The ten sons of Haman are slain.

Before CHRIST

vinces, and the lieutenants, and the about 509. deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.

+ Heb. those which did

the business that belonged

4 For Mordecai was great in the to the king. king's house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.

+ Heb. according to their will.

+ Heb. came.

+ Heb. let men hang.

5 Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did + what they would unto those that hated them.

6 And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred

men.

7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,

8 And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

9 And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,

10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand.

11 On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace + was brought before the king.

12 ¶ And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done.

13 Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day's decree, and let + Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.

14 And the king commanded it so

Chap. IX. ver. 14. they hanged Haman's ten sons.] A farther instance of the retribution awaiting guilt. Haman had flattered his malicious and sanguinary spirit with the cruel hope of destroying the whole Jewish kindred: now his own sons (of the number of whom he | had before boasted) are all cut off, and on the gallows share the reproach of their father. Bp. Hall.

16.--and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand,] It is probable that these persons were destroyed in consequence of their having obstinately persevered in measures of active hostility against the Jews, notwithstanding the change in the disposition of the king. On this occasion was displayed the mischievous effect of that absurd law of the Medes and Persians, that the king's

The two days of Purim.

to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.

15 For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand.

16 But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey,

Before CHRIST about 509.

509.

17 On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and + Heb. in it. made it a day of feasting and glad

ness.

18 But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

20 And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,

21 To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,

22 As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourn

about 509.

decree, when signed by him and sealed with his seal, could not be changed or repealed. For the king_was obliged to issue a counter-decree, empowering the Jews to take up arms in self-defence; and in consequence of this, eight hundred men were slain in Shushan, and in the provinces seventy-five thousand. Such was the calamitous result of a rash and unjust decree, ratified at a banquet; when "the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed." Dr. Hales.

18.—and on the fifteenth day-they rested,] The Jews of Shushan rested a day later than the Jews of the provinces, having had two days of slaughter. Bp. Patrick.

are made festival.

Before CHRIST

ing into a good day: that they should about 509. make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;

24 Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, Heb. crush. to consume them, and to destroy them;

The festival to be strictly kept.

26 Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of || Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,

Before CHRIST about 509.

That is, lot.

| 27 The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not + fail, † Heb. pass. that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every

25. — should return upon his own head,] For while he sought direction from the false gods of Persia, his whole undertaking was overruled by the God of Israel. Bp. Patrick.

When such men as Haman are not only supplanted in their wicked contrivances, but dismally chastised for them, these occurrences do more than insinuate Divine wisdom to intervene, countermining and confounding such devices. For He it is who, as the Scripture telleth us, maketh the diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise; taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and turneth down the counsels of the froward headlong. Dr. Isaac Barrow.

28. and that these days of Purim should not fail] Josephus bears testimony to the observance of this festival in his time, in the following words: "Hence even now all the Jews that are in the habitable earth keep these days festival, and send presents to one another." It has also been regularly observed by the Jews to this day as an annual solemnity: and it forms a standing monument of the events recorded in this book. Dr. Gray.

The following accounts are found of the ceremonies used at this festival in different ages: some savouring the superstition of the apostate Jews; others, the piety of their forefathers.

The festival has been generally observed by a total rest from labour, by attendance in the synagogues, by sending presents to one another, by giving portions of food and gifts to the poor, and by great rejoicing and festivity. In the synagogue, the book of Esther is solemnly read from beginning to end; all Jews, whether men, women, children, or servants, being required to attend, because they all had a share in the deliverance obtained by Esther. Before the reading begins, three

The book of Esther is read over twice at this festival: first in the evening of the 13th day of Adar, which with the Jews is reckoned the beginning of the 14th; and secondly, on the morning of the 14th. When the reading is ended, they praise God, who pleadeth the cause of his people; and afterward pronounce alternately with loud voices, Cursed be Haman, Blessed be Mordecai; Cursed be Zeresh, (the wife of Haman,) Blessed be Esther; Cursed be all the wicked, Blessed be all the Jews. They also read in the synagogue some passages of the Pentateuch relating to the perpetual enmity between Israel and Amalek. The synagogue is not open after the morning of the 14th, and the remainder of the festival is spent in rest and mirth.

