Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 6:10
Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, [and] take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.
10. Mordecai the Jew ] We may assume that his nationality was stated in the chronicles which had been read to the king. The latter seems to have forgotten that he had delivered over the Jews into Haman’s hands without reserve.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 10. Make haste, and take the apparel – and do even so to Mordecai] O mortifying reverse of human fortune! How could Haman bear this? The Targumist might speak according to nature when he said that “Haman besought the king to kill him rather than degrade him so.” How astonishing is the conduct of Divine providence in all this business! From it we plainly see that there is neither counsel nor wisdom against the Lord; and that he who digs a pit for his neighbour, is sure to fall into it himself.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Then the king said to Haman, make haste,…. And without delay go into the royal treasury, or wardrobe, as the Targum adds: “and take the apparel”; the royal robe, the purple one, or one of the precious purple robes; and then, as the same Targum, go to the king’s stable, and take thence the king’s “horse”, that stands in the chief place in the stable, whose name is “Shiphregaz”; but how the Targumist came by the name of it, I know not; however it was not unusual for kings to give a name to their favourite horse, as Alexander the great did to his called Bucephalus and even for all kings of Persia, as Darius Hystaspis b:
as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate; the person he meant this honour for he describes by name, by nation, and by office, that there might be no mistake:
let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken; the king objected not to anything that had been proposed, and insisted on it that every thing be done punctually by Haman as he had advised, and from which he could not with honour recede; though nothing could be more mortifying to him to do, to a man he came to court to get a grant to hang on a gallows he had prepared.
b Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 88.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
C. Abasement
TEXT: Est. 6:10-14
10
Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the kings gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.
11
Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and caused him to ride through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor.
12
And Mordecai came again to the kings gate. But Haman hasted to his house, mourning and having his head covered.
13
And Haman recounted unto Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.
14
While they were yet talking with him, came the kings chamber loins, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared.
Todays English Version, Est. 6:10-14
Then the king said to Haman, Hurry and get the robes and the horse, and provide these honors for Mordecai the Jew. Do everything for him that you have suggested. You will find him sitting at the entrance of the palace.
So Haman got the robes and the horse, and he put the robes on Mordecai. Mordecai got on the horse, and Haman led him through the city square, announcing to the people as they went: See how the king rewards a man he wishes to honor!
Mordecai then went back to the palace entrance while Haman hurried home, covering his face in embarrassment. He told his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then she and those wise friends of his told him, You are beginning to lose power to Mordecai. He is a Jew, and you cannot overcome him. He will certainly defeat you. While they were still talking, the palace eunuchs arrived in a hurry to take Haman to Esthers banquet.
COMMENTS
Est. 6:10-11 Humiliation: What a shock for Haman to hear the emperors order that the highest honors imaginable are to be given to Mordecai, the man he most hated. Haman had not only to see that these great honors were done for Mordecai, he must do them himself! How humiliating! Many of the noblemen of the emperors court no doubt knew of Hamans contempt for the Jew, Mordecai. Now Haman is about to be publicly abased. It was a bitter degradation but inescapable. To disobey the emperor after he has spent a sleepless night worrying about rectifying a serious default of royal. Persian protocol would undoubtedly mean immediate death for Haman. He was instructed to make all haste to carry out every detail suggested. Nothing was to be omitted. He must be Mordecais valet; he must go in front of Mordecai throughout the streets of the great capital city proclaiming the honor of the Jew who rides upon the emperors own horse, dressed in the emperors own robes.
Est. 6:12-14 Hysteria: It is worth noticing that Mordecai, after the parade, put off the royal robes and returned to his lowly place of service at the kings gate. Most men would have been so intoxicated with the excitement they would have sought more recognition or, at least, promotion. It is interesting, in retrospect, that Mordecai, after saving the emperors life, did not seek reward or recognition. This sharpens even more the contrast in the characters of Haman and Mordecai.
Haman, mortified and ashamed, fled to his own home expecting to find some solace or security there. He was so destroyed that he put a covering over his face so he would not be recognized as he fled to his house. He had no sooner told the sordid details of his humiliation than his counselors and his wife advised him that Mordecai, the Jew, would ultimately cause his complete fall from power. These wise men were probably Hamans official advisors. The TEV translation has chosen irony to characterize the wise men, as if they were self-professed wise men. We prefer to assume they were more like the Chaldeans of the book of Danielofficial advisors to kings and noblemen.
