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he bade him leave off: and he inquired of those that were appointed for that purpose, what hour of the night it was? And when he was informed that it was already day, he gave order, that if they found any one of his friends already come, and standing before the court, they should tell him. Now it happen

the Jew in the court." Hereupon his wife Zeresh advised him to give order, that a gallows should be made, fifty cubits high, and that in the morning he should ask it of the king, that Mordecai might be hanged thereon. So he commended her advice, and gave order to his servants to prepare the gallows, and to place it in the court, for the punish-ed that Haman was found there, for he was ment of Mordecai thereon: which was accordingly prepared. But God laughed to scorn the wicked expectations of Haman: for that night he took away the king's sleep; and as the king was not willing to lose the time of his lying awake, but to spend it in something that might be of advantage to his kingdon, he commanded the scribe to bring him the chronicles of the former kings, and the records of his own actions. And when he had brought them, and was reading them, one was found to have received a country on account of his excellent management on a certain occasion; and the name of the country was set down. Another was found to have had a present made him on account of his fidelity. Then the scribe came to Bigthan and Teresh, the eunuchs, who had formed a conspiracy against the king; which Mordecai had discovered. And when the scribe said no more but that, and was going on to another history, the king stopped him; and inquired, if it were not added that Mordecai had a reward given him? And when he said there was no such addition,

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It may seem a little strange, that so proud a man as Haman was, should not be prompted immediately to avenge himself on Mordecai for his contemptuous usage of him, since he had enough about him, no doubt, who, upon the least intimation of his pleasure, would have done

it;
and since he, who had interest enough with his prince
to procure a decree for the destruction of a whole nation,
might easily have obtained a pardon for having killed one
obscure and infamous member of it. But berein did the
wise and powerful providence of God appear, that it dis-
posed Haman's heart, contrary to his own inclination and
interest, instead of employing his power against his ene-
my, to put fetters, as it were, upon his own hands. Pool's
Annot. B.

† Esther vi. 6—9.

To form a notion of that height of pride and arrogance, to which Haman, (who thought all the honors he specified were designed for him) was arrived, we may observe, that, for any one to put on the royal robe, without the privity and consent of the king, was, among the Persians, accounted a capital crime. To which purpose Plutarch, in his life of Artaxerxes, has related this story:

come sooner than ordinary to petition the king
to have Mordecai put to death.* And when
the servants said, that Haman was before the
court; he bade them call him in. And when
he was come in, he said,
he was come in, he said, "Because I know
that thou art a sincere friend, I desire thee to
give me advice, how I may honor one that I
greatly love, and that after a manner suitable
to my magnificence." Now Haman reasoned
with himself, that what opinion he should give,
it would be for himself, since it was he alone
who was beloved by the king. So he gave
that advice which he thought of all other the
best. For he said, "If thou wouldst truly
honor a man whom thou dost love, give order
that he may ride on horseback, with the same
garment which thou wearest, and with a gold
chain about his neck; and let one of thy inti-
mate friends go before him, and proclaim
through the whole city, that whosoever the
king honoreth, obtaineth this mark of his ho-
nor." This was the advice which Haman
gave, out of a supposal that such reward
would come to himself. Hereupon the king

That one day, when in hunting, the king happened to tear bis garment, and Tiribazus was telling him of it, the king asked him, what he should do? Why, put on another, says Tiribazus, and give that to me. That I will, says the king, but then I injoin you not to wear it. Tiribazus, however, who was a good kind of a man enough, but a little weak and silly, adventured to put it on, with all its fine ornaments; and when some of the nobles began to resent it, as a thing not lawful for any subject to do, I allow him, says the king, laughing at the figure he made, to wear the fine trinkets as a woman, and the robe as a madman;' Le Clerc's Commen. There was a custom, not unlike this, among the Hebrews, as appears from the his.. tory of Solomon, 1 Kings i. 33, for the person that was declared to be successor to the crown, on the day of his inauguration, to be mounted on the king's horse and, to the like custom among the Persians, it is highly probable, that the poet Statius, in his description of a young king succeeding to his father's throne, may allude.

