
those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on
the king Ahasuerus.   22 And the thing was known to Mordecai,
who told <i>it</i> unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the
king <i>thereof</i> in Mordecai's name.   23 And when
inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore
they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of
the chronicles before the king.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Esth.iii-p9">This good service which Mordecai did to the
government, in discovering a plot against the life of the king, is
here recorded, because the mention of it will again occur to his
advantage. No step is yet taken towards Haman's design of the Jews'
destruction, but several steps are taken towards God's design of
their deliverance, and this for one. God now gives Mordecai an
opportunity of doing the king a good turn, that he might have the
fairer opportunity afterwards of doing the Jews a good turn. 1. A
design was laid against the king by two of his own servants, who
sought <i>to lay hands on him,</i> not only to make him a prisoner,
but to take away his life, <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.21" parsed="|Esth|2|21|0|0" passage="Es 2:21"><i>v.</i>
21</scripRef>. Probably they resented some affront which they
thought he had given them, or some injury which he had done them.
Who would be great, to be so much the object of envy? Who would be
arbitrary, to be so much the object of ill-will? Princes, above any
mortals, have their souls continually in their hands, and often go
down <i>slain to the pit,</i> especially those who <i>caused terror
in the land of the living.</i> 2. Mordecai got notice of their
treason, and, by Esther's means, discovered it to the king, hereby
confirming her in and recommending himself to the king's favour.
How he came to the knowledge of it does not appear. Whether he
overheard their discourse, or whether they offered to draw him in
with them, so it was that <i>the thing was known</i> to him. This
ought to be a warning against all traitorous and seditious
practices: though men presume upon secresy, <i>a bird of the air
shall carry the voice.</i> Mordecai, as soon as he knew it, caused
it to be made known to the king, which ought to be an instruction
and example to all that would be found good subjects not to conceal
any bad design they know of against the prince or the public peace,
for it is making a confederacy with public enemies. 3. The traitors
were hanged, as they deserved, but not till their treason was, upon
search, fully proved against them (<scripRef id="Esth.iii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.23" parsed="|Esth|2|23|0|0" passage="Es 2:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), and the whole matter was
recorded in the king's journals, with a particular remark that
Mordecai was the man who discovered the treason. He was not
rewarded presently, but a book of remembrance was written. Thus
with respect to those who serve Christ, though their recompence is
adjourned till the resurrection of the just, yet an account is kept
of their <i>work of faith and labour of love,</i> which <i>God is
not unrighteous to forget,</i> <scripRef id="Esth.iii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.10" parsed="|Heb|6|10|0|0" passage="Heb 6:10">Heb.
vi. 10</scripRef>.</p>
</div></div2>