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CLARK'S 


FOEEIGN 


THEOLOGICAL   LIBRARY. 


NEW  SEEIES. 
VOL.  XXXIV 


ffiassel's  ffiommentatg  on  ffistj&er. 


EDINBUKGH: 
T.   &    T.   CLARK,  38   GEOBGB   STREET. 

1888. 


\ 


PRIITTED   BY  MOPvP.ISON   AND  GIBS, 
FOR 

T.    &   T.    CLAEK,    EDINBURGH.    . 

LONDON,      .  .  ...  .  HAMILTON,    ADAilS,    AND  CO. 

DUBLIN, GEORGE    HERBERT. 

NEW  YORK,  ....  SCRIBNER  AND  WELFORD. 


AN 

EXPLAJfATORY    COMMENTARY 


ON 


B  S  T  H  E  E, 

CONSISTING  OF 

THE  SECOND  TAEGUM  TRANSLATED  FROM  THE 

ARAMAIC   WITH  NOTES,  MITHRA,   THE 

WINGED  BULLS  OF  PERSEPOLIS, 

AND  ZOROASTER. 


BY 

Professor  PAULUS  CASSEL,  D.D.,  Berlin, 

AUTHOR  OF  THE  COMMENTARIES  ON  JUDGES  AND  RUTH 

IN  lange's  'bibelwerk,'  etc. 


STransIateti 

BY 

Eev.  AAEON  BEKNSTEIN,  B.D. 


EDINBURGH: 
T.     k     T.     CLARK,     38     GEORGE     STREET. 

1888. 


^     C3 


<-'• 


^'^ 


«A 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE. 


Few  words  are  required  to  introduce  to  the  reader  the  learned 
author  of  the  present  work,  as  he  is  already  known  to  English 
theologians  by  his  Commentaries  on  Judges  and  Ruth  in 
Lange's  Bihelwerk.  In  Germany  the  author  deservedly 
enjoys  a  wide  reputation,  for  his  books  on  religious,  social, 
and  scientific  subjects  are  indeed  legion,  and  his  ministerial 
and  philanthropic  activity  is  appreciated  by  all  classes,  from 
the  emperor  to  the  poorest  labouring  man.  This  volume  will 
supply  a  want  long  felt,  for  it  elucidates  the  book  of  Esther 
in  such  a  vivid  and  graphic  manner  as  to  make  the  reader 
realize  the  wonderful  dealings  of  God  with  His  chosen  and 
thrice-redeemed  people.  Herodotus,  the  Talmud,  the  Mid- 
rashim,  and  other  ancient  books,  as  well  as  modern  discoveries, 
reports  of  travellers  concerning  Persian  customs  and  manners, 
and  philological  science,  have  been  brought  to  bear  their  respec- 
tive testimonies  to  the  truth  of  the  recorded  events.  To  this 
book  are  applicable,  to  a  large  extent,  the  weighty  words 
of  the  Ven.  Archdeacon  Farrar  in  the  Exioositor  of  January 
1888,  where  he  says,  "When  we  study  a  great  modern 
commentary  we  are  indeed  heirs  of  all  the  ages."  And  again  : 
"  Philology,  which  is  a  science  still  in  its  infancy,  has  aided 
and  enriched  our  modern  scholarship."  The  author  has 
happily  combined  the  topical,  exegetical,  critical,  and  the 
practical  methods  of  exposition,  and  has  offered  us  instruc- 


370088 


VI  PREFACE. 

tive  and  interesting  matter  on  every  incident  touched 
upon  in  the  sacred  narrative.  It  is  a  hona  fide  historical 
commentary,  and  its  parallels  are  striking,  giving  us  an 
insight  into  ancient  Oriental  life,  and  especially  Persian, 
as  no  other  book  of  a  similar  kind  does. 

It  is  also  valuable  on  account  of  its  apologetical  character. 
The  author  holds  a  brief,  and  as  a  zealous  advocate  he  pleads 
Israel's  cause  before  the  nations,  asks  for  tolerance  and  large- 
hearted  charity  towards  them,  shows  the  injustice  of  the 
repeated  Haman-like  attacks  to  which  they  have  in  the 
course  of  their  checkered  history  been  subjected,  and  the 
wonderful  intervention  of  Providence  in  their  behalf,  as  well 
as  the  punishments  which  their  covenant  God  meted  out  to 
their  enemies.  In  a  word,  he,  like  Mordecai,  "  speaks  peace 
to  all  his  seed,"  and,  more  than  Mordecai,  preaches  "  peace  on 
earth  and  good-will  towards  men."  The  four  Appendices  will 
be  found  exceedingly  interesting  and  instructive,  especially  to 
Biblical  students.  That  of  the  First  Targum  will  appear  for 
the  first  time  in  English.  The  author  used  the  Amsterdam 
edition,  and  amended  the  text  by  the  light  of  the  \r\7\\i^  nvD  nsD, 
Fiirth  1768,  -)nD^?  n^JD  "iDD,  ed.  1698,  and  the  Hebrew 
version  of  Mordechai  Ventura,  Amsterdam  1870,  and  also 
the  translation  of  Furstenthal.  The  Targum  is  divided  into 
eleven  paragraphs  as  follows  : — 

§  1.  Introduction  about  Ahhashverosh. 
§  2.  The  acrostic  concerning  Solomon. 
§  3.  The  description  of  Solomon's  throne. 
§  4.  Solomon  and  the  Queen  of  Sheba. 
§  5.  The  legend  about  Jeremiah. 
§  6.  The  dialogue  of  Vashti  and  her  death. 
§  7.  The  election  of  Esther  as  queen. 
§  8.  The  accusation  of  Haman. 


PEEFACE.  VU 

§     9.  The  penitence  of  Mordecai,  Esther,  and  the  people. 

§  10.  The  fall  of  Haman. 

§  11.  The  great  deliverance  of  the  Jews. 

The  author's  notes,  besides  containing  a  mine  of  rich 
material,  throw  light  on  every  point.  By  explaining  the 
names  of  the  ancestors  of  Haman,  he  indicates  the  time 
when  the  Targum  was  written,  when  the  Jews  were 
oppressed  by  the  Eomans  in  the  time  of  Justinian.  Such 
names  as  Pilate  the  governor,  Felix  the  vicious  brother  of 
Pallas,  riorus,  Cuspius  Fadus,  Flaccus,  Antipater,  Herod, 
Vitellius,  Cestius  Gallus,  and  Eufus,  might  more  properly  be 
called  the  sons  or  followers  of  Haman.  He  also  traces 
Christian  ideas  in  this  Targum  as  well  as  antichristian, 
e.g.  in  the  name  Bar  Pandira,  whereby  Christ  is  designated. 
On  the  other  hand,  Mohan;imedanism  is  not  in  the  slightest 
way  alluded  to,  which  proves  the  great  antiquity  of  the 
Targum. 

A  word  with  regard  to  the  translation  of  the  book.  I 
have  on  the  whole  been  faithful  to  the  author,  and,  as  far 
as  the  English  idiom  allowed  it,  have  reproduced  the  author's 
style.  I  am  indebted  to  the  Eev.  James  Neil,  M.A.,  for  his 
kindness  in  revising  the  translation,  to  the  Eev.  J.  H.  Bruhl 
for  translating  the  excursus  on  Zoroaster,  and  to  the  publishers 
for  their  patient  attention  to  the  whole  work.  May  it  prosper 
on  its  way,  and  be  blessed  by  Him  who  manifested  Himself 
at  all  times  as  the  Protector  and  Eedeemer  of  His  people. 

THE   TRANSLATOR. 


IlfTEODUCTIOK 


1.  The  book  of  Esther,  as  we  liave  it  in  the  Hebrew  language 
in  the  canon  of  the  Old  Testament,  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  and  instructive  writings  of  ancient  Persia.  The 
information  wMch  it  imparts  surpasses  in  originality  even  that 
given  by  Herodotus  ;  it  is  of  the  same  century,  but  older,  and 
is  tinctured  with  the  colour  of  Persian  custom  and  life  more 
than  any  other  book.  It  was  written  in  the  capital  of  Persia. 
It  brings  the  reader  into  the  palace  of  the  king ; — it  shows 
him  its  throne,  with  its  magnificent  surroundings.  We  obtain 
from  it  an  insight  into  the  inner  life  of  the  royal  harem. 
Indeed,  the  little  book  represents  a  universal  harem-history. 
It  makes  us  better  acquainted  with  King  Xerxes,  and  gives 
us  the  original  names  of  his  princes  and  warriors.  In  spite 
of  its  specific  Jewish-national  motive,  it  brings  us  into  contact 
with  the  political  and  religious  movements  that  take  place  in 
the  great  empire.  !N"owhere  else  is  the  weakness  of  the 
Persian  monarch  so  clearly  exhibited  as  the  outcome  of  his 
very  possession  of  tremendous  power,  and  of  his  considering 
himself  as  the  visible  Mithra.  The  strife  which  was  epidemic 
in  Oriental  States,  which  the  stories  of  the  Seven  Wise  Men 
everywhere  describe,^  and  which  was  regularly  carried  on 
between  the  viziers  of  kings  and  the  favourite  queens,  is 
here  narrated  with  such  a  vivid  and  historical  accuracy  that 
has  no  parallel.  First,  the  queen  falls  on  account  of  the 
intrigues  of   the    seven   ministers,  then   the   vizier   falls   on 

^  I  refer  here  to  the  book  I  lately  brought  out,  Sieben  weisen  Meister, 
where  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  versions  in  connection  with  Buddhistic 
interpretation  and  Oriental  narrative  are  considered. 


X  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

account  of  the  beauty  of  another  queen.  One  recognises  the 
stamp  of  genuineness  in  every  trait  of  the  narrative;  just 
that  which  appears  strange  at  first  sight  proves  the  fidelity 
with  which  contemporary  events  are  narrated.  The  doubts 
which  modern  writers  have  raised  against  this  book  are 
owing  to  their  deficiency  in  the  historic  sense,  and  to  their 
want  of  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  Oriental  affairs.  Indeed, 
national  prejudices  contributed  to  the  undervaluing  of  the 
book.  Hamanic  sentiment  wanted  to  throw  a  veil  over  the 
picture  of  the  old  Haman,  and  to  declare  the  book  a  myth. 
Of  course,  the  whole  narrative  is  the  expression  of  a  national 
triumph  over  intolerance  and  tyranny,  and  betrays  a  national 
character,  just  as  the  narratives  of  Herodotus  and  of  others,  of 
the  Persian  wars,  sufficiently  manifest  traits  of  Hellenic  one- 
sidedness.  It  is  a  memoir  written  by  a  Jew  to  all  his  people 
who  are  scattered  in  the  extensive  countries  of  Persia,  in 
which  are  recorded  the  wonderful  interpositions  of  Providence 
in  their  deliverance  from  destruction,  which  appeared  to  be 
certain.  It  has  no  other  purpose  but  to  narrate  this ;  it  is 
not  called  upon  to  give  information  about  other  things ;  albeit 
it  gives  a  picture  of  Persian  court  life  the  like  of  which  is 
found  nowhere  else. 

The  king  s^-iv^n«  or  tritJ^n^?  is  really  Xerxes  the  First,  the 
son  of  Darius  Hystaspes.  The  name  appears  to  be  an 
appellative,  and  represents  the  genuine  form,  but  which  was 
sometimes  pronounced  by  Greeks  Kyaxares  and  sometimes 
Xerxes.  It  is  a  compound  of  tJ'^^?  and  ^n — as  jamt^'Hi^  is  a 
compound  of  jQ-ii  and  ^rii^ ;  lam  (Durban)  ^  means  officer, 
servant,  and  with  Ej^ns  it  means  the  first  servant  (satrap) 
(comp.  Dan.  iii.  3),  so  then  we  have  to  explain  En1:^^^K  as 
meaning  the  chief  king,  or  king  of  kings,  ^i  (Eakscha),  the 
Latin  rex,  Xerxes  or  Xerx,  is  also  a  ^epe^ ;  for  tJ^nx  corresponds 
to  Khsha  or  Xyccx,  which  certainly  contains  the  signification 

^  He  appears  in  the  Manichaeic  reports  as  Turbo,  and  in  the  narrative 
of  Secundus  as  Tyrpo.  Comp.  my  Siehen  weisen  Meister,  p.  350. 
Comp.  Archelai  et  Manetis  Disput.  p.  44. 


INTEODUCTION.  XI 

of  greatness  or  priority,  t^ns  is  also  found  in  the  name  of 
Artaxerxes,  who  is  named  in  Ezra  iv.  8,  11,  23,  vii.  7, 
«nt^♦L^'^m^<  or  NDDDnnix.  This  is  composed  of  Arta  and  ^m^, 
and  j<nt^  or  xriD,  with  which  the  word  ^lara^  in  Hesy chins, 
meaning  king,  may  be  compared.  So  must  the  name  triD, 
Cyrus  (the  sun),  be  compared  with  fcvpio<;,  and  the  Persian 
name  Darius,  Uara,  Darab  be  compared  with  rvpavvo^. 

The  name  of  the  king,  tnil^nx,  stands  properly  in  Ezra 
iv.  6  between  Darius  and  Artaxerxes.  With  Xerxes  are 
mentioned  in  the  book  of  Esther  as  his  counsellors  and 
friends,  Mardonius,  Barzanes,  Hydarnes,  Aspathines,  Pre- 
xaspes,  and  Ahhaemenes.  Proper  dates  are  given.  If 
nothing  is  said  about  the  preparation  for  the  war  with 
Greece,  it  is  because,  when  this  was  subsequently  written, 
it  was  not  pleasant  to  be  reminded  of  the  unfortunate  issue 
of  that  war;  yet  the  date  of  the  assembly  given  in  ver.  3, 
"the  third  year  of  his  reign,"  indicates  that  in  the  year  482 
preparation  for  the  war  was  made.  If  events  are  narrated 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  sixth  and  in  the  seventh  years 
of  the  reign  of  Xerxes,  it  is  because  he  only  returned  to 
Shushan  in  the  sixth  year.  In  the  twelfth  year,  about 
474-473  B.C.,  occurred  the  catastrophe,  and  then  follows 
chap,  x.,  where  we  read :  "  And  the  king  laid  a  tribute 
upon  the  land  and  upon  the  isles  of  the  sea."  This  is  a 
remarkable  notice,  and  must  be  understood  according  to  the 
tenor  of  the  whole  book.  The  narrated  fact  is  represented  as 
the  consequence  of  the  deliverance  of  Israel  and  of  the  fall  of 
Ham  an.  The  imposition  of  taxes  upon  the  land  and  the  isles 
is  a  sign  of  their  submission.  The  meaning  of  the  passage 
obviously  is,  that  since  Hamanism  has  fallen,  the  power 
of  the  Persian  king  has  risen  over  the  land  and  the  isles. 
The  memoir  desires  to  prove  that  the  threatening  against  the 
Jews  was  against  the  interests  of  Persia,  and  that  their 
deliverance  from  danger  contributed  to  the  welfare  of  the 
country.  It  intimates  that  just  as  Mordecai  conferred  a 
benefit  upon  the   king  by   disclosing  the  conspiracy  of  his 


XU  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

servants,  so  he  also  became  the  benefactor   of  the   country 

in  general  when  he  was  raised  to  the  office  of  vizier,  because 

he  made  the  king's  prerogatives  more  respected. 

The   appearance    of  Ham  an   on    the    political    arena  was 

evidently  the  result  of  a  religious   Iranic   movement.     This 

increased  the  more  after  the  return  of  the  king  from  the  war, 

where  he  met  with  disastrous  reverses  which  naturally  caused 

dissatisfaction.     The  attempt  of  Haman  against  the  Jews  had 

a  deep  religious-political  basis ;  also  in  Palestine,  as  the  book 

of  Ezra  narrates  that  the  Persian  statesmen  wrote  to  the  king 

against  the  Jews.     These  statesmen  raised  considerations  with 

regard  to   the    Jews    similar    to    those   which   occupied  the 

mind  of  the  Pharaoh  who  knew  not  Joseph  in  Egypt,  and 

to  those  raised  by  Mithridates   against  the  Komans,  and  at 

times  by  Turkish  sultans  against  the  Christians.     All  those 

that  did  not  belong  to  the  religion  of  Iran  were  looked  upon 

as  political   and  ecclesiastical  enemies,  and  therefore    to   be 

exterminated.      Such  ideas  are  not  very  rare  even  in  modern 

States.     In  this  sense  is  also  the  speech  of  Haman  before  the 

king  to  be  understood. 

A  more  dangerous  contrivance  against  the  Jews  could  not  be 

thought  of.     But  it  was  averted,  and  the  memoir  could  assert 

that  just  through  the  deliverance  of  Israel  the  Persian  power 

had  risen  and  become  great.     In  fact,  the  Greek  chroniclers 

are   silent    concerning  further  Persian  losses  till   the  death 

of  Xerxes;  the  battle  of  Eurymedon,  469,  was  not  considered 

of  great  importance  in  official  reports  of  the  Persian  court ; 

besides,  it   took   place  after  the  memoir  was  written.     The 

Persians  had   ceased   to   attack  Greece,   but    land   and  isles 

remained  under  their  protection. 

f     In  Persia   the  enemy  of  the   king  was   regarded   as   the 

/   enemy  of  everything  good,  and  even  of  the   Deity,  because 

I    he   was   their  personified  idea  of  God.     Hence  the  memoir 

proves  that  the  king  derived  only  good  from  Mordecai  and 

Esther.       There    is    therefore    no    greater    evidence    of    the 

genuineness,  contemporariuess,  and  prudence  of   the  Megilla 
J 


INTEODUCTION.  XIU 

f  (scroll)  Esther,  than  the  very  fact  that  it  does  not  mention 
the  name  of  God  (mn*').  Haman  accuses  the  Jews  that  they 
do  not  keep  the  "rn,  laws,  of  the  king,  m  is  the  product  of 
the  mind  of  his  royal  majesty,  who  is  the  representative  of  the 
J  Deity.  Beside  him  no  other  god  must  be  acknowledged 
/  or  tolerated.  If  the  Jews  observe  the  m  of  their  God,  they 
do  it  in  opposition  to  the  king.^  The  book  cannot  and  must 
not  mention  the  name  of  the  eternal  God  under  the  circum- 
stances, when  everything  depends  upon  the  king.  The  author  is 
very  careful  to  show  that  he  is  the  friend  of  the  king,  and  that 
his  book  was  not  written  against  him,  but  against  Haman. 
There  is  not  a  word  here  against  the  king,  although  later 
traditions  are  full  of  mocking  and  hostile  epithets  against 
him.  It  speaks,  indeed,  of  Haman's  attempt  to  kill  all  the 
Jews  in  the  name  of  the  king,  but  it  does  not  omit  to  mention 
that  they  were  saved  in  his  name.  So,  then,  in  the  omission 
of  the  name  of  God,  we  have  here  a  political  act  of  prudence 
which  it  was  necessary  to  adopt  by  the  written  contemporary, 
the  king's  contemporary.  Ij^evertheless,  the  strongly-marked 
Jewish  faith  appears  everywhere.  The  fasting  which  Mordecai 
prescribed  was  connected  with  prayer,  although  the  form  of  the 
prayer  is  not  given.  One  thought  pervades  the  whole  book,v 
and  that  is,  the  wonderful  providence  by  which  God  protects  I 
the  house  of  Israel..  It  cannot  be  destroyed  even  by  the( 
malice  of  such  an  enemy  as  Haman.  Even  Zeresh  his  wife  is 
represented  to  be  of  the  same  opinion,  when  she  says  to  him  : 
"  If  Mordecai  be  of  the  seed  of  the  Jews,  before  whom  thou 
hast  begun  to  fall,  thou  shalt  not  prevail  against  him."  With 
the  deliverance  of  the  Jews  is  connected  the  fall  of  Vashti 
and,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  Persian  War,  also  the  election  of 
Esther  as  queen,  the  conspiracy  of  the  eunuchs,  the  escape 
of  the  king,  and  his  sleeplessness.  The  opposition  between 
Haman  and  Mordecai  is  a  religious  and  not  merely  a  personal 

^  About  tlie  fanciful  attempts  of  ancient  teachers  to  find  the  name  of 
God  concealed  in  certain  letters,  and  otherwise  false  expositions,  comp. 
Scliudt,  Judische  MerJcwiirdigkeiten,  ii.  pp.  311,  312. 


XIV  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

one.  Mordecai  is  unwilling  to  bow  his  knee  before  the 
minister  of  Horn  and  of  fire.  Through  this  he  comes,  of 
course,  into  the  danger  of  being  denounced  by  Haman  and 
crucified;  but  in  the  same  night  the  king  reads  of  his 
benevolent  and  loyal  act,  and  he  is  not  killed,  but  is 
honoured  publicly ;  yea,  Haman  himself  must  impart  to 
him  the  honours  which  he  in  his  vain  conceit  imagined 
were  intended  for  himself.  The  saying  of  Haman,  that  the 
Jews  were  scattered  in  all  lands,  and  had  their  own 
peculiar  customs,  was  not  unfounded ;  but  for  all  that,  they 
were  good  citizens,  and  did  their  duty  to  the  State  in  spite 
of  their  religion.  This  is  clearly  shown  in  the  book.  Mor- 
decai, though  in  the  midst  of  Persians,  yet  scrupulously 
observes  the  religious  commandments ;  he  uses  the  names  of 
Jewish  months  and  not  of  Persian ;  and  it  is  a  fable  that  the 
names  of  the  Jewish  months  originated  in  Persia.^ 

2.  The  event  was  indeed  extraordinary ;  never  before  since 
the  time  of  Israel's  exodus  from  Egypt  did  they  pass  through 
such  great  danger.  It  was  the  first  instance  of  the  outbreak 
of  fanaticism  which  in  later  times  was  often  repeated.  Their 
whole  existence  throughout  the  .wide  dominions  of  Persia  was 
in  the  balance.  The  experience  they  received  of  the  wonder- 
ful interposition  of  God  in  their  behalf  made  an  indelible 
impression  upon  them.  They  had  seen  before,  in  their  history, 
the  appointment  of  fasts.  The  prophet  Zechariah  says,  "  The 
fast  of  the  fourth  month,  and  the  fast  of  the  fifth,  and  the 
fast  of  the  seventh,  and  the  fast  of  the  tenth,  shall  be  to  the 
house  of  Judah  joy  and  gladness,  and  cheerful  feasts."  But 
such  days  of  redemption  they  had  not  yet  experienced. 
Therefore  Mordecai  and  Queen  Esther  resolved  to  commemo- 
rate the  great  event  which  they  themselves  had  witnessed. 
They  joined  their  experience  of  God's  redeeming  love  with 
the  redemption  of  Israel  from  Egypt.  As  the  feast  of  Pass- 
over was  at  all  times  celebrated  with  thanksgiving  and  praise, 

^  About  the  names  of  the  Jewish  months  I  refer  to  my  book,  Literatur 
und  Geschichte^  p.  299,  etc. 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

SO  should  a  feast  proclaim  to  all  generations  the  wonderful 
redemption  which  their  forefathers  had  experienced.  In 
imitation  of  the  Passover,  which  began  with  the  fourteenth 
of  N^isan,  this  feast  was  also  to  begin  on  the  fourteenth  of 
Adar.  They  called  it  Purim,  to  remind  them  of  the  horo- 
scope which  was  placed  for  their  destruction,  but  which  led  to 
their  deliverance,  just  as  the  Passover  reminded  them  by  its 
name  of  the  passing  by  of  the  protecting  and  redeeming  angel. 
Purim  also  reminded  them  of  Balaam's  demoniac  attempt  to 
curse  Israel,  but  the  curse  was  turned  into  a  blessing ;  so  now 
Haman,  in  accord  with  Persian  custom,  placed  the  horoscope 
in  order  to  find  a  day  favourable  to  Israel's  destruction. 

The  undertaking  was  made  in  the  twelfth  year  of  the  reign 
of  Xerxes,  probably  the  twelfth  month  of  the  cycle  of  twelve 
years,  of  which  it  is  said  that  the  last  was  called  Swine, 
which  was  considered  as  an  unfortunate  omen  to  the  people, 
to  whom  swine  were  obnoxious.  The  thirteenth  day  of  the 
month  Adar  was  chosen,  whose  signification  was  fire,  in  the 
sense  of  consuming  also,  as  March  from  Mars,  Ares  whose 
Greek  name  is  from  fire.  The  thirteenth  day  {Tir)  signifies 
the  arrow.  For  the  king  shot  the  arrow  with  the  bow  with 
which  he  was  equipped,  like  the  sun-god  and  Mithra,  which 
we  explain  as  meaning  archer.  But  the  arrow  rebounded. 
Haman,  his  adherent,  fell  instead  of  Mordecai  the  Jew.  The 
day  became  a  day  of  joy  instead  of  the  horoscope  of  the  curse. 
It  was  tljerefore  quite  natural  that  the  day  should  be  called 
Purim,  lottery-day,  for  it  was  the  day  on  which  the  prognos- 
tications of  the  horoscopian  were  falsified,  and  the  threatened 
misfortune  was  turned  into  fortune.  It  was  a  grand  thought 
of  Esther  and  Mordecai,  while  being  conscious  that  they  were 
chosen  by  God  to  be  the  instruments  in  effecting  a  deliverance, 
to  institute  a  day  to  commemorate  that  event.  The  people 
should  realize  a  lively  sense  of  the  perpetual  danger  they  are 
in  on  account  of  their  faith  in  the  midst  of  the  heathen,  so 
that  they  might  the  more  ardently  adhere  to  it,  and  never 
lose  sight  that  God  is  their  Preserver  and  Redeemer.     Mor- 


XVI  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

decai  and  Esther  claimed  to  have  the  right  which  Moses 
possessed  to  prescribe  a  feast  for  the  people  which  should 
not  only  awaken  serious  thoughts  in  their  minds,  but  also 
inspire  them  with  joy  and  gratitude.  When  the  ancient 
Jewish  teachers  ascribed  to  the  book  of  Esther  a  certain 
prophetical  character,  it  was  because  they  foresaw  the  times 
when  similar  accusations  to  those  recorded  in  this  book  would 
be  made  against  the  Jews,  and  they  would  often  need  the 
comfort  which  the  feast  of  Purim  inspires.  Indeed,  the 
institution  of  this  feast  was  the  type  of  the  Feast  of  Hhanukah, 
or  of  Dedication,  in  which  Judas  Maccabaeus  purified  the 
temple.  He,  too,  inspired  by  his  victory  over  the  Syrians, 
desired  that  the  event  should  remain  indelible.  Just  as 
Esther  and  Mordecai  made  the  Passover  to  a  great  extent 
the  basis  of  the  Feast  of  Purim,  so  the  Maccabees  founded 
the  Feast  of  the  Dedication  on  the  prophecy  of  Haggai,  which 
predicted  the  coming  of  a  new  time  from  the  four  and 
twentieth  day  of  the  ninth  month  (Hag.  ii.  18).  We  have 
therefore  good  ground  for  assuming  the  authenticity  of  the 
report  that  Mordecai  caused  the  book  to  be  written,  and  that 
he  furnished  the  main  facts.  In  chap.  ix.  20-23  we  not 
only  find  traces  of  this,  but  also  of  the  appointment  and 
the  observance  of  the  feast.  (See  the  explanation  in  the 
Commentary.) 

We  observe  that  Esther  and  Mordecai  must  not  be  judged 
by  the  standard  of  the  gospel,  nor  must  we  expect  to  find 
in  them  the  tblerating  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ.  They  retaliated 
and  avenged  themselves  on  their  enemies  in  accordance  with 
the  prevalent  policy  and  spirit  of  the  East ;  but  who  will  be 
so  bold  as  to  maintain  that  the  attacks  against  the  Jews  from 
Byzantium  to  Berlin,  from  the  time  of  the  Crusaders  to  the 
recent  anti-Semitic  movement,  had  in  the  slightest  possible 
way  been  influenced  by  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  The 
Hamanism  of  Berlin  knew  no  more  of  the  Cross  than  Haman 
did,  or  rather  they  had  a  desire  to  crucify.  Mordecai  had 
nothing  of  the  apostle  and  the  ascetic  in  him.     He  retained  the 


INTRODUCTION.  XVU 

sole  character  of  a  praying  man  after  his  prayer  had  conquered  ; 
but  in  letting  himself  be  invested  with  the  office  of  vizier, 
he  only  wished  to  show  in  a  visible  manner  the  victory  which 
his  people  had  obtained  through  the  help  of  God.  This  little 
book  is  remarkable  and  incomparable  in  the  effect  which  it 
has  produced  upon  the  national  and  social  life  of  Israel.  Of 
course,  the  apostles  rose  higher  to  the  ideal  of  true  martyrs, 
because  they  conquered  while  they  submitted  to  a  violent 
death ;  but,  alas  !  Mordecai  and  Esther,  although  they  did 
not  know  the  gospel,  have  found  more  imitators  in  the 
Christian  Church  than  Stephen  and  Paul ;  and  that  without 
having  to  save  themselves  from  similar  dangers  to  those  of 
their  exemplars.  The  vengeance  which  Jews  exercised  was 
in  self-defence,  because  their  life  was  not  safe  even  after  the 
deliverance  which  Esther  had  effected,  so  long  as  the  party 
of  Haman  remained  alive.  These  would  have  resumed  their 
former  hostile  plan  as  quickly  as  the  unextinguished  embers  are 
set  ablaze  by  the  least  favourable  wind  that  blows  upon  them. 
.  One  must  have  an  historic  sense,  and  imagine  himself  in 
ancient  Persia,  in  order  to  realize  the  true  state  of  affairs 
there.  Tyranny  knew  nothing  of  the  right  of  man ;  and  if 
any  one  obtained  justice  or  favour,  he  owed  it  to  the  humour 
of  the  tyrant. 

The  little  book  considers,  indeed,  the  whole  affair  of  which 
it  treats  only  from  a  religious  and  national  point  of  view,  and 
removes  the  history,  so  to  speak,  from  the  universal  history 
of  the  world ;  but  that  is  natural.  The  persecuted  person 
thinks  only  of  his  danger  and  of  his  escape ;  and  the  believer 
thinks  only  of  the  wonderful  interposition  of  God  which  he  had 
experienced. 

It  is  a  beautiful  thought  of  the  Midrash  when  it  compares 
Esther  to  the  dawn  of  the  morning.  As  the  dawn  announces 
the  end  of  the  night,  so  the  book  of  Esther  terminates  in  the 
0.  T.  the  history  of  miracles. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  history  here  recorded  is  the  first  of 
the  kind  within  the  experience  of  the  people.     The  remark  of 


XVIU  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

the  Midrash  on  chap.  xi.  is  very  significant,  where,  among 
other  enumerations  of  persons  who  were  first  in  something, 
it  says,  Ahhashverosh  was  the  first  buyer  and  Haman  was  the 
first  seller  of  men.  For  the  first  time  was  there  such  a 
threatening  in  their  history.  Their  children  were  once  taken 
away  from  them  and  killed  by  Pharaoh ;  they  were  also,  as 
a  people,  taken  captive  by  ISTebuchadnezzar,  but  their  whole 
existence  of  old  and  young,  of  man  and  wife,  was  never  yet 
in  jeopardy.  Such  a  dreadful  danger  is  not  to  be  mysticized. 
We  read  of  such  in  the  history  of  ancient  tyrannies  and  of 
civil  war,  but  from  this  history  we  get  the  indelible  impres- 
sion that  we  are  reading  of  the  experience  of  a  people  who 
may  expect  renewed  attacks  against  themselves  from  the 
conquering  nations  among  whom  they  reside.  Therefore,  no 
book  of  the  Old  Testament  has  been  so  much  commented  on 
and  adorned  as  this.  In  its  pages,  not  merely  did  a  voice  of 
warning  speak  to  the  generations  of  Israel,  but  also  a  voice 
of  historical  comfort.  But  it  is  just  these  many  comments 
and  embellishments  which  testify  to  the  genuineness  and 
authenticity  of  the  Hebrew  Persian  text,  because  they  display 
quite  a  different  spirit  from  that  which  characterizes  the 
original  document. 

3.  This  is  already  manifest  in  the  additions  which  accompany 
the  book  of  Esther  in  the  Septuagint.^  In  these  the  Jews  have 
no  longer  any  scruple  in  mentioning  their  God  ;  they  appear 
to  be  anxious  to  remove  beforehand  any  objections  which 
might  be  raised  against  the  narrative  in  Esther,  and  prove  the 
long  use  of  the  book  in  the  congregations  of  the  Jews. 
Mordecai  is  represented  as  defending  himself,  by  saying  that  it 
was  not  pride  that  prevented  him  from  rendering  adoration  to 
Haman,  but  that  he  feared  to  give  that  homage  to  a  man, 
which  God  claims  for  Himself. 

The  second  Epistle  {i.e.  that  of    the  King   in  the  LXX. 

^  Comp.  the  Lihri  apocryphi  veteris  Testamenti  graece,  ed.  Otto  Frid. 
Fritzsche  (Lipsiae  1871),  with  critical  notes,  where  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
in  the  second  text  occurs  the  mistake  Tror/^oa  instead  of  Totz-stuot  on  p.  31. 


INTRODUCTION.  XIX 

and  in  the  Apocrypha)  reveals  clearly  the  whole  tendency  of 
these  additions.  It  originated  in  Egyptian  court  life,  and 
narrates  of  such  persons  who  from  personal  motives  had  done 
harm  to  the  princes  who  elevate  them ;  it  refers  to  examples 
in  ancient  history  in  which  such  counsellors  led  their 
kings  to  all  sorts  of  evil,  and  also  reminds  of  the  accusations 
that  were  brought  against  bad  viziers  (as  otherwise  against 
queens)  which  occur  in  Oriental  legends. 

Very  remarkable  is  it  that  Haman  is  there  accused  of 
having  entertained  the  desire  of  bringing  the  kingdom  of  Persia 
under  the  rule  of  the  Macedonians. 

The  author  thereby  intended  to  give  the  appearance  of 
Persian  originality  to  his  letter,  but  he  only  proves  the  age  in 
which  he  wrote,  viz.  at  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies,  who  were 
themselves  in  a  state  of  rivalry  with  one  another  in  the 
Syrian  kingdom  ;  and  there  he  could  do  it  without  giving 
offence.  I  have  already  observed  in  the  commentary  that 
the  Syrian  garrison  in  Jerusalem  at  the  time  of  the  Maccabees 
is  designated  by  Josephus  with  the  term  Macedonian  (Joseph. 
Ant  xii.  5.  4).^ 

We  read,  that  in  the  fourth  year  of  King  Ptolemy  and  of 
Cleopatra,  this  letter  became  known  in  Egypt.  From  the  fact 
that  it  speaks  of  Haman  as  a  Macedonian,  we  may  conclude 
that  it  refers  to  the  time  of  war  between  the  Egyptians  and 
Antiochus  the  Great,  which  war  terminated  by  the  marriage  of 
Ptolemy  with  Cleopatra  the  daughter  of  Antiochus  (Joseph,  xii. 
4.  1).  About  the  Jews  the  letter  speaks  intentionally  in  the 
name  of  the  King  of  Persia,  "  that  the  Jews  are  far  from  being 
evil-doers,  that  they  live  under  the  most  righteous  laws,  and 
are  the  children  of  the  only  and  true  God." 

'  Throiigli  the  influence  of  Alexander  the  Macedonian,  and  so  long  as 
his  empire  lasted,  Greece  was  confounded  with  Macedonia.  But  false 
readings  are  not  rare,  for,  as  I  have  shown  in  my  comment  to  the 
Second  Targum,  p.  329,  ought  not  to  be  read  Macedonian.  Dr.  J.  Levy  in 
his  Lexicon  (as  well  as  the  passage  in  Bab.  Yoma  and  Bereshith  Rabba 
c.  xxxvii.)  is  mistaken  if  he  thinks  that  Macedonia  stands  for  Media.  It 
stands  for  Yawan,  while  HID  ought  not  to  be  translated. 


XX  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

The  additions  were  evidently  made  as  early  as  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  third  century  of  the  Christian  era,  perchance  in 
order  to  diminish  the  force  of  the  objections  which  were  even 
then  raised  against  the  book  of  Esther. 

The  most  curious  addition  is,  at  all  events,  the  so-called 
dream  of  Mordecai.  We  read  :  "  Behold  a  noise  of  a  tumult, 
with  thunder,  and  earthquakes,  and  uproar  in  the  land.  And 
behold  two  great  dragons  (BpdfcovT€<;)  came  forth  ready  to  fight, 
and  their  cry  was  great.  And  at  their  cry  all  nations  were 
prepared  to  battle,  that  they  might  fight  against  the  righteous 
people.  And,  lo,  a  day  of  darkness  and  obscurity,  tribulation 
and  anguish,  affliction  and  great  uproar  upon  earth  (comp. 
Joel  ii.  2).  And  the  whole  righteous  nation  was  troubled, 
fearing  their  own  evils,  and  were  ready  to  perish.  Then  they 
cried  unto  God ;  and  upon  their  cry,  as  it  were  from  a  little 
fountain,  was  made  a  great  flood,  even  much  water.  The 
light  and  the  sun  rose  up,  and  the  lowly  were  exalted,  and 
devoured  the  glorious."  The  style  is  coloured  by  biblical 
citations,  but  the  story  of  the  fight  of  the  two  dragons  rests 
upon  an  important  Oriental  parable.  The  legend  is  also  given 
by  the  Midrash  Esther  (Amst.  ed.  p.  94c),  where  the  dragons 
are  not  very  correctly  called  D^:'':n,  for  sea-dragons  are  not 
meant.  It  must  appear  strange,  that  if  the  dragons  represent 
Mordecai  and  Haman,  then  Mordecai  is  also  called  a  dragon  ; 
but  dragon  here  (BpaKcov)  is  nothing  else  than  a  winged  daeva, 
such  as  the  Persians  in  particular  knew.  Both  the  good  and 
the  evil  daevas  were  winged.  Their  appearance  was  alike,  but 
they  had  different  principles.  So  Astyages  saw  in  his  dream 
a  dragon  having  the  wings  of  an  eagle,  and  rushing  towards 
him.  St.  Jude  also  says  that  Michael  the  Archangel  was 
contending  with  the  devil.  The  same  meaning  is  to  be  given 
to  Daniel  x.  13,  where  we  read:  "But  the  prince  of  the 
kingdom  of  Persia  withstood  me  one  and  twenty  days ;  but,  lo, 
Michael,  one  of  the  chief  princes,  came  to  help  me  ;  and  I  was 
left  there  with  the  kings  of  Persia."  It  is  the  war  of  the 
religion  of  Israel  against  the  religion  of  Persia.     The  same 


INTRODUCTION.  XXl 

is  depicted  in  the  war  between  the  two  dragons.  The  dream 
shows  Mordecai  as  the  representative  of  Israel,  who  is  fought 
against  and  nearly  conquered  by  Hainan,  but  after  Mordecai  had 
fasted  and  prayed  there  appears  suddenly  a  little  spring  from 
which  flows  abundant  and  refreshing  streams.  "  The  little 
brooks  of  God  are  full  of  water."  "  He  puts  down  the  mighty 
from  their  seat,  and  exalts  the  humble  and  meek."  It  was  owing 
to  Mordecai's  personal  representation  of  the  principles  of  the 
Jews  in  their  strife  against  Haman  that  Purim,  as  we  see  in 
2  Mace.  XV.  36,  was  called  Mardocheu's  day,  the  preceding 
of  which,  i.e.  the  13th  of  Adar,  the  Maccabees  celebrated  with 
great  joy  their  victory,  and  called  it  the  day  in  memory  of  the 
execution  of  Mcanor.  But  the  day  of  Nicanor  is  no  more 
remembered,  yet  Purim  remains.  The  same  historical  con- 
sideration which  gave  rise  to  the  additions,  namely,  whether 
the  vengeance  of  the  Jews  spoken  of  in  Esther  might  not 
excite  ill  feeling  among  other  nations  against  them,  is  also 
found  in  the  Talmud  (Megilla  7a)  :  "  E.  Samuel  bar  Yehudah 
said :  Esther  sent  a  message  to  the  sages  saying.  Appoint  a 
feast  in  memory  of  me  for  the  generations  to  come.  They 
replied :  Thou  wilt  thereby  provoke  the  nations  against  us. 
She  then  sent  them  word  again.  The  event  is  already 
recorded  in  the  chronicles  of  the  kings  of  Media  and  Persia." 
This  sentence  is  very  instructive  in  enabling  us  to  get  an 
intelligent  idea  of  the  Talmudic  time.  The  Eabbis,  in  order 
to  magnify  their  authority,  and  to  preclude  the  supposition 
that  a  feast  was  instituted  without  their  permission,  and  that 
the  Sanhedrin  did  not  even  exist  in  Persia,  have  deemed  it 
prudent  to  tell  the  story  that  Esther  had  applied  to  the  sages 
to  sanction  the  institution  of  the  feast  which  bore  her  name.^ 
Thereupon  they  raised  the  objection  that  the  record  of  such 
an  institution  which  commemorated  their  triumph  over  the 

^  [They  go  even  so  far  as  to  ascribe  to  the  book  of  Esther  the  authority 

of  the  divine  legislator  Moses.     "  It  is  written  in  the  Law  (Ex.  xvii.  14), 

Write  this  for  a  memorial  in  a  book."     "  Write  this  "  refers  to  the  Law  ; 

*  a  memorial "  refers  to  what  is  written  in  the  prophets  ;  "  in  a  book " 

refers  to  the  book  of  Esther  {ibid.). — Trans.] 

I 


XXU  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

authorities  under  which  they  lived  might  be  detrimental 
to  the  Jews  in  exciting  the  hatred  of  the  nations  against  them. 
This  fear  (as  we  shall  see)  was  drawn  from  their  experience 
of  the  time  in  which  they  lived.  She  then  replied,  the  fact  is 
already  well  known  in  history,  there  is  no  secret  about  it, 
every  one  who  reads  history  is  cognizant  of  it.  This  is  even 
given  with  greater  clearness  in  the  Jerusalem  Talmud,  accord- 
ing to  which  the  Eabbis  said  as  follows  :  "  Have  we  not  had 
enough  of  impending  oppressions  ?  Do  you  want  to  increase 
them  by  calling  to  mind  the  oppression  of  Haman  ? "  E. 
Shimeon  ben  Nahhman  said  in  the  name  of  E.  Yonathan : 
"  Eighty-five  elders  (D''i<^n3  1D31  n^^^i:^  Dhdi)  have  been  very 
sad  about  this  affair  .  .  .  they  said  :  Moses  has  told  us  : 
No  prophet  should  add  anything  from  now  and  hence- 
forth ;  and  yet  Mordecai  and  Esther  desire  to  appoint  a 
new  institution  !  But  they  did  not  cease  to  ponder  over  it, 
until  God  opened  their  eyes  and  they  found  (a  justification 
for  it),  written  in  the  law,  and  in  the  prophets,  and  in 
books "  (Tal.  Jerus.  Megilla,  c.  i.  p.  9,  W.  Krotoschin). 
However  peculiar  this  Talmudic  passage  may  appear,  yet  it 
at  the  same  time  supplies  a  strong  evidence  of  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  book  of  Esther.  Who  could  have  invented 
this  history,  which  in  itself  appeared  venturesome  to  narrate, 
— it  contained  not  only  elements  of  glory,  but  also  elements  of 
danger  for  the  people  ?  It  not  merely  strengthened  the  national 
consciousness  of  Israel,  but  it  excited  also  that  of  other  nations. 
The  Greek  and  Eoman  Hamans  were  the  proofs  for  the 
Persian.  The  tears  of  anguish  which  the  people  shed  in  the 
Orient  and  in  the  Occident  were  only  repetitions  of  their 
bitter  experience  in  Shushan.  Therefore  no  feast  had  such  a 
national  background  as  the  feast  of  Purim  had.  Both  the  first 
and  the  second  Targums,  which  teem  with  such  considerations, 
were  political  and  religious  memoirs  for  the  people. 

Even  the  New  Testament  shows  how  great  the  importance 
of  Haman  and  Ahhashverosh  was  thought  to  be.  In  the 
Gospel    of   St.    Mark    vi.    23,   Herod    Antipas    says    to    his 


INTEODUCTION.  XXIU 

daughter :  "  Whatsoever  thou  shalt  ask  of  me,  I  will  give  it 
thee,  unto  the  half  of  my  kingdom."  He  imitates  in  this 
that  which  Xerxes  Ahhashverosh  said  to  Esther  (chap.  v.  6) : 
"  What  is  thy  request  ?  even  to  the  half  of  the  kingdom  it 
shall  be  performed."  From  this  originated  the  name  Ahhash- 
verosh in  the  Christian  legend  which  the  so-called  "Wander- 
ing Jew "  bore.  For  Herod  and  Herodias  are  the  restless 
ones,  and  therefore  the  name  was  first  applied  to  Herod  and 
then  to  Nero,  who  like  a  frog  imitated  the  lion  Ahhashverosh. 
Still  more  remarkable  and  recognisable  is  the  passage  in  Eev. 
xiii.  18:"  Let  him  that  hath  understanding  count  the  number 
of  the  beast :  for  it  is  the  number  of  a  man,  and  his  number 
is  6  6  6."  This  number  is  incontestably  found  in  Hebrew  letters^ 
in  the  name  x;;t^"i  pn,  Haman  the  wicked.     For  it  is — 

5  =  n 

40  =  D 

50  =  1 
200  =  1 
300  =  K^ 

70  =  j; 
1  =  K 


It  is  said  of  the  beast  that  "  he  spake  as  a  dragon,"  which 
reminds  one  of  the  Greek  legends  of  the  battle  of  the  dragons 
in  which  Haman  speaks.  W^e  cannot  enter  at  large  upon 
the  question  as  to  which  of  the  contemporaries  was  regarded 
as  Haman  by  St.  John ;  but  so  much  is  certain,  that  even 
here  Haman  was  considered  as  the  abstract  idea  of  the  draojon 
and  of  the  ferocious  beast.  It  was  therefore  natural  that  the 
Jews  should  also  in  later  times  designate  every  powerful 
enemy  who  threatened  to  deprive  them  of  life  and  property 
by  the  name  -ni:;  and  Haman.      Eisenmenger  (i.   721)  and 

1  We  cannot  enter  upon  an  enumeration  of  the  curious  interpretations 
of  this  number  which  appear  in  every  commentary,  but  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  our  interpretation  will  finally  set  them  at  rest.  Because  the  meaning 
of  the  apocalyptic  seer — which  is  to  be  more  considered  elsewhere — receives 
the  eby  much  light. 


XXIV  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

others  had  no  right  to  reproach  them  with  this ;  and  what  he 
quotes  from  the  book,  ^^Dn  pDy,  represents  likewise  Haman 
only   as   the  conception  of  the  dragon,  as  it  is  done  in  the 
Eevelation.     The  dragon  was  to  be  assailed  by  the  Messiah  the 
son  of  Joseph.    Should  they  have  refrained  from  calling  Achmed 
the  vizier  of  Soliman  by  this  name,  who  wanted  to  destroy 
them  all  if  they  would  not  deliver  to  him  all  their  gold  and 
silver  (1523)?     They  had,  as  in  the  time  of  Haman,  fasted 
and  cried  to   God ;   in  fact,  Achmed   fell   before   he   carried 
out    his    plans,   and    the  Jews   for  a    long    time    celebrated 
on  the   27th   of   Adar   an  Egyptian  feast   of  Purim   (comp- 
NDnn  p»V,  ed.  Vienna,  p.   76   and  p.   254).     Should  they  not 
call  by  the  same  name  Ibrahim  Pasha,  who  was  their  most 
bitter  enemy  (1536),  and  fortunately  for  them  was  thrown 
over  by  Soliman  ?     And  if  they  so  designated  in  Frankfurt 
(1714)  the  robber  and  murderer  Vincenz  Fettmilch,  was  it 
not    because   he  treated   them   in   the   spirit   and   after   the 
example  of  Haman  ?     Certainly  no  book  of  the  Bible  was  so 
popular   among   the   Jews   as  the   book    of  Esther.     It   was 
inculcated  that  women  and  children  should  hear  it  read  in  the 
synagogue  on  Purim ;  and  that  when  all  the  other  books  of 
the  Bible  shall  lose  their  force  in  the  time  of  the  Messiah,  it 
and  the  Pentateuch  will  have  their  full  efficacy.     They  used 
to  adorn  and  beautify  the  scroll,  and  private  ones  received 
illustrations.^      Schudt    could    not    sufficiently    express    his 
admiration  for  an   illustrated   Megilla    scroll  for   which  the 
scribe  asked  five  florins.     The  feast  of  Purim  used  to  excite 
in  the  breasts  of  the  Jews  triumphant  as  well  as  revengeful 
feelings,  for  which  many  opportunities  were  given  them.     In 
this  they  were  not  always  moderate,  and  the  reproach  which 
the  Eoman  emperor  brought  against  them,  that  among  their 
figurative  representations  they  caricatured  the  cross  under  the 
image  of  Haman,   was  not  altogether   unfounded ;  but  their 
persecutors  were  very  moderate  in  their  manifestation  towards 

^  [There  were  some  fine  specimens  of  snch  in  the  Anglo-Jewish  Exhibi- 
tion at  South  Kensington,  1887. — Trans.] 


INTRODUCTION.  XXV 

them  of  the  spirit  of  the  gospel.^  The  Jews  used  also  to 
show  their  joy- on  Purim  by  distributing  gifts  ;  every  one  was 
in  duty  bound  to  send  a  i3pt^^^  TT'^riD,  a  half  shekel,  to  Jerusalem 
or  to  the  pilgrims  in  the  Holy  Land  generally ;  and  the  gifts 
to  the  poor  were  sent  early  in  the  morning,  in  order  that 
they  might  be  able  to  prepare  for  the  feast  in  the  evening.^ 
And  if  there  were  no  poor  at  the  time,  the  money  was  kept 
until  there  were  some.  The  poor  also  made  presents  to  each 
other,  especially  of  provisions.  Yet  a  woman  dared  not  send 
a  present  to  any  other  man  but  her  husband,  and  so  vice  versa. 
Confectionary  alone  was  not  sufficient  for  presents.  What 
Kirchner^  reports,  that  the  gifts  sent  consisted  of  the  point  of 
a  smoked  tongue,  peppered  and  preserved,  has  reference  to  the 
passage  in  the  Talmud  Megilla  7a,  which  speaks  of  the  gifts  of 
pepper  and  ginger.  Pepper  was  held  as  symbolic  of  good  sense, 
and  of  more  value  than  sweets.  They  feasted  exceedingly  well, 
and  practised  all  those  customs  w^hich  Christians  used  on  Christ- 
mas. They  were  especially  fond  of  the  little  cakes  filled  with 
pap,  which  were  called  Krappelchen  (fritters),  and  which  were 
delightful  objects,  both  to  the  young  and  the  old."*  Whatever 
could  make  the  poor  comfortable  and  happy  was  sent  to 
them,  because,  as  the  author  of  the  Mezahh  Aron  ^  says : 
"  They  look,  nehich  (  =  poor  things),  the  whole  year  for  Purim." 
Kirchner  ^  narrates  that  in  his  time  (the  end  of  the  seven- 

^  See  my  history  of  the  Jews  in  Ersch  und  Gruber's  Encychpadie,  ii.  27, 
p.  79. 

2  About  the  Jewish  customs,  comp.  notably  the  liturgical  treatises  of  the 
Jews,  as  Tania  (Cremona  1565),  §  39-41  ;  Agur  (Venice  1546),  p.  80, 
n.  1042,  etc.  ;  Sefer  Tashbaz  (printed  by  Vincente  Conte),  p.  172,  n.  14. 
Comp.  the  compilation  in  Shibole  Haleket  and  Mordecai.  Also  the  useful 
book  of  the  Minhagim  Tobim,  which  appeared  first  in  Amsterdam,  then 
in  Breslau,  and  re-edited  by  Bloch  in  Hanover.  Likewise  Simhhath 
Hanefesh,  Sulzbach  1797,  p.  59c.  Comp.  also  the  Minhagim  of  Dyhren- 
furt,  1692,  etc. 

^  Comp.  Paul  Chris.  Kirchner,  Jildisches  Ceremoniel,  enlarged  by  S.  J. 
Jungendres,  Nurnberg  1726,  p.  139. 

*  Krapf,  Krapplein  ;  in  Silesia,  Kriippel.     See  Frisch,  Lex.  i.  p.  549. 

^  Mezahh  Aron,  Judisch=deutscher  Commentar  zu  Esther,  Flirst  1740,  p.  51c. 

^  1. 1.  p,  137,  note.    This  was  in  spite  of  the  old  ecclesiastical  law,  which 


XXVI  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

teentli  century)  the  Jews  used  also  to  send  gifts  to  poor 
Christians  on  the  Feast  of  Purim.  The  ancient  Eabbis  taught 
that  one  could  not  rejoice  enough  on  that  feast,  just  as 
Francis  de  Assisi  said/  he  wished  it  were  possible  that  the 
walls  should  also  eat  meat  on  Christmas ;  though  there  was 
certainly  a  great  difference  in  the  object  of  joy.  The  Jews 
then  made  their  Purim  to  vie  with  the  Christian  Christmas 
more  than  now,  when  many  of  them  keep  Christmas 
(in  Germany)  as  if  it  were  their  own  feast.  As  some 
Christian  authors  both  seriously  and  jestingly  explained 
TFeihnachten  (Germ,  for  Christmas)  as  meaning  Wein  nacht, 
"  the  night  for  wine,"  so  were  also  the  ancient  Jewish  Eabbis 
of  opinion  that  one  must  drink  so  much  on  Purim  until  he 
will  not  be  able  to  know  the  difference  between  •'3T»D  inn 
(blessed  be  Mordecai)  and  p7\  IPN  (cursed  be  Haman).  It  is 
very  curious  that  the  two  phrases  are  numerically  the  same, 
viz.  502,  just  as  the  word  nt^n.^  It  is  told  in  the  Talmud 
that  R  Abaye  and  E.  Hhananayh,  having  been  very  merry  on 
Purim,  had  by  mistake  exchanged  their  meals,  but  being  poor, 
when  they  came  to  dine  together  they  knew  not  the  difference. 
Another  Purim  story  which  might  have  ended  very  seriously  is 
told  of  Eav.  He  and  E.  Sera  dined  together,  and  they  got  so 
intoxicated  that  the  former  slaughtered  the  latter.  But  the  next 
morning  God  wrought  a  miracle,  and  the  dead  man  was  restored 
to  life.  The  next  Purim,  Eav  invited  his  friend  again  to  dine 
with  him,  but  be  declined  the  invitation,  saying :  "  I  will  not 
risk  my  life  this  time,  for  not  always  do  miracles  happen." 

forbade  Christians  accepting  gifts  from  Jews.  In  the  Canon  Apost. 
n.  70  (Patr.  ApostL),  ed.  Coteler  (new  ed.  Antwerp  1698),  ii.  p.  446,  we 
read  :  "Si  quis  episcopus  aut  alius  Clericus  jejunat  cum  Judaeis  vel  cum 
eis  festos  dies  agit  vel  accipit  eorum  festi  xenia  exempli  gratia,  Azymi  vel 
quid  hujusmodi  deponatur,"  where  the  editors  remark,  that  this  took  place 
notably  on  Purim. 

^  "  Volo  quod  et  parietes  eo  die  comedant  carnes  si  fierx  potest."  Comp. 
my  Weihnachten,  Anm.  n.  583,  p.  xcii. 

2  Even  in  the  Piut  (poetical  meditation)  for  Purim  we  read, — 

Dnn  n^sj^i  idk^,  etc. 


INTRODUCTION.  .  XXVU 

The  feast  was  kept  with  great  solemnity  ;  the  thirteenth 
day  of  Adar,  which  was  formerly  the  anniversary  of  the  victory 
over  Nicanor,  was  afterwards  observed  as  a  fast,  and  called 
"iDDJ^  n^:vn,  the  fast  of  Esther  ;  it  was  for  the  purpose  of 
reminding  them  in  the  midst  of  the  joys  and  pleasures  of 
Purim  of  the  great  distress  they  had  once  passed  through. 
There  is  no  prescribed  rule  for  it  in  the  book  of  Esther,  nor 
was  it  yet  inserted  in  the  index  of  fasts  in  Megillath  Taanith. 
In  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  the  synagogue  is  well 
illuminated,  and  the  minister  unfolds  the  whole  scroll  and 
reads  the  narrative.  When  he  comes  to  the  passages  which 
speak  of  Mordecai  and  of  the  final  victory,  the  people  repeat 
them  after  him  in  a  loud  voice  and  triumphant  manner ;  but 
when  the  name  of  Haman  is  mentioned,  then  the  young  people, 
and  especially  the  children,  make  a  great  noise,  and  knock  at 
the  benches  as  if  they  were  to  kill  him  again.  The  Jews 
were  wrongly  reproached  for  expressing  their  feelings  of 
approval  of  Mordecai  and  of  hatred  to  Haman  in  this 
dramatic  spectacle.  But  similar  scenes  used  to  take  place  in 
the  Eoman  Catholic  Church  in  Passion  Week,  when,  after  the 
candles  were  extinguished,  a  great  noise  was  made  in  imita- 
tion of  the  tumult  which  the  Jews  raised  before  Pilate.  We 
read  in  an  old  book  :  "  On  Good  Friday  people  rattle  and 
make  a  noise  in  the  Church."  ^  And  not  only  so,  but  scenes 
were  exhibited  in  which  Martin  Luther  in  the  effigy  of  an 
active  boy  received  terrible  blows,  such  as  the  Jews  have  not 
dealt  to  Haman.  For  the  latter  did  only  strike  on  wood  and 
stone,  and  not  men ;  but  not  so  the  former.  Johannes  Pauli 
tells  an  old  story  of  a  peasant  who  was  frightened  in  the 
scene  on  Good  Friday,  in  which,  while  the  singing  was 
going  on,  the  priest  put  out  one  candle  after  the  other, 
and  then  "  every  man  began  to  beat  and  to  strike  as  on  such 
nights  was  the  custom  in  the  Papacy."  ^  The  sermons  which 
were  preached  in  the  synagogue  on  Purim  were  pervaded  by 

1  See  my  TVeihnachten,  n.  447,  etc.,  to  p.  134. 

2  Comp.  Pauli  Schimpf  und  Ernst,  ed.  Dittmar,  p.  208. 


XXVIU  BOOK  OF  ESTHEE. 

an  earnest  tone  (conip.  Megilla  11a).  R.  Dimi  bar  Yitzhhak 
took  for  his  text  Ezra  ix.  9  :  "  For  we  were  bondmen  ;  yet 
our  God  hath  not  forsaken  us  in  our  bondage,  but  hath 
extended  mercy  unto  us  in  the  sight  of  the  kings  of  Persia." 
E.  Hhanina  bar  Papa  took  for  his  text  Ps.  Ixvi.  12 : 
"  Thou  hast  caused  men  to  ride  over  our  heads ;  we  went 
through  fire  and  through  water,  but  Thou  broughtest  us  out 
into  a  wealthy  place."  E.  Yohhanan  took  for  his  text  Ps. 
xcviii.  3  :  "  All  the  ends  of  the  earth  have  seen  the  salvation 
of  our  God."  That  happened  in  the  days  of  Mordecai  and 
Esther.^  The  ancient  Christian  Church  held  Esther  in  high 
esteem,  as  she  highly  deserved,  for  risking  her  life  for  the 
sake  of  her  religion  and  her  people.  The  Church  knew  how 
to  appreciate  the  martyr's  spirit,  and  she  had  a  higher  instinc- 
tive knowledge  of  the  wonderful  dealings  of  God  with  His 
ancient  people  than  many  modern  theologians  have.  In  the 
Epistle  of  Clement  to  the  Corinthians  we  read :  "  And 
Esther,  whose  faith  was  perfect,  exposed  herself  to  danger 
when  she  undertook  to  deliver  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel 
from  imminent  destruction.  With  fasting  and  humility  she 
prayed  to  the  Lord,  the  Creator  of  all  things,  the  eternal  God, 
who,  when  He  saw  the  affliction  of  her  soul  and  the  dangers 
which  she  encountered,  delivered  the  people  for  her  sake." 

Clement  of  Alexandria  ^  spoke  in  a  similar  strain :  "  That 
Esther  who  was  perfect  in  faith  delivered  Israel  from  the 
power  of  the  tyrant  and  from  the  cruelty  of  the  satrap,  and  a 
single  woman,  bent  down  by  fasting,  resisted  myriads  of  armed 
men,  and  by  faith  destroyed  the  tyrannical  law.  And  she 
appeased  the  one,  and  the  other,  Aman,  she  removed,  and  by 
prayer  preserved  Israel  in  safety."  In  another  place  he  says 
{Paid.  lib.  ii.  p.  216):  "The  one  Esther  we  find  rightly 
adorned.     She  adorned  herself  mystically  (fivo-TCKM<;)  before 

^  See  Tract.  Bab.  Megilla  and  Midrasli  Meg.  and  Targum  I.  Targiim  II. 
is  in  the  Appendix  with  notes,  but  requires  more  full  explanations  than 
could  be  given  in  this  Commentary. 

^  Stromatttf  lib.  4. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXIX 

her  king,  but  her  beauty  effected  the  deliverance  of  her  people 
from  murder."  Jerome,  too,  writes  in  his  letter  to  Paulinus  : 
"  Esther  as  a  type  of  the  Church  delivered  the  people  from 
danger,  and  after  the  death  of  Haman,  which  name  signifies 
iniquity  {iniquitas),  she  instituted  a  supper  and  a  feast  for 
posterity"  (ed.  Migne,  i.  547).  In  his  defence  against  Kufinus 
he  says :  "  Let  Esther  be  imitated,  who  long  and  silently 
endured  the  opinions  of  Artaxerxes,  but  at  last  corrected 
him  by  the  truth"  (ed.  Migne,  ii.  412,  413).  Also  in  his 
introduction  to  Zephaniah  (ed.  Migne,  vi.  1337)  he  speaks  of 
Judith  and  Esther,  who  as  a  type  of  the  Church  had  destroyed 
the  enemies  of  Israel,  and  saved  them  froni  destruction.  This 
honour  of  Esther  to  be  a  type  of  the  Church  was  naturally 
developed  from  the  whole  Christian  tradition,  which  regarded 
her  as  a  type  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  This  often  occurs  in 
hymns.  In  a  hymn,  dating  from  the  fourteenth  century, 
we  find  the  phrase  :  "  Haec  Esther  imperatrix."  ^  Another 
hymn  from  the  same  century  is  as  follows  : — 

"  Hodie  ciibiculum 
Eegis  Hester  suscipit 

Sedare  periciilum  ~" 

Quod  hostilis  officit 
Aman  restans  fraudibiis 
Pro  peccati  videntibus 
Mortem  mimdo  conficit." 

Piemarkable  is  what  is  contained  in  a  Litany, — 

"  0  Maria,  regis  veri 
Virga  aurea  Assueri 
Irani  judicis  severi 
Scis  lenire  ut  mederi 
Malit  qiiam  percutere." 

Much  is  said  of  the  rod,  i.e.  the  sceptre  of  Ahhashverosh, 

with  which  he  indicated  his  favour  to    Esther.      Not  only 

is  Mary  styled  in  another  hymn  as  the  rod  {virgula  Assueri 

Aman  tu  mortifera  sis  adiiUrix  cleri),  but  also  in  the  famous. 

1  Comp.  Mone,  Lat  Hymnen  des  Mittelalters,  ii.  72,  157,  271,  434 


XXX  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

poem  of  Gottfried  of  Strassburg ;  ^  the  favour  which  the  king 
showed  to  Esther  by  the  sign  of  the  rod  was  the  type  of 
the  favour  which  God  shows  through  the  Virgin.  For 
Ahhashverosh  was  thought  to  represent  God,  Aman  re- 
presents Satan,  and  Esther  the  saving  Mary.  Specially 
strange,  notably  in  reference  to  the  Jews,  is  the  moralizing 
of  the  Gesta  Bomanorum  (lat.  177),  where  Ahhashverosh  is 
compared  with  Christ,  and  Queen  Vashti  with  the  synagogue. 
Vashti,  who  refused  to  come  to  the  royal  table,  resembled 
the  Jews,  who,  according  to  the  parable,  refuse  to  come  to  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Esther  is  the  Church,  which  comes  in  her 
place.  Haman,  the  mortal  enemy  of  the  Jews,  is  in  the  person 
of  the  Jewish  people  the  Antichrist,  who  wants  to  hang 
Mordecai,  the  type  of  the  righteous. 

When  Queen  Esther  invites  the  king  to  come  to  her 
banquet,  she  resembles  the  Church,  which  Christ  invites  to 
come  to  partake  of  His  body.^ 

The  fast  of  Esther  was  spoken  of  as  typical  of  the  merit  of 
fasting  during  the  Quadragesima.^ 

She  was  also  regarded  by  the   Church   as   a   saint.     The 

^  Comp.  Gentlie,  Jungfrau  Maria,  p.  25,  and  the  quotation  from  the 
Minnesingers  in  Benek.     Mhd.  Worterbuch,  i.  483,  suh  voce  "  Gerte." 

^  Gesta  Romanorum,  n.  177,  ed.  Oesterley,  p.  577.  Owing  to  this  honour 
which  Ahhashverosh  received  in  the  Church,  it  also  came  to  pass  that  his 
name  was  frequently  given  to  persons  even  in  the  Protestant  times. 
Fritsche,  a  well-known  theologian  and  liturgist,  bore  that  name.  Ahhash- 
verosh Brandt  was  a  famous  physician  who  undertook  a  journey  to 
Moscow  (comp.  Ehesa  Litth.  Dainos,  j).  351).  Another  by  the  same  name 
was  Professor  in  Bremen  (Bamberger,  Gelehrte  Deutschlands,  i.  p.  5).  The 
mysticism  of  the  name  of  Esther  found  a  place  in  Reformed  circles.  In 
the  terrible  commotions  which  took  place  in  Elberfeld  and  Ronsdorf,  the 
sectarian  EUer  left  his  wife  Vashti,  and  took  another  whom  he  called 
Esther  (comp.  Gobel,  Gesch.  des  christl.  Lehens,  iii.  470).  In  England,  too, 
Christian  women  were  called  Esther,  and  shortened  into  Essie  (comp. 
Charnock,  Phenomena,  p.  41).  So  also  the  handsome  wife  of  Casimir  of 
Poland  was  named  Esther. 

^  Comp.  a  German  sermon  of  the  thirteenth  century,  ed.  Grieshuber,  ii.  85. 
In  Erfurt  the  7th  of  September  1632  was  observed  as  a  day  of  commemora- 
tion of  the  victory  near  Breitenfeld,  and  coins  were  struck  with  the 
inscription  :  Dies  Purim  Evangelicorum  anno  1631,  VII.  Sept.  Erfurt. 
celebrati  (comp.  Falkenstein,  Erf.  Chronik,  p.  709). 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXI 

editor  of  the  Bible  of  Eoyaumont  calls  her  une  sainte  femme. 
In  Calmet's  Bible  it  is  said  :  "  The  Church  Fathers  make  this 
holy  queen  {sainte  reine)  appear  as  a  figure  of  the  Church  of 
Jesus  Christ." 

She  is  represented  upon  images  in  the  attitude  of  kneel- 
ing before  King  Ahhashverosh,  who  reaches  her  the  sceptre, 
while  this  sceptre  expresses  tenderness.^  Her  saint's  day 
is  differently  given :  May  24  or  July  1.  The  Copts 
keep  it  December  20.  The  editors  of  Acta  Sanctorum  de- 
cided for  September  4.  In  old  Martyrologies  are  found  the 
words  :  "  Hester  regiae  "  or  "  Hester  reginae."  ^  The  Jesuit 
Canisius  remarked  on  this :  "  The  beautiful  and  faithful,  who 
with  the  aid  of  Mordecai  saved  the  whole  Jewish  people 
from  a  threatening  danger."  A  similar  sentiment  is  found 
in  collections  of  Greek  sentences — 

rou  'lapxrjTi  sk  Sciuocrov. 

The  poems  and  popular  books  which  treat  of  the  book  of 
Esther  are  numerous.  John  Chryseus  wrote  Histori  Hester, 
a  play  translated  from  the  Latin  into  German,  Wittenberg 
1546;  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  appeared 
Hamanus  Tragoedia,  which  was  written  first  in  Latin  by 
Thoma  Naogeorgo,  and  then  in  German  by  Joh.  M.  Moeshemio 
and  Mag.  Joh.  Postio.  The  same  has  been  republished  in  good 
German  byDamianus  Lindner  in  1607.  Older  than  all  these 
is  a  book  with  the  following  long  title :  "  A  very  beautiful, 
pleasant,  and  comforting  play  from  the  Holy  Scripture  and  the 
book  of  Esther,  composed  in  short  rhyme,  in  which  is  shown 
how  God  has  at  all  times  punished  pride  and  self-will  of  the 
wicked,  and  rewarded  the  piety  and  humility  of  godly  men 
and   women."       Printed    at   Magdeburg    by   Mich.   Lotther,^ 

^  Comp.  Guenebault,  Bictionnaire  Iconographique  (Paris  1850),  p.  191. 
2  Acta  Sanctorum^  Bolland,  Juli,  torn.  i.  pp.  12,  13. 
^  Comp.  Gbdeke,  Grundriss  der  Geschichte  d.  deutschen  Literatur,  i.  pp.  297, 
308. 


XXXll  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

1537.  Hans  Sachs  has  also  elaborated  the  narrative.  An 
alliterative  Anglo-Saxon  treatise  of  the  book  of  Esther  is  not 
yet  printed.  It  is  ascribed  to  Aelfric  who  lived  in  the  eleventh 
century.^  There  was  also  a  scriptural  play  by  Lopa  de  Vega, 
entitled  La  hermosa  Ester  ^  {Comedias  appeared  in  Madrid 
in  1621,  XV.  p.  151).  There  was  a  Judeo-German  play, 
entitled  h'Si^  ^n)\yni^,  printed  in  1708  and  communicated  by 
Schudt  in  his  Jewish  Curiosities.  It  is  peculiar,  but  not  without 
merit.  This  play  has  given  occasion  to  Wagenseil  to  make 
the  incredible  assertion,  and  that  in  opposition  to  Cuper,  that 
the  whole  dramatic  art  has  originated  among  the  Jews.^ 
Several  travellers  (as,  e.g.,  Stochowe  and  Th^venot)^  have  re- 
ported the  tradition  that  Safed  in  Galilee  was  the  birthplace 
of  Queen  Esther.  This  appears  to  be  connected  with  another 
opinion,  that  Safed  is  identical  with  Bethulia,  where  Judith 
lived.  In  the  reports  of  Jewish  travellers  (as  of  Yihhus  ha 
Abod)^  it  is  told  that  the  tomb  of  Esther  is  at  Kefar  Baram, 
not  far  from  Safed.  This  must  refer  to  a  mural  monument  of 
Esther ;  as  it  was  believed  among  the  Jews  (from  Benjamin 
of  Tudela  and  others)  that  the  famous  tombs  of  Mordecai  and 
Esther  were  in  Hamadan.  It  is  told  that  on  Purim  the 
Jews  of  Safed  went  to  the  grave,  and  there  read  the  Megilla, 
ate  an(l  drank,  and  made  merriment.  It  does  not  appear  very 
credible  that  they  would  do  this  at  a  grave. 

The  name  Bethulia,  which  was  given  to  Safed,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  above  legend,  may  have  arisen  from  the  fact 
that  the  Hebrew  word  nbin2,  virgin,  is  found  in  the  name 
(comp.  Esth.  ii.  19).  A  similar  legend^  reports  that  a  bird 
flew  into  the  room  when  Esther  was  born,  as  an  emblem  of 

^  Kichard  "Wiilker,  Grundriss  der  Geschichte  der  Aiigelsachsisdien  Literatur 
(Leipzig  1885),  p.  471. 

2  Comp.  Ticknor,  History  of  Spanish  Literature. 

^  Comp.  Wagenseil,  De  civitate  Norunbergensi,  Altdorf  1697,  p.  166. 

*  Comp.  Robinson,  Palestine,  ii.,  under  "  Safed." 

*  Itiner aires  de  la  terre  sainte,  ed.  Carmoly,  Bruxelles  1847,  p.  456  (which 
is  from  the  year  1537). 

^  Comp.  Adami,  Deliciae,  i.  598.  ' 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXiii 

liberty  and  intellect.  What  a  pity  that  the  bird  did  not  fly 
into  the  studies  of  many  of  the  commentators  on  the  book  of 
Esther ! 

4.  We  add  a  few  literary  notices. 

With  regard  to  the  literature,  see  Wolf's  Bibliotheca,  torn.  ii. 
89.  To  this  may  be  added  the  dissertation  of  B.  L.  Eskuche, 
Marburg  1734,  who  consulted  the  then  known  literature, 
and  the  Talmud  and  Midrash.  The  Eoman  Catholic  com- 
mentaries are  little  used.  That  by  Feuardentius  was  consulted 
by  Prof.  Dr.  Schulze  in  his  Commentary  in  Lange's  Bihdwerh 
(1876).  Prof.  Sepp  has,  with  respect  to  this  book,  deviated 
from  the  spirit  and  the  piety  of  the  Catholic  expositors. 
Intent  to  bring  about  a  church  reform,  he  began  with  the 
revision  of  the  canon  of  Scripture,  which  he  proposed  before 
the  Vatican  Council,  but  which  rightly  took  no  notice  of  it. 
He  agitated  against  it  with  anti-Semitic  hatred,  but  without 
profound  learning  (Munich  1870).^  On  the  other  hand, 
there  are  two  thick  volumes  of  commentary  on  Esther,  which 
the  Benedictine  Monk,  J.  A.  Nickes,  published  in  Eome 
(1858),  in  which  he  manifests  a  spirit  of  piety  and  diligence, 
but  he  is  deficient  in  scientific  criticism  and  study  of  the 
book  itself.  Besides  the  books  that  are  alluded  to  in  Keil's 
Introduction  and  in  Schulze's  Commentary,  I  mention  the 
following  Jewish  commentaries  :  nriDX  rb^'O  W  nnso,  by  Pieggio 
(Vienna  1841).  Abr.  Aben.  Ezrah,  Commentary  on  the  Book 
of  Esther,  edited  by  Joseph  Zedner,  London  (Nutt)  1850. 
The  Commentaries  on  Esther,  Euth,  and  Lamentation,  by  E. 
Menahhem  ben  Hhelbo,  E.  Tobia  ben  Eliezer,  E.  Joseph 
Kara,  E.  Samuel  Ben  Meir,  and  an  anonymous  author, 
published  by  Adolf  Jellinek  (Leipzig  1855).  I  add  to  this 
Liter  Estherae  Gracce,  by  0.  F  Fritzsche  (in  two  parts,  as 
contributions  to  the  Index  Lectionum),  Zurich  1848,  which  he 

1  As  regards  Melito,  who  does  not  hterally  enumerate  it  in  the  canon, 
lie  ought  to  have  known  that  ah'eady  older  theologians  have  clearly  ex- 
plained that  Melito  included  the  books  of  Nehemiah  and  Esther  under 
the  title  of  Ezra.     Comp.  Routh,  Reliquiae  Sacrae,  i.  136. 


XXXIV  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

already  at  this  time  received  into  the  collection  of  apocryphal 
Scriptures.  With  regard  to  poetry  founded  on  Esther,  I 
refer  to  the  notices  in  the  Annals  of  the  History  of  the 
Jews,  iii.  75,  such  as  a  drama  Usque  by  Solomon,  and  the 
epic  poem  Copia  Sidlam  by  Sarah.  Of  course,  the  most 
curious  of  all  is  Ahhashvervosh  and  Esther,  a  drama  from 
the  East,  by  Dr.  J.  L.  Chronik  (Berlin  1875).^ 

It  is  much  to  be  deplored  that  Jews  distinguished  them- 
selves prominently  in  introducing  rationalistic  and  unscientific 
doubts  against  the  book  of  Esther,  and  that  these  were  not 
obscure  men.  It  was  Spinoza  (see  Keil,  Introd.  p.  473) 
whom  Gesenius,  Bertheau,  Ewald,  Meier,  etc.,  followed,  who 
placed  the  date  of  the  book  of  Esther  in  the  time  of  the 
Ptolemies  and  Seleucian  kings,  for  which  there  is  no  ground, 
and  against  which  everything  speaks.  The  criticism  of 
Zunz  was  not  so  great  as  his  diligent  compilation  of  the 
fragments  of  post-biblical  literature.  What  Fiirst  observes  on 
the  book  of  Esther  {Der  Kanon  des  alten  Testaments,  Leipzig 
1868,  p.  105)  is  a  thoroughly  unscientific  conception  of  the 
Talmudical  passages  about  the  Megilla.  To  the  followers  of 
the  rationalism  of  Spinoza  and  his  disciples  belonged  also 
Herzfeld  in  his  History  of  the  Jews  (ii.  358).  Incompre- 
hensible are  the  insinuations  of  Gratz  (in  the  Monatschrift  fur 
Wissenschaft  des  Judenthums,  1886,  p.  425).  Jewish  authors 
particularly  should  take  the  trouble  to  dig  deeply  into  the 
history  of  ancient  Israel.  To  catch  the  spirit  of  universal 
history  is  a  conditional  qualification  for  true  exegesis,  which 

1  The  spirit  of  this  most  curious  drama  is  characterized  on  p.  89,  in  the 
following  verses  : — 


Ahhashverosh  and  Esther 
Burn  the  lair 
Of  the  black  revolution 
In  pitch  of  infatuation. 
They  wash  the  tresses 
Of  the  dirty  heads. 


They  cut  for  the  blacks 
The  thread  of  the  Fates. 
They  teach  the  Moors, 
They  teach  them  Mores. 
Born  were  the  Moors 
To  become  Kapores,  etc. 


Skutsche  in  Breslau  published  a  humorous,  satirical  Purim  play  with 
song  in  five  acts,  entitled  Haman,  der  grosse  Judevfresser,  which  I  did 
not  see. 


INTKODUCTION.  XXXV 

qualification  even  Spinoza  and  Zunz  did  not  possess.  Hasty- 
formulas  were  found  for  hasty  assertions  of  unauthenticity 
and  interpolation.  Anti-Semitism  needed  only  to  appropriate 
the  exegetical  arts  of  rationalism  in  order  to  break  the  stave 
over  the  people,  amongst  whom  some  so  carelessly  handled 
their  own  canon  of  the  Scripture. 

Paul  Lagarde  (Botticher)  has  recently  brought  out  about 
Purim  a  learned  treatise ;  its  conclusion  is  impossible  to 
accept.  I  hope  to  be  able  to  enter  upon  it  at  large  else- 
where. With  regard  to  the  short  treatise  by  Jules  Oppert, 
Commentaire  liistorique  et  philologique  du  Livre  Esther,  Paris 
1864,  I  have  referred  to  it  in  the  Commentary. 


CHAPTER    I. 

"D'^n  "'n''1 — " Nov:  it  came  to  pass  in  the  days'' 
The  rabbinical  teachers  make  peculiar  observations  upon 
these  words.  R.  Levi  says  (Bab.  Megilla  106)  there  is  a 
tradition  from  the  time  of  the  Great  Synagogue,  that  wherever 
in  the  Scriptures  a  sentence  begins  with  "TT'l,  it  was,"  it 
indicates  a  time  of  sorrow  and  distress  (nyv).  R.  Ashe  says 
that  this  is  only  the  case  when  a  scriptural  sentence  begins 
with  ^a^3  ^r\\  "  and  it  was  in  the  days."  In  fact  both  views 
are  of  ancient  date.  In  another  place  (Midrash  Esther  85&) 
one  is  assigned  to  R.  Eliezer  and  the  other  to  R.  Jonathan, 
from  which  we  conclude  that  these  two  authorities  lived  in 
the  days  following  the  destruction  of  the  temple,  in  times 
of  great  need  and  distress.  The  latter  view  only  was  the 
prevalent  one  (comp.  Yalkut  Esther,  §  1044  [where  the 
passage  is  not  correctly  quoted],  and  the  first  Targum). 
Moreover,  the  ancient  sages  found  the  idea  of  sadness 
intimated  by  the  very  sound  of  the  Hebrew  word  \i"'i,  vayShee, 
which  is  similar  to  woe.  The  Greek  oval  (the  Latin  vae  of 
earlier  occurrence)  had  the  same  sound  and  character,  and 
was  at  the  time  used  by  the  people  (as  Christ  used  it  Matt, 
xi.  21,  xxiv.  19  ;  Mark  xiii.  17).  It  was  at  that  time  not 
unusual  for  homiletical  teachers  to  use,  in  the  ecclesiastical 
Hebrew  and  in  the  popular  Greek  language,  forms  of  expres- 
sion which  contained  a  combination  of  ideas  in  order  to  serve 
the  purpose  of  their  teaching.  Even  the  Greek  translation 
of  Scripture  offers  examples :  the  exclamation  of  woe  in  the 
Old  Testament  "•in  (especially  in  Isaiah)  ^ik  is  not  only  rendered 
by  oval,  but  also  in  Ezek.  vii.  26,  ni^n  h'^_  njn^  event  upon  event 

A 


2  BOOK  OF  ESTHEK. 

(or  E.  V.  "  Mischief  shall  come  upon  mischief  ")  is  translated 
by  ovaC     This  was  occasioned  by  the  sound  of  the  word. 

The  five  verses,  concerning  which  the  above  observation  is 
made,  are  as  follows:  (1)  Gen.  xiv.  1,  "And  it  came  to  pass 
in  the  days  of  Amraphel;"  (2)  Euth  i.  1,  "And  it  came  to 
pass  in  the  days  when  the  judges  judged ; "  (3)  Isa.  vii.  1, 
"  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  days  of  Ahaz  ; "  (4)  Jer.  i.  3,  "  It 
came  also  in  the  days  of  Jehoiakim  ; "  (5)  in  our  passage,  "  It 
was  in  the  days  of  Ahhashverosh."  A  sixth  passage  was 
overlooked,  viz.  2  Sam.  xxi.  1,  perhaps  because  it  does  not 
read  '•»''3  nti  but  in  ^12^2  2]n  "•n"'i,  and  perhaps  also  from  a 
desire  not  to  place  David  in  juxtaposition  with  Amraphel, 
Ahaz,  Jehoiakim,  and  Ahhashverosh. 

Now  it  would  not  be  correct  to  assume  that  the  observation 
of  the  Jewish  teachers,  of  which  we  speak,  is  a  complete 
homiletical  form  after  their  mode  of  thinking.  It  is  true 
that  all  verses  which  begin  with  "  it  was  in  the  days " 
introduce  a  catastrophe.  They  are  things  of  impending 
danger  which  are  to  be  narrated. 

The  occurrences  are  of  a  sad  character.  They  are  such  disas- 
trous events  as  the  Greek  calls  avfjucpopd,  so  that  this  word  is 
associated  with  gloom  and  sadness.  The  Hebrew  word  nin  is 
to  be  understood  in  a  similar  sense.  Though  it  really  means 
only  an  event,  an  occurrence,  it  has  been  explained  as  denot- 
ing mishap  and  mischief. 

But  the  Jewish  teachers  who  called  attention  to  this, 
namely,  that  it  is  to  a  certain  degree  the  historical  style  to 
begin  a  narrative  of  eventful  catastrophes  with  the  expression, 
"  And  it  was  in  the  days,"  have  thereby  had  nothing  else  of 
more  importance  in  view.  They  themselves  lived  in  trouble 
and  distress  (ni^f  and  lyv),  and  only  saw  these,  else  they 
would  have  taught  in  a  more  comforting  strain,  that  all  the 
five  catastrophes  which  begin  with  ^du  TT'I,  are  only  told  for 
the  reason  that  they  emerge  in  the  glorious  events  of  the 
history  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Gen.  xiv.  1   begins  with  the  war  of  the  kings  of  the  East 


CHAP.  I.  1.  6 

against  Canaan,  but  concludes  with  the  victory  of  Abraham 
and  with  the  benediction  of  Melchizedek,  who  as  priest  of 
the  Most  High  God  brings  wine  and  bread,  and  says, 
"  Blessed  be  Abram  of  God  Most  High,  possessor  of  heaven 
and  earth."  The  history  of  Euth  does  indeed  begin  with  a 
famine,  but  it  ends  with  the  joyful  event  of  the  marriage  of 
the  converted  heathen  woman  with  the  Israelite  in  whom  is  no 
guile,  with  Boaz  of  whom  sprang  David  and  David's  greater  Son. 

In  the  days  of  Jehoiakim  (Jer.  i.  3)  there  was  indeed 
misery  and  trouble  in  Judea,  but  Jeremiah  is  called  to  see 
the  fulfilment  (i.  11).  In  the  days  of  Ahaz  there  was 
fearful  backsliding  and  idolatry  (Isa.  vii.  1),  but  the  narrative 
only  introduces  the  announcement  of  the  prophet,  "  Behold,  a 
virgin  shall  conceive,  and  bear  a  son,  and  shall  call  his  name 
Immanuel"  (ver.  14). 

It  is  introduced  with  a  catastrophe  in  order  to  conclude 
with  glory.  It  is  not  told  on  account  of  the  existing  evil, 
but  on  account  of  the  coming  salvation.  The  history  begins 
with  the  night,  in  order  to  conclude  with  the  dawn  of  the 
morning.  The  days  of  Ahhashverosh  serve  for  the  purpose  of 
revealing  the  redeeming  grace  of  God.  In  the  days  of  Ahaz 
the  good  tidings  are  declared  w^hich  shall  set  free  the  whole 
world.  The  Eoman  historian  Livy,  in  describing  the  days  of 
ruin  which  came  upon  Eome  through  Brennus,  says  the 
latter  exclaimed,  "  Vae  victis,"  "  woe  to  the  conquered ; " 
and  he  remarks,  that  "  this  is  an  intolerable  expression  to 
Eomans "  ("  intoleranda  Eomanis  vox,"  Li  v.  v.  48).  But 
wherever  the  Scripture  begins  with  its  ^12^2  M"*!,  with  a  "  vae 
Israelis,"  it  reports  this  only  in  order  to  reveal  that  salvation 
will  soon  come  forth,  whose  fulness  and  blessing  is  indispens- 
able and  unspeakable. 

The  Greek  version  of  the  LXX.  translates  the  Hebrew  word 
••n^l  in  all  passages  with  "  iyevero"  in  harmony  with  the  his- 
torical style  of  the  Old  Testament;  thus  in  Luke  ii.  1,  iyevero 
Se  iv  rat?  r/fjuepai^  itceivaL^,  "  it  was  in  those  days "  (^n^l 
Dnn  D^n^a). 


4  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

In  the  days  when  Augustus  caused  the  Holy  Land  to  be 
taxed  its  bondage  began ;  but  just  in  consequence  of  this 
taxing,  the  Messiah,  who  makes  all  who  believe  in  Him  free, 
was  born  in  Bethlehem. 

tJ^"Tit^n&<  t^in  tJ^mSJ^ni^ — "  In  the  days  of  Ahhashverosh,  that 

Ahhashverosh." 

It  would  have  been  sufficient  to  say,  in  the  days  of  Ahhash- 
verosh, who  ruled  from  India  unto  Gush  ;  but  the  repetition 
of  the  name  in  connection  with  &5"in,  ille,  iste  qui,  is  a  preg- 
nant indication  of  the  significance  of  the  man  spoken  of. 

When,  therefore,  the  Midrash  Esther,  p.  8Qa,  compares 
this  mode  of  expression  with  similar  ones,  as  in  1  Chron.  i. 
27,  Di"nni<  «in  Dnnx,  and  Gen.  xxxvi.  3,  Dn5<  ^ns  ik>V  5<in,  etc., 
it  does  so  improperly.  In  the  passages  quoted,  the  word 
5<in  has  simply  the  sense  of  qui  idem,  and  establishes  the 
identity  of  the  compared  persons,  as  their  names  and  epithets 
do  not  fully  sound  alike  (as  nt,  which,  as  a  complete  relative,  is 
like  the  new  pers.  c'eh).  But  here,  where  the  same  name  is 
connected  by  xin,  the  explanation  of  mere  identity  cannot  hold 
good,  but,  through  the  repetition  of  the  name,  t^in  receives 
the  meaning  of  the  Latin  ille}  And  the  sense  is :  that 
famous  and  renowned  Ahhashverosh,  even  more  known 
than  Gyrus  and  Darius  amongst  European  and  West  Asiatic 
nations.  The  Talmud  (Megilla  11a)  by  way  of  homily 
remarks,  that  in  all  places  where  t^in  occurs  it  expresses 
the  virtue  or  the  vice  of  the  person  from  beginning 
to  end.  But  the  thought  in  connection  with  him,  as  inti- 
mated by  the  identifying  pronoun  sin,  was,  that  Esau  was 
in  his  character  all  his  life  long  an  Esau,  the  father  of  Edom, 
just  as  Abram  was  by  nature  and  grace  always  an  Abraham 
(Gen.  xvii.  5).  But  here  also  the  historical  significance  of 
the  expression  "  Ahhashverosh,  that  Ahhashverosh,"  because 
it  is  not  repeated  in  the  Bible,  was  not  sufficiently  considered 

1  In  Corn.  Nep.  4  we  read,  "  Pittacus  ille,  qui  septem  sapientiim  numero 
est  liabitus." 


k 


CHAP.  I.  1.  5 

nor  emphasized.  This  peculiar  formula  does  already  in  itself 
indicate  that  we  have  to  think  of  a  famous  Ahhashverosh, 
and  that  the  king  of  the  book  of  Esther  is  none  other,  as 
shown  in  the  Introduction,  than  Xerxes  of  the  Greek  writers, 
the  son  of  Darius  Hystaspes,  whom  the  cuneiform  inscriptions, 
according  to  Lassen  {Keilinsclir,  p.  165,  etc.),  call  K^sharsa, 
and  according  to  Benfey  (Keilinschr.  p.  65,  etc.)  K^hsliydrsha, 
The  twenty  years  of  the  reign  of  this  king  contain  the 
great  decisive  points  which  through  him  affected  the  world- 
wide nations  of  antiquity, — the  Jews  and  the  Greeks, — and 
the  memorable  deliverances  from  calamity  and  distress  which 
both  experienced.  The  Greek  histories  know  Xerxes  mostly 
only  as  a  commander  of  armies,  and  on  the  battlefield.  The 
book  of  Esther  reports  him  as  he  was  in  his  court  and  in  his 
seraih.  Tlierefore  it  is  just  these  last  reports,  notwithstanding 
that  they  have  Israel  for  their  central  point,  which  show  us 
the  external  movements  within  the  Persian  empire,  as  the 
result  of  former  events.  Bearing  this  in  mind,  it  appears 
clear  that  the  opinion  of  E.  Levi  (Meg.  Esther  ^^1)^  that 
Ahhashverosh  is  identical  with  Artahhasta  mentioned  in  the 
book  of  Ezra,  is  not  to  be  accepted,  and  has  only  arisen  (as 
already  shown  in  the  Introduction)  from  the  reading  of  Ezra 
vii.  1.  He  cannot  be  Artahhshasta  {ie.  Artahhsharshta  or 
Artashsh,  Artaxerxes),  for  the  prefixes  distinguish  the  names 
of  the  Persian  kings  from  each  other.  The  termination  is 
mostly,  as  Hewdot  observes  (i.  139),  the  same  letter  which  the 
Dorians  call  san,  and  the  lonians  sigma  (?).  Comp.  Khurush 
(triD),  Daryawush  ({jn**"!!),  Ahhashverosh,  Hakhamanish,  Chish- 
pish  (Teispes),  Fravartish,  Dadarshish,  Serish,  and  many  others. 

^^13  nyi  nnio  "j^on  — "  Wlw   reigned  from   Hodu   unto 

Cushr 

This  is  not  explanatory  of  the  former  clause,  "  that  Ahhash- 
verosh." It  is  not  meant  to  say  that  it  happened  in  the 
days  of  the  king  who  ruled  over  a  wider  extent  of  territory 
than  any  other ;  for  Darius  had  already  extended  the  borders 


6  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

of  his  dominion  from  India  unto  Cush  ;  and  to  some  extent 
can  the  same  be  said  of  Cambyses. 

In  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  Darius  and  Xerxes  have  the 
same  majestic  titles.  What  is  meant  to  be  conveyed  is,  that 
Xerxes  was  not  only  king  of  Persia  when  this  happened,  but 
also  that  his  dominion  extended  from  India  unto  Cush,  i.e.  from 
east  to  west,  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  unto  the  going  down 
thereof. 

Benfey  translates  a  cuneiform  inscription  both  of  Darius 
and  Xerxes  as  follows :  "  I,  the  mighty  king,  king  of  kings, 
king  of  populous  countries,  king  of  this  great  and  mighty  earth, 
far  and  near."  Aeschines  mentions  in  his  oration  against 
Ktesiphon,  chap.  xlii.  (comp.  Brisson,  de  B.  Pers.  iii.  73),  a 
letter  in  which  Xerxes  had  written  that  he  was  lord  over 
all  men,  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  of  the  sun.  Mardonius 
in  his  speech  to  Xerxes  mentions  the  victories  of  the  Persians 
over  the  Sakes,  the  Hindoos,  and  the  Ethiopians^  (Herod,  vii.  9). 
Only  through  the  repetition  of  the  name  joined  by  the  pronoun 
Kin  is  the  famous  celebrity  of  the  reigning  king  indicated. 

That  he  swayed  his  sceptre  from  Hodu  to  Cush  was  merely 
the  title  of  the  great  king.  The  Jewish  Eabbis  are  therefore 
wrong  when  they  interpret  these  words  as  indicating  that  he 
was  a  usurper,  and  not  of  royal  descent  (Yalkut,  1045,  and 
therefore  Eashi,  in  loc).  This  cannot  be  maintained  of 
Xerxes  (comp.  Herodotus,  vii.  3),  and  the  words  of  Scripture 
give  no  occasion  to  such  an  assumption.  Nor  could  they 
have  had  Smerdis  in  mind ;  for  if  they  had  known  of  him, 
they  would  have  also  known  that  his  reign  was  short.  There 
seems  rather  to  pervade  the  interpretation  of  the  Midrash 
a  stronger  tone  of  antipathy  and  censure  than  we  perceive 
in  the  book  of  Esther  itself.  This  hostile  feeling  is  apparently 
only  directed  against  Ahhashverosh,  but  in  reality  it  is  meant 

^  The  Sultan  Soliman,  when  writing  to  Francis  I.  of  France,  called 
himself  "  emperor  of  emperors,  prince  of  princes,  disposer  of  the  crowns 
of  the  world,  the  shadow  of  God  over  both  hemispheres,  ruler  over  the 
Black  and  White  Seas,  of  Asia  and  Europe."  Comp.  Kanke,  Fiirsten  mid 
Volker,  i.  p.  5. 


CHAP.  I.  1.  7 

in  spirit  against  the  Eoman  emperors  of  the  time,  who  certainly 
were  often  more  arbitrary  than  the  great  Persian  king. 

Hodojb  (nn),  for  India,  is  the  only  passage  where  it  occurs, 
and  shows  the  local  origin  of  the  book  of  Esther.  The 
cuneiform  inscription  of  Lassen  and  Benfey  has  Hidhu.  On 
the  other  hand,  Nasal,  which  is  found  in  the  Indian  SindJm, 
is  in  Zendic  Rendu.  The  name  denotes  originally  only  the 
land  of  the  seven  streams  of  the  Indus ;  it  was  afterwards 
applied  to  the  eastern  territories  also  (comp.  Lassen,  Ind. 
Alterth.  i.  p.  2).  To  derive  the  name  Indus  from  the  Sanscrit 
i7id  =  und,  to  flow  (as  also  Indra  was  explained),  as  the  god  of 
rain,  is  doubtless  correct  (comp.  my  Engldnder  in  Delhi,  ip.  10). 
Darius  pushed  forward  with  his  armies  as  far  as  the  countries 
around  the  Indus,  and  sutjected  them  (Herod,  iv.  44).  Their 
people  formed  the  twentieth  district  of  his  dominions,  and 
afforded  a  rich  revenue  (Herod,  iii.  94). 

2^13  IV) — "  U'nto  Cush" 
The  usual  explanation  of  Gush  is  Ethiopia,  by  which  we 
are  reminded  of  the  victories  of  Cambyses  over  Upper  Egypt. 
The  LXX.  has  therefore  left  "  Unto  Cush "  untranslated, 
perhaps  because  it  was  so  near  home.  But  we  must  call 
attention  to  something  else.  The  name  Cush  is  not  limited 
by  local  conditions,  but  rather  describes  certain  tribes  of  a 
defined  mode  of  life ;  therefore  Nimrod  the  hunter  is  derived 
from  it.  The  Cossaei  (in  the  present  Chusistan),  according  to 
the  scanty  information  that  we  have  of  them,  are  scarcely 
distinguished  in  their  warlike  habits  from  the  Sakes,  by  which 
name  Herodotus  also  designates  the  Persians  as  Scythians. 
That  the  name  Cush  could  also  be  applied  to  these,  I  believe 
that  I  have  shown,  in  that  the  legendary  hero  Eustem  of  the 
country  of  the  Sakes  (Sadjestan)  appears  as  Cushan  (see  my 
Commentary  on  Judges,  chap.  iii.  p.  33).  They  are  then  dark 
nations  of  Scythian  (Nimrodian)  mode  of  life,  which  must 
be  understood  under  the  term  Cush.  In  this  sense  their 
spread  becomes  explicable.      We   can  see  the  force  of  the 


8  BOOK  OF  ESTHEE. 

sayiDg  of  the  prophet  Habakkuk,  "  I  saw  the  tents  of  Cushan 
in  affliction ;  the  curtains  of  the  land  of  Midian  did  tremble  " 
(chap.  iii.  7).  The  name  Ethiopia  is  to  a  certain  degree 
only  a  translation  of  Cush,  for  k^d  or  ni3  signifies  dark.^  Comp. 
the  Sanscr.  Khad,  and  the  Gr.  ctacoto?. 