Why would these Persians conclude that Mordecais being a Jew would make it impossible for Haman to prevail in his struggle against him? As a matter of fact, Haman had already secured an edict from the emperor that all Jews are to be massacred (cf. Est. 3:10 ff). Perhaps these advisors and Hainans wife were wise enough to see that since Mordecai had been singularly honored (given the highest honors) by Xerxes himself, it would be unreasonable to allow the man so gloriously honored to be massacred. The LXX translated the last phrase of Est. 6:13, . . . and thou wilt not be able to withstand him, for the living God is with him. Some commentators think the miraculous nature of Mordecais victorious exaltation over Haman impressed the truth upon Hamans advisors and wife that the Jews must be under special divine protection. Such an impression is not altogether improbable. Pharaohs magicians were compelled to explain: This is the finger of God . . . and the Egyptians cried: Let us flee before Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them (Exo. 8:19; Exo. 19:25). Jewish history and scriptures were well known by the wise men of the cultures of Mesopotamia and Persia. So the warnings of Hamans wise men and his wife are based on more than a fear of the shrewdness and expertise of the Jews. The very fact that the Jewish people still existed in spite of all the captivities and persecutions which they had endured must have impressed many thinking people with the conviction that there was some higher power providentially caring for them.
These predictions of Hamans fall before Mordecai must have pierced Hamans heart with great trepidation. Insecurity breeds paranoia. Insecure people persistently fantasize that others are determinedly out to get them. Haman was probably near hysteria from his paranoia. His friends certainly did not give him any relief.
We may learn the following lessons from this chapter:
1.
The good that we do, though unrewarded at first, will always have its rewards.
2.
Evil has a way of obsessing the whole man.
3.
Flattery is dangerous; it usually blinds the one being flattered.
4.
Inordinate pride is self-destroying.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(10) The Jew.Mordecais nationality would doubtless be given in the book of records. Thus Esther, in urging her petition by-and-by, has already on her side the kings good-will to one prominent member of the proscribed race.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Do even so to Mordecai How must Haman’s countenance have fallen at these words, and with what chagrin must he have gone forth to execute the king’s command! This was the beginning of his fall.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mordecai Honored
v. 10. Then the king said to Haman, v. 11. Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, v. 12. And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate, v. 13. And Haman told Zeresh, his wife, and all his friends, v. 14. And while they were yet talking with him, came the king’s chamberlains and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Est 6:10 Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, [and] take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.
Ver. 10. Then the king said to Haman ] The king had no intent herein to ensnare Haman, or cross his humour, but God had a hand in it for the effecting of his own ends, which cannot but be ever exceeding good, since his will is not only recta, right but regula the rule.
Make haste, and take the apparel, and the horse, &c.
And do even so to Mordecai the Jew
That sitteth at the king’s gate] There you shall have him, and see that you mistake him not. Haman knew him well enough by his stiffness and stoutness, and wished him, of all the men in the world, out of the world.
Let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Est 6:10-11
10Then the king said to Haman, Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have said. 11So Haman took the robe and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.
Est 6:10 ‘Take quickly’ This represents two IMPERATIVES (BDB 554 I, KB 553 and BDB 542, KB 534). This has the connotation of urgency. This honor had been long overdue.
the horse The king’s special horse is mentioned in Est 8:10.
and do so for Mordecai the Jew who is sitting at the king’s gate This is the third IMPERATIVE (BDB 793, KB 889, Qal IMPERATIVE). How Ahasuerus knew that Mordecai was a Jew is uncertain unless it was recorded in the chronicles which were read to him the night before. It also acknowledges his apparent official position at the king’s gate. It is uncertain if the king remembered Haman’s edict and realized its consequences toward Mordecai.
Est 6:11 Is there anything that would have upset Haman more than this? Note Est 6:12.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Make haste = be expeditious. Hebrew. mahar, as in Est 5:5; not dahaph (to urge oneself), as in Est 6:12; Est 3:15; or bahal (to hurry away), as in Est 6:14; Est 8:14.
as = according as.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Est 6:10-11
Est 6:10-11
HAMAN ORDERED TO HONOR MORDECAI THE JEW
“Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken. Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and caused him to ride through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor.”
The most significant words in this paragraph are the words. “Mordecai the Jew” on the lips of the king. There is no evidence whatever that the king knew that Mordecai was a Jew prior to that sleepless night and his hearing the reading of the record of the chronicles. With that information in hand, the king might also have become aware that Esther was a Jewess, her connection with Mordecai would have guaranteed that. Therefore, we believe that, contrary to what some writers have written, Ahasuerus had already made up his mind to put the hook in the nose of Haman, even prior to that second banquet. His order for Haman to honor Mordecai certainly did that very thing.