Their feasting of this occasion has among degenerate and unbelieving Israelites been accompanied by intemperance and licentious diversions; their doctors, as blind and hypocritical guides, forging various excuses and pretences to justify the transgressions of the law which were at these times wantonly committed. Bp. Patrick, Dean Prideaux, Lewis.

At one time they used to erect a gibbet, and upon it to burn the effigy of Haman. In this however it was thought that they had an intention of insulting Christians, by turning into ridicule the death of Christ; and therefore the emperours forbad this part of their ceremonies, under the penalty of forfeiting all their privileges. Calmet.

Esther and Mordecai appear to have ordained only a feast on the 14th and 15th days of the month Adar: but the Jews observe, as they profess long to have done, a fast on the 13th day of Adar, the day destined by Haman

plenty during the two following centuries; and this is perhaps the reason of that vast chasm of near 250 years in their history, between the death of Nehemiah and the times of the Maccabees, when those illustrious heroes not only shook off the foreign yoke, but raised the glory of their nation by their victories and conquests, and by obliging other nations to embrace the Jewish religion.

But this epocha was but short-lived, and eighty years were hardly expired, before the ungovernable ambition of some of their unworthy successors introduced a general apostasy, and brought them under subjection to the Romans, which they could never more shake off. Herod indeed, whom the Romans raised to the royal dignity, greatly increased the glory and opulence of the Jewish nation; but as he was an Idumean who had gained the crown by the destruction of the Asmonean race, as he was a vassal to the Romans, and a tyrant of the Jews, they could not be said to be either free or happy during his hateful reign, much less under the reigns of his successors, when the government of Judea was split into so many toparchies: so that the nation went from thenceforward from bad to worse, till their total destruction. They were changed in their very name, the title of Israelites being quite lost, and the names of all the other tribes being absorbed in that of Judah; so that, from the period of their return, the whole people were chiefly known by the name of Jews, in opposition to the Samaritans, who were a mixture partly of the ten tribes, partly of revolted Jews, and of other nations. Religion was the thing that received the least change from their re-establishment; and, if we except some apostasies occasioned by persecutions, or the ambition of some of their high priests, we shall find them in the sequel more averse to idolatry, and to all heathenish superstitions, than ever their forefathers had been prone to them before the captivity; such strict observers of the sabbath, as to suffer themselves to be murdered by whole armies, rather than violate it by standing on their defence; in a word, so zealous for their religion, and such strict observers of their oaths, whether of allegiance or confederacy, as to suffer the most bloody persecutions, and horrid butcheries, with the utmost courage and constancy, rather than violate their fidelity to their laws. This was indeed a virtue, which, as Josephus rightly observes, was peculiar to the Jews, and to which no other nation or religion could ever lay any claim, till the sufferings, number, and constancy of the Christian martyrs, did in a great measure eclipse the glory of the Jewish ones. Universal History.

kingdoms, even Rome itself. This glory of the Jews was but of short duration: for, though the decline of the kingdoms of Egypt and Syria prevented their interference in the affairs of other states, yet the entire ruin of these two kingdoms, by the great accession of power which it brought to the Romans, paved the way for the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth. Pompey compelled the Jews to submit to the arms of Rome, (B. C. 63,) and from that time their country was tributary to the Romans, although it was still governed by Maccabean princes. The last of that family was conquered and deposed by Herod the Great, an Idumean by birth, but of the Jewish religion, (B. C. 37,) who had been appointed king of the Jews by the Romans, and enjoyed a long reign over the whole of Palestine, in the course of which he greatly diminished the civil power of the high priests. He was succeeded in the government of the greater part of Palestine by his son Archelaus, (B. C. 3,) whose misconduct caused Augustus to banish him, and to reduce his dominions into the form of a Roman province (A. C. 8). And thus it appears, that, with the exception of the short predicted period of Antiochus Epiphanes, the kingdom of Judah, for some time independent, but generally tributary, continued to enjoy its own religion, and the form of its civil government, till after the birth of the Messiah. Bp. Tomline.