Antiquity  also  clearly  distinguished  these  formidable 
Scythian  nations  of  the  steppes  of  Europe  and  Asia  according 
to  their  colours.  The  extensive  custom  of  calling  the 
victorious  nations  white  and  the  conquered  nations  black 
(comp.  my  Magyiar  Alterth.  p.  144),  refers  to  natural  marks 
of  distinction.  Cush,  as  the  son  of  Ham,  was  the  dark 
contrast  to  the  fair  nations  of  Gomer,  the  son  of  Japhet, 
somewhat  like  the  dark  and  the  dark  brown  nations  in 
contrast  to  the  Germanic  nations  of  light  complexion.  Ac- 
cordingly, it  would  not  be  impossible  to  think  of  the  term 
"  Unto  Cush  "  as  defining  the  limit  of  the  campaign  of  Darius 
against  the  Scythians  or  Sakes ;  but  this  is  out  of  considera- 
tion. Cush  expresses  here,  in  general,  the  extreme  limit. 
As  Homer  places  the  Ethiopians  at  the  setting  of  Helios,  and 
at  the  extreme  ends  of  the  world  {Odyss.  i.  24),  so  India  and 
Cush  stand  opposite  to  each  other  for  the  lands  of  sunrise  and 
of  sunset.  It  was  thought  that  in  the  empire  of  the  Persian 
great  kings  the  sun  never  set.  This  idea  the  Jewish  teachers 
have  rightly  perceived,  as  e.g.  Eav  said,  "  Hodu  and  Cush 
mark  the  two  extreme  boundaries  of  the  world." 

"  Hundred  and  seven  and  twenty  provinces." 
This  enumeration  also  testifies  to  the  original  historical 
value  of  our  book  with  regard  to  the  history  of  the  ancient 
Iran.  I  should  like  to  see  an  impartial  acknowledgment 
that  this  is  in  accord  with  the  other  credible  records  of  the 
division   of  the  old  Persian   kingdom.     For  the  differences 

[1  In  the  same  extensive  sense  the  Psalter  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  renders  Cush  by  Morians  land.  Bearing  this  in  mind,  we  can 
easily  see  that  the  Ethiopian  woman  of  Num.  xii.  1  is  Zipporah,  the 
daughter  of  Jethro  the  Midianite,  and  thus  the  objection  of  infidels,  that 
Moses  encouraged  bigamy  by  his  example,  falls  to  the  ground.— Trans.] 


CHAP.  I.  1.  9 

which,  according  to  Brisson  {de  Eegn.  Pers.  lib.  i.  169),  were 
thought  to  exist,  are  not  really  there.  In  Dan.  vi.  1  we 
read  that  Darius  the  Mede  appointed  over  the  kingdom  120 
satraps.  Whoever  this  Darius  might  have  been,  the  report  is 
really  not  at  variance  wdth  what  Herodotus  tells  (iii.  89),  that 
Darius  the  son  of  Hystaspes  appointed  twenty  governors.  For 
these  twenty  satrapies  were  large  divisions,  which  included 
smaller  ones,  like  provinces  and  counties.  The  first  province 
consisted  of  lonians,  Magnetians,  Aeolians,  Karians,  Lycians, 
to  which  also  belonged  the  Milyians  and  Pamphilians.  So 
also  the  third  province  consisted  of  Hellespontians,  Phrygians, 
Asiatic  Thracians,  Paphlagonians,  Mariandians,  and  Syrians. 
As  these  provinces  had  just  six  divisions,  we  may  assume 
that  all  the  twenty  satrapies  had  each  six  smaller  revenue  dis- 
tricts, called  m''nD,^  so  that  there  were  in  all  120  such  districts. 
When  Josephus  (Antiq.  x.  11.  4)  speaks  of  360  provinces,  he 
makes  the  mistake  of  assigning  to  each  of  the  120  revenue  dis- 
tricts three  governors,  while  he  knows  himself  that  only  the  120 
governors  had  a  revision  college  of  three  superiors  over  them. 
A  closer  investigation  concerning  the  revenue  provinces  in 
Herodotus  will  show  that  Persia  is  really  wanting  among 
them.^  The  central  governing  country  holds  a  special  position 
among  the  subjugated  countries.  Therefore  there  are  twenty- 
one  countries^  which  the  inscription  of  Bisutun*  enumerates 
(ed  Benfey,  p.  8),  because  Persia  stands  at  the  head  of  them. 
Attention  has  often  been  called  to  the  fact  that  seven  tribal 
chiefs  have  hurled  the  Persian  Smerdis  from  his  throne.  The 
passage  in  Plato  (De  Legg.  iii.  659)  which  appears  so  obscure 
nevertheless  clearly  shows  that  in  his  time  there  yet  existed 
to    a    certain  degree    the    right    and    liberty    which    these 

^  Comp.  r\l^,  m^D,  a  tax,  from  "njo,  to  measure,  metior ;  Sanscr.  Mad. 
See  my  Commentary  on  Judges,  p.  17. 

^  Herod,  iii.  97,  ^  '^ipaig  Be  x^P^  f^ovvvi  (/,oi  ovh,  e'lpyiToci  'hoi,(jf^o(J)6pog. 

^  The  inscription  of  the  black  Assyrian  obelisk  tells  of  twenty-seven 
Persian  tributary  princes,  according  to  Oppert's  explanation  (comp. 
Spiegel,  Eranische  Alterth.  ii.  261). 

^  [Bisutun  means  without  walls. — Trans.] 


10  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

seven  had  established  in  Persia.  Further  on  more  will  be  told 
of  the  seven  great  men  (i.  14),  the  first  in  the  kingdom,  who 
hold  interview  with  the  king,  which,  according  to  Herodotus, 
was  the  privilege  of  the  friends  of  Darius.  Persia  proper, 
accordingly  consists  of  seven  tribes^  or  divisions,  which 
together  with  the  120  other  countries  make  the  total  number 
of  127;  but  it  must  not  be  overlooked  that  the  number  127 
is  an  indivisible  one.  A  homily  of  R.  Akiba  declares  that 
Esther  was  elevated  to  reign  over  127  provinces,  because  she 
was  a  descendant  of  Sarah,  who  lived  just  127  years  (Megilla 
Esther  S6d). 

Ver.  2.  "  That  in  those  days,  when  the  king  Ahhashverosh 

sat  on  the  throne  of  his  kingdom,  which  ivas  in  Shushan  the 

capital." 

The  first  verse  mentions  the  ruler  from  whom  the  event 
proceeded,  to  introduce  the  history  and  to  throw  light  upon  it. 
The  second  verse  exhibits  the  place  in  the  kingdom  where  it 
happened.  The  third  verse  sets  forth  the  year  of  the  reign, 
and  the  occasion  which  produced  the  narrated  catastrophe. 
There  appears,  in  beautiful  simplicity,  a  fine  premeditated 
historical  art  in  the  composition. 

In  \T'i,  "  it  was  in  the  days  of  Ahhashverosh,"  is  recorded 
the  whole  reign  of  the  king ;  but  the  expression  "  in  these 
days,"  points  out  that  the  memorable  event  took  place  when 
the  great  king  sat  on  his  throne  in  Shushan.  For  during  the 
hot  season  the  king  left  the  capital  and  took  up  his 
residence  in  cooler  Ecbatana  in  Media.^  Some  writers  have 
been  more  precise  on  this  point,  and  assigned  the  sojourn  of 
the  king  at  Shushan  to  the  season  of  spring,  at  which  time  the 
weather  is  most  lovely  there  even  now,  in  spite  of  the  city 
being  in  ruins  (see  Eawlinson  in  Eitter,  ix.  302).     The  reason 

1  Comp.  Ritter,  Asien,  viii.  13.     Dunker,  Alterth.  270  and  445,  note. 

2  The  Babylonian  Jewish  teachers  imply  a  sojourn  of  the  king  in 
summer  and  winter  in  different  palaces  in  the  words,  jn^'D^'a  ""J^  )^  Vn, 
M.  Esther,  87a. 


CHAP.  I.  2.  11 

for  this  may  be,  because  the  king  returned  to  his  capital  to 
celebrate  the  festival  of  the  new  year  in  spring. 

For  Shushan,  though  very  much  embellished  by  Darius,  had 
already  been  the  capital  since  the  accession  of  the  Persian 
dynasty.  Xenophon  in  the  Cyropaedia  does  rightly  speak 
of  Cyrus  sojourning  there  (lib.  viii.  6).  It  was  probably  on 
account  of  its  splendid  situation,  surrounded  by  mountains 
and  streams,  and  abounding  in  fruit  and  flowers,  especially 
the  lily  \m^^  which  gave  it  its  name.  It  had  already  become 
so  attractive  to  the  older  monarchs  as  to  induce  them  to 
choose  it  for  their  residence.  But  this  was  not  the  only 
reason  why  the  Persian  monarchs  made  it  their  residence. 
When  the  Medes  and  the  Persians  became  masters  over  the 
whole  complex  territory  of  the  Assyro-Babylonian  empire, 
they  soon  perceived  that  in  order  to  become  great  kings  they 
must  come  out  of  the  national,  local,  and  tribal  surroundings. 
As  the  later  Caliphs  left  Arabia  and  established  their  seat  of 
government  in  Bagdad,  so  did  the  Medo-Persians  leave  their 
tribal  territories  in  order  to  found  the  capital  in  the  subjugated 
countries.  Babylon  could  not  enjoy  this  honour,  because  it 
would  recall  the  hostility  of  the  old  form  of  government, 
although  the  assertion  may  be  well  grounded,  that  Cyrus 
resided  there  for  some  months.  Shushan  became,  especially 
since  the  time  of  Darius,  the  official,  magnificent,  famous 
residence  of  the  Persian  kings,  as  it  certainly  had  never  been 
before.  The  observations  which  we  have  in  the  ethnographical 
table  of  Gen.  x.  are  of  inestimable  value.  They  teach  us  that 
there  was  a  national  distinction  between  the  nation  of  the 
Babylonian-Assyrian  empire  and  their  confederates ;  and  not 
only  between  those  who  were  sons  of  Ham,  but  also  between 
Elam,  Ashur,  Arpachshad,  Lud,  and  Aram,  who  were  descended 
from  Shem,  and  the  nations  of  Madai,  to  which  also  belonged 
Paras. 

^  Spiegel  in  Eranische  Alterthumslcunde,  ii.  623,  does  not  give  the  reason 
why  he  is  not  convinced  of  this  etymological  derivation,  but  holds  it  as 
suitable.     Any  other  explanation  is  not  to  be  thought  of. 


12  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

When  the  Persians  established  the  capital  in  Shushan,  they 
found  themselves  in  Elam,  that  is,  outside  their  national 
country,  and  yet  in  its  vicinity — in  subjugated  but  in  peaceful 
countries,  as  Strabo  remarks  (comp.  Dunker,  ii.  693). 

As  a  centre  and  seat  of  the  great  kingdom  the  city  is 
characterized  by  the  appellation  of  n'^'^^n,^  habeera  (meaning 
properly,  the  castle,  and  in  an  especial  sense  the  royal  castle, 
the  residence),  as  Shushan  is  everywhere  called  by  Nehemiah 
(i.  1)  and  Esther  and  Daniel,  even  without  special  personal 
reference  to  the  reigning  king.  For  in  the  fortified  castle 
was  the  seat  of  the  king. 

In  a  similar  manner  have  modern  cities  received  a  com- 
pound name,  as  Edinburgh,  Petersburg,  etc.  For  this  reason 
it  ought  never  to  have  been  questioned  that  Daniel  could  not 
speak  of  any  other  capital  but  that  of  Shushan,  which  he 
calls  ni^nn,  or  that  there  is  a  difference  between  this  and  the 
Shushan  of  Esther  and  the  Greeks  (as  Kitter  thinks,  influenced 
by  Eawlinson).  —  Apart  from  all  verbal  and  archaeological 
reasons,  it  must  appear  from  the  spirit  of  the  vision  of  Daniel, 
in  which  he  sees  the  decisive  battles  of  the  Medo-Persians  with 
Alexander,  that  the  vision  took  place  in  the  centre  and  seat  of  the 
Iranic  dynasty.  It  must  clearly  appear  from  the  same  internal 
evidence  that  the  vision  was  seen  by  him  near  the  river  Ulai, 
because  this  river  w^as  connected  with  the  great  glory  of  the 
Persian  kings.  It  flowed  whither  the  king  went — as  if  the  glory 
of  the  royal  residence  went  everywhere  with  him ;  for,  as  it  is 
said,  the  great  king  drank  no  other  water  but  from  its  springs. 

It  ought  also  to  be  observed,  that  though  the  river  near 
Shushan  is  elsewhere  called  Choaspes  (comp.  the  passages  in 
Brisson,  i.  1.  9,  82),  Ulai  and  Choaspes  are  not  on  that 
account  two  rivers,  as  some  in  ancient  and  modern  times  have 
thought;    Loftus,  for    instance,  who   deems    it  necessary  to 

1  The  derivation  of  the  word  is  known.  In  Scr.  vr%  Zend,  vere,  means 
"to  defend."  Therefore  Zendic  vara,  Persian  haru.  From  this  comes 
the  Greek  (icHpts,  which  must  again  not  be  confounded  with  iSoiptg  of 
Egyptian  origin  (comp.  Sturz,  de  dialecto  Macedon.  p.  89). 


CHAP.  I.  2.  13 

establish  new  theories  concerning  the  changes  of  rivers  (see 
Journal  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society ,  vol.  xxvii.  p.  130,  etc. ; 
comp.  Eodiger,  Zeitschr.  deutsch.  Morgenl.  Gesellsch.  xiii.  715). 
But  Eulaeus-Ulai  is  the  name  which  Choaspes  bore  owing  to 
the  fact  that  it  alone  contained  the  pure  water  of  which  the 
king  drank. 

The  Midrash  has,  p.  8  7a,  the  following  homiletic  legend : 
The  angels  appeared  before  the  Lord  with  the  complaint, 
"  Lord,  the  holy  temple  is  destroyed,  and  this  wicked  man  j;5jn 
sits  on  the  throne  in  joys."  But  their  attention  is  called  to  the 
ways  of  judgment  and  to  the  changes  of  the  times.  These 
had  come  to  pass  in  an  awful  manner.  Shushan  lies  in  ruins, 
so  that  one  might  doubt  its  identity.  It  has  become  a  desert, 
an  habitation  for  lions  and  hyenas.  Superstitious  fanatical 
robbers  are  its  custodians.  Benjamin  of  Tudela  found  the 
country  deserted  as  early  as  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  he 
describes  the  ruins  of  the  palace  of  Ahhashverosh  (ed.  Asher, 
p.  73).  He  could  still  report  of  a  large  number  of  Jewish 
inhabitants ;  but  they  also  have  gone,  according  to  the  reports 
of  Petachia  (ed.  Carmoly,  p.  65).  Not  before  1851  were 
extensive  investigations  undertaken  among  these  ruins.  But 
though,  indeed,  the  proud  capital  of  ancient  Persia  is  destroyed, 
the  Jews  have  as  yet  received  no  comforting  compensation  to 
their  above  complaint,  for  the  temple  in  Jerusalem  is  also 
still  in  ruins.  And  certainly  neither  the  great  king  of  Persia 
nor  the  later  Eoman  Caesar  must  be  held  responsible  for  its 
destruction.  The  ruins  of  Shushan  and  of  Babylon  have  not 
contributed  to  its  restoration.  The  causes  for  its  downfall 
were  not  political,  but  spiritual. 

The  ideas  which  the  Rabbis  in  their  homilies  entertain 
concerning  the  throne  on  which  the  king  sat,  though  some- 
what peculiar,  are  yet  profound.  For  while  the  words,  "  when 
the  king  Ahhashverosh  sat  on  the  throne  of  his  kingdom," 
express  only  figuratively  the  time  in  which  the  king  returned 
to  Shushan,  the  Jewish  interpretation  takes  the  figurative 
expression  in  its  original  literal  meaning.     The  throne  was 


14  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

the  symbol  of  the  royal  power,  and  they  connect  their  obser- 
vation with  its  symbolic-phantastic  (symholisch-phantastisch) 
ornamentation.  They  do  this  in  accordance  with  the  Oriental 
usage  and  spirit. 

The  acquisition  and  the  possession  of  a  throne  denotes  in 
itself  power,  as  well  as  the  besieging  and  the  removal  of  a 
throne  denotes  victory.^  The  transition  of  the  universal 
monarchies  from  Babylon  to  Media,  thence  to  Alexander,  and 
thence  to  Eome,  is  represented  by  them  as  a  transition  of  the 
throne.  But  what  sort  of  a  throne  was  this  ?  No  other  but 
that  of  Solomon,  as  described  in  1  Kings  x.  18.  For  the 
throne  of  Israel  which  the  Son  of  David  establishes  is  spiri- 
tually the  universal  royal  throne.  He  is  represented  in 
prophecy  as  ruling  over  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  (Ps. 
ii.  8,  etc.). 

But  they  embodied  this  truth  in  the  type  of  political 
dominion.  They  likewise  made  Solomon  to  be  a  real  universal 
king.  Their  historical  insight  appears  to  have  been  greater 
than  it  is  generally  admitted,  in  that  they  also  ascribe 
universal  dominion,  i.e.  preponderating  power,  to  Egypt.  For 
they  say  that  the  throne  of  Solomon  came  after  his  death 
into  the  hands  of  Shishak,  king  of  Egypt,  and  then  Asa 
recovered  it  when  he  conquered  Serach  the  Cu shite.  They 
further  assert  that  Nebuchadnezzar  had  it  in  his  possession, 
and  that  Cyrus  sat  upon  it.  "  I  have  seen,^  says  Elasar  bar 
Yose,  its  fragments  in  Eome,  but  Ahhashverosh  did  not  get 
it,  for  only  a  Kosmokrator  ("iimplDnp)  had  a  right  to  sit 
upon  it." 

The  application  of  this  word  is  interesting.  The  Midrash 
applies  it  several  times  to  great  kings.  It  originated  in 
Jewish  speculative  theology,  hence  in  the  Orphic  hymn  it  is 

^  Comp.  my  Ahhandlung  icber  Kaiser  und  Konigsthrone,  p.  23,  BerHn 
1874. 

2  Elasar  bar  Yose  was,  together  with  Simon  bar  Yochai,  in  Rome  after 
the  war  of  Barcochba  in  the  second  century.  When  he  says,  TT't^l  '»J31")3 
VniK^j  he  may  perhaps  mean  the  booty  which  the  Romans  took  from 
Jerusalem,  of  which  they  put  a  facsimile  on  the  triumphal  arch  of  Titus. 


CHAP.  I.  3.  15 

applied  to  heaven  (Hymn  4.  3),  but  heaven  shared  it  and 
other  epithets  with  potentates  of  this  world.  It  has  been 
applied  by  the  Church  Fathers,  after  the  example  of  the 
Apostle  Paul/  to  the  tyranny  of  the  princes  of  this  world,  to 
Satan,  and  to  demons  (comp.  Du  Cange,  Gloss.  Graec.  p.  721). 
But  precisely  because  the  only  potentate  of  the  world 
(pNI  D''DB^  T\^\>)  has  alone  the  right  to  sit  upon  the  throne, 
therefore  the  thrones  which  the  tyrants  of  the  world  usurp 
are  destroyed,  and  the  Solomonic  throne  also  is  not  restored, 
so  long  as  the  son  of  David  does  not  take  possession  of  it  in 
spirit  and  in  truth. 

Ver.  3.  "In  the  third  year  of  his  reign." 

It  was  in  the  second  year  after  the  death  of  Darius  that 
Xerxes,  as  Herodotus  reports  (vii.  7),  had  put  down  the 
rebellion  in  Egypt,  and  so  in  the  third  year  after  his  return, 
he  convoked  a  council  of  the  princes  to  learn  their  views, 
but  chiefly  to  impart  his  own  (Herod,  vii.  8).  The  agreement 
of  this  narrative  of  Herodotus  on  a  secondary  point  with  the 
verse  above,  by  itself  indicates  the  identity  of  Xerxes  with 
Ahhashverosh,  although  our  book  does  not  mention  the  con- 
clusion of  the  war  against  Greece.  For  the  historical  matter 
of  the  Scripture,  especially  of  the  book  of  Esther,  is  concise 
and  solid,  aiming  to  come  to  the  point,  and  presupposing 
the  necessary  limits  of  its  report. 

It  does  not  tell  of  the  Greek  campaign,^  because  it  was 
known,  and  also  because  its  main  aim  was  to  derive  the 
Israelitish  history  from  things  which  were  not  considered  of 
first-rate  importance.     It  is  satisfied  to  narrate  that  it  was  in 


^  Epli.  vi.  12,  TTpos  Tovg  Koaf^oKpotTOpxg  tov  aKorovg  tovtov.  Just  be- 
cause the  Midrash  mostly  uses  Kosmokrator  for  earthly  great  kings  is  the 
homily  (Wayikra  Rabba,  §  18,  p.  160a)  of  interest,  when  it  says  :  "  Wlien-I 
made  thee  for  a  Kosmokrator,  for  a  tyrant,  over  all  men,  I  have  neverthe- 
less given  thee  no  power  over  those  who  are  called  sons  of  God."  The 
note  of  Schenkel  to  Eph.  vi.  12  is  not  correct. 

2  Comp.  Havernik,  Einleitiing^  torn.  ii.  p.  340  [Eng.  trans.,  Clark, 
Edinr.]. 


16  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

the  third  year  of  Xerxes  when  the  princes  and  the  satraps 
assembled  in  the  palace,  in  order  to  intimate  thereby  that  a 
great  political  fact  underlay  the  occurrence.  For  in  order 
that  what  is  told  in  the  book  of  Esther  should  actually 
happen,  there  must  be  according  to  the  purpose  of  God  a 
special  council  of  the  great  men  of  the  State.  There  must  be 
an  important  political  motive,  but  this  is  of  no  consequence 
to  the  narrator.  It  was  enough  for  him  to  record  the 
general  magnitude  of  the  kingdom,  because  this  only  throws 
light  upon  the  coming  event.  An  ordinary  banquet  could  not 
invest  it  with  a  psychological  explanation.  There  was  just 
one  campaign  to  which  all  were  gathered.  The  Scripture 
very  often  tells  the  events  in  Israel  as  apparently  separate 
from  the  events  in  the  world,  and  yet  they  flow  through 
them  like  a  river,  which,  in  passing  through  a  sea,  does  not 
mingle  its  waters,  but  becomes  clearer  and  clearer,  like  the 
Rhine  passing  through  the  Lake  of  Constance.  Yet  the  fine 
threads  which  connect  the  experience  of  Israel  with  the 
great  powers  of  the  world  are  to  be  found  everywhere.  We 
seem  to  hear  in  universal  history  a  quiet  sound,  an  echo  of 
the  future.  Israel's  history  is  not  to  be  separated  from  the 
fall  of  Nineveh,  Babylon,  and  Media.  Our  book  also,  instead 
of  saying  that  there  was  once  a  great  feast,  when  this  and 
that  happened,  quietly  but  instructively  reminds  us  of  the 
great  fact  with  which  Xerxes  was  occupied  at  the  time  during 
which  the  sudden  and  unexpected  intrigue  was  brooding,  a 
fact  which  at  once  produced  Israel's  calamity  and  redemp- 
tion. For  the  historian  shows  us  both  the  external  political 
condition  and  the  internal  party  intrigues  of  the  corrupt  royal 
seraihs. 

"  He  made,  a  feast  unto  all  Ids  princes  and  his  servants" 

Herodotus,  in   reporting   the   council  of  war   against   the 

Greeks,  did  not  need  to  tell  what  was  a  natural  and  common 

occurrence,  that  there  had  been  a  great  feast  provided  for  all 

the  chiefs  of  the  country.     For  his  main  object,  according  to 


CHAP.  I.  3.  17 

his  manner,  was  to  illustrate  the  directions  of  the  gods,  and 
the  dream  through  which  the  great  event  passed.  But  for 
the  book  of  Esther,  the  feast  was  the  great  fundamental 
ground  of  its  historical  record.  From  the  royal  table  issued 
the  narrated  catastrophe.  A  great  feast  was  then  in  itself,  as 
in  modern  times,  nothing  extraordinary  in  the  Persian  court. 
The  feast  "  unto  all  the  princes  and  servants  "  would  not  have 
a  place  in  universal  history,  in  spite  of  its  being  given  to  the 
generals  and  potentates  of  the  universally  famous  Persian 
expedition  against  the  Greeks.  When  it  is  mentioned  here, 
it  is  not  because  of  the  persons  that  are  enumerated,  not 
for  the  sake  of  the  guests,  but  for  its  own  sake.  With 
the  significance  of  the  men  is  joined  the  great  war,  which 
included  the  germs  of  a  new  universal  culture  ;  but  with 
the  fact  of  the  feast  is  connected  the  domestic  occasion 
out  of  which  proceeded  the  local,  but  for  Israel  the  world- 
wide, events  about  Esther  and  Haman.  These  "  princes 
and  servants  "  of  the  king  are  more  closely  called  Parthe- 
mim  (D''DmQ),  i.e.  the  first  {fratama,  Scr.  pratlmraa,  comp. 
Benfey,  p.  88),  and  princes  of  the  provinces  (districts,  ni:nD). 
The  Midrash  has  an  interesting  and  instructive  comment 
upon  these  princes,  which  certainly,  on  account  of  the 
corruption  of  the  text^  and  the  general  neglect  of  scientific 
knowledge,  has  scarcely  ever  been  considered. 

The  passage  reads  thus  :  "  E.  Eliezer  says,  Farthemim,  these 
are  two  legions  of  the  king,  for  no  king  is  called  Augustus 
until  these  two  nominate  him."  And  who  are  these  ?  E. 
Isaak  said  they  were  the  '':j<^iddi:ki  ^JVDlpl,  when  these  gave 

^  This  is  seen  on  the  same  page,  where  there  is  given  a  homiletic  defini- 
tion of  the  word  Paras,  i.e.  Persia.  It  is  so  called  because  it  was  twice 
severed  asunder,  once  in  the  days  of  mnn  and  once  in  the  days  of  |S2''nx. 
The  first  name  should  be  read  mi^nnS  Jezdegerd,  the  last  new  Persian 
king  whom  the  Arabs  vanquished  ;  and  the  other  is  Artaban,  the  ast 
Parthian  king  whom  the  Sassanides  dethroned.  By  this  the  age  of  the 
book  is  to  be  seen.  This  gloss  could  only  have  been  written  shortly  after 
the  fall  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Sassanides,  about  the  end  of  the  seventh 
century.  Of  course  this  cannot  be  proved  to  a  demonstration,  but  it 
gives  everywhere  the  impression  of  the  Roman  dominion. 

B 


18  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

counsel  to  JSTebuchadnezzar  (Titus),  and  he  marched  to  Jeru- 
salem and  destroyed  the  temple,  then  God  destroyed  them, 
and  appointed  others  in  their  place ;  and  these  are,  as  E. 
Yehudah  ben  Shimon  in  the  name  of  Eliezer  says,  •'jfe^np-ini  '•ji'i^v 
The  explanation  of  this  passage,  as  given  by  Sachs  {Beitrdfjer 
zur  Spracli-  und  AUerthumsforsch.  i.  113),  is  a  complete  mis- 
understanding, because  it  is  based  upon  a  conjectural  emenda- 
tion of  the  text  instead  of  upon  observing  the  general  thought. 
This  is  as  follows :  The  Jewish  commentators  always  proceed 
from  the  standpoint  that  the  various  experiences  of  the 
princes  and  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  are  to  be  explained 
from  their  relation  to  Israel.  They  thus  considered,  not 
only  the  history  of  Babylon,  but  also  of  Eome,  which  broke 
up  the  last  remnants  of  parliamentary  independence,  de- 
stroyed Jerusalem  and  Bethel,  and  burned  the  temple.  The 
aim  of  the  contemporaries  of  the  later  Eoman  emperors  was 
that  the  Eoman  Senate  should  only  be  an  institution  in 
appearance,  and  the  real  power  to  elect  the  imperators  and  to 
keep  them  on  the  throne  should  be  vested  in  the  army.  To 
this  the  above  comment  refers.  When  Titus  (who  is  to  be 
understood  under  Nebuchadnezzar)  destroyed  Jerusalem,  he 
did  it — so  is  the  tradition  (which  Benjamin  of  Tudela  ^  could 
still  speak  of  in  the  Middle  Ages) — by  special  order  of  the 
Senate.     For  this  the  State  was  punished. 

Hence  comes  its  moral  degradation.  What  the  Parthemim 
were  to  Ahhashverosh,"  that  exactly  were  the  "jVDipT  or  rather 
the  "JVn^pl  and  "•jn^ddijn,  viz.  the  Decurions  and  Augustani,  in 
Eome.^  The  Decurions  were  considered  in  the  imperial 
provinces  what  the  Senators  were  in  Eome.  By  the  term 
Augustani  were  understood  those  whom  the  Greek  writers 
call  Augustalioi,  ^aaCKiKol,  officers   of  the   highest  dignity.^ 

1  Comp.  my  Historische  Versuche,  p.  20. 

"  Even  in  later  times  this  was  the  formula  :  "  Et  is  esset  imperator 
qiiem  Senatns  elegerat."     Spartian,  Didius,  5. 

^  Comp.  Salmasius,  Vopisc.  Aurelianus,  cap.  33. 

4  Concerning  these,  comp.  Du  Cange,  Gloss.  Gr.  p.  151.  Concerning  the 
Augustani  in  similar  and  original  meaning,  Tacit.  Ann,  xiv.  15.  2 :  "  Tunc- 


CHAP.  I.  4.  19 

They  want  to  say  tliat  before  Titus  the  prominent  men  who 
appointed  the  emperor  were  the  senators  and  consuls,  but 
now  they  are  the  '•J^'I^S  which  stands  for  ^:b3,  i-^-  Calones/  and 
^JN''i1p"i2,  which  stands  for  ^JsniDiS,  i.e.  Praetoriani.  The  reins 
of  government  passed  from  the  hands  of  the  senators  into 
those  of  the  life-guards.  The  cause  of  this  is  now  ascribed 
to  the  evil  counsel  of  the  patricians  against  Jerusalem. 

But  the  eyes  of  the  Jewish  teachers  ought  not  to  have 
been  closed  to  the  fact  that  the  same  could  be  said  of  the 
Jews  themselves.  They  were  right  when  they  directed  the 
attention  of  their  people  to  the  history  of  the  nations  for  an 
explanation  of  the  judgments  of  God.  The  experiences  which 
the  Eoman  Empire  supply  on  this  point  are  indeed  many  and 
awful,  only  they  must  not  conceal  from  themselves  the  cause 
why  they  themselves  lost  their  freedom  and  independence. 
Formerly  they  were  masters,  but  now  they  are  servants ;  once 
a  nation,  but  now  dispersed.  Israel  also  was  once  a  people 
of  Parthemim — great  and  free  in  the  doctrine  and  love  of 
God — until  they  destroyed  their  "  temple." 

Ver.  4.  "  When    he    showed    the    riches   of    his    glorious 

kingdom," 

He  proved  the  fulness  of  his  royal  power,  in  that  he  enter- 
tained the  assembled  princes  for  the  space  of  a  half-year, 
180  days.  But  this  feast  is  distinguished  from  the  one 
mentioned  in  the  5  th  verse.  The  former  was  the  council 
feast,  instituted  to  deliberate  about  the  great  enterprise  of 
the  king. 

It  is  repeatedly  reported  by  the  ancient  writers  that  it 
was  a  custom  with  the  Persians  to  hold  consultations  about 
war  and  other  affairs  (de  apparatu  bellorum  et  seriis  rebus, 
Ammian.  Marc.)  during  meals  (Brisson,  lib.  ii.  c.  131).  These 
reports  are  to  be  understood  to  mean  that  their  custom  was 

que  primum  conscript!  sunt  equites  Romani  cognomento  Augustanorum 
aetate  ac  robore  conspicui  et  pari  ingenio  procaces,  alii  in  spe  potentiae." 
i  Tacit.  Hist  ii.  87-iii.  33. 


20  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

not  like  ours,  to  carry  on  important  business  first  and  then  to 
entertain,  but  they  did  both  at  the  same  time.  The  Midrash 
says  (876)  the  king  manifested  his  greatness  by  displaying 
before  the  guests  the  trophies  of  Jerusalem.  So  likewise 
Herodotus,  for  the  glorification  of  his  people,  represents 
Mardonius  and  Xerxes  as  boasting  of  their  hitherto  achieved 
victories,  in  order  to  incite  to  the  war  against  the  Greeks 
(vii.  9).  Clericus  is  of  opinion  that  all  the  princes  did  not 
remain  together  during  the  180  days  of  the  feast,  but  that 
they  took  their  turn,  some  left  when  new  ones  arrived.  But 
this  supposition  is  not  necessary. 

Ver.  5.  "And  when  these  days  were  fulfilled,  the  king 
made  a  feast  unto  all  the  people  that  were  present  in 
Shushan"  ^ 

It  lasted  seven  days,  and  was  held  in  the  garden  of  the 
palace.  After  the  feastings  and  the  consultations  of  the 
princes,  at  which  the  king  displayed  his  whole  power  which 
he  put  in  motion  against  the  Greeks,  there  followed  a  feast 
specially  for  the  people,  which  lasted  a  week.^     There  is  a 

^  In  the  Vierzig  Vezieren,  ed.  Behrnauer,  p.  340,  we  read :  "  The  king 
held  a  great  feast,  at  which  high  and  low  sat  at  table  and  ate  to  their 
satisfaction." 

2  Comp.  Epische  Dichtungen  of  Firdussi,  translated  by  Schack,  p.  203, — 

"Whereupon  they  celebrated  seven  days  long, 
A  merry  feast  with  wine  and  song," 

When  Eustem  obtained  a  victory  there  was  a  feast  at  the  court  of  the 
Shah,  p.  248,— 

"  After  this  sort,  with  wine  and  song, 
They  revelled  a  week  long." 

P.  133,—  "  Nigh  the  castle  in  Yredsh's  gardens. 

Even  in  the  palatial  chambers, 
Eesounded  the  mirth  of  the  festive  days." 

P.  47, —  "  The  Shah,  after  the  arrival  of  the  expected, 

Had  the  royal  garden  decorated." 

Hence  the  use  of  trees  in  the  royal  rooms  (comp.  my  Kaiser  Konigsthmne, 
\).  83,  etc.,  and  Hammer,  Gemaldsaal,  iv.  265). 


CHAP.  I.  5.  21 

passage  in  the  Schahnameh  of  Firdussi  giving  also  an  account 
of  a  feast  lasting  seven  days,  and  according  to  the  old  Oriental 
custom  it  is  held  in  the  delightful  groves  of  a  park.  Then 
follows  the  description,  as  by  the  epic  poet,  of  the  splendour 
that  was  there.  There  were  curtains  of  white  (iin)  and  of 
blue  (rh^n)  karpas,  which  originally  in  Sanscr.  Xarpdsa  meant 
cotton,  but  afterwards  fine  linen  also.^ 

It  has  been  observed^  that  Curtius  (iii.  3.  19)  describes  the 
cap  of  the  Persian  kings  as  having  a  white  and  blue  stripe. 
But  the  same  author  says  afterwards  (vi.  6.  4)  that  the  head- 
dress had  white  and  purple  stripes.  Perhaps  he  is  correct 
in  both  passages.  White  and  blue  are  the  colours  of  the 
atmosphere  and  of  the  sky  (caeruleus)?  These  curtains 
{cculaea,  vela)  were  furnished  with  cords  of  pn  (fine  linen) 
and  purple,  suspended  on  silver  poles,  and  tied  to  marble 
pillars.  It  is  described  that  what  was  then  considered  as  the 
most  costly  material  was  used  in  the  decoration  of  the  garden 
tents.  To  this  class  belonged  byssus  and  purple.  Many 
names  of  tl\e  ancient  materials  described  also  their  colours. 
Cords  of  byssus  are  white.  A  Jewish  teacher  remarks  in  the 
Midrash  that  freemen  fasten  their  garments  with  cords  of 
byssus  (c.  88). 

That  white  was  in  many  cases  the  sign  of  liberty  is  well 
known.  Khalid,  the  Arab,  ordered  the  Taghlebites  to  wear 
a  black  band  as  a  mark  of  their  dependence.  Though  colours 
as  marks  of  party  distinction  are  no  longer  in  vogue  to  the 
same  extent  as  of  old,  yet  even  to-day  white  is  among 
Mohammedans  the  mark  of  the  masters  of  the  country  (comp. 
my  "Geschichte  der  Juden,"  in  Ersch  unci  Gruher,  ii.  27,  p.  236). 
A  name  which  should  imply  the  use  of  silk  is  not  found  in 

1  ComiD.  Lassen,  Ind.  Alterthumsk.  i.  250  and  iii.  25.  Ritter,  v.  436. 
The  Targum,  Midrash  Esther  88c,  has  paraphrased  n^3n  with  p:n''''i<,  Gr. 
dipivog,  sky-blue. 

2  Dunker,  Gesch.  des  Alterth.  ii.  608,  note. 

^  Comp,  Philostratus,  Life  of  Apollo,  where  this  tells  him  of  the  dome 
of  sapphires  upon  the  royal  palace  of  the  Magi  :  "  For  this  stone  is  dark- 
blue,  according  to  the  colour  of  the  sky." 


22  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

the  book  of  Esther.  The  silver  poles  stand  opposite  the 
marble  pillars.  The  former  {'^yh^)  are  movable,  the  latter  are 
fixed.  Both  are  white ;  for  not  only  5]D3,  silver,  has  its  name 
from  the  colour  of  white,  but  also  ^'K^'  is  white  marble,  and 
likewise  Egyptian  byssus  was  called  so  on  account  of  its 
whiteness.  The  great  residence  in  which  the  feast  took  place 
was  named  Shushan,  from  the  white  lilies  which  were 
cultivated  in  the  garden.  The  floor  was  a  mosaic  pavement 
of  uni  (from  which  came  alabaster,  alahastrum,  Goth.  Alabcd- 
straum,  probably  with  the  article  hii,  as  rannbx  or  tonni'K,  to  be 
known  among  the  Greeks  and  Eomans),  of  ^\i^,  like  the  pillars 
of  11  and  mno. 

These  two  words,  as  well  as  Dnn,  occur  only  once  here.  IT  is 
taken,  since  Bochart,  to  be  pearl;  yet  the  objection  of  Gesenius, 
that  the  language  used  here  can  only  refer  to  stone,  has  its 
weight,  and  therefore  it  must  mean  mother-of-pearl,  or  pearl- 
stone,  as  the  LXX.  translates,  mno,  according  to  Fiirst, 
should  be  read  mpD,  from  the  Chald.  "ipD.  If  so,  it  must  be 
taken  for  red  marble,  which  was  very  much  used.^  This 
explanation  is  to  be  preferred,  because  thus  we  see  the  same 
mingling  of  colour,  white  and  red,  for  the  floor  as  for  the 
cords  of  the  tent.  Upon  this  floor  stood  gold  and  silver 
chairs  and  tables. 

The  description  given  here  is  so  little  exaggerated,  tliat 
even  Mardonius  had  similar  magnificence  in  his  camp.  The 
Greeks  found  after  their  victory  "  tents  decorated  with  gold 
and  silver,  couches  wrought  in  silver  and  gold,  and  other 
precious  things"  (Herod,  ix.  80).  Xerxes  had  left  his  own 
tent  to  Mardonius,  and  Pausanias  was  amazed  at  the  sight  of 
the  golden  and  silver  beds  and  tables,  etc.  (ix.  82).  It  is 
interesting  to  observe  that  the  gloss  of  the  Greek  translation 
read,  instead  of  mnoi  "n%  mnoa  Til,^  and  therefore  translated 

1  Comp.  Lamprid,  Elagabal,  24  :  "  Stravit  et  saxis  .  .  .  porphyreticis 
plateas  in  palatio,  quas  Antonisnianas  vocavit,  quae  saxa  usque  ad  nostraiu 
niemoriam  manserunt  sed  nuper  eruta  et  execta  sunt." 

2  The  form  H  for  rose,  for  the  first  time  in  the  Mishna  (comp.  my  Rose 


CHAP.  I.  7.  23 

KVfcXo)  poSa  ireTTaa-fjieva,  roses  (poBa)  were  scattered  about,  for 
the  custom  of  decorating  with  roses  was  then  and  afterwards  / 
considered  as  the  greatest  festive  ornamentation. 
Firdussi  describes,  p.  47, — 

"  There  stood  a  golden  throne  'mid  beds  of  roses, 
Where  flowers  gaily  shone  in  perfumed  posies  ; 
The  silken  carpets,  precious  stones  of  splendour, 
Gleam  in  the  groves  where  lamps  their  glories  render."  ^ 

The  whole  description  of  ver.  6  begins  with  the  word  "nn. 
In  the  Masoretic  text  the  letter  n  is  longer  than  usual ;  but  it 
would  be  in  vain  to  try  to  find  a  reason  for  the  custom  of 
Bible  copyists  of  making  some  letters  more  prominent  (see 
my  note  on  Buth,  p.  225),  and  such  peculiarities  in  the 
old  and  well-preserved  manuscripts  can  sometimes  only  be 
explained  from  the  casual  notes  of  the  copyists. 

Yer.  7.  nnr  "^32  niptJ^m — ''And  they  gave  them  drink  in 
vessels  of  gold,  the  vessels  being  diverse  one  from  another" 
Xenophon  says  of  the  Persians,  that  they  were  proud  of 
possessing  a  large  number  of  drinking  vessels  {Cyrop.  viii.  8. 
18;  comp.  Athenaeus,  lib.  xi.  p.  465).  Accordingly,  there 
were  many  changes  of  cups  at  a  royal  entertainment  in  order 
to  display  the  abundance  of  possession ;  and  so  it  is  the 
custom  even  now  at  the  festive  entertainment  of  great 
people. 

21  ni^fj^  p"""! — "  And  the  wine  of  the  kingdom  was  in  abun- 
dance, according  to  the  bounty  or  hand  (tid)  of  the  king,  as 
the  great  king  is." 

There  could  be  no  thought  of  insufficiency.  The  expres- 
sion r^dyo  p,  "  the  wine  of  the  kingdom,"  is  striking,  for  it 
proves  also  how  the  king  entertained  his  guests.  l^JDn  X"> 
would  be  wine  of  the  king ;  niai'Dn  p*"  is  royal  wine,  i.e.  such 

unci  Nachtigal,  p.  19).  The  linguistic  form,  to  which  poho?  also  belongs, 
appears  to  be  found  only,  after  my  supposition  in  the  Biblical  canon,  in 
the  name  Ruth  (see  my  Gomm.  on  Euth,  p.  206). 


24  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

as  the  king  himself  used.  It  was  not  distinguished  merely 
for  quantity,  but  for  quality — the  best  wine,  such  as  befits 
the  feasts  of  kings.  The  king  himself  drank  only  Syrian 
(chalybonic)  wine  (comp.  Brisson,  i.  c.  84).  May  we  not 
direct  our  attention  to  another  table,  at  which  also  a  king 
sat  ?  This  was  in  Cana  of  Galilee.  There  the  wine  was 
insufficient  for  all  the  invited  guests  until  the  mercy  of  their 
Friend  supplied  them  with  the  royal  wine  of  the  first  miracle, 
and  turned  the  old  drink  into  taste  of  the  joy  of  the  new 
faith.  What  Ahhashverosh  gave  for  the  purpose  of  intoxi- 
cation, this  King  gave  for  sober  reflection  upon  the  grace 
of  God. 

Ver.  8.  DJli^  px  ma  n^n^J^ni — "  And  the  drinking  ivas  ac- 
cording to  the  law,  none  coidd  compel." 

The  king  had  strictly  commanded  every  steward  to  let 
every  man  do  as  he  liked  in  this  matter.  This  order  was  not 
for  the  purpose  of  teaching  the  people  to  be  temperate  in 
drink,  but  rather  to  enhance  their  pleasure  by  leaving  them 
to  please  themselves  without  any  restraint.  The  sense  of  the 
passage  is  that  it  was  the  custom  at  court  that,  in  spite  of 
the  wine  being  so  costly,  the  courtiers  were  to  see  that  every 
one  should  have  as  much  of  it  as  he  liked  to  drink.^  For 
such  large  drinking  companies  all  restrictions  ceased.  Every 
one  was  to  feel  at  home.  The  Eoman  custom  to  nominate 
kings  of  the  table  and  modimperatores  (comp.  Ursinus,  de 
Tricliniis  Boman.  p.  383,  etc.)  has  no  parallel  here.  The 
Persians  were  great  drinkers.  "  They  drink  so  much,"  says 
Xenophon,  "that  they  cannot  stand  upright  upon  their  feet, 
and  must  be  carried  out."  Every  occasion  was  used  by  them 
to  get  drunk.     When  Themistocles  fled  to  the  King  of  Persia, 

^  The  Midrash  explains  the  non-compulsion  to  have  consisted  in  that 
every  one  could  drink  the  wine  of  his  country.  But  this  was  a  feast 
especially  for  the  people  of  Shushan.  E.  Levi  says  the  Persians  used 
to  have  a  very  large  cup  at  their  feasts,  which  every  one  was  obliged  to 
empty,  no  matter  whether  he  could  or  not,  or  whether  he  died  from  the 
effect.     This  cup  the  king  did  not  have  at  his  feast  (Jalkut  Esther  1048), 


CHAP.  I.  9.  25 

the  latter  embraced  the  opportunity  of  making  a  drinking 
feast  (Plut.  Themistocl.  28).  Eirdussi  of  the  Mohammedan 
time  faithfully  represents  this  ancient  custom.  When  the 
hero  was  about  to  march  to  the  war,  we  read  (p.  151),  "Then 
music  resounded,  the  cups  were  filled  with  wiue,  and  the 
shah  was  merry  at  the  feast."  Eustem  describes  it  thus 
(p.  481),— 

"  The  cups  were  handed  round  to  every  head, 
And  cheeks  of  guests  have  grown,  like  spring  flowers,  red." 

When  Kai  Chosru  gave  a  feast  (p.  511), — 

"  All  heroes  deep  in  lust  have  sunk, 
And  reel  from  out  the  palace  drunk."  i 

In  this  revelry  in  the  palace  of  the  garden  at  Shushan 
every  one  could  share ;  but,  says  the  Mishna,  Mordecai  and 
his  like-minded  companions  had  no  part  in  it.  For  the  pious, 
who  adore  their  God,  and  are  penitent  as  long  as  they  are  in 
exile,  such  feasts  are  unsuitable. 

Yer.   9.  n:hi2'n  Ticn  Di — "  Also  Vashti  the  queen  made  a 

feast  for  the  wome7i  in  the  royal  house.'' 

It  was  not  unusual  for  the  royal  women  of  the  East  to  hold 
feasts  in  their  apartments  for  the  court  ladies.  This  we  are 
told  by  Firdussi  of  the  Princess  Menishe,  that  she  had  an 
annual  spring-feast  with  her  ladies ;  and  likewise  Sudabe,  the 
wife  of  the  shah,  invited  her  stepson  Sijawush  to  a  female 
feast  (p.  389), — 

"  The  music  rang,  and  foamed  the  sparkling  wine, 
The  minstrels  diamond  decked  in  glittering  line, 
Loud  sang." 

Chardin  remarks :  "  In   Persia   as   well   as   in  the   whole 

1  Xenophon  lets  Cyrus  accurately  describe  the  condition  of  a  Persian 
drunken  company  (Cyrop.  i.  3):  "You  all  screamed  without  under- 
standing a  word.  You  also  said  such  funny  things  that  caused  laughter. 
Without  hearing  the  singer,  you  swore  that  he  sang  excellently. 
After  you  rose  up  to  dance  .  .  .  you  could  not  stand  erect  upon  your 
feet." 


26  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Orient,  the  women  used  to  celebrate  feasts  at  the  same  time 
with  the  men,  but  separate "  (comp.  Eosenmliller,  Morgen- 
land,  note  705). 

It  might  appear  that  the  mentioning  of  the  women's  feast 
is  unessential  to  the  narrative,  inasmuch  as  the  catastrophe 
proceeded  from  the  revelry  of  the  men,  but  not  of  the  women. 
But  the  notice  introduces  first  the  queen  in  the  history, 
to  make  known  that  she  was  the  legitimate  queen,  because  she 
occupied  in  the  royal  house  the  same  position  with  regard 
to  the  women  as  Ahhashverosh  did  with  regard  to  the  men. 
We  also  learn  from  this  that  Vashti  was  equally  hilarious  at 
her  feast  as  her  husband  was  at  his.  The  Jewish  teachers 
refer  to  this  in  their  homilies,  when  they  blame  her  equally 
with  her  husband  as  a  seducer  to  luxury  and  vice,  so  that 
the  women  of  Israel,  too,  caught  the  infection.  They  apply 
to  Vashti  Isa.  iii.  12,  "As  for  my  people,  children  are  their 
oppressors,  and  women  rule  over  them."  There  were  such 
four  wicked  women  in  the  world,  Jezebel  and  Athaliah  in  Israel, 
and  Semiramis  and  Vashti  among  the  nations  (M.  Esther  891)). 

The  name  Vashti  undoubtedly  means  in  Old  Persian, 
"beautiful  woman,"  and  is  either  an  epithet,  or  stands  for 
the  proper  name  (rj  KaWca).  The  LXX.  reproduces  it  by 
'AaTLv.     In  Aeschylus  occurs  the  name  Astaspes  {Pers.  22). 

Ver.    10.   ^T2^^  DVa — "  On    the   seventh    day,   when   the 

heart  of  the  hing  was  merry  with  wine^'  etc. 

Eunuchs  were  always  in  the  monarchies  of  the  Asiatic 
Orient  the  most  influential  courtiers.  The  chief  officer  of  the 
army  (2  Kings  xxv.  19),  the  chief  butler  and  chief  baker 
(Gen.  xl.  2),  as  well  as  the  chief  treasurers,  chief  guards  of 
the  harem,  and  chamberlains,  D''D"iD,  i.e.  spadones,  were  chosen 
from  this  class.  Hammer  observes  (Gesch.  des  osman.  Beichs, 
V.  360)  that  down  to  modern  times,  with  the  exception  of 
the  chamberlain,  the  other  court  officers  were  eunuchs. 
Their  names,  he  says,  are  usually  in  the  East  borrowed  from 
flowers  and  perfumes  (such  as  hyacinth,  tulip,  narcissus,  musk, 


CHAP  I.  10.  27 

amber,  camphor) ;  but  as  regards  the  names  of  the  officers 
mentioned  in  ver.  10,  the  supposition  is  not  perhaps  without 
ground  that  they  denote  official  designations.  We  are  there- 
fore in  a  position  the  more  easily  to  explain  them  by  intro- 
ducing the  Syro-Chaldaic  element,  because  the  Medo-Persian 
kingdom  has  surely  in  this  but  entered  upon  the  inheritance 
of  the  great  power  of  Babylon.  Consequently  we  have 
in  [DinD  the  Syriac  p\-iD,  meaning  faithful,  reliable,-^  a 
qualification  which  was  considered  necessary,  particularly  to 
eunuchs. 

The  Syriac  translator  therefore  renders  in  several  passages 
the  word  Dno  simply  by  meliiman  (see  1  Kings  xxii.  9  ; 
2  Kings  ix.  32).  The  first-mentioned  in  our  passage  was 
either  the  chief  officer  of  all,  or  a  cabinet  minister.  The 
second  is  NnT3,  hiztha,  meaning  the  treasurer,  from  kd  or 
nrn,  which  signifies  prey,  substance,  riches  (comp.  Dan.  xi.  24). 
n:u"in,  hharhona,  the  chief  of  the  bodyguard,  from  mn,  i<l"in, 
"  a  sword."  In  t?n33,  abagthaj  must  be  understood  the  office 
which  the  Turkish  court  designates  by  kislarga,  i.e.  the  guard 
of  the  harem,  for  which  office  eunuchs  were  specially  suitable. 
For  the  explanation  of  the  word,  it  may  be  useful  to  draw 
attention  to  the  oft-repeated  assertion  of  ancient  writers,  that 
^aycoa<;  or  ^aycoo^;  is  the  Persian  word  for  eunuch.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  is  not  improbable  that  &«nnx  and  nnt,  zethar, 
signify  the  chief  baker  and  the  chief  butler.  The  first 
comes  from  J3,  bread,  food  (Sanscr.  hhag,  cf.  /3eVo9,  (pdyecv), 
the  second  from  -inr  =  "in:^,  from  nnsj>,  to  drink.  The  last 
name,  D^nD,  is  more  easily  explained  from  ^-iD  i<Di3,  which 
means  in  Syriac  "  a  castle  "  or  "  fort,"  and  represents  the 
Kapuaga  or  chief  commander  of  the  castle  or  tower. 

That  we   have  to  do  here  with  officials   and   not   merely 

^  Comp.  Herod,  viii.  105,  In  Xenophon,  Cyrop.  vii.  5.  64,  we  read  : 
"  That  they  are  faithful,  of  this  they  gave  the  best  proof  at  the  fall  of  their 
masters.  For  of  no  one  can  be  shown  such  fidelity  in  the  misfortunes  of 
their  masters  as  of  the  eunuchs."  Chardin,  Voy.  vi.  p.  247  :  "  Aussi  trouve- 
t-on  dans  le  pais,  quils  sont  sans  exception  plus  rusez,  plus  secrets,  jjZws 
retensus,  plus  fideles  et  m^me  plus  prudens  que  les  autres  hommes." 


28  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

with  accidentally  mentioned  names,  appears  from  the  added 
clause  :  "  The  seven  sarisim  (eunuchs)  that  ministered  in  the 
presence  of  Ahhashverosh  the  king."  It  becomes  thus  intelli- 
gible why  these  seven  men  received  the  order  to  fetch  Vashti. 
Eoyal  etiquette  required  that  she  should  be  accompanied  by 
the  greatest  dignitaries  of  the  State  to  the  dining-room  of  the 
king. 

The  king  was  inebriated  when  he  issued  this  order.  It 
was  not  the  custom  among  the  Persians  that  the  wives  of 
kings  should  take  part  in  such  general  drinking  feasts.  This 
appears  from  the  fact  that  Vashti  had  a  separate  feast  for  the 
women.  To  this  effect  is  what  Plutarch  tells  us  (Si/mpos. 
i.  1),  which  is  repeated  by  others,  "  that  the  Persians  never 
play  and  dance  with  their  wives,  but  with  their  concubines." 
In  Firdussi's  poems,  which  are  true  pictures  of  ancient 
customs,  it  is  not  mentioned  that  the  wife  of  the  shah,  but 
that  the  female  singers  and  slaves,  were  present  at  the  intoxi- 
cating festivities.  True,  in  the  well-known  passage  in 
Herod,  v.  18,  the  Persians  say  to  the  Macedonians,  "With 
us  in  Persia,  it  is  the  custom  to  prepare  a  great  feast,  to 
which  also  the  concubines  and  the  housewives,  KovpiBLa<; 
yvvaLKa<;,  are  invited ;  "  but  they  appear  thereby,  for  the  sake 
of  their  pleasures,  to  have  expressed  themselves  in  equivocal 
terms.  Had  it  been  the  usual  custom,  Vashti  would  have 
taken  part  in  the  preceding  feast  of  180  days,  and  her 
appearance  would  not  have  had  to  be  postponed  till  the 
seventh  day  of  the  feast  for  men.  The  unusualness  of  the 
custom,  moreover,  appears  from  what  we  are  told,  that 
Ahhashverosh  wanted  to  show  the  great  men  of  the  country 
her  beauty,  as  they  had  never  seen  her.  For  Plutarch's 
report  (Themist.  26)  as  well  as  Justin's  (41.  3),  that  even  the 
faces  of  the  wives  and  concubines  were  not  seen  by  strangers, 
is  true  with  some  exceptions.  But  the  king  being  drunk, 
and  conscious  of  his  might,  thought  himself  above  feelings  of 
jealousy  and  of  the  petty  customs,  and  ordered  Vashti  to 
come. 


CHAP.  I.  12.  29 

Ver.  12.  HD^ttn  |X»ni — "But  the  gitem  refused" 
Plutarch  says  (to  the  ill-instructed  Prince  Anf.) :  "  The 
Persian  king  held  all  for  slaves,  with  the  exception  of  his 
wife,  over  whom  especially  he  ought  to  have  exercised  his 
authority."  Now,  just  because  she  enjoyed  extra  liberty,  she 
refused  to  come,  for  she  wanted  to  show  the  other  concubines 
the  power  of  her  charms.  The  Midrash  (90<2)  explains 
the  refusal  in  its  own  peculiar  fashion.  According  to  it, 
Ahhashverosh  was  a  usurper  of  the  throne,  and  Yashti 
was  the  granddaughter  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  therefore  the 
legitimate  heir  to  the  throne.  She  sent  to  him  this  message : 
*'  When  thou  wast  groom  in  my  father's  stable,  thou  wast 
accustomed  to  fetch  prostitutes,  and  dost  thou  regard  me  as 
one  of  them  ?  "  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  word  she  is  said 
to  apply  to  him  is  '•nsi'nnDi^  D^OIp,  Comes  stabulatus,  i.e.  the 
Comes  stahuli,  Comestahilis,  Coucstabilis,  from  which  the  great 
office  of  the  French  Connetable  has  its  origin.  (By  the 
Byzantines  KovroaravXo^)  The  queen  refuses  to  come  at 
the  king's  commandment  by  the  chamberlain.  If  he  had 
come  himself  to  fetch  her,  she  would  have  readily  gone  ;  but 
excited  as  she  was,  like  himself,  through  much  wine,  and  con- 
scious of  her  beauty,  she  asserted  her  self-respect.  She  dared 
to  say  no  to  the  messengers,  and  they  in  their  turn  did  not 
bring  to  the  king  this  refusal  in  a  mild  form. 

"  Therefore  was  the  king  very  wroth." 
No  good  ever  comes  from  pride  aroused  by  drunkenness. 
Herodotus  narrates  the  story,  according  to  which  Kandaules, 
king  of  Lydia,  had  boasted  of  the  beauty  of  his  wife,  and 
this  was  the  cause  of  his  losing  his  life.  The  Persians  who 
came  to  Amyntas  of  Macedonia  were  so  greedy  after  intoxi- 
cating drinks  and  things  of  extravagance,  that  the  embittered 
inhabitants  killed  them.  In  the  case  above,  the  king  con- 
sidered himself  greatly  insulted,  because  his  will  was  not 
obeyed  in  the  presence  of  his  princes  and  courtiers.  His 
dreadful  anger  was  excited,  and  the  only  person  who  could 


BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 


appease  it,  Vashti   herself,  was  too   proud  and   stubborn  to 


come.^ 


Ver.  13.  "  Then  the  king  spake  to  the  ivise  men,  which 

knew  the  tirnes." 

The  affair  did  not  end  with  the  king's  becoming  sober. 
The  ancient  writers  often  remark,  that  the  transactions  which 
used  to  take  place  during  the  time  of  inebriation  were 
resumed  after  the  people  got  sober  (Brisson,  ii.  131).  This 
circumstance  is  instructive,  as  it  shows  the  power  of  small 
things  at  the  great  royal  court.  The  etiquette  of  royalty  is, 
especially  in  the  East,  the  type  of  authority,  and  the  only 
restraining  influence  to  which  the  king  himself  is  subject. 
Vanity  and  consciousness  of  power  have  sometimes  also  in 
Christian  States  given  rise  to  high  political  questions,  because 
of  non-observance  of  proper  etiquette  towards  the  sovereign. 
The  king,  indeed,  should  not  have  allowed  that  the  queen 
should  be  fetched  by  main  force ;  but  whether  it  was  possible 
that  any  one  should  disobey  his  will  was  a  question  for  tlie 
highest  council  of  the  kingdom  to  hear  and  to  determine. 
The  D^nvn  "•jni"'  are  the  Magi,  as  they  are  so  called,  not  on 
account  of  their  superstition  (as  Clericus  thinks),  but  because 
they  are  experienced,  such  as  know  what  is  proper  under  the 
circumstances;  they  correspond  to  those  whom  we  designate 
as  worldly  wise,  or  savants.  They  are  acquainted  with  the 
times  and  customs,  are  the  judges  concerning  ceremonies  and 
ordinances  (pni  m)  in  the  land.  It  is  intentionally  mentioned 
how  seriously  the  king  took  the  matter  in  hand. 

In  spite  of  the  great  affairs  of  the  kingdom  which  occupied 

1  In  the  Vierzig  Vezieren,  ed.  Behrnauer,  p.  107,  it  is  told  that  the 
Caliph  Harim  Arrashid  got  into  such  a  passionate  rage,  that  it  lasted  for 
days,  and  that  was  because  the  citizens  of  Cairo  came  too  late  to  do  him 
homage.  Just  then,  a  female  slave  in  placing  a  disli  upon  the  table 
happened  to  spill  some  of  its  contents,  so  he  wanted  to  tear  her  to  pieces. 
Then  she  turned  to  him,  and  exclaimed  :  "  0  Caliph,  God  has  commanded 
to  restrain  one's  passion,  and  to  forgive  people  their  offences."  This  had 
an  effect  upon  the  caliph,  his  anger  disappeared,  and  he  forgave.  But 
none  had  spoken  in  this  manner  to  Ahhashverosh. 


CHAP.  I.  14.  31 

his  mind,  the  apparently  insignificant  incident  which  resulted 
from  drunkenness  he  could  not  let  pass  without  discussing 
it  like  one  of  the  most  difficult  State  questions.  In  a 
kingdom  such  as  was  that  of  the  great  Persian  king,  nothing 
was  insignificant.  Everything  that  concerned  his  person  was 
important.  He  proposed  the  matter  before  the  cabinet  council 
with  all  the  judicial  formalities,  as  in  cases  of  greater  con- 
cern he  was  accustomed  to  consult  those  who  were  versed  in 
the  ordinances  and  laws  of  justice  (comp.  Herod,  iii.  31). 

Ver.  14.  v^x  I'^pn) — "  The  ministers  hefore  whom  he 
'proposed  the  matter  luere  standing  necct  unto  him." 
They  that  sat  near  him  in  the  cabinet,  who  saw  the  face  of 
the  king,  were  the  seven  princes  of  Persia  and  Media.  A 
matter  which  concerned  the  persons  of  the  king  and  of  the 
queen  could  only  be  discussed  by  the  highest  tribunal.  It  is 
known  that  Herodotus  tells  of  the  seven  tribal  chiefs  of 
Persia,  that  they  always  enjoyed  free  access  to  the  king. 

Darius  belonged  to  the  order  of  these  seven  chiefs,  and 
when  he  became  king  another  succeeded  to  his  place.  For 
the  king  was  the  head  of  all,  and  was  surrounded  by  seven 
princes,  as  the  seven  (at  the  time  known)  stars  ^  surround 
the  sun.  Hence  the  number  seven  appears  in  all  the  State 
institutions  of  the  Persians.  To  Ezra  the  order  w^as  issued 
from  the  king  and  his  seven  privy  councillors.  Aeschylus 
mentions  seven  highest  officials  as  standing  nearest  to  the 
king.  Firdussi  could  still  report  of  seven  heroes  surrounding 
the  shah.^  Therefore  the  names  which  are  mentioned  do  not, 
as  the  Midrash  says,  signify  offices,  but  are  names  of  the  great 

^  How  the  names  of  the  seven  stars  became  the  names  of  the  seven  days 
of  the  week,  and  with  regard  to  the  astrological  opinions  in  connection 
therewith,  and  what  influence  this  had  upon  the  formation  of  numbers, 
see  my  Esmun,  chap.  ii. 
2  Ep.  Dicht.  p.  248,— 

"  Kai  Kawus  the  throne  ascended, 
Kenewed  in  health,  and  Rustem  vanquished, 
Gurgin,  Bahram,  Euham,  Eustem, 
Tus,  Giw,  and  Guders  around  him." 


32  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

officers  who  surrounded  Xerxes,  of  the  highest  dignitaries, 
statesmen,  and  generals  who  administered  the  affairs  of  the 
State,  and  accompanied  him  in  his  campaigns. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  names  here  mentioned 
appear  again  in  the  well-known  Persian  histories.  And  it  is 
also  of  great  interest  and  importance  to  the  testimony  of  the 
truth  of  this  book,  to  find  that  Herodotus  reproduces  the 
names  in  the  Greek  form  of  writing.  The  narrative  receives 
special  vividness  when  we  find  at  the  court  of  justice  the 
same  persons  of  whom  Herodotus,  on  account  of  their 
military  participation  in  the  Persian  war,  gives  us  more  full 
information.  One  caution  is  here  necessary.  The  two  texts 
of  the  names  must  not  be  compared  for  the  purpose  of  cor- 
recting each  other  -,  they  both  agree,  but  their  variations  are 
due  to  the  different  pronunciation  of  the  names  by  the  Greeks 
and  by  the  local  Jews.  Moreover,  great  stress  must  not  be 
put  on  the  Masoretic  punctuation,  which  was  the  work  of 
centuries  in  which  the  Jews  had  forgotten  the  pronunciation 
of  these  names.  In  order  to  proceed  securely  in  this  attempt 
of  identification,  we  begin  with  the  sixth  name,  with  fc<DD"in, 
Marsena.  One  can  recognise  in  him  Mardonius  the  son  of 
Gobryas,  the  inciter  of  the  war.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
about  the  person  of  did.  Herodotus  says  (vii.  62)  that  all 
Modes  (and  Persians)  were  called  Arians.  Hence  the  prefix 
Ario,  which  occurs  in  the  name  Ari,  is  often  only  a  family 
name  and  not  a  proper  one.  The  above  did  is  the  Mardos 
of  Herodotus,  where  the  son  of  Darius  and  Parmys,  a 
prominent  man,  the  maternal  grandson  of  Cyrus  (vii.  79),  is 
therefore  also  called  by  the  Greeks  Ariomardos.  In  the 
same  manner  we  learn  to  know  8<:t^D,  Carsluna,  but  which 
was  originally  read  &<:tjnn,  as  the  name  Barzanes  (cited  by 
Diodorus  and  Arrian  as  of  a  king  of  Armenia,  but  with  the 
spelling  of  Barzaentes).  Ariobarzanes  is  also  the  name  of 
the  Persian  satrap  (comp.  Xenophon,  Cyrop.  viii.  8.  4,  and 
the  annotation  of  Schneider).  Here  is  meant  Artabazanes, 
— for  Arta  (Herod,  vii.  61),  like  Ario,  is  to  be  understood  as 


CHAP.  I.  14.  S3 

denoting  nobility  of  pedigree, — who  was  an  elder  brother  of 
Xerxes  (vii.  2).  Just  so  is  "iriK^,  Shetliar,  easily  to  be  recog- 
nised in  the  strongly  aspirated  name  of  Hydarnes.  One  of 
the  seven  who  subdued  Pseudo-Smerdis  bore  this  name  (Herod, 
iii.  70),  and  his  son  Hydarnes  was  the  leader  of  the  "memor- 
able ten  thousand  "  in  the  Persian  war  (vii.  84).  Upon  the 
cuneiform  inscriptions  the  interpreters  read  the  name  Vidarna 
as  also  they  read  Uwaihi  and  Kabujia  for  the  so-called  Susia 
and  Cambyses.  According  to  similar  vocal  laws,  the  writing 
of  ^5nD'^x,  Achymtha,  in  Esther,  corresponds  to  Aspathines.  The 
transition  of  the  Greek  p,  b  into  the  Hebrew  d  is  well  known. 
Achmetha,  xncrii?,  is  Ecbathana.  So  is  Smerdis  called  in 
cuneiform  inscriptions  Bartya.  Aspathines  also  was  one  of 
the  seven  from  whom  Darius  rose  to  be  king.  The  two  names 
of  c^^'Enn  and  plDD,  Tarshish  and  Memucan,  offer  greater  philo- 
logical difficulties,  but  their  solution  can  with  probability  be 
effected  if  the  easy  changes  in  the  forms  are  taken  into 
consideration. 

Tarshish  has  indeed  a  resemblance  in  sound  to  the  office- 
bearer called  Tirshata,  the  name  Theresh,  and  occurs  in 
cuneiform  in  the  name  of  an  Armenian  general  of  Darius, 
which  is  read  Darshi  {sh).  The  pointing  of  the  Masoretes  is 
easily  explained  from  the  fact  that  the  name  of  Tarshish  was 
too  familiar  to  them,  as  standing  in  the  Bible  for  a  certain 
country  and  for  a  maritime  power.  But  one  must  finally  read 
^^-^2  for  SJ>-Knn,  from  which  the  Greek  name  Prexaspes  easily 
appears.  This  is  evident  from  the  circumstance  of  his  position 
among  the  seven,  for  he  stands  near  Admetha,  whose  son 
Asthapines  was  a  naval  captain  (Herod,  vii.  97).  The  Greek 
;)^  for  the  ^>  we  have  already  found  in  the  name  of  Xerxes. 
It  remains  yet  to  speak  of  the  name  piDD.  The  i  has  cer- 
tainly been  introduced  by  the  vocalization  of  the  Masora.  But 
for  pDD  should  be  read  pDD  (comp.  Vidafrana  and  Inta- 
phemes),  or  rather  p3n,  so  that  through  the  interchange 
of  D3  with  DD  the  double  consonant  a  was  changed  for  a 
double   D.       The   name    of    Ahhaemenes  in    the    cuneiform 

c 


34  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Hakhamanish  is  to  be  recognised  in  this.  This  was  the 
original  ancestor  of  a  Persian  family,  and  of  a  brother  and 
general  of  Xerxes.  This  explanation  of  the  names  receives 
its  support  from  the  positions  in  which  they  stand.  First, 
the  elder  brother  of  Xerxes,  then  the  two  old  and  former 
friends  of  Darius  (Hydarues  and  Aspathines),  then  two 
younger  tribal  chiefs,  and  two  younger  brothers  of  Xerxes. 
The  question  why  were  just  these  chosen,  and  why  are 
Otanes  and  his  son  Smerdomenes  left  out,  is  answered,  because 
the  cabinet  consisted  only  of  seven,  and  those  who  were 
entitled  to  cabinet  rank  were  probably  not  appointed  at  the 
same  time,  but  as  a  vacancy  occurred  ;  and  this  was  either 
by  special  choice  of  the  king,  or  by  other  arrangements. 
Otanes  was  perhaps  not  chosen,  for  the  reason  that  his 
daughter  was  the  wife  of  Xerxes  (Herod,  vii.  61). 

Ver.  15.  "  Wliat    shall    wc   do   unto   the    qiieen    Vashti 

according  to  law  .^ " 

This  formal  question  was  put  to  the  seven  princes,  and  it 
varies  from  the  question  put  before  the  council  by  Xerxes, 
whether  we  should  undertake  the  war  with  Greece  or  not,  in 
this  respect,  that  the  latter  was  mainly  pleaded  by  Mardonius 
and  was  opposed  by  Artaban ;  but  the  former,  although  one 
only  pronounced  the  decision,  was  in  fact  agreed  to  by  all. 

The  description  of  the  whole  transaction  is  a  most  valuable 
representation  of  ancient  court  history.  Not  only  does  it 
teach  that  there  were  not  wanting  good  old  forms  which  the 
king  was  obliged  to  use  when  he  desired  to  place  'important 
measures  before  the  council  of  princes ;  but  it  also  shows 
how  these  forms  had  lost  their  intrinsic  value  when  the  men 
and  the  times  had  no  longer  the  spirit  to  animate  them.  Of 
what  avail  are  prescribed  statutes  when  there  is  no  heart  to 
beat  in  them  ?  A  council  which  is  incompetent  to  refuse  to 
entertain  the  question  whether  the  queen  was  right  or  not 
in  refusing  to  come  to  the  revelry  of  her  husband  already 
manifests  a  dependent  spirit,  which  disqualifies  it  from  pro- 


CHAP.  I.  15.  35 

nouiicing  an  impartial  judgment.  But  they  do  not  refer  the 
question  back  to  the  king,  because  the  behaviour  of  the  queen 
gives  them  the  opportunity  of  intriguing.  A  spirit  of  jealousy 
has  always  existed  in  Oriental  countries  between  persons  and 
corporations,  who  exercised  an  influence  upon  the  king. 
Thus  far  Ahhashverosh  appears  to  have  been  led  by  his  wife. 
Therefore  the  momentary  anger  which  she  excited  in  him  was 
eagerly  grasped  by  them  as  an  occasion  for  destroying  her 
influence.  It  was  so,  too,  according  to  the  beautiful  story 
which  Firdussi  communicates,  when  Sudabe's  intrigues  with 
the  king  failed,  no  one  rose  up  in  the  council  to  speak  for  her, — 

"  The  princes  brought  their  homage, 
And  shouted  :  Death  disgraceful 
Be  the  punishment  to  the  shameful." 

The  instructive  stories  of  the  Forty  Viziers,  properly  speak- 
ing, contain  nothing  else  but  the  struggle  between  the  queen 
and  the  royal  councillors  as  to  predominance  of  their  respec- 
tive influences  upon  the  decision  of  the  king.  The  same 
happens  in  all  countries,  but  especially  in  the  East ;  also  in 
•recent  times.^  Hammer  is  of  opinion  that  in  the  empire  of 
the  Osmans,  since  the  time  of  Soliman  the  Fair,  the  iiifluence 
of  the  wives  was  more  often  directed  against  the  grand  vizier. 
Something  of  the  same  kind  took  place  here ;  no  voice  was 
raised  either  to  defend  or  to  excuse  her.  The  king  had  placed 
the  sentence  in  the  hands  of  her  enemies,  or,  at  least,  of  her 
timid  judges.  If  any  wished  to  defend  her,  he  was  deterred 
by  the  thought  that  he  would  arouse  the  suspicion  of  holding 
doubtful  views  as  to  the  irrevocable  character  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  king.  Herodotus  gives  a  fair  example  of 
the  caution  practised  by  a  timidly  prudent  court  of  justice 
which  Cambyses  convoked,  in  order  to  decide  the  question 
whether  he  might  marry  his  sister  (iii.  31).     The  judges  found 

^  But  it  did  not  always  result  favourably  to  the  viziers.  Djemila  Cau- 
dahari  had  such  great  influence  under  Mahmud  of  Gasna,  that  Omra  Altun 
Tash  could  no  longer  resist  it,  and  was  obliged  to  resign  his  office.  (See 
Richardson,  Treatise  of  Eastern  Nations,  German  trans,  p.  264.) 


36  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

it  difficult  to  say  yes  or  no,  but  tliey  perceived  that  he  wanted 
an  affirmative  answer,  and  that  he  would  consider  a  negative 
one  as  an  insult  upon  his  riglit  to  do  as  he  liked,  so  they  decided 
that,  "  Whereas  they  did  not  know  of  any  law  which  allowed 
such  a  marriage,  on  the  other  hand  they  knew  well  that  the 
king  was  allowed  to  act  as  he  pleases."  Here  also  it  was  not 
entirely  without  danger  to  appear  as  a  decided  opponent  of 
the  queen.  The  great  affection  which  the  king  had  for  her 
might  eventually  cause  her  conduct  to  appear  before  him  in  a 
different  aspect,  which  would  excuse  her  and  be  dangerous  to 
the  opponent.  Memucan  (Ahhaemenes)  implies  this  in  his 
speech.  He  lays  emphasis  upon  the  principle  involved  in  the 
act  of  Vashti,  and  makes  it,  to  a  certain  degree,  as  a  social 
matter  which  concerns  the  State.  The  king  has  in  this  affair 
not  only  to  consider  his  own  interests,  but  also  the  interests 
of  all  his  subjects.  For  the  queen  has  not  only  sinned  against 
him,  but  by  her  example  she  has  also  excited  the  whole 
country.  What  Vashti  had  dared  to  do  will  be  known  every- 
where ;  and  if  this  deed  is  to  remain  unpunished,  then  will 
the  rights  of  the  husbands  be  disregarded  all  over  the  country. 
The  wives  will  refer  to  the  example  of  Vashti,  and  repudiate 
the  authority  of  their  husbands,  so  that  p*D,  great  contempt, 
and  ?ivp,  anger,  will  enter  to  disturb  the  family  peace.^ 
Memucan  makes  liis  assault  upon  the  queen  in  a  Machiavelian 
manner.  With  great  subtlety  he  tries  to  conceal  this  under 
the  pretence  of  wishing  the  welfare  of  the  people,  which  he 
knows  the  king  has  at  heart.  He  gives  to  the  accusation 
such  a  turn  of  apparent  impartiality,  as  to  make  it  difficult 
for  the  king,  especially  after  the  affair  became  known  abroad, 
to  yield  to  the  queen.     And  there  was  none  on  the  council 

^According  to  Mohammedan  custom,  a  woman  must  appear  at  the  call  of 
her  husband,  and  render  obedience  and  subjection  to  him,  "  even  should 
both  her  hands  be  occupied  at  the  time  with  kneading  bread  ...  as 
the  messenger  of  God  had  said  (peace  be  upon  him).  '  And  if  it  were 
permitted  to  prostrate  oneself  before  any  one  but  God,  I  should  command 
the  wives  to  prostrate  themselves  before  their  husbands '  "  (comp.  Vierzig 
Veziere,  ed,  Behrnaucr,  c.  vii.  p.  95). 


CHAP.  I.  19.  Z% 

board  who  had  the  courage  to  expose  the  deceitful  machina- 
tions of  Memucan.  For  it  could  have  been  proved  that  the 
jqueen  by  not  coming  to  the  banquet  was  more  obedient  to 
her  royal  spouse  than  if  she  had  come. 

But  these  moral  maxims  had  no  place  in  the  heart  of  any 
one,  perhaps  not  even  in  the  heart  of  Vashti  herself.  It 
could  again  have  been  proved  that  the  power  of  woman  is 
neither  founded  nor  abrogated  by  law.  It  was  also  certainly 
known  to  those  who  sat  together,  that  Vashti's  conduct  was 
neither  unheard  of,  nor  that  it  would  result  in  any  extra- 
ordinary occurrence.  Moreover,  they  knew  that  the  exemplary 
punishment  of  Vashti  would  not  at  all  alter  the  influence 
of  the  beauty  and  amiability  of  women  over  those  upon 
whom  they  exercise  the  power  of  their  attractions  even  in 
bad  things,  where  the  will  is  not  powerful  enough  to  offer 
resistance.  Indeed,  it  is  in  allusion  to  Persian  manners  that 
the  First  Book  of  Esdras  speaks  of  the  highest  and  greatest 
power  which  Zerubbabel  ascribes  to  wives  and  their  husbands. 
He  says  (chap.  iv.  28) :  "  Is  not  the  king  great  in  his  power  ? 
do  not  all  regions  fear  to  touch  him  ?  Yet  did  I  see  him  and 
Apame  the  king's  concubine,  the  daughter  of  the  admirable 
Bartacus,  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  the  king,  and  taking  the 
crown  from  the  king's  head,  and  setting  it  upon  her  own 
head  ;  she  also  struck  the  king  with  her  left  hand  ...  0  ye 
men,  how  can  it  be  but  that  women  should  be  strong,  seeing 
they  do  thus  ?  " 

Ver.  19.  Titn  snn■^?5'  "iC^X — "  That  Vashti  come  no  more"  etc. 
That  tyranny,  which  does  not  know  even  the  fear  of  God, 
is  the  greatest  folly,  our  narrative  teaches  with  unsurpassable 
clearness  and  simplicity.  Excessive  vanity  demented  the 
king  more  than  the  wine  did.  It  lasted  longer  than  his  wrath. 
He  neither  could  see  that  the  doing  of  Vashti  was  caused  by 
his  own  fault,  nor  the  nature  of  the  intrif^ues  a^Tjainst  her 
whom  he  still  loved.  In  his  state  of  excitement  he  had  not 
the  sagacity  either  to  palliate  her  offence  or  to  detect  the  snare 


38  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

which  was  laid  against  him  by  his  sycophants.  The  Midrash, 
in  reference  to  this,  rightly  calls  him  a  C>2t2 — fool.  Memu- 
can's  impudent  accusation  has  for  its  aim  to  remove  Yashti 
from  the  royal  palace,  and  to  give  her  throne  to  another  that 
is  better  than  she.  From  the  expression  n^DD  nnion  r^rrw^h 
it  must  not  be  supposed  that  Vashti  was  not  the  queen,  but  one 
of  the  women  of  the  harem,  who,  on  account  of  her  beauty, 
had  raised  herself  to  such  an  influential  position.  For  although 
it  is  said  that  her  throne  should  be  given  to  her  companion, 
another  inmate  of  the  harem,  who  is  better,  nniD,  i.e.  more 
tractable,  obliging,  and  submissive,  yet  we  must  remember 
that  this  is  the  language  of  contempt,  in  which  the  vile  courtier 
tries  to  wreak  his  private  vengeance.  Such  examples  of 
queens  having  to  quit  their  thrones  to  make  room  for  new 
beauties  are  not  only  found  in  Oriental,  but  also  in  European, 
particularly  in  modern  French  histories.  But  it  must  be  also 
observed  that  the  autocrat  of  the  ancient  great  empire  apparently 
asserted  his  capricious  will  in  a  legal  manner,  whereas  the 
modern  sultans,  in  their  arbitrary  acts,  have  even  thrown  off' 
the  external  forms  of  legality.  Chardin  relates  that  one  of 
the  favourite  wives  of  the  shah  had  once  besought  him  not  to 
touch  her  on  a  certain  day  on  account  of  her  bodily  condition, 
which  made  it  necessary  that  she  should  have  rest.  The  shah 
caused  her  to  be  examined,  and  when  it  was  found  that  her 
plea  had  no  foundation  iu  fact,  she  was  at  once  burned  alive 
{Voijages,  vi.  229). 

Queen  Vashti  would  not  have  succumbed  if  the  royal  privy 
councillor  had  not  voted  against  her.  But  he  used  the  oppor- 
tunity to  destroy  the  female  influence  at  court.  The  same 
attempt,  only  in  a  coarser  manner,  was  made  by  the  viziers 
to  avert  the  harem  influence  frovi  the  Sultan  of  the  Osmans, 
Ahmed  I.,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  They 
told  him  that  these  women  were  witches,  and  had  bewitched  his 
father  Solimau,  so  that  he  was  entirely  dependent  upon  them. 
Memucan's  accusation  went  deeper,  was  more  refined  and 
flattering  to  the  vanity  of  the  king,  inasmuch  as  it  made  the 


CHAP.  I.  20.  39 

affair  of  Vashti's  disobedience  a  question  of  principle.  It  was  re- 
presented to  him  that  his  own  position  was  at  stake  in  the  matter. 
If  he  yielded  to  her,  he  would  be  the  cause  of  the  disobedience 
of  all  the  women  in  the  country,  and  something  dreadful  might 
happen.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  his  bounden  duty, 
as  he  had  the  supreme  power,  to  issue  a  decree  that  the  wives 
must  everywhere  pay  implicit  obedience  to  their  husbands. 

Ver.  20.  ^^dh  DIiriD  V^^^) — "And  when  the  kings  decree 

which  he  shall  make  shall  he  published" 

Although  Memucan's  aim  was  to  have  Vashti  deposed,  yet 
he  laid  special  stress  upon  tmis.  He  propounded  a  general  prin- 
ciple, that  disobedience  of  wives  to  their  husbands  was  dangerous 
to  the  peace  of  the  State.  He  made  it  appear  that  Vashti's 
deposition  must  be  the  natural  outcome  of  this  principle, 
rather  than  the  aim  of  his  advice.  Should  she  even  escape 
unhurt  /rom  this  ordeal,  such  a  decree,  when  publicly  pro- 
claimed under  the  sanction  of  royal  prerogative  and  authority, 
would,  at  any  rate,  have  a  deterrent  effect  upon  the  women  of 
the  country.  He  therefore  changed  the  dangerous  and  dis- 
agreeable negative  verdict  concerning  Vashti  into  a  positive 
royal  decree,  which  should  affect  the  women  of  the  country 
generally.  By  this  subtle  device  the  king  was  entrapped 
into  an  implicit  pledge  of  removing  the  queen.  His  own 
decree  precluded  him  from  saving  Vashti,  which  would  have 
been  of  direful  life  -  long  consequence  to  his  councillors. 
Through  the  publication  of  a  royal  DJns,  official  document, 
a  reconciliation  of  the  king  with  his  former  favourite  became 
extremely  difficult,  and  the  intrigue  which  probably  began 
already  at  the  feast  received  thereby  its  crowning  victory. 

To  our  ideas  it  appears  almost  comical,  that  a  king  should 
send  out  a  circular  in  which  the  women  are  commanded  to 
render  due  honour  to  their  husbands.^  But  it  did  not  appear 
in  this  light  to  the  ancient  Persians. 

1  That  this  is  in  harmony  with  the  Oriental  mind  may  be  seen  in  the 
story  of  The  Thousand  and  One  Nights  (xxiv.  68),  where  it  is  told  that  a 


40  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

The  power  of  the  great  Persian  king  over  his  subjects  was 
really  universal.^  In  fact,  there  was  not  a  domestic  or 
family  right  in  which  he  could  not  interfere.  This  is  evident 
from  the  ideal  glorification  in  which  Xenophon  represents  the 
institutions  of  Cyrus  when  developing  their  application.  He 
says  that  the  Persian  laws  precluded  beforehand  the  possibility 
of  the  citizen  thinking  of  evil  {Cyrop.  i.  2).  Again  he  reports 
that  Cyrus  had  forbidden  to  spit  or  to  sneeze,  or  even  to  turn 
round  in  public  places,  as  something  to  be  admired  {Cyrop. 
viii.  1.  42).  The  companions  of  Cyrus  cannot  go  hunting 
if  Astyages  does  not  command  their  fathers  {Cyrop.  i.  4). 
And,  indeed,  this  was  yet  copied  by  the  Sultan  of  the  Osmans 
in  1664,  who  ordered  to  give  his  kiaja  100  switches  upon  the 
soles  of  his  feet  because  he  hunted  of  his  own  accord  (Ham- 
mer, vi.  148).  The  decree  which  the  king,  on  the  proposal  of 
Memucan,  issued,  had  not  to  do  with  the  accomplishment  of 
an  actual  duty,  but  with  the  subjection  of  the  disposition  of 
man  to  a  command.  Civil  right  was  not  taken  from  the 
women,  but  obedience  was  enjoined  upon  them.  The  husbands 
did  not  receive  a  substantial,  but  only  an  ideal  privilege.  But 
just  for  this  reason,  the  subtle  plan  pleased  the  adulated  vanity 
of  the  conceited  king.  He  undertook  to  accomplish  that 
which  could  be  done  by  no  one.  Had  it  been  possible  by  the 
application  of  external  special  force  to  restore  order  among  the 
husbands  in  the  house,  it  would  have  been  done  long  ago. 

The  Persian  king  must  have  known  from  his  own  history 
and  from  that  of  his  family  how  little  the  greatest  force  could 
prevent  one  becoming  subject  to  the  humour  of  one's  beloved 
in  the  house.  But  being  dazzled  by  his  fancied  and  over- 
rated omnipotence,  he  adopted  this  proposal  as  a  means  whereby 

sultan  ordered  to  proclaim  everywhere  :  "  It  is  not  proper  that  any  one 
should  follow  the  advice  of  women." 

^  The  whole  history  about  Vashti  is  certainly  based  upon  a  grand  poli- 
tical thought.  The  Persian  monarchy  is  founded  upon  the  monarchy  in 
the  family.  What  the  husband  is  in  the  family,  that  he  is  in  the  State. 
If  his  rights  are  disputed  in  the  former,  they  are  at  the  same  time  injured 
in  the  latter. 


CHAP.  I.  21.  41 

to  assert  his  power,  and  to  make  everybody  feel  the  terror 
of  his  autocratic  rule.  It  is  certainly  no  fable  which  is  told 
of  Xerxes,  viz.  that  when  the  inundation  of  the  Hellespont 
had  destroyed  his  bridges,  he  gave  order  that  it  should  be 
bastinaded  for  disobedience  (Herod,  vii.  35).  But  it  was 
more  easy  for  him  to  beat  the  sea  than  to  obtain  that  which 
his  edict  commanded,  namely,  to  cause  the  women  to  renounce 
their  desire  of  governing  by  their  own  peculiar  powers. 
Only  the  truth  is  mightier  than  the  women  (as  Zerubbabel 
says) ;  and  it  alone  could  keep  their  power  wdthin  bounds  and 
hallow  them.  Even  the  command  of  the  servant  of  the  King 
of  kings,  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  that  women  should  not  speak  in 
the  churches,  could  not  exert  a  compulsory  force  upon  them. 
Though  it  is  apparently  externally  obeyed,  yet  it  is  only  ex- 
ternally so. 

Ver.  21.  "And  the  saying  pleased  the  Jcing." 
The  proposal  of  Memucan  was  readily  sanctioned  by  him.^ 
No  one  among  the  ministers  offered  opposition.  Vashti  lost 
her  influence,  probably  also  her  life,  although  this  is  not  ex- 
pressly mentioned ;  but  only  that  she  should  not  come  to  the 
king,  and  that  her  royalty  (ni3^o)  should  be  given  to  another. 
In  the  empire  of  the  Osmans  also,  each  Chasseki,  i.e.  female 
favourite,  had  her  court,  her  chamberlain  (kiaja),  the  income 
of  a  Sandjak,  and  a  gilded  equipage,  set  with  precious  stones 
(Hammer,  v.  329).  But  if  she  had  been  deprived  of  all  this, 
and  her  life  had  been  spared,  she  was  still  to  be  feared  by  her 
enemies ;  therefore  they  must  have  insisted  that  she  should 
be  quickly  executed.  The  enjoyment  of  the  momentary  favour 
of  a  tyrant  has  often  enough  ended  sadly.  Vashti  fell  in  a 
war  which  is  frequently  carried  on  in  Eastern  courts  between 
the  women  and  the  eunuchs  and  the  princes.^     That  her  fall 

1  He  had  not  the  nobility  of  character  nor  the  intellect  of  the  young 
Cyrus,  who  did  not  apply  force  to  Aspasia  for  refusing  to  act  as  the  other 
wives,  but  treated  her  with  gentleness.     (Comp.  Plutarch,  Artaxerxes,  26.) 

2  Concerning  the  penalties  which  are  meted  out  to  the  favourites  when 
they  have  displeased  the  sultan,  Chardin  writes  {Voyages^  vi.  233)  :  "Car 


42  BOOK  OF  ESTHEK. 

did  not  lead  to  serious  disasters  after  the  king;  had  sobered 
down  and  cahnly  reflected  upon  it,  was  owing  to  the  fact  that 
he  undertook  a  great  campaign,  which  occupied  all  his 
attention. 

Ver.  22.  "And  he  sent  letters  into  all  the  hinc/s provinces, 

into  eveonj  province  according  to  the  luriting  thereof ^  and  to 

every  people  after  their  language^ 

It  is  here  emphatically  declared  that  the  decree  addressed 
to  all  the  peoples  was  written  both  in  the  distinctive  language, 
|1t^•i3,  and  in  the  distinctive  alphabet,  nriD,  of  each  nation.  We 
learn  from  this  that  the  Persian  Government  did  not  use 
a  particular  official  language  in  its  proceedings  with  the  people, 
but  addressed  them  in  their  own  dialects  (comp.  c.  viii.  9). 
The  contents  of  this  decree  were,  That  every  man  should 
be  lord,  "nc>,  in  his  house,  and  should  command,  inoi,  in  his 
language.  Hence  the  decree  was  to  be  in  force  not  only 
in  Persia,  but  everywhere,  and  valid  not  merely  in  Persian 
language,  but  in  every  language. 

The  Midrash  makes  a  peculiar  remark  upon  this.  The 
decree  was  written  in  four  principal  languages.  (1)  ryi',  Greek 
(as  Hellenic  was  considered  the  same  as  Heathenism.  The 
Talmud  says :  "  Cursed  be  the  man  who  shall  teach  his  son 
the  wisdom  of  the  Greeks"  {Sotah,  p.  49Z>),  comp.  my  Mag, 
Alterth.  pp.  196  and  338),  for  the  purpose  of  singing  ;  (2)  in 
Persian,  for  lamentation  ;  (3)  in  Hebrew,  for  holding  intercourse 
with  one  another;  (4)  in  Latin,  the  language  which  is  suitable  for 
carrying  on  war.  History  has  taught,  that  in  all  languages, 
more  especially  in  Hebrew,  the  voice  of  lamentation  resounded. 
One  might  almost  say  that  Hebrew  literature  has  ceased  to 

le  Roi  ...  en  degrade  les  lines,  changeant  ces  Favorites  en  esclaves,  qu'on 
en  voye  servir  aiix  plus  has  emplois  et  dans  les  quartiers  reciilez  dii  Serail ; 
il  en  fait  dirtier  d'autres  k  coups  de  verge  et  de  bS,ton,  il  en  fait  tuer,  11  en 
fait  m^me  brMer  les  unes  et  enterrer  les  autres  toutes  vives."  According  to 
the  story  of  The  Thousand  and  One  Nights  (xiii.  16),  Harun  Arrashid 
had  a  dark  tower  in  which  the  favourites  were  imprisoned  when  they 
committed  an  offence. 


CHAP.  I.  22.  43 

exist,  since  in  modern  times  the  Jews  think  that  they  need 
no  longer  mourn.     (M.  Esther,  p.  91«.) 

The  author  of  the  verdict  under  which  Vashti  fell  was 
Memucan,  the  last  mentioned  among  the  privy  councillors. 
The  Midrash  tries  to  find  out  the  personal  motives  which  led 
him  to  entertain  such  hostile  feelinsjs  aj^ainst  Vashti.  One 
was,  that  on  a  certain  occasion  she  had  struck  his  face 
with  a  slipper.  Such  disgraceful  treatment  is  certainly  no 
rare  occurrence  in  the  East.^ 

The  second  was,  because  his  wife  had  not  been  invited  by 
the  queen  to  the  feast. 

The  third  was,  because  he  wanted  to  see  his  own  daughter 
promoted  in  the  place  of  Vashti.  Whether  the  reasons  given 
by  the  Midrash  were  exactly  the  same  which  actuated  the 
hatred  of  Memucan  or  not,  one  thing  is  certain,  that  he  could 
not  tolerate  the  petticoat  government  of  Vashti,  and  that  such 
and  similar  reasons  as  are  given  by  the  Eabbis  have  often  led 
to  such  results. 

That  Herodotus  does  not  mention  this  event  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at,  inasmuch  as  it  happened  before  the  cam- 
paign. Apart  from  this,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  he 
should  have  known  everything  which  took  place  in  the  inner 
circle  of  the  Persian  court,  and  that  he  should  have  incor- 
porated this  in  his  brief  reports  of  the  Persian  war.  There 
were  many  writings  and  administrative  measures  issued  from 
Shushan,  and  these  were  of  such  a  character  as  to  be  deposited 
by  all  the  governors  among  the  acts  of  administration.^ 

1  In  the  legend  The  Thousand  and  One  Nights,  it  is  told  that  a  king 
punished  his  son  by  beating  him  with  his  slipper  on  the  face  (iii.  24,  ed. 
Konig).  But  the  sUpper  is  specially  an  instrument  of  punishment  in  the 
hands  of  the  women,  as  the  story  represents  it  in  chap.  xxiv.  p.  40.  [In 
Mohammedan  schools  in  Palestine  the  teacher  often  throws  a  slipper  upon 
a  delinquent  boy,  when  he,  without  crying,  puts  it  on  the  foot  of  his 
master,  and  kisses  his  hands. — Trans.] 

2  In  Athenaeus,  lib.  xiii.  p.  556,  we  read  :  "Among  the  Persians,  the  queen 
must  tolerate  many  concubines,  because  the  king,  like  a  master,  has 
the  command  over  his  wife."  lioi  ro  &};  Zsa'^c'ryiu  oip^cstu  tjjj  yet/^csTi^s  tou 
£>aoi'kiet. 


CHAPTER    TI. 

Ver.  1.  nbi^n  D''"imn  -ini< — "After  these  things,  ivhen  the 
wrath  of  the  king  Ahhashverosh  ivas  opacified,  he  remem- 
herecl  Vashti." 

This  did  not  happen  soon  after  the  feast  named  in  chap,  i., 
but  there  was  an  anxious  interval  between.  We  see  here 
how  exactly  even  the  chronology  of  our  book  shows  that 
Xerxes  and  Ahhashverosh  are  identical.  In  the  third  year 
of  his  reign  the  above  event  took  place,  and  in  the  seventli 
(comp.  ver.  16)  this  which  is  told  here.  In  this  year 
Xerxes  returned  from  his  campaign  (480-479),  and  there- 
fore only  now  could  the  thread  of  the  court  history  of 
Shushan  be  resumed  (ver.  16).  After  the  exhaustive 
fatigues  which  he  went  through  in  that  war,  he  felt  the 
want  of  the  companionship  of  Vashti,  whom  lie  had  really 
once  affectionately  loved.  Formerly  the  ambitious  desire  for 
war  and  conquest  had  eclipsed  the  feelings  of  love  to  the 
women.  Now  they  arose  the  more  strongly,  as  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  a  specially  agreeable  favourite  he  might  forget  many 
a  care.  When  we  read,  "  he  remembered  Vashti,  and  what 
was  decreed  against  her,"  still  now  after  three  years  we 
may  suppose  that  he  somehow  connected  the  misfortunes  of 
his  campaign  with  the  wrath  and  the  severity  with  which  he 
had  treated  her. 

'  Herodotus  narrates  (vii.  46)  that  Xerxes  in  the  midst  of  his  glory  on 
his  march  to  Greece  had  said  :  "  In  this  short  life  the^e  is  no  man  either 
among  these  or  others  so  happy,  that  he  should  not  often  and  more  than 
once  be  in  such  a  position  as  to  prefer  death  to  life.  For  misfortunes 
come,  and  diseases  rage,  which  make  our  life  to  appear  so  long,  though  it 
is  so  short." 

n 


CHAP.  II.  1.  45 

When  Xerxes  gave  expression  to  such  thoughts,  what 
would  not  his  courtiers  have  given  if  they  could  have  brought 
Vashti  to  life  !  But  there  was  no  one  present  to  do  like  the 
vizier  of  the  story  of  the  Forty  Viziers  (ed.  Behrnauer,  p.  141), 
where  it  is  told, — A  king  had  once  in  his  drunken  hours 
pronounced  a  sentence  of  death  against  his  favourite  friend,  but 
the  vizier  did  not  execute  the  order,  but  hid  the  culprit. 
When  the  king  became  sober,  he  was  in  great  distress  of 
mind,  on  account  of  the  supposed  death  of  his  friend  ;  then 
the  vizier  rejoiced  his  heart  by  introducing  the  friend  well 
and  sound.  But  Vashti  was  no  longer  to  be  got,  and  the  per- 
plexed courtiers  did  not  know  any  other  way  of  extricating 
themselves  from  the  dilemma  but  to  look  for  another  woman, 
who  by  her  especial  charms  would  captivate  the  king  and 
would  occupy  his  leisure,  as  only  Vashti  could,  and  since  her 
no  one  else.  They  therefore  propose  to  the  king  to  send  out 
officers  ^  all  over  the  country  to  bring  every  beautiful  girl  to 
Shushan.  They  should  be  brought  to  the  harem  (n^^:r\  n''n), 
and  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the  xjn,  viz.  of  the  Aga 
(Sanscr.  dja),  the  keeper,  who  would  introduce  them  to  the 
king  after  they  had  undergone  a  due  course  of  preparation 
(vers.  9,  12).  Among  so  many,  there  would  certainly  be  one 
to  whom  the  king  would  take  a  fancy,  and  make  her  what  is 
called  in  the  court  language  of  the  Osmans,  a  Chasseki,  a 
favourite,  in  the  place  of  Vashti.  The  proposal  pleased  the 
king,  and  he  issued  an  order  accordingly. 

