1-2 The account of Ahasuerus, how he taxed the land and islands, and the high honors given to Mordecai are recorded in the history of the Medes and Persians.
3 Mordecai, next in rank to the king, was popular with his “many kindred, for he sought the good of his people and interceded for the welfare of all his descendants." In all our praise of Esther, we must remember that it was Mordecai who persuaded her to go before the king.
1-4 In Adar, the 12th month, 13th day, Jews gather and take vengeance on their enemies, helped by provincial officials, who fear Mordecai and his expanding influence.
5-10 Jews strike down all their enemies, including 500 in Susa and the 10 sons of Haman, but they “did not touch the plunder.”
11-13 After reporting this to Esther, the king asks her what else she wants, and she asks that the edict be extended to the next day and that Haman’s sons be hanged.
14-15 The king issues the decree, the sons are hanged and Jews kill 300 more in Susa but still do not touch the plunder.
16-17 In the rest of the provinces Jews gather “to defend their lives” on the 13th, killing 75,000 of those who hate them, but take no plunder. On the 14th day they rest and celebrate.
18-19 The Jews in Susa rest and celebrate on the 15th day, but the Jews in the villages hold the 14th day as a holiday, sending gifts of food to each other.
20-23 Mordecai sends letters to the Jews, encouraging them to keep both the 14th and 15th as days of celebration, with gifts of food to each other and to the poor, and so begins the custom.
24-26 These days are called Purim, because Haman and cast Pur, or “the lot,” to destroy them (3:7).
27-28 Jews accept this as custom, so these days:
should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every family, province, and city; and these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.
29-32 Queen Esther confirms a second letter wishing peace and security to Jews in all 127 provinces, and enjoining the Jews to keep the regulation fasts and lamentations, fixing the practices of Purim. I’m not sure how the fasts and lamentations fit in with the celebration of gifts. From Jamieson, Fausset and Brown:
It became a season of sunny memories to the universal body of the Jews; and, by the letters of Mordecai, dispersed through all parts of the Persian empire, it was established as an annual feast, the celebration of which is kept up still. On both days of the feast, the modern Jews read over the Megillah or Book of Esther in their synagogues. The copy read must not be printed, but written on vellum in the form of a roll; and the names of the ten sons of Haman are written on it a peculiar manner, being ranged, they say, like so many bodies on a gibbet. The reader must pronounce all these names in one breath. Whenever Haman's name is pronounced, they make a terrible noise in the synagogue. Some drum with their feet on the floor, and the boys have mallets with which they knock and make a noise. They prepare themselves for their carnival by a previous fast, which should continue three days, in imitation of Esther's; but they have mostly reduced it to one day [JENNING, Jewish Antiquities].
1-2 The king gives Haman’s house to Esther, and after Esther tells him Mordecai is her cousin, he gives the signet ring that Haman had worn (3:10) to Mordecai. Esther sets Mordecai over Haman’s house.
3-6 Esther appears before the king, pleading for the lives of her people, asking for a letter that revokes Haman’s orders to kill them.
7-8 The king gives Mordecai and Esther permission to write the letter and seal it with his signet ring.
9-14 Mordecai dictates a letter to the king’s secretaries, to be distributed to all the provinces, allowing the Jews in all the provinces to defend themselves and to “annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them” all enemies on the 13th day of Adar (the 12th month), and even to plunder their houses. So this wasn’t just acting out of defense against an overt act that day, but the killing of any who “might” attack them.
15-16 Mordecai goes out from the king dressed in royal garb, and the whole city rejoices. “For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor.”
17 The Jews celebrate with festivals, and many claim they are Jews “because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.” Can you picture it? All of a sudden, out of fear, Persians are crying, “Don’t kill me: I’m Jewish!”
1-3 On the second day of Esther’s feast, the king asks Esther for her petition, repeating his promise to fulfill it.
4 Esther tells him that her people are not to be enslaved – that would be okay – but to be annihilated. If I’m not mistaken, before this, the king was unaware that she was a Jew; obviously Haman was, too. He could not have foreseen what was about to happen.
5-6 The king asks her who is responsible, and she names Haman.
7-8 Angry, the king goes outside while Haman stays to beg the queen for his life. When the king comes back in, he sees Haman throwing himself on the couch before Esther and thinks he is assaulting her.