E.M. Zerr:
Est 6:10. With our knowledge of the whole background in mind, it would appear that Ahasuerus had the idea of punishing Haman by the order he gave him. That it was done as if he was saying to himself: “I will teach Haman a lesson that will humble him.” Such was not the case, for he was still wholly ignorant of the true state of affairs. He did not know the connection that Haman and Esther and Mordecai had with the edict sent out. Instead of being a rebuke to Haman (which we can see that it was), the king would rather consider it something of an honor to him, to be entrusted with this important service for the king of such a great realm as Persia. But this very motive of Ahasuerus would make the order given to Haman all the more a sharp rebuke.
Est 6:11. Of course Haman could not do otherwise than obey the order of the king. Even to have protested would have forced an issue into the limelight that he was not ready to meet. So he faithfully carried out the procedure suggested by himself and directed to be applied to the very man he hated most. It gives us an instance of the lesson taught by Jesus in Luk 18:14.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Make haste: Dan 4:37, Luk 14:11, Rev 18:7
let nothing fail: Heb. suffer not a whit to fall, 2Ki 10:10
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Est 6:10. The king said, Do even so to Mordecai the Jew If the king had but said as Haman expected, Thou art the man, what a fair opportunity would be have had to perform the errand he came on, and to have requested, that, to grace the solemnity of his triumph, Mordecai, his sworn enemy, might be hanged at the same time; but how is he thunderstruck when the king bids him, not to order all this to be done, but to do it himself to Mordecai the Jew, the very man he hated above all men, and whose ruin he was seeking, and now came to solicit! He saw it was now to no purpose to think of moving any thing to the king against Mordecai, since he is the man whom the king delights to honour.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
elete_me Est 4:1
MORDECAI
Est 2:5-6; Est 4:1; Est 6:10-11; Est 9:1-4
THE hectic enthusiast who inspires Daniel Deronda with his passionate ideas is evidently a reflection in modern literature of the Mordecai of Scripture. It must be admitted that the reflection approaches a caricature. The dreaminess and morbid excitability of George Eliots consumptive hero have no counterpart in the wise, strong Mentor of Queen Esther, and the English writers agnosticism has led her to exclude all the Divine elements of the Jewish faith, so that on her pages the sole object of Israelite devotion is the race of Israel. But the very extravagance of the portraiture keenly accentuates what is, after all, the most remarkable trait in the original Mordecai. We are not in a position to deny that this man had a living faith in the God of his fathers; we are simply ignorant as to what his attitude towards religion was, because the author of the Book of Esther draws a veil over the religious relations of all his characters. Still the one thing prominent and pronounced in Mordecai is patriotism, devotion to Israel, the expenditure of thought and effort on the protection of his threatened people.
The first mention of the name of Mordecai introduces a hint of his national connections. We read, “There was a certain Jew in Shushan the palace, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.” {Est 2:5-6} Curious freaks of exegesis have been displayed in dealing with this passage. It has been thought that the Kish mentioned in it is no other than the father of Saul, in which case the ages of the ancestors of Mordecai must rival those of the antediluvians, and it has been suggested that Mordecai is here represented as one of the original captives from Jerusalem in the reign of Jeconiah, so that at the time of Xerxes he must have been a marvellously old man, tottering on the brink of the grave. On these grounds the genealogical note has been treated as a fanatical fiction invented to magnify the importance of Mordecai. But there is no necessity to take up any such position. It would be strange to derive Mordecai from the far-off Benjamite farmer Kish, who shines only in the reflected glory of his son, whereas we have no mention of Saul himself. There is no reason to say that another Kish may not have been found among the captives. Then it is quite possible to dispose of the second difficulty by connecting the relative clause at the beginning of Est 5:6 -“who had been carried away”-with the nearest antecedent in the previous sentence-viz., “Kish the Benjamite.” If we remove the semicolon from the end of Est 5:5, the clauses will run on quite smoothly and there will be no reason to go back to the name of Mordecai for the antecedent of the relative; we can read the words thus-“Kish the Benjamite who had been carried away,” etc. In this way all difficulty vanishes. But the passage still retains a special significance. Mordecai was a true Jew, of the once royal tribe of Benjamin, a descendant of one of the captive contemporaries of Jeconiah, and therefore most likely a scion of a princely house. The preservation of his ancestral record gives us a hint of the sort of mental pabulum on which the man had been nurtured. Living in the palace, apparently as a porter, and possibly as a eunuch of the harem, Mordecai would have been tempted to forget his people. Nevertheless it is plain that he had cherished traditions of the sad past, and trained his soul to cling to the story of his fathers sufferings in spite of all the distractions of a Persian court life. Though in a humbler sphere, he thus resembled Artaxerxes cup-bearer, the great patriot Nehemiah.
