Esther 1:21

1:21 The matter seemed appropriate to the king and the officials. So the king acted on the advice of Memucan.

Esther 3:9-10

3:9 If the king is so inclined, ¹  let an edict be issued ²  to destroy them. I will pay ten thousand talents of silver ³  to be conveyed to the king’s treasuries for the officials who carry out this business.”

3:10 So the king removed his signet ring ⁴  from his hand and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, who was hostile toward the Jews.

Esther 3:2

3:2 As a result, ⁵  all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate were bowing and paying homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded. However, Mordecai did not bow, ⁶  nor did he pay him homage.

Esther 1:4-6

1:4 He displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his majestic greatness for a lengthy period of time ⁷  – a hundred and eighty days, to be exact! ⁸  1:5 When those days ⁹  were completed, the king then provided a seven-day ¹⁰  banquet for all the people who were present ¹¹  in Susa the citadel, for those of highest standing to the most lowly. ¹²  It was held in the court located in the garden of the royal palace. 1:6 The furnishings included linen and purple curtains hung by cords of the finest linen ¹³  and purple wool on silver rings, alabaster columns, gold and silver couches ¹⁴  displayed on a floor made of valuable stones of alabaster, mother-of-pearl, and mineral stone.

Esther 1:21

1:21 The matter seemed appropriate to the king and the officials. So the king acted on the advice of Memucan.

Esther 1:4

1:4 He displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his majestic greatness for a lengthy period of time ¹⁵  – a hundred and eighty days, to be exact! ¹⁶ 

Matthew 14:6

14:6 But on Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod,

[3:9]  ¹ tn Heb “If upon the king it is good”; KJV “If it please the king.”

[3:9]  ² tn Heb “let it be written” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “let it be decreed.”

[3:9]  ³ sn The enormity of the monetary sum referred to here can be grasped by comparing this amount (10,000 talents of silver) to the annual income of the empire, which according to Herodotus (Histories 3.95) was 14,500 Euboic talents. In other words Haman is offering the king a bribe equal to two-thirds of the royal income. Doubtless this huge sum of money was to come (in large measure) from the anticipated confiscation of Jewish property and assets once the Jews had been destroyed. That such a large sum of money is mentioned may indicate something of the economic standing of the Jewish population in the empire of King Ahasuerus.

[3:10]  ⁴ sn Possessing the king’s signet ring would enable Haman to act with full royal authority. The king’s ring would be used to impress the royal seal on edicts, making them as binding as if the king himself had enacted them.

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). Other modern English versions leave the conjunction untranslated here (NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

[3:2]  ⁶ sn Mordecai did not bow. The reason for Mordecai’s refusal to bow before Haman is not clearly stated here. Certainly the Jews did not refuse to bow as a matter of principle, as though such an action somehow violated the second command of the Decalogue. Many biblical texts bear witness to their practice of falling prostrate before people of power and influence (e.g., 1 Sam 24:8; 2 Sam 14:4; 1 Kgs 1:16). Perhaps the issue here was that Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites, a people who had attacked Israel in an earlier age (see Exod 17:8-16; 1 Sam 15:17-20; Deut 25:17-19).

[1:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “many days” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “for many days.”

[1:4]  ⁸ tn The words “to be exact!” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation to bring out the clarifying nuance of the time period mentioned. Cf. KJV “even an hundred and fourscore days.”

[1:5]  ⁹ tc The Hebrew text of Esther does not indicate why this elaborate show of wealth and power was undertaken. According to the LXX these were “the days of the wedding” (αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ γάμου, Jai Jhmerai tou gamou), presumably the king’s wedding. However, a number of scholars have called attention to the fact that this celebration takes place just shortly before Xerxes’ invasion of Greece. It is possible that the banquet was a rallying for the up-coming military effort. See Herodotus, Histories 7.8. There is no reason to adopt the longer reading of the LXX here.

[1:5]  ¹⁰ tc The LXX has ἕξ ({ex, “six”) instead of “seven.” Virtually all English versions follow the reading of the MT here, “seven.”

[1:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “were found.”

[1:5]  ¹² tn Heb “from the great and unto the small.”

[1:6]  ¹³ sn The finest linen was byssus, a fine, costly, white fabric made in Egypt, Palestine, and Edom, and imported into Persia (BDB 101 s.v. בּוּץ; HALOT 115-16 s.v. בּוּץ).

[1:6]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew noun מִטָּה (mittah) refers to a reclining couch (cf. KJV “beds”) spread with covers, cloth and pillow for feasting and carousing (Ezek 23:41; Amos 3:12; 6:4; Esth 1:6; 7:8). See BDB 641-42 s.v.; HALOT 573 s.v.

[1:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “many days” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “for many days.”

[1:4]  ¹⁶ tn The words “to be exact!” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation to bring out the clarifying nuance of the time period mentioned. Cf. KJV “even an hundred and fourscore days.”