Sicut Abæmenius solium gentesque paternas
Excepit si forte puer, cui vivere patrem
Tutius, incerta formidine gaudia librat,

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But

was pleased with the advice, and said, " Go thou therefore, for thou hast the horse, the garment, and the chain. Ask for Mordecai the Jew, and give him those things; and go before his horse, and proclaim accordingly: for thou art my intimate friend, and hast given me good advice. Be thou then the minister of what thou hast advised: for this shall be his reward from us, for preserving my life." When he heard this order, which was entirely unexpected, he was confounded in bis mind, and knew not what to do. However he went out, and led the horse, and took the purple garment, and the golden chain for the neck; and finding Mordecai before the court, clothed in sackcloth, he bade him put that garment off, and put the purple garment on. Mordecai, not knowing the truth of the matter, but thinking that it was done in mockery, said, "O thou wretch, the vilest of all mankind: dost thou thus laugh at our calamities?" But when he was satisfied that the king bestowed this honor upon him, for the deliverance he had procured him when be convicted the eunuchs, who had conspired against him, he put on that purple garment which the king always wore; and put the chain about his neck; and got on horseback, and went round the city while Haman went before, and proclaimed, "This shall be the reward which the king will bestow on every one whom he loves, and esteems worthy of honor." And when they had gone round the city, Mordecai went in to the king. But Haman went home out of shame; and informed his wife and friends of

An fidi proceres, an pugnet vulgus habenis, Cui latus Euphratæ, cui Caspia limina mandet, Samere nunc arcus, ipsumque onerare veretur Patris equum, visusque sibi nec sceptra capaci Sustentare manu, nec adhuc implere tiaram.

Thebaid. lib. 8. B.

what had happened, and this with tears: upon which they said, he would never be able to be revenged on Mordecai; for that God was with him. t

Now while his friends were talking one to another, Esther's eunuchs hastened Haman away, to come to supper. But one of the eunuchs, named Sabuchadas, saw the gallows, that was fixed in Haman's house, and inquired of one of his servants for what purpose they had prepared it? So he knew that it was for the queen's uncle: because Haman was about to petition the king that he might be punished. But at present he held his peace. Now when the king, with Haman, were at the banquet, he desired the queen to tell him, what gift she desired to obtain; and assured her, that she should have whatsoever she had a mind to. She then lamented the danger her people were in; and said, that she and her nation were given up to be destroyed: and that she on that account, made this petition. That she would not have troubled him if he had only given order that they should be sold into servitude: for such a misfortune would not have been intolerable. But she desired that they might be delivered from such a destruction. And when the king inquired of her who was the author of this misery to them ? she openly accused Haman: and convicted him, that he had been the wicked instrument of this; and had formed this plot against them. When the king was hereupon in disorder, and was gone hastily out of the banquet into the gardens, Haman began to intercede with Esther; and

rians that have wrote of Alexander (says he) tells us, that he gave him a talent of silver for this expression of his zeal to serve him, but, at the same time, ordered his head to be struck off, for presuming to put on the royal diadem.' Other commentators are of opinion, that this Keter, which we render crown, being a word of a large signification, * Commentators are not agreed, whether this crown will equally denote that ornament which the horse that the king rode wore upon his head. As it must be acknowwas placed upon the king's head, or his horse's. Those ledged, that this application of the thing agrees better who refer it to the king, will have it to be what we call, a turbant, made of fine white and pure linen, which it was with the signification and order of the Hebrew words; with the following verses, wherein no mention is made of death for any one to put on his head, without the king's the Keter, but only of the robe and the horse to which express order; to which purpose Arrian (Alex. exped. lib. 7.) tells us this story: That as Alexander was sailthis crown belonged; and with the custom of the Persians, ing on the Euphrates, and his turbant happened to fall off who used to put a certain ornament, in Italian called fiocco, among some reeds, one of the watermen immediately upon the head of that horse whereon the king was mountjumped in and swam to it; but as he could not bring it ed. Le Clerc's and Patrick's Commentaries; and Pool's back in his hand without wetting it, he put it Annot. B. his upon head, and so returned with it. Whereupon most histo