9-10 Harbona, a eunuch, tells the king of the gallows Haman has prepared for Mordecai at Haman’s house (!), Haman is hanged there, and the king’s anger abates. It seems to me that Harbona is very quick with his suggestion. I can think of two reasons, or maybe it’s a combination of the two: 1) He needs to do something to calm the king; 2) He has observed Haman’s demeanor and actions and does his part in getting rid of him.
1-3 That night the king can’t sleep, so he reads the book of records and discovers that Mordecai foiled a plot to kill him (2:19-23).
2-5 After he asks, his servants tell him the Mordecai has not been honored for this, so he asks who is in the court. It’s Haman; he’s come to ask the king to hang Mordecai.
6-9 The king asks Haman what should be done to honor a man. Thinking he’s the man, Haman suggests putting him on a royal horse, in royal robes, and having a noble official lead him through the open square of the city, proclaiming “Thus shall it be done to the man the king wishes to honor.”
10-11 The king tells Haman to honor Mordecai in this way, and he does. This account is typical of biblical writing. It doesn’t go into a description of Haman’s haughty demeanor or how he looked in his humiliation, does not describe his facial expressions, but somehow you see them anyway.
12-13 Mordecai goes back to the gate; Haman returns home mourning with his head covered [now here’s a description], where his wife (Zeresh) and friends tell him that he will surely fall before Mordecai. Some friends. They encourage his haughtiness, then predict his downfall, as if they’re not partially responsible.. Mordecai seems unaffected by the honor bestowed on him. This is a perfect example of Jesus’ teaching that “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12).
14 The king’s eunuchs come to escort Haman to Esther’s banquet.
1-4 On the 3rd day, Esther, dressed in her royal robes, goes to the king; he grants her entrance and tells her he will grant her anything, even to half of his kingdom. Even though he had not called her, he obviously still holds her in great favor.
5-8 She asks only that he and Haman come that day to a banquet, and again the king tells her he will grant her even to half of his kingdom, but she asks only that they will come the next day to another banquet.
9-12 Haman leaves the banquet self-satisfied (although infuriated by Mordecai’s lack of respect at the gate) and boasts to his wife and friends of all his successes and the repeat invitation.
13-14 Except for Mordecai, Haman’s life is perfect, so his wife and friends suggest to him that he build a 50-cubit gallows and ask the king to hang Mordecai on it. This explains to some extent why Esther asks for another banquet. It not only makes the king and Haman curious about what she wants, but gives Haman a day to build up his own ego and prepare to “hang himself by his own rope.” (I don’t think this is where that expression originated, but it certainly applies.)
1-3 When Mordecai learns of the edict, he dresses in sackcloth and ashes and goes through the city and up to the king’s gate, wailing, as do the other Jews, with fasting and weeping.
4 Esther hears of it and sends clothes to Mordecai, which he refuses.
5-8 Then she sends Hathach, a eunuch, to Mordecai, who tells Hathach of Haman’s bribe, gives him a copy of the edict, and tells him to persuade Esther to go before the king on behalf of her people.
9-11 She replies through Hathach that the king has not asked for her for 30 days, and if she goes before him without being asked, she risks being put to death.
12-14 Mordecai replies that if she does not go before the king, deliverance would come from somewhere else, but in the meantime she and her family could die. And “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” Even though God’s name is not mentioned in this book, Mordecai apparently believed that his people’s destiny was to survive, not be annihilated. In saying Esther may have been put in her position for a reason, he obviously believed in some form of providential care.
15-17 Esther asks Mordecai to gather the people and fast for 3 days and nights (no food or drink), and she and her servants will do the same. She will go before the king, and “If I perish, I perish.” It’s interesting that prayer is not mentioned, though it may be implied.
1-2 After Ahasuerus promotes Haman the Agagite to a position above the other officials, at the king’s command, all the king’s servants, except Mordecai, bowed down to Haman. The Jews consider Haman a descendant of Agag the Amalekite, whom Saul spared but Samuel killed (1 Samuel 15:8-11). Agag may have been the title of the kings of Amalek, so Haman could have descended from any one of them (Smith’s Bible Dictionary).