One  cannot  but  admire  the  simple,  quiet  historical  style  ofl 
our  narrative.  Laying  aside  all  the  reports  which  would 
only  prolong  our  way  of  coming  to  the  essential  part  of  the 
contents  of  the  book,  there  is  nothing  omitted  which  would 
contribute  to  the  historical  and  psychological  introduction  and 
illustration.  How  much  was  necessary  to  happen  before 
Israel  could  have  ready  help  in  time  of  need  !  AVhat  great 
things,  according  to  external  appearance,  must  precede,  in  order 

*  D'^T'pS  are  not  common  officers,  but  eunuchs  and  overseers,  who  bear 
here  this  name,  from  the  charge  entrusted  to  them. 


46  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

to  make  it  possible  that  a  Jewish  girl  by  the  influence  of 
her  charms  should  ascend  the  throne  of  a  Chasseki  in  the 
Persian  kingdom  !  The  great  conference  of  all  the  officers  of 
the  State,  the  dreadful  war  with  Greece,  and  the  unfortunate 
issue  of  the  same,  were  they  not  in  the  hands  of  Providence 
so  many  stepping-stones  in  the  path  of  Esther's  ascendancy  ? 
In  order  to  replace  the  loss  of  the  special  beauty  of  Vashti, 
a  woman  of  equal  endowments  must  be  sought  for  the  king, 
wherever  and  however  it  might  be  !  How  many  things  must 
subserve  to  the  frustration  of  Haman's  wicked  plan  !  The 
wrath  of  Xerxes  against  Greece,  and  his  wrath  against  his 
wife.  Court  intrigues  against  the  powerful  influences  of  a 
wife,  and  the  vain  conceit  of  offended  sovereignty.  First 
drunkenness,  then  homicidal  passion,  then  new  excited 
sensuality,  were  the  sad  instruments  wliich  preceded  the 
redemption  of  Israel.  When  the  people  were  delivered,  they 
could  well  be  penitent  when  they  especially  considered  the 
way  in  which  Vashti — though  not  herself  guiltless — was  one 
of  the  main  causes  of  their  deliverance.  And  if  deep 
penitence  must  have  resulted  from  the  reflection  that  a 
woman  like  Vashti  had  to  die  a  violent  death  in  order  that 
the  people  of  God  should  live, — what  kind  of  penitence  must 
the  thought  call  forth  when  we  remember  that  Christ  gave 
His  life  in  order  that  Israel  and  the  Gentiles  might  live,  and 
that  the  apostles  of  the  truth,  walking  in  His  footsteps,  went 
through  fire  and  sword  in  order  to  save  souls ! 

Israel  passed  through  the  conflagration  of  Jerusalem  on 
their  road  to  conversion.  In  the  court  of  Nebuchadnezzar 
originated  the  prophecy  of  Daniel.  Through  the  harem  went 
the  wonderful  intervention  of  Esther  on  behalf  of  her  people. 
The  Hebrew  word  for  harem,  n^\^:r\  nu  (which  only  occurs  in 
this  book),  does  not  correspond  to  the  Arabic  haram,  meaning 
sacredness,  devotion,  but  comes  rather  near  to  the  Turkish 
Odalik :  the  Gynaeceum,  the  house  of  the  women,  in  contra- 
distinction to  the  house  of  the  men.  It  must  not  be  assumed 
that  the  formation  of  the  word  implies  an  immoral  motive. 


CHAP.  II.  1.  47 

nor  that  the  institution  of  polygamy  was  in  itself  the  product 
of  greater  depravity  of  the  human  heart  than  the  natural  i 
man  commonly  possesses.  The  opinion  of  some,  that  the 
harem  was  the  consequence  of  Oriental  despotism,  is  also 
erroneous.  It  arose  from  the  radical  views  of  heathenism, 
viz.  that  the  passions  of  the  natural  man  are  not  to  he 
restrained,  but  legalized  ;  and  also  that  the  natural  right  of  a 
husband  over  his  wife  is  not  to  be  controlled  by  moral  rules, 
but  to  be  left  to  his  arbitrary  will,  as  an  indisputable  and 
constitutional  right.  With  both  polygamy  and  despotism 
social  conditions  of  time  and  place  were  so  closely  connected, 
that  they  survived  in  their  degenerating  and  baneful  influence 
the  principle  of  heathenism  which  originated  them.  "What 
we  find  of  both,  in  the  history  of  Israel  of  the  Old  Testament, 
are  relics  of  social  customs,  which  had  themselves  vanished 
before  the  thought  of  the  living  and  holy  God  of  the 
Decalogue ;  and  even  these  during  their  continuance  appeared 
in  their  purest  possible  form. 

The  repentance  of  David,  the  deepest  human  self-abasement 
in  confession  and  faith,  touches  his  pleasures  in  the  harem 
as  well  as  the  abuse  of  his  royal  power.  But  repentance 
and  faith  towards  the  pure  and  holy  God  are  wanting  in 
heathenism.  This  corrective  of  the  deepest  social  wisdom 
was  therefore  also  unknown  both  to  Oriental  and  occidental 
heathen  States.  Hence  the  kingdom  of  the  countries  on  the 
Euphrates  and  the  Tigris  had  become  a  despotic  caricature ; 
hence,  too,  the  institution  of  the  harem,  and  the  degrading 
effects,  especially  upon  women,  that  were  connected  with  it 
and  proceeded  from  it,  made  such  progress.  There  is  nothing 
legendary  in  the  story  that  is  told  in  the  commencement  of 
The  Thousand  and  One  Nights,  that  the  caliph  believed  he  had 
a  right  to  behead  his  wife  any  day. 

The  Persian  king  of  antiquity,  like  the  modern  shah  and 
sultan,  arrogated  to  himself  this  historical  prerogative.  In 
his  privilege  to  do  everything  there  was  a  representation  of 
the  highest  power  of  the  husband  over  his  wife,  at  least  so 


48  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

far  as  external  means  allowed.  He  had  the  command  over 
the  life  and  death  of  all  the  men,  so  also  over  the  bodies  and 
enjoyment  of  all  the  women.  Xerxes  should  send  out  a 
commission  all  over  the  country  in  search  of  beautiful  damsels, 
in  order  that  his  longing  after  a  favourite  might  be  satisfied. 
This  was  not  a  sudden  outbreak  of  an  unheard-of  act  of 
violence.  It  was  nothing  else  but  the  expression  of  a 
universally  recognised  right,  or  rather  of  a  heavy  yoke. 
When  Alexander  the  Great  did  the  same,  and  caused  beauti- 
ful women  from  all  Asia^  to  be  brought  to  his  house,  he 
intended  also  to  show  therewith  that  he  completely  succeeded 
to  the  claims  of  the  Persian  great  king.  The  harem  of  the 
new  Persian  shah  is  supplied  in  the  same  manner.  Chardin 
gives  an  instructive  representation  of  the  process  of  fetching 
and  despatching  the  beauties.  In  some  cases,  in  modern 
times,  the  parents  rather  like  the  idea  that  a  daughter  of 
theirs  should  be  demanded  for  the  harem,  for  they  promise 
themselves  to  obtain  thereby  a  certain  amount  of  influence 
and  interest  at  court.  Sometimes,  it  is  further  said,  the  king 
himself  goes  among  the  Armenians  in  search  of  beautiful 
wives.  It  is  therefore  the  custom  among  these  to  betroth 
their  daughters  when  still  young,  because  such  are  not  taken 
away.  But,  alas  !  sometimes  it  happened  that  these  searches 
were  used  as  a  means  of  exercising  private  spite,  hatred,  and 
revenge,  and  the  Armenians  (so-called  Christians)  have  de- 
nounced each  other  when  families  had  concealed  their 
daughters  from  the  vile  inquisitors  of  the  king  (Voyage,  vi. 
242).  Married  women  were  mostly  spared,  not  because  of 
want  of  right,  but  because  virgins  were  needed.^ 

Among  the  Mongolian  shahs,  it  is  said  that  the  prince  has 
a  statute  right  to  demand  the  wives  of  his  subjects.     On 

^  Diodor.  xvii.  77  :  1^  UTrccaZu  rau  x,a.ra,  rojy  ^Aaixu  yvvuiKuv  WiKzhiy- 

2  In  vers.  2  and  3  it  is  said  nblDl  mj?3  5?3  shall  be  sought.  '  Chardin 
says,  vi.  226  :  "  II  n'y  entre  que  des  vierges.  Quand  on  en  sait  quelqu'une 
parfaite  en  beaute,  en  quelque  endroit  que  ce  soit,  on  la  demande  pour  le 
Haram  et  cela  ne  se  refuse  point." 


CHAP.  II.  5.  49 

account  of  this  circumstance  there  was  a  long  war  in  1320, 
because  an  emir  would  not  give  up  his  wife,  Bagdad-Khatun 
(Desguignes,  iii.  303).  In  the  Osman  Empire  also,  under 
some  sultans,  such  cruelty  was  carried  on  to  great  excess. 
New  slaves  used  to  be  sought  for  Sultan  Ibrahim,  in  order 
that  each  Friday  he  should  have  a  new  one  brought  to 
him  as  to  a  religious  solemnity.  He  fancied  he  would  like 
a  favourite  of  high  stature,  and  search  was  consequently 
made  all  over  Constantinople  for  such  a  person ;  and,  after  a 
good  deal  of  trouble,  they  found  at  last  an  Armenian  woman 
who  was  tall  as  a  giant.  She  succeeded  in  ingratiating  her- 
self into  his  favour,  so  that,  she  became  most  powerful,  and 
provoked  the  jealousy  of  the  other  women,  until,  at  last,  the 
sultana  invited  her  to  an  entertainment,  where  she  caused  her 
to  be  strangled.  It  was  then  reported  that  she  died  suddenly 
(Hammer,  v.  359). 

For  David  also  a  handsome  damsel  was  sought  in  all 
Israel ;  but  it  was  in  order  that  she  might  nurse  the  old 
man.  After  he  repented  he  became  master  of  himself.  We 
read,  "  she  cherished  the  king,  and  ministered  to  him ;  but 
the  king  knew  her  not  "  (1  Kings  i.  4). 

Yer.  5.  "  There  was  a  certain  Jew  in  Shushan"  etc. 
The  history  passes  now  into  that  of  Israel.  The  narrative 
of  the  selection  of  a  virgin  for  the  royal  harem  is  only  in- 
terrupted for  the  sake  of  introducing  certain  persons,  in 
reference  to  whom  all  the  reports  were  thus  far  made. 
These  are  two  in  number,  a  man  and  a  woman,  uncle  and 
niece,  guardian  and  minor.  They  form  the  central  point  of 
the  book.  They  are  the  deliverers  of  Israel.  "A  certain 
Jew  was  in  Shushan  the  castle."  The  name  Yehudi  (Jew) 
came  in  vogue  in  Southern  Palestine  after  the  separation  of 
the  ten  tribes  under  Eehoboam.  The  kingdom  of  Judah 
stood  in  opposition  to  the  kingdom  of  Israel.  It  still 
continued  for  a  century  after  that  of  Israel  had  passed  away, 
and  during  this  time  there  was  but  one  Yehudah,  or  Judea, 

D 


50  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

in  the  Holy  Land.  The  conquest  and  the  rule  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar obscured  all  preceding  events.  The  deeds  of 
Shalmaneser  receded  to  the  background.  By  Nebuchad- 
nezzar the  holy  city  Jerusalem  was  conquered,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  the  kingdom,  who  were  called  Jews  (2  Kings 
xvi.  6,  XXV.  25),  were  by  him  led  into  exile.  These  last, 
through  keeping  closely  together,  in  order  to  maintain 
the  national  faith,  have  made  the  name  Yehudi  especially 
distinguished.  The  sharp  contrast  between  Judah  and  Israel 
was  given  up  in  a  strange  land.  To  the  ten  tribes,  in  the 
penitent  sorrow  of  the  exile,  the  name  of  Jerusalem  was  again 
a  dearly  loved  and  cherished  one.  The  breach  caused  by 
the  secession  of  Jeroboam  was  only  repaired  in  the  captivity. 
While  Israel,  the  ideal  Biblical  name,  only  expressed  their 
humiliated  position  before  God,  the  name  Jew  became 
universally  known  as  the  designation  of  every  one  who 
manifested  the  faith  of  Israel.  Therefore  all  the  captives 
are  called  Jews  in  the  book  of  Esther,  although  it  cannot  be 
proved  that  all  of  whom  it  treats  belonged  to  the  captivity  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  as  there  must  have  been  some  there  who 
were  taken  captives  by  his  predecessor  Shalmaneser. 

The  districts  in  which  Nebuchadnezzar  distributed  tlie 
Jews  are  not  clearly  defined.  We  learn  only  from  Dan.  i.  2 
that  they  were  taken  to  Shinar,  i.e.  to  Babylon.  Zerubbabel 
brought  back  Jews  who  had  lived  in  Babylon  (Ezra  i.  11— 
ii.  1).  But  such  also  joined  them  who  had  come  from  Tel- 
nielach,  Telcharsha,  Cherub,  and  Addan,  names  which  define 
the  old  Elymais,  i.e.  Loristan  (see  my  Geschichte  der  Juden, 
p.  173).  It  is  well  known  that  not  all  came  back  under, 
the  leadership  of  Zerubbabel.  The  permission  of  Cyrus  for 
their  return  home  was  evidently  not  merely  an  act  of  kind- 
ness on  his  part,  but  also  an  act  of  policy,  as  we  shall  see 
farther  on.  It  was  certainly  only  Jewish  colonies  of  definite 
districts  which  emigrated.  It  was  not  of  the  highest  import- 
ance to  Cyrus  to  found  there  a  new  mighty  State,  which  might 
afterwards  become  independent,  but  only  that  these  territories 


CHAP.  II.  0.  51 

should  be  settled  by  weak  and  thankful  colonies  who  enter- 
tained anti  -  Babylonian  sentiments.  There  yet  remained 
behind  a  multitude,  notably  in  Shushan,  from  which  place, 
the  residence  of  Daniel  and  Nehemiah,  none  seem  to  have 
been  sent  back  (Dan.  viii.  2  ;  Neh.  i.  1). 

The  man  is  called  Mordecai.  This  name  does  not  occur 
in  Israel  before  the  captivity.  Another  captive  who  returned 
with  Zerubbabel  is  so  called  Ezra  ii.  2 ;  Neh.  vii.  7.  It  is 
the  name  of  one  who  was  born  in  exile.  It  is  according  to 
Persian  analogy.^ 

In  the  first  syllable  it  corresponds  to  Mardonius  (siD">lD), 
Mardontes,  Mardus  ;  in  the  last  it  is  like  that  of  Artachaeus  or 
Artachaes  (comp.  Herod,  vii.  22).  One  is  reminded  of  some- 
thing similar  in  the  names  of  Mardokempad  and  Mesesimordak 
in  the  Canon  of  Ptolemy.  To  say  that  Mordecai  the  Jew- 
had  his  name  from  the  idol  Merodach,  would  not  certainly 
be  true ;  but  the  name  of  the  idol  is  itself  derived  from  the 
Sanscr.  martiya^  Arm.  martj  Pers.  mere?  =  man,  and  it  does  not 
preclude  the  supposition  that  other  compounds  were  used  witii 
this  word.^  Moreover,  when  the  name  of  Mordecai  was  once 
currently  used,  the  Jew  could  bear  it  with  as  great  indifference 
to  its  allusion  as  the  Christian  St.  Martin  could  bear  his 
name,  which  is  derived  from  Mars. 

At  any  rate,  the  derivation  of  the  name  —  apart  from 
Merodach — from  mart,  merd  =m.QXi,  signifying  "the  manly," 
is  clearer  and  surer  than  the  one  proposed  by  Oppert, 
who  thinks  it  is  derived  from  the  modern  Persian  mardic, 
meaning  "  soft."  But  it  is  remarkable  that  the  name  Mor- 
decai is  only  given  to  a  native  of  the  captivity ;  and  this 
circumstance    corroborates    the   otherwise    evident   fact,  that 

^  It  was  not  a  happy  conjecture  of  the  learned  Molinus  of  Venice  (de 
vita  et  lipsanis  St.  Marci  Evangelistae,  Eomae  1864,  p.  10),  that  the  name 
of  Mark  the  evangelist  was  originally  Mordecai,  from  wliich  the  Roman 
name  Marcus  was  formed.  It  cannot  be  established  that  this  was  always 
the  case  with  the  name  of  Marcus,  nor  why  it  should  be  so  (comp.  Gotting, 
fjelehr.  Nadir.  1865,  p.  905). 

^  See  my  article  "  Mordecai  '*  in  Herzog's  Realencyklop.  p.  365. 


52  BOOK  OF  ESTIIEE. 

Mordecai  was  not  one  of  those  who  were  exiled,  as  it  was 
curiously  enough  concluded  from  ver.  6,  where  we  read  :  "And 
his  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  Jechoniah  (Jehoiachin),  king  of  Judah,  whom 
jN'ebuchadnezzar  the  king  of  Babylon  had  carried  away." 

The  clear  and  instructive  intentions  of  the  historian  in  the 
genealogical  passage  are  evident.  He  points  out,  through 
the  enumeration  of  the  four  generations  from  Kish  to  Mordecai, 
the  time  which  elapsed  since  the  banishment  of  Jechoniah, 
which  took  place  before  the  destruction  of  the  temple.  The 
period  of  about  115-120  years  which  since  then  elapsed  to  the 
sixth  year  of  Xerxes  are  exactly  expressed  by  the  four  genera- 
tions. We  have  also  some  intimation  concerning  the  period  of 
the  narrative,  which  is  assigned  to  the  reign  of  Xerxes  I. 
That  Kish  was  a  Benjamite,  is  only  told  for  the  purpose  of 
distinguishing  him  from  other  men  with  the  same  name  who 
belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Levi.  One  might  have  thought  it 
impossible  that  Biblical  expositors  should  commit  the  mistake 
of  making  the  information  concerning  the  exile  of  Jechoniah 
refer  to  Mordecai  himself, — an  idea  for  which  there  is  neither 
textual  nor  historical  foundation,  but  rather  both  against  it. 
If  this  had  been  the  case,  the  author  would  have  placed 
Ahhashverosh  immediately  after  Nebuchadnezzar ;  but  this 
could  not  be  so,  according  to  the  narrative  in  Daniel  and 
Ezra,  whoever  we  may  consider  Ahhashverosh  to  be.  The 
author  is  well  acquainted  with  the  fact  that  a  king  of  Persia, 
of  whom  he  reports,  succeeded  Cyrus ;  for  he  puts  Persia 
before  Media.  If  the  relation  is^j?  in  ver.  6  refers  to  Mordecai 
and  not  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  there  would  have  been  no  reason 
why  the  narrator  should  only  mention  the  three  generations 
Jair,  Shimei,  and  Kish,  and,  indeed,  why  he  should  mention 
more  than  Mordecai's  father,  as  he  does  similarly  in  ver.  15, 
where  he  mentions  only  Esther's  father,  Abihhail.  The  opinion 
of  the  Midrash,  that  by  Kish  is  here  to  be  understood  the 


CHAP.  II.  5.  53 

jfiither  of  King  Saul,  is  only  hoiniletical  trifling,  and  hardly 
deserves  notice. 

If  that  Kish  had  been  meant,  King  Saul  or  any  other 
member  in  the  genealogical  line  as  given  in  1  Sam.  ix.  would 
have  been  mentioned ;  but  this  is  not  the  case.  Again,  the 
opinion  that  this  Mordecai  is  identical  with  the  one  of  Ezra 
ii.  2,  who  returned  to  Jerusalem,  is  also  groundless.  First, 
because  this  one  came  from  Babylon,  and  not  from  Shushan. 
Secondly,  the  book  of  Ezra  itself  reports  that  Ahhashverosh, 
whoever  he  may  be,  reigned  after  Cyrus,  and  therefore 
Mordecai  would  have  reached  an  excessively  great  age  if  he 
had  been  one  of  those  carried  into  exile  by  Nebuchadnezzar, 
as  there  were  about  sixty  years  from  the  banishment  of 
Jechoniah  to  the  return  of  the  captives  with  Zerubbabel.  We 
would  reach  the  monstrous  conclusion  of  the  Duke  of 
Manchester,  and  of  the  German  doctors  after  him,  which  the 
Biblical  genealogy  itself  destroys,  if  the  relation  "i^t?  be 
arbitrarily  connected  with  ^lordecai,  instead  of,  as  it  naturally 
is,  with  the  last  name.  Above  all  things,  it  is  necessary  to  be 
cautious  of  theories,  for  the  sake  of  which  all  the  hitherto 
received  and  well-established  views  are  thrown  overboard ; 
whilst,  when  we  follow  the  simple  rendering  of  the  verse  as 
indicated,  everything  is  beautifully  harmonious. 

The  Midrash  (Esther  92a)  makes  in  its  own  fanciful  way  a 
peculiar  and  groundless  assertion  upon  the  position  of  the  word 
ya^  his  name.  It  says :  When  the  Scripture  speaks  of  a  bad 
man,  the  word  yo^  stands  after  his  name,  as  Nabal  his  name ; 
when  it  speaks  of  a  good  man,  as  here  of  Mordecai,  it  stands 
before.  "And  his  name  was  Mordecai."  But  iDtJ^I  stands  before 
Micah  in  Judg.  xvii.  1;  before  Doeg,  1  Sam.  xxi.  7;  before  Sheba, 
"a  man  of  Belial,"  2  Sam.  xx.  1;  and  before  others  who  cannot  be 
reckoned  among  the  good.  On  the  other  hand,  the  word  stands 
after  Josiah,  1  Kings  xiii.  2 ;  after  Daniel,  Dan.  x.  1 ;  and  after 
the  names  of  the  best  m,en,  and,  above  all,  after  the  Messiah, 
Zech.  vi.  12,  where  we  read,  "Behold  the  man,  Zemach  {i.e. 
Branch)  is  his  name,  he  shall  build  the  temple  of  the  Lord." 


54  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

The  fourth  generation  from  the  exile  of  Jechoniah  witnessed 
the  events  of  which  this  book  treats.  Mordecai  must  still 
have  been  in  the  prime  of  life.  He  had  a  relation  Abihhail, 
who  died  and  left  an  orphan  daughter  behind.  This  girl, 
Mordecai,  of  whose  wife  or  children  nothing  is  reported,  took 
to  his  house,  as  there  was  no  nearer  relative,  and  he  became 
her  nursing  father,  pt?,  from  her  youth.  For  the  word  pi?  or 
n^DS  implies  nursing  of  a  child  from  its  infancy,  as  Naomi  was 
the  nurse  of  the  child  of  Kuth  from  its  birth  (Ruth  iv.  16), 
and  as  Moses  said  to  the  Lord :  "  Have  I  conceived  all  this 
people  ?  have  I  brought  them  forth,  that  Thou  shouldest  say 
unto  me.  Carry  them  in  thy  bosom,  as  a  nursing  father  carries 
the  suckling  child?"  (Num.  xi.  12).  He  cherished  her  as  a 
father  and  mother  cherish  their  own  child  ;  and  the  whole 
narrative  shows  that  this  was  not  done  perfunctorily,  but  with 
his  whole  heart. 

Ver.  7.  nriDS  X'-n  nonn-nj^ — "  Hadassah,  that  is,  Esther." 
The  girl  was  called  in  the  house  of  her  parents  and  of 
Mordecai,  Hadassah,  i.e.  "  Myrtle,"  Myrto,  a  name  which  in 
very  ancient  times  had  reference  to  the  connection  of  beauty 
with  fruitfulness ;  hence  it  was  a  symbol  of  Venus,  and  was 
therefore  appropriately  chosen  as  an  epithet  to  the  girl. 
Jewish  women,  as  among  other  Eastern  nations,  have  always 
had  names  borrowed  from  flowers.  We  need  only  refer  to 
the  names  of  Jewish  women  which  have  come  down  to  us 
from  all  the  Middle  Ages,  such  as  Flora,  Myrrha,  Blumchen, 
Blume,  Rosa,  Fiore,  etc.  (see  Zunz,  Namen  dcr  Juden,  p.  73,  etc.). 
The  Midrash  acknowledges  this  in  its  comment  on  the 
passage.  It  says,  Mordecai's  cousin  was  called  Myrtle,  like 
the  righteous,  because  she  never  faded,  but  was  always 
blooming  both  in  summer  and  in  winter.  They  apply  to 
her  Isa.  Iv.  1 3,  where  we  read :  "  Instead  of  the  thorn 
shall  come  up  the  fir  tree,  and  instead  of  the  brier  shall 
come  up  the  myrtle  tree,"  understanding,  of  course,  by  the 
thorn  and   brier   Vashti,   and   by   the    myrtle    Esther   (Bab. 


CHAP.  II.  7.  55 

Megilla  lOh).  On  the  other  hand,  the  Church  Father 
[Jerome]  refers  this  passage  to  the  Apostle  Pauh  "  At  that 
time,"  says  he,  "  when  he  preached  the  gospel  in  the  world, 
and  could  say,  '  We  are  a  sweet  savour  of  Christ '  (2  Cor. 
ii.  15),  he  is  rightly  called  a  cypress  and  myrtle  tree" 
{Comm.  ad  Jes.,  ed.  Migne,  iv.  538).  But  the  prophecy  goes 
beyond  the  preacher  of  the  truth  to  the  truth  itself.  The 
Talmudical  word  for  myrtle  is  ndj^,  as  in  Syriac.  Compare 
with  it  the  Persian  i^DlDDN  (see  Vullers,  i.  601). 

"iriDx  N\i. 

Esther  was  the  name  which  the  girl  received  in  the  harem 
as  a  favourite  of  the  king.  E.  Nehemia  (in  Megilla  loh)^ 
correctly  derives  the  name  from  innox,  or  as  the  Targum 
writes  it,  i<-i^nD''N,  after  the  Greek  aarrip,  star ;  Syr.  N"inDS  ; 
Pers.  m^no ;  Zend,  stara.  And  in  Persian  it  has  the  special 
sense  of  the  lustre  of  Venus,  Fortuna  {sidus  genethliacum),  of 
the  morning  star  (see  Vullers,  ii.  220),  as  the  Persians  call 
the  king,  "the  morning  star  of  the  throne."  Such  names 
were  customary  for  the  wives  and  favourites  in  the  East.  The 
Caliph  Hisham  II.  of  Spain  gave  to  his  beloved  Eadhiyet  the 
surname  of  Fortunate  Star  (Hammer,  Namen  der  Araher,  p.  11). 

The  name  of  the  legitimate  wife  of  Xerxes,  Amestris^ 
(Herod,  vii.  61-114,  and  ix.  169),  will  likewise  be  best 
explained  from  the  compound  of  Amesha  (nt^'DS)  and  Sitra, 
mriD,  meaning  heavenly  star.  For  with  Amesha  (heavenly, 
immortal)  and  Cpenta  are  also  the  seven  genii  designated, 
which  are  the  gods  of  the  seven  planets.  Some  have  thought 
that  they  could  find  the  name  of  Hadassah,  myrtle,  repro- 
duced in  the  name  of  Atossa,  the  wife  of  Darius.  The 
circumstance  against  this  is,  that  Hadassah  is  only  a  Hebrew 
word.     We    may  rather  consider   that  it  has   some  relation 

^  [R.  Yehudah  says,  that  the  name  of  Esther  is  derived  from  "iDD,  to 
hide,  because  she  did  not  tell  of  her  origin. — Trans.] 

2  Comp.  the  name  of  the  beautiful  Amazon  in  Hyrcania,  Qx'Kriarpis,  in 
Diodor.  xvii.  77,  in  respect  to  the  latter  part  of  the  name,  and  of  Amytis 
(by  Ctesias),  daughter  of  Cyaxares,  in  respect  to  the  first  part. 


56  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

with  the  Persian  word  I^TIX,  light,  splendour,  fire.  "With  this 
word  the  Persians  designated  the  phoenix  on  account  of  its 
magnificent  brilliancy,  and  by  the  term  "isnn  CTii^  they  called 
the  red  rose  and  the  tulip,  as  the  splendour  of  spring.  Like- 
wise the  name  Eoxane/  the  beautiful  wife  of  Alexander,  is 
explained  to  be  derived  from  the  Eoshen  Pehlvi,  njc^sn, 
meaning  "  the  shining  one."  The  favourite  of  the  Spanish 
Caliph  Abderrahman  III.  was  called  ISTureddunja,  "  the  light 
of  the  world."  A  famous  woman  in  the  harem  of  Stamboul 
was  called  [N'urbanu,  "  woman  of  light ; "  another  in  the 
Muhamedan  India  had  the  name  of  Nurmahal,  "  light  of 
the  harem."  Famous  Chassekis  of  the  Osman  sultans  were 
called  Mahpeiker,  "  moonlike  "  (this  is  a  favourite  expression 
of  Pirdussi  for  a  girl).  Mahfirus,  "  favourite  of  the  crescent ;  " 
Mihrmah,  "  sun-moon."  Other  such  peculiar  names  are  as 
follows: — Parysatis,  the  mother  of  Artaxerxes  IL,  in  later 
form  Perisade,  "  the  perichild "  or  "  angel's  child ; "  the 
wife  of  the  Caliph  Mothaded  was  named  Kothronneda, 
"  dewdrop."  An  Osman  Chasseki  of  Grecian  birth  was 
called  Eebia  Gulnusch,  "rose-drink  of  spring."  Favourite 
female  slaves  had  such  names  :  Dshanfeda,  "  offering  of  soul ; " 
Sudshbagii,  "the  one  with  plaited  hair"  (Hammer,  Gescli, 
viii.  358);  Sheckerbuli,  "sugar-plum;"  Sheckerpara,  "sweet- 
meat ; "  Sheckerchatun,  "  sugar- woman."  This  last  was  a 
princess  at  Delhi  at  the  time  of  Firuzshah.  The  famous 
Kosem  was  called  Ssafiye,  "  the  pure."  Jewesses  also  were 
called  so  (comp.  Weil,  Lehen  Mohammeds,  p.  186),  as  the 
names  of  Eeine,  Eeinchen  occur  among  them.  We  conclude 
with  the  names  of  two  wives  of  Darius,  Phaidyme  and 
Parmys.  The  former  may  properly  be  compared  with  Fatime 
of  later  times ;  but  Parmys  is  to  be  taken  as  the  repro- 
duction of  n''i<D"in,  the  name  of  a  cow,  which  according  to 
the  legend  suckled  King  Feridon,  the  most  renowned  person 

1  She  was  the  daughter  of  Ahmed  ibn  Tanhm,  ruler  of  Egypt.  Her 
outfit  was  so  great,  that  in  the  kitchen  there  were  no  less  than  1000 
golden  mortars  (Hammer,  Geinaldesaal,  iv.  268). 


CHAP.  II.  7.  57 

in  all  Persian  traditions  (Vullers,  i.  226).  How  much  truth 
is  represented  by  the  Oriental  fable,  is  seen  from  the  collection 
of  names  of  favourites  which  is  contained  in  the  story  of 
The  Tliousand  and  One  Nights.  We  meet  there  with  such  a 
name  as  Queen  Labe  (sun).  The  Caliph  Harun  had  female 
slaves  with  the  names  of  Alabaster -throat,  Coral -mouth, 
Coral-branch,  Moon-face,  Full-moon  of  the  full-moons,  Sun- 
shine, Pearl-necklace,  Dawn  of  the  morning,  Garden-flower, 
Sugarcane,  and  the  most  favourite  name  of  all,  Morning-star 
(see  xi.  27,  xii.  102).^ 

nsno  nniDl  "li^riTiS''  mr^ni — "  And  the    maiden  vjas  fair 

and  heautifid." 

The  first  adjective  expresses  in  the  original,  to  a  certain 
degree,  the  regular  beauty  of  her  figure ;  the  second  expresses 
the  gracefulness  and  amiability  of  her  manners.  The  Mid- 
rash  has  a  very  curious  homily  about  her  age.  In  spite  of 
the  text,  which  calls  her  a  nnj;^,  i-e.  a  young  girl,  the  Eabbis 
are  divided  in  their  opinion  about  her  age.  Some  maintain 
that  she  was  from  forty  to  eighty  years  old.  Others  again 
declare  that  she  was  seventy-four  years  old,  because  the  letters 
of  Hadassah,  noin,  are  numerically  equivalent  to  seventy-four, 
and  because  Abraham  was  also  seventy-five  years  old  when 
he  left  Haran.  The  sense  of  this  homiletical  peculiarity  is, 
that  there  was  something  very  wonderful  in  the  reception  of 
Esther  by  the  king.  Although  she  was  so  old,  yet  she  so 
miraculously  found  favour  in  his  sight.  Nevertheless  the 
Piabbis  would  not  have  come  to  this  strange  comment  if 
they  had  not  felt  the  logical  necessity  of  assigning  to  Esther 
at  this  period  of  the  story  such  an  advanced  age,  in  order 
to  make  the  supposition  that  Mordecai  had  already  been 
among  the  captives  of  Nebuchadnezzar  tenable.      It  is  their 

^  Conip.  the  names  which,  according  to  Oriental  legend,  Solomon's 
wives  had  :  Tender-violet,  Shining-star,  Sun-lustre,  Phoenix,  Paradise- 
bird,  etc.  (Hammer,  Rosendl.  i.  243).  A  heroic  female  slave  of  Alaeddin 
Khiljy,  to  whom  he  entrusted  the  defence  of  a  castle,  had  the  name  of 
Guli  Behesht,  Rose  of  paradise  {Gemcildesaal,  iv.  218). 


58  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

fashion  thus  to  meet  by  way  of  homily  historical  difficulties, 
and  solve  them  by  combinations  of  letters.  Now,  as  such 
homiletical  solutions  are  contrary  to  reason,  they  just  prove 
what  they  want  to  avoid,  viz.  the  monstrous  anachronism 
by  which  Mordecai  is  placed  as  far  back  as  the  time  of 
Nebuchadnezzar. 

Ver.  8.  yotJTin  NT*"! — "So  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  kinrjs 

commandment  a.nd  his  decree  was  hea^rd!' 

The  notice  in  this  verse  is  not  given  without  reason.  If 
Esther  was  so  beautiful,  the  circumstance  easily  explains 
itself  why,  in  the  midst  of  the  great  choice  of  beauties  that 
w^ere-  to  be  brought  to  Shushan,  she  was  not  overlooked. 
Jewish  tradition  informs  us,  through  the  Targum,  that 
Mordecai,  her  guardian  and  second  father,  had  kept  her 
concealed,  in  order  not  to  be  obliged  to  deliver  her  to  the 
royal  agents ;  but  people  who  knew  her,  and  had  not  seen  her 
for  some  time  among  the  girls,  drew  their  attention  to  the 
concealment.  This  they  reported  to  the  king,  who  imme- 
diately issued  an  order,  to  tlie  effect  that  wherever  it  has 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  authorities  that  a  man  had 
refused  to  deliver  his  daughter,  he  should  be  hanged  by  the 
neck  before  his  own  house. 

What  is  here  told  does  certainly  correspond  to  Eastern 
custom,  but  our  book  gives  no  occasion  for  it.  The  tradition 
originated  in  the  East,  where  the  search  after  women  for  the 
harem  had  become  an  intolerable  nuisance,  especially  to  the 
oppressed  population.  It  was  therefore  quite  natural  to 
suppose  that  Mordecai  did  all  he  could,  as  loving  parents  do 
sometimes  now-a-days,  to  keep  Esther  away  from  the  covetous 
eyes  of  the  royal  eunuchs.  The  Midrash  wanted  in  this 
manner  to  characterize  more  closely  both  the  admirable 
beauty  of  Esther  and  the  prudent  precaution  and  love  of  her 
uncle.  But  this  does  not  at  all  harmonize  with  the  higher 
ideas  of  the  narrative.  Here  it  is  precisely  and  instructively 
intimated,  that  no  especial    attention  had   been  directed    to 


CHAP.  II.  9.  59 

Esther.  She  was  fetched  in  the  ordinary  way  with  crowds  of 
girls.  As  one  plucks  flowers  in  a  garden  to  present  a 
bouquet  to  a  dear  friend,  so  they  here  collected  a  variety 
of  human  beings  from  all  places  for  sensual  enjoyment, 
provided  they  had  any  attractiveness  and  colour.  The 
gardener  w^as  the  ''^n  (t?jn,  ver.  3),  Aga,  the  keeper  of  the 
w^omen,  who  had  the  charge  of  the  women's  house.  This  was 
the  most  important  person  in  such  acts  as  here  described. 
As  the  damsels  were  introduced  by  him  to  the  king,  his 
influence  and  his  favour  was  of  great  weight.  The  intention 
of  the  narrative  of  our  book  is  manifestly  to  show  the 
wonderful  help  which  was  provided  for  Israel  for  the  time 
of  their  need.  This  is  to  appear  exactly  from  the  opposite 
fact,  that  Esther  was  not  concealed^  but  at  once  found  and 
given  up.  The  cleverness  and  the  taste  of  the  people  who 
fetched  her,  and  of  those  who  administered  the  affairs  of  the 
harem,  were  also  instruments  of  deliverance  in  God's  hands. 

Among  the  hundreds  who  were  placed  under  the  care  of 
the  Aga,  the  gracefulness  of  Esther  struck  him  the  most. 

Ver.  9.  mv:n  nDTil — "  And  the  maiden  pleased  him." 
Curtius  narrates  (viii.  4.  23,  etc.)  that  it  happened  when 
once  Alexander  was  at  a  banquet,  there  were  thirty  noble 
virgins  presented  to  him ;  but  although  they  were  all  of  the 
choicest  beauty,  yet  the  eyes  of  all  were  directed  to  Eoxane, 
as  she  surpassed  them  in  good  looks.  (Quae  quanquam  inter 
electas  processerat,  omnium  tamen  oculos  convertit  in  se.) 
The  same  was  the  case  with  Esther.  The  experienced  eye  of 
the  Aga  was  beyond  all  attracted  by  her,  and  he  paid  her 
the  best  attention,  and  showed  her  favours,  which  were  of 
importance  to  her  and  her  friend's  future  career.  The 
Midrash  says  that  he  foresaw  that  she  would  eventually 
become  queen,  and  therefore  he  was  so  friendly  to  her.  But 
this  is  false.  Eather  was  it,  that  Esther's  gracefulness 
pleased  him  so  much  that  he  undertook,  so  far  as  lay  in  his 
power,  to  risk  everything  in  order  to  make  her  queen.      The 


60  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

pleasure  which  he  had  in  her  he  manifested  by  special 
exertions  in  her  behalf,  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  her 
natural  beauty  by  artificial  means.  It  is  said  first  of  him, 
— n^pnion "  nt?  bni'^).  The  original  meaning  of  t'nn,  whose 
organic  root  is  hn,  is  represented  by  the  German  word  eilen,  to 
hasten.  Yes,  it  is  clear  that  this  German  word,  which  does 
not  occur  in  the  Gothic,  and  whose  origin  Grimm  did  not 
discern,  is  connected  with  the  Old  German  word  illa^i,  Old 
S.  German  ilian.  The  Greek  word  a^aiXkaaOai  is  similarly 
connected  with  a^.  The  idea  of  hastening  contains  in  it  the 
cause  for  doing  so,  an  anxiety  to  carry  out  some  important 
duty  or  strenuous  order ;  therefore  also  trembling,  terror  in 
general.  Here  in  our  passage  the  verb  5>n2  has  the  sense  of 
hurrying  to  carry  out  a  duty  and  a  privilege.  He  delivered 
to  Esther  prior  to  all  others,  even  before  her  turn  came  to 
receive  them,  the  necessary  materials  provided  for  the  women's 
toilet  before  they  could  be  introduced  to  the  king ;  and  he 
meant  the  quick  despatch  of  this  business  as  a  favour  to  her ; 
lor  the  longer  she  participated  in  his  nursing  care,  the  more 
beautiful  she  would  become.  We  read :  "  And  he  speedily 
gave  her  things  for  purification,  with  her  portions."  Each 
newcomer  to  the  harem  must  first  undergo  an  ablution  in 
order  to  refresh  herself,  etc. ;  and  this  custom  is  also  observed 
in  the  case  of  young  girls,  because  the  bath  is  the  most 
essential  part,  according  to  Oriental  custom,  in  the  process 
of  effecting  a  good  bodily  appearance,  with  wdiich  all  other 
adornment  is  connected.  So  then  the  word  pnttn  has 
evidently  received  the  meaning  of  preparing  the  toilet,  and 
of  things  generally  necessary  for  making  a  good  ddhut. 

The  portions  (niiD)  consisted  of  magnificent  dresses  and 
ornaments,  which  were  given  to  every  woman  of  the  harem.^ 

Not  only  was  Esther  privileged  in  speedily  receiving  every- 
thing  necessary   for   her   external  appearance,  but   she   also 

^  The  explanation  of  Clericus  on  this  passage,  that  by  the  portions  is 
meant  food,  is  quite  erroneous.  The  women  naturally  received  food  at  all 
times. 


CHAP.  11.  9.  61 

received  seven  selected  slaves  to  wait  upon  her.  In  the 
word  ni*5<")n,  part.  pass.  pers.  pL,  which  only  occurs  in  this 
passage,  lies  the  significance  of  the  selection  of  the  servants 
which  were  proper  for  her.  As  all  who  were  gathered 
received  their  share  of  servants,  the  distinction  shown  to  her 
could  not  have  consisted  in  the  point  of  time  ivhen  she 
received  the  servants,  but  in  point  of  their  q^iialifications 
and  appearance.  They  were  of  the  very  best  sort.  Likewise 
in  point  of  numher,  they  were  seven,  the  same  number  of 
servants  as  were  allotted  to  the  great  court  ladies. 

The  Targum  has  a  peculiar  comment  upon  the  number  of 
servants.  In  order  to  show  how  Esther  could,  amidst  her 
surroundings,  remember  which  day  was  the  Sabbath,  it  says 
that  she  knew  this  from  the  number  of  her  slaves ;  for  every 
day  she  had  another  to  wait  upon  her,  who  was  called  by  the 
name  of  the  day  of  the  week,  and  thus  when  the  one  who  ' 
served  on  the  Sabbath  came  to  wait  upon  her,  she  knew  that 
it  was  the  Sabbath  day.  It  is  certainly  a  peculiar  Oriental 
thought  which  makes  a  calendar  of  human  beings.  The 
Targum  also  further  gives  the  names  of  the  seven  slaves,  and 
that  in  a  poetical  and  instructive  manner.  We  have  already 
mentioned  that  the  servants  as  well  as  mistresses  have 
poetical  names,  borrowed  from  nature.  This  is  imitated  in 
the  Targum;  but  the  Jewish  teachers  themselves  had  not 
noticed  it  before.  They  took  these  names  from  the  history 
of  the  creation,  so  that  they  can  only  be  elucidated  from  the 
things  that  were  created  in  the  first  week.  But  this  comment 
gives  undoubtedly  the  appearance  of  being  tinctured  with 
Christian  ideas.  We  begin  with  Monday,  in  which  the 
firmament  or  sky  was  created.  This  is  in  Hebrew  j;''P"i. 
The  slave  which  waited  upon  Esther  on  this  day  was  there- 
fore called  xn^ypn,  better  xn^yp"),  meaning  something  like 
"  Heaven's  child."  On  Tuesday  were  created  the  trees,  their 
fruit  and  all  vegetables,  and  so  the  name  of  the  slave  of  the 
day  was  xn''3i3:i,  from  p,  NnjJ,  "  the  garden,"  corresponding  to 
"  Garden-flower." 


62  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

On  the  fourth  day,  Wednesday,  were  created  the  stars  of 
heaven  (as  they  are  called  in  the  Targum,  Gen,  i.  14,  pvi:), 
and  therefore  the  name  of  the  servant  of  the  day  was  Nnninj, 
"  Starlight."  On  Thursday  were  created  all  creeping  things. 
The  Hebrew  word  ptj'  is  expressed  in  the  Talmud  by 
tTTn,  therefore  the  attendant  of  this  day  is  named  xn^ti'm, 
"  Butterfly."  By  the  way,  through  this  explanation  the 
reading  is  established,  and  the  i  of  Mezahh  Ahron,  etc.,  is 
erroneous.  Eemarkable  is  the  name  of  the  slave  who 
attended  her  on  the  sixth  day,  in  which  the  cattle  and  man 
were  created.  It  is  xn^an^n,  the  diminutive  form  of  NQ-nn, 
meaning  in  Chald.  and  Syriac  the  "  Lamb "  (see  Targ.  Gen. 
xxi.  29),  "Little  lamb."  Be  it  remembered  that  Friday  is 
designated  by  a  lamb,  which  certainly  is  in  accord  with  the 
Christian  remembrance  of  Him  who  as  the  Lamb  of  God 
was  led  to  the  slaughter  on  that  day. 

The  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath,  the  day  of  rest,  the  quiet 
time.  Therefore  the  name  of  the  servant  is  NrT'VJ"),  "  Quiet." 
For  yjn  is  rendered  "  quiet  "  both  by  Jewish  and  Christian 
commentators  in  Ps.  xxxv.  20  —  "the  quiet  in  the  land." 
The  servant  "  Quiet "  reminded  Esther  that  it  was  the 
Sabbath.  The  day  following  the  Sabbath,  our  Lord's  day, 
on  which  the  light  was  created,  Esther  had  an  attendant 
whose  name  was  ND^n,  which  is  best  explained  from  ij^n,  the 
name  of  a  rare  bird,  which  is  taken  mostly,  though  not  always 
rightly,  to  be  the  phoenix  (see  my  Schwan,  p.  L).  The  phoenix 
is  a  symbol  of  light ;  and  so  we  see  here,  as  in  connection 
with  Friday,  traces  of  Christian  symbolism,  in  which  the 
lamb  of  Friday  is  the  risen  phoenix  of  Sunday.  But  the  Aga 
was  not  satisfied  with  the  mere  giving  to  Esther  her  ornaments 
sooner  than  to  the  rest,  and  the  best  of  servants.  He  assigned 
also  to  her  and  to  her  servants  the  best  apartments  in  the 
house.  The  phrase  w^:r\  n^n  niDi^  n^nnyrriNT  n:c'^i  can  have 
no  other  sense  than  that  he  changed  the  place  where  she  had 
dwelt  into  a  better.  But  if  n^B^^l  refers  to  her  person,  then  it 
reads,  "he  wrought  a  change  in  her  for  the  best  (niL3^)  in 


CHAP.  II.  10.  63 

reference  to  the  house  of  the  women."  We  may  translate 
the  verb  nr^',  after  the  Syriac  example  in  Acts  vii.  43,  by 
"  transtulit,"  "  he  transferred  her." 

Ver.  10.  nDy-nx^  iddx  nTt^n-t?^ — "Esther  had  not  shoiml 
her  people  nor  her  kindred;  for  Mordecai  had  charged  her 
that  she  should  not  shoiv  it" 

This  prohibition  testifies  to  his  wisdom  and  piety.  It 
becomes  now  evident  why  so  much  stress  is  laid  in  ver.  7  on 
the  fact  that  Esther  had  lost  her  parents,  and  that  Mordecai 
had  adopted  her  as  his  daughter.  If  her  parents  had  been 
alive,  such  concealment  of  nationality  on  her  part  would  have 
been  next  to  impossible.  It  would  have  been  difficult  for  her 
to  hide  her  origin,  and  the  parental  love  and  her  own  filial 
love  would  have  sooner  or  later  betrayed  it.  But  Mordecai, 
who  did  not  love  her  less  than  her  own  parents,  had  that 
good  sense  and  that  judgment  which  are  better  safeguards  to 
love  than  vanity  and  self-pleasing,  which  are  so  often  mixed 
up  with  the  better  feelings  in  the  hearts  of  parents.  Esther 
belonged  to  a  people  in  the  kingdom  which  politically  and 
religiously  represented  a  marked  contrast  to  the  ruling  people. 
The  accusation  which  Haman  afterwards  brought  against 
them  had  surely  occupied  the  public  attention  of  the  con- 
querors and  the  priests  before.  At  all  events,  it  must  have 
been  useful  for  Esther  to  conceal  her  descent.  As  she  was 
now  exalted  to  such  a  high  position,  her  only  aim  must  have 
been  to  find  favour  in  the  eyes  of  the  king ;  and  to  this  end 
a  knowledge  of  her  nationality  in  the  circle  of  the  house  of 
women  could  in  nowise  be  advantageous  to  her.  Indeed  it 
might  rather,  sooner  or  later,  imperil  both  the  position  of 
Esther  and  that  of  her  people.  Mordecai,  who  was  at  home  in 
Persia,  was  well  acquainted  with  the  conditions  of  the  court 
and  of  the  capital.  How  easily  could  Esther  fall  into  disgrace, 
as  Vashti  did,  and  so  herself  be  the  main  cause  of  her 
people's  misfortunes  (see  Yalkut  on  the  passage) !  So  also  in 
the  contrary  event,  as  the  history  has  taught,  what  dangers 


64  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

would  ensue  to  Esther  from  her  nationality  being  known,  if 

persecutions  against  the  Jews  should -arise  !     The  deliverance 

which   she   was   later  called  to  achieve  succeeded,  humanly 

speaking,  only  because  no  one  knew  that  she  belonged  to 

Israel.     Had  it  been  known,  the  intrigues  for  her  destruction 

would  have  been  commenced.     Add  to  this  that  the  king  was 

perhaps  favourably  disposed  to  other  Jews  besides  her,  whose 

position   had  to  be  taken  into  consideration;  and  if  it. had 

been   known   that   she   also  was  a  Jewess,   envious  tongues 

would   have   been  busy  with   the   charge  of  preponderating 

Jewish  influence  at  court. 

The    Midrash    says    that    Mordecai    showed    his   modesty 

by   prohibiting   Esther    from    making   her  pedigree    known. 

Xhere    is   truth   in   this.       He    certainly   thereby   renounced 

claims  upon  honours  and  presents  which  would  have  fallen 

to  him  as  her  nearest  kindred.     Chardin  says  that  it  is  still 

the  custom  in  modern  Persia  to  give  pensions  to  the  family 

of  a  lady  of  the  seraglio ;  and  the  more  she  is  esteemed  by 

the  king,  the  greater  are  the  pensions  {Voyage,  vi.  626,  627). 

But  Mordecai  had  love  for  his  people  and  for  his  [adopted] 

daughter  ;  but  he  had  no  desire  for  the  acquisition  of  money 

and  honours.     Thus  he  could  the  more  freely  observe  what 

was  going  on  at   court.     It  might   be   asked,   how    was   it 

possible    that    Esther's    nationality    should    remain   a  sealed 

secret  ?  ^     But  the  secret   was  in  Esther's  own  hands,  and 

entirely   depended   upon  her   discretion   as   to   the  time    of 

revealing  it.     For  the  arbitrary  and  domineering  spirit  with 

which  women  are  sought  and  bought  in  the  name  of  the  king 

is  above  all  the  petty  differences  of  nationality,  which  it  does 

not  care  to  inquire  into.     Beauty  and  enjoyment  are  sought. 

The  person  who  is  admitted  into  the  seraglio  needs  only  to 

have  physical  good  looks.     History,  name,  parents,  and  birth 

1  Out  of  this  question  arose  the  Talmudical  opinion  (Megilla  13rt),  that 
we  must  not  read  that  Mordecai  took  Esther  T\lh  for  a  daughter  (ver.  7), 
but  n'^ii',  into  the  house.  We  are  reminded  of  Bathsheba  the  wife  of 
Uriah,  of  whom  Nathan  said  in  his  sermon  on  penitence  to  David,  that 
he  had  robbed  her  husband  of  the  one  ewe-lamb  he  had. 


CHAP.  II.  10.  65 

are  of  no  account.  During  the  time  in  which  the  Turks 
carried  on  a  prolonged  war  with  Christian  nations  in  Europe, 
the  sultans  carried  on  their  vicious  amusements  with  women 
from  Greece,  Eussia,  Poland,  Hungary,  and  Italy.  So  was 
the  Sultana  Tarslian  in  the  seventeenth  century  a  Pole,  Bafifa 
the  powerful  concubine  of  Murad  IV.  was  from  Venice,  and 
Kosen  the  mother  of  Ibrahim  the  Vicious  was  a  Greek. 
That  the  origin  of  even  such  distinguished  persons  w^ho 
had  left  their  mark  upon  history  was  unknown,  is  testified 
by  the  various  reports  concerning  Churem,  the  favourite  of 
Soliman  I.,  who  was  an  extraordinary  woman.  French  authors 
say  that  she  was  a  peasant  woman.  Other  writers  affirm  that 
she  was  the  sister  of  King  Sigismund,  so  that  the  latter  would 
be,  of  course,  Soliman's  brother  -  in  -  law.  Others  again  say 
that  she  was  a  native  of  Siena  in  Italy,  a  daughter  of  Nani 
Marsigli,  and  had  been  kidnapped  by  robbers.  If  so,  through 
her  the  Pope  Alexander  became  related  to  the  sultan.  But  as 
she  is  usually  called  a  Eussian,  she  must  have  come  from 
Galicia.  Count  Ezewuski  asserted  that  she  was  the  daughter 
of  a  poor  pope  (priest)  of  Eohatyn,  a  small  town  in  Galicia  ^ 
(comp.  Hammer,  Osm.  Gcsch.  iii.  672,  673,  and  736).  The 
Oriental  legend  tells  that  even  slaves  sometimes  kept  their 
origin  a  profound  secret.  A  sultan  said  once  that  he  did 
not  want  a  favourite  of  unknown  origin,  for  he  feared  that 
lie  would  have  bad  children  by  her  (The  Thousand  and 
One  Nights,  xix.  p.  97).  The  maidens  were  delivered  to  the 
Aga  without  a  name  and  without  a  history,  only  as  so  many 
bodies,  and  not  even  as  a  modern  flock  of  camels,  which 
possess  a  history,  biography,  and  photography.  The  Aga  had 
before  him  a  multitude  of  beautiful  faces  ;  and  he  cared  nothing 
as  to  which  nation  they  belonged.  When  it  came  to  his 
knowledge,  it  was  through  the  women  themselves,  who  sought 

1  The  Mid  rash  speaks  of  such  experience  and  life  at  court  when  it 
remarks  that  Ahhasliverosh  did  not  want  to  ascertain  the  origin  of 
Esther,  because  various  nations  have  severally  claimed  her  as  belonging 
to  them. 

£ 


66  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

lo  gain  some  advantage  for  their  relations.  It  therefore 
sufficed  that  Mordecai  should  forbid  Esther  herself  to  tell  of 
her  origin,  as  the  information  would  not  come  from  other 
quarters.  For  as  soon  as  she  was  in  the  seraglio  all  access 
to  her  ceased,  and  Mordecai  was  silent. 

Ver.   11.   "And   Mordecai   walked   every    day  hefore  the 

court  of  the  women's  liouse^^  etc. 

But  though  he  asked  Esther  to  deny  any  knowledge  of  him, 
yet  his  anxious  paternal  care  for  her  did  not  cease.  As  an 
apparent  stranger,  it  was  perhaps  the  more  easy  for  him  to 
make  inquiries  about  her  welfare  and  proceedings  ;  and  so 
he  was  daily  to  be  seen  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  court. 
The  Midrash  thinks  that  he  was  anxious  lest  she  should 
be  enchanted,  a  belief  which  to  this  day  still  exists  in  the 
East. 

Ver.  12.  "Now  vjhen  the  turn  of  evei^y  maiden  loas  come!' 
We  have  here  an  exact  description  of  the  events  that  took 
place  in  the  inner  circle  of  the  house  of  women.  But  this  is 
not  for  the  purpose  of  telling  us  an  anecdote  from  the  secrets  of 
the  harem.  It  is  thereby  emphatically  intimated  how  wonder- 
ful the  providences  were  by  which  Esther  reached  her  happy 
goal.  We  learn  from  Herodotus  (iii.  69)  that  Phaedyme,  in 
order  to  investigate  whether  there  were  certain  marks  upon 
the  body  of  the  false  Smerdis,  had  to  wait  till  her  turn  came 
to  be  called  to  the  king ;  for,  he  adds,  "  the  Persians  let  their 
wives  come  to  them  by  turns  "  (eV  irepirpoirfi  'yap  Brj  yvva2K6<; 
(f>OLT6ovo-t  Tolat  Heparjo-t).  This  successive  turn  was  not  a 
slight  interval ;  it  lasted,  it  is  said,  a  twelvemonth, — a  year 
then,  in  which  every  newly -received  woman  had  time  to 
prepare  herself  for  the  day  of  meeting  the  king. — Now  such 
turns  were  daily  occurrences,  consequently  the  number  of 
court  women  must  have  been  about  360.  In  this  matter 
also  we  see  how  closely  our  book  agrees  with  the  otherwise 
known  notices  of  classical  writers,  and   how  much   liglit  it 


CHAP.  IT.  12.  67 

throws  upon  them.  Curtius  narrates  (and  is  confirmed  by 
Plutarch)  that  Darius  had  360  women  with  him  (iii.  3.  24). 
When  Dicaearch  says  in  Athenaeus  (lib.  xiii.  557)  that  there 
were  only  350,  the  notice  in  our  book  leads  us  to  give  more 
credence  to  the  report  of  Curtius.  It  is  a  characteristic 
feature  of  the  great  King  of  Persia  that  he  has  the  liberty  of 
having  every  day  in  the  year  another  woman  to  wait  upon  him. 
This  Diodorus  expressly  says  when  he  narrates  of  Alexander 
the  Great,  that  he  had  entirely  adopted  the  luxurious  habits 
of  a  Persian  ruler.  His  words  are :  "  He  led  with  him 
concubines,  like  Darius,  who  were  not  less  in  number  than 
the  days  of  the  year  "  ^  ("  ovk  eXctTTOf ?  TrkiiOei  tcjv  Kara  tov 
iviavTov  r)fjL€p(oi^,"  xvii.  77).  These  were  to  the  number  of 
360,  as  Curtius  expressly  states  (vi.  6.  8,  Pellices  ccc.  et  Ix. 
totidem,  quot  Dario  fuerant,  regiam  implebant).  Yet  the 
avarice  and  luxury  of  the  princes  in  later  times  was  not 
satisfied  even  with  this  number.  The  Osman  sultan  Murad 
III.  had  40  favourites  and  500  female  slaves;  but  400 
appears  to  be  the  round  number  with  the  Persian  shahs, 
as  is  evident  from  the  narrative  of  Chardin  {Voyage,  vi. 
243). 

These  twelve  months  were  spent  by  the  women  in  going 
through  a  course  of  preparation  by  the  application  of  the 
means  then  usual  of  embellishing  their  bodies,  and  all 
this  for  one  single  occasion.  There  was  never  a  greater 
caricature  of  monarchical  and  manly  power,  never  a  more 
legal  degradation  and  disgrace  of  woman,  than  was  manifested 
in  the  institution  of  the  harem.  Certainly  it  was  a  question 
of  life  with  the  selected  women  whether  they  would  be  raised 
as  special  favourites  and  queens  or  not.     They  therefore  must 

^  For  their  year  was  360  days  (comp.  Ideler,  Handh.  der  Chronologie^ 
ii.  514).  Abimassr,  a  governor  of  Diarbekr,  had  for  the  number  of  new 
calendar  365  female  slaves,  in  order  to  have  one  a  day  (Hammer, 
Gemdldesaal^  v.  p.  40).  This  throws  light  upon  what  is  told  of  tlie 
Emperor  Commodus  (Lainprid,  c.  5) :  "  Hac  igitur  lege  vivens  ipse 
cum  trecentis  concubinis  .  .  .  trecentisque  aliis  puberibus  exoletis  qjiios 
aequo  ex  plebe  et  nobilitate  coUegerat." 


L 


68  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

have  considered  the  regulation  which  required  a  whole  year 
of  personal  preparation  before  meeting  the  king  as  a  special 
act  of  indulgence  which  his  refined  taste  dictated.  It  was 
his  pleasure  to  see  a  rivalry  among  the  women,  and  therefore 
full  liberty  was  given  them  to  this  effect.  Everything  of 
luxury  and  pleasure  was  placed  at  their  disposal ;  but  this  was 
not  in  consideration  for  themselves  personally,  but  only  in 
reference  to  the  eventual  enjoyment  of  the  king,  just  as  a 
landlord  decorates  a  house  with  fine  gilded  paper,  not  for 
the  sake  of  the  walls,  but  for  his  own  pleasure.  We  have 
no  exact  information  in  reference  to  the  toilet  of  the  women 
which  was  given  them  during  the  year.  That  there  was  a 
definite  order  in  this  respect  is  evident  from  what  we  read,  that 
six  months  were  spent  in  the  application  of  oil  of  myrrh,  and 
six  months  in  the  use  of  sweet  odours  and  other  purifications. 
ion  p^ ;  "1^  is,  as  is  well  known,  fivppa,  o-fivpva,  tlie  fragrant 
resin  of  halsamodendron  myrrha,  which  was  esteemed  very 
precious  in  olden  times.  Famous  ointments  were  made  of 
it.  The  Arabs,  says  Athenaeus  (lib.  xv.  p.  688),  generally 
call  ointments  myrrh,  because  they  are  produced  from  it. 
Here,  without  doubt,  the  precious  ointment  is  meant  which 
in  the  time  of  Pliny  (Rist.  Nat.  xiii.  3)  was  called  "  royal 
ointment,"  because  it  was  used  by  the  kings  of  the  Parthians. 
It  consists  of  a  number  of  ingredients,  among  which  is  myrrh, 
as  in  the  anointing  oil  of  the  Scriptures  (Ex.  xxx.  25). 
It.  Hhiya-bar  Abba  explains  it  correctly  by  nDDD  (Meg.  13a), 
viz.  (jTaKTi) ;  and  in  Athenaeus  also  we  find  that  myrrha,  called 
stakte,  is  a  kind  of  ointment.  They  understand  by  stakte  the 
drops  of  oil  issuing  from  fresh  myrrh.  The  explanation  of 
It.  Yehudah,  that  it  means  |i:pD?DX,  is  not  so  correct,  as  ekaiov 
ofMcfxiKLVov  {6/jL(j)dKLov)  IS  oil  of  uuripc  olives.  To  this  very 
day  the  Orientals  like  tlie  perfume  of  very  fragrant  ointments 
and  pomades  as  well  as  of  other  odours  (D^D'ki'n).  "  In  the  East 
one  lives  and  is  refreshed,"  says  Chardin  (iv.  158),  "by  perfumes, 
instead  of  feeling,  as  in  our  countries,  overcome  by  them." 
Eastern  stories  vividly  describe  the  pleasures  of  the  baths  and 


ciiAr.  II.  13.  69 

the  embrocations,  and  of  the  use  of  rose-water  and  other 
fragrant  essences,  ointments,  and  odorous  combs,  in  connection 
with  the  course  that  people  go  through  for  improving  and 
adorning  their  external  appearance.^ 

Ver.  1 3.  mj;3n  nmi — "  Then  i7i  this  wise  came  the  inaiden 

unto  the  king!' 

This  verse  is  very  instructive.  Every  maiden  that  was 
called  to  appear  before  the  king  had  the  liberty  to  use  any 
means  which,  in  her  estimation,  might  conduce  to  her  pleasing 
him.  "  Whatsoever  she  desired  was  given  her  to  go  with  her 
out  of  the  house  of  the  women  unto  the  king's  house."  By  the 
term  &<ni?,  "  to  go  with,"  the  Midrash  finely  understands  that 
she  could  choose  any  one  to  accompany  her.  Every  one 
had  the  right  of  taking  servants  with  them,  so  that  they 
might  form  the  background  in  the  interview. 

But  it  was  no  slight  matter  even  for  the  most  pronounced 
belle  to  win  the  most  spoiled  and  sensual  king.  And  one  single 
meeting  together  was  to  decide  her  fate,  either  of  getting  a 
secluded  and  uninfluential  career,  or  of  living  all  her  life  long  a 
splendid  though  luxurious  life.  For  if  she  had  failed  to  win  the 
affections  of  the  king,  she  did  not  return  the  next  morning  to 
the  house  of  the  women,  which  was  superintended  by  the  Aga, 
but  she  w^ent  to  the  harem,  the  house  of  the  concubines, 
where  such  women  were  kept  and  maintained  who  belonged 
to  the  king,  and  whom  he  disposed  of  according  to  his  pleasure. 
Ver.  14.  The  eunuch  who  was  at  the  head  of  this  second 
house  of  women  was  called  Shaashgaz,  rr^yiJ',  from  the  Persian 
IJ'X^,  "  beautiful,"  so  that  his  name  means  "  minister  of 
beauties  "  (as  Kislar-Aga). 

1  We  refer  particularly  to  the  narrative  of  Ameny  {The  Thousand  and 
One  Nights,  xx.  49).  Especially  instructive  matter  is  to  be  found  in  Aelian 
(  Verm.  Gesch.  xii.  1),  where  he  tells  of  a  Greek  woman  that  was  brought 
to  the  camp  of  Cyrus — women  followed  her  whose  duty  was  to  plait  her 
hair  and  to  anoint  and  to  rouge  her  face.  Plutarch  narrates  (seven wise) 
tliat  the  Sybarite  women  gave  invitations  to  their  friends  a  year  before,  in 
order  that  they  miglit  have  time  to  prepare  their  toilets. 


70  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Ver.   15.    "iriDN-nn   rjnm  —  "Now    when    the   turn   of 
Esther"  etc. 

All  that  preceded  her  were  certainly  distinguished  for 
their  good  looks,  but  none  of  them  had  made  any  good 
impression  upon  the  king.  Finally,  it  was  Esther's  chance. 
In  order  to  intimate  the  significance  of  the  moment,  the 
narrator  just  here  adds,  what  he  has  not  done  in  ver.  7,  the 
name  of  Abihhail  her  father.^  He  had  died  early,  and  the 
education  of  Esther,  which  suited  her  so  well  in  her  present 
position,  was  entirely  the  work  of  Mordecai.  To  him,  there- 
fore, as  her  second  father,  due  honour  is  given  in  ver.  7,  in 
that  she  is  only  called  "  his  uncle's  daughter."  Abihhail  was 
the  brother  of  Jair,  the  father  of  Mordecai.  Though  nn 
meant  originally  "  friend,"  "  beloved,"  yet  later  on  it  came  to 
signify  "uncle,"  as  the  word  uncle  still  retains  the  meaning 
of  "  a  friend  of  the  house." 

So  Mishael  and  Elizaphan  are  called  the  sons  of  the  Til, 
uncle  of  Aaron,  for  their  father  Uzziel  was  the  brother  of  Amram 
(Ex.  vi.  22;  Lev.  x.  4).  So  also  Abner  is  called  the  son 
of  the  uncle,  nn,  of  Saul,  for  his  father  Ner  was  a  brother  of 
Kish  (1  Sam.  xiv.  51).  The  Greek  name  ©eto?,  Pott  rightly 
derives  from  Saner,  clhe,  to  nourish  {Eiym.  Forsch.  xiv.  51. 
Comp.  my  Comm.  on  Ruth,  p.  213);  and  when  jrjdr]  rrjdki^ 
compared  with  it,  it  follows  that  originally  it  was  applied 
to  the  brother  of  the  mother,  as  it  is  mostly  used  so, 
only  that  it  naturally  was  extended  to  the  brother  of  the 
father  also.  The  same  connection  of  ideas  must  be  ascribed 
to  the  Hebrew  nn.  Its  radical  signification  of  "  love  "  points 
to  maternal  tenderness  in  nourishing  her  child  with  her 
breast.  nn  belongs  to  m,  "breast,"  "mamma,"  "nipple." 
Comp.  1^  and  nn. 

To  the   prominence  which  is  given  to  the  father  in  the 

Israelitish    popular    life    is    to    be    ascribed    the    fact,    that 

Tn  represents  in    Scripture  only  the   patruus   and    not   the 

avunculus.     We  may  notice  that  it  is  characteristic  of  Roman 

1  The  LXX.  has  Aminadab. 


CHAP.  II.  15.  "71 

nations,  that  for  the  brother  of  both  parents  avunculus  is  usual 
rather  than  patruus,  although  the  former  means  only  the 
brother  of  the  mother.  (Comp.  uncle.  Wall,  unchin,  Albanes. 
miki ;  cf.  Diez,  Lex.  der  rom.  Spraclie,  p.  697.)  In  the 
Targuni  we  meet  such  words  as  nnx,  viz.  nxns,  father's  brother. 
Evidently  there  must  have  been  a  corresponding  word,  Dnj<  or 
DNHN',  for  mother's  brother.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
from  this  Hebrew  Ahh'em  comes  the  hitherto  unexplained 
German  word  Oheim,  and  that  this  also  meant  originally  the 
mother's  brother. 

"  She  required  nothing." 
The  characteristic  feature  which  these  words  indicate  is 
very  significant.  The  other  women  could  not  find  enough 
artificial  means  with  which  to  make  an  impression  upon  the 
king.  The  supplies  of  ornaments  and  other  things  which 
they  had  received  for  this  purpose  from  the  Aga  was  deemed 
by  them  as  insufficient,  and  they  demanded  more  in  order 
to  satisfy  their  burning  desire  to  become  favourites.  But 
Esther  cared  nothing  about  these  things.  She  had  no  such 
ambitious  desires.  Her  heart  did  not  burn  to  become  some- 
thing which  was  indeed  illustrious,  yet  not  becoming  to  a 
believing  Jewess.  Eeluctantly  she  had  left  her  home,  and 
reluctantly  and  passively  she  put  on  her  ornaments,  and  did 
not  exert  herself  to  take  a  single  active  step  to  reach  the 
pinnacle  of  her  fellow-women's  glory.  She  was  wanted,  and 
ordered  to  appear,  and  therefore  she  obeyed  the  Aga  in 
causing  herself  to  be  dressed  up  for  the  occasion,  but  did 
not  express  an  urgent  desire  to  see  the  pomp  of  the  harem. 
She  was  compelled  to  be  there  ;  but  that  was  no  reason  for 
her  to  profane  her  lips  and  her  believing  heart.  This  is  not 
to  be  lightly  estimated.  In  the  midst  of  women,  who  are 
more  jealous  and  ambitious  than  men,  tempted  by  her  own 
heart  to  believe  that  she  was  the  most  beautiful  of  them  all, 
and  occupying  such  vantage  ground,  to  which  she  was  to  a 
certain  extent  already  committed  and  pledged,  a  desire  on  her 


72  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

part  to  become  the  mightiest  woman,  or,  at  least,  to  be 
crowned  with  the  greatest  honours,  might  have  found  some 
extenuation.  But  Esther  was  superior  to  this.  What  she 
possessed  was  only  obedience — to  her  second  father,  and  to 
the  necessity.  But  ambition,  a  desire  to  rule,  lust  of  pleasure, 
she  had  none.  To  have  virtue  and  chastity  in  the  heart — 
when  at  home,  under  the  protection  of  parents,  is  not  so 
difficult.  But  in  the  harem,  in  the  midst  of  all  the  provisions 
which  sensuality  has  prepared  and  ordered,  where  everything 
excites  the  passions,  and  where  royal  power  casts  its  dazzling 
lustre,  in  such  a  position  still  to  remain  virtuous,  requires  an 
education  in  the  divine  law  of  a  holy  God,  such  as  Esther 
had  received  in  the  house  of  Mordecai. 

"  And  Esther  found  favour  in  the  sight  of  all  them  that 

looked  upon  her." 

She  desired  nothing,  and  yet  she  received  what  the  others 
had  with  all  their  arts  [vainly]  endeavoured  to  obtain.  Her 
natural  gracefulness  of  manner,  heightened  by  a  charm  which 
all  the  others  did  not  possess,  viz.  the  charm  of  an  innocent 
and  chaste  heart, — which  no  toilet  can  supply,  and  which 
wantonness  and  pomp  leave  the  more  missing, — captivated 
all  who  saw  her,  even  before  she  went  to  the  king.  She 
pleased  all,  not  merely  on  account  of  her  beauty,  but  what 
is  more,  on  account  of  her  amiability.  Her  modest  and 
unpretentious  behaviour  towards  everybody  won  for  her  the 
respect  of  all.  Being  of  a  simple  and  contented  disposition, 
she  excited  no  envy  or  dislike  in  others.  In  contrast  with 
those  who  preceded  her,  who,  in  spite  of  all  the  artful  means 
which  they  used  for  obtaining  more  ostentatious  ornaments, 
were  yet  dissatisfied,  and  therefore  excited  dislike  against 
themselves,  she  was  satisfied  with  the  gifts  and  treatment 
she  received.  But  where  should  the  others  get  the  charms 
which  only  a  quiet  believing  heart  can  supply  in  such  a  place  ? 
In  the  house  of  sensuality  true  chastity  makes  an  irresistible 
impression  upon  the  eyes,  countenance,  and  demeanour.     But 


CHAP.  II.  16.  73 

it  was  the  grace  of  God  which  brought  such  a  girl  to  this 
place ;  not  for  the  sake  of  the  king,  but  for  the  sake  of  the 
danger  that  was  impending  upon  the  people  to  whom  she  be- 
longed, and  to  whom  she  was  attached  both  in  heart  and  belief. 

Ver.  16.  "So  Esther  ivas  taken  unto  King  Alihashverosli, 
into  his  house  royal,  m  the  tenth  month,  which  is  the  month 
Teheth,  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign.'' 
Tebeth  is  the  tenth  month  in  the  Jewish  year  which  begins 
with  Nisan  according  to  the  Scriptures,  and  the  fourth  month 
in  the  Jewish  year  which  begins  with  Tishri  according  to 
the  traditions.  The  name  was  indigenous  in  Syria  and 
Mesopotamia,  where  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  the  captivity 
had  adopted  it  and  all  the  new  names  of  the  months.  The 
statement  that  the  introduction  took  place  in  the  tenth  month 
of  the  seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  the  king,  evidently  refers 
to  the  Persian  computation  of  time.  Now,  if  their  tenth 
month  was  either  then  called  Tebeth,  or  corresponded  to 
Tebeth,  it  would  follow  that,  already  under  Xerxes,  the 
Persian  year  began  in  the  spring,  as  is  also  manifest 
from  the  spirit  of  the  teaching  of  the  Avesta.  It 
would  also  not  be  erroneous  to  infer  that  the  introduction 
of  the  women  to  the  king  began  in  the  Persian  spring,  so 
that  nine  months  had  passed  before  Esther's  turn  came. 
The  ground  for  the  successive  turns  cannot  be  ascertained  ; 
probably  it  was  in  accordance  with  the  priority  of  the 
selection  for  the  harem  by  the  Aga.  The  wonderful  dis- 
pensation by  which  Esther  was  chosen  as  a  favourite  of  the 
king  is  more  prominently  brought  to  view  by  the  fact  that 
her  turn  was  not  before  the  tenth  month,  after  hundreds 
of  candidates  had  gone  before  her  and  had  been  rejected. 
It  may  be  asked  why,  if  the  Aga  was  well  disposed  to  her, 
and  as  it  appears  from  ver.  9  that  he  facilitated  matters  for 
her  speedy  advancement,  did  he  not  introduce  her  before  ? 
To  this  we  answer,  that  his  postponement  was  actuated  by 
friendly  feelings    towards    her,  in    not  wishing   to   risk   her 


74*  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

chance,  as  he  knew  that  the  first  were  not  usually  successful. 
The  LXX.  and  Josephus  have  on  this  a  surprisingly  deviating 
date,  viz.  that  it  took  place  in  the  twelfth  month,  which  is  Adar 
{BcoBeKaTM  fjLr]vi,  09  earov  'ABdp).  These  chronological  variations 
did  not  arise  from  homiletical  traditions,  which  rather  adhered  to 
the  month  Tebeth,  but  only  from  a  gloss,  which  must  have  been 
made  by  one  who  was  acquainted  with  Persian  chronology.  The 
same  must  have  added  to  or  explained  the  statement  "  which 
is  Tebeth,  -nx."  For  this  is  the  Persian  name  of  the  ninth 
month,  with  which  the  tenth  month  of  the  Jewish  calendar 
partly  agrees.  But  the  LXX.  translators  took  this  nx  for 
the  Adar  of  the  Jewish  calendar,  and  consequently  had  added 
"in  the  twelfth  month."  The  ancient  expositors  pa^ss  over 
any  indication  that  the  tenth  of  the  month  Tebeth  recalls 
the  sad  event  of  Nebuchadnezzar's  encompassing  Jerusalem 
with  his  besieging  army  (Elzek.  xxiv.  1,  2).  In  the  month 
which  had  a  fast  day,  Esther  appeared  before  the  king,  that 
she  might  finally  save  Israel  by  fasting.  The  month  of 
oppression  and  distress,  caused  by  the  anger  of  the  king, 
became  the  month  of  deliverance  occasioned  by  the  love  of 
the  king. 

Ver.  17.  *'  And  he  made  her  queen  instead  of  Vashti." 
The  same  favour  which  Esther  experienced  everywhere,  she 
also  found  in  the  eyes  of  the  king.  "  He  loved  her  more  than 
all  the  women."  No  other  maiden  found  such  grace  before 
him,  and  she  became  his  cherished  wife,  so  that  he  set  the 
royal  crown  upon  her  head.  Jewish  teachers,  who  did  not 
like  to  entertain  the  notion  that  Esther  enjoyed  his  love,  say 
that  it  was  not  at  all  herself  whom  he  embraced,  but  a 
spirit ;  while  she  was  all  the  time  in  the  house  of  Mordecai. 
But  although  a  similar  superstition  was  to  a  great  extent 
prevalent  in  the  Middle  Ages,  yet  the  authors  of  the  Zohar 
ought  to  have  been  mindful  of  the  fact,  that  in  their  zeal 
to  shield  Esther  from  contamination  with  the  uncircum- 
cised  and  vicious  king,  they   thereby  made  her  a  deceiver. 


CHAP.  11.  18.  75 

The  Midrash  informs  us  that  the  king  had  hitherto  the 
portrait  of  Yashti  suspended  over  his  bed,  and  now  since 
Esther  saw  it,  he  had  it  removed,  and  placed  hers  in  its 
stead  (Esther  Eabba  99b;  Yalkut).  This  observation  is  in 
agreement  with  contemporary  experience.  Herodotus  narrates 
(vii.  69)  that  Darius,  the  father  of  Xerxes,  had  a  portrait  of 
his  favourite  wife  Artystone  made  out  of  embossed  gold.  The 
Jewish  teachers  quote  on  this  occasion  a  remarko.ble  saying 
of  E.  Berachia,  son  of  Levi  (Esther  Eabba  92&),  "When 
Israel  was  in  exile,  God  said  to  them,  '  You  weep  before  me, 
and  say  that  you  are  like  orphans  who  have  no  father  and 
mother.  I  will  send  you  a  redeemer,  who  will  also  be  without 
a  father.'  "^  This  they  apply  to  Esther.  But  she  had  once  a 
father  and  a  mother,  and  a  second  father  in  Mordecai.  Israel, 
indeed,  was  redeemed  by  the  Messiah,  who  had  no  human  father. 

Yer.  18.  "And  the.  king  made  a  great  feast." 
The  other  women  were  dismissed.  But  Esther,  the  king 
loved.  The  lot  of  these  great  earthly  potentates  was  usually 
not  an  enviable  one,  in  spite  of  their  great  pomp  and  magni- 
ficence. They  possessed  power,  but  no  love  ;  they  could 
command,  but  they  knew  little  of  the  emotions  of  the  heart's 
affection,  which  are  extended  to  the  person  loved  for  his  own 
sake.  Just  because  they  extracted  sensual  enjoyment  by 
force  of  royal  command,  they  were  not  in  actual  possession  of 
love.  Extravagant  and  luxurious  persons  and  times,  im- 
poverish the  ideal  thought  of  true  love,  of  husband  to  the 
wife  and  of  wife  to  husband,  who  is  also  to  her  the  image 
of  divine  creation.  It  is  told  of  Khosru,  the  great  king  of 
Persia,  that  he  chose  the  highly  gifted  Sherin  as  his  favourite, 
but  that  she  loved  a  poor  artist  named  Ferhad.  The  joy 
also  of  true  and  inmost  love  grows  only  out  of  morality  and 
out  of  the  belief  in  an  omniscient  God.     It  is  written  :  "  The 

^  ["  For  it  is  written,  Behold  the  man  whose  name  is  Branch,  and  he 
shall  bud  forth  under  liim"  (Zech.  vi.  12,  R.  V.).  Again  Isa.  xi.  1. 
Midrash  of  Moses  Hadarshan  on  Gen.  xxxvii.  22. — Trans.] 


76  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

king  loved  Esther."  He  found  in  her  a  different  person  from 
other  women.  She  was  modest  and  unassuming  in  her 
bearing.  Virtue  without  covetousness,  and  obedience  in 
spiritual  nobility,  not  only  beautified  her  face,  but  also  gave 
her  such  an  imposing  charm  that  the  king  was  moved  by 
higher  than  mere  common  feelings  when  looking  at  her. 
In  this  for  him  unusual  joy  he  instituted  a  feast :  an  Esther- 
feast  (iDDX  nriEJ'D)  or  banquet  to  celebrate  her  coronation,  as 
this  was  the  custom  everywhere.  Besides  this,  he  gave  an 
nmn  to  the  provinces,  which  the  Chaldaic  version  properly 
paraphrases  by  Nn^  pUK^,  "  remission  of  taxes."  Just  so  the 
Latin  word  remissio  means,  giving  rest  to  the  soul  (like  nn^n, 
from  nij),  as  well  as  release  of  tribute.  The  word  d<peaL^  of 
the  LXX.,  according  to  its  ancient  use,  has  the  meaning  of 
dimissio  and  remissio  also  in  the  higher  senses  of  the  word. 
When  the  pseudo-Smerdis  entered  upon  his  reign,  he  likewise 
on  the  ground  of  such  a  celebration  remitted  the  taxes  for 
three  years  (Herod,  iii.  67),  on  which  occasion  he  used  the 
word  drekrjLT),  viz.  ariXeca  <^6pov  (comp.  1  Mace.  x.  34),  where 
it  is  spoken  of  areXeta?  koX  alpiaew^,  "  days  without  taxes." 
Herodotus  is  of  opinion  that  all  Persian  kings  have  remitted 
the  taxes  when  they  began  to  reign  (vi.  59).  But  the 
Osman  sultans,  although  they  have  often  celebrated  weddings 
and  feasts  of  circumcision  with  great  eclat,  have  never  yet 
remitted  the  taxes  on  such  occasions.  They  have  rather  com- 
pelled their  subjects  to  give  them  presents,  unlike  this  case, 
where  the  king  gave  the  gifts,  ^'on  n^D,  to  his  subjects. 

This  expression,  -j^Dn  Ti^,  is  correctly  rendered  in  the  E.  V. 
"according  to  the  bounty  of  the  king,"  i.e.  the  gifts  were 
plentiful  in  quantity  and  worthy  in  quality.^  When,  in  1675, 
one  of  the  most  pompous  feasts  were  held  in  Stamboul,  every 
Greek  family  was  obliged  to  contribute  thirty  aspers  (a  Turkish 

1  On  the  other  hand,  the  ancient  caliphs  magnanimously  imitated  this 
royal  bounty.  The  most  magnificent  wedding  was  that  of  Mamun  with 
the  daughter  of  his  Vizier  Buran.  Of  this  Hammer,  in  his  Gemdldesaal, 
ii.  231,  reports  that  all  the  guests,  including  the  camel-drivers  and  the 
sailors,  were  overloaded  with  presents. 


CHAP.  II.  19.  V7 

coin),  and  every  ten  taxed  families  at  Adrianople  had  to  send 
six  hens,  two  fat  geese,  and  four  ducks  (Hammer,  vi.  308). 
The  delivery  of  other  presents  was  also  imposed  upon 
Jews  and  Christians  who  belonged  to  corporations  and  guilds. 
Entirely  different  was  the  munificent  action  of  the  King  of 
Persia ;  he  gave  with  full  hands,  remitted  the  income-tax  with 
a  joyful  heart,  for  he  loved  Esther  ;  and  he  who  loves  gives. 

Ver.  1 9.   "  And  when  the  mrgins  were  gathered  together 

the  second  time." 

This  verse  remained  obscure  to  former  commentators,  and 
especially  in  ancient  times,  so  that  the  LXX.  omitted  it 
altogether.  But  this  was  very  wrong.  The  verse  occupies 
an  important  position.  It  closely  connects  the  foregoing  with 
the  following,  and  only  shows  the  beauty  and  the  simplicity 
of  the  thoughts  contained  in  the  narrative.  It  introduces 
tlie  circumstances  under  which  a  new  event  took  place,  viz, 
the  conspiracy  of  the  eunuchs  and  its  collapse.  This  occur- 
rence is  placed  close  to  the  election  of  Esther  as  queen.  In 
ver.  1 9  the  contrast  as  well  as  the  connection  is  shown : 
"  And  when  the  virgins  were  gathered  together  the  second 
time  .  .  .  and  when  Mordecai  sat  in  the  king's  gate ; "  the 
elevation  of  Esther  to  the  rank  of  queen  had  not  at  all 
interrupted  the  routine  of  the  harem.  Ahhashverosh  indeed 
loved  Esther,  but  of  the  tyrannical  Persian  lust  of  women  he 
had  not  given  up  a  particle.  The  temptation  to  continually 
acquire  new  wives  was  as  strong  with  him  as  ever,  and 
he  could  not  subdue  his  sensual  infirmities  and  love  of 
extravacjance.  He  did  not  issue  a  decree  to  recall  and  annul  his 
former  one  for  the  seeking  out  of  women,  although  his  heart 
had  found  satisfaction  in  Esther.  The  narrator  intentionally 
brings  out  the  contrast.  "  Look,"  says  he,  "just  now  the  king 
has  shown  that  he  loved  Esther  above  all  women,  and  yet 
other  women  are  so  soon  sought  !  "  On  the  other  hand,  there 
is  truth  in  that  which  the  Jewish  expositors,  if  they  are 
rightly  understood,  seem  to  have  surmised,  namely,  that  the 


78  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

search  for  new  women  was  intentionally  organized  in  the 
court,  in  order  that  the  person  of  Esther  might  possibly  be 
eclipsed  and  placed  in  the  background.  One  might  easily 
bring  analo^jous  cases  in  Oriental  courts  as  illustrations.  The 
intriguing  courtiers  and  their  retinue  did  not  find  in  Esther, 
whose  origin  was  not  even  known  to  them,  a  person  who 
would  patronise  and  support  their  plans  and  farther  their 
influence.  This  they  could  only  secure  by  the  elevation  of 
another  favourite  who  was  more  intimately  connected  with 
them.  This  endeavour  would  not  only  meet  with  impunity, 
but  would  also,  according  to  Persian  court  fashion,  be  con- 
sidered as  an  act  of  loyal  demonstration.  The  king's  love 
to  Esther  did  not  at  all  hinder  him  from  receiving  such  fresh 
enjoyments.  In  his  haughty  and  dark  heart  there  was  not  a 
shadow  of  the  thought  that  such  conduct  was  in  fact  directed 
against  his  love,  and  against  her  who  was  momentarily 
loved  by  him.  To  this  the  narrator  significantly  alludes. 
He  wishes  to  say :  "  Scarcely  had  the  feast  of  Esther  taken 
place,  when  they  again  began  to  collect  virgins ;  and  so 
apparently  the  power  of  the  new  queen  had  already  begun 
to  decline."  It  was  then  that  the  following  event  occurred, 
wliich  was  of  such  a  character  that  it  endangered  the  king's 
oum  life,  hut  was  in  the  end  ^productive  of  greater  love  and 
gratitude  on  his  part  to  Esther. 

"  While  they  loere  again  collecting  virgins,  Mordccai  sat 

in  the  king's  gate." 

Not  as  an  official,  but  as  an  independent  man,  Mordecai  sat 
in  the  public  place  before  the  king's  palace,^  and  spent  his 
leisure  hours,  as  it  is  the  custom  in  the  East,  in  hearing 
news,  making  inquiries,  and  in  conversations  with  friends 
and  acquaintances.  This  clause  is  also  of  importance ;  for  not 
only   does  it   represent  the    external   circumstance,   without 

^  Herodotus  calls  the  place  'Trpodvpx.  When  Syloson  came  with  a 
petition  to  Darius  to  ask  for  Samos,  we  read  :  i'^ero  i;  rx  -Trpodvpoc  ra» 
fixai'hT^og  oIkio)v  (iii.  140). 


CHAP.  II.  19.  79 

which  the  discovery  of  the  conspiracy  could  not  have  been 
made  by  him,  but  it  also  expresses  the  sharp  contrast  to 
the  first  clause,  "  While  they  were  collecting."  The  seeking 
of  new  women  could  only  have  been  directed  against  Esther, 
while  Mordecai's  sitting  before  the  palace  had  no  other 
intention  [than  to  guard  her  interests],  for  before  this  he  had 
nothing  to  do  there  except  to  be  near  the  palace  in  order 
to  assist  his  dear  daughter  with  his  paternal  advice. 

Before  the  narrator  proceeds  to  give  a  detailed  account  of 
the  episode,  he  restrains  himself  from  what  he  has  to  say 
in  ver.  20,  and  inserts  parenthetically  two  memorable  facts, 
viz.  that  Esther  did  not  disclose  her  parentage  and  nationality, 
and  that  she  now  as  punctually  and  carefully  followed 
Mordecai's  injunctions  in  all  things  as  she  formerly  did  when 
she  was  under  his  humble  roof.  The  clause  is  remarkable  from 
many  an  aspect.  It  reveals,  first  of  all,  a  new  characteristic 
of  Esther  herself.  As  the  favoured  queen  she  remained  as 
modest  and  as  obedient  to  her  foster  father  as  she  was  when 
she  was  first  received  into  the  harem.  She  still  continued 
to  do  what  he  told  her,  as  if  she  had  still  been  in  his  house. 
The  royal  pomp  which  surrounded  her  on  every  side  did  not 
make  her  head  dizzy.  She  had  not  forgotten  that  the  whole 
royalty  was  not  for  her  a  matter  of  pleasure,  but  only  a  duty 
of  obedience.  Her  interest  was  with  the  father  out  of  doors, 
and  not  with  the  luxury  inside. 

Xothing  else  but  his  wisdom  influenced  her.  Xow,  if  the 
picture  of  Esther's  character  gains  in  our  estimation  through 
this  parenthetical  notice,  its  importance  is  further  seen  in 
this :  Not  merely  because  she  did  not  disclose  her  parentage, 
and  did  not  suffer  herself  to  be  influenced  by  any  one  but 
Mordecai,  did  she  maintain  her  position  at  court  (on  account 
of  which  influential  courtiers  were  searching  for  other  and 
more  manageable  women) ;  but  also  because  the  fact;  concerning 
which  more  is  to  be  spoken  in  detail,  shows  how  wise  the 
arrangement  of  Mordecai  was.  The  knowledge  that  he 
acquired  of  the  conspiracy  he  certainly  owed  only  to  the  fact 


80  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

that  no  one  had  paid  any  particular  attention  to  him.  Had 
it  been  known  that  he  was  a  countryman  and  relation  of  the 
queen,  he  would  not  have  been  able  to  sit  so  leisurely  before 
the  gate  of  the  palace.  The  intriguers  would  have  been 
cautious  with  their  design.  Thus  wisdom  rewarded  the  one, 
and  obedience  the  other.  Esther  continued  to  be  queen, 
because  she  was  no  less  humble  now  than  she  was  when  only 
a  poor  orphan.  She  rose  in  power  and  influence,  because,  out 
of  gratitude  to  her  uncle,  she  did  not  think  of  either.  The 
parenthesis  is  also  of  uncommon  importance,  for  without  it 
the  fact  of  the  discovered  conspiracy  would  have  had  no 
significance  and  interest  for  our  book. 

Ver.  21.  Dnn  Dvo^n — ''In  those  days," 
Now,  after  the  short  digression,  the  narrator  takes  up  the 
thread  of  the  narrative.  "  In  those  days,"  says  he  (as  they 
were  again  collecting  virgins,  and)  as  Mordecai  used  to  sit  at 
the  gate,  it  happened  that  two  eunuchs  belonging  to  the 
sentinels  of  the  palace,  and  therefore  confidential  persons, 
made  a  conspiracy  against  the  king's  life.  The  reason  for  it 
is  not  stated,  but  it  probably  was  because  their  ambition  had 
been  thwarted  and  their  influence  had  been  damaged.  Others 
sought  to  gain  promotion  in  a  different  way,  by  seeking  to 
substitute  another  favourite  in  the  place  of  Esther ;  but  these 
thought  that  they  could  only  reach  their  aim  by  murdering 
the  king,  and  substituting  another  in  his  place.  Through  the 
wonderful  guidance  of  Providence,  the  plan  of  the  one  party 
must  become  the  means  of  salvation  from  the  design  of  the  other 
in  reference  to  the  king  and  the  queen.  Their  names  were 
Teresh,  mn,  and  Bigthan,  |rm.  The  name  |rm  is  like  «nJ3 
(s.  a),  Bagoas,  Bagistanes ;  that  of  U'\t\  reminds  us  of  xntnn 
(Ezra  ii.  63) ;  both  are  derived  from  their  offices.  But  they 
were  not  high  officials.  This  is  shown  by  the  qualifying  words 
t)Dn  nDC^D,  those  who  kept  the  door.  Herodotus  called  them 
TTvXovpoi,  (j>v\aKaL  (iii.  140),  without  whom  no  one  could  enter 
the  castle  (iii.  72).     The  name  fjon  '^'\'2W  was  not  unfamiliar  to 


CHAP.  II.  21.  81 

the  narrator,  as  it  often  occurs  in  the  history  of  Israel  when 
they  had  reached  the  zenith  of  glory  (2  Kings  xii.  1 0,  xxii.  4, 
XXV.  18  ;  2  Chron.  xxxiv.  9  ;  Jer.  xxxv.  4,  lii.  24). 

Moreover,  it  is  said  that  Xerxes  was  at  last  actually  killed 
by  conspirators.  Artaban,  the  commander  of  his  cavalry, 
conspired  with  Mithridates,  his  confidential  chamberlain,  who 
admitted  him  into  the  bedroom  of  the  king  during  the  night, 
and  so  he  stabbed  the  king  with  his  dagger  while  he  was 
asleep  (Diodor.  xi.  69.  1).  But  this  time  he  escaped  assassi- 
nation. It  is  emphatically  told  that  the  conspirators  were 
watchers  of  the  threshold,  the  guard  at  the  entrance  of  the 
gate.  From  this  it  appears  probable  that  Mordecai,  who  was 
loitering  about  the  gate,  and  unnoticed  by  them,  overheard 
their  treacherous  conversation.  Josephus  thinks  that  a  Jewish 
slave  was  one  of  them,  by  the  name  of  Barnabazus,  who 
betrayed  them  to  Mordecai.  The  Jewish  commentators  are 
of  opinion  that  Mordecai  understood  their  language,  inas- 
much as  he  spoke  seventy  languages ;  and  the  proof  they 
give  of  this  is,  that  another  man  in  Ezra  ii.  2  is  called 
Mordecai,  whose  name  stands  near  the  name  Bilshan,  which 
they  take  as  an  adjective  meaning  linguist.  The  language 
they  spoke  was  the  language  of  Tarshish,  "^^dhld.  How  they 
come  to  this  strange  idea  can  easily  be  guessed.  The  name 
of  one  of  the  conspirators  was  l^nn,  which  reminded  of  ^^^m, 
which  is  sometimes  explained  as  standing  for  Tarsus  in  Cilicia. 
But  it  is  curious  to  note  that  with  this  Mordecai  the  Ben- 
jamite,  according  to  the  Eabbis,  a  Barnabas  stands  in  con- 
fidential and  fraternal  relationship,  and  he  is  conversant  with 
the  language  of  Tarsus,  like  the  Apostle  Paul,  who  also  had 
a  Barnabas  for  an  intimate  friend  and  companion !  The 
LXX.  does  not  even  mention  the  traitors  by  name,  but  simply 
speaks  of  them  as  commanders  of  the  body-guard  (ap^Lo-co/juaro- 
(f>v\aK€<;).  Josephus  used  a  manuscript  which  read  Enn 
instead  of  tnn,  for  he  calls  him  Theodestes.  Mordecai  dis- 
covered the  plot  by  his  wisdom  and  by  his  observation,  which 
his  love  to  Esther  inspired.     Was  he  not  sitting  day  by  day 


82  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

in  the  square  before  the  palatial  gate  for  tlie  very  purpose  of 

being  vigilant,  and  yet  to  be   unobserved  ?     And  when  he 

was  quite  certain  (ynvi)  that  the  king's   life   was  in  danger, 

so    that    he    could    substantiate    his     accusation,    and    that 

this  would  not  fall   upon  the  head  of  Esther,  he   at   once 

acquainted  her  with  the  fact.     Evidently  he  must  have  kept 

up   a   continual    correspondence  with  her,   as    appears  from 

V.   20,  and  so  the  queen    revealed  it  to  Ahhashverosh.     A 

searching  investigation  was  immediately  made,  the  accusation 

was  proved,  and  both  eunuchs  were  hanged  on  the  gallows. 

Upon    this   mode   of  execution  we  shall    speak    farther   on. 

The    incident   was    a  wonderful    interposition  of   the    great 

Eedeemer  of  Israel,  who  thus  already  made  known  His  name. 