+ Esther vi. 13.

to

*

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to beseech her to forgive him, as to what he had offended: for he perceived that he was in a very bad case. And as he had fallen upon the queen's bed, and was making supplication to her, the king came in; and being still more provoked at what he saw, "O thou wretch!" said he, "thou vilest of all mankind! dost thou aim to force my wife?" And when Haman was astonished at this, and not able to speak one word more, Sabuchadas the eunuch came in, and accused Haman; and said, he found a gallows fifty cubits high at his house prepared for Mordecai: for that the servant told him so much, upon his inquiry, when he was sent to him to call him to supper. When the king heard this, he determined that Haman should be punished after no other manner than that which had been devised by him against Mordecai. So he gave order immediately, that he should be hung upon that gallows, and be put to death after that manner. † And from hence I cannot forbear to admire God; and to learn hence his wisdom and bis justice not only in punishing the wickedness of Haman, but in so disposing it, that he should undergo the very same punishment which he had contrived for another. As also because thereby he teaches others this lesson, that what mischiefs any one prepares against another, he, without knowing of it, first contrives it against himself.

Wherefore Haman, who had immoderately abused the honor he had from the king, was destroyed after this manner: and the king granted his estate to the queen. He also called for Mordecai, (for Esther had informed him that she was related to him:) and gave him that ring which he had before given to Haman. The queen also gave Haman's estate to Mordecai; and prayed the king to de

*It was a custom of the Persians, as well as other natians, to sit, or rather to lie, upon beds, when they eat or drank; and therefore, when Haman fell down, as a supplicant at the feet of Esther, and, as the manner was among the Greeks and Romans, and not improbably among the Persians, embraced her knees, the king might pretend that he was offering violence to the queen's chastity. Not that he believed that this was his intention, but, in his furious passion, he turned every thing to the worst sense, and made use of it to aggravate his crime. Patrick's Com mentary. B.

+ Esther vii. 10.

liver the nation of the Jews from the fear of death; and shewed him what had been written over all the country by Haman, the son of Ammedatha. For that if her country were destroyed, and her countrymen were to perish, she could not bear to live any longer. So the king promised that he would not do any thing that should be disagreeable to her, nor contradict what she desired: but he bade her write what she pleased about the Jews, in the king's name, and seal it with his seal; and send it to all his kingdom; for that those who read epistles whose authority was secured by having the king's seal to them would no way contradict what was written therein. So he commanded the king's scribes to be sent for, and to write to the nations, on the Jews' behalf; and to his lieutenants, and governors, that were over his hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India to Ethiopia. Now the contents of this epistle were these. 'The great king Artaxerxes to our rulers, and those that are our faithful subjects, greeting. Many men there are who, on account of the greatness of the benefits bestowed on them, and because of the honor which they have obtained from the kind treatment of those that bestowed it, are not only injurious to their inferiors, but do not scruple to do evil to those who have been their benefactors; as if they would take away gratitude from among men. And by their insolent abuse of such benefits as they never expected, they turn the abundance they. have against those that are the authors of it; and suppose they shall lie concealed from God in that case, and avoid that vengeance which comes from him. Some of these men, when they have had the management of affairs committed to them by their friends, and bearing private malice against some others, by de

The true reason why king Artaxerxes did not here properly revoke his former barbarous decree, for the universal slaughter of the Jews; but only empowered and encouraged the Jews to fight for their lives, and to kill their enemies, if they attempted their destruction, seems to have been, that old law of the Medes and Persians, not yet laid aside, that whatever decree was signed both by the king, and his lords, could not be changed; but remained unalterable, Dan. vi. 7, 8, 9, 12, 15, 17. Esther i. 19. viii. 8. And Haman having engrossed the royal favor, might perhaps have himself signed this decree for the Jews' slaughter, instead of the ancient lords; and so might have rendered it, by their rules, irrevocable.

