Esther 1:1

The Banquets of the King

1 Now it took place in the days of ¹Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned ²from India to ^[a]Ethiopia over * * provinces,

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Esther 1:1 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 1:1

Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus
Who he was is not easy to say; almost all the kings of Persia are so named by one or another writer. He cannot be the Ahasuerus in ( Daniel 9:1 ) , he was Astyages, the father of Cyaxares or Darius the Mede; but this must be one who had his royal palace in Shushan, which was never the royal city of the Medes, but of the Persians only; nor does he seem to be the Ahasuerus in ( Ezra 4:6 ) , who is thought to be Cambyses, the son and successor of Cyrus; since, according to the canon of Ptolemy, he reigned but eight years, whereas this Ahasuerus at least reigned twelve, ( Esther 3:7 ) , though indeed some account for it by his reigning in his father's lifetime; besides, Cambyses was always an enemy to the Jews, as this was not; and yet this way go many of the Jewish writers

FOOTNOTES:

F14 and so a very learned man, Nicolaus Abram ^F15; according to Bishop Usher ^F16, this was Darius Hystaspis, who certainly was a friend to the Jewish nation; but he is rather the Artaxerxes of Ezra and Nehemiah; and so says the Midrash ^F17. Dr. Prideaux ^F18 thinks Ahasuerus was Artaxerxes Longimanus, which is the sense of Josephus {s}, and who is thought by many to be the Artaxerxes in the foresaid books. Capellus ^F20 is of opinion, that Darius Ochus is meant, to which Bishop Patrick inclines; but I rather think, with Vitringa ^F21 and others ^F23, that Xerxes is the Ahasuerus that was the husband of Esther here spoken of; so the Arabic writers ^F24; and as he was the son and successor of Darius Hystaspis, if he is meant by Artaxerxes in the preceding books, the history of which is carried to the thirty second year of his reign, ( Nehemiah 13:6 ) and who reigned but four years more; this book of Esther stands in right order of time to carry on the history of the Jewish affairs in the Persian monarchy; and Mr. Broughton ^F25 owns, that the name of Xerxes, in Greek, agrees with Achasuerus in Hebrew; and in ( Esther 10:1 ) his name is Achashresh, which, with the Greeks, is Axeres or Xerxes ^F26:

this is Ahasuerus, which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia;
properly so called; the Ethiopians had been subdued by Cambyses the son and successor of Cyrus ^F1, and the Indians by Darius Hystaspis the father of Xerxes ^F2; and both, with other great nations, were retained in subjection to him ^F3; and many of both, as well as of other nations, were with him in his expedition into Greece ^F4:

over an hundred and twenty and seven provinces;
there were now seven provinces more under his jurisdiction than were in the times of Darius the Mede, ( Daniel 6:1 ) .

F14 Targum & Jarchi in loc. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 29. Zuta, p. 108.
F15 Pharus Vet. Test. l. 11. c. 12. p. 305.
F16 Annal. Vet. Test. p. 160. so Broughton, Works, p. 38, 259, 581.
F17 Midrash Esther, fol. 86. 2.
F18 Connection par. 1. B. 4. p. 252, &c.
F19 Antiqu. l. 11. c. 6. sect. 1. and so Suidas in voce (esyhr) .
F20 Chronolog. Sacr. p. 294.
F21 Hypotypos. Hist. Sacr. p. 110.
F23 Schichart. de Festo Purim. Rainold. Praelect. 144. p. 231. Alsted. Chronolog. p. 126, 181.
F24 In Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 87.
F25 Ut supra. (Broughton, Works, p. 38, 259, 581.)
F26 Vid. Hiller. Arcan. Keri & Ketib, p. 87. & Onomastic. Sacr. p. 639.
F1 Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 97.
F2 lb. Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 44.
F3 lb. Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 9.
F4 lb. c. 65, 69, 70.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Esther 1:1 In-Context

1 Now it took place in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over provinces,

2 in those days as King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne which was at the citadel in Susa,

3 in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of his provinces being in his presence.

4 And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his great majesty for many days, 180 days.

5 When these days were completed, the king gave a banquet lasting seven days for all the people who were present at the citadel in Susa, from the greatest to the least, in the court of the garden of the king's palace.