Without    this,   Esther   might   perhaps   have   fallen   a  victim 

through  the  instrumentality  of  a  new  rival.     But  now  she  had 

saved  the  king's  life.      She  had  told  him  that  it  was  Mordecai 

from  whom  she  had  learned  the  secret  of  the  conspiracy,  and 

he  had  his   name   duly  registered  in    the  archives ;  but   to 

reward  him,  he  had  momentarily  forgotten,^  and  Esther,  acting 

on  the  advice  of  her  friend,  was   silent  on  the  point.     He 

would  have  been  exalted  to  high  rank,  had  she  said  that  he 

was  her  uncle  and  foster-father.     But  she  obeyed,  and  said 

nothing.     The  instruments  have  been  prepared  for  the  hour 

of  danger  and  of  deliverance.     The  Midrash  adorns  the  above 

fact  with  many  quaint  sayings ;  but  there  are  some  valuable 

thoufTjhts  amonix  them. 

According    to  it,  the   conspirators   wanted   to    poison   the 

king  by  putting    a  snake    into    his  cup  of  wine  or    coffee. 

When  they  saw  that   this  plan  was   discovered,  they  indeed 

hastily  removed   the   snake ;    but  when  the  investigation  of 

the  affair  was  made,  lo,  in  order  to  save  Mordecai's  head, 

there   the   snake  was   again   in  the  cup.     The  story  of  the 

1  Even  in  the  history  of  Germany  it  occuiTed,  as  Archenholz  narrates 
{Histm^y  of  the  Seven  Years'  War,  7th  ed.  p.  462),  that  the  court 
preacher  Gerlach  had  warned  Frederick  II.  against  the  treachery  of 
Warkotsch,  and  saved  his  life  ;  but  his  fidehty  was  not  acknowledged  nor 
rewarded, 


CHAP.  11.  21.  83 

snake  in  the  cup^  is  borrowed  by  the  Midrash  from  the 
experience  and  notions  of  the  time.  King  Xerxes  was  not 
exactly  a  John,  wlio,  according  to  the  Lord's  promise  to  all 
His  disciples,  might  drink  from  a  cup  in  which  a  snake  had 
full  play,  without  being  hurt.  The  Midrash  further  says  of 
the  wonderful  providence  of  God,  that  the  king's  anger 
against  bis  servants  was  like  that  of  Pharaoh  against  his 
in  order  that  Joseph  might  be  set  free  from  prison ;  and 
that  the  anger  of  the  servants  against  the  king  happened 
in  order  that  Mordecai  might  become  instrumental  in  the 
deliverance  of  Israel.  In  answer  to  the  question  whether 
Mordecai  was  right  in  his  intervention  to  save  the  life 
of  such  a  king,  the  Midrash  says :  Jacob  blessed  Pharaoh, 
Joseph  interpreted  the  king's  dream,  and  Daniel  pro- 
phesied to  Nebuchadnezzar.  The  pious  of  Israel  have 
always  been  obedient  to  the  existing  authorities,  and  have 
always  done  what  they  could  for  their  welfare.  This  ex- 
hibition of  loyalty,  as  in  the  case  of  Joseph  and  Daniel,  so 
also  here,  became  the  means  of  the  salvation  of  those  who 
showed  it.  The  king  had  certainly  not  appreciated  the 
spirit  and  the  sentiments  of  Esther.  He  was  accustomed  to 
his  wives  esteeming  his  life  of  the  highest  consequence. 
When  Darius  recovered  from  sickness,  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  clever  Greek  physician  Demokedes,  he  sent 
him  to  the  house  of  the  women,  in  order  that  they  might  see 
him  who  saved  his  life ;  and  they  gave  him  rich  presents 
(Herod,  iii.  130).  For  the  life  of  these  w^omen  was,  after  the 
death  of  their  king,  very  sad  and  miserable.  The  report  of 
Athenaeus,  that  the  Persian  king  was  guarded  by  3  0  0  women, 
has  no  other  sense  except  that  to  none  was  his  life  so 
precious  as  to  them.  Ahhashverosh,  indeed,  rejoiced  that 
Esther  saved  his  life,  and  she  gained  in  his  estimation,  and 

^  The  narrative  of  the  noble  Omar  Ben- Abdul- Aziz  has  taken  hold  of 
the  Oriental  legends,  which  tell  that  he  was  poisoned  by  a  treacherous 
servant,  and  from  the  poison  he  became  green  like  as  grass  (comp. 
Tutinameh,  iibers.  v.  Rosen,  ii.  139). 


84  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

secured  her  position  against  possible  rivals.  But  the 
tyrannical  selfishness  of  an  Oriental  mighty  king  is  neither 
diminished  nor  refined  by  such  catastrophes.  They  are  to 
him  usual  acts  and  occurrences  that  are  bound  up  with 
government.  Holding  unlimited  power  over  the  lives  of 
thousands,  his  heart  is  not  softened  nor  his  wisdom  increased 
by  an  exhibition  of  dutiful  love.  He  had  not,  indeed,  for- 
gotten to  condemn  the  conspirators,  but  the  reward  due  to  the 
deliverer,  and  the  warning  lesson  which  the  hostile  assault  was 
intended  to  teach  him,  these  he  had  forgotten.  This  is 
evident  from  the  narrative  farther  on,  when  it  reaches  its 
tragic  height.  Through  extraordinary  interventions,  that 
which  was  prevented  from  happening  helped  to  prevent  other 
things  from  happening.  The  failure  of  the  attempt  to  murder 
the  king,  and  his  omission  to  reward  Mordecai,  were  factors  in 
the  frustration  of  the  plan  which  hatred  and  caprice  had 
formed.  But  it  also  proves  that  the  preparatory  steps  taken 
by  the  king,  as  recorded  in  chap,  iii.,  although  they  were 
intended  to  prevent  similar  catastrophes,  yet  they  did  not 
proceed  from  a  sense  of  dereliction  of  duty  and  love  on  his 
part,  but  were  entirely  based  upon  his  right  of  exercising  his 
arbitrary  will. 


CHAPTEE    III. 

Ver.  1.  "  After  these  things." 
The  narrator  in  our  book  has  not  undertaken  the  task  of 
giving  a  complete  history  of  Ahhashverosh.  His  chief  object 
is  to  report  the  circumstances  which  were  connected  with 
the  drama  of  the  danger  and  of  the  deliverance  of  Israel. 
True,  he  gives  the  exact  dates  in  which  the  recorded  events 
happened,  but  at  the  same  time  we  must  remember  that  he 
does  not  write  annals  of  the  Persian  court.  He  rather  very 
ably  places  those  events  in  succession  after  each  other  which 
have  any  ethical  tendency  or  bearing  upon  the  history,  in 
spite  of  the  intervals  of  time  which  lie  between  them.  The 
disaster  which  Haman  seeks  to  bring  upon  Israel  is  to  him 
the  hinge  upon  which  his  history  turns.  All  these  things,  he 
implies,  must  necessarily  have  happened,  in  order  that  the 
plan  of  an  angry  man  should  be  frustrated.  Instead  of  giving 
us  diffusive  reflections,  he  lets  the  facts  speak  for  themselves. 
He  does  not  speak  of  the  miracles  which  these  successive 
occurrences  reveal,  but  he  makes  it  clear  that  Haman  only 
becomes  powerful  just  at  that  moment  when  the  exaltation  of 
Esther  to  the  position  of  queen,  and  when  the  saving  of  the 
king's  life  through  Mordecai  had  taken  place,  and  not  before. 

"  Haman  the  son  of  Rammedatha  the  Agagite." 
The  narrator  reports  his  elevation  by  the  king  after  the 
preceding  events  had  taken  place,  but  omits  to  indicate  the 
ground  for  this  elevation.  Kegarded  superficially,  there  seems 
to  be  no  connection  between  these  events  and  his  promotion, 
nevertheless  they  form  the  historical  basis  or  the  ladder  upon 


86  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

\vhicli  he  climbed  up  to  his  high  position.  There  is  a  well- 
known  Persian  tradition,  that  in  the  reign  of  King  Vistagpa, 
later  Gustasp,  the  religion  of  the  Avesta  was  introduced  into 
Persia  (Spiegel,  Avesta,  i,  42,  43).  Although  it  has  been 
questioned  whether  this  Vistagpa  is  the  same  as  Hystaspes, 
the  father  of  Darius,  yet  the  identity  of  the  names  may  be 
established  from  the  fact  that  the  house  of  Darius  was 
particularly  zealous  for  the  doctrine  of  the  Zarathustra.  It 
is  remarkable  enough  that  we  do  not  meet  with  the  name 
Hystaspes,  except  in  the  case  of  the  father  and  the  son  of 
Darius.  This  king  says  of  himself,  in  the  inscription  of 
Bisutun,  according  to  Benfey,  p.  12,  as  follows:  "I  have 
again  restored  the  temple,  and  the  worship  of  the  protector 
of  the  kingdom  and  of  the  gods."  Xerxes  also,  if  the  few 
notices  we  have  are  an  indication,  was  closely  connected  with, 
and  influenced  by,  this  religious  cultus.  A  magus  by  the 
name  of  Osthanes  (see  Pliny,  30.  1)  accompanied  him  on  his 
war  expedition,  and  was  commissioned  to  propagate  Persian 
doctrines,  and  an  Iranian  priest  had  even  ordered  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  temples  and  the  images  in  the  hostile  countries. 
In  the  elevation  of  Haman  we  must  therefore  see  an  approval 
of,  and  participation  in,  his  religious  zeal.  The  whole  activity 
of  Haman  betrays  religious  sentiments,  and  his  name  has  a 
religious  sound. 

Haman  (pn)  is  to  be  derived  from  the  wonderfully  holy 
Haoma,  or  Hom,  who  was  thought  to  be  a  spirit  as  well 
as  a  sacrificial  potion,  possessing  life-giving  power  (Spiegel, 
Avesta,  ii.  75).  The  significance  of  Hom  in  the  Persian 
sacrificial  service  was  at  all  times  known  (Omomi  in 
Plutarch)  ;  and  as  it  was  connected  especially  with  priestly 
functions,  we  may  infer  from  this  that  one  who  bore  a  name 
which  was  derived  from  Hom,  was  endowed  with  priestly 
qualities.  In  fact  the  name  pn,  Gr.  Omanes  (like  Otanes, 
Azanes,  Hystanes),  does  not  occur  in  the  classics  as  a  name 
of  any  Persian,  and  only  the  inscription  of  Bisutun  (Benfey, 
p.    14)    contains    the    following   passage:    "A    man    named 


CHAP.  III.  1.  87 

Martiya,  son  of  Chicliikrish,  who  lived  in  Kliuganaka,  a 
Persian  city,  rose  in  the  Susian  kingdom,  and  said :  '  I  am 
Umanish,  king  of  Susiana.' "  Though  it  is  doubtful  whether 
the  letter  "  u  "  is  in  the  name  of  Umanish,  but  the  context 
shows  that  the  name  is  similar  to  Haman.  It  says  that  a 
man  in  Shushan  (where  Haman  lived)  arrogated  to  himself 
the  royal  title  of  Umanish.  And  it  is  precisely  of  such  a 
person,  that  we  may  presume  he  was  actuated  by  religious 
motives.  What  enhances  the  probability  of  the  identity  of 
Haman  with  this  person  is  the  name  of  his  father,  i^mon, 
Homdata  [as  in  Pherendates],  "the  gift  of  Hom."  The 
appellation  of  Hom  was  then,  like  the  functions  of  the  priests, 
hereditary  in  the  family.  We  may  also  assume  that  the  third 
epithet  of  Haman  which  sounds  as  a  family  name,  Agagite 
(^jjn),  is  closely  connected  with  it.  The  Jewish  commentators 
have,  forsooth,  woven  a  good  deal  of  fantastical  interpreta- 
tion around  this  name,  but  which  in  no  other  point  comes 
near  to  the  historical  truth  save  in  this,  that  they  give  to  the 
hatred  of  Haman  against  the  Jews  a  religious  colour.  But 
their  saying  that  Haman  was  a  descendant  of  Agag,  the 
king  of  Amalek  (1  Sam.  xv.  8),  who  descended  from  Esau, 
Jacob's  brother  and  enemy, — and  hence  his  hatred  of  the 
Jews  was  hereditary, —  cannot  be  proved  from  history,  although 
their  pointing  out  an  historical  contrast  in  Haman,  as  we 
have  already  shown,  is  certainly  correct.  The  Midrash  goes 
even  so  far  as  to  give  a  whole  list  of  names  which  form  the 
genealogy  of  Haman  up  to  Esau,  but  in  spite  of  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  text,  it  can  be  seen  that  the  names  mostly  arose 
from  the  Piabbinical  views  of  the  morality  of  this  generation. 
First,  names  are  given  which  denote  "  bad  qualities ; "  then 
figure  as  the  ancestors  of  Haman  those  persecutors  of  the  Jews 
in  the  Herodian-Pioman  era,  who  are  of  Idumean  and  heathen 
origin.^      The   genealogy  of  the   Targum   is  for  this   reason 

^  The  passage  in  the  corrupt  text,  Amst.  ed.,  compared  with  another,  is 
as  follows  (a  similar  genealogy  in  Herod,  vii.  204,  viii.  131) : — 


««  BOOK  OF  ESTHEE. 

remarkable,  because  we  get  thereby  a  clue  to  the  time  when 
it  was  written ;  but  it  does  not  contribute  anything  to  eluci- 
date the  epithet  Agagite  in  connection  with  Haman.  In 
our  opinion,  it  is  quite  improbable  that  Haman  should  be  a 
descendant  of  Amalek/ 

Tor  the  son  of  a  certain  Hamedatha,  a  man  whose  name 
was  derived  from  Haoma,  must  be  of  pure  Medo- Persian 
descent.  If  the  narrator  had  wanted  to  say  that  Haman  was 
really  an  Amalekite,  he  would  have  at  once  written  Amalek 
instead  of  Agagi.  Agag  was  indeed  a  king  of  Amalek,  but 
what  is  told  of  him  in  the  Book  of  Samuel  cannot  stamp 
him  as  a  type  of  Haman,  as  he  rather  suffered  than  executed 
judgment.  One  cannot  also  assert  that  the  narrator,  in  calling 
him  Agagite,  w^anted  to  represent  him  as  the  ethnical  as  well 
as  the  political  persecutor  of  his  people,  as  Amalek  was,  for 

"11  DnoTi^N^  in  {al  ipi^D)  jpybn^  in  («?.  pxn)  nyo*  "in  Diia^  in  d^d^^^ 
p^iDV  in  ^pDiD  in  j:ix  -m  xnri  in  xnt^DiQ  "in  "i:ii '  nn  i:t^  "in  nn^in 

.i!^y"j  nnmn  Ta"''^N"i  xnrn^  -m 

To  read  ^DID^D  ^D'^Dvb  '^DT^Q  ^nyS  ^ DISS'S  ^Dns^D^N,  "It^S^Dit^  ''\i2- 
The  translation  according  to  the  corrected  text  is :  Haman  the  son  of  Ham- 
datha  of  Agagi,  son  of  Stench,  son  of  Robbery,  son  of  Pilath,  son  of  Lysias, 
son  of  Florus,  son  of  Fadus,  son  of  Flaccus,  son  of  Antipater,  son  of  Herod, 
son  of  Refuse,  son  of  Decay,  son  of  Parmashta,  son  of  Waizata,  son  of 
Agag,  son  of  the  Red  One  (Rufiis),  son  of  Amalek,  of  the  wliore  of  Eliphaz, 
son  of  Esau.  These  are,  with  the  exception  of  Lysias,  a  Syrian  general, 
entirely  names  of  Roman  persecutors  of  the  Jews  ;  and  Antipater  and 
Herod,  who  were  Idumeans,  and  therefore  sons  of  Esau,  have  a  place  in 
the  ignoble  roll  because  of  their  similarity  of  character  with  the  rest 
(comp.  Targum,  ed.  Amsterdam,  58d). 

*  The  Midrash,  as  is  usual  with  hostile  parties,  tries  its  best  to  stain 
Haman's  pedigree.  It  declares  him  to  be  a  descendant  of  a  prostitute,  as 
the  nickname  bastard  is  common  in  the  East.  However,  Hammer  tells  us 
(Namen  der  Araher,  p.  50)  that  the  expression  is  not  a  nickname  among  the 
Turks,  but  rather  a  term  in  praise  of  natural  gifts  [so  also  among  the 
Jews. — Tr.].  Yet  it  is  not  always  so,  for  when  used  by  Ibrahim,  the  Osman 
sultan,  it  was  certainly  not  an  expression  of  praise  (Hammer,  58d).  That 
Agagi  represents  the  ethical  hostility  of  Haman  may  be  seen  from  the 
analogy  of  the  LXX.  on  ix.  21,  when  it  calls  him  'M»ksI&>u,  inasmuch  as 
the  hostility  of  the  Syrians,  in  the  time  of  the  Maccabean  persecution, 
was  designated  by  Macedonian  names.  The  garrison  of  the  castle,  whose 
expulsion  was  for  a  long  time  commemorated  by  a  feast,  was  also  called 
Macedonian  (Joseph.  Ant.  xii.  5.  4). 


CHAP.  III.  1.  89 

this  would  have  been  unique  in  Scripture.  In  that  case,  he 
would  have  explicitly  named  Amalek.  Apart  from  this,  it 
did  not  even  occur  to  the  interpreters  to  ask  whether,  accord- 
ing to  1  Sam.  XV.  and  1  Chron.  iv.  43,  which  record  the 
destruction  of  the  whole  race  of  Amalek,  there  could  still 
be  any  one  descended  from  him.  But  Haman  does  not 
even  feel  and  act  like  an  Amalekite,  for  he  does  not  begin 
to  persecute  the  Jews  before  the  independent  bearing  of 
Mordecai  excites  his  indignation.  If  the  narrator  had  wanted 
to  designate  by  the  appellative  Agagite  an  enemy  of  the  Jews, 
he  need  not  have  added  in  ver.  10  the  words  Dnin\n  "iilV, 
''  the  Jews'  enemy."  There  can  therefore  be  no  doubt  that 
the  word  Agagite  has  received  the  prevalent  notion  from  the 
punctuation  of  the  Masoretes. 

The  similarity  of  the  letters  of  '':i:ix  with  the  name  of  the 
Amalekite  king  led  them  to  tliis  punctuation,  so  that  by  way 
of  jest  they  might  transfer  the  character  of  the  ancient  enemy 
of  the  Jews  to  Haman.  But  this  change  in  the  punctuation  is 
the  more  interesting,  as  in  all  probability  an  honourable  title 
was  changed  by  it  into  a  polemical  one.  For  Haman  bears 
this  appellation  in  the  first  mention  of  him.  If  it  is  not  a 
nickname  given  to  him  by  the  Jews  and  reproduced  by  the 
narrator,  then  it  must  be  a  Persian  name,  which  is  somewhat 
connected  with  the  purport  of  the  father's  and  the  son's  names. 
It  is  very  probable  that  in  ''JJ&5  is  to  be  found  the  New  Persian 
njt^lJ,  Guageh,  which  means  a  man  of  authority  and  dignity,  and 
therefore  is  also  used  as  a  title  of  honour  (Vullers,  Lex.  i. 
735).  But  it  has  also  the  sense  of  a  comrade  or  companion, 
one  who  belongs  to  the  same  corporation,  which  is  perhaps  more 
characteristic,  as  we  shall  afterwards  show.  The  LXX.  reads 
Bovyalo<i  instead  of  '•Jix,  and  thereby  prove  that  they,  at  any 
rate,  had  not  thought  that  he  was  a  descendant  of  Agag.  They 
seem  thus  to  have  thought  of  Bagoas,  which  was  also  the  name 
of  a   number   of   royal  confidants  of  Alexander  the  Great.^ 

^  Comp.  Curtius,  vi.  5.  23  :  "  Inter  qiiem  Bagoas  erat  specie  singulari 
spado  .  .  .  cui  is  Darius  fuit  adsuetus  et  mox  Alexander  adsiievit." 


90  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

But  the  Bagoas  were  eunuchs,  and  Haman  was  not.  Perhaps 
we  may  recognise  this  Guageh  (Gogeh)  in  the  name  Gyges, 
who  was  a  favourite  among  the  retinue  of  Candaules  of  Lydia, 
and  who  afterwards  became  king  (Herod,  i.  8). 

"And    advaiiced    him,  and    set    Jiis    seat    ahove   all   the 

princes.'' 

The  elevation  of  a  man  at  court  was  figuratively  represented 
by  the  elevation  of  his  seat  in  the  presence  of  the  king.  The 
highest  seat  was  occupied  by  the  king,  and  the  one  who  sat 
the  nearest  to  him  was  the  most  honoured  and  distinguished. 

When  the  hero  Eustem  was  to  be  rewarded  by  the  shah, 
we  read  (Firdussi,  ed.  Schack,  p.  266), — 

"  And  Eustem,  witli  the  adorning  crown, 
Sat  nearest  to  the  lofty  throne." 

When  he  quarrelled  with  Kai  Kawus,  and  his  friends  persuaded 
him  to  remain,  they  promised  him — 

"  Thy  seat  a  throne  as  for  a  king." 

Therefore  at  great  conferences  of  princes,  the  various  dignities 
were  displayed  by  the  various  elevations  of  the  thrones  they 
occupied.  When  the  German  kings  came  during  the  Crusade 
to  Constantinople,  the  emperor  occupied  a  higher  throne  than 
they. 

Geiseddin  Balbun,  the  ninth  prince  of  the  Ghurid  dynasty 
in  Delhi,  permitted  only  those  of  the  fifteen  expelled  kings 
who  formed  his  court  to  sit  on  lower  seats  near  him,  who  were 
descended  from  the  caliphs  (comp.  my  Kaiser  und  Konigs- 
thron,  p.  49).  When  Apollonius  of  Tyana  came  on  his 
fabulous  journey  to  the  Indian  sages  (Phil.  iii.  16),  Jarchas 
sat  "upon  a  high  seat,  the  other  sages  upon  lower  ones,  and  to 
Apollonius  was  offered,  as  a  mark  of  special  honour,  the  throne 
of  Phraortes  the  king  (17).^     Such  elevations  through  personal 

^  The  famous  Vizier  Melekshahs,  Nisamolmlik,  narrates  in  his  auto- 
biography, of  the  great  honour  which  was  shown  him.  He  alone  rode  on 
horseback,  the  others  were  on  foot.     "From  this  moment  I  sat  upon 


CHAP.  III.  2.  91 

favouT  of  the  rulers  were  not  unusual  in  Oriental  courts, 
especially  in  times  of  peace,  and  under  weak  princes.  It  is 
told  by  Ktesias  of  a  eunuch  under  Darius  Nothos,  that, 
through  the  favour  of  the  king,  he  succeeded  in  getting  all  the 
power  at  court  into  his  hands.  So  also  it  is  told  of  Bagoas, 
under  Artaxerxes  II.,  that  he  and  the  Greek  Mentor  had  so 
much  ingratiated  themselves  into  the  favour  of  the  king  that 
they  had  more  influence  than  the  king's  own  friends  and 
relations,  TrkelaTOV  la'^vaai,  twv  (J)lX(ov  kol  avyjevoov  rwu  Trap 
'Apra^ep^r)"  (Diodor.  xvi.  50).  The  elevation  of  Haman 
must  surely  have  a  special  significance,  for  all  the  courtiers 
and  guards  were  compelled  to  fall  down  before  him  and  to 
render  him  homage  as  to  a  king. 

Ver.   2.  "All  the  king's  servants  lowed   down  and    did 

reverence." 

Servants  of  the  king  included  all  the  courtiers  and  guards. 
The  expression  corresponds  to  the  New  Persian  Gholam,  of 
which  Malcolm  says  {Gesch.  Pers.  i.  185)  Gholam,  or  slave, 
was  the  title  of  the  body-guard  of  Eastern  princes.  When  the 
son  of  a  great  Persian  nobleman  is  admitted  into  the  guard, 
he  claims  tlie  title  of  Gholam-e-shah,  or  "  slave  of  the  king." 
"  Slave  "  was  the  usual  title  by  which  the  rulers  when  angry 
addressed  the  highest  officials,  as  pashas  and  grand  viziers.  To 
the  demented  Ibrahim,  sultan  of  the  Osmans,  his  grand  vizier 
said  :  "  You  are  the  caliph,  the  shadow  of  God  upon  earth, 
and  what  enters  your  mind  is  divine  revelation ;  however 
absurd  it  may  appear,  it  has  a  hidden  meaning,  which  your 
slave^  respects,  although  he  does  not  understand  it "  (Hammer, 
V.  399).     The  religious  power  which  the  adulating  minister 

the  wished-for  horse,  and  all  the  great  and  eminent  men  walked  by  my 
stirrups"  (Hammer,  Gemdldesaal,  v.  71).  So  the  Barmekide  Giafar  at  the 
court  of  Harun  was  allowed  to  sit  alongside  the  caliph. 

^  Aloisius  Gritti  was  the  plenipotentiary  ambassador  of  Soliman  I.  in 
his  treaties  with  Charles  V.  In  the  official  communication  of  the  sultan, 
as  given  in  a  Latin  report,  are  the  words,  "Aloisius  Gritti  sclavus  meus  eo 
proficiscitur  "  (Hammer,  Gesch.  des  osman.  Reichs,  iii.  137,  note). 


92  BOOK  OF  ESTHEll. 

ascribes  in  these  words  to  the  sultan  is  an  exact  copy  of  the 
flattering  words  which  were  used  in  very  ancient  times  to 
Eastern  rulers.  "The  important  thing  with  us,"  says  Artaban  to 
Themistocles  (Plutarch,  Th.  c.  27),  "is  that  a  king  is  worshipped, 
and  is  looked  upon  as  the  very  image  of  God."  The  Baby- 
lonian and  Assyrian  princes  had  names  which  in  themselves 
indicated  the  people's  high  reverence  for  them.  The  saying  of 
Solomon,  according  to  the  Muhamedan  legend,  that  a  great  king 
always  includes  the  prophet,  but  the  prophet  does  not  always 
include  the  king  {Rosenol,  i.  234),  does  not  reach  to  the  height 
of  that  which  Cleo  dared  to  say  to  Alexander  the  Macedonian 
(Curtius,  viii.  5.  11):  "The  Persians  did  not  simply  out  of 
piety  worship  their  kings  as  gods,  but  also  out  of  wisdom,  for 
the  majesty  of  the  kingdom  is  a  refuge  of  salvation."  For 
this  reason  he  also  advised  him  to  accept  prostration  and 
adoration  like  a  Persian  king.  Tor  this  custom  had  not, 
properly  speaking,  among  the  Persians,  and  generally  in  the 
East,  a  slavish,  but  a  religious  sense.  They  did  not  bow  down 
before  a  worldly,  but  rather  before  a  spiritual  power.  Hence 
the  same  homage  was  also  due  to  the  images  of  the  king. 
Philostratus  narrates  in  the  Life  of  Apollonius  (i.  2  7)  that  all 
barbarians  who  came  to  Babylon  were  first  obliged  to  adore 
the  image  of  the  king.^  When,  therefore,  the  king  ordered 
that  the  same  honour  should  be  shown  to  Haman  as  to  him- 
self, it  was  a  recognition  that  he  was  his  alter  ego.  Hitherto, 
so  long  as  Mordecai  sat  at  the  gate,  i.e.  since  Esther  became 
queen,  no  courtier  had  received  such  honours,  though,  as 
Plutarch  reports,  Xerxes  had  chosen  his  brother  Ari(a)menes 
next  to  himself.  Perhaps  it  is  necessary  to  explain  this  as 
connected  with  the  inherent  dignity  of  the  office  of  Haman, 
which  corresponds  to  his  name.  There  may  be  some  con- 
nection   between    the  New  Persian   Gogeh   and   the  idea  of 

^  In  order  to  sliow  distinction  to  his  general  Dsliewlier,  the  Caliph 
Moiseddin  of  Egypt  commanded  his  governors  to  dismount  from  their 
horses  before  him  and  to  kiss  his  hand,  a  distinction  which  is  generally 
only  due  to  princes  (Hammer,  Gemcildesaal,  iii.  214). 


CHAP.  III.  2.  93 

spirituality  in  more  ancient  times,  as  Benfey  {Gr.  Gr.  i.  134) 
joins  the  Sanscr.  okhlia,  '*  pure,"  with  the  Greek  a7i09,  which 
in  Persian  life  was  applied  as  an  epithet  to  distinguished 
pious  and  great  men,  and  which  Burnouf  (Yacna,  i.  16)  finds 
again  in  the  name  Achaemenes.  The  surname  Sofi,  which  the 
Persian  shah,  who  had  established  his  new  seat  of  government 
at  Ispahan,  bore  with  his  family,  likewise  meant  ''  pure,"  and 
referred  to  the  ascetic  habits  of  the  otherwise  political  and 
warlike  house,  even  before  Ismael's  accession  to  the  throne. 

" But  Mordecai  loioecl  not  down"  etc. 
This  refusal  of  Mordecai  to  render  adoration  to  Haman 
arose  perhaps  from  an  opposite  cause  from  the  refusal  of 
the  Greeks.  They  considered  such  an  act  as  mean  and 
degrading,  because,  as  the  Spartans  said  afterwards,  it  is  not 
their  custom  to  fall  down  before  a  man  (Herod,  vii.  136). 
The  Athenians  punished  Timagoras  for  performing  adoration 
(Yaler.  Max.  vi.  3,  Ext.  2).  Pelopidas  nobly  declined  it — 
because  he  looked  upon  the  Persian  king  as  only  a  man,  to 
whom  he  would  in  nowise  render  divine  honour.  When 
Themistocles  was  a  captain  in  Persia,  he  thought  it  his  duty 
to  perform  such  homage,  on  the  ground  that  it  would  please 
God  who  had  so  exalted  Persia  (Plutarch,  Th.  27).  But 
Mordecai  had  just  the  opposite  motive  for  his  refusal.  He 
saw  in  the  adoration  which  the  king  demanded  for  Haman, 
not  merely  an  act  of  etiquette  to  a  man,  but  an  act  which 
involved  the  recognition  of  false  gods.  Daniel  and  his  three 
young  friends  submitted  rather  to  every  hazard  of  their  lives, 
than  to  recognise  the  existence  of  any  other  deity  but  Jehovah. 
The  word  i;-i3,  here  used,  expresses  the  sense  of  falling  down, 
as  in  the  adoration  of  idols,  and  it  is  therefore  not  used  in 
the  history  of  Israel  to  denote  polite  homage  paid  to  kings 
and  those  who  are  high  in  authority,  or  strangers,  but  the 
word  nr\^  instead.  It  is  analogous  to  n^a,  Gr.  /cvvio),  and 
irpoaKvpeo),  expressing  the  same  act  of  worship.  But  before 
Elijah  as  a  man  of  God  the  captain  falls  down  (2  Kings  i.  13). 


94  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

In  the  time  of  the  same  prophet  there  were  only  7000  who 
did  not  bow  the  knee,"ij;i3,  to  Baal  (1  Kings  xix.  18).  In  the 
time  of  Hezekiah,  he  and  all  that  were  with  him  bowed  them- 
selves, yiD,  and  worshipped  the  living  God  (2  Chron.  xxix.  29). 
Mordecai  could  not  fall  down  before  Haman  as  the  reflex  of 
a  false  lustre  of  a  false  god.  For  the  prophetic  words  ring 
through  all  Israel :  "  To  me  every  knee  shall  bow,  every 
tongue  shall  swear." 

The  Persian  history,  Dshami,  which  Hammer  in  Bosenol, 
ii.  3,  quotes,  narrates  of  a  governor  of  Caliph  Omar,  when  he 
came  for  the  first  time  to  Persia  after  its  conquest,  that  the 
inhabitants  according  to  the  Old  Persian  manner  fell  down 
before  him,  as  the  servants  of  Ahhashverosh  fell  down  before 
Haman.  When  the  governor  saw  it,  he  also  fell  down.  And 
as  they  all  rose  from  their  knees,  he  asked  before  whom  they 
fell  down.  They  replied,  "  Before  thee ;  but  thou,  0  prince, 
before  whom  didst  thou  kneel  ? "  "  Before  God,"  said  he, 
"  to  whom  alone  worship  belongs."  Thereupon  Omar  sent 
ambassadors,  who  forbade  the  people  to  fall  down  except 
before  God ;  and  consequently  the  Persian  custom  did  not 
become  one  of  the  Muhamedan  ceremonies.  But  instead 
of  this,  the  Muhamedan  and  Osman  sultans  made  the  kissing 
of  the  hand,  and  especially  of  the  garments,  obligatory,  as  the 
humiliated  Tatarchan  when  he  lost  his  power  was  no  longer 
received  with  pomp  by  the  sultan,  but  was  satisfied  to  kiss 
the  coat  of  the  grand  vizier  {Gesch.  des  osman.  Beichs,  iv.  644). 

The  Midrash  has  its  explanations  of  the  subject  in 
question,  which  were  employed  in  the  homiletical  discourses 
in  the  synagogue.  According  to  one,  Haman  had  actually 
worn  an  image  of  an  idol  upon  his  coat,  for  the  purpose  of 
compelling  the  people  to  worship  him,  and  thus  Mordecai  the 
more  resisted.  In  fact,  this  remark  only  shows  that  in  the 
view  of  the  authors  of  the  Midrash,  Mordecai's  refusal  to  fall 
down  arose  from  religious  scruples.  Stranger  still  is  another 
glorification  which  they  bestow  upon  Mordecai.  Haman  had 
really  been  Mordecai's  servant.     They  were  once  both  sent  out 


CHAP.  III.  3.  95 

on  a  military  expedition.  Both  had  a  separate  division  to 
command,  but  Haman  carelessly  spent  all  the  provision  and 
ammunition  before  he  could  take  the  enemy's  fort;  for  he  relied 
too  much  on  himself,  and  he  would  have  been  dismissed  with 
disgrace  had  not  Mordecai  saved  him.  But  this  he  did  on 
condition  of  Haman  becoming  his  slave.  And  therefore 
Mordecai  refused  to  make  obeisance  to  his  own  slave.  The 
national  vanity,  as  represented  in  this  fiction  of  Haman  being 
a  slave  of  Mordecai,  has  overlooked  the  fact,  that  it  gave  to 
the  former  the  character  of  humility  and  submissiveness  in 
certain  circumstances,  and  to  the  latter  a  want  of  refinement 
and  duty  towards  a  comrade  in  arms. 

Ver.  3.  "  Then  the  king's  servants,  that  were  in  the  king's 
gate,  said  unto  Mordecai,  Whj  transgresseth  thou  the  kings 
commandment  ?  " 

It  is  a  sign  that  they  had  greater  concern  for  Mordecai 
than  for  Haman,  that  they  gave  him  timely  warning,  instead 
of  at  once  accusing  him.  They  called  his  attention  to  the 
danger  before  him.  Not  for  the  sake  of  Haman,  but  because 
it  was  a  law  of  the  kinc:,  which  could  not  be  transgressed 
without  peril.  Mordecai  knew  this,  and  yet  remained.  He 
could,  indeed,  withdraw  from  the  conflict,  by  not  appearing  at 
the  gate,  but  his  love  to  Esther  forbade  it.  He  would  not 
leave  this  post  of  loving  duty  at  all  hazards.  But  should  he 
be  killed,  his  loss  to  Esther  would  be  irreparable.  Yet  his 
courageous  faith  in  God  triumphs  over  these  difficulties,  and 
he  is  sure  that  no  ill  will  happen  to  him,  as  no  ill  happened 
to  Daniel  in  his  stedfast  opposition  to  idolatry.  He  could 
not  reckon  upon  escaping  harm  on  the  ground  that  he  as  a 
Jew  refused  to  fall  down  before  strange  gods,  nor  could  he 
depend  upon  the  assistance  which  Esther  might  render  him 
at  a  critical  moment,  for  his  whole  plan,  according  to  which 
he  strictly  bound  her  to  be  silent  upon  her  origin,  would 
have  been  frustrated ;  but  he  trusted  in  God,  who  would 
surely  protect  him,  whether  he  fled  or  whether  he  remained  at 


96  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

the  gate.  Nevertheless,  the  servants  of  the  king  contributed 
to  the  acceleration  of  the  danger ;  and  this  unseemly  trait  is 
perfectly  characteristic  of  the  friendships  and  companionships 
of  such  worldly  people.  They  had  encouraged  him  every  day 
to  render  homage,  till  at  last  he  had  told  them  that  he  was  a 
Jew,  and  could  not  do  it.  When  he  gave  them  this  reason  for 
his  refusal,  it  was  because  he  considered  it  as  amounting  to 
idolatry.  Naturally,  the  courtiers,  being  themselves  heathen, 
could  not  comprehend  his  reason.  It  did  not  appear  to  them 
clear  why  he,  because  he  was  a  Jew,  should  be  exempted  from 
a  duty  which  they  were  obliged  to  perform.  Certainly,  they 
might  have  calmed  themselves  and  let  the  matter  go  until 
Haman  himself  had  noticed  it,  or  until  it  had  altogether  passed 
into  oblivion.  But  their  exaggerated  zeal  for  upholding  the  law 
was  incited  by  their  vexation  at  the  stubbornness  of  Mordecai, 
and  so  they  denounced  him.  What  Haman  had  not  yet  noticed, 
they  now  told  him  in  order  to  learn,  whether  a  Jew  had 
the  privilege  of  not  bowing  before  him.  They  also  wanted  to 
see  whether  Mordecai  would  remain  stedfast  after  Haman's 
attention  had  been  drawn  to  his  conduct.  They  are  just 
Dnai;,  servants,  slaves,  excited  by  curiosity,  their  pride  offended, 
displaying  slavish  zeal,  without  any  regard  as  to  the  danger 
to  another  man's  life  whose  conscience  the}'-  ought  to  reverence, 
and  whose  character  they  ought  to  admire.  But  at  all  events, 
they  represent  to  Haman  that  Mordecai  refused  to  pay  him 
homage,  only  for  the  reason  that  he  is  a  Jew.  Haman  learns 
that  it  is  not  a  personal  matter,  but  one  of  principle  with  him. 
Not  wilful  disobedience,  but  religious  legal  ground  underlies 
his  refusal.  Haman  had  not  noticed  anything  in  particular 
in  Mordecai  hitherto,  but  now  he  pays  close  attention.  He 
gives  Mordecai  to  understand  that  he  has  his  eye  upon  him. 
The  emphasis  in  vers.  4,  5,  is  upon  the  words  (mn*  xin  i^ii) : 
"  that  he  was  a  Jetv''  "  And  Hainan  saio  that  Mordecai 
lowed    not  dovm^  ^     This   shows   that   he  did   not   notice   it 

^  The  anger   of    Haman  is  explained   by  the    following   remark   ot 
Herodotus,  i.  134 :  "  When  Persians  of  equal  standing  meet,  they  kiss 


I 


CHAP.  III.  6.  97 

before.  "And  he  was  full  of  wrath."  A  man  of  refine- 
ment would  have  overlooked  and  excused  it,  as  no  personal 
slight  w^as  intended.  But  the  vain  parvenu  was  vexed  that 
anybody  should  have  the  courage  to  refuse  homage  to  him, 
even  him  (as  vain  men  think),  and  to  expose  him  to  the 
ridicule  of  the  courtiers  (as  little  souls  think)  if  he  did  not 
break  down  the  stubbornness  of  Mordecai.  A  noble-minded 
man  would  have  respected  his  conscientious  religious  scruples; 
but  a  puffed-up  man,  as  Haman  was,  did  not  consider  the 
person,  but  the  principle  involved  in  his  refusal,  and  the 
ground  upon  which  it  was  made.^ 

Ver.  6.  "  But  he  tliought  scmm  to  lay  hands  on  Mordecai 

aloner 

The  haughtiness  of  the  man  was  too  great  to  be  satisfied 
with  taking  vengeance  on  Mordecai  alone.  The  offender 
appeared  to  him  too  small  a  person  to  hurl  all  his  thunder- 
bolts against,  and  yet  too  important  a  person  to  be  left  alone. 
He  must  avenge  the  disgrace  which  was  so  publicly  cast  upon 
him  by  Mordecai  in  the  presence  of  the  courtiers,  and  obtain 
such  satisfaction  for  himself  as  may  have  a  deterrent  effect 
upon  others.  But  if  he  called  Mordecai  alone  to  judgment, 
it  might  be  understood  as  an  act  of  private  and  personal 
spite,  which  would  not  redound  to  his  honour,  but  would 
rather  bring  hatred  and  intrigue  upon  himself.  So  he  lays 
stress  on  the  fact  that  Mordecai,  as  a  Jew,  incurred  the  guilt 
of  transgressing  the  royal  decree.  Looking  from  this  stand- 
point, he  found  it  easier  to  wreak  his  vengeance  upon  him. 
In  this  way  he  could  conceal  his  personal  malice  under  the 

each  other  upon  the  lips  instead  of  saluting.  But  if  one  of  them  is 
inferior  to  the  other,  they  kiss  the  cheeks  ;  and  if  one  of  them  is  quite  an 
inferior,  he  falls  down  and  worships  the  other." 

1  The  comparison  of  the  French  Minister  Yillele  with  Haman  was  not 
quite  a  happy  one  ;  he  is  reported  to  have  said,  when  he  reached  the 
pinnacle  of  glory,  "  Only  two  persons,  Labourdonnaye  and  Delalot,  did 
not,  like  Mordecai,  bow  the  knee  before  me "  (comp.  Miinch,  Gesch.  der 
neuesten  Zeit,  v.  195). 

G 


98  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

cloak  of  zeal  for  resisting  the  rising  influence  of  Judaism. 
He  thought  he  could  earn  merit  for  himself  by  vindicating 
the  interests  of  the  State,  while  at  the  same  time  avenging 
his  offended  pride.  Should  Mordecai  fall  in  the  midst  of 
a  general  massacre,  there  would,  of  course,  be  no  suspicion 
that  he  met  with  his  death  for  the  trifling  offence  of  refusing 
homage  to  him.  For  it  would  be  said  that  the  king  simply 
put  down  the  rebellion  in  general.  There  would  also  then  be 
wanting  an  avenger  and  an  accuser.  This  psychology  of  the 
hatred  which  brooded  in  Haman  has  undergone  a  manifold 
development  in  Oriental  courts,  where  the  powerful  have 
often  to  be  cautious  in  exercising  vengeance,  because  the  way 
to  it  lies  always  between  the  mood  and  the  caprice  of  the 
autocrat.  Great  and  small  citizens  have  at  all  times  sought 
to  give  vent  to  private  hatred  and  personal  passions  under 
the  pretext  of  patriotism,  and  of  seeking  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  the  State.  Many  an  ambitious  office  -  seeker, 
who  either  possessed  no  qualifications  or  was  unfortunate 
in  his  demands,  became  by  this  process  converted  from  a 
royalist  to  a  rebel.  The  offended  pride  of  Hassan  Ibn 
Sabbah,  which  was  provoked  by  Melekshah  and  his  Vizier 
Nisamolmiilk,  contributed  to  the  establishment  of  the 
ancient  sect  of  murderers,  the  Assassins  (Hammer,  Gemalde- 
saal,  V.  p.  19;  comp.  Weil,  Kalifen,  iii.  205).  The  Jews 
experienced  this  plentifully.  The  hatred  which  they  were 
made  to  feel  during  1500  years  not  always  arose  from 
religious  zeal,  but  very  often  was  occasioned  by  personal 
discord  on  account  of  some  slight  offence  to  somebody. 
In  a  speech  of  defence  before  the  King  of  Spain,  a  Jew 
said  strikingly  enough :  "  We  Jews  are  like  mice,  upon 
whom  all  throw  the  guilt  when  some  one  has  nibbled  a 
little  cheese  "  (Shebet  Jehudah,  chap.  viii.  and  chap.  Ixii.). 
It  was  remarked  before  that  the  names  of  Haman  mioht 

o 

be  indicative  of  his  priestly  origin.  If  this  be  so,  and  if  we 
may  take  Haman  as  in  some  degree  connected  with  the 
family   of   those   religious    persons    whom    the    Greeks    and 


CHAP.  III.  6.  99 

Eomans  specially  call  Magi,  then  the  way  in  which  Haman 
observes  that  Mordecai  is  a  Jew,  and  at  once  decides  to 
strike  the  whole  of  Judaism  root  and  branch,  would  be 
more  explicable  from  a  psychological  point  of  view.  It 
was  consistent  with  the  character  of  a  Magus  to  direct  his 
attention  to  the  Jews,  and  their  opposition  to  the  customs  of 
the  country,  in  order  to  constitute  the  supposed  misdemeanour 
of  Mordecai  into  a  principle  of  rebellion.  Just  such  a  person 
would  be  inclined  to  stir  up  the  religious  animosities  of  the 
people  against  the  whole  Jewish  nation  [as,  alas  1  we  have 
witnessed  in  more  recent  times,  and  that  in  the  midst 
of  the  boasted  civilisation  and  culture  of  the  nineteenth 
century !]. 

If  Haman  had  been  merely  a  secular  vizier,  one  would 
have  thought  that  he  would  pour  out  his  wrath  only 
upon  Mordecai  and  his  family.  If  his  refusal  of  homage 
only  concerned  the  transgression  of  a  royal  decree,  then 
surely  he  alone  was  the  guilty  party.  But  Haman  regarded 
Mordecai  as  a  representative  of  a  religious  persuasion,  and 
therefore  he  wanted  to  destroy  the  whole  of  Judaism.  He 
did  not  consider  it  merely  as  an  offence  against  the  majesty 
of  the  king,  but  also  against  the  established  religion  of  the 
country,  and  hence  his  great  wrath.  The  whole  perception 
of  the  dramatic  conflict  between  the  Jewish -believing 
Mordecai  and  the  Persian  Magus  gains  in  clearness  if  we 
place  them  in  sharp  contrast  to  one  another.  We  have 
shown  that  the  name  of  Haman,  Agagite,  is  a  Masoretic 
change  of  the  ISTew  Persian  nji<lJ.  The  word  has  the  meaning 
of  "  fellow-comrade,"  and  therefore  appears  to  be  in  connec- 
tion with  Ui^n,  socius,  consors  (see  VuUers,  i.  414).  But 
now  the  Jews,  at  least  those  of  Talmudical  times,  caU  a  Magus 
and  priest  of  fire  by  the  Hebrew  name  tan,  which,  in  every 
sense  of  the  word,  means  "a  companion,"  "fellow-disciple," 
"  comrade."  In  consequence  of  this,  its  signification  is 
the  same  as  '•ii^^j,  and  task,  "wise  man,"  "learned  master," 
"  house  -  father."       Thus    it    appears    that    in    the    surname 


100  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

^Jis/  which  Hainan  bore,  is  expressed  his  titular  name  as 
a  member  of  the  order  of  fire- worshippers  and  Magi,  with 
which  also  his  other  names  perfectly  agree.  The  fire-ministers 
and  Magi  were,  at  any  rate,  hostile  to  the  Jews  down  to  the 
'^jtimes  of  the  Sassanides.  With  the  appearance  of  the  Sas- 
sanides  began  also  in  Persia  restrictions  upon  the  Jewish 
cult,  because  with  them  was  completed  the  restoration  of  the 
Persian  fire-worship  (see  my  "  Gesch.  der  Juden  "  in  Erscli  und 
Griiber,  ii.  27,  p.  184  ;  and  Spiegel,  Avesfa,  i.  p.  18). 

The  Talmud  frequently  mentions  the  hostility  of  the 
Dnnn,  i.e.  the  Magi,  who,  in  contrast  to  the  Parthians,  have 
oppressed  the  Jews  (comp.  the  passages  in  the  Aruch,  suh 
wee,  whence  Buxtorf  and  Hyde,  relig.  vet.  Persar,  p.  360). 
Therefore  the  Jews  remember  them  with  scorn  and  aversion. 
They  explain  Ps.  xiv.  1 :  "  The  fool,  h^'i,  says  in  his  heart,  as 
referring  to  the  Dnnn,"  the  "  companions."  So  also  the 
IMuhamedans  usually  call  them  by  the  nickname  of  Philiva, 
i.e.  fools,  instead  of  Kalivan,  "  fire-worshippers." 

But  when  the  Jews  gave  to  the  Magi  the  name  of  D^inn, 
it  must  have  corresponded  to  a  similar  name  which  was 
peculiar  to  the  whole  order,  and  which  was  perhaps  handed 
down  in  the  ^ew  Persian  n:ixij.  It  is  interesting  to  notice, 
that  as  this  at  the  same  time  was  the  designation  for  "  house- 
father," so  also  does  Spiegel  trace  back  the  name  Mobed, 
^laviirra^,  moipet,  to  Sanscr.  itmdna-;paiti,  "  house -father " 
(Avesta,  ii.  p.  15). 

The  name  inn  for  Magus  is  manifestly  older  than  the  time 
of  the  Sassanides.  This  is  especially  seen  in  Isa.  xlvii.  9-13, 
where  the  prophet  addresses  Babylon  in  these  words :  "The 
loss  of  children  and  widowhood  in  their  full  measure  shall 
come  upon  thee,  despite  of  the  multitude  of  thy  sorceries, 
and    the    great   abundance   of   thine    enchantments "  (l^inn). 

1  Oppert  quotes  from  the  Sargonidic  Inscriptions,  "Countries  like 
Agag  and  Arubanda  in  Media"  (Spiegel,  Eranische  Alterthumskunde, 
ii.  247).  Even  if  Agag  should  mean  a  country  in  Media,  it  would  not 
militate  against  our  view,  as  the  Magi  were  considered  Medians. 


CHAP.  III.  6.  iDf 

And  further,  in  ver.  12:  "Stand  now  with  thine  enchant- 
ments," ^nan ;  and  ver.  13:"  Let  now  the  astrologers,  the 
star-gazers,  the  monthly  prognosticators,  stand  up  and  save 
thee  from  the  things  that  shall  come  upon  thee."  So,  then, 
there  is  a  close  relation  between  the  name  Dnnn  with  "i?n, 
which  the  prophet  in  olden  times ^  used  to  designate  magic, 
and  which  was  also  included  in  the  word  societas.  Indeed, 
this  idea  receives  support  from  the  fact  that  the  Jews, 
acquainted  with  such  passages  as  Deut.  xviii.  11,  where  "i?n 
is  used  for  "  enchantment,"  have  transferred  its  meaning  also 
to  the  verb  "inn. 

The  prognosticators,  astrologers,  and  Chaldeans  formed  a 
separate  caste,  society,  and  fraternity  in  Babylon.  Diodorus 
says  of  them :  "  They  form  a  society  in  the  State  similar  to 
the  priests  in  Egypt  .  .  .  they  are  famous  in  astrology,  and 
very  diligent  in  augury.  Amongst  them  science  is  trans- 
mitted through  the  family."^  The  same  is  said  of  the 
Persian  Magi.  "  The  religious  service  of  the  Persians  is 
like  a  priestly  order,  transmitted  from  father  to  son."  ^  It 
is  therefore  to  be  understood  that  D''"^2n,  companions,  was 
their  titular  name,  as  covenanted  members,  just  as  sodalis 
was  the  appellation  of  the  Eoman  priestly  associations  [Titii 
Augustales],  or  as  the  name  fratres  Arvales,  ir ova  f rater,  was 
applied  in  Ptome  to  Christian  orders  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
to  societies  in  modern  times.  Even  among  the  Jews  "inn  was 
a  titular  name,  which  implied  that  he  who  bore  it  participated 
in  the  spiritual  communion  of  a  certain  society.  The  name 
Dnnn  received  then  the  same  general  sense  as  Chaldeans  and 
Magi.*  According  to  its  etymology,  it  expressed  as  little 
what  the  associates  did  as  the  other  names ;  but  as  all  magic 

^  Comp.  Bibliotheca-Antiquar.  i.  635,  860,  etc. 

2  The  beautiful  passage  is  fully  given  in  Historij,  ii.  30. 

^  Sozomen,  Hist.  Ecd.  ii.  8,  of  Brisson,  p.  383.  [Raslii  on  Tal-Shabhath, 
p.  11,  distinctly  affirms  that  the  Persian  priests  were  called  D''"inn  ;  but 
from  Kiddushin,  p.  72,  it  appears  that  some  Persians  were  called  so  who 
were  natives  of  Atabur,  2  Kings  xv.  12.—  Tr.] 

*  See  Chaldeans  and  names  of  priests  in  Herod,  i.  151. 


*105'  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

proceeded  from  the  Magi,  so  from  the  knowledge  possessed 
by  the  inn  proceeded  the  formation  of  the  word  "^?n^  which 
expresses  this  knowledge,  to  divine  and  to  pronounce  en- 
chanting formulas.  Thus,  therefore,  "ijn  has  received  the 
meaning  of  magic,  and  "inn  (also  in  Arabic  and  Persian)  came 
to  signify  "  to  know,"  "  to  investigate ; "  as  Knobel  ^  rightly 
maintains  we  should  read,  in  Isa.  xlvii.  13,  n^D^  n^in, 
"  astrologers,"  instead  of  nain.  It  is  not  necessary  to  assume, 
with  Schelling,^  a  mixture  of  these  names  with  the  deities 
of  the  Kabires. 

When  Origen  says  {contra  Cels.  vi.  23)  that  neither  Jesus 
nor  His  apostles  have  borrowed  from  "  the  Persians  or 
Kabires"  (Jlepawv  7)  Ka^eipav),  he  indeed  alludes  to  the 
famous  classical  name  Kabires,  but  he  means  the  name  of  the 
Chaberim,  the  Persian  savants,  as  he  can  only  speak  of  these. 
But  when  the  Arabs  have  applied  to  the  Parsees  the  name  of 
Gheber,  or  Caphir,  it  is  probable  that  this  was  because  they 
wanted  to  express  by  this  name  their  scorn  for  them,  and  to 
show  that  tliey  did  not  consider  them  wise  men,  but  infidels.'*^ 

To  the  special  arts  of  the  Dnan,  the  wise  men  of  Mesopo- 
tamia and  Iran,  as  well  as  to  the  ancient  wisdom  in  general, 
belonged  horoscopy,  i.e.  the  observation  of  the  relations  that 
subsist  between  the  movements  and  the  position  of  the  stars, 
and  their  reciprocal  influences  upon  the  life  of  man. 

The  prophet  speaks  in  the  passage  quoted  above  "  of  the 
monthly  prognosticators  of  the  things  that  shall  come  upon 
thee."  As  they  pretended  to  be  able  to  foretell  fortune  or 
misfortune,  success  or  failure,  good  or  evil  days,  by  means  of 
horoscopy,  so  their  science  for  kings  and  statesmen  was  not  of 
slight  importance.  It  was  evidently  in  vogue  at  the  Persian 
court.     The  Magi  must  have  latterly  been  called  Chaberim, 

^  See  his  Commentary  on  Isaiah,  p.  353. 

2  Die  Gottheiten  von  Samothrake,  pp.  Ill,  112. 

^  Just  as  pagani  is  from  pagus,  so  somewhat  similar  is  the  Arabic  "1S2, 
from  which,  as  applied  perhaps  to  heathen,  was  derived  the  meaning,  "  to 
deny,"  "  to  doubt."  The  Hebrew  123,  texit,  is  quite  remote  from  this 
meaning. 


CHAP.  III.  7.  103 

not  without  reference  to  this  science.  Pliny  narrates  {Hist. 
JS'at.  XXX.  2),  in  the  name  of  Osthanes,  the  royal  Magus  of 
Xerxes,  that  there  existed  a  magic  from  the  stars.  The 
astrologers  who  accompanied  Darius,  Curtius  calls  by  the 
common  name  of  Chaldeans ;  but  the  astrological  idea  per- 
vades the  name  and  the  legend  of  Zoroaster  (Zarathustra). 
The  star  which  the  wise  men  of  the  East  saw  appear  at  the 
birth  of  Christ,  receives  its  significance  only  when  such  divina- 
tion is  connected  with  the  truth  announced  by  the  Magi.  An 
instance  of  this  is  given  us  in  ver.  7,  where  we  read : — 

"  They  cast  the  Pur,  that  is,  the  lot,  before  Haman,from  day 

to  day,  and  from  month  to  month,  to  the  twelfth  month,  which 

is  the  month  Adar." 

The  narrator  translates  the  word  lis  by  i?il3,  which  means 
"  share,"  pars,  sors, — just  as  we  use  the  word  "  lot "  in  a 
religious  sense.  The  New  Persian  has  also  an  analogous  word 
for  pur.^  It  is  not  necessary  to  bring  the  New  Persian  mt^n, 
2mrs,  segmentum  (com p.  Vullers,  i.  317;  Eosen.  Narrat.  p. 
110),  to  elucidate  the  meaning  of -iiD,  "la.  For  inasmuch  as 
the  "  lot "  here  spoken  of  was  cast  from  day  to  day,  and  from 
month  to  month,  and  finally  fell  on  the  twelfth  month  Adar, 
it  must  evidently  refer  to  the  horoscope  which  was  set  up, 
and  whose  apparent  indication  of  fortune  the  Greeks,  as  well 
as  the  Komans,  called  the  result  of  horoscoping,  K\r\po^,  or 
sors.  Indeed,  the  prophet  may  allude  to  this  when  he  says 
n^tJ'ini'  D'*j;niO,  "  the  monthly  prognosticators  "  (Isa.  xlvii.  1 3).^ 

It  fell  before  Haman,  i.e.  "  he  caused  it  to  fall,"  he  made 
observations  and  obtained  the  result.  If  the  meaning  of  '•Jjs 
is  really  found  in  n:iS"iJ  (with  which  the  Sanscr.  salchja  is  to 
be  compared)  as  a  Persian  expression  for  -inn,  then  the  know- 

^  Hyde,  de  rel.  vet.  Pers.  p.  195,  says  :  "  Notandum  est  quod  Persae  vulgo 
sunt  proni  ad  pronuntiandum,  p  pro  b,  unde  scribunt  Panaem  pro  Ban^m 
et  Deypadur  pro  Deybadur,"  etc. 

2  The  lot  was,  according  to  Herod,  (iii.  128),  customary  among  the 
Persians.  For  when  thirty  men  volunteered  to  follow  the  expedition 
against  Oroetes,  the  lot  was  cast  who  the  chosen  ones  should  be. 


104  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

ledge  of  Haman  in  the  use  of  the  horoscope  gains  through  this 
a  clearer  explanation.  The  narrator  has  already  indicated  this  by 
the  mentioning  of  "  Haman,  son  of  Hamadatha  the  Agagite,"  as 
hachaber,  or  ''i:i&5,  is  equivalent  to  ^JDH,  fire- worshipper  magician. 
Sors,  pur,  the  result  of  setting  up  the  horoscope,  was  so 
termed,  as  according  to  ancient  ideas  every  day  and  every 
hour  had  its  allotted  fortune,  which  was  suitable  to  the  various 
undertakings  and  exercises  of  the  will  of  man.  How  these 
observations  were  made,  the  ancients  have  left  us  an  abun- 
dance of  information.  It  did  not  merely  depend  upon  the 
position  of  the  planets,  but  more  particularly  upon  their  rela- 
tion to  the  zodiacal  signs,  every  one  of  which  controlled  a 
month.  In  reference  to  this,  the  Chaldeans,  as  Censorin 
expressly  narrates,  had  a  special  era,  dodecaeteris,  consisting 
of  twelve  years,  "  which  the  horoscopians  made  applicable,  not 
to  observations  of  sun  and  moon,  but  to  other  purposes, 
because  they  say  that  in  it  revolve  weather,  fertility  of 
crops,  drought,  as  well  as  diseases  and  conditions  of  healing" 
{Be  die  Natali,  cap.  xviii.).  Scaliger  is  of  opinion  that  this  era 
was  still  in  use  by  the  astronomers  of  the  East  in  the  Middle 
Ages.^  The  years  of  the  era  had  different  names  of  animals. 
The  first  year  was  called  Mouse,  and  the  last  had  the  name  of 
Pig.  What  form  of  horoscopy  it  was  that  gave  to  Haman 
the  twelfth  month  (the  Jewish  Adar)  as  favourable  for  his 
enterprise  against  the  Jews,  is  difficult  to  establish.  The 
Jewish  exposition  (Megilla  135)  tries  to  show  that  he  found 
out  that  he  could  not  harm  Israel  in  any  other  of  their 
months  but  Adar,  because  he  knew  that  Moses  died  on  the 
7th  of  that  month ;  but  he  deceived  himself,  as  Moses  was 
also  born  on  the  7th  of  Adar.^     [So  it  was  not  an  unfortunate 

^  Isagog.  Clironolog.  Canon,  lib.  iii.  p.  181  :  "Ea  signant  sua  tempora 
Persae,  Chatai,  Tartari,  Turcae,  sed  Indi  praecipue."  Likewise  in  his  notes 
to  Manilius,  comp.  Eschenbach,  Epigenes  de  Poesi  Orphic  (Norib.  1702), 
I).  165a. 

^  [The  reason  for  assigning  the  same  day  of  the  month  to  the  birth  and 
death  of  Moses  is  given  by  Rashi,  in  loc.  Because  he  said  :  "  I  am  an 
hundred  and  twenty  years  old  this  day  "  (Deut.  xxxi.  4). — Trans.] 


CHAP.  III.  7.  105 

day  for  them  after  all,  as  the  end  proved.]  The  Midrash 
(93&,  followed  by  the  second  Targum)  is  more  explicit  as  to 
the  reason  why  the  other  months  were  less  favourable  for  his 
purpose.  "  When  he  came  to  make  observations  in  the  month 
of  Adar,  which  stands  under  the  zodiacal  sign  of  the  fish,  he 
exclaimed :  '  Now  they  are  caught  by  me  like  the  fish  of  the 
sea.'  But  he  noticed  that  the  children  of  Joseph  are  com- 
pared in  the  Scripture  to  the  fish  of  the  sea,  as  it  is  written  : 
'  And  let  them  multiply  as  the  fish  in  the  midst  of  the  earth ' 
(Gen.  xlviii.  16)." 

This  thought  did  not,  of  course,  enter  Haman's  mind, 
but  perhaps  he  made  use  of  the  Persian  customary  idea, 
that  the  twelfth  month  is  propitious  for  taking  action 
against  the  hostile  principle  under  the  figure  of  serpents,  by 
the  writing  of  amulets  which  would  kill  them  (Hyde,  de  rel. 
vet.  Pers.  p.  258).  But  surely  more  suitable  is  what  Manilius, 
among  many  other  things,  says  of  the  zodiacal  sign  of  the 
fish :  "  The  star  does  not  come  out  at  the  beginning  of  this 
sign.  Hateful  gossip  and  poisonous  tongues  are  bestowed 
upon  men,  who  bring  bad  words  to  ears  unaccustomed  to  hear 
them.  Thus  the  faults  of  the  people  are  blazed  abroad  by 
these  ambiguous  tongues"  (lib.  iv.  5.  574,  etc.). 

The  narrator  mentions  the  time  when  Haman  made  investi- 
gations concerning  the  lot.  He  says,  |D3  t^^nn-^in  ptJ^^in  K^inn, 
"  In  the  first  month,  which  is  the  month  Msan."  It  must  be 
taken  for  granted  that  he  understands  by  the  expression,  "  the 
first  month,"  the  first  Persian  month,  as  he  paraphrases  the 
word  pur  by  the  Hebrew  hy\in  ^\r\,  i.e.  the  lot.  Otherwise  it 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  say,  in  the  month  Nisan,  for  he 
wrote  for  Jews.  But  he  wanted  to  specify  which  month  it 
was  in  which  the  lot,  according  to  Haman's  scientific  observa- 
tions, was  cast.  Just  because  it  was  a  horoscopy,  it  depended 
upon  the  month.  The  Jewish  month  Nisan  had  no  particular 
advantage  to  offer  for  Haman's  purpose,  but  the  first  Persian 
month  had  certainly  its  significance.  The  Persian  new  year 
undoubtedly  tallied  in   ancient  times  with  Msan,  for  as  an 


106  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

astronomer  of  the  Middle  Ages  says,  "  Their  first  month  always 
began  when  the  sun  entered  the  zodiacal  sign  of  the  Eam."  * 
This  ram  is  the  symbol  of  Nisan.  The  specification  in  the 
book  of  Esther,  therefore,  confirms  the  oldest  authentic  notice 
of  this  description.  New  year,  was  from  time  immemorial, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  nations,  exactly  the  proper  time  for 
attempting  to  ascertain  the  future.  We  still  find  in  the  book 
Sadder,  a  Persian  compendium  of  doctrines  (in  Porta  66),  that 
it  is  necessary  to  offer  sacrifices  and  to  feast  on  the  first  day 
of  the  new  year,  for  the  welfare  of  the  coming  year  depends 
upon  it.^  The  superstition  which  has  fastened  itself  upon  our 
new  year,  and  also  upon  Whitsuntide,  by  the  practice  of 
lotteries  and  the  seeking  to  ascertain  the  future  by  means  of 
oracles,  is  to  be  traced  back  to  the  highest  antiquity.  It  is  at 
all  events  very  remarkable,  that  on  the  feast  of  Epiphan}^,  i.e. 
January  6,  there  was  a  custom  to  play  a  game  with  beans, 
by  which  lots  were  cast  to  elect  the  king  of  the  feast. 
On  the  same  day  was  commemorated  the  arrival  of  the  Magi 
of  the  East  to  seek  the  new-born  King.  Again,  the  same 
day  is  also  the  chief  festive  day  of  the  first  week  of  the  new 
year  among  the  Persians,  properly  the  great  Neuruz.^  It  is 
not  previously  mentioned  that  the  king  did  not  enter  upon 
an  enterprise  without  first  casting  the  pur.  The  omission 
would  not  have  appeared  strange,  if  we  had  not  the  notice  in 
ver.  7.  And  this  is  the  more  important,  as  with  it  is  con- 
nected the  memorable  day  when  the  whole  disaster  was  to 
take  place.  It  brings  out  the  fact  prominently,  that  Haman 
put  the  arts  of  astrology  into  motion,  in  order  to  secure  the 
destruction  of  Israel.  He  had  likewise  set  in  array  the 
wisdom  of  heathenism  against  the  people  and  the  will  of 
God.  The  diabolic  character  of  his  hatred  is  shown  in  that 
he  called  the  lottery  of  divination  to  his  assistance.  It  is 
not  so  much  the   personal  antipathy  of   one    man  towards 

^  Ideler,  Handbuch  der  Chronologie,  ii.  547. 

2  See  Hyde,  de  rel.  vet.  Pers.  p.  465  ;  comp.  Spiegel,  Avesta,  p.  100. 

^  We  shall  enter  upon  this  more  particularly  in  another  place. 


CHAP.  III.  7.  107 

another  man,  but  the  hostile  sentiments,  which  make  use  of 
the  hidden  arts  of  magical  calculations,  in  order  to  make  sure 
of  the  enterprises  that  are  here  characterized ;  the  casting  of 
the  lot  is  here  considered  as  an  unusual  mode  of  procedure. 
For  it  expressed  the  fanatical  zeal  of  Haman,  who  not  only 
applied  his  official  power  against  Mordecai,  but  also  his 
magical  arts  against  the  people  of  Israel.  Therefore  the 
report  in  ver.  7  is  properly  the  central  point  of  the  whole 
narrative,  though  the  author  only  mentions  it,  as  it  were,  in  a 
whisper.  The  contrivance  of  Haman  against  Israel  is  thereby 
represented,  not  merely  as  an  act  of  tyranny  against  the 
people,  but  also  as  a  rebellion  against  their  God.  Through 
the  casting  of  the  lot,  Haman,  as  shall  be  more  fully  showai 
farther  on,  is  placed  in  the  rank  of  the  magicians  of  Pharaoh, 
and  near  Balak,  who  sought  by  the  curses  of  Balaam  to  hurt 
Israel.  He  casts  the  lot  in  the  new  year  as  though  he  wants 
to  have  the  fortune  of  the  star  for  himself  against  a  people 
which,  as  he  well  knows,  has  a  peculiar  religion  and  an 
especial  reverence  for  God,  as  appears  from  ver.  8.  The 
drawing  of  a  lottery  at  the  court  of  the  king  was  in  itself  no 
extraordinary  thing.  The  wisdom  of  the  Magi  was  consulted 
in  all  important  affairs.  This  is  what  Pliny  means  when  he 
says  :  "  This  wisdom  has  assumed  in  the  Orient  the  command 
of  the  kings"  (xxx.  1).  Later  times  give  an  illustration  of 
this.  That  the  descriptions  of  Chardin  ^  of  the  Persian  court 
of  his  time  are  perfectly  suitable  to  antiquity,  we  do  not 
assert.  But  among  the  Oriental  princes  of  the  Middle  Ages 
there  were  no  polities  without  astrologers.  Through  these 
they  made  their  own  wishes  and  intentions  legitimate.  The 
Mongolian  Khan  Hulaku  destroyed  the  Caliphat,  because  the 
astrologer  said  that  the  house  of  Abbas  must  fall  before  him.'^ 
Even  the  Osman  sultan  requested  Frederick  (1769)  to  send 

^  Comp.  particularly,  Voyages,  torn.  v.  ;  Descript.  des  sciences,  xi.  p.  76, 
etc.  :  "  On  consulte  les  Astrologues  siir  toutes  les  choses  importantes  et 
quelquefois  le  Roi  les  consulte  sur  les  moindres  choses  par  exemple  s'il 
doit  aller  h  la  promenade,  s'il  doit  entrer  dans  le  Serail,"  etc. 

^  Malcolm,  Gesch.  v.  Pers.  ii.  p.  73. 


108  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

him  three  expert  astrologers.  But  his  answer,  "  That  his 
astrology  was  an  efficient  army  and  a  full  treasury,"  it  appears, 
did  not  quite  please  the  sultan,  for  he  then  turned  to  the 
Emperor  of  Morocco,  with  the  request  to  send  him  an 
astrologer,  saying,  "  That  although  the  knowledge  of  all  secrets 
is  only  with  the  most  high  God,  yet  it  is  legitimately  allowed 
to  cultivate  the  knowledge  of  the  true  moments  of  the  day 
and  of  the  night."  ^  But  though  similar  astrological  polities 
existed  in  the  court  of  Xexes,  yet  the  casting  of  the  pur  for 
Israel  had  just  as  distinct  a  significance  as  the  arts  of  the 
Egyptian  magicians  and  the  curses  of  Balaam.  For,  not 
what  these  generally  were  in  the  habit  of  doing,  but  what 
they  did  against  Israel,  could  be  taken  into  consideration. 
The  narrator  does  not  forget  to  note  that  this  happened  on 
the  first  month  of  the  twelfth  year  in  the  reign  of  the  king. 
It  appears  that  in  the  view  of  Haman  this  twelfth  month  was 
particularly  favourable  for  his  design. 

The  second  Targum  calls  the  man  who  assisted  him  in  the 
casting  of  the  die,  Shamshai  the  scribe.  This  is  one  of  the 
interpretations  of  which  the  Midrash  is  fond.  Among  the 
enemies  who  sought  to  hinder  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple  in 
Jerusalem  by  writing  a  denunciatory  letter  to  King  Artah- 
shasta  against  the  Jews,  was  one  Shamshai,  the  scribe  (Ezra 
iv.  9).  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  his  name  is  apparently 
derived  from  the  adoration  of  the  heavenly  lights,  and 
signifies  "sun-servant,"  as  Epiphanius  also  knew  a  sect  by 
the  name  "  Sampsaei,"  translated  by  'HXcaKoL 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Midrash  has  another  beautiful 
explanation :  At  the  moment  when  Haman  challenged  the 
diabolical  chance  of  the  lot  of  the  stars  against  Israel,  a  divine 
voice  was  heard  exclaiming,  "  Fear  not,  congregation  of  Israel ! 
If  thou  wilt  repent  towards  God,  then  the  lot  will  befall  him 
instead  of  thee."  Instructive  is  also  the  parable  by  which 
the  Midrash  scoffs  at  the  vain  haughtiness  of  Haman,  who 
wanted  to  soothe  his  offended  vanity  by  the  adoption  of 
1  Hammer,  Gesch.  des  osman.  EeicheSj  viii.  pp.  328  and  428. 


CHAP.  III.  8.  109 

destructive  measures  against  the  people  of  God.  "  He  is  like," 
it  says,  "to  a  bird  which  built  its  nest  on  the  seashore. 
One  day  the  waves  swept  the  nest  away.  Then  the  bird  got 
angry,  and  wanted  to  empty  the  sea  and  fill  it  with  sand, 
which  naturally  enough  caused  great  amusement  and  laughter 
among  its  companions."  ^  So  foolish  was  also  Haman,  who 
thought  to  annihilate  the  people  for  which  God  had  appointed 
such  a  past  and  such  a  future.  Like  the  little  bird  was  also 
a  smaller  Haman,  or  rather  no  Haman,  but  only  his  scribe 
Shamshai,  who,  it  says,  had  such  a  thirst  for  wisdom  that 
even  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  could  not  quench  it.  He  drank  it 
all  out,  and  yet  was  thirsty  as  before.^ 

Ver.  8.  "  And  Raman  said  unto  King  AhhasJiverosh" 
The  horoscope  was  set  up  by  Haman's  instruction  and  in 
his  presence,  therefore  it  is  expressly  said,  pn  '':th,  before 
Haman.  The  king  knew  nothing  about  it.  Haman  only 
now  communicated  to  the  king  what  had  been  in  his  mind 
for  a  long  time  (ver.  8).  For  he  wanted  not  only,  as  he 
thought,  to  be  himself  secure,  but  also  to  have  the  result  of  the 
horoscope  investigation,  and  to  be  able  to  say  in  the  language 
of  Schiller,  "  Die  rechte  Sternen-Stunde  ausgelesen  sei,  des 
Himmels  Hiiuser  forschend  zu  durchspliren "  (Wallenstein, 
ii.,  vi.) :  "  I  have  deciphered  the  right  hour  in  the  stars,  by 
searching  its  traces  in  the  celestial  mansions,"  before  coming 
to  the  king.  And  when  he  did  so,  his  opening  statement  was 
more  devilish  than  his  former  action.  "  The  stars  do  not  lie," 
but  he  did  lie,  and  with  fine  diplomatic  words  entrapped  the 
unsuspicious  king.  One  could  not  better  represent  the  art 
with  which  Haman  sought  to  win  the  king,  both  by  what  he 
said  and  by  what  he  did  not  say,  than  it  is  done  in  ver.  8. 

^  The  parable  of  the  strand-snipe  (Sanscr.  tittihha)  is  found  in  India,  of 
which  the  people  say,  "  It  considered  itself  one  so  important  that  it  slept 
on  its  back,  and  stretched  forth  its  legs  in  order  that  the  sky  should  not 
fall  down."  The  Indian  fable  has  only  changed  the  end  (see  Max 
Muller  on  Hitoimdesa,  p.  97). 

2  Michelet,  Gesch.  der  Bibel,  Prague  1865,  p.  11. 


110  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

"ins"Dj;  ):^'' — "  There  is  a  certain  people'^ 
He  does  not  call  it  by  name.  The  name  would  bring  their 
glorious  history  to  remembrance.  The  name  would  in  itself 
have  contradicted  many  a  subject  which  he  was  desirous  to 
mention.  It  was,  moreover,  properly  speaking,  an  act  of 
treachery  against  the  king  himself  which  Haman  had  in 
hand ;  inasmuch  as  the  protection  of  the  Jews  had  been  the 
policy  of  the  Iranic  dynasty  ever  since  Cyrus.  For  it  was 
just  in  opposition  to  Babylon,  against  which  Cyrus  revolted, 
that  the  Jews  were  favoured  by  him  and  restored  to  their 
land  to  form  a  faithful  advanced  guard.  Darius  adopted  the 
same  policy  when  the  Magus  Gumata  (Pseudo-Smerdis)  fell. 
It  may  be  supposed  that  Xerxes  would  not  have  consented  to 
Haman's  request  even  on  that  account.  For  Haman  speaks 
as  the  Magi  had  spoken.  Because  he  knew  this,  he  entirely 
suppressed  the  name  of  the  people  whom  he  was  arraigning 
before  the  highest  tribunal  in  the  land.  Besides,  the  name 
Jews  was  extensively  known.  The  king  must  have  known 
how  many  of  them  were  living  in  Shushan.  Had  he  not  in 
the  name  of  the  Jew  Mordecai  been  saved  from  the  treachery 
of  his  servants  ?  Therefore  Haman  says  UV  ^Je^^  "  There  is 
somewhere  a  people."  In  the  other  three  passages  where  the 
word  IJC^''  occurs,  it  has  the  sense  of  "  some  one,  somewhat," 
connected  with  it  (Deut.  xxix.  14 ;  1  Sam.  xiv.  39,  xxiii.  23). 
Here  it  expresses,  besides,  the  scornful  tone  with  which 
Haman  speaks  of  the  people  which  he  disdains  to  name. 
He  depreciates  the  importance  of  the  nation,  in  order  the 
more  easily  to  attain  his  end.  It  is  TiSDI  ITDD,  "  scattered 
and  separated  among  the  nations."  The  people  of  whom 
he  speaks  has  no  national  consolidation.  It  is  without  a 
national  bond  of  union,  and  therefore  also  destitute  of  the 
means  of  offering  a  possible  resistance.  Eepressive  measures 
against  it  would  require  no  sacrifice  and  might  easily  be  taken, 
for  as  scattered  and  separated  fragments,  it  has  neither  power 
nor  importance  worth  thinking  of.  He  speaks  of  the  Jews  as 
if  they  were  gipsies,  and  the  question  had  concerned  a  tribe. 


CHAP.  III.  8  111 

without  a  history,  vocation,  commonwealth,  and  connection. 
So,  also,  we  find  in  elementary  books  of  later  times  Jews 
and  gipsies  placed  in  juxtaposition,  though  it  may  not  have 
been  done  with  Hamanic  intentions.  But  the  despicable 
way  in  which  Haman  speaks  of  Israel  to  the  king,  was  not 
disadvantageous  to  his  design  of  representing  them  as  very 
dangerous  subjects  to  the  State.  He  therefore  adds,  True, 
this  people  is  scattered  among  the  nations,  but  they  are  found 
in  all  the  territories  belonging  to  the  king.  He  notices  a 
fact  whose  historical  truth  is,  indeed,  of  importance,  and 
could  not  be  gainsaid  in  any  age.  The  fault  he  has  to  find 
with  them,  is  a  matter  that  concerns  the  whole  country. 
And  now  come  the  principal  objections  to  them  :  {j^d  r\)2Y^ 
DHTn  Dyn,  their  laws  are  diverse  from  those  of  every  people. 
By  these  laws  are  to  be  understood  the  religious  precepts 
which  divided  Israel  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  Persian 
kingdom.  The  word  m  is  only  used  for  the  decrees  of  the 
king  and  of  God.  Of  the  king,  because  he  was  considered  as 
the  embodiment  of  divine  power,  and  therefore  his  orders 
were  looked  upon  in  the  same  light  as  if  they  had  been  issued 
by  God.  They  were  irrevocable.  The  word  occurs  in  the 
book  of  Esther  in  this  and  other  passages  only  in  reference 
to  the  king.  Now,  when  such  statutes  of  a  people  are  spoken 
of,  no  others  are  meant  than  their  religious  customs,  for  they 
cannot  have  another  king,  and  other  precepts,  m,  cannot  be 
used.  This  is  evident  from  its  etymology.  But  so  great 
was  the  importance  of  such  decrees  as  were  issued  by  the 
king,  that  owing  to  their  religious  character  they  inseparably 
combined  justice  and  equity.  Hence  in  Pehlvi  r\ia,  'New 
Persian  m,  meant  "  justice,"  "  righteousness,"  as  well  as 
"  chance,"  "  destiny,"  and  "  fortuitous  event."  The  surname 
which  the  ancient  Persian  kings  are  said  to  have  had,  from 
Kajomors  to  Gustasp,  was  that  of  jNnt^n,  dadan ;  compounds 
of  this  word  are  applied  as  appellatives  to  the  king  and 
to  God  (Vullers,  i.  779-81).  To  it  corresponds  the  Greek 
6efiL<;  in  Homer,  which  is  only  applied  to  a  holy  statute.    The 


112  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

oracles  in  Dodona  were  called  6efjLL<TTe<;  At6<;,  "  decisions  given 
by  Zeus."  ©e/^t?  eVrt  corresponds  to  the  Latin  fas  est.  It 
is  interesting  to  compare  the  various  ideas  formed  among 
different  nations  with  the  statutes  and  customs  given  to  men 
for  their  observance.  Among  the  Iranians,  statutes  are  con- 
sidered as  gifts  (Sanscr.  da,  BlBco/jli,,  dare)  ;  among  the  Greeks, 
as  ordinances  {tlOti^i  ;  cf.  Sanscr.  dim)  ;  among  the  Eomans,  as 
proclamations  {fas  is  derived  from  fari,  and  lex  from  legere). 
But  the  Eoman  view  comes  nearer  to  the  Hebrew  idea  of 
revealing  which  the  word  "lox,  "im  (BeKoXoyos:),  contains.  How- 
ever, what  is  here  said  applies  only  to  radical  words  which 
disclose  ancient  divine  commands  in  human  rites. 

The  m,  says  Haman,  which  this  people  considers  obligatory, 
differs  from  those  of  the  whole  nation.  When  this  difference 
was  emphasized,  it  amounted  to  a  passive  disloyalty  to  the 
king.  For  it  did  not  fully  recognise  the  claims  of  the  Til 
^i'on,  the  statutes  of  the  king.  It  indeed  regarded  them  as 
the  laws  of  the  potentate,  but  it  denied  their  religious  basis. 
Haman  must  have  desired  that  the  king  should  draw  such  a 
conclusion.  For  the  nations  of  the  Persian  kingdom  greatly 
differed  in  language,  costumes,  and  manners.  This  was  even 
a  matter  of  pride  to  the  ruler,  that  his  powerful  sceptre 
extended  over  such  a  heterogeneous  conglomeration  of  peoples. 

Herodotus,  in  his  description  of  the  Persian  kingdom,  por- 
trays its  manifold  character  in  a  very  drastic  manner.  Haman 
therefore  must  have  intimated  that  the  difference  between  the 
Jews  and  the  other  nations  is  not  so  much  in  their  external 
dress  and  language,  as  in  their  sharp  religious  contrast,  in 
their  acknowledgment  of  a  God  who  is  different  from  the 
gods  of  the  other  nations,  who,  although  they  vary  among 
themselves,  yet  are  at  one  in  describing  to  the  great  king  of 
Persia  divine  honours.  But  this  people  would  not  do  that, 
because  they  would  thereby  acknowledge  a  principle  which 
is  against  their  religious  convictions.  This  was,  of  course, 
derogatory  to  the  dignity  of  the  king.  The  king  provided 
himself  with  all  sorts  of  symbols   and  ordinances,  in  order 


CHAP.  III.  8.  113 

tliat  he  (to  use  the  words  in  the  treatise  of  Mundo,  which  is 
ascribed  to  Aristotle  and  edited  by  Apuleius)  "  should  be 
venerated  as  a  god."  But  Haman  is  not  yet  satisfied.  He 
wants  to  show  the  actual  consequences  which  follow,  when 
other  laws  are  carried  out  than  those  which  emanate  solely 
from  the  king's  will.  It  is  not  to  be  assumed  that  their 
different  religious  opinions  are  merely  matters  of  sentiment, 
and  it  is  sufficient  that  they  by  their  actions  show  themselves 
to  be  obedient  Persians  (as,  e.g.,  Mordecai  who  had  saved  the 
king's  life).  The  consequence  of  such  diversity  of  principles 
is  that  "  they  do  not  practise  the  king's  laws  "  (i?iDn  Til 
W^^V  i::)\s).  Is  not  Mordecai's  refusal  to  kneel  before  Jmii 
a  proof  of  this  statement  ?  But  Haman,  with  the  subtlety  of 
the  serpent,  avoids  mentioning  individual  cases  of  disobedience. 
He  generalizes  his  accusation  that  the  whole  Jewish  people, 
on  account  of  their  religious  laws,  do  not  respect  the  commands 
of  the  king. 

By  this  he  did  not  mean  to  convey  that  they  refused  to  pay 
taxes,  but  he  referred  to  their  denial  of  divine  honours  to  the 
king,  which  denial  as  a  people  they  dared  to  make  throughout 
all  the  territories  of  the  kingdom.  This  they  everywhere 
do  with  their  self-willed  stubbornness,  and  show  publicly, 
that  they  prefer  their  own  laws  to  those  of  the  king.  In 
the  book  of  Daniel,  we  see  that  his  rivals  went  similarly  to 
work,  and  when  they  could  not  point  to  any  omissions  in  his 
duties  as  a  citizen,  they  said  :  "  We  shall  not  find  any  occasion 
against  this  Daniel,  except  we  find  it  against  him  concerning 
the  law  of  his  God  "  (nnbt?  mn,  Dan.  vi.  6).  But  his  resist- 
ance to  the  king's  law,  because  it  was  against  the  law  of  God, 
must  cost  him  his  life.  The  three  pious  men,  Hananiah, 
Mishael,  and  Azariah,  were  likewise  placed  by  their  enemies 
in  a  strait  between  the  obedience  they  owed  to  the  king's 
command  and  the  worship  which  was  due  to  God  alone ;  and 
they  were  ready  to  die  in  defence  of  the  latter.  But  Haman 
made  the  charge  general  against  the  whole  nation,  that  they 
rejected  the  authority  of  the  king  altogether.     Had  it  been 

H 


114  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

a  question  concerning  a  single  person,  Haman  would  not  pro- 
bably have  wasted  one  word  more.  "  But  they  are  many 
(said  the  king),  a  whole  nation.  Would  not  the  State  suffer  by 
your  proposal  ?  Shall  they  not  be  tolerated  because  they  are 
useful  citizens  ? "  This  objection  of  the  king,  Haman  at  once 
removes.  He  tells  him  that  they  are  a  profitless  people,  and 
do  not  deserve  any  such  regard.  The  damage  which  might 
possibly  ensue  by  leaving  them  to  enjoy  rest  (DH^^n^)  is  not 
equal  (mtr  px)  to  the  profit  which  their  removal  would 
bring.  And  he  hastens  to  add, — noticing  that  the  king  had 
thus  far  approved  of  his  speech,  and  wishing  to  remove  any 
financial  consideration  which  might  have  seriously  occupied 
the  king's  mind, — "  If  it  please  the  king,  let  it  be  v/ritten 
that  they  be  destroyed  (Dnasi5), — not  merely  be  banished  or 
their  goods  spoiled, — and  I  will  pay  10,000  talents  of  silver 
into  the  treasury  ^  to  compensate  for  the  possible  damage." 

The  subtlety  with  which  Haman  tickles  the  conceited  king, 
could  not  be  more  accurately  presented,  than  it  is  in  the 
specification  of  the  sum  of  money  which  he  was  ready  to  pay 
for  the  slaughter  of  the  Jews.  It  is  self-evident  that  the 
king  was  to  understand  that  this  sum  was  to  compensate 
him  for  the  loss  the  royal  treasury  might  sustain,  as  soon 
as  he  issued  the  order  for  their  destruction.  As  he 
formerly  spoke  so  slightingly  of  the  significance  of  this 
people,  that  it  mattered  very  little  to  the  king  whether 
they  existed  or  not,  one  should  have  expected  that  he,  in 
order  to  confirm  his  low  estimation  of  them,  would  have 
offered  a  very  small  price  for  their  heads.  But  the  cunning 
Haman  had  the  avarice  as  well  as  the  vanity  of  the  king 
in  view.  The  sum  was,  in  fact,  not  a  small  bribe  which 
the  king  might  be  induced  to  take,  notably  when  Haman 
himself   guaranteed   it.     Had    he    offered    a    small    sum,    it 

^  Ti^  *1T3^  is  the  treasury,  Zend,  ganza  (Sanscr.  ganclscha\  gaza.  The 
amassing  of  solid  gold  and  riches  in  the  treasuries  is  only  peculiar  to  the 
East  in  respect  of  show.  In  itself  it  is  the  case  everywhere.  Meissner, 
in  his  Humiliated  and  Exalted  Esther,  p.  62,  etc.,  has  collected  the  descrip- 
tions of  Oriental  treasuries  from  travellers  of  the  seventeenth  century. 


CHAP.  III.  8.  115 

might  have  offended  the  king,  and  aroused  his  suspicion 
that  Haman's  only  intention  was  to  make  profit  by  the 
bargain.  Exactly  because  he  so  depreciated  the  people,  and 
made  out  it  was  of  no  consequence  to  the  king  whether 
they  lived  or  not,  he  for  that  very  reason  named  a  high 
sum.  Thus  he  entrapped  the  king  from  two  sides,  from  one 
by  tempting  his  avarice  with  the  large  sum,  and  from  the 
other  by  tempting  his  pride  in  implying  that  it  must  be  a 
trifle  to  him  to  lose  a  multitude  who  were  only  worth  the 
price  of  10,000  talents.  It  must  be  a  large  sum  if  the  offer 
should  not  offend  the  pride  of  the  king,  and  must  so  excite 
his  vanity  that  he  should,  as  is  shown  in  ver.  11,  turn  it  into 
a  generous  gift  to  himself.  Ten  thousand  talents  of  silver 
were  a  considerable  sum  for  the  Persian  king.  133  (of 
round  form,  cake,  as  the  Greek  (j)6oL8e9  '^vaiov,  gold  cake ;  cf. 
Bockh,  Iletrolog.  Unters.  p.  51)  was  a  Babylonian  talent  which 
was  stamped  in  silver  in  Persia ;  therefore  Haman  says  he 
wants  to  let  the  silver  be  weighed  or  stamped.  As  such 
it  was  3000  shekels  and  1000  Attic  drachmas  in  value.  In  a 
round  sum,  10,000  Babylonian  talents  were  about  £4,0  00,0  00.^ 
With  regard  to  the  higher  or  smaller  value  of  the  sum,  we  may 
obtain  more  decisive  knowledge  by  comparing  the  contemporary 
value  of  the  currency  generally.  The  parallel  notices  in  the 
books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  with  those  in  Herodotus  make  it 
appear  that  it  was  a  very  important  sum.  In  Neh.  vii.  70, 
72,  we  are  told  of  the  offerings  which  the  returned  captives 
brought  for  their  sanctuary.  They  were  41,000  darics  of 
gold  and  4200  minas  of  silver.  How  exact  these  statements 
are,  and  how  they  agree  with  the  money  value  given  by  the 
Greek  writers,  appears  from  the  fact  that  the  21,000  darics 
which  the  fathers  apart  from  the  people  gave,  are  of  the  same 
value  as  the  4200  minas;  for  five  darics  are  equal  to  one  mina. 
Now,  as  one  talent  has  500  darics,  therefore  the  value  of  the 

^  [According  to  Mr.  Berewood,  a  BnT)y Ionian  talent  of  silver  was  £218, 
15s.,  so  that  ten  thousand  talents  would  be  £4,680,000  ;  but  it  is  uncertain 
whether  they  were  Hebrew,  or  Babylonian,  or  Grecian  talents. — Trans.] 


116  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

whole  contribution  was  over  80  talents,  wliicli  indeed  was  a  large 
sum  for  the  poor  captives  of  those  days  to  raise.  But  it  appears 
insignificant  by  the  side  of  the  10,000  talents  which  Haman 
offered  as  a  price  for  the  whole  people.  Very  important  also 
were  the  valuable  things  which  Ezra  received  from  the  king  as 
the  property  of  the  temple.  We  read  (Ezra  viii.  26) :  "I  even 
weighed  into  their  hands  (that  is,  to  the  priests)  650  talents 
of  silver,  and  silver  vessels  100  talents,  of  gold  100  talents;" 
total,  850  talents.  To  this  were  added  2  0  bowls  of  gold  = 
1000  darics,  or  2  talents.  So  then  the  whole  temple  treasure 
did  not  even  amount  to  1000  talents. 

Herodotus  has  given  us  particulars  about  the  revenue  which 
the  several  provinces  of  the  Persian  monarchy  contributed. 
The  provinces  wdiich  paid  in  silver  had  to  calculate  in 
Babylonian  talents  (iii.  89).  The  whole  sum  which  was 
collected  from  Babylon  and  the  rest  of  Assyria  (where  the 
Jews  were  in  great  numbers),  amounted  annually  only  to 
1000  talents.  From  Egypt  came  700  talents.  The  sum 
raised  in  Shushan  and  the  whole  adjacent  territories  was 
not  more  than  300  talents.  The  whole  income  from  the 
Persian  Empire,  apart  from  the  gold  dust  of  India,  was  no 
larger  a  sum  than  7600  Babylonian  talents  in  silver.  To 
this  certainly  must  be  added  the  revenue  of  210  talents 
from  the  Lake  of  Moeris,  and  140  which  remained  in  Cilicia 
for  the  payment  of  wages.^  So,  then,  the  sum  which  Haman 
offered  was  about  equal  to  the  whole  annual  income  in  silver 
from  the  whole  empire.  Eor,  according  to  the  standard  of  the 
Euboeic  talent,  which  was  also  valid  in  Persia  (for  all,  e.g.,  who 
delivered  gold  were  obliged,  according  to  Herodotus,  to  pay  in 
the  Euboeic  talent),  the  income  of  the  Persian  king  amounted, 
with  the  exception  of  the  gold  dust  of  India,  to  9540  talents. 
This  agreement  of  the  offer  of  Haman  with  the  silver  revenue 

1  On  this  occasion,  while  mentioning  the  particulars  given  by  Herodotus, 
we  cannot  do  otherwise  than  call  attention  to  the  difficulties  which 
they  occasion  to  historical  expositors.  As  they  are  so  very  important 
we  shall  endeavour  to  solve  them  in  the  supplement. 


CHAP.  III.  8.  llT 

of  tlie  king  has  also  an  exegetical  value.^  Considerable 
numbers  of  Jews  were  only  to  be  found  in  the  chief  States  of 
the  Persian  kingdom,  and  for  these  alone  Haman  offered  the 
king  as  much  as  he  derived  from  all, — a  very  great  sum 
apparently  for  the  people  which  was  represented  to  the  king 
as  worthless.  But  the  speculation  of  Haman  was,  as  already 
remarked,  strictly  correct.  The  greater  the  sum  was,  the 
more  flattering  it  appeared  to  the  fancy  of  the  great  tyrant  to 
waive  it.  It  must  have  been  thought  enormous,  if  Ahhashverosh 
should  boastfully  reject  it.  Haman  knew  his  master  well 
enough  to  guess  tliat  when  he  once  enjoyed  his  confidence  and 
smiles,  matters  of  finance  would  not  be  so  exactly  weighed  in 
the  balances.  The  Oriental  sultans  were  liberal  in  taking 
as  well  as  in  giving.  Haman  could  comfortably  offer  such  a 
sum  to  the  king,  for  if  he  at  all  entered  into  the  bargain  of 
selling  the  Jews,  he  need  not  trouble  his  head  any  further 
about  the  money.  He  who,  like  Alihashverosh,  delivers  up  a 
people,  without  question,  investigation,  or  consultation  why 
and  wherefore  he  should  do  so,  does  not  want  to  make  a 
business  of  them,  but  only  to  show  that  he  is  the  grand  lord, 
who  treads  nations  under  his  feet ;  and  yet  the  more  boastful 
he  is, — as  it  here  appears, — the  more  he  is  in  reality  only 
the  slave  of  his  ungoverned  passions.  What  Haman  has 
here  done,  in  offering  the  king  money  for  the  lives  of  others, 
is  by  no  means  a  thing  unheard  of.  At  the  court  of  the  Seld- 
shukian  princes,  Mohamed  was  offered  a  great  sum  of  money 
by  his  grand  vizier  for  the  life  of  an  eminent  man  whom 
he  hated  —  viz.  Alaeddaulet  Abul  Hashim  in  Hamadan. 
Mohamed,  who  was  not  so  generous  as  Ahhashverosh  in 
giving,  but  extraordinarily  greedy  of  receiving,  entered  upon 
the  bargain.     But  when  Alaeddaulet  heard  of  it,  he  offered 

^  The  Oriental  legend,  wliicli  better  portrays  the  Hfe  and  the  spirit 
of  the  East  than  its  authentic  history,  teaches  also  analogies  on  this 
point.  In  the  legend  of  King  Heykar,  one  king  demands  as  tribute  from 
the  other  "  the  triennal  income "  of  his  country,  and  about  this  there 
arises  the  prize  fight  of  the  spirit  {The  Thousand  and  One  Nights,  ed. 
Habichtj  xiii.  p.  86). 


118  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

the  king  a  greater  sum  for  the  life  of  the  vizier,  and  the 
bigger  bid  obtained  the  victory.  Of  course  Hanian  concealed 
his  plan  and  hatred  under  the  flimsy  pretext  of  political 
prudence  and  necessity.  It  is  a  matter  about  a  disobedient  and 
hostile  people.  He  reckoned  upon  the  distrust  of  the  king 
after  the  experience  which  he  had  gained  in  his  dealings  with 
the  Greeks  in  his  unfortunate  expedition.  Similar  devices  for 
killing  all  the  Christians  of  the  Turkish  Empire  were  made 
several  times  at  the  court  of  Stamboul  under  Selim  I.  and 
Murad  IV.;  and  even  so  late  as  1770  the  fanatical  Mufti 
Perisade  Osman  Efendi  declared  his  opinion,  that  such  a 
massacre  was  a  necessity.  But  when  the  Sultan  Ibrahim, 
1646,  meditated  a  similar  plan  of  killing  the  Christians,  it 
was  his  Mufti  who  dissuaded  him,  by  telling  him  that  the 
stars  were  not  favourable  to  his  intended  enterprise  (Hammer, 
Gesch.  des  osmanischen  Reiches,  v.  390).  By  tliis  opinion  the 
right  to  kill  all  Christians  was  not  contested.  As  also  the 
right  to  kill  all  the  Jews  was  claimed  by  the  Roman  emperors 
as  successors  to  Titus,  and  this  supposed  right  was  commuted 
into  the  imposition  of  a  head-tax. 

