8 And the drinking H8360 was according to the law; H1881 none did compel: H597 for so the king H4428 had appointed H3245 to all the officers H7227 of his house, H1004 that they should do H6213 according to every man's H376 pleasure. H7522
Thus have we obeyed H8085 the voice H6963 of Jonadab H3082 the son H1121 of Rechab H7394 our father H1 in all that he hath charged H6680 us, to drink H8354 no wine H3196 all our days, H3117 we, our wives, H802 our sons, H1121 nor our daughters; H1323
Babylon H894 hath been a golden H2091 cup H3563 in the LORD'S H3068 hand, H3027 that made all the earth H776 drunken: H7937 the nations H1471 have drunken H8354 of her wine; H3196 therefore the nations H1471 are mad. H1984
Woe H1945 unto him that giveth his neighbour H7453 drink, H8248 that puttest H5596 thy bottle H2573 to him, and makest him drunken H7937 also, that thou mayest look H5027 on their nakedness! H4589 Thou art filled H7646 with shame H7036 for glory: H3519 drink H8354 thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: H6188 the cup H3563 of the LORD'S H3068 right hand H3225 shall be turned H5437 unto thee, and shameful spewing H7022 shall be on thy glory. H3519
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.