ceiving those that have the power, persuade || them to be angry at such as have done them no harm; till they are in danger of perishing; and this by lying accusations and calumnies. Nor is this state of things to be discovered by anciens examples, or such as we have merely learned by report; but by some examples of such impudent attempts under our own eyes. So that it is not fit to attend any longer to calumnies, and accusations; nor to the persuasions of others; but to determine what any one knows of himself to have been really done, and to punish what justly deserves it, and to grant favors to such as are innocent. This hath been the case of Haman, the son of Ammedatha; by birth an Amalekite, and alien from the blood of the Persians: who, when he was hospitably entertained by us, and partook of that kindness which we bear to all men to so great a degree, as to be called our father; and to be all along worshipped, and to have honor paid him by all in the second rank after the royal honor due to ourselves, he could not bear his good fortune, nor govern the magnitude of his prosperity with sound reason. Nay he made a conspiracy against me, who gave him his authority: by endeavouring to take away Mordecai my benefactor, and my saviour; and by basely, and treacherously requiring to have Esther, the partner of my life, and of my dominion, brought to destruction. For he contrived by this means to * deprive me of my faithful friends, and transfer the government to others.

"But since I perceived that these Jews that were by this pernicious fellow devoted to destruction, were not wicked men ; but conducted their lives in the best manner; and were men dedicated to the worship of that God who hath, preserved the kingdom to me and my ancestors: I do not only free them from the punishment which the former epistle, which was sent by Haman, ordered to be inflicted on them to which if you refuse obe

These words give an intimation, as if Artaxerxes suspected a deeper design in Haman than openly appeared; viz. that knowing the Jews would be faithful to him, and that he could never transfer the crown to his own family, who was an Agagite, Esth. iii. 1, 10, or of the posterity of Agag the old king of the Amalekites, 1 Sam. xv. 8. 32, 33, while they were alive, and spread over all his dominions, he therefore endeavoured to destroy them. Nor is it to me

dience you shall do well: but I will that they have all honor paid them. Accordingly I have hanged up the man that contrived such things against them, with his family, before the gates of Shushan that punishment being sent upon him from God, who seeth all things. And I give you in charge, that you publicly propose a copy of this epistle through all my kingdom, that the Jews may be permitted peaceably to use their own laws; and that you assist them that at the same season whereto their miserable estate did belong, they may defend themselves the very same day from unjust violence: the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is Adar. God hath made that day a day of salvation, instead of a day of destruction to them. And may it be a good day to those that wish us well; and a memorial of the punishment of the conspirators against us! And I will that you take notice that every city and every nation that shall disobey any thing contained in this epistle, shall be destroyed by fire and sword. However, let this epistle be published through all the country that is under our obedience; and let all the Jews, by all means, be ready against the day before mentioned; that they may avenge themselves upon their enemies."

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For

Accordingly the horsemen who carried the epistles proceeded on the ways which they were to go with speed. But as for Mordecai, as soon as he had assumed the royal garment, and the crown of gold, and had put the chain about his neck, he went forth in a public procession. And when the Jews who were in Shushan, saw him in so great honor with the king, they thought his good fortune was common to themselves also: and joy, and a beam of salvation, encompassed the Jews: both those that were in the cities, and those that were in the countries, upon the publication of the king's letters: insomuch, that many even of other nations circumcised themselves

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improbable, that those 75,000 of the Jews' enemies who were soon destroyed by the Jews, on the permission of the king, which must be on some great occasion, were Amalekites, their old and hereditary enemies, Exod. xvii. 14, 15, and that thereby was fulfilled Balaam's prophecy, 'Amalek was the first of the nations; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever,' Numb. xxiv. 20.

