ESTHER CHAPTER 1
Ahasuerus and Vashti make a royal banquet, Esther 1:1-9. He sends for Vashti, Esther 1:10. She refuseth to come, Esther 1:12. He consulteth his wise men about it, Esther 1:13-15. Their judgment and advice to put her away, Esther 1:16-20. He maketh the decree of men's sovereignty in their own houses, Esther 1:21,22.
Quest. Who was this king?
Answ. It is confessed and manifest that this was one of the kings of Persia; but which of them it was is not yet agreed, nor is it of any necessity for us now to know. But it is sufficiently evident that this was either,
1. Darius Hystaspes, as divers both Jewish and Christian writers affirm; for his kingdom was thus vast, and he subdued India, as Herodotus reports; and one of his wives was called Atossa, which differs little from Hadassah, which is Esther's other name, Esther 2:7. Or,
2. Xerxes, whose wife, as Herodotus notes, was called Amestris, which is not much differing from Esther; by whom all these things were transacted whilst he was potent and prosperous, before his unhappy expedition against the Grecians. Or,
3. Artaxerxes Longimanus, to whom the characters of Ahasuerus represented in this book do not disagree. And whereas it is objected, that by this account Mordecai must be a man of about a hundred and forty years, and consequently Esther, who is called his uncle's daughter, Esther 2:7, must be too old to make a wife for the king; as for Mordecai, it may be granted, there being divers instances of persons of greater age than that in sacred and profane historians; and for Esther, it may be said that she was his uncle's granddaughter, nothing being more frequent than for the names of sons or daughters to be given to more remote posterity.
An hundred and seven and twenty provinces; so seven new provinces were added to those hundred and twenty mentioned Daniel 6:1.