48443 matching verse commentaries
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
We are now to attend the second banquet to which the king and Haman were invited: and there, I. Esther presents her petition to the king for her life and the life of her people, ver. 1-4. II. She plainly tells the king that Haman is the man who designed her ruin and the ruin of all her friends, ver. 5, 6. III. The king thereupon gave orders for...
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king,.... One of the seven chamberlains, see Es 1:10, his name, with Josephus (y), is Sabouchadas. Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. This man, perhaps, had seen it there, when he went...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai,.... Not within his house, Es 7:9, but more probably in his courtyard, in the sight of his family and friends; or, it may be, the gallows was taken from thence, and set up without the city, where he was hanged: for so it is said in the additions of the book of Esther, "For he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Esther 8 This chapter relates the gifts Ahasuerus gave to Esther and Mordecai, Es 8:1, the suit Esther made to him to reverse the letters for the destruction of the Jews, Es 8:3, which, though it could not be formally granted, was in effect done by letters sent to the Jews, giving them power to rise in their own defence, and slay...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
On that day did the King, Ahasuerus, give the house of Haman, the Jews' enemy, unto Esther the queen,.... That, and all the goods in it, and estate belonging to it; which being confiscated to the king, he gave to Esther, who would have been the sufferer, had his scheme taken place; so the Targum adds, "and the men of his house, and all his...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
We left the plotter hanging, and are now to see what becomes of his plot. I. His plot was to raise an estate for himself; and all his estate, being confiscated for treason, is given to Esther and Mordecai, ver. 1, 2. II. His plot was to ruin the Jews; and as to that, 1. Esther earnestly intercedes for the reversing of the edict against them, ver....
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai,.... which, with the Persians, was a token of the strongest affection and strictest friendship (z); the Targum calls it his signatory ring, that with which he signed laws, edicts, letters, patents, c. and so hereby made him keeper of the seals: and Esther set...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Esther spake yet again before the king,.... Went into his presence, without being called for as before, with a new petition: and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears; the more to work upon his affections, and move him to grant her request; which she might be the more encouraged to hope for, through the success she already had: to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the king held out the golden sceptre towards Esther,.... As a token that she had not incurred his displeasure by coming into his presence without leave, and that she was admitted to speak and make her request; see Es 5:3 so Esther arose and stood before the king; she rose from the ground on which she lay prostrate, and stood upon her feet, in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And said, if it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes,.... This heap of phrases, which signify much the same thing, are used to work upon the king's affections, and to show how submissive she was to his will: let it be written to reverse the letters devised...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people?.... I cannot bear it; it will break my heart; I shall die to see all my people massacred throughout the realm; the thought of it is shocking and shuddering; to see it, intolerable: or "how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?" the same thing in different words, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then the King Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen, and to Mordecai the Jew,.... Who was present at the same time, either at the desire of Esther, or by virtue of his office, being now one of those that saw the king's face, Es 8:1, behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman; [See comments on Es 8:1], and him they have hanged upon the gallows;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Write ye also for the Jews as it liketh you,.... Whatever may be thought fit and proper for their safety and security: in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring; as the former letters were: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse; which is a reason both for the writing and...