The peculiarity of Mordecais part in the story is this, that he is the moving spirit of all that is done for the deliverance of Israel at a time of desperate peril without being at first a prominent character. Thus he first appears as the guardian of his young cousin, whom he has cherished and trained, and whom he now introduces to the royal harem where she will play her more conspicuous part. Throughout the whole course of events Mordecais voice is repeatedly heard, but usually as that of Esthers prompter. He haunts the precincts of the harem, if by chance he may catch a glimpse of his foster child. He is a lonely man now, for he has parted with the light of his home. He has done this voluntarily, unselfishly-first, to advance the lovely creature who has been committed to his charge, and secondly, as it turns out, for the saving of his people. Even now his chief thought is not for the cheering of his own solitude. His constant aim is to guide his young cousin in the difficult path of her new career. Subsequently he receives the highest honours the king can bestow, but he never seeks them, and he would be quite content to remain in the background to the end, if only his eager desire for the good of his people could be accomplished by the queen who has learnt to lean upon his counsel from her childhood. Such self-effacement is most rare and beautiful. A subtle temptation to self-regarding ambition besets the path of every man who attempts some great public work for the good of others in a way that necessarily brings him under observation. Even though he believes himself to be inspired by the purest patriotism, it is impossible for him not to perceive that he is exposing himself to admiration by the very disinterestedness of his conduct. The rare thing is to see the same earnestness on the part of a person in an obscure place, willing that the whole of his energy should be devoted to the training and guiding of another, who alone is to become the visible agent of some great work.
The one action in which Mordecai momentarily takes the first place throws light on another side of his character. There is a secondary plot in the story. Mordecai saves the kings life by discovering to him a conspiracy. The value of this service is strikingly illustrated by the historical fact that, at a later time, just another such conspiracy issued in the assassination of Xerxes. In the distractions of his foreign expeditions and his abandonment to self-indulgence at home, the king forgets the whole affair, and Mordecai goes on his quiet way as before, never dreaming of the honour with which it is to be rewarded. Now this incident seems to be introduced to show how the intricate wheels of Providence all work on for the ultimate deliverance of Israel. The accidental discovery of Mordecais unrequited service, when the king is beguiling the long hours of a sleepless night by listening to the chronicles of his reign, leads to the recognition of Mordecai and the first humiliation of Haman, and prepares the king for further measures. But the incident reflects a side light on Mordecai in another direction. The humble porter is loyal to the great despot. He is a passionately patriotic Jew, but his patriotism does not make a rebel of him, nor does it permit him to stand aside silently and see a villainous intrigue go on unmolested, even though it is aimed at the monarch who is holding his people in subjection. Mordecai is the humble friend of the great Persian king in the moment of danger. This is the more remarkable when we compare it with his ruthless thirst for vengeance against the known enemies of Israel. It shows that he does not treat Ahasuerus as an enemy of his people. No doubt the writer of this narrative wished it to be seen that the most patriotic Jew could be perfectly loyal to a foreign government. The shining examples of Joseph and Daniel have set the same idea before the world for the vindication of a grossly maligned people, who, like the Christians in the days of Tacitus, have been most unjustly hated as the enemies of the human race. The capacity to adapt itself loyally to the service of foreign governments, without abandoning one iota of its religion or its patriotism, is a unique trait in the genius of this wonderful race. The Zealot is not the typical Jew-patriot. He is a secretion of diseased and decayed patriotism, True patriotism is large enough and patient enough to recognise the duties that lie outside its immediate aims. Its fine perfection is attained when it can be flexible without becoming servile.