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for fear of the Jews; that they might procure safety to themselves thereby. For on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which, according to the Hebrews, is called Adar, but according to the Macedonians Dystrus; those that carried the king's epistle gave them notice, that the same day wherein their danger was to have been, on that very day should they destroy their enemies. But now the rulers of the provinces, and the tyrants, and the kings, and the scribes, had the Jews in esteem. For the fear they were in of Mordecai forced them to act with discretion. Now when the royal decree was come to all the country that was subject to the king, the Jews at Shushan slew five hundred of their enemies. And when the king had told Esther the number of those that were slain in that city but did not well know what had been done in the provinces; he asked her whether

* It might be presumed that some, out of hatred to the Jews, might be inclinable to obey Haman's decree: for though he himself was gone, yet it cannot be imagined, that all the friends and creatures that he had made perish. ed with him. He might have a great party everywhere, and some of them so furiously enraged at his fall, as (even at the hazard of their own lives) would not fail to shew their indignation at those who were the occasion of it: and therefore this second decree, procured by Mordecai, gave them authority, if any attempt was made upon them, either in great bodies, or small parties, not only to defend themselves and repel them, but to make as great a slaughter of them as they were able, and even to take possession of their goods, as Haman had procured them licence (chap. iii. 13.) to seize the goods of the Jews. Patrick's Commentary. B.

+ It is not unlikely, that many might be enraged at his death, and his sons, in particular, might set themselves at the head of those who were bold enough to attempt the destruction of the Jews in Shushan, being resolved to revenge their father's death, though in so doing they were sure to meet their own. And this seems to suggest one reason why Esther was so solicitous to have their dead bodies (for they were slain already) hung upon the gallows, chap. ix. 13. even because they had shewn more malice and indignation against the Jews, and on the day when the cruel edict came to take place, had made more desperate attacks upon them than any; though the reason of the state, in this severity, might be to expose the family to the greater infamy, and to deter other counsellors from abusing the king at any time with false representations. For though the Jews suffered none to hang on the tree (as they called the gallows) longer than till the evening of the day whereon they were executed; yet other nations let them hang until they were consumed, (as appears from the story of the Gibeonites, 2 Sam. xxi. 9, 10), or devoured by crows, vultures, or other ravenous creatures; from whence that

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vulgar saying among the Romans, pascere in cruce corvos, had its rise. Patrick's Commentary, and Pool's Annotations, B.

See 1 Sam. xv. §, 14, 15, 19, 21.

§ Pur, in the Persian language, signifies a lot, and the feast of Purim, or lots, (which had its name from Haman's casting lots in order to divine which would be most lucky to prefix for the murder of all the Jews in the whole Persian dominions) is, to this very day, celebrated by the Jews. with some peculiar ceremonies, but most of them reducible to these three things, reading, resting, and feasting. Before the reading which is performed in the synagogue, and begins in the evening, as soon as the stars appear, they make use of three forms of prayer: in the first of these, they praise God for counting them worthy to attend this divine service; in the second, they thank him for the miraculous preservation of their ancestors; and in the third, they bless his holy name, for having continued their lives to the celebration of another festival in commemoration of it, Then they read over the whole history of Haman from the beginning to the end, but not out of any printed book, (for that is not lawful,) but out of an Hebrew manuscript, written on parchment. There are five places in the text, wherein the reader raises his voice with all his might: when he comes to the place that mentions the names of the ten sons of Haman, he repeats them very quick, to shew that they were all destroyed in a moment; and every time that the name of Haman is pronounced, the children, with great fury, strike against the benches of the synagogues, with the mallets that they bring for that purpose. After that the reading is finished, they return home and have a supper, not of flesh, but of spoon-meat; and early next morning they arise, and return to the synagogue; where, after they have read that passage in Exodus, which makes mention of the war of Amalek, they begin again to read the book of Esther, with the same ceremonies as before; and so conclude the service of the day, with curses

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