4 when he shewed the glorious wealth of his kingdom and the splendid magnificence of his grandeur many days, a hundred and eighty days.
Thou, O king, art a king of kings, unto whom the God of the heavens hath given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory; and wheresoever the children of men, the beasts of the field, and the fowl of the heavens dwell, he hath given them into thy hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all: thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee; then another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth everything, and as iron that breaketh all these, so shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter's clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And [as] the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of the heavens set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the sovereignty thereof shall not be left to another people: it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, but itself shall stand for ever.
Thou art worthy, O our Lord and [our] God, to receive glory and honour and power; for *thou* hast created all things, and for thy will they were, and they have been created.
For we have not made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cleverly imagined fables, but having been eyewitnesses of *his* majesty. For he received from God [the] Father honour and glory, such a voice being uttered to him by the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom *I* have found my delight;
to whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you the hope of glory:
being enlightened in the eyes of your heart, so that ye should know what is the hope of his calling, [and] what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
and lead us not into temptation, but save us from evil.
Again the devil takes him to a very high mountain, and shews him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory,
I beheld till thrones were set, and the Ancient of days did sit: his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was flames of fire, [and] its wheels burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came forth from before him; thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld therefore, because of the voice of the great words that the horn spoke; I beheld till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given up to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away; but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of heaven [one] like a son of man, and he came up even to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed.
O thou king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty;
At the same time mine understanding returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my nobles sought me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent greatness was added unto me.
Thine, Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the splendour, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is thine: thine, Jehovah, is the kingdom, and thou art exalted as Head above all; and riches and glory are of thee, and thou rulest over everything; and in thy hand is power and might; and in thy hand it is to make all great and strong.
by thy great wisdom thou hast by thy traffic increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches.
And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold, and the spices and the fine oil, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found amongst his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not shew them.
To make known to the children of men his mighty acts, and the glorious splendour of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages, and thy dominion is throughout all generations.
I will speak of the glorious splendour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.
{To the chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph: a Song.} In Judah is God known, his name is great in Israel; And in Salem is his tent, and his dwelling-place in Zion. There broke he the flashings of the bow, shield and sword and battle. Selah. More glorious art thou, more excellent, than the mountains of prey.
Gird thy sword upon [thy] thigh, O mighty one, [in] thy majesty and thy splendour;
Deck thyself now with glory and excellency, and clothe thyself with majesty and splendour.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Esther 1
Commentary on Esther 1 Matthew Henry Commentary
An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
The Book of Esther
Chapter 1
Several things in this chapter itself are very instructive and of great use; but the design of recording the story of it is to show how way was made for Esther to the crown, in order to her being instrumental to defeat Haman's plot, and this long before the plot was laid, that we may observe and admire the foresight and vast reaches of Providence. "Known unto God are all his works' before-hand. Ahasuerus the king,
This shows how God serves his own purposes even by the sins and follies of men, which he would not permit if he know not how to bring good out of them.
Est 1:1-9
Which of the kings of Persia this Ahasuerus was the learned are not agreed. Mordecai is said to have been one of those that were carried captive from Jerusalem (ch. 2:5, 6), whence it should seem that this Ahasuerus was one of the first kings of that empire. Dr. Lightfoot thinks that he was that Artaxerxes who hindered the building of the temple, who is called also Ahasuerus (Ezra 4:6, 7), after his great-grandfather of the Medes, Dan. 9:1. We have here an account,
Est 1:10-22
We have here a damp to all the mirth of Ahasuerus's feast; it ended in heaviness, not as Job's children's feast by a wind from the wilderness, not as Belshazzar's by a hand-writing on the wall, but by is own folly. An unhappy falling out there was, at the end of the feast, between the king and queen, which broke of the feast abruptly, and sent the guests away silent and ashamed.