In the periods which succeed, we find the Jews placed in a different situation from any preceding part of their history. While a sufficient portion of the nation had been restored to Judea, and there settled, to answer the primary purpose of forming a separate people, in order to preserve the Law and the Prophets, rebuild the temple, and prepare the scene where the Messiah was personally to appear, where He was to verify the prophecies, particularly with respect to his descent, the place of his birth, and the minutest circumstances of his personal character and sufferings; where He was to promulgate his religion, and lay down his life for man; another great body of the nation, as we are informed by Josephus, retired into Egypt, built a temple there, publickly exercised their religion, and flourished in such multitudes, under the protection of Alexander and his successors, that the Jews in Egypt nearly, if not entirely, equalled those of Judea in number, wealth, and influence; and at the same time adopted the Grecian language so universally, that it became necessary to translate the Scriptures into Greek for their use, and thus make them accessible to the learned and inquisitive in every country, whenever their attention should be excited to this study. It should be remarked too, that so necessary was such an adjustment of circumstances to produce this salutary effect, in opposition to the exclusive temper of the Jews settled in Judea, that this translation, which must have been received with such joy by the Jewish colonies, was regarded as the subject of national mourning by the Jews at Jerusalem.

About the time when this translation was completed,

we see the Ptolemies collecting the celebrated library at Alexandria, which for such a length of time formed the greatest depository of learning in the world, and which was so much admired and imitated by other princes. And the circumstance of its being formed in the very same city with the most numerous colony of the Jews in Egypt, while it must have attracted thither all foreigners who were solicitous to acquire learning, must also have given them an opportunity of observing a form of religion so singular as that which the Jews maintained, and of enquiring into its principles and origin; an enquiry which the translation of the Scriptures into Greek rendered practicable: while the cessation of prophecy amongst the Jews, soon after their restoration from captivity, closed the canon of the Jewish Scriptures, and proved that the knowledge which that translation could supply was perfect and complete.

The same providential system of preparation for the introduction of a pure and universal religion was equally conspicuous in many other gradual movements in the world, all concurring to promote the same effect. The inquisitive and vain-glorious turn of the Grecian character multiplied philosophick sects, which by their perpetual disputations directed the attention of mankind to religious and moral speculations; gradually undermined the influence, by exposing the absurdity of Pagan superstition and idolatry; and, though they did not substitute in their room any perfect system of natural religion, yet many of its great truths were occasionally debated upon with spirit and subtilty; and,

though they were not clearly proved or practically inculcated, they yet became the objects of general interest and curiosity: so that the want of further information, and, above all, of Divine instruction, which might remove men's doubts and errours on these most awful subjects, was felt and acknowledged by the most sagacious and reflecting minds; and therefore such instruction would be more attentively listened to, and more thankfully and joyfully received.

:

Connected with the same system, and tending to promote the same effect, was the great and permanent extension of the Roman empire, which broke down all the barriers of separation between the eastern and western worlds, united the Euphrates and the Thames under the same masters, and blended all the civilized states of Greece and Asia, of Africa and Europe, in one great community in every part of which the Grecian language, now the language of the sacred records, became as it were the common tongue of the learned and polite; while a perpetual intercourse between the various parts of this mighty empire, the establishment of a firm and regular police through its whole extent, and, above all, that universal peace, which its undisputed ascendancy secured through the entire civilized world, when the Gospel of peace was first promulgated; all these circumstances secured to the teachers of that Gospel ready access to all the nations of the world capable of profiting by the sacred truths they taught, and gave men leisure to consider their unspeakable importance, and examine the evidence to which they appealed. Dr. Graves.