Ver.  10.  "  And  the  king  took  Jiis  ring  from  liis  hand  and. 

gave  it  to  Hamanr 

The  name  ny3D  which  the  ring  bears  comes  from  its  use  in 
the  act  of  sealing.  The  seal  was  dipped  (ynto)  in  a  coloured 
liquid,  and  then  pressed  upon  a  docum^ent.  Thus  the  seal- 
ring  received  its  name  from  the  action,  because  a  seal  without 
a  ring  was  not  customary  in  the  East.  For  the  ring  which 
was  worn  on  the  finger  was  the  symbol  of  the  person  having 
control  and  power  over  his  will.  The  seal  of  the  king 
included  all  his  power.  A  document  which  bore  the  im- 
pression of  the  royal  seal  {sigillum)  demanded  unhesitating 
obedience.  It  was  considered  as  a  divine  law,  and  irrevocable 
(see  chap.  viii.  8).  Therefore  with  the  king's  great  seal  was 
transferred  royal  power.  I^ot  before  his  dying  hour  did 
Alexander  the  Great  deliver  his  ring  to  Perdikkas.     History 


CHAP.  III.  10.  119 

very  characteristically  narrates  of  the  Emperor  Tiberius,  that 
with  his  last   breath   he  convulsively   held  his  ring   in  his 
clutches   (Suet.   Tib.    73).     The   Oriental  legends  about   the 
peculiar  virtues  of  the   seal   of   Solomon,  by  which  he  had 
power  over  demons  and  spirits,  are  only  figurative  representa- 
tions of  his  royal  power.     Only   to  an   alter  ego,  or    uncon- 
ditional representative  of  the  will  of  the  king,  could  the  royal 
seal-ring  be  delivered.     This,  in  a  modified  form,  became  for 
the  purpose  of  State  administration  the  custom  in  the  court 
of  the  Turkish  sultans,  where,  for  a  long  time,  it  was  customary 
at  every  accession  to  the  throne  to  order  four  imperial  seals 
to  be  made,  three  of  which,  in  circular  form,  were  given  to 
the  highest  officers ;  while  the  fourth,  in  quadrangular  form, 
the  sultan  reserved  for  himself  (Hammer,  Osman.  Reich,  viii. 
199).      Xo    one    could    execute    the    work    which    Haman 
undertook   without    obtaining    from    the    king  extraordinary 
power.     By  putting  on  the  ring  which  the  king  wore  on  his 
own  finger,  he  was   thereby   invested  with   royal   authority. 
The  narrator,  in  recording  this  act,  repeats  the  designation : 
"  Haman,    the    son    of   Hamedatha    the   Agagite,   the    Jews' 
enemy,"  in  order  to  call  attention  to  the  impending  calamity. 
The  ring  stamped  him  as  the  Jews'  enemy,  and  his  receiving 
it — remarks  the    Midrash,   strikingly — produced    a    greater 
impression   upon  the   Jews   than  the  prophecies   of  all  the 
prophets  did,   for   they   were   led    to    repent    of   their    sins. 
Haman    is    now    distinguished   with    the    name    D^^nM   ^yi, 
"  persecutor  of  the   Jews,"   "  hater  of  the  Jews," — a   name 
which  is  applied  to  no  one  else  in  the  0.  T.,  but  which  the 
Jews  have  ever  since  applied  to  all  those  whose  blind  pre- 
judice caused  them  to  be  Jew-baiters,  and  who  were  influenced 
more  by  feelings  of  fanaticism,  envy,  and  avarice  than  by  a 
desire  to  ameliorate  Israel's  condition,  and  to  lead   them  to 
repentance  and  to  salvation.     The  expression  is  chosen  with 
particular  reference  to  more  ancient  usage.     The  enemies  of 
Israel  and  of  their  God  are  often  so  styled.     The  word  "n^?  in 
the  sense  of  enemy  (in  the  singular  and  plural)  occurs,  besides. 


120  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

in  some  passages  in  Ex.  and  Deut.,  in  Amos  v.  1 2  ;  Isa.  xi. 
1 3 ;  especially  in  the  Psalms,  where  ii^  stands  often  for  "nv 
(comp.  Ps.  xxvii.  11,  liv.  7,  Ivi.  3,  lix.  11).  But  more  probably 
the  narrator  had  Isa.  xi.  1 3  in  his  mind,  where  it  is  said  of 
the  enemies  of  Judah  (imD^  min''  n-i:^),  "  They  that  vex  Judah 
shall  be  cut  off." 

Ver.  11.  "And  the  king  said  unto  Haman,  The  silver  is 
given  to  theCy  the  people  also,  to  do  luith  them  as  it  seemeth 
good  to  thee." 

The  haughtiness  of  the  king  is  extreme.  He  gives  to 
Haman  the  ring,  without  receiving  first  the  price  of  the 
bargain.  Therefore  he  adds,  that  he  makes  him  a  present 
of  the  money.  Haman  should  give  notliiiig,  but  he  can  take 
what  he  likes.  As  Haman  said,  "  if  it  please  the  king "  to 
destroy  the  Jews,  he  would  give  him  money ;  so  now  the 
king  says  he  need  not  give  anything,  and  may  do  "  as  it 
pleases  him."  We  must  observe  that  the  king  does  not  say 
that  he  makes  him  a  present  of  the  people  in  order  to 
destroy  them  (Dna&<!?),  but  only  that  he  may  do  with  them 
as  he  likes.  Has  he  not  noticed  the  brief  hint  of  Haman, 
or  does  he  think  that  this  is  merely  his  avaricious  speculation  ? 
The  narrator  gives  us  an  insight  into  the  tyrannical  careless- 
ness and  indifference  with  which  Ahhashverosh  listens  to 
Haman.  How  readily  he  gives  him  the  seal  of  authority  to 
deal  with  a  whole  nation  as  he  likes,  without  a  single 
question  or  investigation  !  For  he  merely  says,  "  The  people 
(DVn)  also  is  given  to  thee,"  without  mentioning  them  by 
name.  He  looks  upon  the  order  simply  in  the  light  of 
granting  a  favour  to  Haman.  What  can  scarcely  excuse 
him  is  his  confidence  in  Haman,  in  that  he  believes  that 
Haman  is  patriotic  in  his  declaration  that  the  people  (ayn) 
are  really  dangerous  to  the  State.  It  is  the  peculiar  cha- 
racter of  Oriental  tyrants  to  have  too  much  confidence  in 
their  ministers.  The  more  a  ruler  is  careless  and  capricious 
and  absolute  in  power,  the  more  boundless  is  his  confidence 


CHAP.  III.  12.  121 

in  persons  whom  his  autocratic  will  has  raised  to  high  offices 
of  State.  Of  the  noble  Giafar  the  Barmekide,  it  is  told  that 
he  possessed  such  power,  that  he  first  spontaneously  adopted 
and  executed  the  most  important  affairs,  and  then  reported 
about  them  to  the  caliph,  who  merely  used  to  say,  "All 
right,  Giafar."  This  gave  rise  to  the  mocking  verse  which 
Abu  Pharaon  made  upon  Harun,  and  which,  according  to 
Hammer,  is  as  follows : — 

"  Thou  thinkest  that  thy  hand  rules  the  empire  ; 
Thou  art  mistaken  indeed  ; 
Thou  art  nothing  but  the  puppet,  wliose  wire 
The  hand  of  the  great  man  does  lead." 

But  Ahhashverosh  is  not  in  the  hands  of  a  Barmekide,  but 
in  those  of  a  revengeful  man. — At  the  conferences  w^hich  the 
ambassador  of  the  Hungarian  pretender  to  the  throne,  Zapolya, 
had  with  Ibrahim  Pasha  in  1533,  the  latter  boasted  of  his 
power,  and  said,  "  My  master  has  also  two  seals ;  one  he  wears 
himself,  and  the  other  I  wear;  for  he  does  not  want  to  see  any 
difference  between  himself  and  me  "  (Hammer,  Osman.  Reich, 
iii.  129).  Against  this  Ibrahim  the  Jews  complained,  as  against 
a  second  Haman ;  and  they  rejoiced  in  like  manner  when  he 
fell  (Joseph  ha  Cohen,  Dibre  hhayim,  p.  103,  ed.  Amsterdam). 

Ver.  12.  "  Then  were  the  king*s  scribes  called  in  the  first 

month,  on  the  thirteenth  day." 

This  date  must  have  been  perfectly  known  to  the  narrator, 
for  the  letters  of  the  king  must  have  been  prepared  from  the 
day  of  the  first  month  to  the  corresponding  day  in  the  twelfth 
month  in  which  the  execution  was  to  take  place.  But  this 
was  the  thirteenth  of  Adar,  as  is  expressly  stated  in  chap, 
ix.  1.  And  as  the  edicts  were  issued  to  the  Persian  authorities, 
it  must  have  been  in  accordance  with  the  Persian  calendar,  with 
which  the  Jewish  must  have  been  brought  into  harmony.  It 
must  therefore  also  be  assumed  that  the  thirteenth  of  the  first 
month  agreed  with  the  Jewish.  But  was  it  without  any  signi- 
ficance tliat  Haman  should  choose  the  thirteenth  day  of  the 


122  BOOK  OF  ESTIIEK. 

month  for  the  starting-point  of  his  diabolical  hatred?  He  had 
cast  the  lot  from  day  to  day  in  order  to  find  out  the  month  in 
which  he  might  strike  the  Jews.  The  thirteenth  day  of 
every  month  was  called  by  the  Persians  Tir,  and  this  has  still  in 
the  modern  Persian  the  meaning  of  "  lot,"  "  share,"  and  "  part " 
(Vullers,  Lex.  Pers.  i.  486).  We  cannot  refrain  from  other 
considerations  which  throw  light  upon  the  choice  of  the 
thirteenth  day.  It  is  necessary  to  remember  that  beside 
other  four  months  of  the  Numa  which  have  thirty-one  days, 
the  ides  of  the  Eoman  calendar  falls  upon  the  thirteenth,  and, 
with  regard  to  the  full  moon,  the  time  of  the  month  was 
reckoned  as  so  many  days  before  or  after  the  Ides  (cf. 
Ideler,  Ilandh.  der  ChronoL  239).  So  also  it  is  known  that 
Macrobius  (lib.  i.  cap.  15)  adheres  to  the  explanation  that 
"  Idus  signifies  the  day  which  divides  the  month,  for  iduarc 
means  in  Etruscan  the  same  as  dividere."  The  full  moon 
divided  also  the  old  Indian  months  into  two  parts — the 
bright  part  was  called  citklapaxa,  and  the  dark  part  hrish- 
napaxa  (see  Lassen,  Ind.  Alterthumskunde,  i.  824,  etc.).  Like- 
wise, we  find  in  Persian  dictionaries  that  the  planet  Mercurius 
was  called  by  them  Tir.  But  concerning  Mercurius-Hermes 
the  ancients  had,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  notion  that  he  was 
the  god  of  light  of  the  lunar  year.  It  was  thought  that  Isis, 
the  Egyptian  moon,  was  descended  from  Hermes,  and  that 
Hermes  has  his  seat  in  the  moon,  and  goes  about  with  it  in 
its  rotation.  He  has  also  added  the  five  leap-days  to  the 
lunar  year,  and  he,  as  is  elsewhere  more  fully  told,  liberated 
Mars,  i.e.  Ares,  who  was  chained  in  the  thirteenth  month, 
whereby  the  arrangement  of  the  leap  month  (among  the  Jews, 
the  second  Adar)  is  indicated  (see  my  Drackenkdmpfe,  p.  65). 
The  connection  of  the  thirteenth  day  with  the  planet  Tir 
may  yet  be  instructive  from  another  aspect.  It  is  thought 
that  Tir  is  nothing  else  but  a  part  of  the  compound  tistrya,  the 
star  Tistar,  which  the  Parsees  have  ever  invoked  as  the  most 
illustrious  and  mighty  (comp.  Spiegel,  Avesta,  i.  273),  which 
notably  gives  rain.     But  it  appears  to  me  that  the  very  name 


CHAP.  III.  12.  123 

Zarathustra,  in  a  reversed  form,  means  "  the  son  of  the  star." 
It  is  undoubtedly  this  star  which  the  gospel  tradition  knew 
as  the  star  of  the  Magi,  the  Persian  wise  men.  Then  the 
tradition  would  also  be  remarkable,  because  the  arrival  of  the 
Magi  at  Bethlehem  is  assigned  to  January  6,  and  this  was 
reckoned  as  the  thirteenth  day  from  the  25th  of  December, 
the  assumed  birthday  of  Christ,  as  it  still  goes  in  modern 
times  by  the  same  name  of  the  thirteenth,  in  reference  to  the 
three  kings  (Melchior,  Caspar,  and  Balthazar),  among  the 
people  of  North  Germany  and  of  the  Netherlands. 

However,  there  is  something  more  certain  and  sure.  If 
we  may  believe  that  the  designation  of  the  thirteenth  day  by 
the  name  of  Tir  had  reference  to  the  full  moon,  we  should 
rather  decide  for  the  connection  of  its  significance  with  Tir, 
"  an  arrow,"  which  was  contracted  from  tigr  (comp.  Tigris, 
tigra,  ro^ov,  Tc^ev/ia).  Pliny  says  the  Medes  call  Tigris  an 
arrow  (see  Botticher,  Arica,  p.  28).  The  arrow  is  an  ancient 
emblem  of  the  moon  as  well  as  of  the  sun  (hence  of  the  moon 
and  sun-gods).  Even  the  name  itself  of  the  fourth  month, 
which  is  the  same  as  of  the  thirteenth  day,  viz.  Tir,  receives 
an  explanation  from  this,  not  so  much,  of  course,  according  to 
the  later  Persian  calendar,  where  the  year  began  with  spring, 
but  after  a  computation  of  time,  of  which  the  year  began  in 
September,  which  was  so  much  in  use  in  the  first  Christian 
centuries  in  the  East,  that  it  became  the  official  era  in 
Constantinople  (Ideler,  ii.  359).  In  this  era  the  fourth 
month  corresponds  to  the  zodiacal  sign  Sagittarius,  whose 
symbol  is  the  arrow,  or,  as  the  Jews  call  it,  "  the  bow." 
The  constellation  of  Sagittarius  appears  in  December,  hence 
the  arrow-throwing  god  of  the  Lycians,  when  winter  came, 
hid  himself  in  Patara. 

All  this  undoubtedly  throws  much  light  upon  the  intention 
of  Haman  to  destroy  the  Jews  on  the  thirteenth  of  the  month. 
The  arrow  is  the  symbol  of  death,  of  sickness,  of  disgrace,  and 
of  blasphemy.  Poisonous  words  are  compared  to  arrows  (Ps. 
Ixiv.  4).     False  tongues  are  called  deadly  arrows  (Jer.  ix.  8). 


124  BOOK  OF  ESTHEK. 

The  apostle  speaks  of  the  fiery  darts  of  the  evil  one  (Eph.  vi. 
1  6).  In  a  similar  figurative  sense  the  Greeks  used  the  word 
t'69 ;  and  in  Persian  "  to  shoot  one  with  an  arrow  "  means,  to 
wish  evil  to  any  one,  or  to  slander  him  (see  Vullers,  i.  483). 

The  importance  of  the  arrow  and  the  bow  in  the  Persian 
kingdom  is  well  known.  A  coin  bore  the  image  of  a  bow,  and 
an  archer  hits  better  than  an  edict.  The  bow  was  manifestly 
the  symbol  of  the  king  himself,  and  represented  his  victorious 
and  ruling  power  like  the  sun,  hence  the  Persians  were  de- 
picted upon  the  coins  as  standing  with  the  extended  bow,  ready 
to  shoot  (Vullers,  Arsac.  Imperium,  i.  p.  50,  Paris  1728,  etc.). 

On  the  day  of  the  arrow,  Haman  sealed  a  death  warrant 
against  unprepared  Israel. 

"And  there  ivas  written  according  to  cdl  that  Haman 
commanded  unto  the  king's  satraps,  and  to  the  governors  that 
luere  over  every  province!' 

Haman  had  received  the  authorization  from  the  king,  and 
"  it  was  written,"  not,  "  they  wrote,"  for  the  writers  were  only 
instrumental  in  the  act,  and  wTote,  so  to  speak,  what  the 
grand  vizier  dictated.  He  caused  these  letters  to  be 
addressed  to  the  D^jamt^nx.  That  we  are  to  recognise  in 
this  word,  both  according  to  the  sound  and  sense,  what  is 
known  from  classical  authors  as  satraps,  or  satrapa,  satrapes, 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  X,  comp.  avv  and  ^vv,  is  re- 
produced here  by  li^n,  as  in  tniK'ns,  for  the  H  in  Xerxes. 
The  N  is,  besides,  only  a  Semitic  prefix ;  therefore  the  form 
of  'E^aTpd'7Tr)<;  for  satrap,  by  Theopomp,  can  be  recognised 
as  Semitic  pronunciation  (comp.  Pott,  Etymol.  Forsch.  i. 
Ixvi.).  In  a  similar  manner  the  Jews  have  reproduced  later 
Greek  words  which  begin  f  by  appending  an  «,  and  by 
d:3,  to  which  corresponds  ^n  here ;  or  fei/09  by  |DDS,  and 
^vXlvov  by  p^D3X.  —  Likewise,  it  is  certain  that  D^Jsmt^'nK 
perfectly  corresponds  to  the  Old  Persian  Khshatrapaivan,  as 
it  was  read  upon  the  inscription  of  Bisutun  by  Benfey  (comp. 
Lie  Fers.   Keilinschrift,   p.    18),   and,   in   fact,  we  may  read 


CHAP.  III.  12.  125 

D'jismc'rii?.  It  means  the  administrator  of  a  government 
(JchsJiatra,  domain,  and  pavjan,  according  to  Benfey,  from 
the  Sanscr.  pa,  to  govern),  as  Herodotus  calls  satrapies  ap-^ai 
The  second  part  of  the  word  D'':ia  (sing,  ps  or  p)  is  doubtless 
found  in  the  modern  Persian  Ban  (|^<3),  possessor,  commander. 
The  Greek  form  teaches  that  EJishatrapawa  was  also  pro- 
nounced Kssliatrapa.  After  the  fall  of  the  Old  Persian 
monarchy  there  were,  properly  speaking,  no  more  satraps. 
The  different  Oriental  kingdoms  have  given  different  names 
to  their  governors.  When  we  find  the  old  word  airiK^, 
sitrap,  in  Persian  dictionaries,  it  looks  as  a  reintroduction 
of  the  Greek  name  into  the  Persian.  Under  the  caliphs 
the  governors  of  provinces  were  called  Wali,  or  sometimes 
Am.il,  as  Hammer  remarks  {Ldnderverwaltung  iinter  dem 
Chalifat,  p.  11),  and  Emire  or  Nabbe  (pi.  newab,  whence  in 
a  maimed  form,  Nabob)  were  the  names  of  representatives. 

But  Haman  did  not  only  write  to  the  satraps,  but  also  to 
the  nine,  governors  of  single  districts.  There  were  twenty 
satraps  of  the  king  (see  ver.  1) ;  but  in  the  several  satrapies 
were  medinoth,  i.e.  revenue  districts,  to  the  number  of  127, 
including  Persia  proper.  At  the  head  of  these  stood  the 
mna,  and  therefore  the  first  were  entitled  "  the  satraps  of 
the  king,"  i.e.  governor-generals  ;  while  of  the  second  it  said, 
"  who  were  over  every  medina  or  district."  Now  we  must 
remark  something  about  the  meaning  of  the  name  nns,  pi. 
niriQ  or  niina.  It  was  not  only  a  name  of  a  provincial 
administrator  in  the  Persian,  but  also  in  the  Assyrian  and 
Babylonian  Empires.  The  most  ancient  notice  of  this  name 
we  find  in  the  kingdom  of  Solomon.  Nehemiah  held  the 
office  of  a  nns  in  the  Persian  kingdom.  That  this  office  con- 
sisted in  collecting  the  taxes  may  be  seen  from  Neh.  v.  and 
1  Kings  XX.  24.  To  explain  this  very  extensively  used  word, 
it  is  necessary  to  compare  it  with  ancient  Greek  notices,  for 
it  must  seem  strange  that  satrap  had  become  Grecised  and 
nns  not.  Now  we  must  remember  that  Hesychius  uses 
7rd^r)Te^,  "  rich,"  ''  eminent,"  in  the  same  sense  as  Herodotus 


12C  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

speaks  of  the  'irdx€e<;  as  the  aristocrats  of  Naxos  (v.  30),  the 
eminent  men  of  Aegina  (vi.  91),  and  of  the  rich  Sicilian 
Megareans  (vii.  156)  as  Tra^i^e?.  To  the  same  effect  we  read  in 
1  Kings  X.  15,  that  Solomon  received  gold  from  the  kings  of 
the  mingled  people  (or  of  the  West),  and  from  the  ]ni^n  nine ; 
which  cannot  in  the  strictest  sense  mean  governors  of  the 
country,  as  they  were  not  called  so  in  Judea  (see  1  Kings  iv.), 
but  must  likewise  be  understood  as  a  general  name  for  the  rich 
and  the  eminent  of  the  country.  Why  Thenius  (BUcher  der 
Konige,  p.  169)  should  conclude,  from  the  mentioning  of  this 
name,  that  this  chapter  is  of  later  date,  is  difficult  to  see. 
The  connection  of  nns  in  a  figurative  sense  with  7ra;^u9,  which 
has  also  the  natural  meaning  of  fat,  has  nothing  astonishing  in  it. 
It  is  exactly  in  the  nature  of  the  Oriental  dialect  to  associate 
riches  and  eminence  of  a  person,  in  a  figurative  way,  with  the 
size  and  appearance  of  his  body,  and  to  express  the  two  ideas 
by  one  word.  The  Psalmist  calls  the  mighty  of  the  land  '•jtJ^T 
p^?,  i.e.  "  the  fat  ones  of  the  land"  (comp.  Isa.  v.  17).  In  like 
manner  is  this  the  case  with  p^  (comp.  Judg.  iii..29  ;  Isa.  xxx. 
23).  It  has  its  analogy  in  the  Greek  iraxv^,  at  least  accord- 
ing to  Pott  {EtymoL  Forsch.  ii.  221),  Sanscr.  halm,  large. 
Hesychius  has  the  gloss  ^a^alo^  fiiya^,  7rd\v<;  ra^ix;.  It  is 
evidently  to  be  read  irayy^,  and  refers  to  similar  forms,  nna 
is  still  to  be  recognised  in  the  modern  Turkish  pasha,  formerly 
written  basha,  bassa,  and  was  also  a  general  title  of  honour 
which  was  bestowed  upon  learned  men  (Hammer,  Osman, 
Beich.  i.  56).  And  what  is  here  remarkable  is,  that  in  the 
placing  together  of  satraps  and  pashas  in  the  book  of  Esther, 
we  have  the  ancient  Oriental  designation  of  governors  side  by 
side  with  that  given  by  the  modern  Moslem  State  (probably 
the  last  of  that  description). 

The  State  secretaryship  of  the  great  king  of  Persia  was 
evidently  a  very  extensive  institution,  for  the  many  nations 
were  not  managed  and  governed  with  uniformity  after  one 
single  scheme;  they  were  allowed  to  have  their  own  particular 
language  and  customs;  the  orders  which  were  addressed  to 


CHAP.  III.  13.  127 

them  from  the  throne  were  sent  to  them  in  their  own  language 
and  writing,  It  is  emphatically  stated  that  every  province 
and  people  received  the  letters  in  its  own  peculiar  writing 
(n^JiDD)  and  language  (iJitJ>i5D).  This  is  explained  by  the  fact 
that  they  were  not  merely  directed  to  the  satraps  who  were 
Persians,  and  to  the  inferior  governors  (mna),  but  also  to  the 
princes  (nn5i>),  who  belonged  to  the_  people  themselves.  For 
as  the  officers  of  the  first  rank  were  called  governors  of  the 
king,  and  of  the  second  rank  pashas  of  the  provinces,  so  these 
were  called  princes  of  the  people  (ny).  Indeed,  the  contents 
of  the  letters  concerned  them  the  most ;  for,  to  a  certain 
extent,  it  was  a  call  for  a  united  national  war  against  one 
people  that  was  scattered  among  them  all.  Haman  in  his 
diabolical  subtlety  did  not  merely  write  to  the  satraps,  lest  he 
should  provoke  disapproval,  as  it  w^ould  have  appeared  to 
them  as  an  arbitrary  act.  jN"or  did  lie  write  merely  to  the 
administrators  of  finance,  lest  these  should  demur  on  the 
ground  that  the  exchequer  would  suffer  by  it;  but  he  specially 
wrote  to  the  chiefs  of  the  nations,  to  inflame  their  local 
popular  antipathies  against  the  Jews.  The  bureaucratic  board, 
which  was  instituted  for  the  better  management  of  local 
affairs,  and  for  the  instruction  of  the  people,  when  measures 
were  transmitted  to  them  in  their  own  language,  should 
become  the  instrument  in  his  hand  of  exciting  hatred  and 
passion.  Thus  does  the  abuse  of  power  change  the  best 
organizations  into  instruments  of  death.  It  is  not  the 
institutions  and  constitutions  of  a  country  which  secure 
prosperity  to  the  people,  so  much  as  the  spirit  which  pervades 
the  hearts  of  the  rulers  who  put  them  in  motion. 

Ver.  13.  "  And  letters  should  he  sent  hj  posts  into  all  the 

king's  provinces" 

The  actual  despatch  of  the  letters  is  not  yet  told  in  vers. 
12  and  13.  The  former  speaks  of  their  style,  and  the  latter 
of  their  contents.  The  sending  out  of  the  letters  is  recorded 
in  ver.  15.     The  words,  the  letters  to  be  sent  {n)b*^:,  iSTiphal 


128  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Inf.  absol,  which  occurs  only  in  this  place),  are  connected 
with  ver.  14  and  explanatory  of  it.  The  runners  (D"'yin) 
were  the  royal  post.  "  Nothing  in  nature,"  says  Herodotus 
(viii.  98),  "surpasses  those  messengers  in  swiftness.  For  as 
many  days  as  the  journey  would  occupy,  so  many  men  and 
horses  are  provided,  one  man  and  a  horse  for  each  day's 
journey,  and  neither  snow  nor  rain,  nor  heat  nor  night,  can 
hinder  any  of  the  runners  from  finishing  his  course  with  the 
greatest  speed.  The  rider  transmits  his  message  to  a  second, 
and  the  second  to  a  third,  and  so  on,  until  it  reaches  its 
destination.  This  running  course  of  the  riding  messengers 
the  Persians  call  Angareion."  The  messengers  themselves 
were  called  Angaroi.  The  word  mJiC,  letter,  which  occurs  in 
chap.  ix.  29,  is  therefore  hardly  to  be  explained  from  a 
Hebrew  root,  but  must  be  taken  as  a  contraction  of  mJ35?. 
The  modern  Persian  clearly  shows  this  in  the  words  engarc, 
engariden,  a  "  writing,"  "  document,"  "  codex  "  (though  in 
VuUers  it  is  used  only  in  the  abstract  sense  of  thinking). 
The  Talmud  Erubin  62a,  gives  the  Persian  names  of  letter- 
carriers  "p'ln'iD  and  '•jiinN,  and  so  the  first  is  clearly  explained 
from  p-iniD,  Arab,  paper  (see  Preytag,  iv.  216),  by  the  modern 
Persian  inD,  a  seal. 

The  second  name,  Eapaport  (in  HrecJi  Millin,  p.  6)  explains 
from  angari  ;  but  this  is  a  mistake,  for  it  is  to  be  read  '•JTiax, 
from  the  Persian  herden,  to  carry.  In  Arabic  we  have  still 
the  name  of  a  letter-carrier,  mna,  tdbellarms  (Freytag,  i.  106). 

"  To  destroy,  to  slay,  and  to  cause  to  perish,  all  Jews,  hoth 

young  and  old,  little  cliildren  and  loomen" 

The  contents  of  the  writing  were  to  the  effect  that  all  Jews 
should  be  totally  exterminated  ;  and  the  expressions  used  were 
evidently  chosen  to  convey  the  climax  of  cruelty.  First  the 
command  is  'T'O^nf',  to  destroy,  i.e.  their  communal  institu- 
tions, their  domestic  peace,  their  welfare,  and  their  property. 
But  this  is  not  yet  enough,  so  it  is  followed  by  the  more 
cruel  word  y^rh,  to  put  them  all  to  death  at  the  edge  of  the 


CHAP.  III.  13.  129 

sword.  But  lest  any  official  might  out  of  pity  let  some  of 
them  escape,  another  more  revolting  expression  is  added, 
^ax^l,  "  and  to  cause  to  perish,"  all  without  distinction  of  sex 
or  of  age.  When  Haman  first  made  his  proposal  to  the  king, 
in  ver.  9,  he  used  the  w^ord  Diasb,  to  lose  them ;  but  he  did 
not  explicitly  say  that  he  meant  to  kill  them,  for  he  would 
have  attained  the  object  of  his  request  if  they  had  only  been 
banished  from  the  country.  But  lest  the  provincial  authori- 
ties should  interpret  this  ambiguous  expression  in  a  mild  way, 
he  specified  the  manner  in  which  he  wanted  them  to  be 
destroyed,  namely,  by  slaughter.  Some  commentators  have 
thought  it  so  improbable  that  such  an  edict  should  be  issued, 
that  they  have  thrown  doubt  upon  the  genuineness  of  the 
whole  book.  Such  critics  only  displayed  their  complete 
ignorance  of  history  and  of  the  spirit  of  Oriental  rule. 
Attention  had  rightly  been  called  to  the  misdeed  of 
Mithridates  king  of  Pontus  (Grot,  in  loc).  The  manner 
in  which  he  ordered  the  Eomans  to  be  slain  is  literally  the 
same  as  the  one  narrated  in  our  book.  Appian  (xii.  cap.  22) 
reports  :  "  He  sent  secret  orders  to  all  the  satraps  and  the 
mayors  of  cities,  that  they  should  within  the  space  of  thirty 
days  fall  upon  the  resident  Romans  and  Italians,  upon  their 
wives  and  children,  and  upon  all  freemen  of  Italian  origin, 
and  kill  them,  and  throw  them  away  unburied,  and  take  their 
goods  and  possessions,  partly  for  themselves  and  partly  for  the 
King  Mithridates."  ...  "  These  secret  orders  Mithridates 
sent  to  all  at  the  same  time.  When  the  appointed  day 
came,  there  was  wailing  and  lamentation  in  the  whole  of 
Asia."  Mithridates  was  also  an  Oriental  tyrant,  and  acted  in 
a  measure  according  to  old  tradition.  It  was  to  him  an  act 
of  vengeance  as  w^ell  as  national  policy,  which  Haman  like- 
wise in  his  plan  presented  before  the  king.  But  the  Romans 
were  a  mighty  people  who  had  penetrated  Asia  victoriously, 
whilst  the  Jews  formed,  throughout  the  whole  country,  sub- 
jugated   peaceable   communities.     Mithridates  therefore   was 

the  executioner  of  national  vengeance,  but  Haman  sought  to 

I 


130  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

avenge  his  own  personal  spite.     For  the  latter  fearful  motive 
has  also  many  analogous  examples  in  the  Orient.     Specially 
cruel   appears  the   deed  of  Alaeddin  Khiljy  Sultan   (in  the 
beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century).     Some  Mongols  whom 
he  had  dismissed  from  his  service  were  accused  of  treachery, 
and  in  consequence  of  this  he  caused  all  Mongols,  it  is  said 
15,000,  to  be  slain  in  one  day.     Mohammed,  the  victorious 
Shah  of  Chowaresmier   (in   the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century),  had  conquered  Turkestan,   and  had   given   to   the 
conquered  Osman  Khan,  who  was  uncommonly  handsome,  his 
daughter  in   marriage.      But    this    man,  being    inwardly   as 
coarse  as  he  was  outwardly  fair,   had  no  sooner  settled  in 
Samarkand,  than  one  fine  morning  he  undertook  a  massacre 
of  all  the  people  of  Chowaresniier,  so  that  his  own  wife,  the 
daughter   of  Mohammed,  scarcely   escaped.       Of   course   he 
himself  did  not  escape  vengeance  afterwards  (comp.  Hammer, 
Gemdldcsaal,  vi.  172   and  iv.   197).     Shah  Abbas  of  Persia, 
when  he  no  longer  needed  to  tolerate  the  disobedience  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Ghilan,  issued  an  order  in  1634  that  all  the 
people  should  be  killed  (Malcolm,  ii.  30).     European  history 
also   is   not    without    such  examples    of   tyrannical   cruelty. 
Prominently  among  all  is  the  fearful  sanguinary  St.  Bartho- 
lomew night.     For   those   who   were   then   killed   were   not 
strangers,   but  Frenchmen,   friends   and  guests.      Yea,   even 
those  who  had  been  invited  to  weddings  were  cut  off  without 
pity.     Here  the  king  himself  and  the  princes  imbrued  their 
hands   in   blood.     They  were   more   bloodthirsty  and  guilty 
than  Ahhashverosh,  who  was  deceived   by  another,  and  mis- 
led by  his  own  arrogance. 

Eanke,  in  ]\\q  French  History  (i.  332),  s^ys  that  about  3  o'clock 
the  alarm-bell  began  to  ring ;  then  the  people  rushed  every- 
where into  the  houses  of  the  Huguenots,  in  order  to  kill  them 
and  to  rob  them  of  their  property,  crying,  "  It  is  the  king's  will, 
and  he  has  commanded  so."  Orders  were  given  by  word  of 
mouth,  and  these  were  carried  with  the  speed  of  lightning 
from  city  to  city  to  excite  fanaticism.     According  to  moderate 


CHAP.  III.  13.  131 

statistics,  in  Paris  alone  5000,  and  in  the  country  20,000, 
people  were  massacred. 

The  Jews  were  scattered  in  all  the  provinces  of  the  empire 
(Joseph.  Jewish  Wars,  vii.  333),  but  they  lived  everywhere 
together  in  separate  communities,  as  was  the  peculiar  custom 
in  ancient  times.  The  various  nationalities  of  a  city  did  not 
reside  promiscuously,  as  in  a  modern  city,  but  in  separate 
quarters.  For  this  reason  jealousies  were  more  frequent,  and 
hatred  and  passion  were  more  easily  excited  against  each 
other.  In  the  cities  where  Greeks  and  Syrians  dwelt  together 
strife  never  ceased.  It  could  not  therefore  be  difficult  for 
Haman  to  excite  fanaticism  and  avarice,  either  of  which  is 
always,  even  without  external  impulse,  the  source  of  the  other. 
Joseph.  A^itifj.  xviii.  9.  9,  gives  a  remarkable  example  of  this 
from  Seleucia.  The  Greeks  and  the  Syrians  were  always 
quarrelling.  But  the  former  were  generally  defeated,  because 
the  Jews  took  part  with  the  latter.  "  Now  when  the  Greeks 
had  the  worst  in  this  sedition,  and  saw  that  they  had  but 
one  way  of  recovering  their  former  authority,  namely  by 
preventing  union  between  the  Jews  and  the  Syrians,  they 
every  one  discoursed  with  such  of  the  Syrians  as  were  formerly 
their  acquaintance,  and  promised  they  would  be  at  peace  and 
friendship  with  them.  Accordingly  they  gladly  agreed  so  to 
do ;  and  when  this  was  done  by  the  principal  men  of  both 
nations,  .  .  .  they  fell  upon  the  Jews,  and  slew  about  50,000 
of  them ;  indeed,  the  Jews  were  all  destroyed,  excepting  a  few 
who  escaped,"  etc.  A  similar  quarrel  arose  at  Caesarea  be- 
tween the  Jews,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Syrians  as  to  the  owner- 
ship of  the  city,  in  which  the  Syrians  played  a  double  game ; 

* 
and  though  overcome  by  the  Jews,  the  latter  were  at  last 

severely  punished  by  the  Komans  (Joseph.  Jewish  Wars,  ii. 
13.  7).  There  is  a  history  of  the  entire  extermination  of  the 
Jews  in  Persia  under  Abbas  II.  in  the  year  1666.  It  is 
not  authenticated,  but  it  may  possibly  be  an  imitation  of  the 
narrative  in  our  book  (see  Schudt,  Jiid,  Merkwilrdigh  i.  1. 
26-32). 


132  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

"  In  one  day,  even  upon  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  twelfth 

month,  which  is  the  month  Adar." 

It  may  seem  strange  that  Haman  should  have  left  the 
governors  such  a  wide  space  of  time  for  the  execution  of  the 
order,  but  it  was  because  the  horoscope  had  cast  the  die  for 
the  month  Adar  ;  and  this  turned  out  to  the  salvation  of  Israel. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  long  interval  was  desirable  for  himself, 
as  it  would  leave  the  various  executioners  time  to  prepare  for 
decisive  action  on  the  appointed  day.  The  objection  to  this, 
that  the  Jews  might  in  the  meantime  have  fled  or  provided 
themselves  with  places  of  refuge,  does  not  hold  good,  for 
whither  could  they  have  fled  ?  In  such  a  case  the  whole 
extensive  empire  would  have  been  their  universal  prison.  And 
if  the  communities  had  desired  to  emigrate,  would  they  have 
been  suffered  to  do  so  ?  And  even  if  they  had  been  willing 
to  forsake  their  faith  and  nation,  would  they  not  have  been 
hindered  from  doing  so  ?  For  when  one  wants  to  destroy  a 
person,  he  strengthens  him  in  tenacious  adherence  to  his 
religious  system  out  of  hatred.  The  command  of  Haman  was 
violent  and  cruel  enough  before  the  actual  deed.  He  played 
with  them,  as  the  cat  with  the  mouse  which  she  has  already i 
caught.  He  let  them  have  breathing  time,  during  which  they 
should  prepare  to  die,  to  lament  their  fate,  and  to  fall  into 
despair.  The  horoscope  had  decided  for  Adar.  In  the  13th 
of  the  first  month,  the  day  of  the  arrow,  the  decree  was  issued, 
and  till  the  13th  of  Adar,  i.e.  a  whole  year,  the  angel  of  death 
was  hovering  over  Israel,  and  pierced  their  souls  before  he 
touched  their  bodies. 

"  And  to  take  the  spoil  of  them  for  a  prey." 
That  ^'2^  represents  war  booty  is  well  known  (comp.  my 
Comm.  onJitdg.  p.  60).  It  is  therefore  usually  connected  with 
TD,  to  plunder.  Pott  (ii.  153),  who  compares  it  with  apird^eiv, 
is  surely  right,  rather  than  Benfey.  The  writing  of  Haman 
regards  the  Jews  as  enemies  of  the  country,  whose  subjuga- 
tion is  determined  upon,  and  whose  hostility  is  of  so  enormous 


CHAP.  III.  14.  133 

a  nature,  that  slavery  would  be  too  mild  a  punishment  for 
them.  The  Persian  monarch  had  power  enough  to  deal  as  he 
pleased  with  those  who  were  under  his  dominion,  and  of  whose 
power  of  resistance  he  had  nothing  to  fear. 

The  Jews  have  experienced  a  similar  fate  in  their  subse- 
quent history,  if  not  in  being  threatened  with  death,  at  least 
in  having  their  property  confiscated.  The  German-Eoman 
emperor  used  to  claim  the  right,  during  the  Middle  Ages,  of 
levying  a  head-tax  from  them,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  the 
heir  of  the  conqueror  of  Jerusalem,  and  could  do  with  them 
as  he  liked.  The  Emperor  Charles  IV.  said  expressly,  in  a 
rescript :  "  All  the  Jews  belong,  themselves  personally  and 
their  possessions,  to  our  exchequer,  and  are  in  our  hands  and 
power,  so  that  we  are  authorized  to  deal  with  them  according 
to  our  pleasure."  It  was  again  a  relic  of  the  old  Oriental 
law  of  conquest,  which  was  upheld  against  the  Jews  in  Christian 
States,  and  aggravated  by  religious  sentiment,  such  as  we 
find  in  Haman's  order,  when  Albert  Achill,  the  Margrave 
of  Brandenburg,  published  the  following  political  law : 
"  When  a  Eoman  king  or  emperor  is  crowned,  he  has  every- 
where the  right  to  take  the  goods  of  the  Jews  that  are  living 
under  his  dominion,  and  also  to  take  their  life,  and  to  kill  a 
certain  number  of  them  "  (see  my  "  Geschichte  der  Juden  "  in 
Encyclop.  Ersch  und  Gruher,  ii.  27,  p.  86). 

Ver.  14.  ''A  copy  of  the  writing  to  he  given  out  for  a 

decree!* 

The  explanation  of  pti'riD  is  not  without  certain  great  diffi- 
culties. It  does  not  appear  that  the  compound  jnns,  "  royal 
bread"  (Dan.  i.  5),  Zend,  paiti,  Sanscr.  jpati,  Pers.  pdd  = 
"  king,"  "  lord,"  and  ia,  "  bread,"  comp.  Greek  /Se/co<?,  bread, 
throws  any  light  upon  it.  Nor  can  it  be  compared  with  D:ina, 
"  word,"  "  edict,"  which  is  in  Persian  D^Q,  Dn^S,  for  the  two 
words  have  no  relation  to  each  other.  It  is  certainly  like 
]y^2r\'^  in  Ezra.  With  regard  to  its  meaning,  we  find  a  differ- 
ence  of    opinion    already    among    the    oldest    commentators. 


134  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Some  of  them  thought  that  the  two  words  in  Esther  and  in 
Ezra  are  of  different  meanings,  which  is  surely  not  the  case. 
The  LXX.  has  rendered  the  word  pathsliegen  in  Esther  by 
antigraphon ;  hence  came  into  Lexicons  and  into  most  modern 
versions  the  word  "  copy "  for  it.  But  this  is  clearly  an 
hypothesis  of  the  LXX.,  for  it  renders  parshegen  by  diasaphesis 
and  diatage,  which  corresponds  to  the  paraphrase  of  the  Tar- 
gum,  diatagma.  But  it  is  also  evident  that  pathsliegen  and 
parshegen  are  inseparable,  because  the  second  half  of  the 
compound  never  occurs  for  "  writing  "  or  "  copying."  In  the 
passages  in  Ezra  there  is  no  mention  of  a  copy,  as  they  only 
speak  of  one  letter.  The  satraps  could  not  have  sent  a  copy, 
but  the  original,  to  the  king.  So  also  in  our  passage,  the 
word  cannot  be  understood  in  the  sense  of  a  copy.  We  must 
therefore  take  antigraphon  in  the  sense  of  "  contents,"  "  pur- 
port," "  tenor,"  as  Jerome  rightly  renders  it  by  "  summa."  To 
obtain  this  meaning,  it  is  not  necessary  to  adduce  the  modern 
Persian  ntnnn,  Arab,  dns  (Castelli,  Lex.  Syr.  p.  738  ;  Vullers, 
ii.  698).^  Other  Orientalists,  as  Oppert  and  Gildemeister, 
have  thought  that  the  word  is  composed  of  the  Old  Pers.  fra 
(Sanscr.  pru,  Lat.  pro)  and  ahanhana  ( =  gaoighana),  which 
means  order  (see  Eiirst,  Zex.  ii.  244).  At  all  events  the 
syllable  p^  demands  consideration.  It  may  dialectically  be 
compared  with  signum,  whose  original  idea  was  likewise 
"  mark,"  "  character,"  and  "  contents."  Pott  hit  upon  a  good 
idea  when  he  reminds  us  of  a  Sanscr.  form,  sangna  (cognitio) 
(Etym.  Forscli,  i.  183).  Sig7mim  is,  in  fact,  nearly  related 
to  7 1 7  z/  (w  aK6i,v,  with  which  the  Zend,  znd,  Sanscr.  gna, 
cognoscere,  are  connected.  Parshegen  and  pathshegen  cannot 
be  better  rendered  than  by  "  intelligence,"  "  observation," 
"contents  of  a  letter."  Only  in  the  sense  of  argumentum, 
cognitio,  could  the  Targum  translate  DD^D,  Ps.  Ix.  1,  and 
n:6J'n,  Deut.  xvii.  1 8,  by  parshegen ;  but  for  the  latter,  other 
editions  have  merely  parsha. — The  contents  of  the  writing  to 

*  The  attempt  of  the  Targum  to  derive  the  word  from  jjns,  "  to  explain," 
may  be  correct  for  this,  but  untenable  for  -parshegen. 


CHAP.  III.  14.  135 

the  authorities  was  published  ("li'J)  to  the  populations,  in  order 
that  they  might  be  ready  for  the  day  of  the  execution.  These 
were  no  private  instructions  to  the  authorities,  but  rather  open 
orders  to  the  people.  The  intention  of  the  publicity  was  in 
order  that  the  Jews  might  be  prevented  from  a  possible  flight. 
Thus  the  prospect  of  the  coming  event  increased  the  hatred 
and  mistrust  of  the  heathen  against  them,  severed  all  the  ties 
which  had  hitherto  held  them  together,  and  extinguished  every 
humane  feeling  of  pity  in  the  breasts  of  the  people,  by  harden- 
ing their  hearts  during  this  long  interval  of  respite.  The 
tyrannical  command  caused  the  Persian  people  to  prepare 
themselves  as  for  a  feast.  They  were  to  provide  themselves  with 
weapons,  and  to  be  ready  and  eager  for  the  prey.^  Fanaticism 
and  avarice  do  not  need  much  time  to  be  inflamed.  But 
Haman  thought  that  the  more  the  idea  was  held  out  to  the 
people  that  on  a  certain  day  they  would  have  a  chance  of 
robbing  the  Jews,  the  more  they  would  calculate  upon  it  as 
sure.  Men  must  be  prepared  for  joys  and  for  sorrows,  for 
benevolence  and  for  hatred,  in  order  to  drink  of  their  cup  to 
the  brim. 

In  ver.  15  may  be  seen  how  vividly  graphic,  and  yet 
how  plain,  is  the  description  of  the  narrative.  While  the 
messengers  run — for  they  transmit  a  royal  order  (therefore 
hamelech) — the  command  is  published  in  Shushan.  What  a 
dreadful  command  !  Life  and  property  should  be  taken  from 
hundreds  of  thousands,  parents  should  see  their  children 
killed  before  their  eyes,  and  children  should  stand  as  silent 
and  helpless  witnesses  of  the  slaughter  of  their  parents ; 
and  while  this  is  being  proclaimed,  Ahhashverosh  and  Haman 
sit  down  at  the  table  and  drink.  Just  now  an  arrow  is 
shot,  giving  the  signal  for  the  butchery  of  thousands,  and 
Haman  sits  silent  at  the  table  of  the  deluded  and  fickle  king. 

^  The  Midrasli  Esther  94a,  describes  this  beautifully  in  its  own  homi- 
letical  way.  When  a  Jew  went  to  market  to  buy  meat  or  anything  else, 
there  the  Persian  met  him,  and  said  scornfully,  "  To-day  you  still  buy  and 
pay  your  money ;  to-morrow  I  shall  kill  you,  and  plunder  all  that  you 


136  '  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Wine  flows  abundantly  into  the  cups,  but  the  numberless 
tears  which  flow  from  many  dim  eyes  are  forgotten.  It  is 
not  more  tragical  in  Shakespeare's  Ricliard  IIL,  Sict  iii.  scene  1, 
where  Glo'ster  is  represented  as  inciting  to  acts  of  new 
atrocity,  and  saying  to  Buckingham,  "  Come,  let  us  sup 
betimes,  that  afterwards  we  may  digest  our  complots  in  some 
form."  For  the  banquet  of  Ahhashverosh  gives  less  the 
appearance  of  a  complot  than  of  the  malicious  triumph  of  a 
treacherous  enemy. 

"  But  the  city  of  Shushan  was  perplexed." 
The  accustomed  explanation  of  the  word  riDUJ  cannot 
easily  be  adopted.  Commentators  have  generally  followed 
the  LXX.,  wdiich  renders  it  by  "  iTapdaaeTv"  "  the  city  of 
Shushan  was  horrified,"  deriving  the  word  from  the  root  ^n, 
which  means  "  rolling,"  "  turning,"  and  is  cognate  with  13X 
and  *]an.  Jewish  grammarians  have  given  occasion  to  this 
interpretation  (see  Kimchi's  W'lin^n  ivin,  p.  72).  On  the 
other  hand,  the  predominating  ancient  Jewish  opinion  on  the 
word  w^as,  that  it  is  derived  from  nan,  "  to  weep ; "  so  the 
second  Targum,  etc.  Of  course  it  was  thought  that  the  weeping 
refers  to  the  resident  Jews  alone, — an  opinion  which  Jerome 
followed,  for  he  says,  "  Cunctis  qui  in  urbe  erant  flantibus ; " 
and  another  scholium  has  the  word  "Judaeis"  instead  of 
cunctis.  And  the  LXX.  also  renders  in  other  passages  forms 
of  words  which  are  likewise  derived  from  ^n  by  K\av6fx6<i, 
"weeping,"  as,  e.g.,  Joel  i.  18;  Micah  vii.  4.  But  it  is 
necessary  to  limit  both  significations,  as  they  are  due  to  the 
homiletical  expositions  of  later  Jews,  and  both  are  untenable 
objectively.  The  word  neviicha  ("perplexed")  cannot  apply 
to  the  Jews,  for  we  read  only  in  chap.  iv.  1,  "Now  when 
Mordecai  knew  all  that  was  done."  Only  now  commences 
the  description  of  the  effect  which  the  publication  of  the 
decree  had  produced  upon  the  Jews.  Apart  from  this,  it 
would  be  extraordinary  to  intimate  that  the  Jews  are  meant 
by  the  word  "  city,"  when  iv.  3  expressly  relates  that  wher- 


CHAP.  III.  14.  137 

ever  the  report  of  the  decree  came, "  there  was  great  mourning 
among  the  Jews,  and  fasting  and  weeping."  But  if,  as  is 
undoubtedly  the  case,  this  is  predicted  of  the  whole  city  of 
Shushan,  the  question  arises,  why  should  nevucJia  be  taken 
in  a  sense  which  implies  that  they  were  horrified,  amazed, 
and  confounded  at  the  event  which  had  actually  been 
ushered  in  ?  Did  it  come  all  of  a  sudden  upon  them,  that  it 
took  them  by  surprise  ?  When  the  king  had  long  hefore  placed 
the  prospect  of  plunder  before  them,  it  can  scarcely  be 
supposed  that  when  the  longed-for  day  had  actually  arrived, 
the  people  were  smitten  by  feelings  of  compassion  for  the 
poor  innocent  Jews.  The  first  Targum  foresaw  the  objection, 
and  tried  to  meet  it  by  the  remark,  that  the  city  got  confused 
by  the  discordant,  tumultuous  voices  that  were  heard,  of  joy 
on  the  part  of  the  heathen,  and  of  lamentation  on  the  part  of 
the  Jews.  But  in  ver.  15  there  is  only  expressed  the  deeds 
and  the  behaviour  of  the  heathen  against  the  Jews.  Then  in 
chap.  iv.  comes  the  contrast  afforded  by  the  description  of  the 
misery  it  had  produced  among  the  Jews.  In  nsui,  therefore, 
there  can  only  be  intimated  a  parallel  to  the  drinking  of  the 
king  with  Haman.  When  Naomi  returned  with  Euth  to 
Bethlehem,  we  are  told  "  that  all  the  city  was  moved  about 
them"  (Dnn),  i.e.  her  return  in  such  a  poor  condition,  accom- 
panied by  her  young  daughter-in-law,  excited  wonder  and 
gossip,  but  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  feelings  of 
sympathy  were  aroused.  In  the  same  sense  w^e  must  take 
the  word  nevucha.  The  edict  of  Haman  did  not  arouse 
compassion  towards  those  against  whom  it  was  directed,  but 
formed  only  a  subject  of  gossip  and  conversation.  While  the 
decree  was  issued  to  kill  thousands  of  Israel,  "  the  king  and 
Haman  were  merrily  drinking  wine,  and  the  city  of  Shushan 
was  full  of  gossip."  I  think  that  n3U3  may  be  derived  from 
a  form  of  in:  cognate  with  na3  (in  the  onomapoetic  meaning 
of  latrare),  "to  bark."  From  the  Gk.  Bd^co,  jSa^a^co,  "to 
prattle,"  usually  in  a  secondary  bad  sense  (fut.  /3d^a}), 
comp.   Odyss.   viii.   408,  ctto?  fie^uKrai,  from  which  Bd/Sa^, 


138  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

/3a^dKTr]<;,  "  gossiper,"  "  crier,"  are  derived  (Suidas,  etc.).  It 
is  certainly  the  onomapoetic  form,  and  it  has  doubtless  an 
affinity  with  the  French  hahil,  bahiller,  and  the  English 
babble.  Again,  "733  may  be  compared  with  it,  because  the 
3  is  only  a  prefix  peculiar  to  Hebraisms  (see  my  Comm. 
on  Judges,  p.  120). 

The  condition  of  Israel  was  sad  in  the  extreme.  Their 
annihilation  was  impending, — their  enemies  were  drinking, — 
and  their  neighbours  were  gossiping.  Where  else  were  they 
to  seek  help,  but  in  repentance  towards  the  living  God ! 


CHAPTEE    lY. 

Yer.  1.  "Now  when  Mordecai  hneiv  all  that  was  done." 
He  got  to  know,  not  only  that  which  was  evident  from  the 
published  edict,  but  also  the  whole  transaction  of  Haman  with 
the  king  (see  ver.  7).  The  order  to  the  city  of  Shushan  declared 
perhaps  only  what  should  take  place  there  on  the  13th  of 
Adar,  but  he  knew  that  Haman's  plan  made  provision  for  the 
destruction  of  the  Jews  in  general.  The  resentful  vizier  had 
not  told  the  king  what  was  the  design  of  his  hatred,  but  the 
courtiers  suspected  it  (iii.  3) ;  and  it  must  have  reminded 
Mordecai,  and  touched  him  to  the  core.  The  more  he  got 
to  know  the  whole  condition  of  things,  the  greater  was  his 
terror.  It  was  not  a  mere  caprice  of  the  king,  but  a 
systematic,  premeditated  plan.  If  at  any  time  he  had  cause 
to  weep  and  repent,  much  more  now.  There  was  only  one 
friend  left  who  could  help  in  this  extremity,  God  alone ; 
and  before  Him  confession  of  sin,  and  heartfelt  supplications 
must  be  made. 

The  Midrash  has  for  the  explanation  of  the  words,  "  and 
Mordecai  knew  all,"  invented  a  heavenly  scene,  which  as  a 
homily  may  not  have  been  without  effect  upon  the  synagogue. 
The   thinojs   which    had  come    to    his    knowledcje   were    not 

O  CD 

human,  but  divine.  The  prophet  Elijah  had  informed  him 
of  the  accusation  of  Satan  against  Israel,  that  they  had 
transgressed  the  law  and  worshipped  idols.  In  consequence 
of  which,  judgment  was  decreed.  But  the  prophet  Elijah 
called  upon  the  patriarchs  to  come  to  the  rescue,  and  Moses 
had  advised,  that  inasmuch  as  judgment  had  not  yet  actually 
gone  forth,  it  was  yet  time  for  Israel  to  repent  of  their  sins ; 


140  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

and  if  they  did  so,  the  sentence  of  condemnation  would  be 
revoked.  Elijah  came  to  make  this  known  to  Mordecai.  It 
is  clear  that  exegesis  does  not  gain  anything  by  the  con- 
tribution of  this  legend.  Mordecai  did  not  need  that  Elijah 
should  come  and  instruct  him  in  the  duty  of  repentance  and 
supplication,  when  the  whole  existence  of  Israel  was  called 
in  question. 

*' Mordeccd  rent   his  clothes,  and  put   on    sackcloth  with 

ashes" 

What  Mordecai  did  was  a  sign  of  personal  as  well  as  of 
public  mourning.  When  Jacob  heard  of  the  supposed  death 
of  Joseph,  we  read  that  "  he  rent  his  garments  and  put  on 
sackcloth "  (Gen.  xxxvii.  34).  David  did  the  same  when 
mourning  for  his  sons.  But  the  symbolism  out  of  which 
these  signs  were  formed  contains  thoughts  which  go  beyond 
the  mere  idea  of  mourning.  Achilles  mourned  in  like  manner 
as  the  pious  of  Israel,  and  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  us 
from  assuming  that  in  his  display  of  these  external  signs  of 
anguish  he  recognised  the  idea  of  repentance  {Iliad,  xviii.  23).^ 

They  only  show  that  the  whole  ancient  Western  Asiatic 
world  anticipated  the  word  of  the  apostle,  "  The  wages  of  sin 
is  death."  These  external  signs  of  mourning  are  also  therefore 
public,  and  so  to  speak,  political  and  patriotic,  because 
mourning  and  repentance  flow  from  the  same  source.  The 
custom  of  throwing  earth  and  ashes  upon  the  head  of  a  corpse 
at  burial  by  the  bereaved  arose  also  from  the  idea,  that  the 
mourners  had  brought  vividly  to  their  remembrance  their 
state  of  mortality.  For  dust  has  the  similarity  to  decomposed 
matter.  Dust  and  ashes  represent  the  disfigurement  of  the 
face  and  of  the  form  of  the  one  buried.  Homer  says : 
"Achilles  deformed  the  lovely  countenance  {fjo-'xyve)"  and 
that  in  contrast  to  the  washings  and  the  anointings  which 

1  With  regard  to  the  literature  on  this  subject,  see  generally  the  article 
of  Leyrer  in  Herzog's  Bealencydop. ;  and  in  respect  to  the  Greek,  Pauly's 
article  in  the  Eealencyclop.  of  Antiquities. 


CHAP.  IV.  1.  141 

were  used  for  the  beautifying  of  the  body.  But  ointment 
upon  the  head,  with  its  fragrance,  was  the  symbol  of  life,  an 
emblem  of  the  fragrant  flower ;  just  as  the  flowing  hair  upon 
the  head  of  a  Nazarite  was  the  type  of  a  portaUe  altar  ivJiich 
the  holy  man  should  he, — and  dust  or  ashes  upon  the  head 
was  the  symbol  of  the  person  disfigured  by  death,  and  of  man 
who  is  destined  to  die,  reminding  the  mourner  that  he  is 
but  dust.  The  rending  of  the  garments  and  the  putting  on 
of  sackcloth  were  inseparably  connected.  Together  they 
expressed  the  opposite  of  life  and  enjoyment.  It  was  con- 
sidered as  a  renouncement  of  the  world  when  the  comely 
garments  were  torn  asunder,  and  when  the  coarse  sackcloth 
was  put  on.  It  was  a  giving  up  of  the  joys  of  life  on 
account  of  death.  When  one  mourned  with  these  external 
signs  upon  him,  he  indicated  thereby  that  he  was  mindful  of 
the  transitoriness  of  all  earthly  things,  and  of  the  insipid 
vanities  of  the  world.  Plutarch  narrates  of  one  whom  he  calls 
superstitious  as  follows  :  "  He  sits  outside  wrapped  up  in  a  sack 
or  shabby  garments,  he  rolls  himself  naked  in  the  dust,  and 
enumerates  his  sins  and  delinquencies  one  by  one,  that  he 
has  eaten  or  drunk  this  or  that,  that  he  has  gone  in  a  way 
which  his  tutelary  spirit  forbade  him"  (Plutarch  On  Super- 
stition). The  same  did  pious  Job,  who  rent  his  garments,  sat 
in  ashes,  his  head  covered  with  dust,  while  his  friends  sat 
in  like  manner  near  him.  The  only  difference  was,  that  the 
pious  and  patient  sufferer  knew  what  he  wanted  when 
displaying  these  symptoms  of  his  sorrow.  But  to  Plutarch 
and  to  heathenism  these  things  became  unintelligible.  How- 
ever, although  gloomy  customs  like  these,  as  well  as  those  which 
were  most  beautiful,  became  in  time  instruments  of  ungodli- 
ness and  superstition,  yet  we  cannot  fail  to  recognise  that 
they  originally  possessed  the  inherent  thought  of  repentance, 
and  for  this  reason  became  the  pictures  of  mourning  and 
death.  Albeit  among  the  Syrians  and  Orientals  in  general, 
they  did  not  call  forth  true  repentance  and  confession  of  sin 
before   God.     Ahab   did   the   same   as   Mordecai,   when    the 


142  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

ascetic  prophet  Elijah  declared  to  him  the  judgment  of  God. 
"He  rent  his  clothes,  and  put  sackcloth  upon  his  flesh,  and 
fasted,  and  lay  in  sackcloth,  and  went  softly  "  (1  Kings  xxi. 
27).  The  King  of  Israel  did  so  in  consequence  of  the 
preaching  of  Elisha  (2  Kings  vi.  30).  When  the  pious 
King  Hezekiah  heard  the  blasphemy  of  Eabshakeh,  "  he  rent 
his  clothes,  and  covered  himself  with  sackcloth,  and  went  into 
the  house  of  the  Lord  "  (2  Kings  xix.  1 ).  But  the  prophet 
Joel  exclaimed  :  "  Eend  your  heart  and  not  your  garments  " 
(ii.  13).  For  hypocrites  and  worldly  people  used  to  put  on 
sackcloth  in  order  to  appear  as  prophets. 

Mordecai's  mourning  was  not  merely  a  conformity  to  a 
custom,  but  it  was  sincere,  heartfelt,  and  true.  And  this 
mourning  was  repentance.  The  Midrash  shows  deep  insight 
into  his  state  of  mind  when  it  represents  him  as  a  penitent, 
first  of  all  for  his  own  personal  sins,  not  casting  the  guilt 
upon  others,  and  then  repenting  for  the  sins  of  his  people. 

"  And  went  out  into  the  midst  of  the  city^  and  cried  with 

a  loud  and  a  hitter  cry!' 

These  words  of  the  narrator  are  not  without  significance 
and  difficulty.  The  whole  manner  of  mourning  at  that  time 
could  in  itself  be  only  intelligible  by  publicity.  It  was  to  a 
certain  extent  an  ecclesiastical  custom,  bearing  the  external 
and  visible  signs  of  instruction  and  exhortation  to  the 
spectators.  At  public  calamities  mourning  was  necessarily 
a  public  affair.  "  In  the  streets,"  exclaims  Isaiah,  "  they  gird 
themselves  with  sackcloth  ;  on  their  house-tops,  in  their  broad 
places,  every  one  howleth,  weeping  abundantly "  (xv.  3). 
But  Mordecai  does  not  sit  down  in  ashes  and  sorrow,  but 
"  he  goes  into  the  midst  of  the  city."  Yet  surely  this  is  not 
a  Jewish  city,  it  is  Shushan,  the  residence  of  the  Persian 
king.  Its  inhabitants  are  the  very  persons  who  have  the 
task  entrusted  to  them  of  murdering  him  and  all  his  kindred 
on  the  13th  of  Adar.  Why  does  Mordecai  go  to  them 
with  the  cry  of  penitence  and  mourning  ?     The   LXX.  has 


CHAP.  IV.  1.  143 

sought  to  explain  this  by  adding  a  clause,  "  A  people  is 
about  to  be  destroyed  which  has  done  no  evil."  But  the 
added  clause  is  an  explanation  of  the  Midrash  of  that  time, 
and  has  no  exegetical  force.  In  the  first  place,  the  penitent 
garment  is  unsuitable  for  making  remonstrating  reproaches. 
He  was  penitent,  as  the  Midrash  elsewhere  says,  because  he 
recognised  that  his  nation  had  sinned  before  God,  and  there- 
fore he  could  not  have  said  that  they  had  done  no  evil.  In 
the  second  place,  the  lamentable  cry  to  excite  the  sympathy 
of  the  people  would  have  been  in  vain,  for  they  could  not 
grant  it.  The  king's  order  precludes  all  private  sympathy, 
and  also  self-defence,  according  to  Persian  usage.  Plutarch 
narrates,  that  Teribaz  the  Persian  once  successfully  defended 
himself  against  people  who  wanted  to  seize  him  and  carry 
him  off  as  a  prisoner ;  but  when  they  told  him  that  they 
came  by  the  command  of  the  king,  he  at  once  threw  down 
his  sword,  and  extended  his  hands  to  be  bound. 

The  Jewish  commentators  say  that  he  went  into  the  city 
in  order  to  make  known  to  the  Jews  what  had  happened  with 
regard  to  them.  But  they  must  have  known  this,  as  it  was 
everywhere  proclaimed.  Perhaps  he  knew  it  before  they 
did,  and  indeed  he  knew  more  than  the  proclamation  con- 
tained. If  this  be  the  case,  we  might  expect  that  the  same 
would  be  said  as  occurs  in  ver.  16,  that  he  gathered  together 
all  the  Jews  that  were  present  in  Shushan. 

When  "  he  went  into  the  city,"  it  must  have  been  in 
reference  to  his  mourning  and  penitent  cry.  Therefore  the 
opinion  of  Clericus  is  very  singular,  that  "  Mordecai  cried  so 
loud  and  so  bitterly,  because  he  was  convinced  of  the  wrong 
that  he  had  done  to  Haman  in  refusing  to  adore  him."  In 
that  case  Daniel  must  also  have  done  wrong  in  resisting  the 
impious  commands  of  the  tyrant.  It  is  not  the  lamentation 
itself  which  is  striking,  but  the  lamentation,  on  the  way  to 
the  city  of  Shushan,  before  all  the  Persians,  and  as  far  as 
the  court  of  the  king. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  the  contrast  between  Mordecai 


144  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

and  the  prophet  Jonah,  of  whom  it  is  written,  that  he  went 
into  the  city,  viz.  Nineveh.  At  that  time  Jonah  was  not 
penitent,  but  he  preached  repentance  ;  he  did  not  preach  to 
Jews,  but  to  the  heathen  of  the  whole  city ;  and  the  lowest 
citizen  as  well  as  the  king  listened  to  him.  Mordecai,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  himself  a  penitent ;  his  appearance  was  a 
forcible  wail ;  his  voice  sounded  of  judgment  to  come  :  but 
only  upon  the  Jews.  The  king  and  the  people  were  struck 
dumb  in  perceiving  that  they  were  to  be  the  executioners  of 
this  judgment.  But  Mordecai  was  as  good  a  witness  as 
Jonah.  The  latter  was  the  witness  of  God  before  the 
heathen  ;  the  former,  his  own  witness,  in  that  he  declared 
himself  to  belong  to  the  people  of  God  in  the  presence  of  the 
heathen.  Mordecai  belonged  to  the  most  prominent  men  of 
Israel,  for  he  was  descended  from  the  captives  who  were 
carried  away  with  King  Jechoniah  (ii.  6).  To  these  belonged 
the  best  class  of  Israel,  as  the  poor  were  left  behind  at  home 
(2  Kings  xxiv.  14,  15).  Mordecai  "sat  before  the  gate  of 
the  king."  This  certainly  implied  a  degree  of  respectability. 
Herodotus  (iii.  120)  informs  us  that  those  who  sat  before  the 
sate  of  the  kin<]f  were  eminent  Persians.  This  is  confirmed 
by  what  we  read  in  chaps,  ii.  and  iii.  ^e  had  facilities  of 
detecting  the  conspiracy,  and  could  maintain  himself  against 
the  demands  of  Haman  ;  for  it  was  not  entirely  unknown 
that  he  had  saved  the  king's  life  (see  chap.  vi.  2,  3).  But 
among  the  Jews  especially,  it  was  no  secret  that  the  foster- 
child  of  Mordecai  was  the  queen.  How  else  could  she  have 
issued  such  an  order  to  them  as  in  chap.  iv.  15?  They  must 
have  known  her  when  yet  in  the  house  of  her  uncle.  How 
easily,  at  least  in  the  opinion  of  the  Jews,  Mordecai  could  now 
save  himself !  The  people  are  generally  inclined  to  overrate 
influence  at  high  quarters.  If  he  placed  himself  under  the 
protection  of  the  queen,  who  would  dare  to  touch  him  ? 
Haman  himself  would  not  enforce  the  law  against  him,  if 
he  knew,  what  he  does  not  know,  that  this  Mordecai  possessed 
such  personal  protection.     With  these  thoughts  in  the  minds 


CHAP.  IV.  2.  145 

of  the  Jews,  Haman,  as  the  author  of  their  national  misery, 
would  have  appeared  before  them  as  the  only  one  who  could 
save  the  life  of  Mordecai.     But  Mordecai  removed  their  fears 
or  comforts  in  this  respect  by  appearing  publicly  in  his  mourn- 
ing dress.     He  did  not  remain  sitting  at  the  gate  of  the  king 
but  was  not  ashamed  to  go  forward  with  ragged  garments 
before  all  the  Persians,  and  to  acknowledge  himself  as  one  of 
that   people  who  were    under  sentence  of    death.     He   went 
into   the   city  with  the   cry  of  repentance   and  of  sorrow,  in 
order  to  show  himself  before  all  others  as    a   fellow-sufferer 
with  his  people.      In  taking  part  in  their  national  sorrow,  he 
does  not  want  to  assume  any  other  position,  but  he  wishes  to 
show  that  he  is  ready,  if  needs  be,  to  share  with  them  the 
common   fate  that   Providence  may  have  in  store  for  them. 
This  he  makes  known  by  his  wailing  all  over  the  city,  that 
Jews  and  Persians  may  be  convinced  of  his  earnestness.     All 
heard  it ;  he   did   not   desire    to   escape    the    notice    of    the 
I^ersians,  and  the  Jews  he  wanted  to  arouse  by  his  example 
to  similar  acts  of  repentance,  and  to  strengthen  them  in  their 
faith.     No  other  Jew  needed  to  go  in  this  manner  into  the 
midst  of  the  city,  for  no  other  knew  so  much  of  the  depth 
of  the  misery  they  were  in  as  he  did.     He  desired  that  the 
report  should  go  forth  that  it  is  Mordecai  himself  who  goes  about 
in  sackcloth  and  ashes.     Not  ashamed  to  be  known  as  belonging 
to  the  persecuted  people,  he  went  back  to  the  king's  gate,  but 
not,  of  course,  to  his  old  place,  to  which  he  could  not  come. 

Ver.  2.  "  For  none  might  enter  within   the    king's  gate 

clothed  with  sackcloth.'* 

The  historical  originality  of  our  book  could  with  certainty 
be  established  by  this  casual  remark,  for  it  proceeds  from  the 
radical  idea  underlying  the  Persian  religious  system.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Old  Persians  was  perfectly  dualistic.  To  the 
principles  of  good  and  evil — the  powers  of  Ahuramazda  and 
Ahriman — corresponded  the  categories  of  clean  and  unclean  in 
the  affairs  of  daily  life.     That  which  had  any  reference  to 

K 


146  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

life  was  considered  clean,  and  that  which  had  reference  to 
suffering  and  death  was  considered  unclean.  Therefore  a 
corpse,  with  all  that  appertained  to  its  burial,  mourning,  and 
the  mourning  garments,  was  unclean.  The  sacks,  or,  as  we 
should  say,  the  gloves,  which  the  bearers  wore  on  their 
hands,  were  to  be  buried  (see  Spiegel,  Avesta,  ii.  Introd. 
xviii.).  In  the  third  Fargard  of  the  Vendidad,  vers.  36,  37, 
we  read  :  "  What  is  the  most  unpleasant  thing  on  earth  ? " 
Ahuramazda  answered :  "  When,  0  holy  Zarathustra,  the  wife 
or  the  son  of  a  holy  man  goes  on  the  perverted  way,  covered 
with  dust  and  dirt,  and  makes  a  mourning  speech  "  (Spiegel, 
Avesta,  i.  p.  80).  According  to  Anquetil,  ed.  Kleucker,  ii.  311, 
the  passage  reads  :  "  When  a  righteous  man,  a  woman,  or 
young  person  covers  the  head  with  dust  and  goes  and  comes 
with  weeping  and  mourning."  Now  this  was  naturally  only 
the  case  among  the  Parsees,  whilst  Mordecai  conformed  to 
the  custom  of  mourning  as  practised  among  his  people.  But 
the  King  of  Persia  was  the  visible  representative  of  Ahura- 
mazda ;  and  therefore  what  was  unclean  could  not  approach 
his  person,  his  room,  or  his  palace.  His  house  was  as 
the  temple  of  God.  No  one  who,  whether  in  thought  or  in 
deed,  had  participated  in  the  arrangements  of  a  funeral,  or 
was  otherwise  connected  with  dead  creatures,  could  enter  his 
apartments.  His  palace  was  to  a  certain  degree  the  seat  of 
the  holy  fire.  Of  this  it  is  written  in  the  book  Sadder 
(ed.  Hyde,  p.  476,  n.  80),  that  "  whosoever  brings  a  corpse  or 
anything  in  connection  with  it,  is  said  to  produce  misfortune 
for  himself  and  others."  The  castle  of  the  Persian  king  had  an 
outer  and  inner  court.  At  the  gates  of  the  latter  the  courtiers, 
as  well  as  Mordecai,  were  in  the  habit  of  sitting.  But  when 
he  was  clad  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  he  could  only  approach 
the  outer  court  and  wail. 

Ver.  3.  "  Whithersoever,  the  king's  commandment  .  .  . 
came,  there  was  great  mourning  among  the  Jews,  and  fasting, 
and  weeping,  and  wailing^ 


CHAP.  IV.  3.  147 

We  read  in  Deut.  iv.  30:  "  If  thou  shalt  return  to  the  Lord 
thy   God,  for  He  is    a  merciful  God,  He  will  not  fail  thee, 
neither  destroy  thee,  nor  forget  the  covenant  of  thy  fathers, 
which  He  sware  unto  them."     Of  this  promise  Israel  always 
thought  in  distress,  and  also  now.     Wherever  the  deadly  edict 
came,  there  they  remembered  that  God  alone  was  their  last 
resort   for    help    and    deliverance.     In   times   of    terror   and 
persecution,    Israel,    when    repenting    and    turning    to    God, 
experienced  the  preciousness  of  His  word.      Where  else  was 
there  at  that  time  a  people  upon  earth  who  possessed  a  similar 
source  of  comfort  in  such  an  hour  of  distress  ?     What  would 
the  descendants  of  the  Milesian  Branchides  have  done  if  they 
had  received  a  similar  communication  th;it  they  were  to  be 
totally  destroyed  ?  (Curt.  vii.  5.  51).   They  would  have  appealed 
trembling  for  pity,  with  ropes  upon  their  necks  and  naked  ; 
for  so  used  the  inhabitants  of  besieged  cities  in  the  Middle 
Ages  to  supplicate   the   besiegers.       But  the  Jews  have  no 
thought  of  this,  they  do  not  put  their  trust  in  human  artifices, 
they  turn  to  the  Lord  their  God,  who  commanded  them  to 
apply  to  Him,  but  with  a  penitent  heart,  in  the  time  of  their 
need ;  their  whole  history  is  but  a  chain  of  mercy  from  their 
Lord  in  heaven.     They  do  not  appeal  to  the  king  at  Shushan, 
but  to  the  Judge  of  all  flesh.     They  come  with  penitence, 
prayer,  and  lamentation.      They  appoint  days  of  humiliation 
for  all  the  congregations.     The  manner  of  their  mourning  is 
the  old-fashioned  one.     The  traditional  customs  were  observed, 
which  only  require  a  new  heart  and  a  lively  faith  to  become 
new   also.     They    consist    of   fasting,   weeping,  and   wailing 
{zom,  hecJii,  misped).     The  prophet   Joel  when  preaching  to 
Israel  on  repentance  and  conversion  said  in  the  name  of  God : 
"  Turn  ye  unto  me  with  all  your  heart,  and  with  fasting,  and 
with  weeping,  and  with  mourning"  {zom,  becJii,  misped),  ii.  12. 
In  the  war  in  which  all  the  tribes  were  engaged  against  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin,  they   could   not  obtain  the  victory  until  they 
repented  with  fasting  and  weeping  (see  Judg.  xx.  26,  and  my 
Comm.)     At  the  commencement  of  the  time  of  the  Judges, 


148  BOOK  OF  ESTIIEE. 

when  Israel  received  a  message  from  an  angel  or  messenger  of 
God  who  reminded  them  of  their  history,  they  wept,  and  the 
place  was  called  Bochim — "  weepers "  (Judg.  ii.  5).  To 
mourning  belonged — apart  from  fasting  and  weeping,  when 
it  was  especially  on  account  of  the  dead,  and  on  account  of 
national  sin — the  dirge  or  lamentation,  the  ISDtD,  from  nsD, 
"  to  lament."  Most  of  the  expressions  for  the  signs  of  mourn- 
ing are  borrowed  from  observations  of  the  conditions  of 
nature.  Thus  bni^,  "  to  mourn,"  is  borrowed  from  the  fading 
and  drooping  condition  of  a  plant,  and  generally  expresses  the 
mourning  condition  of  man.  One  can  notice  it  in  his  bearing  ; 
if  he  is  humbled  and  crushed  down,  then  he  is  an  fj^K,  "  a 
mourner."  Therefore  Isaiah  speaks  of  "  those  that  mourn 
in  Zion  "  (Ixi.  3).  They  are  such  as  deplore  the  lamentable 
condition  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  not  merely  by  putting  on 
black  garments,  but  by  being  contrite  in  heart  (comp.  my  Irene, 
p.  1 7).  As  riDn,  hachct,  "  to  weep,"  surely  arises  from  the 
observation  of  the  drops  of  tears  flowing  from  the  eyes,  so  that 
it  was  taken  as  akin  to  the  Greek  TrrjyTj,  "  spring,"  and  the 
German  Bach,  "  brook,"  so  also  ought  the  grammarians  to 
have  long  ago  accentuated  the  kinship  between  the  Hebrew 
ISD  and  the  Greek  acj^aBd^o).  For  among  Oriental  and  other 
nations,  excited  movements  of  the  body,  and  striking  upon  the 
breast,  are  generally  tokens  of  mourning.  As  an  animal  kicks 
about  when  it  is  pricked  and  wounded,  so  does  the  uncultured 
man  when  he  feels  inward  pain.^  So  is  the  Greek  TreV^o?, 
"  wailing,"  to  be  explained  by  7rd6o<;,  passion ;  and  so  also 
KoirreaOai  has  the  double  signification  of  "  striking "  and 
"mourning;"  so  is  plangere  originally  synonymous  with  tundere. 
But  the  Scripture  uses  the  word  nsD  only  in  its  secondary 
meaning.  It  is  the  solemn  mourning  for  the  dead  which  used 
to  accompany  weeping.  Of  Abraham  we  read  that  "  he 
came  to  mourn  for  Sarah  and  to  weep  for  her  "  (Gen.  xxiii.  2). 
The  prophet  Ezekiel  announces  to  Israel  that  they  will  be  in 

^  Of  the   horse,   which   on  account  of  its  pain  threw  clown  Cyrus, 
Xenophon  says  :  " <r<poclx^6)u  ocTroasiiTcct  rou  Kvpou"  {Cyroj?.  viii.  1.  37). 


CHAP.  IV.  3.  149 

sucli  an  extreme  state  of  terror  and  of  stupefaction  that  they 
will  neither  be  able  to  mourn  nor  to  weep  (xxiv.  16).  In 
the  word  nao  was  not' expressed  the  unarticulated  sobbing  and 
sighing,  but  the  spoken  lamentation.  In  Jer.  iv.  8  we  read : 
"  For  this  gird  you  with  sackcloth,  lament  and  howl "  (iW'n). 
The  substance  of  such  lamentation  we  hear  in  1  Kings  xiii. 
30,  where  it  resounds  at  the  grave  of  the  old  prophets: 
"  Alas,  my  brother  !  "  or  as  we  read  in  Jer.  xxii.  18:"  They 
shall  not  lament  for  him.  Ah  my  brother !  or,  Ah  sister  ! 
they  shall  not  lament  for  him.  Ah  Lord !  or.  Ah  His  glory ! " 
In  later  times  the  Jews  called  those  who  held  such  funeral 
orations  or  sermons  by  the  name  of  Saphdanim  (n"'nsD),  who 
it  has  been  thought  are  the  persons  to  whom  Job  alludes  in 
chap.  iii.  8,  when  he  says :  "  Let  them  curse  it  that  curse 
the  day."  Excessive  lamentation  for  the  dead  was  inseparably 
connected  with  excessive  praise  of  them.  Therefore  in  Bere- 
choth  Q2a,  it  is  strictly  inculcated  that  the  funeral  orators  will 
have  to  give  an  account  for  making  a  great  ostentation.  Among 
the  public  rites  in  connection  with  mourning,  the  misped,  or 
"  dirge,"  or  "  oration,"  was  after  all  the  most  insignificant 
part.  Hence  the  index  of  the  fast  days  which  we  have  under 
the  name  of  Megillath  Taanith,  from  the  time  of  the  destruction 
of  the  temple,  constantly  reminds  us  that  lamentations  must 
not  be  made.  That  is,  that  the  fast  days  should  be  observed 
with  sackcloth,  ashes,  and  weeping,  but  without  that  additional 
and  non-essential  misped} 

"  In  sackcloth  and  ashes  also  the  most  prominent  wrapped 

themselves  up." 

The  Hebrew  U'l'h  W"  IDSI  \>^  cannot  otherwise  be  under- 
stood. It  is  not  merely  mulii,  "many,"  by  which  n'^2ib  has  been 
translated  since  the  time  of  Jerome,  as  in  the  second  Targum. 

^  [This  only  refers  to  certain  weeks  in  whick  a  feast  occurred.  The  pre- 
scribed ceremony  for  fasting  is  :  the  ark  is  to  be  carried  into  the  street, 
ashes  to  he  placed  npon  the  heads  of  every  one,  and  the  eldest  is  to 
deliver  an  exhortation  (Taanith,  i.  15a). — Trans.] 


150  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Only  the  first  Targumist  perceived  that  in  this  supplementary 
word  there  is  something  more  expressed.  When,  namely,  it  is 
said  before,  that  wherever  the  sad  nevvs  came,  there  was  great 
mourning  among  the  Jews,  it  would  have  been  superfluous  to 
add  that  many  sat  in  sackcloth  and  ashes.  No,  the  word 
"  rahim"  must  have  the  same  sense  as  in  Job  xxxv.  9, 
"  prominent,"  "  rich,"  "  mighty."  As  in  Isa.  liii.  12  it  is 
predicted  of  the  Messiah,  that  He  will  have  the  raUm,  the 
"  great  people,"  for  His  portion  or  booty,  and  not  merely 
the  poor  and  the  needy,  so  the  same  word  marks  the  contrast 
here.  The  great  and  rich  men  of  Israel  also  did  not  disdain 
'to  put  on  sackcloth  and  ashes,  which  with  them  was  really  a 
sign  of  sincere  repentance.  A  similar  contrast  is  found  in  Isa. 
XV.  4,  where  judgment  against  Moab  is  announced.  The  armed 
men  of  Moab  (who  are  not  usually  tender-hearted)  cry  aloud : 
"  His  soul  trembleth  within  him  "  (see  Delitzsch,  Comm.  p.  205). 
This  explanation  agrees  with  what  was  said  before  of  Mordecai. 
No  one  shirked  the  duty  and  the  need  of  repentance. 

There  were  many  in  Israel  who  in  spite  of  their  exile  had 
amassed  riches  and  lived  in  pleasure,  and  were  eminent,  like 
Mordecai ;  but  none  of  them  despised  the  external  signs  of 
repentance  and  conversion  towards  God.  The  "rahim"  for- 
sook their  luxurious  ottomans  and  couches,  and  laid  themselves 
down  (yv^)  upon  beds  of  sackcloth  and  ashes,  as  Job  did.  This 
expression,  as  well  as  the  custom  itself,  passed  into  the  asceti- 
cism of  the  Church.  So  we  read,  e.g.,  of  the  clergy  in  the  Con- 
suehcdines  of  the  monks  of  Clugny:  "Oineres,  qui  incapite  jejunii 
fratrum,  olim  pcenitentium  hodie  fidelium  omnium  capitibus 
imponuntur  .  .  .  benedicti  conservantur  ab  Infirmario,  ut  Mori- 
entibus  fratribus  cum  cilicio  substernantur  "  (comp.  Du  Cange). 

It  is  just  the  complete  penitence  to  which  the  Jews  gave 
themselves  up,  just  their  reliance  upon  the  mercy  of  God,  and 
the  committing  of  themselves  into  the  hands  of  their  heavenly 
Judge,  which  explains  the  insertion  of  ver.  3  to  connect  the 
preceding  and  the  following  verse.  Ver.  4  begins  the  history 
of  the  deliverance  from  the  distress.    Their  first  human  support 


CHAP.  IV.  4.  151 

was,  that  Esther  had  received  the  news  of  what  had  been 
decided  by  Haman  with  regard  to  the  nation.  This  was 
occasioned  by  Mordecai's  appearing  before  the  court  of  the 
king  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  so  that  he  attracted  the  notice  of 
the  people  of  the  palace.  One  would  have  expected  the 
narrator  to  report  without  interruption :  "  And  Mordecai 
came  before  the  king's  gate  in  sackcloth  and  ashes ;  and 
then  the  maidens  came  and  told  it  to  Esther."  But  as  this 
is  not  done,  it  shows  the  profound  thought  which  pervades 
the  report,  in  spite  of  its  brevity.  For  if  the  insertion  had 
not  been  made,  it  would  have  appeared  as  if  the  deliverance 
of  the  Jews  was  entirely  ascribed  to  the  fact  that  Esther  was 
the  queen,  and  to  nothing  else.  But  in  Israel  is  manifested 
that  when  a  people  is  to  be  saved,  it  can  only  be  through 
repentance  before  God.  When  this  has  taken  place,  then 
natural  and  human  assistance  comes  as  a  matter  of  course. 
For  this  reason  Israel's  universal  humiliation  and  repentance 
is  first  narrated,  and  then  the  history  begins  with  the  human 
deliverance,  in  which  Esther  was  the  chief  instrumentality. 

Ver.  4.  "  And  Estliers  maidens    and    her  chamberlains 

came  and  told  it  her.'' 

They  have  not  told  her  of  the  edict  against  the  Jews ;  of 
this  she  only  heard  afterwards,  vers.  5  and  6.  In  the  house  of 
the  women,  which  was  secluded  and  perfectly  inaccessible, 
nothing  was  as  yet  known  of  the  State  edict.  As  the  queen 
had  no  share  in  the  affairs  of  government,  nor  could  even  have 
an  interview  with  the  king  without  an  especial  summons  (ver. 
11),  what  did  the  activity  of  the  grand  vizier  concern  the 
harem  ?  Perhaps  the  report  of  his  doings  would  have  pene- 
trated the  secluded  house  ere  this,  if  the  origin  of  Esther  had 
been  known  at  court.  But  why  is  it  said  "  her  maidens  and 
her  chamberlains  told  her  "  ? 

The  context  leads  us  to  guess  the  reason  for  the  twofold 
notice.  Esther  had  constant  intercourse  with  Mordecai,  other- 
wise the  discovery  of  the  conspiracy  (chap.  ii.  22)  would  not 


152  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

have  been  possible.  Besides,  Mordecai  used  to  sit  before  the 
gate  of  the  king,  that  he  might  learn  how  Esther  fared.  This 
intercourse  made  him  an  object  of  notice  to  the  servants  of 
the  queen,  and  it  is  natural  when  they  missed  him  in  his 
usual  seat  at  the  gate  of  the  court,  that  they  should  come  and 
tell  it  to  their  mistress  as  something  very  strange.  But  when 
the  maidens  said  that  they  did  not  see  Mordecai  within  the 
court,  because  it  was  unusual  for  them  to  leave  the  house,  then 
the  Sarisim,  i.e.  the  eunuch  chamberlains,  most  likely  added 
that  he  was  seen  sitting  in  the  open  space  before  the  gate  in  a 
most  lamentable  condition,  clothed  in  sackcloth  and  ashes.  The 
more  such  a  mourning  dress  was  against  the  spirit  of  the 
Persian  law,  the  more  astonishment  would  he  occasion  in  the 
eyes  of  the  courtiers.  Indeed,  it  was  owing  to  this  circum- 
stance that  the  sentinel  did  not  let  him  pass  within  the  court. 
But  when  the  maidens  and  the  chamberlains  brought  this 
report  to  Esther, — 

"  Then  the  queen  was  exceedingly  grieved ;  and  she  sent 

raiment  to  Mordecai." 

The  formation  of  the  word  ^n^nnni,  from  hn,  portrays  by 
its  reduplicate  sound  the  terror  which  this  news  caused  to 
Esther.  But  what  was  it  that  made  her  so  afraid  ?  As  she 
was  unaware  of  the  political  ground  of  her  uncle's  sorrow,  she 
must  have  thought  of  some  other,  e.g.  that  a  dear  relation  of 
his  had  died,  for  whom  he  was  in  mourning.  But  this  also 
could  not  have  been  the  only  ground  of  her  dismay  ;  for  it 
would  not  explain  why  she  sent  him  raiment.  If  that  were 
the  case,  why  should  she  interfere  with  his  conforming  to  a 
Jewish  custom  of  long  standing  ?  However,  her  sending  him 
raiment  was  not  a  compliance  with  a  Jewish,  but  with  a 
Persian  custom  ;  and  this  notice  also  is  a  remarkable  testimony 
to  the  original  source  of  our  book  in  Persian  life.  The 
modern  Persian  liturgy  has  still  the  following  rubric; 
"  When  a  person  dies,  the  relations,  especially  the  nearest, 
have  to  care  for  his  soul.     Among  the  rites  that  are  to  be 


CHAP.  IV.  4.  153 

performed  belongs  an  outfit  of  garments.  For  new  garments 
must  be  given  which,  at  least  in  modern  times,  become  the 
property  of  the  ministering  priest,  who  puts  on  the  first  in 
the  third  night  after  the  death  of  the  person,  the  second  on 
the  third  day,  the  third  six  months  afterwards,  and  finally  the 
fourth  on  the  anniversary  of  the  death  "  (Spiegel,  A  vesta,  ii. 
p.  xli.).  In  the  Persian  Canon  Sadder  (chap.  Ixiv.,  ed.  Hyde 
(ed.  1700),  p.  467)  we  read:  "The  more  magnificent  the 
garments  shall  be,  the  more  honour  thou  shalt  have.  With- 
out garments  there  will  be  shame  before  the  heavenly 
assembly."  There  is  no  doubt  that  we  find  traces  of  this 
custom  in  the  Judaism  of  a  later  age.  A  legend  which  the 
book  ntJ'yD  contains,  reports  of  a  certain  Eabbi  Ponira  to  whom 
the  spirit  of  one  departed  appeared,  saying,  that  it  came  from 
Paradise,  and  requested  him  to  mend  the  torn  sleeves.  Por 
it  was  ashamed  to  walk  in  Paradise  in  a  ragged  garment, 
chap.  218  (comp.  Eisenmenger,  ii.  212). 

Now  the  above  throws  light  upon  the  act  of  Esther. 
The  Jews  in  Persia,  especially  those  who  like  herself  moved 
in  Persian  society,  had  to  a  great  extent  embraced  the  notions 
and  customs  of  the  Persians.  So  thinking  him  to  be  a 
mourner  for  a  relative,  she  sent  him  the  new  raiment  as  a 
filial  duty,  and  that  he  might  be  able  to  resume  his  inter- 
course with  her.  And  this  also  explains  why  she  was  so 
horrified  when  she  heard  of  his  appearance  as  a  mourner,  be- 
cause she  knew  that  as  such  he  was  considered  by  the  Persian 
law  unclean,  and  therefore  must  not  come  near  the  palace. 
But  in  her  great  love  to  Mordecai,  and  sympathy  with  his 
sorrow,  she  involuntarily  removes  the  veil  of  mystery  that 
was  hitherto  hanging  over  her  origin  before  the  eyes  of  her 
household.  She  sends  him  garments,  which  is  just  what  only 
relations  do  to  mourners.  "  How  is  it,"  must  the  messengers 
or  those  who  saw  it  have  asked,  "  that  the  queen  sends 
garments  to  the  mourning  Jew  ? "  Nevertheless  the  mystery 
was  not  yet  disclosed,  for  the  hour  of  redemption  had  not  yet 
come.     Her  origin  still  remained  an   obscure  puzzle   to  her 


154  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

companions,  and  a  holy  secret  between  her  and  her  uncle. 
But  we  see  in  this  again  a  clear  proof  of  the  truth,  that  it  is 
love  which  becomes  the  instrument  and  occasion  of  succour 
in  every  distress.  Mordecai  refused  to  accept  the  garments. 
He  did  not  wear  them  for  a  dead  person,  but  in  penitent  sorrow 
for  a  people  who  were  doomed  to  die.  He  did  not  put  them 
on,  but  he  said  nothing.  He  did  not  wish  to  betray  the 
secret  to  the  messengers.  If  he  had  desired  to  say  something 
to  her,  he  could  not  have  refrained  from  making  allusion  to 
her  nation.  But  this  he  could  not  do  without  being  sure  whether 
he  might  trust  the  messengers.  With  her,  love  had  broken 
through  the  bounds  of  caution  ;  while  he,  in  wisely  sending 
back  the  garments,  gave  her  an  intimation  that  the  ground  of 
his  being  in  deep  mourning  was  another  and  more  appalling 
one  than  the  loss  of  a  friend.  He  led  her,  in  fact,  to  con- 
clude that  some  great  danger  had  befallen,  or  was  threatening, 
all  her  kindred,  otherwise  he  would  not  so  promptly  send  back 
the  sympathetic  gift  of  his  beloved  niece,  which  was  the  only 
possible  means  of  continuing  his  intercourse  with  her. 

Yer.  5.  "  Then  called  Esther  for  Hathach,  one  of  the  kings 
chamberlains,  whom  he  had  appointed  to  attend  upon  her" 
Esther,  ever  since  she  became  queen,  had  not  diminished 
her  love  and  respect  for  her  uncle.  Her  heart  had  not 
become  proud,  and  she  did  not  look  down  haughtily  from 
her  high  position  upon  her  relations.  How  much  her  heart 
beat  for  Mordecai  may  be  seen  from  the  terror  which  seized 
her  when  she  heard  that  he  was  in  mourning  ;  still  more  so 
from  the  decision  she  came  to  when  he  had  returned  the  new 
garments.  The  sending  of  these  was  indeed  already  fraught 
with  danger  with  regard  to  the  secret  of  her  pedigree,  but  it 
was  done  on  the  spur  of  the  moment ;  and  now  she  increasingly 
hazards  her  secret,  deliberately  and  consciously,  out  of  the  anxiety 
that  she  has  for  her  friend.  The  word  ^^}!^^],  "  she  charged  him," 
is  emphatic ;  the  chamberlain  is  strictly  charged  to  obtain  in- 
formation from  Mordecai  of  what  has  occurred,  and  to  bring  it 


CHAP.  IV.  5.  155 

straight  to  the  queen,  no  matter  what  it  might  be.  Her  anxiety 
was  too  great  to  allow  her  to  dread  lest  the  chamberlain  might 
possibly  through  this  obtain  the  clue  to  her  greatest  secret. 

Ancient  Jewish  interpreters  have  understood  Hathach  to 
have  been  Daniel.  But  the  sense  they  meant  to  convey  by 
this  explanation  was,  that  they  thought  Hathach  was  a  Jew, 
and  therefore  Esther  sent  him  on  such  a  confidential  errand. 
But  this  conjecture  is  not  only  unnecessary,  but  also  contra- 
dicts the  context  of  the  narrative.  True,  one  might  think 
that  she  would  have  preferred  to  choose  a  Jew,  if  he  were  at 
hand,  for  the  discharge  of  this  important  and  delicate  business  ; 
but  this  man  was  the  chamberlain  whom  the  king  had 
appointed  to  attend  upon  her.  Had  she  had  a  Jew  near  her 
who  knew  what  was  croincr  on,  she  would  have  been  informed 
of  it  long  ago.  He  would  have  been  known  to  Mordecai, 
who  would  have  transmitted  the  sad  news  to  her  at  the 
very  first  opportunity.  Under  the  supposition  of  the 
messenger  being  a  Jew,  the  psychological  fact  of  her  anxiety 
to  learn  the  grounds  of  Mordecai's  sorrow,  joined  with  her 
fear  lest  her  secret  should  leak  out,  would  remain  in  inex- 
plicable obscurity.  Hathach  was  a  eunuch ;  as  such  he  was 
appointed  chamberlain  of  the  queen,  and  therefore  a  proper 
person  for  her  to  send  on  a  confidential  errand.  The  ter- 
mination of  the  name  Hathach  reminds  us  of  the  same 
termination  in  Mordecai's  name  (Mordach)  as  Artachaeus, 
Artachaies  (see  above),  it  may  be  supposed  that  it  is  in  Greek 
Otaches,  like  Otanes  and  Otaspes.  The  etymological  explana- 
tion may  perhaps  illustrate  it  from  the  Zend,  jpazend,  jatan, 
Huzvaresh,  nx\^  as  nomen  dei  (comp.  Ized).  The  eunuchs  were 
generally  more  faithful  to  their  mistresses  than  other  servants. 
Phaedyme  also,  the  wife  of  Cambyses,  and  then  of  pseudo- 
Smerdes,  must  have  had  a  reliable  servant  in  order  to  transmit 
the  dangerous  message  to  her  father  (Herod,  iii.  68).  It  is 
touching  to  read  of  the  fidelity  of  the  eunuch  Tyriotes  which 
he  displayed  towards  his  mistress,  the  wife  of  Darius  Codo- 
1  See  VuUers,  Lex.  Pers.  ii.  1542.     [Buhlen  compares  sJ^j  merely. — Tr.] 


156  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

inannus,  even  after  lier  death,  and  this   at  the  hazard  of  his 
life  (Curtius,  iv.  28). 

Ver.  6.  "So  Hathacli  luent  forth." 

