177 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king said, who is in the court?.... Being in haste to confer some honour on Mordecai for what he had done: now Haman was come into the outward court of the king's house; though it was early in the morning, being eager to get to the speech of the king before he was engaged in any business, to obtain a grant from him: to hang Mordecai on the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king's servants said unto him, behold, Haman standeth in the court,.... In the outward court; for into the inward court none might enter without being called, for which he was waiting: and the king said, let him come in; into his bedchamber; and it was of God, no doubt, that Haman should be on the spot at this very time, when the king was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So Haman came in,.... But was prevented speaking to the king about the business he came upon by the following speech of the king: what shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? he mentions not the name of any man, that he might the more freely, and unbiasedly, and disinterestedly give his advice; nor might the king know of any...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Haman answered the king,.... At once, being very prompt to suggest the honours he hoped to have done to himself: for the man whom the king delighteth to honour; let the following things be done.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear,.... Not a whole suit of clothes, but a single garment; the purple robe, as both the Targums, such as kings wore; that which Cyrus appeared in public in was half purple, and half white, and no other person besides might wear such an one (p); it was a capital crime with the Persians to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes,.... The one, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour; and the other to be led in state before him: and bring him on horseback through the street of the city; on another horse, that all might see what honour was done him:...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the king said to Haman, make haste,.... And without delay go into the royal treasury, or wardrobe, as the Targum adds: "and take the apparel"; the royal robe, the purple one, or one of the precious purple robes; and then, as the same Targum, go to the king's stable, and take thence the king's "horse", that stands in the chief place in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then took Haman the apparel, and the horse,.... The one out of the wardrobe, the other out of the stable, and the crown also no doubt, though no mention is made of it, since the king made no objection to it, yea, commanded that nothing fail of what had been spoken; but this was included in the pomp and state of the led horse: and brought him on...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Mordecai came again to the king's gate,.... To attend his post and office at court; which confirms what has been already hinted, that he was in some office in the court, which this phrase is expressive of, and not a porter at the gate; for it is not probable he should return to such a station, after so much honour had been done him; and much...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Haman told Zeresh his wife, and all his friends, every thing that had befallen him,.... How he was prevented speaking to the king on this errand he went; instead of which, he had the mortification of being obliged to do the honour to Mordecai which he thought would never have been given to any but himself, and so related the whole affair as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And while they were yet talking with him,.... About these things, and giving their opinion of the issue of them, upon the present appearance of them: came the king's chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared; the time appointed for it being very near, or quite up, and Haman being backward and dilatory,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Esther 7 Esther, being solicited by the king to tell him her petition, asks for her life and the lives of her people, who were sold to be destroyed, Es 7:1, the king, amazed at her request, inquires who was the person that dared to do so vile a thing; and was told by her it was Haman there present, Es 7:5 on which the king went out...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. Or, "to drink with her" (e), 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, Es 5:8. (e) לשתות "ut biberent", V. L. Tigurine version; "ad bibendum", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, Vatablus.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Esther the queen answered and said,.... Not rolling herself at the king's knees, as Severus (f) 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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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, Es 3:13 as she has also to the 10,000...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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 comments on Es 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...