We see that in Mordecai the flexibility of Jewish patriotism was consistent with a proud scorn of the least approach to servility. He. would not kiss the dust at the approach of Haman, grand vizier though the man was. It may be that he regarded this act of homage as idolatrous-for it would seem that Persian monarchs were not unwilling to accept the adulation of Divine honours, and the vain minister was aping the airs of his royal master. But, perhaps, like those Greeks who would not humble their pride by prostrating themselves at the bidding of an Oriental barbarian, Mordecai held himself up from a sense of self-respect. In either case it must be evident that he showed a daringly independent spirit. He could not but know that such an affront as he ventured to offer to Haman would annoy the great man. But he had not calculated on the unfathomable depths of Hamans vanity. Nobody who credits his fellows with rational motives would dream that so simple an offence as this of Mordecais could provoke so vast an act of vengeance as the massacre of a nation. When he saw the outrageous consequences of his mild act of independence, Mordecai must have felt it doubly incumbent upon him to strain every nerve to save his people. Their danger was indirectly due to his conduct. Still he could never have foreseen such a result, and therefore he should not be held responsible for it. The tremendous disproportion between motive and action in the behaviour of Haman is like one of those fantastic freaks that abound in the impossible world of “The Arabian Nights,” but for the occurrence of which we make no provision in real life, simply because we do not act on the assumption that the universe is nothing better than a huge lunatic asylum.
The escape from this altogether unexpected danger is due to two courses of events. One of them-in accordance with the reserved style of the narrative-appears to be quite accidental. Mordecai got the reward he never sought in what seems to be the most casual way. He had no hand in obtaining for himself an honour which looks to us quaintly childish. For a few brief hours he was paraded through the streets of the royal city as the man whom the king delighted to honour, with no less a person than the grand vizier to serve as his groom. It was Hamans silly vanity that had invented this frivolous proceeding. We can hardly suppose that Mordecai cared much for it. After the procession had completed its round, in true Oriental fashion Mordecai put off his gorgeous robes, like a poor actor returning from the stage to his garret, and settled down to his lowly office exactly as if nothing had happened. This must seem to us a foolish business, unless we can look at it through the magnifying glass of an Oriental imagination, and even then there is nothing very fascinating in it. Still it had important consequences. For, in the first place, it prepared the way for a further recognition of Mordecai in the future. He was now a marked personage. Ahasuerus knew him, and was gratefully disposed towards him. The people understood that the king delighted to honour him. His couch would not be the softer nor his bread the sweeter, but all sorts of future possibilities lay open before him. To many men the possibilities of life are more precious than the actualities. We cannot say, however, that they meant much to Mordecai, for he was not ambitious, and he had no reason to think that the kings conscience was not perfectly satisfied with the cheap settlement of his debt of gratitude. Still the possibilities existed, and before the end of the tale they had blossomed out to very brilliant results.
But another consequence of the pageant was that the heart of Haman was turned to gall. We see him livid with jealousy, inconsolable until his wife-who evidently knows him well-proposes to satisfy his spite by another piece of fanciful extravagance. Mordecai shall be impaled on a mighty stake, so high that all the world shall see the ghastly spectacle. This may give some comfort to the wounded vanity of the grand vizier. But consolation to Haman will be death and torment to Mordecai.
Now we come to the second course of events that issued in the deliverance and triumph of Israel, and therewith in the escape and exaltation of Mordecai. Here the watchful porter is at the spring of all that happens. His fasting, and the earnest counsels he lays upon Esther, bear witness to the intensity of his nature. Again the characteristic reserve of the narrative obscures all religious considerations. But, as we have seen already, Mordecai is persuaded that deliverance will come to Israel from some quarter, and he suggests that Esther has been raised to her high position for the purpose of saving her people. We cannot but feel that these hints veil a very solid faith in the providence of God with regard to the Jews. On the surface of them they show faith in the destiny of Israel. Mordecai not only loves his nation, he believes in it. He is sure it has a future. It has survived the most awful disasters in the past. It seems to possess a charmed life. It must emerge safely from the present crisis. But Mordecai is not a fatalist whose creed paralyses his energies. He is most distressed and anxious at the prospect of the great danger that threatens his people. He is most persistent in pressing for the execution of measures of deliverance. Still in all this he is buoyed up by a strange faith in his nations destiny. This is the faith that the English novelist has transferred to her modern Mordecai. It cannot be gainsaid that there is much in the marvellous history of the unique people, whose vitality and energy, astonish us even to-day, to justify the sanguine expectation of prophetic souls that Israel has yet a great destiny to fulfil in future ages.
The ugly side of Jewish patriotism is also apparent in Mordecai, and it must not be ignored. The indiscriminate massacre of the “enemies” of the Jews is a savage act of retaliation that far exceeds the necessity of self-defence, and Mordecai must bear the chief blame of this crime. But then the considerations in extenuation of its guilt which have already come under our notice may be applied to him. The danger was supreme. The Jews were in a minority. The king was cruel, fickle, senseless. It was a desperate case. We cannot be surprised that the remedy was desperate also. There was no moderation on either side, but then “sweet reasonableness” is the last thing to be looked for in any of the characters of the Book of Esther. Here everything is extravagant. The course of events is too grotesque to be gravely weighed in the scales that are used in the judgment of average men under average circumstances.