He  went,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  palace  and  its  enclosed 
walls  into  the  open  space  where  Mordecai  now  sat,  and 
told  him  of  the  order  of  Esther.  Consequently,  Mordecai 
understood  that  Esther  had  full  confidence  in  her  messenger, 
and  so  he  communicated  to  him  everything.  Mordecai's 
message  in  return  was  surely  not  without  danger,  for  it  con- 
tained an  accusation  against  the  powerful  Haman.  It  re- 
vealed Esther's  Jewish  origin,  and  it  demanded  from  the  queen 
something  which  might  seriously  affect  her.  He  let  her  know 
through  the  messenger  all  that  "  had  happened  "  (imp) ;  he 
did  not  conceal  from  her  the  fact  of  his  refusal  to  bow  before 
Haman  (for  this  can  only  be  meant  by  the  word  "  happened," 
because  it  is  connected  with  the  sum  of  money  which  Haman 
offered  to  the  king),  and  that  his  conduct  had  provoked  the 
wrath  of  the  vizier.  It  was  necessary  that  Esther  should  be 
informed  of  everything,  in  order  that  in  case  of  need  she 
should  be  able  to  expose  the  trifling  and  mean  motives 
which  induced  Haman  to  persecute  the  Jews.  What  Mor- 
decai did  at  the  time  was  surely  with  a  good  conscience. 
It  at  all  events  served  to  bring  the  issue  clearly  before 
Esther,  for  the  sake  of  whom  he  was  sitting  at  the  gate,  and 
brought  upon  himself  great  danger.  The  queen  must  have 
been  touched  by  observing  that  Mordecai  had  remained 
stedfast  in  his  fidelity  to  God  and  in  his  love  to  her,  and 
that  he  did  not  swerve  either  from  the  one  or  from  the  other. 
He  did  not  bow  before  the  idols,  but  he  also  did  not  desert 
the  gate  of  the  king.  How  mean  must  Haman  appear  in 
the  eyes  of  the  king,  when  Esther  would  be  in  a  position  to 
tell  him  that  he  rewards  the  piety  and  faithfulness  of  such 
a  man  by  alluring  the  king  to  issue  such  a  terrible  edict 
of  persecution  against  a  whole  innocent  nation,  and  that, 
forsooth,  because   his  vanity  had  been   offended  !     Mordecai 


CHAP.  IV.  6.  157 

was  well  informed ;  the  transaction  of  Haman  with  the  king 
was  not  unknown  ;  yes,  even  the  exact  sum  which  the  subtle 
and  clever  vizier  offered  was  known.  We  read  that  Mordecai 
stated  to  Esther  "  the  exact  sum  of  the  money  (p]D3n  nc^ia)  ^ 
that  Haman  had  said  (ittt?)  he  would  pay  to  the  king's 
treasuries ;  "  in  reality  he  did  not  pay  it,  as  the  king  made  him 
a  present  of  it.  But  he  is  not  satisfied  with  a  mere  verbal 
communication ;  he  sends  her  the  document  of  the  royal 
proclamation,  in  order  that  she  should  see  that  the  informa- 
tion is  not  founded  upon  mere  hearsay  reports,  but  upon 
written  evidence,  and  be  convinced  of  the  fearful  condition  of 
the  Jews  in  the  country.  But  he  does  not  stop  with  his 
simple  narrative.  He  joins  to  it  a  request.  When  Esther 
through  her  chamberlain  astonished  him  with  the  present  of  the 
garments,  and  had  made  anxious  inquiries  as  to  the  causes  of 
his  mourning,  he  at  once  saw  that  she  was  inclined  gradually 
to  make  known  her  origin.  At  any  rate,  he  believed  that  he 
had  the  right  to  set  her  free  from  the  pledge  of  secrecy  which 
he  himself  had  imposed  upon  her  (ii.  20).  Her  inquiry  had 
not  arisen  from  mere  curiosity,  and  he  gives  his  report  also 
not  for  its  own  sake.  He  tells  Hathach  "  to  disclose  it " 
unto  her,  and  "  to  charge  her  "  (n)))h)  l^^nb)  he  should  tell  her 
that  it  is  her  uncle's  and  her  benefactor's  request,  and  command, 
that  she  should  make  use  of  her  royal  prerogative,  and  seek  an 
interview  with  the  king  to  obtain  help  from  him.  She  had 
"  charged  him  "  to  let  her  know  what  had  happened,  and  so 
he  now  "  charges  "  her  to  obtain  succour.  She  did  so  as  his 
queen,  and  he  does  so  as  her  uncle.  "  She  should  go  in  unto 
the  king  and  make  supplication  unto  him,  and  make  request 

^  The  word  occurs  again  in  chap.  x.  2.  It  must  not  be  compared  with 
parshegan,  as  in  this  evidently  Persian  word  par  is  only  the  preposition. 
But  it  clearly  belongs  to  the  Heb.  parash^  to  be  distinct,  which  meaning 
may  suffice  both  passages.  For  both  contain  the  idea  of  greatness,  height, 
and  expansion.  In  the  above,  Mordecai  communicates  the  highest  sum,  as 
we  would  say.  Chap,  x.  10  speaks  of  the  expansion  of  the  greatness  which 
Mordecai  had  obtained.  Parash  means  originally  "  to  spread,"  "  to  unfold," 
and  so  it  came  to  be  used  in  the  sense  of  "  explaining  "  and  "  illustrating." 


158  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

before  him  for  her  people."  Such  weeping  and  supplication 
for  grace  before  the  king  was  not  an  unusual  thing ;  the  wife 
of  Intaphernes,  Herodotus  narrates  (iii.  119),  went  with  weep- 
ing and  wailing  before  the  gate  of  the  king  (like  Mordecai), 
until  Darius  was  moved  with  compassion  and  granted  her  at 
least  some  favour.  From  the  beloved  queen  Mordecai  could 
especially  demand  that  she  should  do  this  for  the  sake  of  her 
people.  It  would  not  have  been  extraordinary  that  a  queen 
should  intercede  in  behalf  of  the  sad  lot  which  had  befallen 
a  strange  people ;  how  much  more  reason  was  there  that  she 
should  do  this  for  her  own,  especially  as  Ahhashverosh  did 
not  even  know  that  she  belonged  to  the  condemned  nation, 
and  perhaps  did  not  even  remember  the  name  of  the  people 
whom  he  had  so  rashly  appointed  to  die. 

Ver.  11.  "All  the  Idng's  servants  and  the  ^people  of  the 

king's  provinces  do  hnowr 

Esther  is  frightened  at  the  request  of  Mordecai,  but  she 
does  not  decline  to  comply  with  it.  It  corresponds  with  her 
feeling  in  the  matter,  though  her  feminine  weakness  makes 
her  hesitate  and  shudder  at  taking  the  step,  that  she  declares 
that  she  would  gladly  do  it  if  she  could.  She  would  obey 
his  order  to  go  to  the  king,  but  he  ought  to  know  that 
this  is  no  easy  thing  to  do.  It  does  not  depend  upon  her 
to  speak  to  the  king  when  she  wants.  His  own  wives 
can  see  him  only  when  they  are  specially  called,  and  her 
influence  over  him  is  not  yet  paramount,  as  thirty  days  had 
elapsed  during  which  he  did  not  even  think  of  her.  And 
should  she  even  dare  to  go  to  him  uncalled,  and  should  he 
be  so  benign  as  to  receive  her  when  he  is  sitting  upon  the 
throne,  she  could  yet  not  address  him  unless  he  held  out 
the  golden  sceptre  to  her,  and  beckoned  her  to  approach 
nearer.  She  does  not  actually  decline  her  uncle's  request; 
she  does  not  say  that  when  the  king  summons  her  she  would 
not  petition  him  for  mercy  to  the  Jews ;  but  she  evades  and 
postpones  it,  and  makes  it  dependent  upon  the  whim  of  the 


CHAP.  IV.  11.  159 

kino^.  In  fact,  the  court  regulations  were  so  as  Esther  said. 
It  is  well  known,  as  Herodotus  narrates,  that  at  the  fall  of 
the  false  Sraerdis  the  only  persons  who  could  obtain  admission 
to  Darius  without  being  called  were  his  six  companions.  But 
this  oft-quoted  passage  is  not  enough  to  explain  fully  the  words 
of  Esther.  The  majesty  of  the  great  Persian  king  was  not 
only  inaccessible  without  his  permission,  but  also  no  one  dared 
to  speak  to  him  without  his  beckoning  on  them  to  approach. 
For  he  was  the  human  representative  of  Ahuramazda.  That 
Alexander  the  Great  imitated  the  manners  of  the  Persian 
king  we  have  proofs  in  many  descriptions.  Phylarchus  in 
Athenaeus  (p.  539,  comp.  Fragm.  ed.  Lucht,  p.  100,  ed. 
Briickner,  p.  36)  says,  that  while  Alexander  sat  on  the 
throne,  "no  one  of  his  great  friends  and  servants  dared  to 
approach  him."  Ephippus  in  his  description  says  :  "  As  he 
sat  with  majestic  look,  there  was  a  solemn  silence  before 
him."  This  was  the  Oriental  idea  of  solemnity  and  awe 
with  which  the  august  majesty  of  a  king  is  surrounded. 

When  an  English  Embassy  was  received  by  Shah  Abbas 
of  Persia,  we  read :  "  They  entered  into  the  audience  chamber, 
where  the  first  officials  sat  round  the  walls  like  statues,  not 
moving  a  muscle,  and  dead  silence  prevailed."  No  one,  even 
at  the  present  time,  approaches  the  King  of  Persia  without 
the  repeated  order  from  the  king  to  do  so.  Eraser  reports  that 
a  courtier,  who  had  made  his  fortune,  when  he  was  asked  to 
come  near,  answered,  "  I  do  not  pray  to  be  commanded  to 
approach  {mi  souzum),  I  burn  to  do  so."^  Herodotus  tells 
of  a  similar  sending  of  messengers  to  and  from  the  harem. 
The  daughter  of  Otanes  became  first  the  wife  of  Cambyses 
and  then  of  pseudo-Smerdis.  Her  father  sent  a  messenger 
to  ask  her  whether  her  husband  was  the  real  Smerdis ;  she 
replied  through  a  confidant,  that  she  would  make  the  in- 
vestigation at  the  risk  of  her  life,  but  she  must  wait  until  her 
turn  came  when  she  would  be  called  by  the  king  (iii.  6  0). 

Here  also  there  was  an  understanding  between  Esther  and 
^  Comp.  my  Kaiser  und  Konigskronen,  p.  172. 


160  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Mordecai  with  regard  to  tlie  king,  but  a  friendly  one.  She  was 
requested  by  her  foster-father  to  dare  to  approach  the  king 
without  his  special  permission,  but  it  was  in  order  that  she 
should  ask  for  mercy  in  behalf  of  an  innocent  people. 

"  That  whosoever,  luhether  mem  or  woman  .  .  .  ivho  is  not 
called,  there  is  one  law  for  him,  that  he  he  put  to  deaih." 
The  sense  of  the  peculiar  form  n^Dni?  irn  T\r\^  is  that  the 
law  makes  no  exception.  nni<  (m,  fern.)  expresses  that  the 
law  is  absolute  and  of  universal  application.  Esther  wishes 
to  say,  that  she  is  subject  to  the  same  law,  and  if  she  trans- 
gresses it,  no  exception  or  excuse  will  be  made,  although 
she  is  queen.  For  in  "  the  coming  to  him "  (xu''"")tJ^N)  is 
included  the  address  to  him,  because  she  would  not  come 
without  having  to  ask  him  for  something.  We  can  see  from 
Dan.  ii.  9  that  this  indicates  a  standing  rule.  The  King 
Nebuchadnezzar  demands  from  his  courtiers,  to  give  him 
without  fail  the  interpretation  of  his  dream.  "  If  you  are  not 
able,"  says  he,  "  then  there  is  but  one  law  for  you,"  |iDm  s\n  mn, 
i.e.  "  there  is  but  one  sentence  for  you  in  all  circumstances, 
whatever  excuse  you  may  make." 

"  Except  such  to  whom  the  hing  shall  hold  out  the  golden 

sceptre." 

The  expression  D"'n")tJ>  occurs  only  in  the  book  of  Esther ;  it 
is  the  form  of  the  Masora  for  tDa"it^,  and  its  relation  to  ^2.^  is 
as  the  Gr.  a/crjirrpov  to  aKiqirray  {(JKr)irTov')(p<;).  The  linguistic 
comparison  teaches  thereby  that  the  Hebrew  letter  k^  has 
indeed  the  sound  of  sh  (as  in  hh^,  crKvXdo),  etc.) ;  and  the 
various  pronunciations  of  shebet  and  aKTJTTTO)  rests  upon 
similar  dialectical  differences,  as  sch  does  in  German  dialects, 
which  in  Low  German  has  completely  the  sound  of  sh 

The  sceptre  is  said  to  be  golden,  just  as  Homer  calls  it 
(ii.  1.  15  ;  Odyss.  xi.  91),  where  the  priests  and  seers  carry  it 
in  the  name  of  their  gods.  The  sceptre  of  Achilles  was 
embossed  with  gold  (ii.  1.  246),  as  Yoss  translates,  or  had 


CHAP.  IV.  12,  13.  161 

golden  nails.  Gold  was  generally  the  appendage  of  royal 
dignity.  Everything  belonging  to  Oriental  kings  and  to 
antiquity  was  ornamented  with  gold,  and  was  called  golden, 
as  a  crown,  a  throne,  a  chair,  and  pillars.  In  the  Middle  Ages 
they  used  to  speak  of  "  golden  Eorne  "  {aurea  Eoma)}  Wallace 
tells  of  the  Burmese,  that  when  they  spoke  of  anything  belong- 
ing to  the  king,  they  qualified  it  by  the  word  gold,  and  there- 
fore they  spoke  of  his  golden  ears  and  golden  feet  {Denkvsurd. 
Iiidicn,  p.  33  ;  com  p.  my  Kaiser  und  Konigskronen,  p.  127). 

The  sceptre  is  the  royal  staff  of  authority.  Odysseus  takes 
the  royal  staff  of  Agamemnon  in  order  to  command  silence 
and  order  (//.  ii.  185).  To  whom  permission  was  given 
to  speak  in  the  assembly,  to  him  the  herald  handed  the 
sceptre  {II.  xxiii.  568;  Odyss.  ii.  37).  The  inclining  of  the 
sceptre  forward  towards  the  visitor  was  the  sign  of  permission 
given  him  to  come  near.  Kings  and  gods  (priests,  and  in 
caricature  wizards)  work  and  beckon  with  the  staff.  The 
form  Dtt'"'  for  "  stretching  out,"  "  extending  the  arm  "  with  the 
staff,  only  occurs  in  Esther.  It  may  be  dialectically  compared 
with  tlie  Lat.  tendo  and  the  Greek  retW. 

Ver.  12.  ''And  they  told  to  Mordecai  Esthers  words." 
This  additional  clause  is  surprising,  for  it  is  already  said  in 
ver.  10,  "Then  Esther  spake  unto  Hathach,  and  gave  him  a 
message  unto  Mordecai."  But  it  must  be  so  understood  that 
Mordecai  made  inquiries  from  others  with  regard  to  the  custom 
at  the  Persian  court,  and  they  confirmed  Esther's  words,  that 
it  was  really  only  at  the  risk  of  life  that  one  could  appear 
before  the  king  unsummoned. 

Ver.  13.  "  Then  Mordecai  hade  them  return  answer  unto 
Esther." 
Ancient  commentators  felt  it  strange  that  from  ver.  13  the 

^  [R.  Akiba  promised  liis  bride  ornaments  under  the  term  golden  Jeru- 
salem, Nedarim,  p.  50a.  Perhaps  the  Hymnologist  borrowed  from  the 
Talmud.— Trans.] 

L 


1G2  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

name  of  the  messenger  Hathach  does  no  more  occur,  while  it 
is  repeatedly  mentioned  in  vers.  5,  6,  9,  and  10.  The  Midrash 
has  from  this  circumstance  developed  a  legend,  viz.  that 
Haman  had  killed  Hathach  because  he  acted  as  a  messenger 
of  Mordecai.  It  need  hardly  be  remarked  that  such  violent 
procedure  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  spirit  that  prevailed 
in  Oriental  courts;  yet  we  cannot  accept  the  legend,  as  it  is  at 
variance  with  the  true  exposition  of  the  passage.  We  may  rather 
explain  that  the  further  omission  of  the  name  of  the  messenger 
by  the  narrator,  was  owing  to  the  fact  that  he  had  more  im- 
portant subjects  to  relate,  compared  with  which  what  became 
of  Hathach  was  of  no  consequence. 

"  Think  not  with  thyself  that  thou  shalt  escape  (as)  the 

king's  house  more  than  all  the  Jeics." 

The  answer  of  Mordecai  will  appear  the  grander  the  more 
earnestly  we  consider  it.  He  does  not  say  to  her,  first  of  all, 
"  If  thou  canst  not  save  the  people,  at  least  save  me,  and  the 
house  of  thy  father,  for  thou  belongest  to  the  unassailable 
house  of  the  king."  This  would  have  been  natural  enough 
under  the  circumstances.  But  we  see  that  with  him  there  is 
not  a  moment's  consideration  of  personal  interest  and  safety. 
He  thinks  of  nothing  else  but  of  the  salvation  of  the  whole 
of  Israel,  and  of  its  providential  calling.  There  can  be  no 
question  with  him  about  the  individual,  when  the  existence 
of  the  whole  nation  is  at  stake.  He  does  not  want  to  be 
saved  alone,  nor  to  be  an  exception  in  the  hour  of  danger.  He 
demands  from  all  his  people  the  duty  of  holding  together,  and 
first  of  all  from  Esther  herself.  For  she  alone  is  in  a  position 
not  only  to  be  saved  herself,  but  also  to  save  others.  There- 
fore it  is  her  bounden  duty  to  be  anxious  for  the  salvation  of 
her  people,  even  if  she  should  thereby  lose  her  own  life,  and 
become  the  first  victim.  Mordecai's  words  are  closely  joined 
with  the  report  of  Esther,  that  it  is  impossible  to  come  to  the 
king  spontaneously  without  risking  one's  life.  But  when 
going  to  the  king  in  such  a  manner  includes  the  possibility 


CHAP.  IV.  13.  163 

of  obtaining  deliverance,  why  not  run  all  hazards !  What 
worse  thing  can  be  expected  ?  If  she  is  killed  in  her 
attempt  to  save  others,  then  she  will  die  the  death  of  the 
martyr,  as  her  people  should  die  !  Of  course,  Esther  is  in  the 
house  of  the  king :  Haman  does  not  even  know  that  she  is  a 
Jewess ;  and  should  he  know  it,  he  would  not  dare  to  enforce 
the  law  against  her.  But  this  exceptional  position  is  only  so 
far  valuable,  if  she  herself  will  not  make  an  exception.  She 
can  make  use  of  it  in  order  to  save  her  people,  but  it  offers 
no  security  to  her  own  safety  when  all  Israel  are  cut  down. 
It  is  a  thing  of  daily  occurrence  that  a  favourite  wife  should 
lose  her  life — as  was  the  case  with  Vashti.  But  that  a 
people  like  Israel,  having  such  promises  and  hopes  in  store 
for  them,  should  be  totally  destroyed,  would  indeed  be  an 
unheard-of  occurrence.  If,  therefore,  Esther  should  think  of 
using  her  advantageous  position  to  save  herself  and  her  family 
by  separating  herself  from  Israel,  the  probability  is  that  she 
herself  will  be  lost,  and  that  they  will  be  saved.  Israel's 
whole  history  is  composed  of  wonders  of  salvation.  When  they 
were  persecuted  by  Pharaoh,  when  they  were  in  the  wilder- 
ness, when  they  w^ere  surrounded  by  enemies  on  every  side, 
they  were  always  delivered  in  an  unexpected  manner.  It  is 
more  sure,  Mordecai  firmly  believes,  that  Israel  will  in 
some  way  or  other  be  delivered  out  of  this  trouble,  im- 
probable as  it  may  appear,  than  that  Esther  should  receive 
security  for  her  own  life  if  she  declines  to  do  her  duty.  We 
can  clearly  see  that  he  wants  to  impress  her  with  two 
thoughts :  first,  that  Israel  was  always  delivered  in  an 
extraordinary  manner ;  secondly,  that  it  was  an  extraordinary 
providence  which  exalted  her  to  the  royal  throne.  "Who 
knoweth,"  says  he,  "whether  thou  art  not  come  to  the 
kiugjdom  for  such  a  time  as  this  ? "  i.e.  whether  the  one  did 
not  happen  to  secure  the  other.  The  answer  of  Mordecai  is 
a  masterpiece  of  eloc[uence.  He  who  had  loved  and  cherished 
Esther  as  a  daughter,  seeks  now  that  she  should  risk  her  life 
for  the  deliverance  of  Israel.     He  wills  it,  because  he  believes 


164  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

in  the  deliverance,  because  he  draws  from  the  history  of  Israel 
the  hope  that  they  cannot  become  extinct,  and  because  he 
sees  in  the  wonderful  exaltation  of  Esther  the  way  to  the 
deliverance.  This  he  puts  before  her  consideration  with 
all  the  paternal  urgency  and  authority  which  he  has  still 
reserved  for  himself  with  regard  to  her.  He  begins  witli 
destroying  every  illusion  of  Esther,  that  she  is  in  danger 
by  speaking  to  the  king,  and  would  therefore  prefer  not  to 
risk  her  life  ;  and  he  concludes  with  comforting  her  that 
she  shall  save  her  life,  just  because  she  will  not  flee  from 
the  danj^er.  It  is  not  the  danc^er  which  is  of  decisive 
moment,  but  the  moral  aim  for  which  it  is  sought.  He  con- 
vinces her  that  escape  and  silence  would  be  of  no  avail  to 
her,  but  that  courage  and  acknowledgment  have  hope, — not 
for  her  own  sake  alone,  but  for  the  sake  of  Israel  which  has 
such  a  history ;  and  yet  for  her  own  sake,  who  was  formerly  a 
captive  orphan,  but  is  now  become  queen.  His  chief  design 
was  to  plant  in  her  heart  faith  in  an  overruling  Providence, 
and  then  she  would  have  nothing  to  fear. — He  was  the  right 
m.an  to  do  this,  because  she  knew  how  very  much  he  loved 
her.  He  would  not  advise  her  to  sacrifice  her  life  needlessly. 
Such  confidence  is  necessary  in  order  to  have  such  a  faith, 
which  is  superior  to  human  anxieties  and  precautions.  That 
Esther  was  capable  of  having  such  faith,  is  evident  from  her 
former  and  later  conduct. 

Of  verbal  peculiarifcies  in  the  passage  may  be  mentioned  ••lonn, 
from  the  Piel  nJ21,  which  has  completely  the  sense  of  imagin- 
ing, as  from  it  is  derived  the  word  nim,  image  (imagio, 
imaginari). 

Eemarkable  is  the  position  of  'i^Dn-n^a  ^b'orh)  Mordecai 
says:  Do  not  imagine  to  escape  "as^  house  of  the  king." 
Esther  might  think  that  even  when  all  the  houses  of  Israel 
would  be  sacked,  her  royal  house  would  naturally  be  spared. 

^  [So  the  Rabbis  understand  the  word  n''3  in  1  Sam.  vii.  17  as  meaning 
wife,  from  which  they  infer  that  wherever  Samuel  was  there  was  also  his 
wife.— Trans.] 


CHAP.  IV.  14.  165 

We  must  not  take  the  words  to  mean  "  in  the  house  of  the 
king/'  the  household  which  she  had  formed  for  herself.  They 
stand  in  contrast  to  the  expression  in  ver.  14,  "Thy  father's 
house."  Mordecai  thinks  that  Esther  perhaps  imagines  that 
as  a  royal  house  it  would  escape,  so  he  says,  "  But  when 
Israel  shall  he  delivered,  then  wilt  thou  and  thy  fathers  house 
perish."  In  seeking  to  save  thyself,  those  who  are  with 
thee  in  the  royal  house  may  perhaps  he  preserved ;  hut  if  thou 
shouldest  nevertheless  perish,  then  the  house  of  thy  father 
will  he  totally  destroyed.  The  fall  of  male  and  female 
favourites  in  Oriental  courts,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  case  of 
Haman,  brought  with  it  the  fall  of  the  head  and  members  of 
their  famiUes.  Mordecai  wants  in  this  manner  to  raise  her 
moral  courage,  by  showing  her  the  disgrace  which  she  would 
bring  upon  herself  when,  although  Israel  would  be  delivered, 
she  would  fall  together  with  her  family,  himself  of  course 
included,  although  she  had  not  attempted  anything  for  their 
deliverance.     It  would  be  a  disgraceful  death. 

Ver.  1 4.  "  For  if  thoto  altogether  holdest  thy  peaceP 
^l^'nnn  t^^nnn.  The  infinitive  represents  the  continuance  of 
silence,  "  If  thou  shouldest  altogether  be  silent,  and  suppress 
thy  concern  in  the  matter."  Esther  should  speak  for  her 
people,  whether  she  is  called  or  not  called;  she  should  attempt 
to  fascinate  the  king  by  her  manner  and  speech,  as  she  can  at 
other  times,  and  more  especially  now,  when  it  is  a  question  of 
life  or  death  to  her  people.  The  derivation  of  the  verb  "  to 
be  silent,"  from  the  noun  tnn,  "  dumb,"  "  deaf,"  has  been 
contested  ;  yet  the  idea  of  Gesenius,  who  adduces  the  analogy 
of  dumb,  obtuse,  of  /cox^o?  from  Koirreiv,  is  before  all  others  to 
be  preferred.  The  verb  t^^in,  to  cut,  to  work  in  art,  is  doubt- 
less from  the  Greek  'x^apa.TTco.  As  from  this  is  %ajoaf, 
"  stake,"  "  pile,"  so  has  cnn  come  to  mean  a  "  blockhead "  or 
"  stupid  fellow,"  who  cannot  open  his  mouth,  as  stipes  and 
truncus  in  Latin.  The  biblical  colloquial  describes  by  the 
word  tnn,  a  dumb  man,  under  the  notion  that  he  is  like  a 


166  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

piece  of  wood,  without  life,  dull  and  awkward.  That  tnn  was 
actually  used  in  the  sense  of  "  stake,"  "  pile,"  is  seen  from 
the  meaning  of  ^p,  a  "  wood,"  "  hush ; "  Chald.  t^cnin ; 
Samarit.  ssni<.  The  word  has  the  signification  of  silence  also 
in  the  Arahic.  When  tnn  has  the  meaning  in  Persian  of 
"  rough  "  (Jiomo  impolitus,  rudis),  it  is  only  a  confirmation  of 
the  above  given  derivation.  But  Vullers  is  mistaken  when 
(Lex.  Fers.  i.  675)  he  wants  to  join  it  with  Knn,  ursus,  which 
is  from  quite  a  different  etymology. 

"  Then  shall  respite  and  deliverance  arise  to  the  Jews  from 

another  place." 

Mordecai  is  in  full  assurance  of  faith  that  Israel  cannot  he 
so  shamefully  annihilated.  He  is  quite  certain  that  ways 
and  means  will  be  found  for  their  deliverance.  He  sees  an 
earnest  of  this  in  the  wonderful  exaltation  of  Esther.  But 
should  she  refuse  to  act,  deliverance  will  come  in  spite  of  her. 
The  words  nfj^m  nn  occur  only  in  Esther,  and  have  arisen 
from  the  influences  of  the  captivity,  i.e.  they  manifest  Aramaic 
forms,  nn  is  avairvor),  as  the  Chaldaic  Targum  uses.  The 
time  will  come  when  Israel,  as  one  that  has  escaped  breathless 
from  persecution,  will  be  able  to  breathe  again  freely,  ni^^n 
is  an  infinitive  substantive  of  h^^,  "  the  deliverance ; "  comp. 
the  Chaldaic  rh^rh  in  Dan.  iii.  29. 

"And  ivJio  Jcnoweth   whether   thou   art   not  come   to   the 

"kingdom  for  such  a  time  as  this  ?  " 

The  expression  "who  knoweth"  occurs  particularly  in  Eccle- 
siastes  as  an  exclamation  of  despair  in  not  knowing  what  is  to 
come.  But  it  is  quite  differently  used  in  this  place,  where  it  is 
an  exclamation  of  certainty  in  the  ways  of  providence,  which 
man  does  not  know  as  to  detail.  Mordecai  is  not  a  prophet  who 
can  say  with  certainty  that  Esther's  errand  will  be  successful,  but 
he  has  faith  enough  to  see  in  her  going  to  the  king — difficult 
and  dangerous  as  it  is — a  way  of  deliverance.  He  cannot 
describe  the  result  in  detail,  but  he  is  sure  that  it  will  be  an 


CHAP.  IV.  16.  167 

important  turning-point  in  the  history  of  Israel,  and  that 
Esther  was  not  raised  in  vain  to  occupy  such  a  high  position. 
The  exclamation  yiT'  '•d,  "  who  knoweth,"  is  here  also  an 
exclamation  of  faith,  as  in  Joel  ii.  14  ;  Jonah  iii.  9  ;  Ps. 
xc.  11.  For  when  the  Psalmist  says,  "Who  knoweth  the 
power  of  Thine  anger,  and  Thy  wrath  as  he  should  fear  it  ? " 
he  believes  in  the  anger  of  God,  the  mystery  of  which  had 
only  overwhelmed  himself.  But  the  words  of  Mordecai  to 
Esther  were  not  intended  to  implant  despair,  but  faith,  in  her 
heart.  Eor  it  is  faith  which  ascribes  Esther's  exaltation  solely 
to  a  special  guidance  of  providence  ;  and  however  adventurous 
and  sublime  the  demand  of  her  uncle  may  appear  to  her,  the 
extraordinary  circumstance  of  her  becoming  queen  should 
only  act  as  an  incitement  to  duty,  and  she  should  be  ready  to 
give  her  life  for  the  salvation  of  Israel. 

Ver.   16.  *' Go  and  gather  together  all  the  Jev:s  that  are 

present  in  Shushan." 

Esther  is  ready  to  act  in  accordance  with  Mordecai's  request. 
She  certainly  had  not  said  too  much  of  the  danger  which  she 
would  have  to  encounter,  but  in  spite  of  it  she  does  not  resist 
his  demand  any  longer.      She  is  ready  to  do  everything  for 
her  people.     It  is  no  common  hazard  which  the  woman  and 
the  queen  undertakes.     Clericus  was  of  opinion  that  Esther 
only  displayed  timidity  w^hen  she  thought  of  the  possibility 
that  the  king  might  kill  her  for  venturing  to  transgress  the 
rules  of  etiquette.     But  he  overlooked  both  the  awful  import- 
ance that  was  connected  with  etiquette  and  the  feelings  of  a 
woman's  heart.      The  coming  and  going  of  the  women  to  the 
Persian  king  depended  entirely  on  his  caprice.     This  caprice 
was  inexorable  law.     Vashti  had  lost  her  life  because  she  did 
not  come,  although  she  was  commanded ;  might  not  the  same 
happen   to   Esther,   who   came   although   she   was   not  com- 
manded ?     Be  it  remembered  also  what  the  coming  of  Esther 
to  the  king  must  imply.     It  must  appear  in  his  eyes  as  a 
self-willed  request  for  that  for  which  at  other  times  his  lust 


168  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

summoned  her.  This  was  then  debasing  to  her  feeling.  She 
thought  the  king  would  misinterpret  her  motives  and  regard 
her  profession  of  fidelity  to  her  people  as  the  flimsiest  pretext. 
The  wives  had  to  wait  till  it  pleased  the  king  to  call  them. 
Therefore  she  thought  that  if  she  came  and  found  him  in  ill- 
humour,  not  only  might  she  lose  her  life,  but  also  her  honour, 
which  is  worse.  She  would  be  dishonoured  among  her  fellow- 
women  of  the  harem,  who  considered  it  honourable  patiently 
to  wait  until  their  turn  came. 

And  did  Esther  know  whether  she  would,  even  under  the 
most  favourable  circumstances,  succeed  with  her  petition  ? 
What  if  she  did  not  overcome  the  influence  of  Haman,  and  if 
the  order  of  massacre  were  not  withdrawn  ?  And  if  she 
failed,  what  then  !  She  would  in  vain  have  exposed  herself 
to  be  misunderstood.  She  would  have  lowered  her  royal 
dignity.  Henceforth,  even  if  her  life  should  be  spared,  she 
would  be  an  object  of  hatred  and  intrigue.  If  her  desire 
should  not  be  fulfilled  now,  she  must  sooner  or  later 
succumb. 

It  is  necessary  to  judge  the  deeds  of  men  by  the  circum- 
stances in  which  they  are  placed.  Torn  asunder  from  the 
conditions  of  life  of  which  they  are  the  outcome,  they  lose 
for  the  most  part  all  significance.  In  itself  the  seeking  of  an 
interview  with  the  Persian  king,  who  is  the  husband,  is 
certainly  no  wonderful  thing.  But  when  we  review  the 
circumstances  under  which  this  was  done,  then  Esther  appears 
to  have  displayed  greater  heroic  courage  than  the  famous 
Eoman  women,  who  out  of  patriotism  were  ready  to  die  ;  or  of 
the  Pythagorean  women,  who  would  rather  have  their  tongues 
bitten  off  than  be  silent.  Just  because  Esther  put  her  throne 
and  life  at  hazard,  without  having  any  prospect  of  a  certain 
result — therefore  she  sent  Mordecai  word  :  "  Gather  together 
all  the  Jews  that  are  in  Shushan."  To  what  place  ?  Into 
the  synagogue.  She  says  D1J3,  gather  them  into  the  no^an  n^3, 
"  house  of  assembly,"  the  Hebrew  form  for  synagogue.  What 
shall  they  do  there  ?     They  should  fast  for  her  three   days 


CHAP.  IV.  16.  160 

(d^v).^  Fasting  was  in  the  0.  T.  the  symbolic  form  of  prayer, 
as  well  as  the  garment  in  which  the  suppliant  appeared.  It 
represented  the  attitude  and  the  disposition  under  which  alone 
true  prayer  could  take  place.  The  man  who  is  not  hungry 
does  not  ask  for  food.  Out  of  a  luxurious  life  does  not  flow 
the  longing  after  spiritual  things  and  after  God.  The  body  must 
iirst  be  mortified  before  the  soul  is  full  of  faith.  Fasting  has 
no  selfish  aim.  If  it  does  not  by  fervent  and  spontaneous 
prayer  spiritualize  the  body,  it  loses  its  value.  The  sanctifica- 
tion  which  it  offers  to  the  body  must  be  the  vessel  of  the  God- 
loving  soul.  If  this  is  not  the  case,  then  fasting  is  absurd. 
Therefore  the  prophet  blames  the  fasting  of  Israel  when  it  is 
severed  from  true  repentance  and  love  (Isa.  Iviii.).  Jeremiah 
shows  that  fasting  and  prayer  are  inseparable.  "And  the 
Lord  said  unto  me.  Pray  not  for  this  people  for  their  good  (for 
grace,  nn^^b)  ;  when  they  fast,  I  will  not  hear  their  cry  "  (xiv. 
11, 12).^  The  character  of  the  fasting  required  by  Esther  from 
Mordecai  is  also  given  in  Neh.  i.  4,  etc. :  "  I  sat  down  and 
wept,  and  mourned  certain  days,  and  I  fasted,  and  prayed 
before  the  God  of  heaven."  In  the  same  way  is  fasting 
understood  in  the  New  Testament.  When  Jesus  tells  the 
disciples  the  reason  why  they  could  not  drive  out  an  evil 
spirit  (Matt.  xvii.  21),  He  does  so  by  saying,  "This  kind 
goeth  not  out  but  by  prayer  and  fasting."  Thus  He  describes 
the  devoted,  penitent,  and  holy  disposition  by  which  alone 
the  suppliant  may  accomplish  such  a  thing.  So  also  does 
the  apostle  join  together  fasting  and  prayer  (vrjo-Tela  koI 
Trpoaevxy)  (1  Cor.  vii.  5).  The  ancient  Church  laid  great 
stress  upon  fasting,  inasmuch  as  she  found  herself  surrounded 
by  a  society  that  lived  in  luxury  and  extravagance.  It  was 
considered  as  a  disciplinary  measure,  and  as  a  means  by 
which  an  individual  might  overcome  self.     There  were  not 

^  The  word  occurs  for  the  first  time  in  the  O.  T.  in  Judg.  xx.  26. 
Concerning  its  etymological  connections,  see  my  Coram,  on  Judg.  p.  176. 

2  Jerome  says  on  this  passage  (ed.  Migne,  iv.  771,  941):  "Jejunia  et 
preces  et  victimae  et  holocausta  tunc  proficiunt  cum  recedimus  a  vitiis 
liemus  antiqua  peccata." 


170 


BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 


wanting  in  those  days  men  who  in  the  spirit  of  the  prophets 
spoke  against  the  abuses  of  fasting.  Augustine  comments  upon 
the  above  passage  of  the  apostle  thus :  "  Christians  may  say, '  Let 
us  fast  and  pray  and  give,  for  to-morrow  we  die.'  But  of  the 
two  sentences,  I  prefer  that  they  should  say,  '  Let  us  give  and 
pray,'  instead  of  the  other,  '  Let  us  fast  and  not  give.' "  Far 
be  it  from  the  thought  that  the  apostle  considered  the 
highest  good,  i.e.  salvation,  to  consist  in  the  exercise  of  the 
bodily  powers  of  man.-^  Similar  words  Augustine  uses  in 
another  place,  quoted  by  Suicer  from  Severian  :  "  Fasting  has 
two  wings,  prayer  and  almsgiving,  without  which  it  cannot 
move."  Again  in  his  commentary :  "  Wilt  thou  that  thy 
prayer  should  fly  to  God,  give  it  two  wings — prayer  and 
almsgiving."  ^  In  his  letter  to  Casulanus,  Augustine  writes, 
"  I,  at  all  events,  find  in  the  writings  of  the  apostles  and 
evangelists,  and  in  the  whole  document  which  is  called  the 
N.  T.,  that  fasting  is  prescribed ;  but  on  which  days  to  fast 
and  on  which  not,  I  do  not  find.  Therefore  it  is  the  business 
of  the  ministers  of  the  Church  to  arrange  these  according  to 
necessity  and  usefulness."  ^  What  is  said  with  certainty  is, 
that  to  prayer  belongs  a  spirit  of  fasting.  By  the  appointing 
of  certain  fast-days,  the  dignity  both  of  fasting  and  of  prayer 
is  lowered.  Discipline  of  the  body,  moderation  in  eating  and 
drinking,  the  crucifying  of  one's  lusts  and  propensities,  is  the 
daily  fasting  which  is  necessary,  and  without  which  the 
Lord's  Prayer  cannot  be  repeated.  It  does  not  matter  whether 
one  eats  meat  or  fish  on  this  or  on  that  day,  or  begins  to 
satisfy  his  old  appetite  for  eating  in  this  or  in  that  hour. 
This  is  [only]  work  and  external  appearance,  and  does  not 
increase  the  strength  of  life  in  and  prayer  to  God.  Esther 
wants  three  days  to  be  devoted  to  true  repentance,  earnest 

1  Oratio  151,  cap.  6  {Oj)^.  ed.  Migne,  v.  1.  812). 

2  On  Ps.  xlii.  cap.  8  {0])jp.  ed.  Migne,  iv.  1.  82). 

3  Ep.  36,  cap.  11  ;  but  the  last  sentence  :  "Itaque  ad  Ecclesiae  pastores 
id  spectat  pro  necessitate  vel  utilitate  ecclesiae  decernere,"  I  find  in  the 
quotations  of  older  editions  (cf.  Beyerlinck,  theatr.  vitae  humanae^  iv.  300), 
but  not  in  the  ed.  Migne,  Ojpp.  ii.  p.  147. 


CHAP.  IV.  16.  171 

prayer,  and  intercession  on  her  behalf  before  God,  and  says 
that  she  will  do  the  same  in  her  palace  with  her  servants. 
One  might  have  thought  it  would  have  been  enough  if  she 
had  done  so  herself,  but  in  her  humility  she  has  no  confidence 
that  her  prayer  alone  will  bring  the  desired  answer.  Besides, 
it  is  not  her  own,  but  the  people's  affair  ;  the  people  fast  and 
pray  for  themselves  when  they  do  so  for  her.  She  appoints 
the  duration  of  the  fast  to  be  three  days,  night  ^  and  day,  in 
which  nothing  should  be  eaten  or  drunk.  Of  such  long  fasts, 
the  life  of  the  synagogue  affords  no  other  examples ;  but  it  is 
correct  to  begin  to  reckon  the  commencement  of  the  fast  with 
the  evening  of  the  first  day,  as  is  the  case  with  the  Day  of 
Atonement.  It  did  not,  however,  conclude,  like  the  Day  of 
Atonement,  after  twenty-four  hours  had  elapsed,  but  con- 
tinued till  the  end  of  the  third  day.  It  lasted  then  about 
forty  hours,  and  ended  when  Esther  went  to  the  king,  as  it 
is  believed,  on  the  third  day.  The  space  of  time  would  then 
be  like  that  in  which  "  the  bridegroom  is  removed  from  the 
disciples"  (Matt.  ix.  15),  viz.  from  the  crucifixion  to  the 
resurrection,  therefore  the  ancient  Church  had  a  fast  of  forty 
hours,  strictly  speaking,  and  afterwards  forty  days.  This  is 
undoubtedly  the  passage  of  Irenaeus,  as  Bingham  proves  {0pp. 
ix.  p.  180),  for  the  remark  about  counting  together  hours  of 
the  day  and  hours  of  the  night  will  only  then  have  a 
meaning  if  we  place  a  comma  after  wpa?.  It  appears  that 
recent  Koman  Catholic  writers  have  also  maintained  that 
there  was  no  distinction  between  the  forty  hours'  and  the 
forty  days'  fast.^     When  we  remember  that  the  number  forty 

^  We  read,  "  Three  days,  night  and  day."  The  word  night  standing 
before  day,  shows  that  the  fast  commenced  with  the  night.  [It  was  an 
estabhshed  custom  among  the  Jews,  both  in  biblical  and  post-biblical 
times,  to  regard  a  part  of  a  day  as  a  day. — Trans.] 

2  Prayers  of  forty  hours'  duration  have  been  appointed  in  the  Koman 
Catholic  Church  since  the  sixteenth  century.  There  was  a  fraternity  who 
devoted  forty  hours  to  prayer  in  memory  of  the  death  of  Christ.  The 
Pope  ratified  this  rule  in  1560.  On  account  of  ecclesiastical  abuses* 
especially  in  France,  Clement  VIII.  appointed  such  a  period  of  prayer  for 
all  churches  in  1592. 


172  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

^vas  already  in  the  Old  Covenant  a  number  used  in  reference 
to  repentance,  judgment,  and  expectation,  as  in  the  flood,  in 
the  sojourn  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness,  and  in  connection  with 
Elijah,  etc.,  we  can  see  the  reason  why  Esther's  fast  should 
last  exactly  forty  hours.  Curiously  enough,  the  Midrash 
places  the  command  of  Esther  to  fast  in  the  time  of  the 
Passover  (p.  94,  etc.). 

Esther  has  by  this  long  fast  imposed  no  slight  task  upon 
herself  and  upon  the  people ;  but  she  sees  in  this  the  only 
hope.  She  knows  the  danger  of  her  action.  "  I  will  go  unto 
the  king,"  she  says,  "  which  is  not  according  to  the  law " 
(m^-^S  1t^'^?).  This  m,  "  law,"  is  like  the  law  of  God.  It  is 
inviolable  ;  death  is  the  wages  of  its  transgression.  If  men 
in  general,  if  Israel  in  particular,  had  in  like  manner  feared 
to  transgress  the  laws  of  God,  their  peace  would  have  been 
more  lasting.  But,  at  all  events,  the  punishment  of  the 
transgressor  by  the  Persian  king  was  sure  and  unmerciful ; 
but  our  God  is  full  of  mercy  and  love  in  all  His  judg- 
ments. 

"  So  let  it  be  !  "  she  exclaims,  "  I  will  do  what  lies  in  me. 
Do  you  your  part,  fast  and  pray.  And  if  I  perish,  I  perish 
as  the  victim  of  obedience  and  love  (^m3K  "TnaK  "iK^«D)."  The 
whole  force  of  these  thoughts  lies  in  the  repetition  of  the 
verb.  She  gives  by  this  expression  free  vent  to  her  pent-up 
feelings  of  misery  and  woe,  and  to  her  determination,  what- 
ever may  come,  to  submit  to  the  will  of  God.  We  have  a 
similar  passage  in  Gen.  xliii.  14,  where  Jacob,  after  having 
refused  for  a  long  time  to  let  Benjamin  accompany  his 
brethren  to  Egypt,  at  last,  being  pressed  by  a  higher  law  of 
love  and  duty,  quietly  consents  to  his  going,  and  exclaims, 
Tii^^tJ'  Th^^  ntJ'i^D,  "  And  if  I  be  bereaved  of  my  children, 
I  am  bereaved."  Neither  exclamation  contains  an  ex- 
pression of  indifference  or  of  despair,  as  Ewald  maintains 
{Rehr.  Gram.  8th  ed.  p.  865).  Therefore  the  translation  of 
Arnheim  in  Zunz's  Bible,  "  I  am  anyhow  lost,"  is  entirely 
false. 


CHAP.  IV.  17.  173 

Yer.  1 7.  "  So  Mordecai  went  his  imy."  "iinyi. 
The  translations  hitherto  given  have  not  hit  upon  the  sense. 
If  the  word  meant  merely  "  ahiit!'  "  he  went  away,"  or  as 
Arnheim  translates, "  he  went  about,"  it,  having  a  definite  and 
well-known  meaning,  would  not  have  been  chosen  to  express 
this  idea.  We  must  not  depart  from  its  sense  of  passing  over. 
We  have  in  it,  when  locally  spoken  of,  a  local  portraiture. 
Therefore  those  Jewish  interpreters  who  understood  by  it, 
transgression  of  a  law,  still  retain  its  proper  meaning.  It  is 
maintained  in  the  Talmud  that  Esther's  three  days'  fast  began 
two  days  before  the  Passover,  and  included  the  first  day ; 
and  this  is  incorrectly  thought  to  be  proved  by  chap.  iii.  12. 
Consequently,  it  is  asserted  that  Mordecai  transgressed  the 
law  of  the  Passover  (Eab.  in  Bab.  Megilla  \^a  ;  Midrash 
Esther  94,  etc.).  No  other  view  is  found  in  the  first  Targum. 
For  the  words  D]31  DD:i,  "  sad  and  excited,"  are  not  the  transla- 
tion of  "lUV^I,  as  Levy  (Chald.  Lex.  ii.  116)  supposes,  inasmuch 
as  they  are  immediately  followed  by  nnyi ;  but  they  merely 
mean  to  say  that  Mordecai  was  very  sad  to  be  obliged  to 
transgress  the  joy  of  the  feast  (&5jn  nnn).  How  can  Levy 
ascribe  to  the  Targumist  the  derivation  of  the  word  "  anger  " 
from  nny  ?  Another  explanation  of  the  Midrash  likewise 
testifies  that  the  word  is  to  be  understood  in  the  sense  of 
passing  over  or  transgressing.  According  to  which,  Mordecai 
was  displeased  with  Esther  for  profaning  the  feast ;  but  after 
being  better  instructed  by  her  on  the  subject,  "inv^l,  "  he  trans- 
gressed "  his  words,^  i.e.  in  the  dialect  of  the  Talmud,  he  with- 
drew  his  words.  It  is  impossible  that  this  word  should  have 
been  chosen  without  a  purpose,  and  E.  Samuel  (Megilla  15a) 
felt  this,  and  explained  that  Mordecai  passed  over  the  other 
side  of  a  lake  or  river.  Samuel,  who  himself  lived  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Euphrates,  is  for  this  a  good  authority.  The  castle  of 
Shushan  was  situated  near  the  river  Ulai,  as  we  know  from 

1  Sefer  Meg.  Esther,  "  Er  Uberfliret  seine  Red."  [This  verb  is  used  in 
the  sense  of  transgressing  in  Hos.  vi.  7.  In  Micah  vii.  18  it  means  "pass- 
ing by  transgressions." — Trans.] 


174  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Dan.  viii.  2.  The  royal  castle  was  the  real  Shushan,  and  it  is 
of  this  that  the  ancient  writers  speak  when  they  describe  the 
city  as  situated  near  the  Eulaeus  or  Choaspes  (Herod,  vii.  7  ; 
Curtius  V.  1  and  2,  etc.).  Mordecai  was  in  the  royal  fortified 
town,  and  transacted  his  business  with  Esther  before  the 
chief  gate.  The  Jews  resided  in  another  part  of  the  city. 
When  lie  wanted  to  go  to  them  to  gather  them  together, 
he  had  to  cross  the  water  to  come  to  the  Jewish  quarter. 
Benjamin  of  Tudela  in  the  Middle  Ages  still  described  Susa 
as  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  and  connected  by  a  bridge 
across  it.  So  then  we  see  that  the  word  nun  has  a  local 
and  graphic  meaning,  and  we  cannot  have  a  better  testimony 
for  the  topographical  knowledge  of  the  narrator  than  we  have 
in  this  word.  In  nny  is  contained  the  idea  of  passing  by  or 
passing  over.  But  Mordecai  did  not  pass  by,  but  he  passed 
over  the  river,  like  Abraham  and  Nehemiah, — certainly  not 
the  Euphrates,  but  the  Ulai,  into  the  capital  of  the  captivity, 
— not  to  rejoice  before  God  with  thanksgiving,  but  to  pray  to 
Him  in  deep  sorrow^  and  in  earnest  repentance. 


I 


CHAPTEE    Y. 

Yer.  1 .  "  Now  it  came  to  pass  on  the  third  day^ 
The  emphasis  which  the  narrator  puts  on  this  date  seems 
to  indicate  that  he  had  the  thought  in  his  mind,  that  the  third 
day  in  Holy  Scripture  marks  important  facts  in  connection 
with  the  kingdom  of  God.  A  pious  Jewish  narrator  chose  en 
this  occasion  this  formula  in  remembrance  of  the  third  day  on 
which  God  gave  the  law  to  Moses  in  the  midst  of  thunder  and 
lightning  (Ex.  xix.  16).  This  third  day  was  the  beginning 
of  a  new  life  for  exiled  Israel.  Out  of  the  darkness  of  death 
the  sun  arose  in  his  brilliancy.  What  God,  through  the 
prophet,  said  to  Hezekiah  (2  Kings  xx.  5) :  "I  have  heard  thy 
prayer,  I  have  seen  thy  tears ;  behold,  I  will  heal  thee :  on 
the  third  day  thou  shalt  go  up  unto  the  house  of  the  Lord," 
had  also  happened  here.  After  two  days  of  weeping  came 
deliverance.  The  prophet  Hosea  says :  "  After  two  days  will 
He  revive  us ;  on  the  third  day  He  will  raise  us  up,  and  we 
shall  live  before  Him  "  (vi.  2).  It  was  on  the  third  day  after 
the  day  of  suffering  that  Christ  rose  from  the  dead,  to  raise 
others  too.  It  appears  as  if  the  Midrash  was  thinking  of  these 
parallels,  when  it  ascribes  to  Esther  as  having  cried  out  in 
the  moment  of  her  great  anxiety  and  anguish  of  soul,  when 
she  had  to  appear  before  the  king,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why 
hast  Thou  forsaken  me  ? "  (Ps.  xxii.  1).  She  repeated  the  very 
words  which  were  understood  by  the  Jews  as  referring  to  the 
Messiah,  and  according  to  Christian  interpretation,  which  had 
their  complete  Messianic  realization  when  they  fell  from  the 
lips  of  Jesus  on  the  cross. 

"  That  Esther  put  on  her  royal  apparel" 
ni270  t^'npni,  "  she  put  on  royalty,"  is  a  form  of  expression 


176  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

chosen  with  great  precision,  and  means  more  than  "  she  put 
on  royal  apparel."  She  appeared  before  the  king  in  the  full 
array  and  attitude  of  the  queen.  She  wore  the  crown  which 
he  himself  had  placed  on  her  head  (ii.  17).  The  whole  Koa-fio^ 
l3aaCkiK6<i  is  meant,  of  which  Diodorus  relates,  that  Alex- 
ander had  placed  it  again  on  the  head  of  the  Persian  queen 
{Bill.  xvii.  38).  The  additions  in  Josephus  and  in  the  Greek 
Apocrypha  bear  already  the  Midrash  character.  The  queen 
came  to  the  king. 

"  And  stood  in  the  inner  court!'  n''D"'jan. 
Tiirst  is  of  opinion  that  if  D^JQ  should  be  connected  with 
D'^Q,  the  sense  would  be  opposite,  viz.  "  face  to  face "  with 
Ahhashverosh.  But  this  is  not  even  the  case  with  evcoTrca, 
"  the  face,"  expressing  the  inner  walls  of  the  chamber,  and 
means  just  the  opposite  of  irpovooTria,  which  signifies  the 
external  side.  The  use  of  the  word  face  in  Hebrew,  as  well 
as  in  Greek,  comes  from  the  covering  of  the  face ;  the  veil 
being  considered  as  the  door  to  the  face.  When  the  veil  is 
opened,  the  inner  part  of  the  face  becomes  visible. 

Ver.  2.  "  So  Esther  dreiu  near  and  touched  the  top  of  the 

sceptred 

When  the  king  saw  her  standing,  she  gained  favour  in  his 
sight ;  he  was  not  angry  with  her  because  she  came  without 
being  called,  as  she  feared  would  be  the  case.  She  found  him 
in  good  humour.  When  Bathsheba  came  to  King  Solomon, 
her  son,  he  rose  up  to  meet  her,  bowed  himself  unto  her,  then 
sat  down  on  his  throne,  and  seated  her  on  his  right  hand 
(1  Kings  ii.  19).  Of  course,  Ahhashverosh  did  not  receive  Esther 
with  the  same  politeness.  Yet  the  report  of  Plutarch  (in  his 
treatise  about  the  badly  instructed  prince)  is  correct,  that  the 
Persian  kings  did  not  treat  their  wives  like  slaves.  And 
Esther  wore  the  crown  upon  her  head ;  and  she  did  not 
prostrate  herself  at  his  feet,  as  others  were  obliged  to  do,  but 
lie  saw  her  standing  (mDiy),  and  he  beckoned  to  her  with  the 


CHAP.  V.  2.  177 

sceptre,  as  one  beckons  with  the  hand,  as  a  sign  of  salutation 
and  of  invitation  to  come  near.^  The  poet  Zacharia  uses  the 
imagery  of  night  as  a  queen,  "  Lo,  the  solitary  night  beckons 
with  the  leaden  sceptre  "  {Adelung  Lex.  iv.  1563). 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  by  touching  the  sceptre  she 
intimated  that  she  had  a  petition  to  the  king.  The  sceptre 
represented  royal  power ;  this  she  touched,  because  she  needed 
it  very  much.  Nothing  more  was  certainly  expressed  by  the 
touch ;  for  with  the  King  of  Persia,  everything  that  was  to  be 
obtained  by  petition,  be  it  the  smallest  trifle  or  the  life  of  a 
whole  nation,  was  considered  as  a  grant  of  grace.  Amongst 
the  Jews  of  old  the  custom  was,  that  a  petitioner  who  desired 
the  grant  of  a  great  favour  from  any  one,  fell  down  before 
him  and  took  hold  of  his  feet,  as  the  woman  did  to  whom 
Elijah  restored  the  child  alive.  This  was  a  sign  of  humility, 
in  the  same  manner  as  touching  the  knees.  Pliny  says,  "  The 
knees  of  man  contain  a  certain  amount  of  sacredness  in  them, 
according  to  usage  of  nations.  The  petitioners  touch  them ; 
they  stretch  out  their  hands  to  them ;  they  pray  to  them,  as 
to  altars,  perhaps  because  there  is  vital  power  in  them" 
("fortassis,  quia  inest  in  iis  vitalitas,"  Hist.  Nat.  xi.  45).  But 
this  is  not  correct.  The  feet  or  the  knees  of  man  were 
touched  out  of  humility,  because  the  petitioner  did  not 
arrogate  to  himself  worthiness  to  such  a  degree  as  to  enable 
him  to  touch  the  higher  parts  of  the  benefactor's  body.  He 
therefore  prostrates  himself  upon  the  earth,  and  can  only 
touch  the  foot  or  the  knee. 

The  custom  among  the  Greeks,  for  a  petitioner  to  touch 
the  chin,  had  a  different  significance.  Thetis  did  so  when 
she  laid  her  petition  before  Zeus  (Ilias,  i.  501 ;  comp.  viii. 
371,  vTT  avdepewvos;).  This  also  Dolon  would  like  to  do,  to 
obtain  mercy  from  Diomedes,  but  he  does  not  succeed  (x. 
454),  where  Crusius  in  his  Commentary  on  Homer  explains, 

^  What  the  Midrasli  reports,  as  well  as  Josephus  and  the  Apocrypha, 
that  the  king  was  so  angry  that  Esther  fainted,  and  that  angels  accom- 
panied her,  etc.,  are  entirely  legendary  homilies  of  the  Jews  of  a  later  age 

M 


178  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

that  it  was  the  knee,  and  not  the  chin,  which  was  touched. 
It  is  not  this  passage  only  to  which  Pliny  refers  when  he 
speaks  of  it  as  a  general  custom  among  the  Greeks.  There 
was  even  a  particular  word,  vTroyeveid^eiv,  for  it.  The  under- 
lying thought  of  the  custom  was,  that  by  caressing  and  flatter- 
ing the  chin  the  petition  would  be  granted.  It  had  nothing 
to  do,  as  Eosenmtiller  will  have  it,  with  the  Oriental  notion 
of  the  sacredness  of  the  beard,  for  it  was  peculiar  to  many 
nations.  Grimm  quotes  from  Gudrun  386  similar  customs. 
It  is  remarkable,  at  any  rate,  that  r/cnu,  Sanscr.  ganUj  knee, 
is  evidently  cognate  with  ffena,  yiueiov,  Sanscr.  Jiami,  chin, 
and  yet  the  two  customs  had  different  fundamental  thoughts. 
Touching  the  knee  was  an  appeal  for  mercy,  but  touching  the 
chin  was  an  act  of  flattering  the  supposed  tender  part  of  man. 

To  be  sure,  the  humiliation  of  Esther  in  presenting  her 
petition  in  the  palace  of  Shushan  was  not  like  that  of  the 
Venetian  Ambassador,  Francis  Dandolo,  before  the  Pope  in 
1312.  He  appeared  before  the  Pope  in  the  presence  of  many 
guests  upon  all  fours,  and  carried  an  iron  chain  upon  his 
neck,  and  thus  lay  under  the  table  like  a  dog  until  his 
petition  was  granted.  When  he  bore  after  this  the  name 
of  Cane  (dog),  he  deserved  it  less  than  Diogenes,  who  did  not 
know  how  to  flatter  (comp.  Leo,  Gesch.  v.  Italien,  iii.  p.  70); 
and  still  less  than  the  pupil  of  Diogenes,  who,  when  asking 
a  favour  of  a  superior  for  some  one  else,  touched  him  on  his 
thigh.  That  person  became  enraged,  for  he  expected  that 
the  supplicant  would  touch  his  knee.  "  What,"  exclaimed 
Crates,  "  are  the  thighs  not  also  thine  ? "  (Diog.  Laertius,  vi. 
cap.  V.  n.  7.) 

Plutarch  (on  Cold)  mentions  that  a  petition  was  not 
refused  in  Persia  when  the  petitioner  carried  fire,  or  went 
into  the  water.  The  same  custom  is  still  observed  among  the 
Turks,  and  Hammer  adduces  many  examples  from  the  years 
1638  and  1655  (GescJi.  des  osman.  Beiches,  v.  pp.  239,  630). 

Esther  does  not  touch  the  knee  as  a  dependant,  nor  the 
chin  as  a  woman  ;  she  touches  the  sceptre  of  royal  authority. 


CHAP.  V.  3.  179 

because  from  this  she  seeks  deliverance.  In  fact,  the  Persian 
tyrant  arrogated  to  himself  divine  power.  With  his  sceptre 
he  dispensed  life  or  death.  When  the  ancient  Christians  estab- 
lished petitionary  courses  (supplicationes),  and  often  called  them 
stations,  they  based  them  on  the  idea  that  they  caused  the  cross 
to  be  carried  before  them.  This  is  spiritually,  but  not  in  the 
sense  of  material  superstition.  The  cross  is  the  true  sceptre  of 
the  great  King  of  Grace.  He  who  touches  it  in  his  heart  will  live. 

Ver.  3.  "  WJiat  wilt  thou,  Queen  Esther  ?  "  {rs^h^^n  nriDK.) 
Esther  came  at  the  time  when  the  king  held  a  reception. 
This  appears  from  the  circumstance  that  "the  king  sat  on 
the  throne."  At  such  a  time  those  who  had  any  business  to 
transact  with  him  presented  it.  This  throws  light  upon  the 
question  of  Ahhashverosh,  "  What  wilt  thou  ?  What  canst 
thou,  0  queen,  want  ?  What  has  brought  thee  into  the 
reception  room  ? "  It  is  the  language  of  gracious  favour,  in 
which  he  expresses  his  astonishment  that  the  queen  should 
also  have  something  to  ask. 

"  What  is  thy  request  ?  It  shall  be  given  thee  even  to 
the  half  of  the  kingdom."  Nowhere  does  the  sublime 
munificence  of  the  Persian  shahs  appear  to  greater  advantage 
than  in  their  readiness  to  bestow  great  favours.  The  more 
powerful  they  considered  themselves,  the  more  they  fancied 
they  could  give  everything.  "  Ask  what  thou  wilt,  express 
thy  wishes,"  were  the  haughty  phrases  with  which  they  as 
divine  beings  thought  of  bestowing  a  favour.  The  more  so 
here,  where  Esther,  wearing  a  crown  upon  her  head,  asks  a 
favour.  As  queen  she  is,  as  we  say,  half  or  part  of  him ; 
she  is  his  companion  in  the  government  (in  name  and  by 
favour),  therefore  he  says  to  her,  "Ask  what  thou  wilt,  thou 
shalt  have  to  the  half  of  the  kingdom."  This  was  naturally 
only  a  benignant  phrase,  to  show  Esther  his  love  for  her,  and 
the  claim  she  has  upon  him. — Yet  it  happened  that  on 
similar  occasions  whole  provinces  and  cities,  i.e,  the  revenues 
from  them,  were  really  given  away. 


180  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Ver.  4.  "  Let  the  king  and  Haman  come  this  day  ^  unto  the 

hanqiietr 

The  caution  whicli  Esther  uses  in  her  invitation  is  for  us 
the  finest  characteristic  of  Oriental  conditions. 

She  has  two  things  in  view,  in  order  to  succeed  in  her 
attempt  to  get  the  edict  revoked.  It  must  first  become 
clear  to  her  that  Ahhashverosh  is  indeed  so  favourably 
disposed  to  her  that  he  will  also  fulfil  his  promise  according 
to  her  mind.  For  that  he  will  keep  his  promise  was  sure, 
but  the  realization  of  it  was  often  worse  than  the  refusal. 
When  Darius,  son  of  Artaxerxes,  realized  the  promise  that  was 
given  him  to  have  the  beautiful  Aspasia  for  his  wife,  he 
indeed  received  her,  but  she  was  very  soon  snatched  from 
liim ;  and  this  also  led  to  his  lasting  disgrace  and  to  his  final 
ruin  (Plutarch,  Artaxerxes,  26).  When  Pythius  the  Lydian 
was  encouraged  by  former  favours  from  Xerxes  to  beseech  the 
king  to  leave  behind  one  of  his  five  sons  who  accompanied 
the  expedition,  his  wish  was  fulfilled, — he  was  left  behind, 
but  cut  into  two  parts,  which  were  placed  on  each  side  of  the 
road,  and  then  the  army  passed  through  them  (Herodotus, 
vii.  39).  Secondly,  she  wanted  Haman  to  be  present  when 
she  made  her  petition.  She  thought  she  must  not  give  to 
Ahhashverosh  the  opportunity  of  talking  the  matter  over 
early  with  Haman,  and  that  the  latter  must  not  have  time  to 
accomplish  his  design,  or  at  least  to  arrange  for  his  escape. 
In  inviting  Haman,  too,  she  avoided  giving  the  appearance 
of  her  petition  being  detrimental  to  his  interests.  Haman 
himself  must  consider  the  invitation  as  a  special  sign  of  her 
regard  for  him.  We  see  that  Esther  manifested  in  her 
undertaking  a  bold  as  well  as  a  prudent  spirit.     But  the  life 

1  [This  is  in  Hebrew,  DVn,  pHI,  ^^'DH,  5<3\  Yabo,  Hamelech,  Yeliaman, 
Hayom.  From  this  the  Rabbis  prove  that  the  name  of  God  is  mentioned 
in  this  book,  for  the  initial  letters  of  these  four  words  compose  tlie 
name  Jehovah.  The  same  form  so  many  words  in  chap.  i.  ver.  20,  only  in 
a  reversed  manner  from  the  final  letters.  But  they  do  not  account  for  the 
omission  of  the  name  of  God  in  the  Song  of  Solomon,  as  it  is  uncertain 
whether  the  word  n"*  in  viii.  6  is  the  name  Jah  or  a  suffix. — Traxs.] 


CHAP.  V.  5,  6.  181 

of  a  whole  nation  was  at  stake,  and  it  was  her  love  to  them 
which  nerved  and  inspired  her  resolutions.  It  was  a  great 
distinction  to  Haman  that  the  queen  invited  him  together 
with  the  king  to  her  banquet ;  but  she  learned  already  from 
the  favourable  reception  she  met  from  the  king  how  much 
she  might  depend  upon  his  attachment  to  her,  and  also  what 
weight  she  might  place  upon  his  regard  for  Haman.  She 
experimented  to  a  certain  degree  as  to  the  relations  in  which 
Haman  really  stood  to  Ahhashverosh. 

Ver.  5.  "Cause  Hainan  to  make  haste,  that  it  may  he  done 

as  Esther  hath  said." 

This  shows  that  the  king  at  once  appreciated  Esther's  zeal. 
Without  a  moment's  hesitation  he  granted  her  very  first  desire. 
He  had  not  the  slightest  suspicion  that  his  minister  harboured 
any  ill-feeling  against  his  consort,  and  he  might  even  have 
joyfully  congratulated  himself  that  the  relations  between  the 
government  and  the  harem  were  those  of  peace  and  harmony 
and  mutual  respect  for  each  otlier.  There  is  nothing  more 
instructive  for  powerful  autocrats  than  to  observe  the  great 
weakness  with  which  they  rule.  The  haughty  potentate  who 
believes  that  he  is  able  to  do  everything,  gropes  as  a  blind 
man  in  the  dark  about  the  designs  which  others  out  of 
passion  and  despair  are  laying  for  him.  While  he  fancies 
that  he,  like  a  human  god,  can  dispose  of  life  and  death,  and 
of  happiness  and  misery,  others  play  with  his  humour  as  with 
a  ball.  The  haste  with  which  he  makes  Haman  come  is  but 
the  dawn  of  a  gracious  morning.  Haman  hurries  uncon- 
sciously to  judgment,  of  which  he  himself  was  to  be  the 
instrument  as  he  was  its  guilty  cause. 

Ver.  6.  "And  the  king  said  unto  Esther  at  the  banquet  of 

ivine,  What  is  thy  petition  ? " 

From  the  repetition  of  this  question  Esther  gathered  hope. 
For  when  the  king  gave  audience  to  her,  he  must  have  seen 
that  the  invitation  to  the  banquet  was  not  her  only  object  in 


182  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

coming  to  him.  He  must  have  understood  that  she  had  a 
petition  which  she  wanted  only  to  present  at  the  banquet, 
where  according  to  Persian  custom  it  could  more  easily  be 
granted  (Hammer,  Gemdldesaal,  ii.  162).  During  the  drink- 
ing of  wine,  the  king  used  to  consult  with  his  family  about 
the  affairs  which  were  brought  before  him.  The  Persian 
kings  were  often  tried  and  harassed  on  such  occasions  by 
petitioners  who  took  advantage  of  their  benevolent  disposition. 
When  Xerxes  had  promised  Artaynte  to  grant  whatever  she 
wished  (Herod,  ix.  109),  she  asked  a  present  which  his 
wife  Amestris  gave  him,  and  whose  jealousy  must  thereby  have 
been  provoked.  When  he  again  promised  to  grant  a  similar 
petition  to  Amestris,  she  demanded  that  Artaynte  should  be 
delivered  up  to  her,  that  she  might  avenge  herself  upon  her 
(Herod,  ix.  110,  111).  Such  things  were  of  daily  occur- 
rence, and  they  took  place  in  every  department  of  Oriental 
life.  Procopius  relates  (Pers.  Gcsch.  i.  5)  that  the  Persian 
shah  under  the  Sassanides  had  once  told  a  man  to  ask  any 
petition  he  liked,  and  so  he  asked  something  which  was 
against  the  law :  to  visit  the  prisoners  "  in  the  house  of 
oblivion."  Almamun  the  caliph  said  once  to  a  girl,  "Ask 
what  thou  wishest;"  and  she  asked  the  liberation  of  his  enemy 
{The  Tliousand  and  One  Nights,  ed.  Habicht,  xiii.  1-4). 

When,  therefore,  the  king  remembered  at  the  banquet  that 
Esther  had  touched  the  sceptre,  and  that  apparently  he  had 
not  satisfied  her  desire  by  his  coming,  he  then  really  showed 
devotion  to  her,  and  a  readiness  to  do  her  a  favour,  and  that 
in  the  presence  of  Haman. 

"  What  is  thy  petition  (in^«'^>)  ?  and  it  shall  he  granted 
thee :  and  what  is  thy  request  (intrp2"i)  ?  it  shall  he  per- 
formed." 

The  ideas  of  rh^^"^  and  7\^\>2  are  not  the  same,  h^^  signifies 
to  ask,  to  demand  an  objective  thing,  as  rogare.  What  is 
asked  is  granted  (|n3)  by  the  gift  of  an  object.  When 
Ahhashverosh  first  spoke  kindly  to  Esther,  he  did  not  imply 


CHAP.  V.  6.  183 

that  she  might  have  a  n^KC',  a  tangible  thing  to  ask.  It 
looks  as  if  the  first  term  was  concealed  in  it.  But  now  he 
adds  to  what  he  said  the  first  time :  '•]n^p2  n»,  "  What  is  thy 
wish  ?  "  The  substantive  form  niifp2  occurs  only  in  Esther 
and  in  Ezra,  while  the  verb  C^pa  is  found  in  the  whole  of  the 
0.  T.  It  has  been  overlooked  that  its  meaning  "  to  wish  "  is 
lexicographically  established.  The  German  word  wiinscJien, 
Eng.  "wish,"  is  derived  from  it.  Thus  the  Hebrew  ^p2 
(vaksJi)  corresponds  closely  to  the  Sanscr.  vdksh,  vanksh,  Norse 
dsJca,  Anglo-Sax.  vyscan,  Eng.  "  wish  "  (comp.  my  Eddischen 
Shcdien,  p.  99).  Wishing  has  more  of  a  subjective  character. 
The  king  therefore  says  to  his  wife,  as  to  a  wife,  "  What  is  it 
that  thou  wishest,  what  is  thy  heart's  desire  ?  Whatever  it 
be,  petition  or  wish,  of  a  general  or  of  a  personal  nature, 
speak  out,  it  shall  be  granted." 

The  king  considers  himself  as  possessing  the  power  which 
the  legends  and  fables  ascribe  to  those  who,  as  spirits  and 
wizards,  allow  their  beloved  to  have  wishes.  When  God 
appears  to  Solomon,  He  says,  "  Ask  (bi^^)  what  I  shall  give 
thee  "  (1  Kings  iii.  5).  When  Elijah  takes  leave  of  Elisha, 
he  says  to  him,  "  Ask  what  I  shall  do  for  thee "  (2  Kings 
ii.  9).  Ahhashverosh  fancies  himself  like  the  God  of  truth 
and  like  the  powers  of  fiction,  to  be  able  to  grant  petitions 
and  desires  of  the  heart. 

" Uven  to  the  half  of  my  kingdom  it  shall  he  performed" 
He  repeats  at  the  banqueting  table  what  he  said  in  the 
inner  chamber.  From  this  and  other  examples  it  appears 
that  Herodotus  (ix.  110)  could  not  have  meant  that  the  king 
only  grants  petitions  once  a  year  at  his  dining  table.  This 
happened  especially  when  he  gave  a  public  dinner  on  his 
coronation  day.  This  mistake  of  Herodotus  has  conduced 
to  the  false  explanation  which  he  has  when  he  says  :  ovvofia 
Se  TO)  Zelirvcp  rovro),  irepaiaTl  ixev  tvkto,,  Be  T'qv  EWrjvcov 
fyXSxraav  reXecov.  The  last  word  riXeiov,  a  complete  feast, 
is   surely  not   a   translation   of    tvktcl,   a  connection    which 


184  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

could  scarcely  be  if  tvktol  be  Greek  joined  with  revxofiai, 
Tvy^dvecv.  Therefore  the  attempts  hitherto  made  to  explain 
the  word  have  been  in  vain.  It  appears  to  me  that  tvkto, 
has  the  analogous  sense  of  yevkcria,  "  annual  feast,"  "  throne 
feast,"  "  coronation  feast,"  and  it  is  therefore  to  be  derived 
from  the  Persian  tecM,  meaning  a  throne.  This  throws  light 
upon  the  narrative  in  the  Gospel  of  Mark  (vi.  21).  Herod 
in  his  vain  conceit  entirely  imitates  the  court  fashions  of  the 
great  Persian  kings  (as  the  German  princes  in  the  seventeenth 
century  aped  the  fashions  and  extravagances  of  the  court  of 
Louis  XIV.).  He  also  had  a  feast  to  commemorate  his 
accession  to  the  throne  {roh  'yevealoL<;  avrov).  The  names  of 
his  courtiers  (though  of  Macedonian  origin)  are  in  accordance 
with  those  of  the  Persians,  fieyLarave^,  When  his  daughter 
dances,  he  says  to  her,  "  Ask  of  me  whatsoever  thou  wilt, 
and  I  will  give  it  thee."  And  again,  "  Whatsoever  thou  shalt 
ask  of  me,  I  will  give  it  thee,  unto  the  half  of  my  kingdom." 
Thus  he  imitated  the  language  of  Ahhashverosh,  which  was 
familiar  to  him. 

Yer.  7.  "  Then  answered  Esther :    My  ^petition  and  my 


She  still  keeps  back  her  petition.  She  sees  indeed  that 
she  has  found  favour  in  the  eyes  of  the  king,  and  has  good 
reason  to  believe  that  he  wants  to  do  what  she  will  ask  him ; 
and  yet  she  hesitates.  "  Ah,  indeed,"  she  says,  "  I  have  a 
petition  and  a  wish ;  but  if  thou  wilt  show  me  a  favour, 
then  come  once  more  with  Haman  to  my  entertainment,  and 
I  will  tell  it  thee  then."  What  she  does  now  is  entirely 
calculated  with  respect  to  the  nature  of  the  king.  She  makes 
him  curious  and  expectant ;  she  excites  in  him  a  still  greater 
desire  to  be  kind  and  gracious  by  timidly  telling  him  to 
observe  somewhat  of  her  difficulty  and  embarrassment  which 
necessitates  a  postponement  of  telling  her  desire  right  out ; 
she  assures  herself  of  his  love,  when  he,  the  tyrant,  who  is 
not  in  the  habit  of  exercising  patience,  agrees  to  come  once 


CHAP.  V.  7.  185 

more  to  the  banquet.     She  increases  by  this  the  proofs  of 
her  feigned   respect  for  Haman,  so  that  he  dreams  of  being 
quite    secure.      She   psychologically   prepares  everything   as 
best  she  can,  before  she  ventures  upon  the  great  stroke,  which 
in  spite  of  the  favour  of  the  king  may  become  dangerous. 
The  two  intervening  days  have  a  wonderfully  tragical  cha- 
racter.    While  Esther  trembles  all  over  with  excitement  and 
uncertainty,  while  she   stands   between  life  and  death,  with 
full  consciousness  that  the  fate  of  a  whole   nation  depends 
upon  the  success  of  her  enterprise,  she  must  at  the  same  time 
appear  in  the  character  of  a  cheerful  wife,  of  an  interesting 
hostess,  and  of  an  illustrious  queen.     JSTothing  about  her  must 
betray  that  she   sees  in  the  cup  of  wine  a  reflection  of  the 
blood  of  her  people ;  nothing  must  indicate  that  Haman  the 
dreaded  favourite  was  invited  not   to   meet  with  honour,  but 
with  judgment.     The  simple  narrative  conceals  a  conflict  of 
thoughts  of  a  highly  dramatical  character.      The  sorrowful, 
prudent  woman  must  overcome  two  men  who  hold  the  destiny 
of  thousands  in  their  hands ;    she  has   no  weapons  for  the 
warfare  except  her  charms  and  her  insight  into  human  nature. 
But   her   trembling   heart   sooii   found   help.        Through  the 
guidance  of  God,  who  is  not  named,  things  take  place  which 
pave  the  way  for  such  a  success  far  beyond  her  knowledge 
and  calculation.     Just  then,  when  she  could  not  withdraw, 
when  delay  was  no  longer  possible, — for  "  to-morrow  I  shall 
make  known  my  request," — events  happen  wdiich  powerfully 
influence  the  mind  and  disposition  of  the  king.     There  was 
only  one  night  ^  between  one  banquet  and  the  other ;  but  it 
was  long  enough  to  announce   to   Haman   and   Mordecai  an 
unexpected  catastrophe.     Esther  is  to  experience,  that  when 
one  pursues  a  great  plan,  it  is  not  necessary  for  him  to  fret, 
nor  to  think  that  the  result  is  entirely  dependent  upon  his 
own  power  and  wisdom. 

1  An  Arabic  proverb  says,  "  The  nights  are  pregnant  with  many  things, 
and  give  birth  to  them  before  the  dawn  of  the  morning  "  (Hammer,  Gesch. 
der  Ilchane,  ii.  291). 


186  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Ver.   9.    "  Then  went  Hainan  forth  on  that  day  joyful 

and  glad  of  hearth 

"  On  that  day,"  for  on  the  next  day  there  was  an  end  to 
his  joy.  To-day  his  heart  was  still  elated,  that  he  was  the  first 
man  in  the  country,  and  was  in  great  favour  with  the  king 
and  queen,  and  in  fact  he  had  reached  the  goal  of  his  ambition. 
It  is  true  that  generally  an  invited  guest  received  special 
distinctions,  as  Themistocles  received  (Plutarch,  Th.  29),  and 
as  the  Cretan  Timagoras  (according  to  Athenaeus,  quoted  by 
ancient  commentators) ;  but  they  do  not  form  a  strict  parallel 
to  the  case  before  us.  Here  Haman  laid  stress  upon  the  fact 
that  the  queen  invited  him,  that  she  invited  no  one  else  to  give 
the  king  the  pleasure  of  his  company,  that  therefore  she  must 
esteem  him  beyond  measure;  and  the  pleasure  was  enhanced 
when  he  reflected  that  the  attendance  at  such  banquets 
generally  turned  out  very  dangerous  to  the  viziers,  but  in  this 
only  honours  awaited  him.  At  any  rate,  it  appears  clearly 
from  Haman's  glee  that  he  was  quite  unaware  that  Esther 
belonged  to  the  people  against  whom  he  had  issued  such 
cruel  orders ;  otherwise  his  merriment  would  have  been 
moderate.  He  was  the  more  pleased  when  he  thought  that 
he  had  not  noticed  any  jealousy  on  the  part  of  the  queen 
concerning  his  predominating  influence  over  the  king.  All 
obstacles  appeared  to  have  been  overcome  by  him.  He  had 
no  longer  any  rival.     Henceforth  all  must  bow  before  him. 

" Mordecai  sat  in  the  king's  gate;  he  stood  not  wp,  nor 

trembled  before  him." 

]N'ow  also  he  did  not  take  any  notice  of  Haman ;  he  did  not 
bow  before  him,  nor  did  he  stand  up  to  compliment  him,  nor 
was  he  convulsed  either  by  fear  of  or  respect  for  him.  And 
Haman  was  full  of  wrath  that  the  Jew,  the  commoner,  should 
not  bow  before  the  Magus  and  favourite  of  the  king.  In 
his  vanity  he  was  ashamed  that  the  other  courtiers  had  seen 
Mordecai's  boldness.  He  was  afraid  that  they  would  think 
that  after  all  Haman  cannot  be  so  all-powerful,  if  a  man  like 


CHAP.  V.  9.  187 

Mordecai  dares  to  ignore  him.  Still  excited  with  his  self- 
glorification,  the  conduct  of  the  Jew  appeared  to  him  intolerable. 
Certainly  he  knew  that  this  could  not  last  long,  for  his 
destructive  decree  had  already  been  published  everywhere;  but 
the  time  for  its  taking  effect  had  not  yet  come,  and  should  he 
till  then  tolerate  the  contempt  of  Mordecai  ?  The  thought  occurs 
to  him  to  wait  no  lono^er,  and  to  order  at  once  that  he  should 
be  killed ;  but  p2i«?n''1,^  he  restrained  himself.  Ancient  com- 
mentators '^  have  not  understood  why  Haman  did  not  at  once 
make  short  work  with  Mordecai;  but  they  were  deficient  in 
insight  into  the  customs  and  spirit  of  the  East.  The  arbitrari- 
ness of  the  absolute  shah  is  on  the  one  hand  a  burden  to  the 
great,  and  on  the  other  it  secures  freedom  to  the  humble 
people.  The  unlimited  control  of  the  king  over  life  and  death, 
to  decide  according  to  the  whim  and  mood  he  was  in,  prevented 
his  subordinates  doing  the  same.  For  the  nearer  they  were 
to  him,  the  more  they  were  exposed  to  the  same  treatment. 

The  position  which  a  grand  vizier  like  Haman  occupied 
was  an  exalted  one,  but  not  the  less  dangerous.  He  had  to 
take  good  care  not  in  any  way  to  give  the  appearance  of 
arrogating  to  himself  the  prerogatives  and  functions  that 
belonged  to  the  shah.  He  was  surrounded  by  enemies  who 
were  jealous  of  him.  There  were  many  others  who  wanted  to 
supplant  him,  and  the  intrigues  of  the  seraglio  might  become 
at  any  moment  dangerous.  To  do  away  with  Mordecai  in  a 
quiet  manner  was  in  itself  an  easy  thing  for  him,  but  he  feared 
the  consequences.  When  we  read  above  (iii.  6),  "  But  he 
thought  scorn  to  lay  hands  on  Mordecai  alone,"  it  means  that 
he  did  not  think  it  worth  his  while  to  risk  his  position  for 
such  a  man.     It  was  permitted  to  everybody  to  sit  at  the  gate 

1  pQX  is  rightly  compared  with  plK,  to  wrestle  ;  its  meaning  is  certainly 
the  German  fassen,  "  to  take  hold."  And  p^t^nn  is  to  be  taken,  like  the 
Greek  dyx>.ct,u/2»usiif  sxvtov,  in  the  sense  of  taking  hold  of  oneself  {se 
colligere).  In  sound  it  is  like  the  German  packen,  Sanscr.  pag  pax,  capere 
(see  Dieffenh.  goth.  Gloss,  i.  343). 

2  This  applies  even  to  Clericus ;  but  these  misconceptions  always  arise 
from  an  inclination  to  follow  a  complete  unhistorical  criticism. 


188  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

of  the  kinsf.  This  law  was  recognised  even  under  the  Turkish 
sultans.  Jews  and  Gentiles  could  appear  before  the  gate 
either  to  present  a  petition  or  to  pay  homage,  just  in  the  same 
way  as  all  could  place  themselves  before  the  sun  to  be  warmed. 
The  idea  was  that  all  had  the  liberty  of  receiving  the  beams 
that  shone  from  royal  majesty.  Now,  this  being  the  case,  if 
Haman  had  privately  killed  Mordecai,  the  intriguers  of  the 
palace  would  have  eagerly  reported  to  the  king  that  Haman 
had  murdered  one  that  had  placed  himself  under  the  protecting 
wings  of  the  king,  and  who  appealed  for  protection  ;  that  he 
encroached  upon  the  rights  of  the  king  to  pardon  a  criminal, 
and  that  he  had  done  this  from  personal  spite  and  vanity, 
without  asking  for  authority,  and  before  the  very  holy  gates  of 
the  king.  The  mistrust  of  the  king  would  thus  have  been 
aroused,  the  enemies  would  have  gained  time  to  complicate 
matters  further,  and  the  consequences  would  have  been  incal- 
culable for  him.  Haman  thought  of  all  this,  therefore  he 
restrained  himself  from  adopting  harsh  measures  at  present, 
until  he  had  first  consulted  with  his  party. 

Ver.  10.  "And  he  sent  and  fetched  his  friends,  and  Zeresh 

his  wife" 

Every  one  of  the  great  men  who  had  obtained  power  had 
his  party.  In  this  the  absolute  government  did  not  differ 
from  the  modern  constitutional  forms  of  government.  It  is 
therefore  such  a  party  meeting  which  Haman  at  this  moment 
calls  together.  The  occasion  for  it  is  not  his  encounter  with 
Mordecai,  but  the  new  good  fortune  which  he  believes  has 
befallen  him.  The  narrative  has  for  this  reason  an  extra- 
ordinary dramatical  character,  since  it  presents  Haman  as 
seeing  in  the  invitation  of  Esther  the  crowning  of  his  ambition, 
while  she  was  actually  preparing  measures  for  his  fall.  Having 
become  the  attached  friend  of  the  king  and  queen,  how 
powerful  is  his  position  !  So  he  gives  a  kind  of  account  of 
this  to  his  friends  and  to  his  wife,  for  they  share  in  his  honours 
and  power.     It  is  wonderful  enough  that  to-day  he  describes 


CHAP.  V.  13,  14.  189 

to  them  all  his  glory,  while,  unknown  to  him,  the  to-morrow 
will  strip  it  from  him  entirely.  He  shows  them  how  rich  he 
is — how  numerous  are  his  sons — also  the  number  of  his 
faithful  adherents  upon  whom  he  can  rely.  He  further  com- 
municates to  them  that  he  enjoys  the  highest  confidence  of  the 
king,  who  has  bountifully  lavished  his  honours  upon  him ;  and 
that  of  which  he  is  still  more  proud  is,  that  the  queen  was 
quite  partial  to  him,  and  had  so  distinguished  him  as  to  invite 
him  only,  together  with  the  king,  to  her  banquet.  In  fact  he 
pours  out  his  whole  joyful  heart  before  them, — for  really  more 
pleasures  he  cannot  expect.^ 

Ver.  13.  "  Yet  all  this  availeth  me  nothing,  so  long  as  I 
see  Mordecai  the  Jew  sitting  at  the  king's  gate" 
He  tells  of  this  vexation  also.  He  is,  forsooth,  ashamed  to 
tell  of  the  real  ground  of  his  vexation.  He  simply  but 
emphatically  gives  them  to  understand  that  his  joys  are 
embittered  by  being  obliged  to  see  Mordecai  at  the  royal  gate. 
The  more  we  consider  Haman  as  the  representative  of  a 
religious  party,  the  more  force  we  see  in  this  complaint 
brouojht  before  them,  as  it  is  intended  to  awaken  their  general 
interest  in  the  matter  of  the  Jew  being  still  tolerated  at  the 
gate  of  the  king.  But  what  is  to  be  done  ?  Let  them  give 
advice,  for  his  honours  and  his  attempts  are  as  much  theirs  as 
his.  But  their  interests  will  certainly  not  be  furthered  if  the 
Jew  should  still  be  suffered  to  sit  at  the  gates  of  the  king. 

Yer.  14.  "  Then  said  Zeresh,  his  wife,  and  all  his  friends 

unto  Mm!' 

It  is  evidently  correct  to  take  this  name  as  related  to  Zairi, 
gold.  Other  Persian  names  seem  to  have  the  same  compounds 
(Zariadris,  Zariaspa) ;  it  is  the  same  name  which  Jewesses  of  a 
later  age  frequently  have,  like  Zahab  (gold)  Chryse,  and  in 
Germany,  etc.,  Golde  (see   Zunz,  Namen  der  Juden,  p.   71). 

^  Comp.  "  Die  GescL.  eines  Yeziers,"  in  Mirchond's  Histor.  Samanid.  ed. 
Wilken,  p.  85. 


190  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Naturally  they  are  not  merely  Jewish  names,  as  the  name 
Chryse  is  mentioned  by  Homer.  The  German  name  Goltrat 
(in  ninth  century)  has  some  connection  with  this  (in  opposi- 
tion to  Forstemann,  Namenbuch,  i.  543). 

Thus  also  in  the  house  of  Haman  Zeresh  represents  the 
decisive  and  regardless  person.  She  speaks  first,  and  proposes 
the  worst  means.  Her  fanaticism  excites  the  whole  party. 
Her  diabolical  subtlety  soon  finds  its  condemnation  through 
the  fidelity  of  a  noble  and  obedient  wife.  "What  she  advises 
Haman  to  do  is  to  use  the  moment,  and  to  act  decisively 
while  he  has  the  opportunity.  N'ow  he  stands  on  the 
pinnacle  of  favour  with  the  king.  A  day  must  not  be  lost ; 
to-day  he  must  proceed  to  act,  and  is  sure  of  success.  He 
must  by  no  means  delay,  for  who  knows  what  changes  may 
come  in  the  interval  ?  "  Let  a  gallows  be  made  "  —  then 
go  to-morrow  to  the  king.  Has  not  the  king  presented 
thee  with  the  whole  of  this  people,  because  they  are  contrary 
to  the  law  of  the  empire  ?  Why  then  dost  thou  not  quickly 
execute  this  obnoxious  man  ?  Go  and  do  away  with  him,  and 
then  when  thou  goest  again  to  the  banquet  of  the  queen, 
nothing  will  vex  thy  soul !  This  advice  was  certainly  clever 
and  bad  enough,  and  would  have  been  carried  out,  if  a  mightier 
arm  from  heaven  had  not  frustrated  it.  A  gallows  fifty 
cubits  high  should  be  erected.  With  regard  to  the  mode  of 
execution  we  shall  speak  later  on.  She  wants  to  intimate 
that  this  individual  is  guilty  of  high  treason.  So  high  should 
the  gallows  be,  that  it  may  be  seen  far  and  wide  what 
happened  to  the  man  who  offended  Haman.  The  height  of 
the  gallows  for  the  enemy  should  proportionally  contrast  with 
the  high  position  of  the  person  against  whom  he  had  sinned. 
A  Persian  cubit  was  three  digits  longer  than  the  common 
Greek  (Olympic)  cubit,  as  Herodotus  says  (i.  178),  where, 
without  doubt,  he  means  Persian  or  Greek  BaKTvXoc.  Bockh 
decides  for  Persian.  Accordingly,  the  Persian  cubit  had  24 
digits,  and  was  in  proportion  to  the  Greek  as  8:7,  and  con- 
tained 234,274,280  Persian  lines  {Meferol.  UntersucJi.i^.  210). 


CHAP.  V.  14.  191 

But  this  prudence  came  to  nought.  However  short  the 
time  was  in  wliich  her  plan  was  to  be  carried  out,  it  was  yet 
too  long ;  judgment  came  sooner.  The  apparent  exaltation 
of  Haman  was  really  his  fall.  It  is  dreadful  to  think  that 
he  intended  going  to  Esther's  banquet'  with  a  complacent 
countenance  after  he  had  murdered  her  dear  friend.  But 
what  is  even  more  striking,  that  the  cruel  deed  fell  upon 
himself.  What  he  has  so  long  postponed,  viz.  the  punishing 
of  Mordecai,  in  order  not  to  give  a  handle  to  his  enemies, 
becomes  now,  when  he  thinks  he  may  safely  execute  it,  the 
stepping-stone  to  his  fall.  The  height  of  fifty  cubits  becomes 
at  last  the  picture  of  the  depth  of  his  fall.  His  adherents 
and  Zeresh  have  rejoiced  with  him  in  his  triumphs ;  and  so 
they  fall  with  him  in  the  abyss  of  destruction. 


CHAPTEE    VI. 

Ver.  1.  "  On  that  night  the  king's  sleep  fled  from  him." 
No  one  has  command  over  sleep.  When,  therefore,  in 
ancient  times  sleep  was  represented  by  the  figure  of  a  lion, 
it  was  because  the  lion  subdues  all,  and  does  not  suffer  him- 
self to  be  subdued.  The  great  king  wanted  sleep,  but  sleep 
would  not  be  caught ;  like  a  flying  butterfly,  it  continued 
coming  and  going.  Why  could  he  not  sleep  ?  It  need  not 
have  been  on  account  of  fear  or  sordid  cupidity  (sordidus 
cupido,  Horatius,  Od.  lib.  IT.  ad  Grosphum).  Was  it  because 
he  had  taken  too  much  wine — of  which  it  is  said  that  it 
drives  away  sleep  ?  This  also  need  not  necessarily  have 
been  the  case.  It  often  happens  to  kings,  and  especially  to 
Oriental  despots,  that  the  care  and  responsibility  of  govern- 
ment, their  remorseful  consciences  and  gloomy  forebodings, 
deprive  them  of  sleep.  Suetonius  (cap.  50)  tells  of  Caligula, 
that  he  so  suffered  from  sleeplessness,  that,  tired  of  lying  in 
bed  awake,  he  used  to  get  up  and  stand  or  roam  about 
the  rooms  of  the  palace.  Procopius  reproaches  the  Emperor 
Justinian  with  being  cursed  with  sleeplessness,  so  that  he  is 
obliged  to  roam  about  the  whole  night  (Hist.  Arcana,  ed. 
Bonn,  pp.  81,  82).  Similar  restlessness  of  conscience  and 
sleeplessness  is  reported  of  the  energetic  but  cruel  Caliph 
Al-Mansur  (comp.  Hammer,  Gemdldesaal,  ii.  pp.  70,  89). 

Of  the  Turkish  sultan,  Selim  I.,  it  is  told  that  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  passing  most  nights  in  reading  books,  without 
sleeping  at  all;  sometimes  he  would  have  others  read  to  him, 
or  talk  to  him  about  the  affairs  of  the  State  (Diez,  DenJc- 
vMrdigheiten  von  Asien,  i.  266).      In  the  history  of  Ahhash- 


CHAP.  VI.  1.  193 

verosh,  that  sleepless  nigbt  was  illumined  by  the  torch  of  a 
people's  emancipation  from  worse  than  slavery.  It  caused  his 
mind  to  meditate  upon  the  past.  The  night  often  becomes 
a  means  of  awakening  serious  reflections.  Quietness  and 
leisure  cause  the  mind  to  collect  its  powers,  they  rouse  the 
conscience,  they  bring  to  remembrance  what  is  lost,  they  set 
free  from  the  excitement  of  the  daily  routine;  and  happy 
is  he  to  whom  they  are  as  a  ladder  to  God,  to  whom  belongeth 
the  mysteries  of  salvation  and  redemption. 

"  And  he  commanded  to  bring  him  the  hook  of  records." 
It  is  also  known  from  other  sources  that  the  Persian  kings 
had  every  service  that  was  rendered  to  them  entered  in 
historical  books.^  Of  Phylakus  we  read  in  Herod,  viii.  85, 
that  he  was  recorded  as  a  benefactor  of  the  king,  and  such 
were  called  "  opoGa^^aC  This  word  has  surely  not  been 
correctly  explained  by  Eosen  and  Botticher  (Arica,  p.  20) ; 
it  has  rather  a  connection  with  the  Persian  Ersans,  Orosans, 
K'^Tsnt?,  dignus,  "  worthy,"  and  means  even  now  in  modern 
Persian  beneficiwn,  "benefit"  (VuUers,  Fers.  Lex.  i.  79).  Like- 
wise Herodotus  reports  (viii.  90):  "As  often  as  Xerxes  saw 
that  one  of  his  men  distinguished  himself  by  some  act  in  the 
naval  battle,  he  made  inquiries  about  him,  and  the  secretaries 
registered  his  name,  and  his  captain's,  and  his  family  name, 
together  with  the  name  of  the  town  from  which  he  came." 
To  the  same  effect  Xerxes  wrote  to  Pausanias  (Thucydides,  i. 
129) :  "The  service  will  remain  in  my  house  for  a  continual 
remembrance "  (which  examples  were  already  noticed  by 
Grotius,  though  not  correctly  explained).  It  is  not  to  be 
assumed  that  the  books  in  which  the  names  of  benefactors 
were  inscribed  are  different  from  the  general  chronicle  of  the 
kingdom,  for  the  events  of  the  court  were  also  the  events  of 
the  kingdom.     There  was  a  royal  and  grand  reason  for  so 

1  A  similar  book  was  kept  by  the  Byzantian  court.  See  Codin  in  Lib. 
de  Ofic.  Tov  i7r\  tav  dvctfAviiaioiu.  Even  Scriver  mentions  it  in  Zufdllvje 
Andachten^  iv.  n.  30,  p.  25. 

N 


194  BOOK  OF  ESTHEE. 

greatly  valuing  every  service  rendered  to  the  king  as  to  put  it 
on  record,  so  that  it  might  be  brought  from  time  to  time  before 
his  remembrance.  On  the  one  hand,  what  concerned  the  king 
was  considered  worth  remembering;  and,  on  the  other,  such  a 
record  was  an  incitement  to  his  subjects  to  attachment  and 
submission.  What  is  gained  now  by  receiving  decorations 
and  titles  was  gained  at  that  time  by  having  one's  name 
inscribed  in  the  chronicle,  and  by  the  title  Orosang.  But  in 
every  case  the  preservation  of  historical  facts,  however  little 
in  themselves,  proved  their  beneficial  power.  Eecalling  to 
mind  past  events  is  always  instructive  and  useful.  The 
cherishing  of  remembrance  may  become  the  means  of  leading 
the  individual  to  a  higher  life.  In  our  narrative  the  finding 
of  the  forgotten  fact  in  the  book  of  records,  becomes  an 
important  factor  in  the  deliverance  of  Israel.  Ahhashverosh 
is  warned  against  bad  deeds,  and  inclined  towards  good  ones ; 
Haman  already  finds  the  commencement  of  his  condemnation. 
How  much,  indeed,  the  occurrences  of  this  night  humble  all 
human  foresight !  In  that  night  all  those  machinations  of 
revenge,  spun  in  the  dark,  are  scattered ;  and  while  Esther  still 
trembles,  because  she  thinks  that  she  alone  must  be  the  instru- 
ment in  Israel's  deliverance  and  Haman's  fall,  the  foundation 
thereof  is  already  laid  by  a  higher  hand.  The  greatest  achieve- 
ments of  men  are  only  portions  of  coinciding  interpositions, 
which  the  spirit  of  truth  orders  and  directs  in  history. 

Ver.  3.  "  And  the  king  said,  What  honour  and  dignity 

hath  leen  done  to  Mordccai  for  this  1 " 

The  thing  was  indeed  of  the  utmost  importance.  The  life 
of  the  king  had  been  at  stake.  What  greater  thing  can  be 
for  the  king  than  the  remembrance  of  this  event !  Should 
not  he  who  had  saved  his  life  be  royally  rewarded  !  It  was 
against  the  dignity  and  the  pride  of  the  great  tyrant  not  to 
acknowledge  this  on  a  grand  and  magnificent  scale. 

