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Esther 4:13

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther,.... Gave in charge to the messengers what they should say to Esther from him, by way of reply: think not with thyself that thou shall escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews; signifying that her being queen, and in the king's palace, would be no protection to her; and she would be no safer there...

Esther 4:14

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time,.... And will not speak to the king in favour of the Jews, because of the danger she would be exposed to in doing it: then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; Mordecai seemed confident of it, that by some means or another the Jews would be delivered; if...

Esther 4:16

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan,.... To acquaint them with what follows; but not to continue in a body together, which might cause suspicion of an ill design in them; according to the latter Targum, 12,000 chosen priests were found in it; but that must be an exaggeration of their number; it can hardly be thought there...

Esther 4:17

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

So Mordecai went his way,.... About the business he was directed to; the word used having sometimes the signification of passing over or transgressing, Jarchi interprets it of Mordecai's transgressing the command, by fasting on a festival; the letter being written on the thirteenth of Nisan, Es 3:12, the next day was the passover, on which he...

Esther 5

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

INTRODUCTION TO Esther 5 This chapter gives an account of Esther's going in to the king, and of his holding out the golden sceptre to her, on which she invited him and Haman to a banquet of wine that day, and to another the next day, Es 5:1, which highly delighted Haman; and he went to his house and family with great joy, and yet chagrined at...

Esther 5:1

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Now it came to pass on the third day,.... Of the fast; though the former Targum paraphrases it the third day of the passover, the sixteenth of Nisan, [See comments on Es 4:17], though it is probable this was nearer the time fixed for the destruction of the Jews, see Es 8:9, yet the Jews have fixed the fast of Esther on that very day, the...

Esther 5

Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry

The last news we had of Haman left him in his cups, ch. iii. 15. Our last news of queen Esther left her in tears, fasting and praying. Now this chapter brings in, I. Esther in her joys, smiled upon by the king and honoured with his company at her banquet of wine, ver. 1-8. II. Haman upon the fret, because he had not Mordecai's cap and knee, and...

Esther 5:2

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight,.... Which no doubt was of God, who has the hearts of kings in his hand, and turns them as he pleases; the king had not called her for thirty days past, or more, which showed coolness of affection to her, and now she transgressed a law by...

Esther 5:3

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then said the king unto her, what wilt thou, Queen Esther?.... He supposed she had some business with him, some suit to make to him, by her coming in this manner: and what is thy request? signifying he was ready to grant it, be it what it would: it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom; as it was usual with the Persian kings to give...

Esther 5:4

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And Esther answered, if it seem good unto the king,.... She humbly submits it to his pleasure, suggesting it would be exceeding grateful to her, could it be granted: let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him; for the king; and supposing it would be acceptable to him, and the rather engage him to come to it,...

Esther 5:5

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then the king said, cause Haman to make haste, that he may do as Esther hath said,.... That is, he ordered some of his servants to make haste and acquaint Haman with the queen's invitation, and to press him to make haste to comply with it: so the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared; which was wisely done, to prepare for...

Esther 5:6

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine,.... For such it seems the banquet was she prepared; it was not properly a meal, neither dinner nor supper, but a drinking bout; or, however, it was at that part of the banquet in which wine was drank that the king accosted Esther, when he began to be cheerful with it. The Persians at their...

Esther 5:7

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then answered Esther and said, my petition and my request is. What she should for the present make; the principal one she had to ask, for wise reasons, she still deferred.

Esther 5:8

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

If I have found favour in the sight of the king,.... Or, seeing she had; for it was a clear case she had, both by his holding out the golden sceptre to her, and by accepting her invitation to her banquet: and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request; as he had been so gracious as to promise in such a large and liberal...

Esther 5:9

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then went Haman forth that day, joyful, and with a glad heart,.... From court to his own house but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him; did not show him the least degree even of civil respect; which he refused to do, partly lest it should be interpreted an adoration of him, and partly because it was...

Esther 5:10

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Nevertheless Haman refrained himself,.... From showing any outward resentment to Mordecai, from laying hands upon him or taking revenge on him, as being too much below him to avenge himself on a single person, when the whole body of the people Mordecai belonged to would shortly feel the power of his hand for such insolent treatment of him: and...

Esther 5:11

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And Haman told them of the glory of his riches,.... Of the multitude of them; which he did partly in a way of ostentation, and partly, if he could, to make his mind easy under the mortification he received from Mordecai; and, it may be, chiefly to aggravate his rudeness and ill behaviour towards him, a man of so much wealth: and the multitude of...

Esther 5:12

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Haman said, moreover,.... To all which he added, and what seemed to delight him most of all, or however was a new additional honour done him: yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; which he judged was doing him singular honour; and, by the joint affection of the king and queen...