The Book of Esther closes with an account of the establishment of the Feast of Purim and the exaltation of Mordecai to the vacant place of Haman. The Israelite porter becomes grand vizier of Persia! This is the crowning proof of the triumph of the Jews consequent on their deliverance. The whole process of events that issues so gloriously is commemorated in the annual Feast of Purim. It is true that doubts have been thrown on the historical connection between that festival and the story of Esther. It has been said that the word “Purim” may represent the portions assigned by lot, but not the lottery itself, that so trivial an accident as the method followed by Haman in selecting a day for his massacre of the Jews could not give its name to the celebration of their escape from the threatened danger, that the feast was probably more ancient, and was really the festival of the new moon for the month in which it occurs. With regard to all of these and any other objections, there is one remark that may be made here. They are solely of archaeological interest. The character and meaning of the feast as it is known to have been celebrated in historical times is not touched by them, because it is beyond doubt that throughout the ages Purim has been inspired with passionate and almost dramatic reminiscences of the story of Esther. Thus for all the celebrations of the feast that come within our ken this is its sole significance.
The worthiness of the festival will vary according to the ideas and feelings that are encouraged in connection with it. When it has been used as an opportunity for cultivating pride of race, hatred, contempt, and gleeful vengeance over humiliated foes, its effect must have been injurious and degrading. When, however, it has been celebrated in the midst of grievous oppressions, though it has embittered the spirit of animosity towards the oppressor-the Christian Haman in most cases-it has been of real service in cheering a cruelly afflicted people. Even when it has been carried through with no seriousness of intention, merely as a holiday-devoted to music and dancing and games and all sorts of merry-making, its social effect in bringing a gleam of light into lives that were as a rule dismally sordid may have been decidedly healthy.
But deeper thoughts must be stirred in devout hearts when brooding over the profound significance of the national festival. It celebrates a famous deliverance of the Jews from a fearful danger. Now deliverance is the keynote of Jewish history. This note was sounded as with a trumpet blast at the very birth of the nation, when, emerging from Egypt no better than a body of fugitive slaves, Israel was led through the Red Sea and Pharaohs hosts with their horses and chariots were overwhelmed in the flood. The echo of the triumphant burst of praise that swelled out from the exodus pealed down the ages in the noblest songs of Hebrew Psalmists. Successive deliverances added volume to this richest note of Jewish poetry. In all who looked up to God as the Redeemer of Israel the music was inspired by profound thankfulness, by true religions adoration. And yet Purim never became the Eucharist of Israel. It never approached the solemn grandeur of Passover, that prince of festivals, in which the great primitive deliverance of Israel was celebrated with all the pomp and awe of its Divine associations. It was always in the main a secular festival, relegated to the lower plane of social and domestic entertainments, like an English bank-holiday. Still even on its own lines it could serve a serious purpose. When Israel is practically idolised by Israelites, when the glory of the nation is accepted as the highest ideal to work up to, the true religion of Israel is missed, because that is nothing less than the worship of God as He is revealed in Hebrew history. Nevertheless, in their right place, the privileges of the nation and its destinies may be made the grounds of very exalted aspirations. The nation is larger than the individual, larger than the family. An enthusiastic national spirit must exert an expansive influence on the narrow, cramped lives of the men and women whom it delivers from selfish, domestic, and parochial limitations. It was a liberal education for Jews to be taught to love their race, its history and its future. If-as seems probable-our Lord honoured the Feast of Purim by taking part in it, Joh 5:1 He must have credited the national life of His people with a worthy mission. Himself the purest and best fruit of the stock of Israel, on the human side of His being, He realised in His own great mission of redemption the end for which God had repeatedly redeemed Israel. Thus He showed that God had saved His people, not simply for their own selfish satisfaction, but that through Christ they might carry salvation to the world.
Purged from its base associations of blood and cruelty, Purim may symbolise to us the triumph of the Church of Christ over her fiercest foes. The spirit of this triumph must be the very opposite of the spirit of wild vengeance exhibited by Mordecai and his people in their brief season of unwonted elation. The Israel of God can never conquer her enemies by force. The victory of the Church must be the victory of brotherly love, because brotherly love is the note of the true Church. But this victory Christ is winning throughout the ages, and the historical realisation of it is to us the Christian counterpart of the story of Esther.