But  though  the  rewards  were  generally  entered  in  tlie 
book  of  records  of  the  court,  it  was  omitted  in  Mordecai's 


CHAP.  VI.  3.  195 

case.  This  circumstance  surprised  the  king  the  more.  It 
was  not  only  that  he  felt  grateful  to  his  benefactor,  but  also 
that  it  was  an  offence  to  his  majesty  that  the  record  of  the 
empire  should  have  nothing  to  show  of  a  reward  to  the  man 
who  had  saved  his  life  from  the  conspiracy.  "  What  honour 
and  dignity  "  (nhn:ii  "ip"*),  he  asks,  has  been  done  to  Mordecai 
for  this,  for  such  he  deserves  who  has  rendered  so  great 
service  to  the  king  ?  The  courtiers  reply,  Nothing  has  been 
done  to  him ;  and  they  lay  the  blame  upon  others.  This  reply 
of  "Nothing"  excites  in  the  king  mistrust  and  ill-humour. 
A  man  who  detected  and  denounced  the  conspiracy  of  his 
eunuchs  has  received  nothing  I  May  it  have  been  that  those 
whose  business  it  was  to  propose  sucli  a  reward  were  dissatis- 
fied with  the  king's  escape  ? 

Did  his  courtiers  manifest  no  zeal  and  joy  in  the  good 
deed,  even  so  much  as  to  mention  the  benefactor's  name  with 
approval  and  praise  ?  Mordecai  did  not  ask  anything — 
and  who,  with  all  these  meritorious  services  which  he  had 
rendered  to  the  royal  house,  would  have  remained  content 
without  receiving  a  reward  either  openly  or  clandestinely  ? 
He  had  no  friends  whom  he  could  expect  to  recommend  his 
case  and  to  promote  his  interests.  Courtiers  protect  others 
only  when  it  is  to  their  own  advantage.  Mordecai  was  a  free  and 
independent  man.  He  did  not  send  in  any  petitions,  and  did 
not  court  any  one's  favour.  How  should  he  receive  anything  ! 
Merits  alone  are  not  enough  for  obtaining  a  reward.  These 
examples  reveal  to  us  the  hollow  condition  of  the  whole  royal 
power.  The  king  does  not  even  know  whether  deserving 
servants  receive  any  recognition,  where  those  who  surround 
him  keep  them  in  the  dark.  He  cannot  even  show  grati- 
tude, which  is  his  chief  duty.  What  a  caricature  is  such  a 
shah  who  demeans  himself  like  a  god !  Have  no  confidence 
in  great  men,  nor  in  princes,  says  the  Psalmist.  But  this  is 
our  comfort,  that  the  heavenly  King  knows  all  things  and 
knows  our  heart, — that  there  is  no  nepotism  in  His  kingdom, 
— and  that  His  willingness  to  give  to  and  atone,  does  not 


196  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

depend  upon  a  priest.  The  table  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
where  He  thinks  of  those  for  whom  He  died,  belongs  to 
Him  and  to  no  one  else. 

Ver.  4.  *'  JFho  is  in  the  court  ?  " 
The  indignant  king  wants  to  carry  out  at  once  what  he  has 
omitted  before.  It  is  not  so  much  out  of  regard  to  the  person 
of  Mordecai  that  he  is  so  urgent,  but  rather  on  account  of  his 
own  pride.  He  is  vexed  to  think  that  there  should  be  a  man 
in  existence  who  had  saved  his  life,  and  who  could  say  that 
he  had  done  it  gratis.  Officers  were  at  all  times  waiting  in  the 
court  to  receive  orders.  The  king  does  not  w^ant  to  lose  time 
in  causing  any  particular  person  to  come,  in  order  to  bestow 
the  delayed  reward.  The  first  man  who  is  in  the  outer  hall 
court  should  do  it.  The  king  does  not  even  think  of  Haman. 
Now,  although  it  was  something  unusual  for  a  man  in  the 
high  position  of  Haman  to  make  his  court  visits  at  the  dawn 
of  the  morning,  yet  this  time  he  was  there  at  that  very 
moment.  Never  was  tliere  exhibited  a  more  frivolous  and 
thoughtless  judgment  than  that  shown  by  many  critics  in 
their  light  estimation  of  the  value  of  the  Book  of  Esther. 
For  surely  tliere  can  be  no  more  beautiful  description  of  the 
impending  dramatic  catastrophe  than  that  with  which  the 
whole  of  this  book  is  full.  At  the  moment  when  the  mind  of 
the  king  has  but  one  thought,  to  compensate  Mordecai  with 
the  long-merited  honour  and  dignity,  and  so  much  the  more 
because  it  ought  to  have  been  done  long  ago, — at  the  very 
moment  when  he  looks  for  a  person  to  carry  it  out  properly, 
just  then,  Haman  makes  his  appearance  on  the  scene.  What 
does  he  want  ?  To  ask  for  an  authorization  from  the  king  to 
hang  this  same  Mordecai  on  the  gallows  which  he  has  already 
erected.  Haman  was  in  a  hurry.  Early  in  the  morning  the 
execution  should  take  place ;  on  that  day  he  should  see 
Mordecai  no  more  in  his  accustomed  seat ;  for  he  could  no 
longer  bear  to  behold  the  obstinate  Jew.  Before  he 
goes  to  the  banquet  of  Esther  with  a  triumphant  heart  (to 


CHAP.  VI.  6.  197 

the  banquet  of  Esther,  the  adopted  daughter  of  Mordecai, 
though  he  knows  it  not),  Mordecai  shall  be  no  more. 
The  removal  of  this  faithful  man  would,  in  his  opinion, 
enhance  the  honour  of  enjoying  the  good  things  at  Esther's 
table. 

But  time  is  not  given  him  to  make  his  proposal.  Before  he 
liad  yet  left  his  house  his  doom  was  already  fully  developed. 
Scarcely  has  he  arrived  when  he  is  summoned  to  appear  before 
the  indignant  king.  Mordecai,  who  knows  nothing  of  what  is 
going  on,  is  the  object  of  a  wonderful  conflict  of  ideas  and 
intentions  in  the  royal  sleeping  apartment.  One  wants  to 
honour  him,  and  another  wants  not  only  to  degrade  him,  but 
also  to  hang  him  on  the  gallows.  Spectators,  too,  are  there 
who  observe  these  strange  coincidences.  They  are  the  servants 
of  the  king  (l^DH  ^"ly:),  who  know  of  the  gallows  which  Haman 
had  erected  for  Mordecai,  and  now  hear  of  the  purpose  of 
the  king  to  reward  him.  They  act  like  genuine  courtiers, 
and  do  not  reveal  to  the  king  the  intention  of  Haman  out  of 
fear  of  this  man  ;  nor,  from  jealousy,  do  they  communicate  to 
Haman,  even  if  they  have  time  to  do  so,  the  thoughts  of  the 
king.  Haman  in  his  vanity,  and  still  dizzy  with  excitement  on 
account  of  the  special  favours  which  he  experienced  yesterday, 
sees  in  the  circumstance  that  he  is  called  in  so  quickly,  a 
happy  omen  for  himself.  Never  has  any  one  fallen  so  blindly 
and  so  self-deceived  into  the  snare  of  destruction  as  he  did. 
What  is  written  in  Ps.  xciv.  21,  "  They  gather  themselves 
together  against  the  soul  of  the  righteous,  and  condemn  inno- 
cent blood.  But  the  Lord  hath  been  my  tower,"  was  now 
fulfilled.  Of  course  it  afterwards  received  a  greater  fulfilment. 
"  When  they  shall  go  to  and  fro  "  (German  trans.),  says  Hos. 
vii.  12,  "  I  will  spread  my  net  upon  them."  This  was  so  in  the 
case  of  Haman. 

Ver.  6.  "And  the  king  said,  Let  him  come  in." 
Even  the  highest  minister  is  not  so  eminent  as  not  to  accept 
the  orders  of  the  king ;  for  in  point  of  fact  all  his  officers  are 


198  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

his  slaves.  Certainly,  the  king  cannot  make  Ha  man  respon- 
sible for  Mordecai  not  being  long  ago  rewarded  for  his  deed, 
since  at  that  time  (iii.  1)  Haman  had  not  yet  been  exalted  to 
power.  But  the  suspicion  and  the  ill-will  of  the  king  towards 
him  are  seen  in  the  fact  that  he  does  not  tell  him  what  had 
passed  during  the  night,  that  he  does  not  ask  him  anything 
about  Mordecai,  that  he  does  not  even  mention  his  name,  or 
give  any  reason  why  he  wants  to  reward  him.  The  general 
abstract  question :  "  What  shall  be  done  unto  the  man  whom 
the  king  delighteth  to  honour  ? "  shows  that  he  has  no  con- 
fidence in  Haman.  He  cannot  trust  him  to  say  the  right 
word,  if  the  person  upon  whom  the  honour  was  to  be  conferred 
does  not  please  him.  And  the  king  had  a  right  to  suppose 
that  that  person  could  not  be  beloved  by  Haman,  or  else  he 
would  have  long  ago  asked  for  some  acknowledgment  of  his 
services.  A  man  with  such  merits,  who  had  received  nothing, 
is  surely  not  a  friend  of  the  momentary  favourite.  There  was 
a  tone  of  ill-humour  towards  Haman  in  the  general  question 
which  he  put  to  him,  inasmuch  as  he  was  of  the  highest  rank 
among  the  court  officials  ;  but  Haman  does  not  see  it.  In  his 
infatuation  even  the  vagueness  of  the  question  appeared  to  him 
to  have  but  one  definite  meaning,  namely,  that  it  contained  a 
very  flattering  recognition  of  himself.  He  was  so  sure  that  he 
saw  everywhere  success  to  his  efforts.  When  the  king  called 
out,  "  Let  him  come  in,"  it  was  no  honour  to  Haman  that  he, 
the  first  and  best  man,  should  act  merely  as  an  instrument  of 
conferring  high  honours  upon  a  man  who  was  his  subordinate. 
But  he  believed  that  he  had  found  in  the  early  audience  to 
which  he  was  ordered  a  new  sun  of  royal  favours  which  was 
to  shine  down  upon  him.  When  he  was  so  early  in  the  day 
and  so  specifically  asked  as  to  the  manner  in  which  a  favourite 
should  be  honoured,  he  thought  it  could  not  possibly  refer  to 
any  other  person  than  himself.  This,  he  explained  to  him- 
self, must  be  the  reason  why  he,  and  no  other,  was  called  in, 
and  why  the  king  did  not  mention  any  name,  lest  he  should 
perchance  in  his  modesty  fail  to  do  justice  to  his  merits.   How 


CHAP.  VI.  7.  199 

vain,  indeed,  is  the  wisdom  of  these  children  of  the  world  ! 
They  fall  into  their  own  traps.  In  his  self-love  he  ascribes  to 
the  king  such  a  tender  conscience  as  purposely  to  make  the 
question  a  general  one  in  order  not  to  hurt  his  delicate  feelings, 
and  so  he  thinks  of  using  his  opportunity  of  asking  a  good 
deal.  He  thinks,  too,  that  he  would  at  the  same  time  flatter 
the  king  by  placing  the  honours  to  be  conferred  in  the  highest 
possible  scale  ;  and  with  all  this  he  hypocritically  pretends  to  be 
impartial,  as  he  does  not  yet  know  whom  Ahhashverosh  means. 

Ver.  7.   "  And  Haman  said  unto  the  hing!' 
The  foolishness    of  haughty  and  yet  servile  men  repeats 
itself.    When  Xerxes  allowed  Demaratus,  the  Spartan,  frankly 
to  ask  what  he  wanted,  he  asked  to  have  the  crown  of  the 
king  placed  on  his  head,  and  to  be  led  through  the  city  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  king  was.     According  to  Plutarch 
{Themist.  xxix.),  Mithropaustes,  the  king's  uncle,  said  to   the 
vain  Greek :  "  The  king's  crown  could  not  cover  a  brainless 
head  ;  and  should  he  even  hold  the  thunder  in  his  hands,  he 
would  still  not  be  Zeus."     Seneca,  who  tells  the  same  story 
{De  heneficiis,  vi.  31),  properly  says,  that  he  was  deserving  of 
a  reward  so  long  as  he  did  not  ask  for  it.    The  parallels  which 
Clericus  adduces  are  not  properly  to  the  point.      Haman  pro- 
poses, for  the  person  to  be  honoured,  the  same  distinction  as 
Demaratus  asked,  only  in  a  higher  degree.      The  individual 
concerned  should  be  arrayed  entirely  as  the  alter  ego  of  the 
king;  he  should  put  on  the  royal   apparel,  he   should  ride 
upon  the  king's  own  riding  horse,  and  he  should  wear  the 
king's  crown.    Haman,  who  thinks  that  all  this  will  fall  to  his 
lot,  wants  thereby  to  appear  throughout  the  whole  of  Shushan 
as   the  "  other  I "  of   the   king,  in  order  to    subdue   all    his 
opponents.      As  if  he  were  the  king  himself,  one  of  the  fore- 
most princes  should  lead  the  horse  by  the  bridle  during  the 
procession  through  the  city,  and  should  proclaim  before  him  : 
"  Thus  shall  it  be  done  to  the  man  whom  the  king  delighteth 
to  honour."     All  this  has  its  deep  foundation  in  Oriental  life. 


200  BOOK  OF  ESTHEK. 

The  Hebrew  word  iriD,  "  crown,"  is  none  other  than  the  tradi- 
tional Greek  Kirapc^  or  KiBapL<;,  the  tall  Persian  imperial  hat 
which  we  sufficiently  know  from  coins  (see  Spanheim,  De 
praest  et  usu  numisin.  i.  p.  470).  Such  town-criers  as  Haman 
here  asks,  we  often  meet  in  Oriental  histories  (Gen.  xli.  43), 
— also  when  one  was  led  to  be  disgraced.  Just  as  here  the 
crier  is  to  proclaim  the  reason  for  the  honour,  so  also  he  was 
called  to  proclaim  the  reason  for  dishonour.  In  a  story  of  The 
Thousand  and  One  NigJtts  (ed.  Konig,  xi.  19),  the  Imam  of  the 
place  is  led  through  the  city,  seated  upon  a  camel  backwards, 
and  a  crier  goes  before  him  and  proclaims :  "  Thus  are  those 
punished  who  mix  themselves  up  in  affairs  without  being 
called  to  do  so."  Also  the  leading  by  the  bridle  on  such 
occasions  is  a  well-known  custom  (see  Hammer,  Boaendl,  ii.  33). 

It  is  a  shrewd  remark  of  the  old  Jewish  commentators, 
that  although  Haman  had  also  asked  for  the  person  to  be 
distinguished,  the  ornament  of  the  royal  Kidaris  (Keter), 
yet  afterwards  we  read  only  of  the  apparel  and  the  horse. 
They  concluded  from  this,  that  Ahhashverosh  did  not  permit 
the  crown  to  be  given.  It  is  true  that  ver.  10  does  not 
mention  the  crown,  yet  this  does  not  conclusively  prove  that 
it  was  not  used.  On  the  other  hand,  the  words  "apparel 
and  horse  "  imply  that  the  officer  to  be  appointed  as  attendant 
had  special  functions  to  discharge  besides  robing,  putting  on 
liis  spurs,  and  holding  the  bridle. 

How  exquisite  was  Haman  in  the  wishes  of  his  vanity ! 
How  smart  he  thought  he  would  look  when  he  would  plume 
himself  in  royal  magnificence  before  all  his  friends !  How  he 
would  tower  in  grandeur  even  over  all  the  highest  of  the 
kingdom,  the  Parthemim  !  (comp.  chap.  i.  3).  But  pride  comes 
before  a  fall,  and  the  higher  he  thinks  himself  to  be,  the 
deeper  he  falls  into  disgrace.  The  prophets  could  not  teach 
a  more  striking  lesson  than  is  taught  in  the  history  here. 

Ver.  10.  "  Then  the  king  said  to  Haman,  Make  hasted 
These  are  friendly  words,  but  they  fall  like  thunderbolts 


CHAP.  VI.  10.  201 

upon  liis  ears.  Apparently  they  are  unimportant  orders,  but 
they  shatter  his  pride  as  a  stormy  wind  breaks  a  reed. 
The  king  had  evidently  anticipated  that  Haman  would  think 
that  he  was  to  be  so  highly  distinguished.  Therefore  he 
thought  if  he  made  him  the  groom  to  Mordecai,  it  would 
be  in  itself  a  lesson  to  him.  Then  he  noticed  that  his 
servant  wanted  to  play  the  king,  and  this  stirred  up  jealousy 
in  his  breast,  as  is  the  case  with  all.  tyrants.  And  yet 
with  all  this  he  thought :  Haman  considers  such  a  con- 
descension upon  my  part  a  mere  act  of  grace.  He  wants 
to  be  reckoned  among  the  great  Parthemim  of  the  kingdom  ; 
his  wishes  shall  be  granted.  To  them  would  fall  the  honour 
of  holding  the  horse's  bridle  of  the  person  to  be  distinguished, 
and  he  shall  have  that  honour.  But  Haman  hears  of  the 
new  dignity  with  a  shudder.  For  this  honour  is  his  shame. 
When  he  thought  that  these  great  dignities  concerned  him- 
self, it  pleased  his  pride  to  be  attended  by  a  compeer  ;  but 
now  he  is  singled  out  to  attend  upon  the  man  whom  he 
abhorred  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart,  words  cannot 
describe  the  galling  annoyance  which  this  command  caused 
him.  What,  he  ?  Impossible !  But  who  else  ?  That 
Mordecai,  whom  he  just  now  was  about  to  hang  on  the 
gallows  !  That  decided  enemy  of  his  ;  that  Jew  of  whom  he 
was  going  to  make  an  example,  and  let  him  feel  his  power 
before  he  breathed  his  last  breath,  upon  him  he  should 
attend  all  over  the  city !  How  could  he  look  after  that  in 
Mordecai's  face,  if  he  should  happen  to  meet  him ;  and  what 
will  the  people  of  the  city  say  when  they  see  Haman 
invested  with  the  office  of  stable  -  boy  to  such  a  man  as 
that !  It  is  necessary  to  realize  the  vanity,  intoxication,  and 
false  security  which  possessed  Haman's  soul  in  order  to 
see  how  low  he  sunk  when  he  heard  these  words  of  the 
king.  While  he  dreams  of  the  glory  of  becoming  an  '^  alter 
ego''  of  the  king,  he  all  of  a  sudden  is  made  to  feel  the 
entire  pressure  of  his  humiliation.  If  the  whole  psychological 
process   which   was   going   on   in   the    vain    man's    mind    is 


202  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

considered,  one  would  find  that  the  judgment  of  Haman 
has  no  parallel  in  the  whole  history  of  the  world,  nor  has 
there  been  a  humiliation  of  a  statesman  or  any  other  great 
man  like  his.  Many  conceited  Ministers  of  State  have 
been  sternly  rebuked  and  dismissed.  The  Persian  history 
offers  an  example  in  the  case  of  a  vassal  of  Mahmud  of 
Gaznas,  who  made  another  run  like  a  slave  by  his  horse, 
and  soon  afterwards  had  liimself  to  run  in  like  manner 
by  the  horse  of  him  whom  he  had  humiliated,  and  to 
live  in  the  prison  which  he  had  built  for  him  (Malcolm, 
Gesch.  V.  Per 8.  i.  204).  But  the  ground  of  his  fall  was  an 
external  one.  Haman  fell  from  the  enormous  height  of  his 
vanity.  He  fell  at  the  feet  of  him  whose  deadly  enemy 
he  was, — and  before  a  man  who  was  innocent, — whom,  in 
spite  of  his  piety  and  fidelity,  he  so  cruelly  persecuted. 
He  was  at  the  same  time  wounded  in  his  pride  and  in  his 
conscience.  One  must  indeed  be  like  Haman,  a  willing 
Persian  courtier,  now  as  abjectly  slavish  as  before  he  was 
wicked,  in  order  to  endure  the  humiliation  that  he  had  to 
undergo. 

Whilst  he  apparently  showed  unconcern  in  the  matter, 
and  acted  as  if  he  felt  nothing  amiss,  and  left  the 
king  as  an  obedient  and  zealous  servant  to  discharge  his 
duty  with  regard  to  Mordecai,  his  cowardice  was  greater 
than  his  vexation.  One  can  sufficiently  realize  the  scene 
which  took  place  when  he  met  Mordecai  at  the  gate  of  the 
king.  Mordecai  must  have  for  a  moment  imagined  himself 
to  be  like  that  Hassan  in  the  fable  whom  Harun  Ar-rashid 
in  his  sleep  arrayed  in  the  gaudy  dress  of  a  caliph,  and 
brought  into  the  magnificent  apartments  of  the  palace. 
"  His  mouth  must  have  been  filled  with  laughter,  as  one 
that  dreameth "  (Ps.  cxxvi.  1).  But  the  uppermost  feeling 
of  his  heart  must  have  been  that  of  praise  rather  than 
of  victory.  He  then  learned  a  fresh  meaning  in  the  words 
of  the  Psalmist,  "The  Lord  alone  doeth  great  wonders;" 
"  The    Lord    releaseth    the    prisoners."     For    in   what    other 


CHAP.  \1.  10.  203 

mood  could  a  believer  in  the  living  God  of  love  and  truth 
express  his  astonishment  at  seeiug  the  author  of  all  enmity 
against  his  people  coming  in  the  name  of  the  king  to  be 
his  servant,  whilst  he  and  his  people  are  still  mourning  and 
fasting  ?  His  heart  must,  of  course,  have  palpitated  when 
he  heard  that  Haman,  his  implacable  enemy,  is  to  lead 
him  riding  through  the  royal  town.  The  proud  vizier  is 
to  be  his  herald  and  slave ;  but  he  realized  at  the  same 
time  the  full  assurance  of  hope,  that  if  this  can  happen, 
God  will  surely  not  forsake  His  people,  but  will  redeem 
them  in  a  marvellous  way. 

When  Haman  afterwards  lost  his  life  on  the  gallows,  his 
death-agonies  were  nothing  in  comparison  to  the  humiliation 
he  had  undergone  when  he  humbly  begged  Mordecai  to 
permit  him  to  wait  upon  him.  The  agony  was  great  enough 
when  he  was  obliged  to  decorate  another,  and  in  this  case 
a  Jew.  But  it  was  quite  unendurable  when  he  remem- 
bered that  everybody  knew  how  he  hated  Mordecai ;  that 
the  latter  had  not  paid  the  slightest  respect  to  him  ;  and, 
above  all,  that  Mordecai  was  aware  of  his  wicked  plan,  and 
would  rejoice  at  its  overthrow.  Haman  judged  every  man 
by  his  own  standard.  He  could  not  appreciate  a  servant 
of  God,  as  Shimei  could  not  appreciate  David  in  humiliation. 
He  therefore  suffered,  not  only  in  reflecting  upon  his  own 
miserable  condition,  but  also  in  pondering  upon  the  achieved 
triumph  of  Mordecai.  It  would  be  worthy  of  the  pencil  of 
the  greatest  artist  to  picture  the  two  faces  as  they  stand 
opposite  each  other.  That  of  Haman,  who,  in  spite  of  the 
enormous  internal  vexation  which  breaks  his  heart,  looks 
externally  courtly,  complacent,  and  careless,  —  and  that 
of  Mordecai,  solemn,  emaciated  by  much  fasting,  prayers, 
and  tears ;  and  yet  with  a  halo  about  it,  arising  not  from 
joy  over  another  man's  misfortune,  but  from  a  heart  attuned 
to  gratitude  to  God.  His  eyes  are  not  directed  towards 
Haman,  but  towards  heaven.  "I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes 
unto  the  mountains,  from  whence  cometh  my  help." 


204  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

N"ow  the  king  looks  intently  upon  Hamaii  to  see  what 
effect  his  words  would  make  upon  him ;  he  therefore  repeats 
the  order  twice,  "As  thou  hast  said,"  and,  "  Let  nothing  fail 
of  all  that  thou  hast  spoken."  Horace,  while  in  his  first 
satire  narrating  the  parable  of  Tantalus,  uses  the  well-known 
sentence  :  "  Mutato  nomine,  de  te  fabula  narratur."  A  tone 
of  irony  pervades  the  words  of  the  king  :  Do  not  err,  "  de  te 
non  narratur."  There  is  no  thought  of  thee,  but  carry  every- 
thing out  as  thou  hast  said. 

We  find  a  grand  antithesis  in  the  parable  of  [N'athan 
before  David.  As  if  Nathan  had  asked  :  What  shall  be  done 
to  the  man  who  has  done  this  ?  David's  anger  is  kindled 
against  the  man,  and  he  says,  "  The  man  that  has  done  this 
shall  surely  die  !  "  And  Nathan  says  :  "  Thou  art  the  man." 
Thou  hast  pronounced  thine  own  sentence.  But  here  is  David, 
a  penitent  sinner,  seeing  in  the  parable  of  Nathan  a  picture 
of  himself,  and  soon  applying  it  to  himself;  and  the  judge  is 
not  Ahhashverosh,  but  the  living  God. 

The  explanations  given  to  this  passage  by  the  Eabbis  are 
more  of  a  triumphant  than  of  an  exegetical  character,  as 
might  be  expected  from  them,  when  later  similar  experiences 
brought  it  vividly  to  their  remembrance.  The  reader  in  the 
synagogue,  when  he  comes  to  this  passage,  raises  his  voice  as 
if  momentarily  triumphant;  but  these  are  notions  suitable 
to  them,  and  not  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the  ancient 
witnesses  in  the  Old  Testament.  It  is  certainly  an  idea 
borrowed  from  Oriental  life  when  they  represent  Mordecai 
as  putting  his  foot  upon  the  neck  of  Haman  when  he 
mounted  the  horse.  Such  things  occur  (see  Hammer, 
Gemdldesaal,  v.  45),  but  the  humiliation  of  Haman's  soul 
was  much  greater. 

Ver.  11.  "  And  caused  him  to  ride  through  the  street  of 
ihe  city." 

Eelihob  (nim),  street,  is  an  open  space.  The  Oriental  towns 
had   a   free   space   for   riding  and   racing,  something   like   a 


CHAP.  YI.  12.  205 

hippodrome,  which  is  called  Atmeidan  in  Constantinople. 
Upon  the  open  space  where  equestrians  and  equipages  appeared, 
Haman  was  to  lead  Mordecai  in  procession.  It  may  also 
mean  the  principal  street,  the  broad  way  leading  through  the 
city.  He  was  to  display  him  before  the  greatest  number  and 
the  most  prominent  of  the  people.^ 

Yer.  12.  "  And  Mordecai  came  again  to  the  king's  gate!' 
The  pious  man  was  not  changed  by  the  honour  shown  to 
him ;  he  did  not  esteem  himself  the  better  for  it.  In  his 
view  things  were  as  before.  The  people  were  still  in  danger. 
Whether  his  life  is  now  secure,  this  did  not  enter  his  mind 
to  inquire.  He  w^as  sufficiently  conversant  with  Persian 
customs  to  knovv  that  this  incident  had  in  no  way  changed 
the  situation  of  his  people,  and  that  what  had  been  con- 
ferred upon  him  was  only  a  self-glorification  of  the  king 
himself.  So  long  as  the  decree  which  threatened  destruction  to 
his  people  was  not  revoked,  there  could  be  no  progress.  Yet 
he  was  sure  that  God  would  wonderfully  send  help.  So  he 
resumed  his  place  in  sackcloth  and  ashes.  He,  who  had  just 
now  attracted  the  envy  of  all  the  spectators  who  saw  him 
wearing  the  king's  crown  upon  his  head,  is  now  seen  sitting 
at  the  royal  gate,  and  covered  with  the  mourner's  garment. 

But  how  much  happier  was  he  in  his  mourning  than  the 
one  who  hurried  home  with  bated  breath  !  Haman  looks  now 
as  an  ^nx,  "  a  mourner,"  who  had  just  returned  from  the 
burial  of  his  beloved,  for  he  comes  back  from  the  grave  of 
his  insolent  pride. 

How  provoking  to  him  was  the  ride  of  Mordecai  through 
the  city ;  while  the  people  hailed  him  who  had  saved  the 
king's  life,  he  is  laughed  at  and  mocked  by  everybody,  and 
Mordecai  in  envied  array  looks  down  upon  him.      He  must 

^  The  story  of  the  Princess  Hind,  who  avenged  herself  on  the  cruel 
Hedshadsh  by  causing  him  to  hold  the  bridle  of  her  camel  in  her  pro- 
cession, is  a  romantic  contrast  to  the  above,  and  taken  from  later  Arabian 
life  (See  Roseiiol,  ii.  33). 


206  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

hold  his  tongue,  and  hold  the  horse  by  the  bridle,  and  perhaps 
be  kicked  by  it.  At  length  the  ride  is  over  ;  he  went  home 
hurriedly  (f)m3,  "  impelled  "),  crushed  (which  is  properly  the 
sense  of  hm,  mourning),  and  having  his  head  covered,  as  one 
that  is  ashamed  to  be  seen  and  recognised,  and  he  related  to 
his  family  what  had  happened. 

How  different  was  the  scene  in  that  house  from  that 
described  in  chap.  v.  1 1  !  At  that  time  he  was  inflated  with 
recounting  his  successes,  his  influence,  his  favours, — and  only 
one  anxious  thought  troubled  him,  how  to  get  rid  of  the 
obnoxious  Mordecai  who  sat  at  the  gate, — but  now  he  fully 
realized  shame,  vexation,  and  disappointment,  which  far  over- 
balanced his  former  enjoyments.  Then  it  appeared  so  easy 
to  put  Mordecai  out  of  the  way ;  but  now  he  is  not  only 
still  alive,  but  is  recognised  and  registered  as  a  benefactor 
of  the  king,  and  who  had  triumphed  over  him  in  the  pre- 
sence of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  city.  All  the  members 
of  his  family  hung  down  their  heads.  It  was  an  unheard-of 
disaster. 

Ver.  13.  "  Then  said  his  luise  men  and  Zeresh  his  wife 
unto  him,  If  Mordecai,  before  whom  thou  hast  begun  to  fall, 
be  of  the  Jews,"  etc. 

How  much  worldly  wisdom  and  admonition  does  this  verse 
contain,  especially  when  we  compare  it  with  chap.  v.  14  ! 
On  the  former  occasion  of  the  party  gathering,  Zeresh  was 
the  first  boldly  to  advise  the  immediate  execution  of  Mor- 
decai, and  the  "  adherents  "  only  chimed  in,  while  nothing 
was  said  of  the  wise  men.  But  now  the  adherents  are  silent, 
Zeresh  is  in  the  background,  and  the  wise  men  are  the 
speakers.  Among  a  class  of  men  such  as  are  gathered  here, 
it  is  not  principle  or  conscience  which  decides  a  point,  but 
the  measure  of  its  success.  When  Haman  was  successful,  every- 
thing that  he  did  was  considered  wise  by  them,  but  now  they 
have  not  even  a  word  of  comfort  for  him.  At  that  time  they 
instigated  him,  now  they   blame  him.     Did  they  not  then 


CHAP.  VI.  13.  207 

know  that  Mordecai  was  a  Jew  ?  Had  not  Haman  expressly 
told  them  so  ?  Now  they  act  as  if  they  hear  it  for  the  first 
time  !  What  else  was  the  cause  of  Haman's  disgrace  but 
their  advice  !  Why  did  not  they  then  moderate  his  temper 
by  saying,  "  N'ever  mind  Mordecai,  let  him  sit," — but  they 
urged  him  on  to  hang  him  at  once.  Had  this  not  been  done, 
the  present  occurrence  would  not  have  turned  out  so  badly 
for  Haman.  He  would  not  have  been  present  on  that  morn- 
ing at  the  palace.  Another  person  would  have  had  to  dis- 
charge the  irksome  business.  But  of  this  neither  his  wife  nor 
liis  friends  take  any  notice,  they  again  pretend  to  be  wise  as 
before.  We  could  have  told  thee  at  once,  they  say,  what  the 
result  would  be,  "  Why  hast  thou  begun  with  that  fellow  ?  " 
And  Haman  is  in  that  evil  state  of  falling  out  of  the  frying- 
pan  into  the  fire  of  his  false  and  self  -  righteous  friends. 
Kemarkable  is  the  expression  VD3n,  "  his  wise  men."  It  seems 
in  itself  to  indicate  the  irony  of  the  narrator.  Fine  wise  men 
were  these  !  They  ought  to  have  given  him  better  advice 
before !  Of  what  avail  is  the  announcement  to  him  now  ? 
But  the  mentioning  of  the  "  Hhahhamim,"  who  were  with 
Haman,  contains  also  an  instructive  significance.  That 
Haman's  whole  position  was  a  quasi-spiritual  one,  belong- 
ing to  Parseeism,  we  have  already  attempted  to  show  above. 
This  accounts  for  his  being  surrounded  in  his  high  office  by 
other  such  Magi,  who  are  sometimes  called  D''i3n  and  some- 
times "  wise  men,"  like  the  priests  of  Egypt,  to  whose 
office  belonged  divination  and  astrology,  as  we  have  seen 
above.  But  their  wisdom  consisted  in  their  superstition  in 
results.  Only  just  now  they  find  a  reason  for  their  ominous 
prophecy. 

But  what  causes  them  to  declare  that  because  Haman  has 
fallen  before  Mordecai,  he  will  always  continue  to  fall  ?  The 
misfortune  which  has  befallen  him  appears  to  them  as  a  bad 
omen.  The  Jews,  thought  they,  are  his  enemies ;  he  has 
undertaken  a  dreadful  work  against  them ;  whether  it  will 
succeed  or  not,  no  one  can  tell.     But  now  this  misfortune 


208  BOOK  OF  ESTHEK. 

lias  happened  to  Haman.  If  it  begins  so,  propliesies  super- 
stition, it  must  go  on  in  -the  same  way  to  the  end.  Mordecai 
is  a  Jew ;  and  if  he  is  unfortunate  with  him  as  an  individual, 
it  is  a  sure  prognostication  that  he  will  be  equally  and  more, 
so  in  his  attempt  against  all  the  Jews.  The  conclusion  they 
come  to  is  not  with  regard  to  the  Jews  ^er  se,  but  only  in  so 
far  as  the  experience  in  the  case  of  the  individual  Jew  Mor- 
decai leads  them  to  infer  what  will  be  Haman's  fate  with 
regard  to  the  whole  nation.  This  is  pure  belief  in  fetishism. 
When  Indians  have  to  remove  a  heap  of  stones,  if  before 
they  proceed  to  the  task  they  are  hurt  by  one  stone,  they 
will  leave  the  stone  and  abstain  from  the  work  altogether. 
Of  the  high  morality,  according  to  which  Haman  as  an 
intriguing  traitor  and  murderer  must  fall,  they  were  not  in 
the  least  conscious.  Superstition,  of  course,  has  not  seldom 
carnal  forebodings  that  are  fulfilled  in  the  spirit.  In  fact, 
the  God  of  Israel  is  a  living  God,  who,  because  righteousness 
and  truth  are  His  attributes,  reveals  them  unto  men,  especi- 
ally unto  those  who  trust  in  Him  that  He  will  not  give 
them  over  to  destruction.  Not  because  Haman  fell  the  first 
time  he  will  continue  to  fall,  but  he  began  to  fall  because 
the  time  of  judgment  had  come.  Universal  history  bears 
testimony  that  persecutions  of  believers  never  brought  a 
blessing  to  the  persecutors.  The  saying  of  the  wise  men  of 
Haman  has  an  important  comforting  truth  far  above  their 
knowledge  and  understanding ;  only  not  in  the  national  and 
carnal  sense  in  which  the  Jews  understood  it,  but  in  the 
extensive  sense  that  "Blessed  are  they  that  have  been  per- 
secuted for  righteousness'  sake :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  "  (Matt.  v.  1 0).  No  one  will  prosper  who  wantonly 
persecutes  innocent  witnesses  of  the  truth.  Hamans  have 
never  been  wanting,  but  they  have  all  fallen. 

Ver.  14.  "  WJiile  they  were  yet  talking  with  him,  came 
the  king's  chamberlains" 
Behold,  their  gloomy  conversation  is  yet  dispelled  for  a 


CHAP.  vi.  14.  200 

while  by  a  ray  from  the  sun.  Eoyal  messengers  yet  come  to 
the  house,  and  bring  a  new  invitation  to  Ham  an  to  come  iu 
haste  to  the  queen's  banquet.  He  is  still  accompanied  by  a 
royal  retinue  through  the  city  to  the  palace.  Mordecai  may 
see  that  there  is  not  yet  an  end  of  Haman. — But  he  saw  him 
for  the  last  time.  It  was  but  a  deceiving  lustre.  Destruction 
lay  beneath  it.  He  was  fetched  in  order  to  be  held  more 
securely.  Probably  Esther  had  heard  what  had  happened  to 
him,  and  feared  he  might  not  come.  What  took  place  in  the 
morning  encourages  her  for  the  act  at  noon.  They  were  still 
(QTiy)  speaking  of  the  misfortune  when  the  message  arrived,  in 
consequence  of  which  he  so  shamefully  fell,  to  rise  no  more. 


CHAPTER    VIL 

Ver.  1.  "So  the  king  and  Haman  came  to  hanqicet,"  etc. 
We  have  here  a  repetition  of  what  was  told  in  chap.  v.  5, 
but  this  repetition  is  for  a  very  significant  reason.     Esther 
wants  to  make  an  experiment  at  the  table  with  the  king  and 
Haman,  which  will  be  decisive  of    life    or  death.^       If  she 
succeeds,  then  her  people  are  saved ;  if  she  fails,  then  she 
is  lost  too.     The  invitation  to  the  second  banquet  is  not  in 
vain.     Observing  the  changeable  mood  of  the  tyrant,  she  tries 
first  to  ascertain  whether  the  kindly  disposition  which  he  has 
shown    towards  her  on  the  former    occasion  still    continues. 
And  she  was  not  disappointed.     He  asked  her,  as  at  the  first 
time,  to  express  her  wish,  whatever  it  might  be.     He  treated 
her  now  with  the  same  tenderness  as  he  did  then.     But  she 
had  also  during  the  interval  received  some  tokens  of  encourage- 
ment.    Haman's  humiliation  had  in  the  meantime  taken  place. 
It  was  now  known  that  his  position  with  the  king  was  not  so 
unassailable  after  all.      Esther  had  seen  that  Ahhashverosh 
himself  had  really  no  antipathy  against  the  Jews,  otherwise 
how    could     he     have     conferred    such     high     honour    upon 
Mordecai,  and  that  through  the  medium  of  Haman  ?     It  was 
now  clear    to    her  that   every  persecution  that  was    started 
against  the  Jews  was  only  an  intrigue  of  Haman,  of  which 
the  king,  properly  speaking,  knew  nothing.     All    this    was 
revealed  by  the  wonderful  night  in  which  the  king  could  not 

^  Araestris,  the  wife  of  Xerxes,  asked  for  similar  permission  to  avenge 
herself  against  the  wife  of  Masistes  at  a  banquet ;  but  that  banquet  was 
,of  another  kind,  and  that  petition  was  influenced  by  different  motives. 
Herod,  ix.  110. 

2W 


CHAP.  VII.  3,  4.  211 

sleep. — Esther  saw  in  this  the  hand  of  her  God,  stretched 
out  to  render  assistance  in  the  time  of  need,  and  she  was 
inspired  by  new  courage. 

Ver.  3.  "  Then,  Esther  the  queen  answered.'' 
Her  reply  shows  a  decided  and  determined  tone, — "  Now, 
if  thou  art  fully  in  earnest  with  thy  kindness,  and  thou  really 
wishest  to  show  me  a  favour,  know  that  my  heart  has  no 
desire  for  playthings,  my  petition  does  not  crave  for  female 
pleasures,  I  do  not  ask  for  money  or  for  dress, — I  have  no 
court  intrigues  and  eunuch  stories  to  speak  of  with  thee,  but 
of  a  matter  upon  whose  issue  depends  life  or  death,  shame 
and  destruction.  Thou  expectest,  0  king,  a  petition  which 
shall  supply  thee  with  pleasure  and  amusement ;  I  must  speak 
of  such  things  as  will  excite  thee  to  the  uttermost.  Thou 
sittest  at  table  and  art  desirous  to  be  merry,  but  I  bring  a 
petition  before  thee  which  will  cause  thee  pain.  But  thou  hast 
promised  me  to  grant  my  petition ;  then  spare  my  life,  which 
I  fear  is  at  stake.  Thou  hast  expressed  a  willingness  to  fulfil 
my  wishes  ;  then  give  me  the  life  of  my  people."  The  royal 
feast  becomes  all  at  once  a  tragical  scene.  The  king  listens, 
is  astounded,  and  becomes  excited ;  Esther  begs  for  her  life. 
Who  besides  himself  can  threaten  it  ?  Who  dares  to  threaten 
her  whom  he  cherishes  and  loves  ?  All  in  the  dining-hall 
are  dumb-struck  and  trembling.  The  king's  brow  is  clouded ; 
while  Esther  with  her  calm  and  plaintive  eloquence,  which  the 
occasion  and  the  subject  have  inspired,  looks  handsomer  and 
more  dignified  than  before.  The  force  of  her  tremulous  voice 
the  author  portrays  in  reproducing  her  speech  in  an  abrupt 
form.  It  should  have  been,  "  If  I  have  found  favour  in  thy 
sight,  0  king,  and  if  it  please  the  king  to  grant  my  request 
{^rb^"^  riN  T\rh),  let  my  life,"  etc. ;  but  she  in  her  excitement 
puts  life  before  petition,  and  people  before  request. 

Ver.  4.  "  For  we  are  sold  J* 
"  There  was  a  bargain  made  about   us,  and  that  for  the 


212  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

purpose  of  our  being  destroyed,  slain,  and  annihilated."  The 
words  ^2vh  ^nnh  T'O^rh  do  not  exactly  represent  a  climax, 
but  show  that  Esther  chose  the  strongest  words  she  could 
find  with  which  to  express  the  fate  of  her  people.  n^tJ^,  to 
destroy,  by  removing  a  thing  out  of  sight ;  nnx,  to  let  a  thing 
perish  by  plucking  it  out  by  the  root,  and  that,  too,  by 
slaughter,  therefore  the  word  ^Tirh  is  added.  But  notwith- 
standing Esther's  excited  feelings,  which  were  natural  to  her 
under  the  circumstances,  we  must  not  overlook  the  fact  that 
she  made  a  masterly  calculation  of  the  nature  of  her  husband, 
and  ordered  her  language  accordingly.  She  does  not  say  to 
whom  she  and  her  people  were  sold,  nor  does  she  name  the 
people  that  were  sold.  She  places  herself  in  the  front,  and 
says :  "  I  and  my  people."  For  she  has  to  do  with  a  fickle 
man,  whose  will  is  governed  and  determined  by  his  momentary 
passion  and  humour.  There  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  a 
mere  plea  on  the  point  of  justice  involved  in  the  question. 
Here  the  heart,  the  vain  heart,  is  required  to  be  inflamed  by 
representations  which  might  flatter  his  fancy  of  possessing 
unlimited  power.  She  must  not  say  that  he  has  sold  her,  for 
what  Jie  has  done  must  be  well !  and  she  must  take  care  not  to 
assail  hi7n.  Therefore  she  does  not  even  name  the  sold  people, 
— perhaps  he  is  reminded  of  his  own  deed  ;  and  the  Jews  are 
too  despicable  to  him.  So  she  mentions  herself  first, — for  at  this 
moment  she  was  more  valuable  to  him  than  a  whole  people  ;  that 
she  was  sold,  whom  the  king  loves  so  much  that  he  generously 
offers  her  half  of  his  empire  ;  that  she  was  sold,  whose  beauty  just 
now  at  the  table  fascinates  more  than  ever.  This  is  what  she 
emphasizes,  and  whereby  she  seeks  to  win  the  tyrant.  "  I  and 
my  people,"  she  says.  The  impression  of  the  speech  gains  all 
its  force  from  the  insertion  of  the  personal  pronoun.  The 
people  do  not  suffer  for  her  sake,  nor  she  for  the  people's 
sake.  She  who  belongs  to  the  king,  and  whom  he  loves,  is 
sold.  Who  can  dare  to  sell  his  wife  ?  Yea,  even  so  much 
as  to  estimate  the  value  of  the  person  he  loves  !  He  wants 
to  give  her  half  of  his  kingdom,  if  she  desires  it;  and  she 


CHAP.  VII.  4.  213 

begs  liim  with  bitter  tears  to  save  her  from  the  death  to 
which  she  is  sold.  "  To  be  sold  "  was,  besides,  an  expression 
applicable  only  to  slaves.  Quintilian  says  (viii.  1) :  "As  under 
the  term  city  (urhs)  is  understood  Eome,  so  by  the  term 
venales  are  understood  slaves."  When  Eoxolana  got  to  be 
the  favourite  of  the  Turkish  Sultan  Suleiman,  she  was  re- 
proached by  her  envious  rival  with  being  came  venduta, 
"  sold  flesh."  Eoxolana  then  called  herself  so  before  the 
sultan,  as  an  excuse  for  no  longer  approaching  him,  for  as 
'•'  sold  flesh "  she  considered  herself  unworthy  to  do  so ; 
and  this  contributed  to  her  complete  victory  over  her  rival 
(Hammer,  Gesch.  cles  osrnan.  Reiclies,  iii.  728). 

"  But  if  we  had  been  sold  for  hondmen  and  bondwomen." 
This  turn  in  Esther's  plea  is  still  more  beautiful  and  im- 
pressive. One  cannot  represent  in  a  few  words  the  whole  of 
the  rare  position  of  a  Persian  shah.  "  If  it  were  nothing 
further,"  she  says,  "  but  that  we  had  been  sold  as  slaves,  our 
lives  would  then  be  spared,  and  we  could  entertain  the  hope 
of  eventually  regaining  our  liberty, — in  that  case  I  should 
not  trouble  thee  so  much.  It  would  not  have  been  worth 
while  to  disturb  thee  just  now  and  spoil  thy  appetite."  For 
these  pregnant  words,  although  the  adversary  could  not  have 
compensated  the  king's  damage,  i?Dn  pTJ3  nitJ'  i^n  pfc<  ""a  (or 
E.  V.  "for  our  affliction  is  not  to  be  compared  with  the 
king's  damage  "),  are  calculated  to  flatter  the  Persian  tyrant. 
True,  1^  means  "  enemy,"  but  in  the  abstract  also  "  distress," 
"  tribulation,"  "  misfortune  ; "  and  even  if  it  is  insisted  that  the 
article  points  to  the  enemy,  still  it  must  be  conceded  that 
the  emphasis  cannot  be  on  the  person,  but,  as  it  is  a  parti- 
cipial form,  rather  upon  the  act  of  the  enemy.  For  "  the 
adversary  "  is  no  other  in  the  second  than  in  the  first, — it  is 
always  the  same  Haman, — but  the  mischief  would  be  of 
another  character  if  it  were  only  to  end  in  slavery.  The 
word  nvn,  therefore,  means  the  evil  which  the  evil  one  has 
done  to  Israel.     Esther's  meaning  is  as  follows  :  "  The  enemy, 


214  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

or  the  enmity,  if  it  threatens  such  things  to  us,  uould  not 
have  been  considered  of  sufficient  value  (p)^  pt?)  to  disturb 
the  king  {i^Kin  pl^2)."  True,  indeed,  that  pn  has  the  meaning 
of  damage,  and  may  radically  be  compared  with  nocere  ;  and, 
in  fact,  is  used  in  Ezra  (iv.  13)  to  denote  the  damage  done  to 
the  revenue,  and  other  acts  of  enmity  to  the  king.  And  yet 
it  cannot  be  here,  as  some  have  supposed,  that  Esther  meant 
to  convey  to  the  king  that  she  and  her  people  would  rather 
suffer  slavery  than  cause  him  any  pecuniary  damage  ;  for  in 
both  cases,  whether  they  were  sold  to  be  killed  or  into  slavery, 
pecuniary  damage  must  ensue.  But  in  the  flattering  language 
of  the  etiquette  of  the  Persian  court,  to  disturb  the  king 
was  tantamount  to  damage  or  injure  the  king.  When  the 
king  was  disturbed  in  the  enjoyment  of  his  dinner  by  being 
called  to  pass  judgment  upon  sad  cases,  it  was  considered  as 
an  injury  done  to  him.  Esther  nevertheless  does  it — only 
because  her  life  and  the  existence  of  her  people  are  at  stake. 
She  would  have  rather  gone  into  slavery  than  cast  a  gloom 
upon  the  joyous  hours  of  the  king.  But  she  cannot  act 
otherwise.  She  is  compelled  to  speak  out.  With  this  ex- 
planation agrees  that  of  an  African  Eabbi,  quoted  by  Ibn 
Ezra  in  his  commentary  on  this  book  (ed.  Zedner,  London 
1850,  p.  29).  One  reading  of  this  passage  in  the  LXX.  is 
indeed  remarkable :  ov  yap  a^LO<;  6  Bcd^oXo^  7%  av\7]<;  rov 
ySao-tXeo)?,  for  avXtj  certainly  does  not  mean  here  the  court  of 
the  king,  but  is  a  Greek  form  of  the  Hebrew  si^iy,  viz.  "  the 
injustice,"  "  the  evil  deed,"  against  the  king. 

Yer.  5.  "  Then  spake  the  hing." 
The  words  of  Esther  could  not  fail  to  produce  the  desired 
impression.  They  were  so  forcible  and  so  full  of  good  sense. 
She  spoke  from  the  depth  of  her  heart,  and  yet  with  full  dis- 
cretion. Her  high  position  as  the  beloved  wife  of  the  king, 
her  beautiful  appearance,  her  graceful  manners,  her  heart- 
rending plea,  her  bitter  tears,  and  above  all  the  justice  of  her 
cause,  called  forth  sympathy  mingled  with  indignation  from 


CHAP.  VII.  5.  215 

every  impartial  heart ;  and  the  king's  wrath  was  specially 
kindled,  seeing  she  had  touched  the  delicate  spring  of  his 
immeasurable  vanity.  For  he  knew  of  nothing.  He  had 
long  ago  forgotten  the  thoughtless  grant  that  he  had  made  to 
Haman  in  one  of  his  capricious  moods,  and  if  memory  still 
served  him,  he  was  quite  certain  that  the  sale  of  the  queen 
formed  no  item  in  the  contract,  and  that  her  name  was  not 
even  mentioned  on  that  occasion.  And  now  he  sees  that  the 
whole  scheme  was  after  all  designed  to  deprive  him  of  her. 
Undoubtedly  it  was  an  intrigue  which  caused  Yashti's  fall, 
but  she  had  to  some  extent  brought  it  upon  herself  by 
her  disobedience,  and  he  was  not  present  when  she  was 
sentenced ;  and  yet  how  sorry  he  afterwards  was  for  his  rash 
deed.  But  now  somebody,  without  his  knowledge,  sells 
his  wife  to  death, —  his  wife  who  is  so  obedient  and  so 
loving.  One  sees  in  these  words  that  the  narrator  describes 
the  king's  anger,  in  that  he  repeats  the  word  ■id5<''1,  "  And 
the  king  Ahhashverosh  spake  and  said  to  Queen  Esther." 

"  Who  is  he,  and  where  is  he  ?  "  (i^in.) 
This  question  expresses  his  burning  indignation.  There  is 
some  one  who  dares  that — who  is  he  ?  Where  in  my  king- 
dom does  the  man  live  who  has  the  audacity  to  act  thus 
towards  me,  whose  heart  is  full,  i.e.  whose  heart  is  filled  with 
such  impudence  as  to  do  so  ?  ^  The  LXX.  pretty  nearly  repro- 
duces the  sense  by  iroXfiriae,  "  that  durst  presume  "  to  do  so. 
Arnheim  renders  it  freely,  "  who  had  the  haughtiness,"  etc. 
The  first  Targum  exaggerates  his  excitement  still  more,  by 
representing  him  as  saying,  "  Who  is  the  audacious,  the 
criminal,  the  rebel,  who  ventures  to  do  this  ? "  Esther, 
impelled  by  the  trouble  of  her  heart,  and  noticing  that  the 
king  was  inclined  to  do  her  justice,  gains  confidence,  and 
without  regarding  the  presence  of  him  whom  it  concerns, 
freely  speaks  her  mind. 

1  [A  speech  like  that  in  the  K  T.  Acts  v.  3,  "Why  hath  Satan  filled 
thine  heart  %  "—Trans.] 


21 G  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Ver.  6.  ''An  adversary  and  an  enemy, ^  even  this  wiclced 

Haman." 

"  That  one  after  whom  thou  inquirest,  the  oppressor  and 
enemy,  the  one  who  wants  to  murder  me  and  my  people, 
who  has  sold  me — now,  with  flashing  eye  and  angry  mien  she 
lifts  her  finger  and  points  to  her  guest,  *  that  Haman  ! ' — he  is 
.^ot  far  from  here ;  we  need  not  seek  him ;  he  sits  at  our 
side^^that  man  there — Haman  is  this  wicked  one  ! "  It  is  a 
dramatic  scene  beyond  comparison.  Haman's  blood  runs 
cold.  Such  a  storm  he  had  never  anticipated.  How  should 
he  know  that  Esther  was  a  Jewess  ?  Had  he  known  it,  he 
would  have  adopted  quite  different  measures.  To  defend 
himself  now  he  knew  was  impossible.  The  faces  of  both,  of 
the  king  and  of  the  queen,  deterred  him.  He  knew  well 
how  the  king  looked  when  he  was  angry. 

The  Oriental  legends  frequently  describe  the  dreadful  look 
which  Harun-Arrashid  assumed  when  he  detected  a  piece  of 
roguery.  Abdolmelik,  king  of  Damascus,  says  one  of  these 
legends,  did  not  make  the  slightest  movement.  He  was  quite 
like  one  petrified.  Harun  assumed  all  at  once  such  a  dreadful 
tone,  that  the  unfortunate  prince  gave  up  his  throne  not  so 
much  on  account  of  obedience,  but  on  account  of  the  terror 
which  overwhelmed  him.  The  surprise  made  him  stiff  and 
benumbed.^  Dvni,  from  nyn,  to  become  "  alarmed,"  "  terrified," 
figuratively  and  really  (fyo/Selv. 

Yer.  7.  "  And  the  king  arose  in  his  wrath" 
The  king  was  so  angry  that  he  did  not  speak  a  word,  still 
less  did  he  give  Haman  the  opportunity  to  speak.  Excessive 
blind  wrath  generally  follows  tyrannical  conceit.  In  the 
same  proportion  in  which  Oriental  tyranny  permits  itself  to 
make    superabundant   grants,  is    its    blind    wrath   when  its 

*  The  observation  of  Ibn  Ezra,  that  ")V  means  an  open  enemy  and 
n''1X  a  hidden  enemy,  is  at  any  rate  not  confirmed  here,  where  Esther  uses 
both  expressions  to  heighten  her  hatred. 

2  See  The  Thousand  and  One  Nights,  ed.  Leipzig  1790,  i.  124  and  407. 


CHAP.  VII.  7.  217 

infatuated  vanity  is  offended.  The  Oriental  legendary  world 
is  full  of  representations  of  pure  downright  passion,  which, 
against  whomsoever  it  may  be  directed,  whether  he  deserves 
it  or  not,  is  thought  to  be  so  natural,  that  it  is  to  the 
Oriental  mind  an  adornment  of  the  most  ideal  king.  Upon 
the  quality  of  relentless  passion  are  founded  the  Eastern 
novels  and  stories  about  various  catastrophes,  and  sons  and 
wives  and  viziers  are  its  habitual  victims.  That  which  befell 
Haman  here  was  experienced  by  Hikar,  the  most  virtuous  of 
all  viziers,  as  is  told  in  a  very  instructive  Arabic  narrative. 
Intrigue  knows  usually  how  to  excite  jealousy  and  anger,  and 
an  investigation  concerning  the  right  or  wrong  of  the  accused 
is  considered  unnecessary. 

non,  "heated  fury."  The  king  became  hot  on  account 
of  glowing  excitement.  Eosenmtiller  has  collected  some 
examples  to  show  that  when  an  Oriental  king  rises  angry 
from  the  table,  then  there  is  no  mercy  for  him  who  was 
the  cause  of  it  {Morgenland  zu  Buch  Esther,  No.  718). 
The  sense  is  that  the  king  withdraws  his  favour  from  him, 
as  the  sun  departs.  His  going  away  means  the  same  as 
the  vanishing  of  the  sun,  the  cessation  of  the  light  of  mercy 
and  of  life.  The  royal  dining-hall  was  close  to  the  garden 
of  the  palace,  whither  the  king  went  as  a  sign  of  his  being 
angry,  and  to  cool  himself.^ 

"  And  Haman  stood  up  to  make  request  for  his  life." 

Haman  read  his  fall  in  the  face  and  in  the  movements  of 

the  king.      But  as  he  was  haughty  when  prosperous,  so  now 

he  is  without  manliness  in  ruin.     He  falls  upon  his  knees 

before  his  accuser  to  beg  for  life.     He  is    not  ashamed  to 

ask  mercy  of  her  whose  people  he  wanted  to  kill  without 

mercy.     He  lies  at  her  feet,  to  whom  he  owes  his  sudden 

^  Not  like  Sulpicius  Severus,  of  whom  we  read  (Hist.  Sacra,  ii.  Ill): 
"  Remembering  the  enemy,  he  delayed  a  little.  And  in  order  somewhat 
to  deliberate  {deliberandique  gratia  modicum  secessit),  he  turned  aside." 
This  is  not  the  manner  of  an  Oriental  prince.  The  going  away  was  a 
sign  of  anger. 


218  BOOK  OF  ESTHEE. 

crushing  defeat,  crying  and  sobbing  for  help.  He  beseeches 
her  to  save  him,  who  had  just  now  called  him  a  traitor  and 
an  enemy.  Of  course  he  could  have  said  that  he  did  not 
then  know  that  she  was  a  Jewess,  and  that  his  proposal  had 
no  reference  to  her.  But  how  could  this  plea  move  Esther's 
compassion,  when  all  the  efforts  she  had  thus  far  made  were 
in  behalf  of  her  people  ?  But  seeing  that  she  alone  has 
influence  with  the  king,  he  cringes  before  her  after  the 
manner  of  knavish  cowards,  who  do  not  mind  besfgins:  from 
any  and  everybody  if  they  think  they  will  get  what  they 
want.  They  do  not  blush,  for  they  are  destitute  of  self- 
respect.  And  so  Haman  lies  prostrate  before  Esther's  feet 
crying  for  mercy,  and  not  minding  the  contemptuous  and 
wrathful  glance  which  she  deigns  to  cast  upon  him.  Esther 
would  not  and  could  not  forgive  him. — To  speak  a  good  word 
for  him  now,  if  she  were  disposed  to  do  so,  would  be  to 
undo  the  whole  work  that  she  has  done.  The  angry  king 
feels  himself  deeply  offended.  Who  should  now  save  Haman  ? 
While  he  is  still  kneeling  near  the  divan  upon  which  Esther 
sits,  the  king  returns  from  his  walk  in  the  garden  and 
finds  him  in  this  posture.  It  is  quite  true  what  Plutarch 
{Themist.  26)  tells  of  the  jealousy  of  the  Persian  kings  with 
regard  to  their  wives,  but  the  words  which  the  king  addresses 
to  Haman,  "  Will  he  even  force  ^  the  queen  before  me  in  the 
house  ? "  do  not  contain  jealousy,  which  would  be  absurd,  but 
biting  irony.  It  cannot  be  mercy,  thinks  the  king,  that  thou 
seekest  from  her  whom  thou  hast  so  atrociously  offended ; 
thou  canst  have  no  hope  that  she  would  forgive  thee ;  so  it 
may  be  that  thou  art  so  audacious  as  to  lay  hold  of  my  wife 

^  tJ>33.  LXX.  fiioi^siVj  in  the  well-known  sense.  Clericus  has  translated 
this  classical  word  by  "  subagitare"  for  this  word  is  still  more  used  by  the 
Latins  in  this  sense  than  "  subigere,"  especially  in  the  popular  language  of 
the  comedians  (comp.  Terent.  Heaut.  iii.  3,  6,  etc.).  Old  Meissner  (p.  112) 
has  not  understood  the  irony,  for  only  in  ironical  bitterness  has  the 
exclamation  any  sense.  The  same  was  the  case  with  Vorstius,  who,  for 
this  reason,  rendered  the  expression  of  Sulpicius  Severus  by  " ajp'petitam" 
which  is  a  weak  emendation  (p.  203). 


CHAP.  VII.  7.  219 

in  an  unwarrantable  manner!  He  that  could  be  so  bold  as 
to  devise  a  plan  for  killing  my  own  wife,  who  could  abuse 
my  confidence  in  order  to  betray  the  love  of  the  king,  such  a 
man  is  quite  capable  of  making  an  indecent  assault  upon  the 
queen  in  my  presence !  In  these  awful  ironical  words  lay 
the  sentence  of  death  for  Haman.  They  manifest  the  fury  of 
the  king,  who  does  not  stop  to  consider  that  Haman  was 
unaware  of  the  origin  of  Esther,  nor  does  he  think  of  the 
people  whose  lives  were  at  stake,  but  only  of  the  audacity 
which  could  make  his  wife  an  object  of  hatred.  And  this 
irony  contained  an  accusation  against  Haman,  which  was  in 
itself  enough  to  procure  the  forfeiture  of  his  life.  Therefore 
scarcely  had  the  words  escaped  the  king's  lips  when  Haman's 
face  was  covered.  The  covering  of  the  face  of  a  criminal 
arose  from  the  idea  that  he  is  henceforth  no  more  worthy  to 
behold  the  light  of  which  the  king  was  an  emblem.  That 
with  which  he  was  previously  only  threatened  when  the  king 
went  out  to  the  garden, — when  the  sun  departed, — he  is  now 
made  to  realize  after  the  king's  return, — he  must  see  the  sun 
no  more.  He  is  a  guilty  criminal,  and  has  no  more  right  to 
see  the  sun.  Guilt  is  in  itself  defilement  like  death.-^  The 
voluntary  covering  of  one's  own  face  is  different  from  its 
being  covered  by  another.  Mourners  do  it  spontaneously, 
because  they  feel  as  if  under  judgment ;  but  when  the  faces 
of  others  are  compulsorily  covered,  it  is  a  sign  to  them  of 
judgment,  to  intimate  to  them  that  they  are  condemned. 
The  first  do  not  want  to  see  the  light,  the  second  no  longer 
need  it.  The  explanation  of  Ibn  Ezra,  that  it  was  customary 
to  cover  a  man's  face  who  had  provoked  the  king,  is  correct. 
To  this  effect  the  reference  of  Curtius  is  also  a  happy  one, 
who    reports    that    when   Philotas    was    seized    by    order  of 

^  The  faces  of  the  dead  are  covered.  This  brings  painful  recollections 
to  me  of  the  time  when  I  had  to  cover  the  face  of  my  dear  departed 
wife.  In  a  story  of  Lubeck,  the  dying  monks  are  said  to  have  been  seen 
in  the  monastery  in  a  time  of  cholera  with  covered  faces,  as  if  they  were 
already  prepared  for  burial  (see  Deecke,  Liibische  Geschichten  und  Sageu, 
p.  120). 


220  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Alexander,  he  was  brought  with  covered  face  to  the  place  of 
the  king  (velato  capite  ad  regiam)  (vi.  22.  8).  We  are 
even  informed  further  that  this  was  done  with  an  old  m^ 
{ohsoleto  amiculo),  while  his  hands  were  tied  to  his  back. 
Therefore  Cicero  rightly  ascribes  the  origin  of  the  formula, 
"Lictor,  tie  his  hands,  cover  his  face,  hang  him  on  the 
accursed  tree,"  to  the  time  of  the  Eoman  kings,  as  he  thinks 
to  Tarquinius  (superbissimi  et  crudelissimi  regis)  {Pro  Gajo 
Rahirio,  p.  3,  etc.). 

In  fact,  as  Livius  (i.  26)  informs  us,  this  punishment  w^as 
already  applied  under  Tullus  Hostilius  to  Horatius,  on 
account  of  the  patriotic  murder  of  his  sister.  His  father 
pleaded  for  him,  saying,  "  Should  the  hands  which  have 
shortly  before  carried  arms  and  obtained  dominion  for  the 
Eoman  people  be  tied  ?  Should  the  face  of  the  liberator  of 
this  city  be  covered  ? "  So  Horatius  is  sentenced  to  pass 
with  covered  face  under  a  beam  as  under  a  yoke.  The 
covering  of  the  face  signified  his  guilt.^ 

This  evidently  was  also  the  theological  ground  in  the 
practice  among  the  Eomans  to  pray,  and  to  offer  sacrifices 
with  covered  heads.^  By  this,  a  sense  of  guilt  wa^  acknow- 
ledged and  confessed ;  and  Plutarch's  explanation,  that  the 
Eomans  did  this  to  humble  themselves,  is  the  riojht  one, 
while  other  explanations  are  flat  and  constrained,  and  only 
rarely  applicable.  Tertullian  (Apolog.  cap.  3  0)  rightly  says : 
"  We  pray  with  uncovered  head,  because  we  are  not  ashamed," 
— i.e.  Christians  pray  without  fear,  not  as  condemned,  but  as 
reconciled, — "  for  love  casteth  out  fear."  Naturally  this  is 
also  the  meaning  of  the  words  of  the  apostle  when  he  says 

^  At  all  events,  I  believe  that  I  have  given  to  this  remarkable  passage 
its  proper  meaning.  For  it  has  been  often  quoted  and  misinterpreted 
even  by  GottUng  in  Romische  Staatsverfassung,  p.  159. 

*  Comp.  Brisson,  de  formulis,  i.  32,  but  the  custom  is  not  there  explained. 
When  Suetonius  ( Vitellius,  cap.  2)  reports  that  Vitellius,  after  his  return 
from  Syria,  adored  the  king  "  Velato  capite,"  it  was  not  necessarily  an 
Oriental  practice,  but  rather  the  flatterer  rendered  homage  to  the  emperor 
in  the  same  way  as  was  done  to  the  gods. 


CHAP.  VII.  7.  221 

that  a  man  should  not  have  his  head  covered,  whatever  the 
covering  may  be,  when  he  is  praying  or  prophesying  {irpoaev- 
'X^ofievo^  fj  7rpo^7]T6v(ov),  for  Christ  is  his  head.  The  doctrine 
was  not,  as  Oosterzee  thinks,  against  the  custom  of  the  Eomans, 
but  more  particularly  against  that  of  the  Jews.  'Not  only 
the  later  Jews,  as  he  says  (on  1  Cor.  xi.  4,  p.  107),  had  this 
practice,  but  it  existed  from  time  immemorial  (as  in  the  case 
of  Moses  at  the  bush),  and  especially  at  the  time  of  Christ 
and  the  apostles.  The  theological  idea  contained  at  that 
time  in  the  covering  of  the  head  during  prayer  is  proved  from 
the  use  of  the  word  5]t}y  in  connection  wdth  prayer,  which 
the  Psalmist  employs  to  express  "  covering  the  face  in  sorrow, 
or  being  overwhelmed  with  affliction  "  (Ps.  Ixxvii.  4,  cvii.  5). 
The  act  of  covering  of  the  face  in  the  case  of  a  mourner  was 
in  itself  not  different  from  that  of  a  suppliant.  In  both  the 
feeling  of  repentance  is  presupposed  to  exist.  The  mourners 
in  this  way  bemoan  only  one  object  of  temporal  loss,  while 
the  suppliants  have  in  view  the  whole  relation  of  man 
towards  God.  When  w^e  read  in  Moed  Katan  2 4^,  "Every 
covering  which  is  not  as  the  covering  of  Ishmaelites  (pre- 
Mohamedan)  is  not  a  covering/'  it  refers  not  only  to 
mourners,  as  Levy  thinks  (Chcdd.  Worierhich,  ii.  p.  210), 
but  to  prayer  in  general  (comp.  Sefer  Agur,  ed.  Venez. 
1516,  p.  4a).  And  this  covering  consisted  in  putting  on  the 
Talith  (praying  garment),  and  did  not  exclude  the  proper 
covering  of  the  head.  Hence  we  read  in  Tract  Shabbath 
IQa:  "He  pat  it  on,  covered  himself,  wrapped  himself  up 
(5|Dj;nD),  and  prayed."  This  practice  went  so  far  that  it 
became  indispensable  to  every  religious  and  spiritual  act, 
so  much  so,  that  even  God  in  heaven  was  pictured  as  a 
Eabbi  covered  (pi''Dj;n)  with  a  garment  as  white  as  snow 
(Targum  on  Song  of  Solomon,  v.  10),  and  as  it  is  added, 
"  He  studied  during  the  day  the  law  and  the  prophets, 
and  during  the  night  the  Mishna "  (Eisenmenger,  i. 
p.  %)} 

1  [Comp.  The  Old  Paths,  by  Dr.  M'Caul,  p.  439.— Trans.] 


222  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

In  the  dreadful  words  which  the  king  uttered  to  Haman, 
the  courtiers  perceived  the  sentence  of  his  condemnation. 
He  was  covered. 

Ver.  9.  "  Then  said  Harlonali"  etc. 
When  courtiers  are  unsuccessful,  then  all  their  glory  is  at 
an  end.^  Former  jealousy  breaks  now  out  in  open  hostility. 
Former  cowardice  gives  place  to  bold  accusation.  Haman's 
manner  and  conduct  was  of  such  a  haughty  character  as  to 
preclude  his  making  loyal  friends  who  would  stick  to  him  in 
misfortune.  Besides,  Harbonah  may  not  have  been  one  of 
his  friends  at  all.  The  scene  took  place  in  the  apartments 
of  the  queen.  Harbonah  was  one  of  her  eunuchs,  who 
belonged  to  her  party,  and  now  supports  her  victory  by  his 
remark.  The  word  D^i  also  is  explained  by  modern  commen- 
tators (Bertheau  and  Keil)  in  such  a  way  as  to  imply  that 
Harbonah  added  to  what  other  eunuchs  had  said.  But  this 
is  erroneous.  It  is  most  characteristic.  The  accusation  of 
Esther  against  Haman  was  that  he  had  sold  her  with  her 
people.  This  embittered  the  king  the  more,  tliat  he  had 
presumed  to  sell  his  wife.  He  considered  it  as  the  highest 
act  of  treason.  And  so  Harbonah  adds :  *'  It  is  not  this 
offence  alone  that  he  has  committed,  but  he  has  also  conspired 
against  the  life  of  Mordecai,  who  has  saved  his  majesty's  life, 
and  who  has  just  now  been  honoured  by  the  king.^  Haman 
was  quite  ready  to  execute  him  on  the  gallows  fifty  cubits 
high."  The  word  "  also  "  (dj)  refers  then  not  to  Harbonah's 
speech,  but  to  Haman's  treachery  against  the  king  and  his 
friends.  It  is  very  curious  that,  as  in  chap.  iv.  so  here,  the 
name  of  Jews  is  passed  over  in  silence.  It  is  not  said  tliat 
the  people  who  have  been  sold  are  Jews,  nor  does  Harbonah 
say,  as  it  stands  elsewhere,  "  Mordecai  the  Jew."  For  it 
does  not  at  all  matter  to  what  nationality  they  belong — it 

^  Comp.  the  history  which  Dio  Cassius  gives  of  Scrib.  Procnlus,  lix.  26. 
2  [Therefore  in  the  hturgy  for  Purim  it  is  said  :  "  Harbonah  also  is  to 
be  remembered  for  good." — Trans.] 


CHAP.  VII.  9.  223 

is  not  a  question  about  certain  persons,  but  a  royal  question 
which  is  dealt  with  here.  Haman's  offence  consisted  in 
wanting  to  slay  the  king's  wife  and  the  king's  friends — this 
is  accentuated.  The  Midrash  (Yalkut  Shimeoni,  n.  1059)  has 
a  remarkable  comment  on  this  verse.  Under  Harbonah  is  to 
be  understood  the  prophet  Elijah,  who  assumed  his  appearance 
in  order  to  effect  Haman's  death.  They  thought  that  n:nin 
is  derived  from  ann,  "  sword."  Haman  is  a  type  of  Israel's 
adversary  (Samael),  of  whom  Jewish  tradition  says  that  he 
will  at  last  be  killed  by  Elijah.  In  the  same  way,  in 
patristic  writings,  Elijah  is  represented  as  the  great  opponent 
of  Antichrist  at  the  last  day  (see  the  fragment  attributed  to 
Lactantius  in  Baluzii  MiscelL,  ed.  Mansi,  i.  12).^ 

"  And  the  king  said  :  Hang  him  thereon" 

rhn  means  "to  hang."  The  passage  in  Deut.  xxi.  22  is 
well  known :  "  And  if  a  man  have  committed  a  sin  worthy 
of  death,  and  he  be  put  to  death,  and  thou  hang  him  on  a 
tree  (i^yn  hv  inis  n''i>ni),  his  body  shall  not  remain  all  night 
upon  the  tree,  but  thou  shalt  surely  bury  him  the  same  day ; 
for  he  that  is  hanged  Olbn)  is  accursed  of  God :  that  thou 
defile  not  thy  land  which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee  for 
an  inheritance."  The  condemned  was  drawn  up  upon  a  beam 
and  nailed  to  it.  This  was  a  common  mode  of  punishment 
among  the  Persians.  The  Greek  writers  when  they  mention 
it  call  it  avaaravpoeLV,  avaaravpovv. 

The  wood  was  called  o-Tavp6<;.  So  narrates  Ctesias,  that 
the  king  had  caused  Inaros  to  be  hung,  avearavpcoae  iirl 
TpKTL  a-Tavpoh ;  ^  the  same  expression  is  used  by  Thucydides, 
dvearavpcoOr)  (comp.  "Biihr,  zu  Ctesiae  Bell.  p.  176).  What 
is  expressed  by  avd  is  reproduced  in  the  Hebrew  idiom  by 
nhn,  "  to  hang,"  as  the  beam  was  usually  high,  as  is  here 
expressly  stated.     Haman  had  one  prepared  fifty  cubits  high, 

^  We  shall  refer  to  this  again  when  we  consider  the  number  666. 

2  When  Artayktes    is    punished   we    read  (Herod,   ix.    20) :    axvllet. 


224  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

in  order  that  the  condemned  might  be  seen  from  a  distance, 
and  this  fell  upon  his  own  head. 

Haman's  fate  has  a  parallel  in  modern  history.  Henry  V. 
of  England  had  laid  siege  to  Meaux  in  France,  where  the 
cruel  commander  had  hung  all  the  English  prisoners.  So, 
after  the  king  had  taken  the  city,  he  caused  him  to  be  hung 
on  the  same  scaffold  (Mensel,  Gescliichte  von  FranhreicJi,  ii. 
455).  When,  therefore,  the  Jews  call  Christ  a  ^^hr\,  there  can 
be  no  objection  to  it  as  far  as  the  letter  is  concerned,  as  it 
is  the  translation  of  crucifixus,  "  the  crucified."  But  the 
objection  is  that  they  use  the  word  as  a  term  of  reproach, 
"  But  we  preach  Christ  crucified,  to  the  Jews  a  stumbling- 
block,  and  to  Greeks  foolishness,"  etc.  (1  Cor.  i.  23).  When 
the  Jews  also  used,  on  the  feast  of  Purim,  to  represent 
Haman  as  crucified,  the  act  contained  a  historical  truth, 
although  the  suspicion  in  ancient  times  may  not  have  been 
without  foundation,  that  they  also  mocked  thereby  the 
suffering  of  Christ ;  therefore  the  Eoman  emperors  issued  in 
408  an  edict  against  it,  as  follows:  "  Judaeos  quodam  festivi- 
tatis  suae  solemni  Aman  ad  poenae  quondam  recordationem 
incendere  et  sanctae  crucis  assimulatam  speciem  in  contemtum 
Christianae  fidei  sacrilega  mente  exurere "  (Cod.  Theod.,  lib. 
xvi.  tit.  8.  18). 

The  allegory  which  the  Jews  have  in  connection  with  this 
occasion  is  interesting.  It  is  told  in  the  second  Targum  that 
when  Haman  was  about  to  be  hanged  in  the  garden,  he 
complained  to  the  trees  that  he  was  to  be  hanged  on  one  of 
them,  and  especially  on  one  which  was  fifty  cubits  high.  So 
the  vine,  the  Paradise-apple,  the  oak,  and  the  pomegranate 
refused  out  of  pious  motives  to  be  used  for  that  purpose. 
The  oak  even  averred  that  it  could  not  have  any  one  hung 
upon  itself,  because  it  had  served  as  a  scaffold  to  Absalom, 
the  son  of  David.  Then  the  cedar  came  and  offered  itself,  in 
order  that  he  may  have  the  required  height.  But  later 
homilies  have  taken  away  this  office  from  the  cedar,  and 
given  it  to  the  thorn  bush,  in  order  that  it  also  may  serve 


CHAP.  VII.  10.  .  22^ 

a  purpose  in  God's  creation.  "For  equals  meet  together,  one 
tliornr  should  lie  upon  another  thorn."  The  wicked  are  com- 
pared to  thorns  (MezahJi  Aaron,  p.  47).  There  is  in  this 
no  doubt  a  hidden  reference  to  the  thorns  of  Christ.  Accord- 
ing to  another  allegory,  when  Haman  was  looking  for  the  tree 
on  which  to  hang  Mordecai,  and  on  which  he  was  hanged 
himself,  he  could  find  no  other  but  the  fir  tree  for  this 
purpose.  In  this  is  seen  a  German  allegory.  The  fir  is 
used  as  a  Christmas  tree ;  the  Jews  called  Christmas  i^tD^,^ 
which  properly  comes  from  natalis  (festum  natale) ;  but  it 
admits  a  secondary  meaning  of  "  hanging  "  (niri),  by  way  of 
polemical  play  upon  words. 

Ver.  1 0.  "  Then  vms  the  king's  wrath  'pacified!* 
The  remark  is  important  for  the  statement  that  follows. 
In  chap.  ii.  1,  after  Vashti  was  removed,  we  read:  "When 
the  wrath  of  the  king  Ahhashverosh  was  pacified,  he  remem- 
bered Vashti !  "  He  was  sorry  for  her.  But  now — and  on 
this  the  following  is  a  commentary — his  wrath  is  subdued; 
but  Haman's  fate  caused  him  no  sorrow,  and  this  was  fortunate 
for  Esther  and  the  Jews.  The  king's  order  was  not  yet 
revoked,  and  was  still  impending  over  their  heads,  and  it 
would  not  have  been  difficult  to  find  adherents  of  Haman 
who  would  have  walked  in  his  footsteps.  The  decision  had 
only  begun  with  the  fall  of  Haman.  If  his  execution  had 
only  been  caused  by  the  momentary  anger  of  the  king,  the 
Jews  would  still  have  perished.  Their  destiny  and  that  of 
Esther  depended  now  on  what  the  king  was  going  to  do  after 
he  calmed  down. 

1  [This  word  is  used  by  the  Jerusalem  Targum  on  Ex.  xxx.  19  :  "Aaron 
and  his  sons  shall  wash."  When  applied  to  Christmas,  it  must  announce 
to  the  Eabbis  the  glad  tidings  that  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  cleanse 
and  to  save  sinners. — Trans.] 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Ver.  1.  "On  that  day  did  the  king  Ahhashverosh  give  the 
house  of  Haman,  the  Jews'  enemy,  unto  Esther  the  queen." 
What  is  here  narrated  occurs  numberless  times  in  the 
histories  of  Oriental  kingdoms.  The  will  of  the  shah  is  law. 
What  his  servants  possess,  they  have  only  through  him. 
And  this  is  also  to  some  extent  the  case  with  their  life. 
When  they  are  to  be  punished  their  possession  returns  to 
him.  The  fall  of  a  man  like  Haman  is  always  considered  in 
the  light  of  a  war — what  he  possesses  is  spoil.  Haman  falls, 
so  his  house  is  confiscated  when  the  kinoj  wills  it.  When 
Sultan  Suleiman  caused  the  mighty  vizier  of  the  Turkish 
empire,  his  own  brother-in-law,  Ibrahim,  to  be  strangled,  he 
confiscated  all  his  property,  which  was  worth  millions.  And 
so  when  Shah  Abbas  ordered  the  execution  of  a  certain 
prominent  man  on  account  of  his  haughtiness,  Chardin,  who 
informs  us  of  it,  adds :  "  I  do  not  now  say  that  the  king  put 
all  his  property  under  seal,  because  I  believe  I  have  said 
more  than  once,  that  the  confiscation  of  goods  almost  invari- 
ably follows  the  loss  of  life,  when  it  is  lost  by  the  order  of 
the  sovereign."  The  king  Ahhashverosh  confiscates  Haman's 
house,  not  for  himself,  but  for  Esther.  She  and  Haman 
carried  on  war  between  them,  and  she  had  conquered  through 
the  favour  of  the  king,  therefore  she  receives  the  war  booty. 

"  And  Mordecai  came  hefore  the  king" 
He  had  not   come   before  the    king  when   the   king  had 
learned  from  the  chronicle  that  he  had  saved  his  life.     Now 
he  comes  as  Esther's  uncle.     It  was  now  universally  known 


CHAP.  VIII.  2.  227 

to  what  nationality  she  belonged.  She  had  therefore  no 
longer  any  cause  to  conceal  the  facts,  that  her  connection  with 
the  Jew  Mordecai  was  of  long  standing,  that  he  had  brought 
her  up,  and  that  she  had  heard  from  him  about  the  dangerous 
condition  of  her  people.  It  made  no  difference  to  the  king 
that  she  was  a  Jewess,  for  not  the  peculiarities  of  his  subjects, 
but  his  own  will  was  law  (as  is  the  case  with  all  Oriental 
sultans).  It  was  enough  for  him  that  Mordecai  was  her  rela- 
tion, that  she  liked  him,  and  that  he  had  obtained  his  favour. 

He  took  off  his  ring  and  gave  it  to  Mordecai,  just  as 
he  did  before  to  Ham  an.  He  gave  the  property  of  the 
defeated  party  to  the  conqueror.  The  persecutor  (iniv)  had 
fallen,  and  the  persecuted  came  into  power.  The  arbitrari- 
ness of  the  monarch  became  the  instrument  of  retaliation. 
This  also  will  not  be  strange  to  those  who  read  Oriental 
history.  In  a  story  of  the  history  of  Harun  Arrashid  it  is 
told  that  the  governor  of  a  prison  was  once  though  innocent 
punished  by  the  governor  of  the  State,  and  when  his  innocency 
was  proved,  he  was  set  as  inspector  over  his  persecutor  (ed. 
Habicht,  xiii.  20).  Abbas  ordered  Murchidcalichan  to  be 
killed ;  and  made  his  .^room,  who  helped  in  the  execution, 
governor  of  Herat  in  his  place  (Olearius  in  Meissner,  p.  114). 

The  change  was  in  itself  radically  not  different  from  what 
takes  place  in  modern  constitutional  States.  In  the  place  of 
the  outgoing  minister  comes  the  leader  of  the  opposition.  Only 
here  a  matter  of  principle  or  ambition  is  involved  in  the 
change,  but  there  a  matter  of  life.  In  Europe  it  came  to  be 
a  sign  of  the  limited  power  of  the  monarch,  while  in  the  East 
it  was  a  sign  of  the  unlimited  power  of  the  shah. 

Ver.  2.  "And  Esther  set  Mordecai  over  the  house  of  Haman'' 
It  was  given  her  as  a  present  from  the  king,  for  she  stood  at 
the  head  of  those  against  whom  Haman  conspired.  But  she 
cannot  be  the  vizier,  and  so  she  nominates  her  uncle  to  the 
office.  Therefore  she  gives  him  the  house  of  Haman.  He 
requires  not  only  to  have  the  ring,  but  also  the  property  of 


228  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Haman,  as  the  same  grandeur  which  Haman  possessed  is 
necessary  to  his  (Mordecai's)  position.  Esther  rewards 
Mordecai  for  the  love  she  liad  received  from  him.  She  is  not 
only  a  zealous  daughter  of  Israel,  but  has  also  a  grateful  heart. 
Throufjh  the  education  which  she  received  from  him  she  was 
qualified  to  become  a  queen,  and  therefore  in  return  he  must 
become  her  husband's  vizier.  But,  with  all  this,  she  had  not 
forgotten  the  higher  motive  which  was  far  above  personal 
triumphs. 

It  never  occurred  to  the  king  that  all  was  not  yet 
finished  with  the  hanging  of  Haman.  He  saw  that  there 
was  war  between  Esther  and  his  minister.  The  latter  had 
fallen  in  disgrace,  for  the  king  felt  that  he  had  assailed 
his  sovereignty,  and  now  he  thought  that  all  was  at  an  end. 
It  was  not  for  the  sake  of  the  Jews  that  he  had  made  such 
an  exhibition  of  his  anger,  but  in  vindication  of  his  own 
authority.  Now  the  death  of  Haman  had  appeased  him,  and 
he  took  no  further  trouble.  But  the  queen  could  not  yet  be 
satisfied  with  his  condemnation.  For  what  she  had  dared 
and  done  was  not  so  much  to  procure  the  fall  of  Haman,  as 
the  deliverance  of  Israel.  That  Mordecai  had  the  ring  and 
the  house  of  Haman  given  to  him  could  not  satisfy  her.  The 
cruel  decree  was  still  impending  over  Israel.  It  was  yet  in 
full  force  though  Haman  was  dead.  And  as  long  as  this  was 
not  repealed,  the  triumph  of  Mordecai  and  herself  could  not  be 
complete. 

Ver.  3.  "  And  Esthe7^  spake  yet  again  'before  the  hingy 
She  was  not  content  with  what  she  obtained  in  her  first 
audience  with  the  king  at  the  banquet.  She  besought  him 
again  (pididi)  to  grant  her  a  second  audience.  And  she  knew 
well  that  this  would  be  more  difficult  than  the  first,  for  the 
very  reason  that  the  first  was  so  successful.  The  means 
which  she  on  that  occasion  used  could  not  be  used  again. 
She  could  not  invite  to  another  banquet.  To  take  the  king 
by  surprise  again  was  impossible.     For  this  he  had  only  given 


CHAP.  VIII.  3.  229 

her  one  opportunity.  The  personal  consideration  v/hich 
induced  him  to  grant  the  former  interview  was  now  wanting. 
The  entertainment  of  tyrants  becomes  soon  tedious  when  no 
character  of  novelty  is  introduced  into  it ;  they  soon  think 
they  have  had  enough  of  it.  The  second  appearance  of 
Esther  before  the  king  was  therefore  more  difficult  and  of 
more  doubtful  result  than  the  first.  She  makes  also  now — 
as  the  narrator  takes  no  pains  to  conceal — more  exertions,  in 
order  that  she  may  impress  the  king. 


"  She  fell  clown  at  his  feet,  and  besought  him  with  tears." 
She  did  not  do  so  the  first  time.  But  at  that  time  she  did 
not  know  how  much  regard  and  affection  the  king  had  for 
lier.  And  a  weeping  woman  cannot  invite  to  a  feast.  But 
now  she  knew  that  he  loved  her.  One  does  not  resist  the 
tears  of  a  beloved  wife.  And  so  she  beseeches  him  even 
weeping,  that  he,  the  gracious  and  powerful,  may  now  undo 
the  evil  (nyi)  of  the  evil  one  (j?i),  viz.  "  the  device  that 
Haman  had  devised  against  the  Jews."  It  is  true  that  he  is 
dead,  but  the  arrow  which  he  has  thrown  is  still  deadly 
poisonous.  And  she  does  not  now  say,  as  before,  "we  are 
sold,"  lest  she  should  be  misunderstood  as  if  she  was  only 
anxious  for  personal  freedom ;  but  she  entreats  his  help 
against  the  plan  that  threatens  the  Jews  in  general.  This 
name  was  not  even  mentioned  in  the  former  conversa- 
tion ;  but  now,  since  it  is  known  that  she  is  a  relative  of 
Mordecai  the  Jew,  she  has  courage  to  name  them  in  the  third 
person.  The  narrative  indicates  nicety  of  style,  in  that  she 
is  not  represented  as  saying :  "  to  do  away  the  device  which 
Haman  had  devised  against  us."  For  it  would  have  been 
offensive  to  the  king  to  entertain  the  idea  that  a  plan  of  the 
execrable  Haman  could  have  touched  the  queen.  The  result 
of  Esther's  petition  was  still  doubtful.  She  could  not  rely 
upon  the  humour  of  the  Persian  shah.  During  the  interval 
between  the  fall  of  Haman  and  her  present  interview  various 
influences  might  have  been  brought  to  bear  upon  the  king's 


230  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

mind.  But  she  was  mistaken  in  her  fears.  The  king  again 
held  out  the  golden  sceptre,  as  a  sign  that  he  regarded  her 
graciously ;  and  she  recognised  in  this  that  he  was  favourably 
inclined  to  hear  what  she  had  further  to  ask  of  him. 

Ver.  4.  " So  Esther  arose,  and  stood  hefore  the  king" 
As  a  suppliant  she  knelt,  but  in  consequence  of  his  favour 
she  stood  up  as  his  wife,  and  more  accurately  formulated  her 
petition.  The  speech  which  she  now  makes  is  a  masterpiece 
of  that  prudence  and  humility  with  which  the  person  of  the 
shah  must  be  addressed.  The  first  words,  "  If  it  please  the 
king,  and  if  I  have  found  favour  in  his  sight,"  are,  as  it 
appears,  the  usual  form  of  addressing  the  king.  Similarly 
she  spake  to  him  on  the  former  occasion ;  but  now,  bearing  in 
mind  the  difficult  matter  that  she  had  to  lay  before  him,  she 
adds,  "  and  the  thing  seems  right  (ik^d)  before  the  king." 
This  adjective  occurs  only  here,  but  in  later  Hebrew  of  the 
Targum  and  the  Talmud  we  meet  with  it  frequently.  The 
verb  is  etymologically  cognate  with  16J^\  "itJ'X,  meaning  "  right," 
"  proper ; "  but  the  special  sense  in  which  i^j^d  is  used  here,  is 
the  same  as  in  later  times.  The  Eabbis  in  the  Talmud  called 
that  "  hasher  "  which  was  permitted  from  a  religious  point  of 
view.  In  the  same  sense  Esther  understands  the  word  if  the 
thing  appears  to  the  king  such  as,  for  his  person,  for  his 
position  and  conscience,  seems  proper  and  allowable.  She 
herself  passes  no  judgment  upon  it, — this  is  his  privilege, 
and  he  will  in  his  wisdom  know  whether  what  she  demands, 
is  permissible  and  right.  Then  she  goes  on  to  say,  "  And  I 
be  pleasing  (nnito),  good,  in  his  eyes."  The  word  "  good  "  is 
purposely  chosen  by  her.  According  to  the  religious  dualism 
of  the  Persian  teaching,  Ahriman  is  the  evil,  and  Ahuramazda 
is  the  good  god.  Evil  was  therefore  against  the  light  and 
against  the  king,  who  represented  the  doctrine  of  Ahuramazda. 
Evil  was  the  king's  enemy,  and  good  was  the  devoted 
adherent  of  the  king.  When  Esther  accuses  Haman,  she 
calls  him  j^in,  "  the  evil  one ; "  and  in  contrast  to  this  she 


CHAP.  VIII.  6.  231 

says  now,  "  And  if  I  be  good  in  his  eyes ; "  if  the  king  loves 
me,  and  I  appear  as  pleasing,  submissive,  and  attached.  She 
prays  him  for  the  sake  of  the  love  which  he  has  for  her — 
but,  of  course,  after  ascertaining  that  her  demand  is  right — 
that  he  should  invalidate  and  revoke  the  edict,  and  destroy 
the  letters  (idd,  "scroll,"  "letter,"  and  "book"  as  literae) 
which  contain  Haman's  device  to  annihilate  the  Jews.  She 
adds  wisely  that  they  are  ni^nD,  the  machination  of  Haman, 
for  in  themselves  they  were  the  letters  of  the  king;  and 
therefore  she  guards  herself  against  implying  that  she  meant 
that  the  king's  own  work  should  be  destroyed.  Nothing  of  the 
kind.  For  she  knows  well  that  a  royal  edict  cannot  be  revoked, 
and  therefore  she  puts  into  the  king's  mouth  a  different  inter- 
pretation of  the  character  of  the  letters.  They  are  entirely 
Haman's  work,  of  which  the  king  knew  nothing  originally ; 
they  had  been  smuggled  in,  and  therefore  he  can  revoke  them. 
When  she  adds  :  '*  son  of  Hamedatha  the  Agagite,"  it  must  be, 
as  already  remarked,  in  allusion  to  his  relation  to  a  certain 
party,  which  makes  it  more  detestable  in  the  eyes  of  the  king. 

Ver.  6.  "  How  can  I  endure  to  see  ?  "  etc. 
With  rhetorical  skill  and  force  she  continues  to  move  his 
heart.  "  Say  not,  0  king,  that  thy  favour  protects  my  life, — ■ 
that  is  doubtless  true, — but  I  have  not  prayed  merely  for 
myself, — and  how  could  I  live  in  peace  and  enjoyment  while 
my  poor  people  is  slain ;  how  unbearable  would  be  to  me  thy 
favour  and  glory,  if  I  should  have  to  witness  the  disaster 
which  befell  my  own  kindred ;  how  should  I  be  ashamed  to 
be  something  to  thee,  when  in  spite  of  it  I  should  have  to 
look  at  the  destruction  of  the  nation  which  gave  me  birth ! " 
(She  uses  the  word  nn^lD  for  nation,  from  lb\  as  natio  is  from 
nascor.)  She  says,  "  endure  to  see,"  without  being  able  to 
help.  Thus  she  gives  the  king  clearly  to  understand  that 
she  would  be  powerless  and  helpless,  although  she  is  the 
beloved  queen ;  and  this  powerlessness  w^ould  be  a  reflection 
upon  him.     She  effectively  shows  him  the  contrast  between 


232  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

the  favour  that  he  had  shown  to  her  and  Mordecai,  and  her 
possible  helplessness  in  not  being  able  to  save  her  brethren 
from  death  and  plunder.  What  would  the  people  say,  and 
what  would  be  the  general  popular  opinion  if  they  should  see 
that  the  great  favourites  of  the  king  are  inactive  while  their 
people  suffer  ?  Could  Esther  endure  that  people  should  say  of 
her,  that  she  was  sitting  and  enjoying  herself  in  the  harem, 
and  looking  with  indifference  at  the  destruction  of  Israel  ?  If 
so,  thy  favour,  she  gives  him  to  understand,  would  be  worse 
than  thy  wrath.  The  adherents  of  Haman  will  avenge  them- 
selves on  Mordecai  and  on  us  by  killing  the  Jews  before  our 
eyes.  Not  Haman  but  we  would  be  the  most  unfortunate. 
His  death  would  be  better  than  our  life.  For  it  is  better  to 
die  with  the  others  than  to  live  in  sorrow  and  contempt. 
"  My  people  and  I  have  not  fasted  and  prayed  that  I  should 
live,  but  that  they  should  live.  My  life  is  in  thy  hands. 
Save  the  poor  people." 

Vers.  7,  8.  "  Then  the  king  Ahhashverosh  said  to  Esther  the 

queen"  etc. 

The  answer  of  the  king  manifests  dignity  and  kindness  at 
the  same  time.  He  pacifies  the  excited  Esther,  and  yet  main- 
tains his  royal  attitude.  It  is  difficult  to  see  why  Clericus 
finds  the  answer  obscure.  His  language  is  clear ;  a  revoca- 
tion of  the  edict  is  impossible ;  a  rescript  issued  in  the  name 
of  the  king  and  sealed  by  his  seal  cannot  be  made  void  under 
any  pretext  whatever.-^  And  this  rests  upon  the  idea  that  a 
"  decree,"  m,  is  ideally  to  be  looked  upon  in  the  light  of  an 
emanation  from  him.  Whether  the  writing  and  the  plans 
originated  in  Haman's  mind  or  not,  is  of  no  consequence. 
Suffice  it  that  they  bear  the  name  and  seal  of  the  king. 
"  But,"  says  he,  "  you  can  obtain  your  wish  very  easily  in 
another  manner.  Mordecai  is  now  the  keeper  of  the  seals,  and 
he  can  issue  any  decree  in  my  name  that  he  likes.     It  is  now  a 

^  What  Brisson  adduces  from  Diodor.  xvii.  30  (not  14),  has  no  reference 
to  this  {De  reg.  Pers.  princ.  1.  i.  c.  130). 


CHAP.  VIII.  9,  10.  233 

well-known  fact  that  Haman  has  fallen,  that  I  gave  to  Esther 
the  Jewess  his  house,  and  that  he  was  hung  because  of  his 
wanting  to  lay  violent  hands  upon  the  Jews.  Make  this 
known  everywhere !  This  will  show  all  over  the  Persian 
kingdom  what  my  will  is,  and  where  my  interests  lie.  Then 
my  governors  and  officials,  after  hearing  these  reports,  will 
take  care  not  to  rise  against  the  Jews.  They  will  see  from 
this  that  another  party  has  come  to  the  helm  of  government, 
and  that  it  is  not  my  will  that  the  Jews  should  be  wronged. 
As  soon  as  the  officials  hear  that  the  queen  and  the  vizier  are 
themselves  of  Jewish  origin,  they  will  instruct  the  people  to 
behave  themselves  to  the  Jews  in  general  with  proper  decorum, 
and  not  in  the  spirit  of  Haman.  You  can  issue  an  edict  in  my 
name,  which  will  virtually  annul  the  first,  but  the  first  cannot 
be  revoked.  Write,"  says  he,  "  now  also  to  the  Jews  what  you 
please,"  just  as  he  had  before  left  Haman  to  do  what  he  liked. 
We  observe  in  him  the  same  arbitrary  proceeding,  the  same 
carelessness  as  to  the  lives  of  many  people,  the  same  tyran- 
nical caprice  now  for  Esther  as  it  was  before  for  Haman, — 
all  is  easy  in  his  hands,  except  to  revoke  his  former  edict, 
which  might  be  regarded  as  derogatory  to  the  royal  dignity. 