3-6 The other servants tell Haman about Mordecai’s refusal, which infuriates Haman, but thinking it “beneath him” to punish Mordecai alone, he decides to destroy all the Jews and in so doing also destroy Mordecai.
7-11 In the king’s 12th year, 1st month [4+ years after his marriage to Esther], Haman casts lots (Pur) to determine the month best for his extermination of the Jews. Then he tells the king the Jews are rebellious and promises him 10,000 talents to get his permission. The day chosen is the 12th month, 13th day [providential, in one commentator’s opinion, because it gives Esther enough time to prepare her people].
12-15 On the 13th day of the 1st month, the king sends an edict out to all the provinces that all Jews — men, women and children — are to be destroyed and their goods plundered. The king and Haman sit down to drink while Susan is “thrown into confusion.” It seems the king is too much influenced by his colleagues and maybe too much by drink.
1-4 After the king’s anger abates, and he remembers what he’s done to Vashti, the king’s servants decide to find him a new queen by gathering all the beautiful young virgins into the harem and giving them cosmetic treatments, under the charge of Hegia, the king’s eunuch. Apparently, the king is sorry for banishing Vashti, but since under the Persian constitution the king’s edict cannot be revoked, he can’t be reconciled with her.
5-7 In Susa is Mordecai — a Jew whose family was brought to Babylon with the captivity of Jeconiah — and his cousin Hadassah (Esther), whom Mordecai adopted after the death of her parents.
9-11 Esther is taken to the harem and favored by Hegai, but under Mordecai’s instruction does not reveal her heritage. Mordecai keeps close watch on her.
12-14 After 12 months, each girl spends a night with the king and is then transferred to the harem of concubines, under supervision of Shaashgaz, another eunuch.
15-18 When Esther comes to the king, in the 7th year of his reign, she wins his favor and love, and he crowns her queen in place of Vashti. He honors her with a banquet and grants a holiday [or amnesty] to the provinces and gives gifts with “royal liberality.” The Chapter 1 banquet took place in Ahasuerus’s third year, which means he went four years without a queen.
19-21 After Esther becomes queen, Mordecai tells her of a plot he discovered when he was hanging around the palace court checking on her. Two of the king’s eunuchs – gatekeepers Bigtham and Teresh – are planning to assassinate the king.
22-23 Esther tells the king in Mordecai’s name, and after an investigation, the two men are hanged, and the incident is recorded in the king’s annals.
1-4 Ahasuerus, who rules over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia from his throne in Susa, gives a 180-day banquet in the 3rd year of his reign, inviting all his officials and ministers – army officials, nobles and governors of the provinces – and displaying all his wealth and grandeur.
5-8 After 180 days, he gives a 7-day banquet for all the people in the citadel of Susa, in the garden, which is lavishly decorated. Royal wine flows without restraint. At the same time, Vashti gives a banquet for the women in the palace.
10-12 On the 7th day, when he is “merry with wine,” the king tells 7 eunuchs to bring in Vashti, the queen, wearing her crown, so he can display her beauty. She refuses, and he becomes very angry. As Thomas Constable points out, there’s no way to know why she didn’t appear – whether it was rebelliousness, modesty or something else. We can conjecture all we want and never know the reason.
13-15 As is his custom, the King consults with his personal attorneys to see what can be done, according to the law, to punish Queen Vashti for her disobedience [and, in my opinion, because she caused him to feel humiliated in his drunkenness].
16-18 The attorneys’ spokesman, Memucan, tells him that she has done wrong not only to him, but to all the officials and people [read “men”], because it would cause all the women to treat their husbands with the same kind of contempt.
19-20 They advise the king to decree that Vashti should never again come before him and that another should take her place, ensuring that all women in the kingdom would honor their husbands.
21 He decrees throughout all the provinces that “every man should be master in his own house.”
The events of Esther took place under the reign of Xerxes 1 (Ahasuerus being a title, like Pharaoh), who reigned from 486 to about 465 BC.
The story of Esther took place over about a ten year span (483 to 473 BC), and would fit historically between Ezra 6 and 7. This would mean that Esther could have lived far into the reign of Artaxerxes, her step-son, under whom Nehemiah rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem, and might have influenced all that happened then.
from christianity.com