Vers.  9,  10.  "Then  were  the  king's  scribes  called  at  that 
time,  in  the  third  month,  which  is  the  month  Sivan,  on  the 
three  and  twentieth  day  thereof"  etc. 

The  name  of  the  third  month,  Sivan,  occurs  for  the  first 
time  here.  Its  meaning,  like  that  of  most  names  of  the  old 
calendar,  has  been  entirely  confused  by  Benfey  and  Stern 
in  the  book,  Ueber  die  Monatsnamen.  According  to  them, 
it  is  derived  from  an  imaginary  Iranian  deity  named 
gpenta.  The  meaning  can  easily  be  seen.  The  second  and 
the  third  month  of  the  Jewish  calendar  were  vernal  months, 
whose  names  were  transferable  to  each  other,  as  is  the  case 
elsewhere.  We  frequently  call  June  the  second  May.  The 
month  May,  which  is  called  in  the  later  Jewish  calendar  n''''5<, 
lyar  {eap,  spring),  goes  in  the  Old  Testament  by  tlie  name  of 


234  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

IT  (1  Kings  vi.  1,  37),  meaning  blossom,  the  month  in  which 
the  trees  are  in  bloom.  Now,  as  the  letters  r  and  D  are  inter- 
changeable (as  in  inr  and  ino),  IT  became  JVD,  to  designate  the 
second  spring  month,  and  the  third  in  the  year.  The  Lettes 
called  it  Seedu,  month  of  blossoms  (comp.  my  Sunem,  1876, 
p.  182). 

The  decree  which  Haman  obtained  with  subtlety  dated  from 
the  13th  of  the  first  month  Nisan,  so  that  it  was  forty  days 
in  advance  of  this.  It  was  therefore  the  more  necessary 
to  despatch  the  message  without  delay.  For  it  had  to  be  sent 
all  over  the  empire  to  all  nations,  as  everywhere  a  rising 
against  the  Jews  was  feared  ;  consequently  we  find  here  that 
not  runners  only  were  employed,  as  in  the  case  of  Haman's 
despatch,  but  also  riders  on  swift  steeds,  mules,  and  young 
dromedaries.  The  expression  tJ'lDnn  2yr\  is  to  show  that 
besides  riders  on  ordinary  horses,  D^DID,  there  were  others  who 
rode  on  race-horses.  The  word  ej>d"i  is  found  in  two  other 
places  in  the  0.  T.,  in  Micah  i.  13  and  1  Kings  v.  8,  in 
conjunction  with  D''D1D,  and  appears  to  be  cognate  with  rachab, 
and  to  express  "  rash  and  fierce  driving."  That,  therefore, 
the  name  of  the  famous  horse  of  Eustem,  Eekshh,  is  to  be 
derived  from  D'^'i  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  not  from  its 
colour,  as  Yullers  {Lex.  Pers.  ii.  24)  asserts,  for  he  himself 
gives  it  the  general  meaning  of  horse.  It  seems  to  me  that 
this  word  gives  us  explicitly  the  origin  of  the  German  word 
Boss ;  Old  High  Germ.,  Old  Low  Germ,  liros ;  Anglo-Sax. 
Iwrs.  This  explanation  was  overlooked  even  by  Grimm 
{Gesch.  d.  deutsch.  Spr.  p.  31).  In  the  translation  into  the 
German  language,  the  chs  became  an  s  or  sch,  as  evidently  is 
the  case  in  the  relation  between  the  Hebrew  ^ni  and  the 
German  rauschen.  These  runners  are  further  designated  on 
account  of  their  excellence  and  swiftness  as  D'*i"inK^nx.  All 
recent  commentators  (as  Bertheau,  Keil,  Schulz)  have  almost 
literally  accepted  the  view  of  Haug,  which  is  expressed  in 
Ewald's  Annual  (v.  154),  where  he  explained  the  word  thus: 
"  It  is  an  adjective  form  of  Kshatra,  '  dominion,'  '  the  king,' 


CHAP.  VIII.  9,  10.  235 

with  the  termination  ana,  na,  and  signifies  the  '  royal  State 
horses.' "  However  specious  this  explanation  may  momentarily 
appear,  it  awakens  doubt  after  close  observation.  First, 
because  Haug  himself  explains  in  the  previous  page  D'^JDn^i^nj^ 
from  Kshatra,  "  land,"  "  dominion,"  and  it  did  not  occur  to  him 
that  here  in  our  text  ^^^n  is  with  a  daleth,  1,  while  in  D^JintJ^n^^ 
the  same  sound  is  given  by  a  n.  Secondly,  if  it  meant 
"  royal,"  it  would  have  stood  first  in  order  by  way  of  distinc- 
tion. If  it  was  not  an  official  name,  why  did  not  the  author 
use  the  Hebrew  word  ^^d,  which  he  frequently  uses  ?  If 
it  were  such,  what  does  it  mean  ?  Were  not  the  rest  royal  ? 
Or  were  all  royal  horses  sent  ?  Why  is  this  expression  not 
used  in  connection  with  the  State  horse  upon  which  Mordecai 
rode  ?  Then,  again,  the  formation  of  the  word  is  defective. 
Kshatra  means  province,  land  (modern  Pers.  ■int:^).  We  do  not 
observe  the  meaning  of  "  stately,"  "  lordly,"  in  it.  It  would 
almost,  on  the  contrary,  express  a  contrast  to  wliat  was  royal, 
and  rather  express  that  which  was  provincial  and  belonged  to 
a  satrapy. 

Now  a  closer  observation  will  show  that  D^:^nt^•^N  is  derived 
from  the  Old  Persian  nnt^  with  the  prefixed  syllable,  and  has 
the  signification  of  dromedary.  The  camel,  which  is  swift  in 
running  ("dromas  velocissimi  cursus,"  VuUers,  ii.  411),  has  this 
name  (Zend,  ushtra,  uschticr,  uchtur)  Schutitr,  SchUir}  This 
name  of  the  camel  is  manifestly,  as  dromedary,  from  Bpo/juico, 
"  to  run,"  derived  from  the  habit  of  the  animal.  The  Tigris  is 
therefore  also  called  mnK>,  because  its  current  is  swift.  The 
word  is  doubtless  connected  with  rpe^ft)  (for  o-rpixo^),  and 
with  the  Zend,  takshra,  "  to  run  "  (Bournouf,  Su?-  le  Yagna,  p. 
411).  One  is  thereby  reminded  of  the  rapid  running  of  a 
stream  (comp.  Dieffenbach,  Goth.  Glossen,  ii.  316).  The  camel 
and  the  horse,  on  account  of  their  swift  running,  have  received 
various  exchanges  in  name.  In  Old  German  glossaries  the 
camel  was  called  "  wild  horse."  The  name  for  horse  in  the 
Middle  Ages  was  warannio;  Old  High  Germ,  reinneo,  reinno 
^  [Sanscr.  agwatora. — Trans.] 


236  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

(runner) ;  warani,  icaranah,  is  used  by  Caucasian  nations  for 
camel  (comp.  my  essay  on  the  camel  in  Mark.  Forschungenj 
vol.  ix.).  Accordingly,  I  translate  D^^intJ^nx,  "racers,  horse- 
dromedaries,"  for  this  is  the  sense  of  the  narrative,  that  they 
ran  swiftly,  which  was  of  greater  importance  than  that  they 
should  be  of  stately  appearance. 

Old  Jewish  commentators  have  really  understood  camel  by 
the  word,  and  the  swiftness  of  the  camel  is  well  known  (see 
Ptitter,  xiii.  639  and  734).  But  in  the  posts  which  the 
Persian  kings  in  the  time  of  Xerxes  used,  it  does  not  appear 
that  camels  were  employed.  In  MezaJih  Aaron  (p.  48c) 
there  is  the  curious  remark  that  the  sort  of  camel  that  was 
employed  in  the  transmission  of  this  message  had  eight  feet, 
so  that  when  four  of  them  got  tired  it  ran  with  the  other 
four,  and  that  the  riders  were  tied  to  them,  and  had  no 
garments  nor  saddles,  and  that  these  Ahhashtranim  are  called 
"  trampeltrarius."  The  Chaldean  translators  rendered  the 
word  by  '•^"iDny,  "  naked,"  and  the  misunderstandiug  about  the 
dromedary  was  added,  because  this  loses  its  hair  for  some 
months,  so  that  it  appears  as  naked  (comp.  Oken's  Zicsammen- 
stellungen  Naturgesch.  vii.  1270,  and  Eitter,  xiii.  654). 

To  the  above  explanation  what  follows  is  very  suitable, 
D''DD"in  '':n,  "  sons  of  mares."  yy\  is  "  stud,"  Pers.  ramakd  (comp. 
Justi,  ^2^m  Bundehesch,  158);  but  it  was  not  new  that  all 
were  bred  of  the  stud  :  but  in  ']m,  Syr.  i<3?o"i,  is  repeated  what 
Jacob  Grimm  (Deutsche  Gram,  iii  327)  remarks  on  the  stud, 
that  the  word  properly  means,  bred  from  the  stud  mares. 
KDD*i  also  is  stud,  and  grex  equarum,  i.e.  "bred  as  a  stud" 
(Castelli,  867).  They  were  mares  particularly  trained  as 
racers.  Probably  what  Xenophon  says  about  the  places  in 
which  the  postmen  with  their  attendants  halted,  in  order  to 
receive  directions,  has  some  reference  to  this  (comp.  Brisson, 
De  reg.  Persar.  n.  338,  p.  312). 

The  sending  of  the  letter  took  place  on  the  23rd  of  the  month 
Sivan.  The  date  is  just  as  purposely  chosen  as  that  of  the 
first  message  by  Haman.     That  was  despatched  on  the  loth 


CHAP.  VIII.  11-14.  237 

day  of  Nisan,  which  bore  the  name  of  Tir,  "  arrow,"  among 
the  Persians  (see  chap.  iii.  12).  Mordecai's  message  was  sent 
out  on  the  23rd  day  of  the  month  Sivan,  which  corresponded 
to  the  Old  Persian  month  also  called  Tir,  which  was  the  name 
among  them  for  Mercurius  the  divine  scribe  (Hyde,  De  rel. 
Persar.ip,  264),  and  the  23  rd  day  had  the  name  of  Dai  pa  Din,  on 
which  day  the  Parsees  pray  for  the  expulsion  of  the  evil  of  Satan. 
Besides  this,  Din  had  the  signification  of  justice  and  law,  and 
among  the  Jews  pi  meant  judgment ;  it  was  then,  indeed,  for 
Haman  and  his  adherents  a  '{^^n  DV,  a  day  of  judgment. 

Vers.  11—14.  "Wherein  the  king  granted  the  Jeius  ivhich 
vjere  in  every  city  to  gather  themselves  together^'  etc. 
The  edict  of  a  Persian  king  was  infallible  and  irrevocable ; 
consequently  another  must  be  published  to  remove  the  mis- 
chievous effect  of  the  former.  In  the  first,  direction  was  given 
to  the  party  of  Haman  to  destroy  all  the  Jews ;  the  second 
expresses  that  the  king  gives  permission  to  the  Jews  to  kill 
their  enemies.  The  king  could  not  order  the  enemies  of  the 
Jews  to  keep  the  peace,  but  could  invest  with  authority  those 
who  were  appointed  by  them  for  the  slaughter.  He  did  not 
literally  take  away  the  sword  from  the  hands  of  the  anti- Jewish 
party ;  but  he  at  the  same  time  handed  it  to  the  Jews.  On 
the  side  on  which  the  king  lent  his  weight  and  authority 
victory  was  sure.  Therefore  the  edict  in  favour  of  the  Jews, 
according  to  the  narrative,  is  verbally  like  the  hostile  edict 
against  them,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  variations  which 
their  peculiar  position  required.  Because  the  Jews  were 
scattered  in  different  places,  the  decree  provided  that  they 
should  assemble  themselves  in  localities  and  arm  themselves 
so  as  to  be  able  to  offer  a  collected  national  opposition  or 
assault.  But  they  are  authorized  to  exercise  this  power  only 
against  the  Dyn  i)^n,  "  the  fighting  men,"  of  their  enemies, 
but  not  against  any  one  else.  They  may  only  fight  against 
the  party  and  adherents  of  Haman.  They  are  the  Dnv,  "  the 
enemies."     This  was  to  take  place  on  the  same  day  which 


238  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Haman  had  appointed  for  their  destruction,  on  the  13  th  day 
of  the  month  Adar.  A  day  sooner  would  annul  the  former 
decree, — but  the  present  was  only  another  which  supported 
the  former.  The  month  Adar  ("ns)  corresponds,  according  to 
its  origin  and  meaning,  with  the  month  of  March.  The  name 
already  signified  "  fire  "  among  the  Chaldeans  and  Assyrians 
(Movers,  Phcenic.  i.  340).  Adramelech,  a  name  containing  the 
word  Adar,  was  an  idol  to  which  children  were  offered  up  in 
burning  fire.  It  represented  the  consuming  and  warming  power 
of  fire,  as  well  as  the  warmth  which  the  earth  possesses  and 
makes  use  of  in  the  vernal  season.  Therefore  March  is  also  so 
called  from  Mars,  not  on  account  of  its  warlike,  but  on  account 
of  its  agricultural  significance.  He  was  invoked  that  he 
should  protect  the  field  from  injury;  that  he  should  give 
prosperity  to  the  produce  of  the  land,  and  to  the  cattle  (comp. 
my  Drachenkdmpfe,^.  91).  For  Ares,  whose  power  was  trans- 
ferred to  Mars,  means  also  nothing  else  but  ix,  "iv  =  ^^,  "  fire  " 
(comp.  my  Esmun,  pp.  30,  31).  He  is  the  flaming  god,  and  is 
represented  on  both  sides  of  coins  of  Areopolis  as  holding 
weapons  with  burning  torches.  The  genius  of  the  modern 
Persian  month  Adar,  although  not  corresponding  now,  as  in 
olden  times,  with  March  (Hyde,  De  rel.  Pers.  p.  249),  but  with 
November,  is  yet  connected  with  fire,  the  hearth,  and  the  sun. 
The  9th  of  the  month  was  illuminated  by  the  festive  fire,  and  all 
the  altars  were  burning  like  funeral  piles.  According  to  Haman's 
opinion,  Israel  should  be  consumed  in  flames  of  war;  but  instead 
of  this  they  became  a  consuming  fire  for  their  enemies. 

While  in  chap.  iii.  15  it  is  merely  said  of  the  messengers 
of  Haman  that  they  went  forth  in  haste,  D'Sim,  of  these  it  is 
said,  "  they  hastened  and  hurried  on,"  D^^nnD.  The  word  5]m 
is  only  a  transposition  of  ins ;  "  to  be  afraid,"  "  to  flee,"  "  to 
hurry,"  are  cognate  ideas  (comp.  ran  =  nan,  which  means  the 
same  when  the  consonants  are  thus  exchanged).  The  same  is 
the  case  with  the  verb  hr\2,  "  to  be  anxious,"  "  to  flee,"  "  to 
tremble."  It  contains  the  idea  which  is  found  in  the  Latin 
halitus,  and  expresses  "  panting  for  breath."      The  messengers 


CHAP.  VIII.  15.  ^39 

are  breathlessly  hurrying  on,  and  anxious  to  carry  out  the 
king's  command.  The  decree  was  published  at  Shushan,  and 
only  through  this  the  inhabitants  of  the  capital  learned  what 
had  happened.  Not  only  the  fall  of  Haman,  but  also  of  his 
party,  is  but  just  now  made  known ;  but  it  is  done  in  such 
a  way  as  to  produce  a  visible  and  forcible  impression  of  a 
dramatic  kind  upon  the  great  multitude. 

Ver.  1 5.  "And  Mordecai  went  forth" 
At  the  time  (chap.  iv.  1)  when  the  dreadful  decree  against 
the  Jews  was  issued,  Mordecai  rent  his  clothes,  and  put  on 
sackcloth  and  ashes.  ]^ow,  being  placed  by  the  king  in 
Haman's  position,  he  went  out  from  the  palace  in  official 
uniform.  "  He  went  forth,"  he  let  himself  be  seen,  and  by 
this  the  fall  of  Haman  and  the  victory  of  his  opponent 
was  shown,  so  as  to  leave  no  doubt  in  any  one's  mind. 
He  wore  an  apparel  of  blue  and  white.  White  and  purple 
or  violet  were  the  Persian  State  colours.  They  have  reference 
to  the  Persian  religious  view  about  the  world.  White  is 
the  colour  of  light,  blue  of  the  sky,  purple  of  the  sun.  He 
wore  on  his  head  "  a  great  crown  of  gold,"  nhlj  nnr  niDy. 
When  the  king  asked  Haman,  on  that  eventful  night,  what 
he  should  do  to  the  man  whom  he  wanted  to  honour,  he 
replied,  he  should  put  upon  his  head  the  ni^i^D  "in:3,  "  the 
cidaris,  which  the  king  alone  could  wear,"  the  straight  one 
ippdrj).  It  is  not  said  that  he  conferred  this  honour  upon 
Mordecai.  He  only  granted  him  royal  dress  and  a  royal 
horse.  And  now  is  mtoy  to  be  distinguished  from  -iriD ;  the 
first  is  a  diadem  twisted  round  about  the  head.  Verbally  rr\^]} 
and  tiara  (in  Herod,  rcdpa^  or  TLrjpi]^)  seem  to  be  the  same 
(Hyde,  De  rel.  Pers.  p.  369)  ;  but,  in  fact,  it  is  more  used  and 
described  as  a  cidaris,  and  is  really  only  a  diadem,  and 
therefore  must  mean  such  in  our  passage,  for  only  such 
was  made  of  gold.  With  regard  to  the  identity  of  the  tiara 
with  the  cidaris,  Spanheim  says  (Dissert,  de  usu  et  ;prcest. 
Nummor.  p.   V70) :  "Conjuncta  itaque  in  regione  Persarum 


240  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

aut  Armeniorum  etiam  culta  ilia  capitis  ornamenta  tiara  ac 
diadema  non  vero  ut  eadem,  sed  diversa."^  In  themselves 
tiara  and  cidaris  were  not  the  same ;  but  they  were  bound 
toijether,  for  the  former  was  wound  around  the  latter,  and 
appears  also  on  the  coins  of  the  Arsacides  without  the  cidaris 
(comp.  Vaillant,  Begnurn  Arsacidaricm,  p.  1,  etc.).  So  the  name 
tiara  came  to  be  used  for  the  whole  ornamentation  of  the 
head,  and  appeared  to  signify  ina,  a  crown,  while  it  was  only 
an  niViV  or  m^y.  Mordecai  did  not  wear  a  high  hat,  which 
the  king  alone  could  wear,  but  a  princely  tiara,  which  was  big 
enough,  and  embroidered  with  gold.  A  passage  in  Strabo  (lib.  xv. 
c.  iii.  19,  ed.  Paris,  p.  625)  clearly  describes  his  uniform:  "They, 
the  princes,  have  a  lined  robe  with  sleeves  down  to  the  knees 
{')(^ltl6v),  inside  it  is  (iin)  white,  outside  it  is  avOivo^, — better 
to  read  lavOivo^,  viz.  violet  blue  (nl)Dn) ;  in  the  summer  they  wear 
a  mantle  of  purple,  but  in  winter  it  is  of  a  variegated  colour 
or  blue  (just  according  to  the  reading  avBivov  or  lavdivov)." 

Mordecai  was  so  dressed,  and  as  it  was  summer,  in  the 
month  of  Sivan,  he  wore  a  purple  mantle.  The  name  yi^n, 
which  occurs  only  here  to  denote  the  stately  flowing  robe,  is 
very  frequently  used  by  the  Jews  to  signify  a  wrapping  up 
in  general  (as  the  case  is  with  instrumentuin),  and  specially 
for  the  grave-cloth  or  shroud  in  which  the  dead  are  buried. 
The  second  Targum  renders  it  by  no'^bj,  which  Buxtorf  and 
Levy  after  him  consider  Hebrew  {Lex.  Chald.  p.  143)  ;  but  in 
2  Kings  ii.  8,  it  is  a  wrapping  together  of  the  mantle,  which 
appears  as  contrary  to  enveloping.  The  etymological  explana- 
tion in  the  Talmud,  Tr.  Shabbath,  p.  7  Ih,  that  one  appears  in 
such  a  mantle  like  a  D^iJ,^  "  a  puppet,"  shows  that  the  meaning 
was  then  obscure.    It  is  nothing  else  but  the  Greek  KaXvy^ia. 

The  Midrash  Esther,  ed.  Amst.  p.  95a,  speaks  of  coins  on 
which  the  images  of  Mordecai  and  Esther  were  struck  on  each 

*  Comp.  Sueton.  Nero  13 :  "  Dein  precanti  tiara  deducta  diadema 
imposuit." 

^  [Rashi,  in  loc.^  explains  that  it  means  a  garment  made  of  one  piece  of 
cloth,  without  being  cut  for  sleeves,  etc. — Trans.] 


CHAP.  VIII.  16.  241 

side.  If  such  really  existed,  they  must  have  been  issued  for 
political  reasons  in  later  times.  It  is  quite  probable,  as  we  have 
instances  of  Oriental  coins  which  represent  a  man  on  one  side 
and  a  woman  on  the  other,  as  Zenobia  and  her  son,  or  Aurelian. 
But  there  can  be  no  thought  of  authenticating  the  report  of  the 
Midrash,  as  Hottinger  is  inclined  to  do  (Cippi,  Hehr,  p.  147). 

"  And  Mordecai  went  fortlir  j^V. 
This  expression  is  reproduced  by  John  in  chap.  xix.  5, 
when  he  says :  ^E^rjXOev  ovv  6  'iTjaov^i,  "  Jesus  therefore  came 
out "  from  the  palace  of  Pilate,  as  Mordecai  from  the  palace 
of  the  Persian  king.  Mordecai  with  the  golden  crown  and 
stately  robe,  and  Jesus  wearing  the  crown  of  thorns  and  also 
a  purple  garment;  Mordecai  triumphant,  but  Jesus  mocked 
and  scourged.  Mordecai  went  out  to  avenge  his  people  by 
imbruing  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  their  enemies ;  but  Jesus 
went  out  to  pour  out  His  life-blood  on  the  cross,  in  order  to 
redeem  all  from  eternal  death.  It  is  impossible  that  John 
should  not  have  had  this  passage  in  mind,  and  it  is  strange 
that  modern  commentators  of  the  N.  T.  have  not  referred  to  it. 

Ver.  16.  "  The  Jeivs  had  light"  ni^i^. 
Light  is  salvation,  redemption,  happiness, — the  preceding 
anxiety  had  been  to  them  like  night.  The  morning  emanci- 
pates, spring  redeems,  and  good  news  brings  light  and  liberty. 
The  placing  of  lights,^  together  with  the  expressions  of  glad- 
ness and  joy  and  honour,  is  certainly  peculiar  to  the  book  of 
Esther;  and  this  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  influence  of  the 
view  which  the  Persians  took  of  the  universe,  according  to 
which  light  was  the  present  agency  in  everything  good. 
Ahuramazda — iTons — was  the  antithesis  of  everything  defiled 
and  impure,  and  of  all  deceit  and  slander  (comp.  Hyde,  pp. 
161,  162). — \)b\y,  gladness,  is  radically  and  essentially  like  the 

^  [This  was  prohably  also  an  ilhimination,  as  was  the  custom  in  the  East 
on  such  occasions,  and  it  became  the  pattern  for  the  later  Feast  of  the 
Dedication. — Trans.] 

Q 


242  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

German  jaAichzen,  juclizen,  juzen,  Eng.  "  to  shout,"  "  to  huzzali," 
Gr.  Iv^eiv. 

Ver.  1 7.  "  And  many  from  among  the  peoijle  of  the  land 

hecame  Jews." 

Our  text  has  the  word  DnriTiO.^  And  from  this  it  was 
inferred  from  very  ancient  times  (even  by  the  Targumim) 
that  there  must  be  a  verb  ir[\  from  Tin\  to  signify  "  the  act  of 
making  a  proselyte  to  Judaism."  But  the  word  does  nowhere 
occur.  Neither  biblical  nor  post-biblical  Hebrew  knows  it, 
but  rather  for  the  said  act  the  words  -i-ij  and  -i^^'^riD  do  every- 
where occur.  I  cannot  believe  that  the  narrative  meant  to 
convey  the  idea  that  "  many  became  Jews,"  that  they  cut 
themselves  off  from  their  national  connection,  and  embraced 
the  Mosaic  religion  by  circumcision,  etc.  This  would  not 
have  been  recorded  in  one  short  sentence  forming  only  half  of 
a  verse  in  the  original.  Such  an  event  would  have  excited  a 
great  deal  of  comment  and  much  material  for  the  historian. 
The  removal  of  the  wall  of  partition  which  separated  the  Persians 
from  the  Jews  by  their  respective  rites  and  customs,  would 
have  produced  such  a  change  among  them  both,  that  the  fact 
would  not  have  been  passed  over  so  slightly  as  if  it  was  of  no 
great  importance.  What  the  passage  means  in  all  probability 
is  this — that  many  Persians  made  common  cause  with  the  Jews, 
that  they  became  friendly  to  them,  and  united  with  them  in 
hostility  against  the  party  of  Haman,  as  they  saw  that  the  Jews 
had  such  high  influence  at  court,  and  that  their  patron  was  a 
great  favourite  of  the  king.  I  think,  therefore,  that  we  are  to 
read  DnnTiD,  from  in\  "  to  unite,"  which  word  occurs  frequently 
in  this  sense  in  the  0.  T.,  in  the  Targum,  and  in  the  Talmud. 

^  [Although  the  LXX.  and  the  Syriac  read  as  the  Masoretic  text,  yet  it 
may  be  that  the  scribes  had  afterwards  purposely  exchanged  the  n  for  a  n, 
as  some  codices  have  even  a  circle  to  indicate  that  a  l  is  wanting.  Haub 
says :  "  None  sine  caus4  circulum  habent  codices.  Nam  legendiuu 
DmrrriD,  inserta  %  quia  ro  )  non  abest  ab  DnirT*  Judaeis."  The  author's 
view  gains  support  from  the  comment  of  Ibn  Ezra,  who  makes  a  com- 
I^romise  by  saying,  that  they  only  assumed  the  name  of  Jew. — Trans.] 


CHAPTEE    IX. 

Ver.  1.  "  Now  in  the  twelfth  month!' 
The  arrow  which  Haman  was  to  throw  on  the  13th  of  Adar 
upon  the  people  of  Israel  fell  upon  his  own  head,  and  upon  the 
heads  of  his  family  and  party.  That  day  was  to  be  the  great 
day  of  battle  against  the  Jews,  and  his  own  sons  fell.  He  that 
digs  a  pit  for  others  falls  into  it  himself.  What  he  wanted  to 
do  to  others  was  accomplished  in  himself.  As  Adonibezek  said, 
"  As  I  have  done,  so  God  hath  requited  me  "  (Judg.  i.  7  ;  see 
my  Comm.  p.  7) ;  so  it  was  fulfilled  on  the  18th  of  Adar.  In 
the  book  of  Wisdom  (chap.  xi.  15,  IG)  we  read,  "But  for  the 
foolish  devices  of  their  wickedness,  wherewith  being  deceived 
they  worshipped  serpents  void  of  reason  .  .  .  thou  didst  send 
a  multitude  of  unreasoning  beasts  upon  them  for  vengeance : 
That  they  might  know,  that  wherewithal  a  man  sinneth,  by  the 
same  also  shall  he  be  punished."  The  history  of  the  artist 
Perillus,  who  had  made  a  bull  of  copper  for  Phalaris  of 
Ac^rigentum,  in  order  to  torture  those  whom  he  murdered,  and 
was  the  first  to  suffer  by  it  himself,  is  repeated  in  all  legendary 
collections.  The  German  imperial  chronicle  tells  a  similar 
instructive  story  of  the  Emperor  Nerva,  to  whom  an  artist 
offered  to  manufacture  a  horse  of  a  wonderful  kind.  It  was 
so  constructed,  that  if  a  knight  should  be  placed  upon  it,  the 
horse  w^ould  fly  in  the  air  and  the  knight  would  be  burned. 
Nerva  tried  this  first  on  the  artist  himself  (see  Massmann, 
Kaiser chronik,  iii.  747).  It  is  not  clear  why  the  legend  was 
transferred  to  Nerva.  Probably  he  is  confounded  with  Nero. 
But  it  is  a  matter  of  history  that  Louis  XI.,  king  of  France, 
put  Bishop  Eoland  of  Verdun  in  the  iron  cage  which  he 
had  invented.  —  Comines    reports,    "  Fecerat    caveas    ferreas 


244  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

ligneasque  ferreas  laminis  intra  extraque  inductas  cum 
terribilibus  claustris,  octo  pedum  amplitudine,  unum  altitudine 
supra  staturam  hominis.  Primus  harum  auctor  Episcopus 
Verdunensis  fuit,  qui  in  primam  earundem  ut  primum  facta 
fuit  missus  quatuordecim  annos  habitavit "  {Ber.  Gest.  Litdov. 
XL,  lib.  vi.  c.  xii.).  Similarly  it  is  told  of  Ezzelin,  who  made 
the  architect  the  first  prisoner  in  the  prison  which  he  had 
erected  (Massmann,  i.  1,  quoted  from  Muratori).  Massmann 
has  also  overlooked  a  similar  story  of  an  artificial  horse  of 
which  Plutarch  tells  in  connection  with  Aemilius  Censorinus 
in  Egesta.  This  man  was  a  cruel  governor,  and  a  certain 
Aruntius  Paterculus  offered  to  make  him  a  horse  of  metal 
by  which  he  might  torture  people.  Then  the  tyrant  tested 
its  efficacy  upon  the  artist  (Plut.  Comparison  of  Greek  and 
Roman  Reports,  n.  39).  The  modern  history  of  France  shows 
a  remarkable  retribution  in  name  and  in  date.  Louis  XIV. 
ordered  on  October  12,  1693,  to  demolish  the  royal  tombs  at 
Spire.  The  man  who  was  entrusted  with  the  superintendence 
of  the  work  was  called  Hentz.  On  October  12,  1793,  the 
revolution  began  by  the  demolishing  of  the  royal  tombs  at  St. 
Denis,  and  the  French  representative  who  undertook  it  had 
also  the  name  of  Hentz.  When  the  narrator  in  the  book  of 
Esther  rightly  points  to  the  retaliation  which  the  tyranny 
of  Haman  received,  the  Jews  should  not  forget  that  they 
experienced  a  similar  retribution  in  their  history.  They 
shouted  triumphantly  when  Jesus  was  crucified.  And  so 
the  whole  Eoman  army  shouted  triumphantly  when  Vespasian 
and  Titus  returned  as  victors  to  Eome  and  there  publicly 
crucified  Simon  Giora.  There  were  not  trees  enough  at  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem  on  which  to  crucify  all  the  prisoners  of 
war.  I  have  referred  to  these  wonderful  retributions  in  my 
small  book,  Israel  in  der  Weltgeschichte. 

300^1  Ver.  2.  ''For  the  fear  of  them  was  fallen  upon  all  the 
peoples." 
If  the  second  edict  had  not  come,  Haman's  party  would 


CHAP.  IX.  2.  245 

naturally  have  obtained  the  ascendancy.  In  such  a  despotic 
country  everything  depended  upon  the  knowledge  which  people 
had  of  what  was  precisely  the  king's  will  and  caprice.  When 
the  people  heard  that  Haman's  party  were  in  bad  odour  at 
court,  that  their  leader  was  killed,  and  that  Mordecai  was  in 
his  place,  and  was  ever  gaining  in  influence,  their  intention 
and  desire  of  laying  violent  hands  on  the  Jews  was  relin- 
quished. True,  the  first  edict  was  still  valid  according  to  the 
letter;  but  the  second  showed  that  the  party  to  be  attacked 
had  now  the  upper  hand,  and  although  the  first  was  not 
revoked,  it  would  be  decidedly  against  the  will  of  the  king  to 
molest  them.  All  the  officials,  from  the  satrap  downwards, 
had  no  other  will  but  that  which  was  in  harmony  with  the 
royal  will  (under  riDt^i^^n  ""J^y  are  to  understood  those  who 
used  to  do  the  king's  will).^  Consequently  they  were  now 
just  as  disposed  not  to  put  any  obstacle  before  the  Jews,  as 
they  were  before  to  assume  a  hostile  attitude  against  them. 
Courtiers  and  officials  are  double-faced,  according  as  they 
receive  sunshine  or  cloud  from  above,  i.e.  from  the  court. 
The  law  is  therefore  to  them  only  a  bugbear;  it  frequently 
changes  its  appearance ;  now  it  is  a  roaring  lion,  and  now  a 
mouse,  and  so  on.  What  will  the  satraps  and  pashas,  whose 
positions  are  entirely  dependent  upon  the  favour  of  the  king, 
what  will  they  undertake  against  the  Jews  when  they  hear 
that  one  of  them  is  the  favourite  prime  minister  of  the  king  ? 
A  linguistic  peculiarity  is  to  be  observed  in  the  word  v^^T], 
by  way  of  analogous  expressions  in  other  languages.  y:i3  means 
"to  touch,"  and  in  the  causative  form  y"'in,  "touch  in  point  of 
time,"  "  to  arrive,"  and  is  used  in  ver.  2  6  in  the  same  way  as 
the  Germans  say  Zustossen,  Eintreffen ;  K.  V.  had  "  come " 
(reached)  "unto  them."  Comp.  chap.  iv.  3,  where  v^i^  ought 
to  be  translated  "reached."  Not  in  the  same  manner  do 
accidere,  a-vfi^alvecv,  evenire,  etc.,  agree,  but  UviofjLaL  is  doubt- 
less from  the  same  root  as  v^j,  as  well  as  of  the  same  meaning. 

1  In  the  same  sense  the  words  are  used  in  chap.  iii.  9  of  those  who  as 
cashiers  brought  the  money  into  the  king's  treasury. 


246  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

"jianj  is,  of  course,  an  infin.  absol.  It  is  used  in  the 
sense  of  reverting,  turning  over,  upside  down.  The  obscure 
etymology  of  ^sn  becomes  clear  by  a  comparison  with  the 
Latin  vix,  vice,  German  Wechsel,  English  "  turn."  \:h^,  "  to 
rule,"  doubtless  reappears  in  the  German  Schalten,  and  in 
Sultan  having  the  sense  of  ruling  powerfully. 

Ver.  4.  ""DTiD  B^''«n — "  The  man  3fordecai" 

This  c^^KH  is  of  special  significance  when  it  is  joined  to  a 
proper  name.  It  represents  the  person  as  distinguished,  as  a 
man  of  influence  and  name. — So  in  Num.  xii.  3,  the  word 
man  is  applied  to  Moses  by  way  of  emphasis,  that  such  a 
man  as  Moses  was  very  meek  above  all.  Of  the  false  Micah 
it  is  said:  "And  there  was  a  man  of  the  hill  country  of 
Ephraim  whose  name  was  Micah,"  and  he  had  his  own  house 
of  worship,  Judg.  xvii.  1. 

Of  Jeroboam  it  is  said,  "And  the  man  Jeroboam  was  a 
mighty  man,"  1  Kings  xi.  28. 

Especially  significant  is  Dan.  ix.  21:  "  And  the  man 
Gabriel."     So  it  is  used  here. 

Mordecai  had  a  name,  position,  importance,  and  influence, 
and  was  continually  advancing. 

Ver,  5.  "  And  the  Jews  smote" 
The  narrator  lays  stress  upon  the  fact  that  the  Jews  were 
mowing  down  their  enemies  with  great  fury,  and  that  they 
were  not  interfered  with  by  the  authorities  of  the  land. 
Such  party  w^arfares  in  the  Persian  kingdom  are  quite 
authentic.  The  narrator  characterizes  their  violence  on  the 
opponents  as  inflicting  death  and  destruction.  They  not 
merely  humiliated  them,  or  put  them  to  flight,  but  they 
exterminated  them.  The  authorities  were  silent  spectators, 
and  did  not  come  to  the  assistance  of  the  defeated  party. 
That  is  what  is  meant  by  the  w^ord  DiinD,  "  they  did  accord- 
ing to  their  good  pleasure,"  without  let  or  hindrance.  The 
Persian  authorities  saw  their  countrymen  and  co-religionists 


CHAP.  IX.  5.  247 

in  the  hands  of  the  Jews ;  but  they  feared  the  king — and  he 
was  more  than  God  —  more  than  love  —  he  had  given  his 
consent,  and  therefore  the  victims  must  fall. 

It  was  a  battle  between  inhabitants  of  the  same  country, 
but  they  were  not  fellow- citizens.  They  were  all  fellow- 
servants  under  one  master.  Only  the  Jews  had  a  God  in 
heaven,  but  they  did  not  imitate  His  reconciliation  and 
love. 

The  names  of  the  ten  sons  of  Haman  give  occasion  for 
interesting  remarks.  Very  little  has  as  yet  been  done  for 
their  interpretation.  The  explanations  of  Jules  Oppert 
{Extrait  des  Annales  de  jyliilosophie  Chretienne,  Janvier  1864, 
p.  22)  are  mere  guesswork,  paying  more  attention  to  the 
sound  than  to  the  ideas  contained  in  them.  All  the  names 
are  pervaded  by  religious  ideas  in  connection  with  the 
fire-worship ;  they  originated  in  the  religion  of  the  Magi,  and 
their  formation  and  composition  bear  that  character.  But  the 
text  does  not  give  them  in  their  purity ;  one  feels  that  they 
have  been  tortured  by  the  hands  of  the  conquerors.  As  their 
houses  have  been  sacked,  so  were  their  names  deformed  and 
caricatured.  The  popular  custom  to  extend  the  strife  so  as 
to  assail  the  honour  and  name  of  the  aggressive  or  opposing 
party  took  place  also  here.  I  have  shown  elsewhere^  how 
old  the  custom  is,  and  that  this  is  not  the  only  place  in 
wdiich  it  appears  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  hostility  of  the 
two  parties  in  the  Persian  kingdom  went  so  far,  that  they 
trampled  the  names  in  the  dust,  and  they  revealed  their 
wrath  in  caricatures  upon  them.  If  we  prove  this  in  the 
case  of  a  few  names,  we  shall  have  the  probability  that  it  was 
so  with  all.     The  last  son  of  Haman  is  called  t^nr^l.^ 

The  name  evidently  signifies  son  of  fire,  for  ^?1  means  fire, 
and  fc<nr,  natus,  "son"  (comp.  Justi,  Zum  Bicndehesch,  p.  164). 
It  was  written  %  which  means  "  woe  "  (see  chap.  i.  1),  and  this 

1  Comp.  Panthera,  Stada^  OnoJcotes,  Caricaturnamen  Christi,  Berlin  1875. 
^  Comp.  Wahyazdata  in  the  Inscription  of  Bisutum.     Comp.  Benfey, 
The  Persian  Cuneiform,  p.  18. 


248  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

woe  was  indicated  by  making  the  letter  i  large,  and  the  T 
smaller  than  usual,  for  the  same  reason.  The  second  name 
is  pD^i.  Even  at  present  the  Jews  nickname  a  poor  man  by 
Dalphon,  because  hi  means  poor,  miserable,  wretched.  This 
Persian  name  was  properly  Durpan,  ]i^2'\1,  meaning  "a  guard 
of  the  temple."  In  the  same  manner  they  have  in  some 
names  omitted  the  letter  d  in  data,  in  order  to  get  a  secondary 
meaning.  They  call  one  Purta  instead  of  Purdata,  in  order 
to  obtain  the  meaning  that  he  was  one  upon  whom  the  pur, 
the  lot,  fell  by  the  direction  of  God, — and  because  Purta  is  in 
Aramaic  "  little,"  "  dirt,"  "  distress,"  and  "  shame."  They  write 
fc^nsDi^  instead  of  mSDS.  The  proper  meaning  of  the  name 
was  (sun)  horse-given  (comp.  asphan,  Justi,  6  3) ;  they  make 
of  it  asafta  in  reference  to  the  Aramaic  word  "'21DX,  meaning 
"  a  foundling."  The  first  name  is  j^rnJtJnD.  The  Masoretes 
have  written  the  n  at  the  end  small,  in  order  to  make  it 
appear  like  KlJtJ^is,  for  tna  again  means  "  dirt,"  and  nij  means 
"  bespattering,"  or  if  thus  written  m^,  it  means  "  uncleanness." 
In  itself,  it  is  either  one  born  of  a  high-caste  family,  a 
|xns  =  |i<SJ^"iD,  persona,  parson,  person ;  or  it  comes  from  hiirsin, 
fire  (Hyde,  J)e  rel.  Pers.  362).  Yet  Vullers  gives  the  last 
as  meaning  "a  fire -worshipping  priest"  {Lex.  i.  219).  In 
the  name  i<nsj>D"is,  also,  the  v  was  written  small  in  order  to 
pervert  the  sense.  It  evidently  means  one  born  of  Behram 
(Behram  =  Mars,  Atesh- Behram,  irvp  dpetov  ;  comp.  Hyde, 
p.  633).  They  want  to  connect  it  with  nD''")a,  "rending 
asunder,"  in  a  degraded  sense.  The  names  Nmn«  (not  Nmnx, 
as  in  some  editions),  ••D''"i&?,^  nnj^,  Oppert  brings  together  with 
Ariyadata,  Ariya^aya,  Ariyadaya,  but  I  would  rather  consider 
them  as  compounds  of  *iiK,  fire.  The  Jews  wanted  to  under- 
stand by  xmnx,  "an  offspring  of  a  lion;"  and  by  ""Dnt?, 
"  poison."  In  nnx,  I  am  not  sure  whether  the  last  syllable 
was  to  point  to  '•n,  "  pain,"  "  sickness,"  "  trouble."  Adalia  was 
probably  originally  Adaria,  derived  from  -iix,  "fire."  It  is 
clear  that  they  made  an  effort  to  heap  upon  the  fire- 
^  "Apt^o;,  a  Persian,  Herod,  vii.  38. 


CHAP.  IX.  11.  249 

worshippers  scornful  epithets.  This  was  not  merely  because 
they  were  victorious  over  their  enemies,  but  chiefly  because 
their  hateful  religion  had  received  a  blow.  That  the  Jews 
cared  more  for  retaliating  and  avenging  than  for  enriching 
themselves,  appears  from  the  added  clause :  "  but  on  the 
spoil  they  laid  not  their  hand."  njs^  "  spoil,"  from  n2,  "  to 
take  spoil."  So  is  apTrayfia,  from  apira^co.  To  HD,  without 
doubt,  belongs  the  German  word  Beute  (English  "booty," 
"  butin  "),  as  r  is  frequently  assimilated  with  n  and  D. 

Yer.  11.  ''On  that  day." 
The  news  of  the  day  was,  of  course,  reported  to  the  king 
from  every  quarter  of  Shushan.  He  communicated  it  to 
Esther  with  an  air  of  the  greatest  indifference,  as  if  he  asked 
her  how  she  likes  the  handsome  present  he  had  given  her. 
He  asks  her  caressingly:  "Have  I  not  done  it  well?  500 
have  been  slain  in  Shushan,  Hainan's  sons  are  dead ;  and  if 
this  has  happened  here,  what  must  have  taken  place  in  the 
provinces  ? "  He  at  any  rate  expected,  as  it  seems,  that  Esther 
would  express  her  satisfaction.  But  the  grand  woman  has 
caught  the  spirit  of  a  Persian  queen.  It  was  not  for  nothing 
that  she  ascended  the  throne.  She  wants  to  use  the  favour- 
able moment,  and  to  carry  on  the  war  thoroughly  to  the  end. 
She  fears  the  vengeance  of  some  of  the  hostile  party  who  had 
not  yet  been  vanquished.  If  these  are  not  put  down  with  a 
strong  hand,  she  is  afraid  that  they  will  eventually  retaliate, 
— and  how  easy  it  is  to  change  the  mind  of  a  Persian  king, 
she  knows  well  from  her  own  experience.  He  tells  her  that 
500  have  been  slain  in  the  citadel  of  Shushan — viz.  on  the 
13  th  of  the  month.  She  asks  him  to  issue  an  especial 
decree  (m)  to  continue  the  battle  on  the  next  day  in  the  city 
itself.  There  is  evidently  a  distinction  between  what  took 
place  in  the  two  days.  The  former  decree  was  only  valid  for 
the  13  th,  and  therefore  a  new  one  was  necessary  if  the  war 
was  to  be  continued.  The  partisans  of  Haman  were  killed  in 
the  citadel,  but  not  in  the  city.  -  Hence  Esther's  petition. 


250  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

She  is  not  satisfied  with  the  slaughter  of  Hainan's  sons. 
They  must  also  be  hung  up,  as  Haman  was,  on  the  gallows. 
The  people  should  see  the  destruction  of  the  whole  household. 
They  should  be  impressed  with  the  fact  that  all  the  leaders  of 
the  party  met  the  same  disgraceful  end  as  their  chief.  This 
she  considers  necessary,  not  only  for  accentuating  her  triumph, 
but  that  it  might  have  a  deterring  effect.  They  should  have 
a  visible  demonstration  of  the  end  of  the  enemies  of  Israel. 
Esther  must  not  be  judged  by  the  standard  of  the  love  of 
Christ.  She  and  her  people  were  engaged  in  a  battle  against 
a  powerful  party,  at  whose  head  was  the  king  himself,  and 
she  would  have  succumbed,  had  she  not,  in  a  wonderful 
manner,  won  him  over  to  her  side,  and  enlisted  his  participa- 
tion. But  that  there  is  a  difference  between  the  mode  of 
warfare  of  the  Jews  and  that  of  their  enemies,  is  seen  from 
this,  that  had  they  been  defeated,  all  their  property  would 
have  been  made  booty  (chap.  iii.  13),  while  they  do  not  touch 
the  property  of  their  enemies. 

That  the  ten  sons  of  Haman  were  hung  on  the  same 
gallows  as  Haman,  is  not  expressly  stated  in  the  text. 
The  Jewish  commentators  take  the  word  yv^  for  the  same 
tree  that  was  used  at  the  hanging  of  Haman.  The  manner 
in  which  the  names  of  the  ten  sons  of  Haman  are  placed  in 
Jewish  manuscripts  and  books,  viz.  in  a  straight  column  one 
under  the  other,  is  owing  to  a  Midrash.  In  fact,  the  later 
Jews  show  more  hatred  against  Haman  and  his  family  than 
even  his  contemporaries  did  who  were  engaged  in  the  strife, 
for  it  is  directed  against  those  who  had  long  ago  been 
judged.  Yet  this  hatred  is  expressive  of  later  experiences. 
They  narrate  that  the  ten  sons  of  Haman  were  so  hung 
under  each  other  upon  the  gallows  of  fifty  cubits,  that  each 
took  up  the  space  of  three  cubits,  leaving  the  space  of  one 
cubit  between  one  another,  so  that  all  the  ten  occupied 
forty  cubits.  The  remaining  ten  cubits  on  the  top  was 
occupied  by  the  body  of  Haman.  Thus  he  crowned  the 
summit  of  the  gallows.     The  picture  of  the  gallows  is  indi- 


CHAP.  IX.  17.  251 

cated  by  the  large  \  of  the  last  name.  They  also  tell  of  a 
mocking  conversation  which  Mordecai  carried  on  with  Haman 
when  he  was  on  the  gallows,  and  Haman's  thoughts.  (It 
certainly  reminds  us  of  the  scorn  with  which  they  treated 
Christ  on  the  cross.)  They  said  jestingly,  As  Haman  was 
one  with  his  sons  during  life,  so  they  must  be  united  in  their 
death.  Even  at  the  present  time  they  read  the  ten  names 
in  the  synagogue  in  one  breath,  in  order  to  intimate  that  they 
were  all  made  to  expire  at  one  and  the  same  time,  as  a 
punishment  for  their  wanting  to  destroy  Israel  in  one  day. 
So  it  was  that  the  battle  lasted  two  days  in  Shushan,  while 
in  the  other  parts  of  the  Persian  kingdom  it  was  confined 
to  the  13  th  day,  in  accordance  with  the  letter"  of  the  law. 
On  the  14th  quiet  was  to  be  restored.  The  number  of  the 
slain,  75,000,  sounds  dreadful;  but  when  810  fell  in  the 
capital  alone,  the  number  is  proportionally  not  so  large  when 
divided  between  the  various  places  of  the  kingdom.  Human 
life  was  very  cheap  in  the  eyes  of  a  Persian  tyrant. 
75,000  men  fell  in  a  battle,  whose  only  origin  was  in 
the  circumstance  that  a  decree  issued  by  the  king  was 
irrevocable. 

Ver.  17.  "And  made  it  a  day  of  feasting  and  gladness." 
The  historical  celebration  of  the  feast  of  Purim  is  treated 
elsewhere. — We  have  here  an  unvarnished  picture  of  the 
life  of  the  ancient  world, — how  the  people,  after  the  trouble 
they  had  gone  through,  rejoice  and  express  their  joy  by 
eating  and  drinking,  just  as  they  before  express  their  sorrow 
by  fasting.  Above,  in  the  narrative  of  the  fast,  God  is  not 
mentioned  before  whom  they  expressed  their  sorrow  in  heart- 
felt repentance ;  nor  is  God  mentioned  now,  that  they 
expressed  their  gratitude  to  Him  in  the  feast  of  rejoicing. 
Yet  there  is  no  meal  and  no  feast  among  the  Jews  without 
reference  to  God  and  mention  of  His  name.  But  there  is  a 
marked  difference  between  the  people  in  captivity  and  the 
people  which  Moses  brought  out   of  Egypt.       The    ancient 


252  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Jews  used  to  say,  that  Haman  was  in  his  time  the  same  to 
the  Jews  that  Pharaoh  was  to  that  generation.  They  also 
made  it  a  rule  that  on  a  leap  year  the  feast  of  Purim 
should  be  kept  on  the  14th  of  the  second  Adar,  which  in  an 
ordinary  year  would  be  the  feast  of  Passover.  But  there  is 
a  great  difference  between  the  solemnity  with  which  the 
Passover  was  observed  and  the  giddy  joy  of  Purim.  In  the 
first,  the  unleavened  bread,  the  Passover  lamb,  the  blood,  the 
feast  itself,  reminded  them  of  sin,  repentance,  reconciliation, 
and  redemption,  while  in  Purim  only  the  voice  of  exultation 
was  and  is  heard.  Passover  is  therefore  in  the  highest  sense 
the  feast  in  which  confession  is  made.  Purim  represents 
more  the  character  of  a  national  holiday.  Therefore  also  the 
Church  of  Christ  gave  great  glory  to  the  feast  of  the  Passover, 
while  of  Purim  she  took  no  notice,  as  it  had  vanished  even 
from  the  circle  of  the  early  Jewish  Christians. 

Therefore  the  Lord's  Supper  is  and  should  be  the  fairest 
of  all  feasts.  Nowhere  else  can  or  dare  one  better  express 
his  gratitude  and  his  joy  for  redemption  and  salvation. 

Ver.  19.  "  The  Jeivs  of  the  villages  that  dwell  in  unwalled 

towns." 

Hitherto  Dn"i2  and  the  nins  ""ly  w^ere  taken  as  people  and 
cities  of  the  flat  or  open  country,  in  contrast  to  Shushan. 
But  the  idea  that  these  words  are  intended  to  convey  is  more 
precise.  The  narrator  distinguishes  three  kinds  of  Jews. 
First,  the  Jews  in  Shushan;  secondly,  ver.  16,  the  Jews  that 
were  in  the  provinces,  ni:nD2  nK^«  Dnin\n.  The  contrast  to 
Shushan  is  the  Medina.  Thirdly,  the  Jews  who  were 
reported  D^ian.  If  these  were  the  same  as  those  in  the 
provinces,  then  they  would  be  mentioned  successively  twice, 
for  it  is  already  said  in  ver.  17,  that  on  "the  14th  day 
they  rested,  and  made  it  a  day  of  feasting  and  gladness." 
Moreover,  the  word  Ferazim  would  have  occurred  in  ver.  17. 
The  word  therefore,  p  hv,  also  shows  that  the  Jews  spoken  of 
are  others,  who  lived  neither  in  Shushan  nor  in  the  Medinoth. 


CHAP.  IX.  20.  253 

Undoubtedly  nins  '•iV  are  unfortified  towns  and  places  in  the 
east  cauntry,  in  Turkestan  and  Taran,  on  whose  extensive 
prairies  many  Jews  were  scattered.  These  words  are  clearly 
illustrated  by  Ezek.  xxxviii.  11,  where  nina  ny  are  clearly 
described  by  nins  p5<.  He  represents  there  a  land  having 
cities  without  walls.  The  word  n2  seems  to  be  related  to 
the  Greek  tto/jo?,  "  a  ford." 

"  And  of  sending  portions.'' 
The  portion  or  present  niD,  both  as  a  noun  and  a  verb,  is 
the  Greek  vefico,  with  the  transposition  of  m  and  n.  (Probably 
originally  fielpo/Mat,  fxeipco,  belonged  also  to  it,  and  their  relation 
to  each  is  like  that  between  donum  and  B(opov.)  The  opinion, 
which  is  also  shared  by  Fiirst,  that  Mammon  (fiafi/jLOJva)  is  a 
doubling  of  ni»,  is  erroneous.  The  expression  Mammon  is 
formed  of  nummus. 

Ver.  20.  "And  Mordecai  v;rote" 
This  is  a  very  remarkable  fact.  It  was  quite  natural  for 
the  Jews,  after  receiving  the  tidings  that  the  king  was 
favourably  disposed  toward  them,  and  that  they  had  gained 
the  victory  over  their  enemies,  to  express  their  joy  by  keeping 
a  feast.  But  that  this  feast  should  be  instituted  for  all 
times  was  nevertheless  singular,  inasmuch  as  Mordecai 
possessed  no  spiritual  authority  to  order  such  a  perpetual 
institution.  The  importance  that  he  possessed,  he  only 
gained  through  the  influence  of  Esther.  And  now  he  did 
not  occupy  the  place  of  a  synod  of  the  elders,  nor  of  a  high 
priest,  but  the  place  of  the  grand  vizier  at  the  Persian  court. 
It  was  this  position  which  gave  him  the  authority  of  ordaining 
a  perpetual  feast  for  the  Jews.  He  considered  the  King  of 
Persia  as  the  king  of  the  Jews,  and  as  his  representative  he 
possessed  Jewish-national  authority.  For,  indeed,  it  was  only 
to  be  a  national  feast,  only  a  feast  in  remembrance  of  the 
victory  over  their  enemies.  The  letters  of  Mordecai  do  not 
prescribe  any  prayers  to  be  used  on  the  feast,  but  only  the 


254  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

making  of  merriment.  There  is  no  reference  to  any  passage 
of  Scripture  in  them,  but  only  a  reminder  of  the  present 
wonderful  deliverance.  Of  course,  by  the  remembrance  of  the 
dangers  they  had  gone  through,  he  wants  to  strengthen  and  to 
encourage  the  hearts  of  the  Jews,  but  the  authority  by  which 
he  commands  is  solely  his  own.  Hitherto  no  feasts  were 
kept  by  them  save  those  commanded  by  Moses  in  the  name 
and  by  the  authority  of  God.  It  was  to  a  certain  extent  a 
feast  of  the  exile,  in  which  also  the  exiled  men  became  the 
means  of  deliverance.  Mordecai,  too,  directs  his  writings 
only  to  the  Jews  in  the  empire  of  King  Ahhashverosh,  "  both 
nigh  and  far." 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  ground  here  given  for  enjoining 
the  feast  is  not  because  the  Jews  had  obtained  predominance, 
but  the  sudden  change  in  their  condition  from  trouble  to 
tranquillity,  from  sorrow  to  gladness.  On  such  occasions  they 
sent  to  each  other  presents,  according  to  the  ciistom  of  the 
times  ; — but  Mordecai  was  particularly  anxious  in  his  letters 
that  they  should  bestow  gifts  upon  the  poor.  It  does  not 
appear  that  Mordecai  was  conscious,  when  instituting  this 
feast,  that  he  could  not  enjoin  it  in  the  spirit  and  authority 
of  Moses.  True,  it  is  added,  "  and  the  Jews  took  upon  them  " 
(f'npl),  they  declared  their  readiness  to  comply  with  his  order, 
which  was  easy  enough,  for  people  are  generally  glad  to  have 
an  annual  festival  of  rejoicing,  especially  under  such  circum- 
stances ;  but  there  was  yet  wanting  in  it  any  previous  con- 
sultation with  the  people  as  to  whether  they  wanted  to  have 
such  a  feast  for  all  time.  It  was  the  same  Mordecai  that 
ordained  it  who  had  procured  for  them  the  second  decree  of 
the  king. 

Ver.  23.  From  the  words,  "and  as  Mordecai  had 
written,"  the  editor  of  the  book  begins  to  write  his 
appendix.  Thus  far  he  has  given  the  original  narrative. 
Now  the  style  is  quite  different.  He  uses  quite  different 
forms  of  expressions.  The  phrase  "ison  nv  ")^N, "  he  commanded 
by  a  writing,"  ver.  25,  is  only  found  here.     The  same  idea  is 


CHAP.  IX.  28.  255 

expressed  above  only  by  m  in:,  **  he  gave  an  order."  Again, 
when  we  read  in  ver.  24,  "  Haman  devised  to  destroy  them," 
he  uses  the  ^^[^?,  which  was  not  used  above,  and  only  because 
it  is  of  similar  sound  with  pn.  Further,  when  we  read,  ver. 
26,  they  called  these  days  Purim ;  with  regard  to  the  events 
of  this  m:t<,  "  letter,"  we  must  understand  by  the  "  letter " 
the  whole  book  of  Esther,  which  was  sent  with  a  memorandum 
to  the  Jews.  The  word  does  not  occur  above.  Finally, 
when  it  said  (ver.  27),  "the  Jews  took  upon  them,  and  upon 
their  seed,  and  upon  all  such  as  joined  themselves  unto  them 
(D^i^an-bi)),"  one  understands  by  this  word,  which  does  not 
occur  in  the  real  text,  and  especially  from  the  same  word  in 
Dan.  xi.  34,  that  it  refers  to  false  associates.  It  appears  that 
it  is  applied  not  so  much  to  such  as  were  completely  con- 
verted to  the  Jewish  faith,  as  to  such  as  had  become  friends 
and  helpers.  The  reason  why  they  should  also  at  all  times 
keep  the  feast,  is  because  they  must  reflect  that  in  case  the 
party  of  Haman  had  gained  the  victory,  they  as  friends  and 
confederates  of  the  Jews  would  have  perished  with  them. 
They  were  those  of  whom  mention  is  made  in  chap.  viii.  1 7 ; 
and  my  hypothesis,  that  we  are  there  to  read  onn^nD,  "  they 
united  themselves,"  is  thereby  confirmed.  Were  it  not  so,  we 
should  not  have  D''l^jn,  but  cnj,  "  proselytes,"  or  a  similar  word. 

Ver.  28.  "And  that  these  days." 

The  Jewish  commentators  conclude  from  these  words  that 
the  book  of  Esther  was  written  by  inspiration,  because  it  is 
here  said,  "  these  days  should  be  remembered,  and  should  not 
fail  from  the  Jews,"  which  must  be  a  prophecy. 

They  have  indeed  been  fulfilled,  for  the  feast  of  Purim 
has  never  been  forgotten  by  the  Jews ;  nevertheless,  they 
were  not  spoken  in  prophetical,  but  in  legislative  language. 
These  days  of  Purim  shall  not  fail  from  among  the  Jews,  nor 
the  memorial  of  them  perish  from  their  seed.^ 

^  [Jewish  tradition  teaches  that  in  the  days  of  Messiah  all  the  feasts  shall 
cease  except  the  feast  of  Purim. — Trans.] 


256  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

Ver.  29.  "Then  Esther  the  queen,  the  daughter  of  Ahihhail, 

wrote!' 

This  second  letter  proves  more  decisively  that  Esther  and 
Mordecai  assumed  a  special  authority  over  the  Jews,  at  least 
in  so  far  as  they  were  connected  with  the  related  events. 
The  addition  here  of  the  words  "  daughter  of  Abihhail "  is 
borrowed  from  the  solemn  introductory  sentence  of  her  own 
letter.  But  the  object  of  the  second  letter  was  not  merely  to 
emphasize  and  to  confirm  the  first.  The  emphasis  consists 
chiefly  in  this,  that  Esther  added  her  authority  to  that  of 
Mordecai.  Therefore  she  inserts  the  words  cipn  h22,  "  with  all 
strength  or  authority."  The  last  expression  occurs  only  once 
more  in  Daniel,  and  means  "  the  royal  authority,"  "  the 
influence,"  "  the  order,"  of  the  shah.  Eor  the  celebration  of 
the  feast  of  Purim,  the  royal  authority  of  Esther  was  made 
use  of.  Therefore  the  first  word  of  ver.  29  has  in  the  text  a 
large  n,  thus  ninani,  to  emphasize  that  the  queen  herself  wrote 
the  letter  with  her  own  hand.  This  letter  was  sent  like  a 
royal  decree  to  the  Jews  in  all  the  127  provinces,  and  con- 
tained only  words  of  peace  and  of  assurance.  It  was  comfort- 
ing news  which  Mordecai  could  communicate  in  the  name  of 
Esther.  The  more  so — and  this  was  the  second  reason  for 
the  letter — because  the  Jews,  in  consideration  of  what  had 
happened,  are  requested  not  only  to  keep  the  feast  with  glad- 
ness, but  also  the  previous  fast,  remembering  that  Mordecai 
and  Esther  have  themselves  fasted  during  the  distress.  They 
had  in  the  hour  of  danger  cried  to  God  and  totally  abstained 
from  food.  This  also  should  never  vanish  from  the  memory 
of  the  Jews. 

After  the  despatch  of  the  first  letter  of  Mordecai,  it  became 
then  a  serious  question  whether  it  was  possible  to  establish 
on  his  sole  authority  a  feast  like  the  Mosaic  ones ;  therefore 
the  influence  of  Esther  was  invoked — and  should  it  be  only  a 
feast  of  joy !  If  they  had  passed  from  sorrow  to  joy  (pi"'o 
r\T\mh),  they  should  not  only  commemorate  the  experienced  joy, 
but  also  the  sorrow. 


CHAP.  IX.  29.  257 

The  duty  was  enforced  upon  the  Jews  to  imitate  every- 
where/and at  all  times,  the  example  of  Esther  and  Mordecai, 
and  to  devote  one  day  in  the  year  to  fasting  and  prayer.  For 
this  the  authority  of  Mordecai  alone  was  not  sufficient. 
Therefore  it  is  written  (ver.  32),  "the  commandment  of  Esther 
confirmed  these  matters  of  Purim,"  and  the  fast  is  indeed 
called  the  fast  of  Esther,  the  day  before  Purim.  But  that 
this  day  was  originally  the  13th  of  Adar  is  not  expressly 
stated,  but  it  may  be  supposed  so,  as  the  13  th  day  was  the 
day  of  distress.  It  must  not  be  overlooked  in  confirmation  of 
this,  that  in  ver.  31,  Mordecai  is  mentioned  before  Esther, 
because  Mordecai  began  the  fast  (iv.  1).  We  have  the  word 
niDl^  here,  as  in  iv.  16,  of  Esther,  and  DnpVT,  as  in  iv.  1,  of 
Mordecai,  p])V),  "  and  he  cried  with  a  loud  and  a  bitter  cry." 

The  book  properly  ends  with  chap.  ix.  All  is  written  in 
the  book,  the  event,  the  help,  and  the  feast.  The  contents  of 
chap.  X.  are  only  a  historical  postscript. 


CHAP  TEE    X. 

Ver.  1.  "And  the  king  AhhasJiverosh  laid  a  tribute  upon 

the  landy 

Short  as  the  sentence  is,  it  has  yet  caused  a  good  deal  of 
speculation.  It  was  sought  in  various  ways  to  explain  why 
the  narrator  made  this  record.  Jewish  commentators  wanted 
to  assume  that  the  king  had  put  all  under  tribute  except  the 
Jews,  which  is  by  no  means  intimated.  Grotius  was  of 
opinion  that  this  is  stated  in  order  to  enhance  the  merits  of 
Mordecai.  He  exclaims  :  "  Sunt  enim  Judaei,  magni  artifices 
talium." 

More  modern  commentators,  as  Bertheau  and  Schulz,  said 
the  author  wished  to  show  the  power  of  the  king.  Keil,  as 
well  as  others,  thought  that  he  only  communicated  an  item 
from  the  Persian  annals. 

The  report  must  show  the  bias  of  the  narrator;  it  con- 
tributes to  magnify  the  wonderful  change  which  the  deliver- 
ance of  Israel  had  brought  about.  The  king  had  given  up 
much  when  he  had  prevented  the  destruction  of  Israel.  It 
was  not  alone  that  he  had  renounced  the  offer  of  Haman, 
but  also  the  whole  property  of  the  Jews,  which,  if  they  had 
been  cut  off,  would  have  become  his  own  in  all  places  of  his 
dominion.  All  this  was  taken  from  him.  The  product  of 
the  plunder  was  so  much  loss  for  him.  With  this  thought 
the  narrator  connects  the  report  concerning  the  tribute. 
Instead  of  taking  away  the  property  of  the  Jews,  he  laid  a 
tribute  upon  all.  The  whole  kingdom  must  make  up  the 
deficiency  which  arose  from  his  presenting  the  Jews  with  their 
own  riches. 

This  application  of  the  general  historical  fact  agrees  with 


CHAP.  X.  1.  259 

the  spirit  of  the  whole  narrative.  In  the  texts  in  this  verse 
we  find  mostly  tnc^nfc^,  while  in  the  other  passages  it  is  written 
tJmitJTiK.  This  is  scarcely  a  mistake  of  the  scribe,  but  is 
intentional.  The  two  ii  in  the  name  Ahhashverosh  express 
the  woe  which  the  deed  of  Ahhashverosh  occasioned.  I  go 
so  far  as  to  believe  that  the  reading  in  this  verse  is  the 
proper  one,  and  the  other  a  homiletic  corruption,  although 
in  the  last  mention  of  the  name  it  is  pointed  as  in  the 
first.  In  chap.  v.  2  we  have  an  imitation  of  the  style  of 
the  book  of  Kings.  n^riD,  as  was  observed  in  iv.  7,  is 
used  in  the  sense  of  "  the  full  sum ; "  so  here  it  means 
"  the  distinguished,"  "  the  highest,"  influence  of  Mordecai.  It 
is  surprising  that  Mordecai  bears  no  other  title  but  Yehudi, 
"  the  Jew."  But  at  that  time  it  was  only  a  national  and 
religious  epithet.  It  had  not  yet  received  the  sarcastic  and 
annoying  character  which  was  put  upon  it  in  later  centuries. 
He  calls  Mordecai  "j^oi)  n^^D,  literally,  "the  second  to  the 
king."  By  which  is  meant  the  king's  grand  vizier,  his  sub- 
stitute, who  was  the  keeper  of  the  royal  seal.  That  it  was  a 
general  Oriental  dignity  may  be  inferred  from  2  Chron.  xxviii. 
7,  where  it  is  told  that  Zichri  slew  Elkanah  the  "jfjion  n:^jD. 
It  seems  to  have  appeared  strange  to  the  narrator  that  Mor- 
decai, although  a  captive  Jew,  should  have  become  royal 
vizier.  He  was,  says  he,  Dmn^^  hn^,  "  great  among  the  Jews." 
Just  as  the  king  of  Persia  and  the  king  of  Assyria  were  both 
called  h)^^n  ^^jd,  "  the  great  king,"  that  is,  the  one  who  had 
power  over  the  others,  so  this  expression  is  used  with  regard  to 
Mordecai,  he  was  a  great  one  for  the  Jews,  viz.  their  repre- 
sentative and  their  prince  of  the  captivity,  as  he  proved  by 
his  letters. — And,  indeed,  he  was  not  like  one  of  the  many 
ministers  who  as  Jews  held  offices  in  Muhamedan  or  Christian 
courts,  for  he  had  more  power  than  they,  and  was  elevated 
for  quite  different  reasons.  The  others,  not  even  excepting 
E.  Chisdai  in  Cordova,  were  raised  to  their  ministerial  offices 
on  account  of  their  knowledge  of  finance;  but  not  one  of 
them,  however  highly  esteemed  and  appreciated,  "  was  great 


260  BOOK  OF  ESTHER. 

among  the  Jews  "  in  the  sense  in  which  Mordecai  was.  He 
was  the  acknowledged  saviour  of  the  life  of  his  king  and  of 
the  lives  of  the  Jews.  His  only  great  prototype  was  Joseph, 
for  Daniel,  as  it  seems,  possessed  only  spiritual  authority  in 
Babylon. 

And  the  power  that  Mordecai  possessed  over  the  Jews 
was  popular  and  pleasing,  "  accepted  (''IV"))  of  the  multitude." 
He  did  not  oppress  them ;  they,  his  brethren  (vnx) ;  he  did 
not  assume  a  proud  and  overbearing  air  towards  them,  and 
did  not  forget  in  the  uniform  of  the  grand  vizier  the  garment 
of  the  penitent.  Why  should  he  not  be  beloved  by  them 
when  he  had  promoted  their  safety  and  welfare,  and  made 
arrangements  that  his  posterity  should  maintain  the  peace  ? 
For  this  is  the  sense  of  n)bli^  nnn,  "  speaking  peace."  They 
were  not  merely  words  of  peace,  but  he  laboured  that  the 
peace  should  remain  uninterrupted  for  the  present  and  the 
future,  that  is,  for  "  his  seed  "  ()^^),  viz.  "  the  posterity  of  the 
people,"  inasmuch  as  their  enemies  had  received  a  mortal 
blow. 

Alas !  the  book  closes  without  further  information  about 
the  end  of  the  king,  of  Esther,  and  of  Mordecai.  But  no 
other  disturbance  occurred,  and,  in  fact,  the  Jews  enjoyed 
prosperity  and  peace  in  the  Persian  kingdom  beyond  the 
time  of  Alexander  the  Great.  But  we  have  no  more  informa- 
tion about  such  persons  as  Mordecai  and  Esther.  Later  times 
have  given  us  many  speculative  interpretations,  but  not  facts 
of  authentic  historical  value. 


APPENDICES. 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM. 

{Translated  from  the  Aramaic.) 

§1. 

And  it  came  to  pass  in  tlie  days  of  Ahhashverosli,  one  of  the 
ten  kings  ^  who  once  ruled  and  are  to  rule  the  world  in  the 
future.  And  these  are  the  ten  kings.  The  first  kingdom  is 
that  of  the  King  of  kings,  the  Lord  of  hosts, — may  it  be 
speedily  magnified  upon  us.  The  second  is  that  of  Mmrod,  the 
third  of  Pharaoh,  king  of  Egypt,  the  fourth  of  Israel,  the  fifth 
of  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  the  sixth  of  Ahhashverosh, 
the  seventh  of  Greece,  the  eighth  of  Eome,  the  ninth  of  the 
King  Messiah,  the  son  of  David,  the  tenth  (again)  of  the 
King  of  kings,  the  Lord  of  hosts, — may  it  be  speedily  revealed 
to  us,  and  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth.^  When  the 
kingdom  of  Babylon  was  about  to  be  destroyed  from  the 
earth,  and  its  dominion  to  pass  away  from  it,  the  inhabitants 
of  the  country  did  not  know  whom  they  should  place  as  king 

^  In  Dan.  vii.  24,  Rev.  xvii.  12,  we  have  i3arallel  passages  in  which  the 
rulers  of  the  world  are  spoken  of  as  ten  in  number.  The  idea  of  such 
universal  rulers  is  more  peculiar  to  the  East,  where  the  great  shahs  have 
always  pretended  to  be  rulers  of  the  world.  Of  Kai  Kawus  says  Firdussi, 
among  other  things, — 

"  Now  Kawus  as  king  in  the  place  of  his  father  succeeded, 
And  all  the  world  was  to  him  subjected. 
Now  he  saw  that  the  earth  quaked  and  trembled." 

This  idea  is  more  largely  developed  in  a  mythic-dogmatic  way  in  the 
"  Tshakravartins  "  of  the  Buddhists.  Tshakravartin  was  lord  of  the  wheel, 
i.e.  of  the  world.  Universal  kings  were  the  lords  of  the  ages.  It  must  be 
so  understood  if  one  of  these  Tshakravartins  appears  to  be  lord  of  the  iron 
wheel,  another  of  that  of  brass,  another  of  that  of  silver,  and  another  of  that 
of  gold  (Remusat  on  Foe-koue-ki,  Paris  1836,  p.  134).  Buddha  had  the 
choice,  according  to  the  legend,  of  becoming  either  a  Tshakravartin  or  an 
ascetic.     He  chose  the  last  (comp.  Matt.  iv.  8). 

2  Comp.  1  Cor.  xv.  23-28. 


264  APPENDIX  I. 

over  them.  And  when  Nebuchadnezzar,  tlie  king  of  Babylon, 
died,  Evil-Merodach  succeeded  him,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
the  country  did  not  want  to  raise  him  over  them.  For  they 
answered  and  said  to  him,  "  Thy  father  Nebuchadnezzar  had 
not  his  dwelling  with  men,  and  how  shall  we  place  thee 
over  us  ?  Thy  father  Nebuchadnezzar  may  perhaps  of  a 
sudden  turn  up,  and  come  upon  us  and  kill  us."  When 
Evil-Merodach  heard  these  words  of  the  people  of  his 
country,  he  said  to  them,  "My  father  Nebuchadnezzar  is 
surely  dead  and  is  removed  from  the  world,  and  yet  until 
now  you  do  not  believe  it."  They  rejoined,  "  Nebuchadnezzar 
thy  father  made  the  whole  earth  tremble,  and  all  the  king- 
doms thereof;  for  concerning  him  it  is  expressly  written: 
'  Is  this  the  man  that  made  the  earth  to  tremble,  that  did 
shake  kingdoms  ? '  "  (Isa.  xiv.  16).  What  did  Evil-Merodach 
do  at  that  time  ?  He  went  to  the  treasuries  of  the  king,  and 
brought  out  from  these  chains  of  iron  and  of  brass,  and  threw 
them  upon  the  soles  of  Nebuchadnezzar  his  father,^  and 
dragged  him  out  of  his  grave.  As  it  is  written  concerning 
him  :  "  But  thou  art  cast  forth  away  from  thy  sepulchre  like 

1  It  was  the  exposition  of  Isa.  xiv.  19  that  gave  rise  to  the  above  legend, 
which  is  mentioned  by  all  commentators  also  on  2  Kings  xxv.  27  (comp. 
Munk,  p.  12).  Nebuchadnezzar  appeared  as  a  type  of  all  persecutors  and 
destroyers.  They  saw  in  him  a  national  warning  for  all  time.  Moreover, 
we  have  here  represented  historical  experiences  of  the  Jews.  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, as  is  seen  from  Dan.  iv.  30,  had  for  a  long  time  been  subject  to  a 
fearful  disease  which  made  him  incapable  of  governing.  At  that  time, 
says  the  legend,  Evil-Merodach  ruled  in  his  stead.  But  when  Nebuchad- 
nezzar recovered,  and  found  his  son  upon  the  throne,  he  threw  him  into 
prison.  When  he  again  claimed  the  throne,  the  Babylonians,  as  is  said 
above,  refused  to  reinstate  him,  and  wanted  to  be  certain  that  the  king 
was  dead.  The  Jews  experienced  a  similar  fate  when  a  rumour  was  spread 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  revolt  that  Herodos  had  died.  They  were 
severely  punished  for  that  (Josephus,  Antiq.  xAdi.  6).  He  also  reports 
that  similar  dangers  arose  with  reference  to  Agrippa,  the  favourite  of 
Caligula,  after  the  decease  of  the  Emperor  Tiberius  (Josephus,  Antiq. 
xviii.  6).  The  legend  displays  national  animus  when  it  represents  Evil- 
Merodach  treating  his  father  in  such  a  manner  as  only  enemies  were 
wont  to  do.  The  narrative  of  Herodotus  (iii.  16)  is  also  important  to  the 
expositor  of  Isaiah.  He  tells  of  Cambyses,  "  That  he  caused  the  corpse  of 
Amasis  to  be  taken  out  of  the  grave  .  .  .  and  ordered  to  beat  it,  to  tear 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  265 

an  abominable  branch "  (ibid.).  And  when  the  people  saw 
that  Evil-Merodach  had  done  the  will  of  his  heavenly  Father, 
they  all  rose  up  with  great  rejoicing,  and  they  clothed  him 
with  the  beautiful  purple  of  the  kingdom,  and  rendered  him 
much  honour  and  glory.  Then  Daniel,  the  man  greatly 
beloved,  said  to  Evil-Merodach  :  "  Thy  father  Nebuchadnezzar 
never  in  all  his  days  set  the  prisoners  free,  for  thus  Scripture 
says  of  him,  '  that  let  not  loose  his  prisoners  to  their  home  ' 
(Isa.  xiv.  17).  And  when  the  enemies  of  the  Jews  filled  up 
their  measure  of  guilt,-^  then  Nebuchadnezzar  thy  father 
equipped  himself,  and  went  up  against  them,  and  destroyed 
their  land,  and  plundered  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  burned 
the  holy  house  with  fire,  and  took  the  people  of  Israel  captive, 
and  brought  them  to  Babylon,  and  with  them  Jehoiachin, 
king  of  Judah,  whom  he  bound  and  kept  in  prison  for 
thirty-seven  years,  because  he  had  not  submitted  to  the 
will  of  his  heavenly  Father.  Nebuchadnezzar  was  also 
exceedingly  haughty,  and  said.  There  is  no  king  and  ruler 
beside  me.  As  the  Scripture  expressly  says  concerning  him  : 
*  I  will  ascend  above  the  heights  of  the  clouds '  "  (Isa.  xiv.  1 4). 

out  the  hairs,  to  prick  it,  and  to  treat  it  with  all  possible  disgrace." 
Homer  narrates  at  the  end  of  the  Iliad  that  the  wrathful  Achilles  ill- 
treated  Hector  in  a  similar  manner.  The  same  happened  among  the 
Eomans.  The  Koman  people  thus  ill-treated  Strabo,  the  father  of 
Pompeius  (Plut.  Life  of  Pomp.  cap.  1).  When  the  Emperor  Commodus 
died,  we  read  (Lampridius,  Vit.  Oommod.  cap.  xvii.) :  "  Corpus  ejus 
ut  uneo  traheretur  atque  in  Tiberim  mitteretur  senatus  et  populus 
postulavit."  The  same  was  done  before  to  Vitellius,  as  Suetonius  (cap. 
xvii.)  reports.  Christian  Eome  and  Constantinople  have  also  witnessed 
such  scenes. 

[The  friendliness  with  which  the  legend  treats  Evil-Merodach  has  its 
origin  in  2  Kings  xxv.  27.  The  Talmud  (Berachoth  106)  records  that 
Hezekiah  dragged  the  bones  of  his  father  Ahaz  on  a  bed  of  ropes.  Munk 
may  have  understood  it  in  a  Rabbinical  sense,  i.e.  when  the  Jews  have  to 
say  something  unpleasant  of  themselves,  they  speak  in  the  third  person. 
See  Rashi  on  Ex.  i.  11. — Trans.] 

1  The  expression  "•j^linn  pn"'5<JD  U'^^nDNl^l  must  be  translated  as  we 
have  done,  and  not  as  Munk  (p.  14),  "  when  the  measure  of  the  sins  of  the 
Jews  was  full."  It  expresses  that  when  judgment  should  come  upon  the 
enemies  of  Israel  they  attacked  them,  for  their  judgment  proceeded  from 
their  hostility  to  Israel. 


266  APPENDIX  I. 

In  that  hour  Evil-Merodach  did^  the  will  of  his  heavenly 
Father,  and  went  to  the  prison  and  liberated  Jehoiachin,  son 
of  Jehoiakim,  king  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  they  brought  out 
all  the  prisoners  with  him.  What  did  Evil-Merodach  further  ? 
He  then  went  to  the  royal  treasuries,  and  brought  out  from 
there  the  best  balms  and  all  kinds  of  aromatics,  and  then 
washed  and  anointed  him  (Jehoiachin),  and  put  royal  garments 
upon  him,  and  allowed  him  to  eat  at  his  table  all  the  days  of 
his  life.      From  him  Darius  the  Mede  received  the  kingdom. 

That  Ahhashverosh,  the  Persian  king,  son  of  Darius,  the 
Median  king,  that  Ahhashverosh  (is  it)  who  ordered  wine  to 
be  brought  from  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven  provinces  for  a 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  kings  who  waited  before  him,  in 
order  that  every  one  of  them  should  drink  the  wine  of  his 
own  country  which  would  not  injure  him.  It  is  that 
wicked  King  Ahhashverosh,  that  fool,  w^ho  said,  "  Eather  let 
my  kingdom  be  destroyed  than  that  my  decree  should  not  be 
obeyed."  That  Ahhashverosh  whose  counsels  were  perverse, 
and  whose  orders  were  not  right.  That  Ahhashverosh  who 
commanded  that  Queen  Yashti  should  appear  naked  before 
him,  but  she  did  not  appear.  That  Ahhashverosh  in  whose 
time  the  house  of  Israel  was  sold  for  nought,  as  it  is  written  : 
"  Ye  were  sold  for  nought."  That  Ahhashverosh  in  whose 
time  Israel's  face  became  black  like  the  sides  of  a  cooking 
vessel.  That  Ahhashverosh  who  ordered  to  bring  cedars 
from  Lebanon  and  gold  from  Ophir,  but  it  did  not  come. 
That  Ahhashverosh  in  whose  days  was  fulfilled  what  is 
written  in  the  law  of  Moses  concerning  Israel :  "  In  the 
morning  thou  shalt  say,  Would  God  it  were  even  1 "  (Deut. 
xxviii.  6*7).  There  are  five  men  in  connection  with  whom 
the  relative  «in  is  written  who  are  called  wicked,  and  five 
others  who  are  called  righteous.  The  righteous  with  whom 
«in  is  written  are  :  Abraham,  Aaron  and  Moses,  Moses  and 
Aaron,  Hezekiah,  Ezra.  The  five  wicked  men  are  :  Nimrod, 
of  whom  it  is  written,  "  He  (t^in)  was  a  mighty  hunter " 
1  Some  editions  read  "i^D  instead  of  l^y. 


THE  SECOND  TAKGUM.  267 

(Gen.  X.  8).    Esau,  of  whom  it  is  written, "  Esau  («in)  is  Edom  " 
(Geu.  xxxvi.  8)  ;  that  Dathan  and  Abiram,  that  King  Ahaz, 
that  Ahhashverosh.     And  as  the  last  made  promises  and  did 
not  keep  them,  his  days  were  shortened ;  yet  he  ruled  from 
Hodu  in  the  west  unto  Gush  in  the  east,  over  a  hundred  and 
tv/enty-seven    provinces.       That  Ahhashverosh    was  it    who 
killed  his  wife  for  the  sake  of  his  friend,  and  who  killed  his 
friend  Haman  for  the  sake  of  his  wife.     That  Ahhashverosh 
who  ruled  from  Hodu  to  Gush.     But   were  not  Hodu  and 
Gush  near  each  other  ?      The  sense  is  this  :    As   he  ruled 
over  Hodu  and  Gush,  which  are  near  each  other,  so  he  held 
unlimited  sway  over  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven  provinces 
and   the   governments   that   belonged   to   them.      Similar   to 
this,  thou  findest  in  reference  to  King  Solomon,  "  He  ruled 
over  the  whole  side  of  the  river  from  Tiphsah  unto  Gaza  " 
(1  Kings  V.  4).     Were  not  Tiphsah  and  Gaza  near  to  each 
other  ?     But  the  meaning  is,  as  he  ruled  over   the  Tiphsah 
and  Gaza,  so  he  ruled  over  the  whole  region  of  the  side  of 
the  stream  of  the  world.     There  were  four  men  who  ruled  from 
one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other.     Two  of  them  belonged 
to  the  nations  of  the  world,  and   two  to  Israel.      Solomon 
and  Ahab  were  of  Israel.     In  connection  with  Solomon  it  is 
written  as  said  already.     Goncerning   Ahab   it  is  said,  "  Is 
there  anywhere  a  ^people   or   a   kingdom  ?  "     The  universal 
kings  from  the  nations  are  Nebuchadnezzar  and  Ahhashverosh, 
only  the  extent  of  the  latter's  kingdom  was  shortened,  and 
he  ruled  but  over  a  hundred   and   twenty-seven  provinces. 
But  why  did  he  deserve  to  rule  over  a  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven    provinces  ?       Because   God  said,    "  He   will    in    the 
future  take  Esther  to  wife,  who  is  a  descendant  of  Sarah  that 
lived  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven  years,  so   she  shall  rule 
over  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven  provinces." 

§  II- 

In  those  days,  when  the  king  Ahhashverosh  sat  upon  his 
throne,  which  was  prepared  for  him  in  Shushan  the  capital. 


268  APPENDIX  I. 

This  throne  was  neither  his  own  nor  that  of  his  father's,  but 
it  was  the  throne  of  Solomon,  which  Hiram,  the  son  of  a 
widow  of  Tyre,  had  made  with  great  skill.  It  was  this  King 
Solomon  whom  the  Holy  One,  blessed  be  He !  set  to  reign 
from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other.  He  chose  him 
before  he  was  born,  loved  him  when  he  was  yet  in  his 
mother's  womb,  revealed  to  him  hidden  mysteries,  and 
showed  him  deep  hidden  things.  He  gave  him  knowledge 
and  wisdom,  and  an  understanding  heart  from  the  very 
beginning.  He  looked  through  the  persons  who  came  to 
him  to  adjudicate  their  differences  so  that  they  could  not 
say  what  was  false  before  him,  for  he  knew  to  distinguish 
between,  him  who  was  right  and  him  who  was  wrong.  The 
Lord  bestowed  upon  him  splendour  and  glory,  put  the  royal 
crown  upon  his  head,  and  invested  him  with  grace  and 
mercy,  as  He  did  once  to  his  father  David  all  his  days. 
He  was  twenty-three^  years  old  on  the  first  day  when  he 
received  the  kingdom.  They  called  him  Jedidiah  (beloved), 
because  he  was  beloved  of  the  King  of  the  world,  of  the 
Lord  of  hosts.  Thus  it  is  written  (and  the  Lord  loved  him)  : 
"  And  He  sent  by  the  hand  of  IsTathan  the  prophet,  and  he 
called  his  name  Jedidiah"  (2  Sam.  xii.  25).  They  called 
him  Solomon  (peace),  because  there  was  peace  in  his  days. 
For  thus  it  is  written :  "  And  Judah  and  Israel  dwelt  safely." 
They  called  him  Ben^  (builder),  because  he  built  the  temple, 

1  n  instead  of  tD- 

2  The  glorifying  of  Solomon  in  the  Jewish  legend  has  its  ground  in 
its  opposition  to  Christianity  (see  my  Kaiser  und  Konigsthrone,  p.  60). 
What  belonged  to  the  Messiah,  the  son  of  David,  was  transferred  to 
Solomon.  The  names  in  Prov.  xxx.  1,  with  the  exception  of  Agiir,  are 
here  applied  to  Solomon.  Ben  is  taken  in  the  sense  of  builder  (not  son), 
to  give  the  idea  of  stone,  px  (as  Ben  and  Ibn).  For  Christ  is  also  called 
stone  (lapis  herillis^  in  Isa.).  When  the  Targumist  says  that  he  is  called 
Yaka,  because  he  was  king  and  lord  over  the  nations,  it  is  because  he 
sees  in  t?tJ*Dn  Np''  a  correspondence  to  X!^Dn  "^"O,  and  derives  it  from  the 
Greek  viysu  oiya,  or  we  consider  Np^  =  i<p3  =  «j/e6i.  In  Bemidbar  Kabba, 
cap.  10  (ed.  Amst.  199a),  seven  names  of  Solomon  are  enumerated  : 
Solomon  Koheleth,  Jedidiah,  Agur,  Ben,  Yaka,  Lemiel,  and  Ethiel,  and 
80  Ben  and  Yaka  are  not  separated. 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  269 

as  it  is  written :  "  I  have  built  Thee  an  house  of  habitation  " 
(2  Chron.  vi.  2).  They  called  him  Ethi-el,  "  God  is  with 
me/'  because  the  Word  of  God  was  his  assistance.  And 
so  it  is  written :  "  He  was  wiser  than  all  men."  He  was 
called  Yaka  (commander  of  obedience)  because  he  was  lord 
and  ruler  over  all  the  kings  of  the  earth,  east  and  west. 
And  so  it  is  written :  "  Solomon  sat  upon  the  throne  of  his 
father  David."  All  the  kingdoms  feared  him,  nations  and 
languages  were  obedient  to  him  ;  devils,  demons,^  and  ferocious 
beasts,  evil  spirits  and  accidents,  were  delivered  into  his 
hands.  Imps  brought  him  all  kinds  of  fish  from  the  sea, 
and  the  fowls  of  heaven,  together  with  the  cattle  and  wild 
animals,  came  of  their  own  accord  to  his  slaughter  -  house 
to  be  slaughtered  for  his  banquet.  He  was  rich  and  powerful 
in  the  possession  of  much  silver  and  gold.  He  explained 
parables,  solved  hidden  problems,  and  made  known  mysteries 
without  end.  His  enemies  and  adversaries  became  his 
friends,  and  all  the  kings  obeyed  him.  All  came  to  see 
his  face,  and  longed  to  hear  words  of  his  knowledge.  The 
High  One  elevated  and  exalted  him  for  the  sake  of  David 
His  servant.  His  fame  was  spread  among  the  kings,  and 
his  power  among  the  wise.  He  was  perfect  and  true, 
shunned  evil,  understood  the  mysteries  of  heaven,  and  was 
wise  in  divine  things.  His  kingdom  was  more  powerful 
than  all  the  kingdoms,  and  his  understanding  was  greater 
than  that  of  all  the  children  of  Mahhol  (the  globe).  They 
heard  everywhere  of  his  fame  and  of  his  wise  sayings,  and 
all  came  to  salute  him.  All  the  kings  loved  him;  all 
governors  trembled  before  him ;  they  brought  him  their 
sons  and  daughters  to  be  his  servants,  and  to  run  before 
him ;  they  desired  to  sit  before  him,  and  yearned  to  hear 
the  words  of  his  mouth  and  his  wisdom.  When  he  began 
'^  to  speak,  they  knelt  and  prostrated  themselves  before  him ; 
all  who  were  about  to  come  to  him  neglected  and  despised 
their  cities,  even  hated  their  places  and  countries,  and  came 
1  p^-ii)  is  by  mistake  omitted  in  Amst.  ed. 


270  APPENDIX  I. 

to  hear  amiable  words  of  wisdom  from  his  lips  with  which 
he  manifested  the  j)raise  of  the  Lord  of  lords.  When  he 
opened  his  mouth,  he  spake  like  a  trumpet  the  praise  to 
the  Most  High  King.  To  him  was  given  a  large  key  whereby 
to  open  the  gates  of  wisdom  and  understanding  of  the  heart. 
He  understood  the  languaires  of  birds  and  of  animals,  staiirs 
and  rams  ran  at  his  command,  lions  and  tigers  seized  weapons 
before  him.  He  understood  languages  better  than  all  nations, 
he  instructed  all  schools,  all  kings  and  queens  trembled  before 
him.  All  rulers  were  seized  with  terror,  to  him  was  given 
the  crown  of  victory,  he  subdued  all  men,  he  was  the  head 
of  all  kings,  and  (through  his  influence)  no  kingdom  could 
take  up  weapons  against  another.^  All  kings  shook  before 
him,  all  countries  revealed  mysteries  to  him,  so  that  he 
knew  all  the  secrets  of  men ;  because  he  did  works  of 
righteousness  and  charity,  he  was  from  the  beginning  worthy 
to  be  king  in  this  world,  and  he  shall  be  worthy  in  the 
world  to  come.^ 

§  HI. 

This  King  Solomon  was  it  who  had  caused  a  glorious 
royal  throne  to  be  made,  covered  with  gold  from  Ophir, 
overlaid  with  beryl  stones,  brilliants,^  marble,  samaragel, 
carbuncle,  diamonds,  pearls,  and  other  precious  stones.* 

For  no  king  was  the  throne  made  like  it,  and  no  kingdom 

1  To  be  read  ^n. 

2  The  discovery  is  higlily  interesting,  that  the  praise  here  given  to 
Solomon  consists  of  two  alphabetical  acrostics,  which  even  compilers  of 
the  Targums  had  failed  to  notice.  The  acrostic  is  forward  and  backward, 
and  can  only  be  seen  in  the  original.  This  also  is  a  contrasting  imitation 
of  the  Byzantian  acrostical  song  of  praise  in  reference  to  Christ. 

3  The  SV"*!;  ^J3S  are  lustrous  stones.      p^  =  j^|,  as  nTJ  =  1V3.     p^  is 
applied  to  things  white  and  shining,  to  the  ornament  worn  by  the  high 
priest  upon  his  forehead,  and  to  white  blossom ;  as  |>yj,  to  shine,  and 
p,  blossom  (comp.  my  treatise  on  "  Nazareth "  in  IFege  nach  Damascus,  ' 
p.  11). 

*  Bead  p3113nD  and  not  p:nD13,  viz.  chalcedony,  which  the  Targum 
has  for  the  Hebrew  ubn\  For  ontJ^  it  has  pi)"lU,  beryllus.  From  this  is 
derived  the  French  word  "  briller." 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  2  71 

could  produce  similar  ones.  This  throne  was  made  as 
follows:  Twelve  lions  of  gold  stood  upon  it,  and  opposite 
to  them  twelve  eagles  of  gold,  a  lion  opposite  an  eagle, 
and  an  eagle  opposite  a  lion.  The  right  paw  of  the  golden 
lion  was  toward  the  left  wing  of  the  golden  eagle,  and  the 
left  wing  of  the  golden  eagle  was  toward  the  right  paw 
of  the  golden  lion.  The  sum  of  all  the  lions  upon  it  was 
seventy  -  two,  and  there  were  the  same  number  of  eagles. 
Towards  the  top,  where  the  king's  seat  was,  the  throne  was 
round.  It  had  six  steps  of  gold,  as  it  is  written :  "  The 
king  made  a  throne  of  ivory,  and  this  throne  had  six  steps." 
Upon  the  first  step  lay  a  golden  ox,  and  opposite  to  it  a 
golden  lion;  upon  the  second  step  lay  a  golden  bear,  and 
opposite  to  it  a  golden  lamb ;  upon  the  third  step  lay  a 
golden  panther,  and  opposite  to  it  a  golden  owl ;  upon  the 
fourth  step  lay  a  golden  eagle,  and  opposite  to  it  a  golden 
peacock ;  upon  the  fifth  step  lay  a  golden  cat,  and  opposite 
to  it  a  golden  hen ;  and  upon  the  sixth  step  lay  a  golden 
hawk,  and  opposite  to  it  -a  golden  dove.  Upon  the  throne 
stood  likewise  a  golden  dove,  holding  a  golden  hawk  in 
its  claws.  Thus  one  day  will  all  the  nations  and  languages 
be  delivered  into  the  hands  of  King  Messiah,  and  into  the 
hands  of  the  house  of  Israel.  Upon  the  top  of  the  throne 
stood  a  candlestick,  properly  arranged  with  lamps,  ornaments 
(or  pomegranates),  snuffers,  ash-pans,  cups,  and  lilies.  To  one 
side  of  the  shaft  were  attached  seven  pipes,  upon  which  the 
pictures  of  the  seven  patriarchs  were  engraven.  The  names 
of  these  are  as  follows :  Adam,  Noah,  his  eldest  son  Shem, 
Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  and  Job  among  them.  To  the 
other  side  of  the  shaft  were  likewise  attached  seven  pipes, 
upon  which  were  represented  seven  pious  men  of  the  world, 
whose  names  are :  Levi,  Kehath,  Amram,  Moses,  Aaron, 
Eldad,  Medad,  and  the  prophet  Haggai  among  them  (or 
rather  Hur).^    Upon  the  top  of  the  candlestick  stood  a  golden 

1  The  proper  reading  is  "i"in,  for  Haggai  was  not,  of  course,  in  the  time  of 
Solomon.    The  reading  of  '•jn  must  have  arisen  from  the  word  s-^aj.    Hur 


272  APPENDIX  I. 

jar  filled  with  the  purest  olive  oil  which  suj^plied  the  lamps 
of  the  temple ;  and  under  it  was  a  great  golden  vessel  con- 
taining the  purest  olive  oil  which  supplied  the  lamps  of 
the  candlestick,  and  upon  it  was  portrayed  the  high  priest. 
Two  branches  proceeded  from  this  great  vessel,  and  upon 
them  were  depicted  the  two  sons  of  Eli,  namely,  Hophni 
and  Phinehas,^  and  out  of  these  branches  proceeded  two 
pipes  bearing  the  pictures  of  two  sons  of  Aaron,  viz. 
Kadab  and  Abihu.  There  were  also  upon  it  two  seats  of 
gold,  one  for  the  high  priest  and  the  other  for  the  vice  high 
priest.  Towards  the  top  of  the  throne  were  attached  seventy 
golden  chairs,  upon  which  sat  the  seventy  Synhedrists 
as  judges  before  Solomon.  Two  doves  were  sitting,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  ears  of  Solomon,  in  order  that  he  should 
not  be  frightened  (at  the  tumult  of  the  judges).  On  the 
upper  side  of  the  throne  were  placed  twenty -four  vines 
of  gold,  which  formed  a  shade  for  the  king.  And  wherever 
Solomon  wanted  to  go,  the  throne  moved  under  him  upon 
wheels.  When  he  placed  his  foot  upon  the  first  step,  the 
golden  ox  raised  him  to  the  second,  and  so  it  went  from 
the  second  to  the  third,  from  the  third  to  the  fourth,  from 
the  fourth  to  the  fifth,  and  from  the  fifth  to  the  sixth,  where 
the  eagles  took  hold  of  him  and  seated  him  upon  the  throne. 
There  was  also  a  serpent  of  silver  around  the  wheels. 

When  the  kings  heard  the  fame  of  the  royal  throne  of 

was  the  father  ot  the  architect  Bezaleel,  and  stands  everywhere  near 
Moses  and  Aaron.  The  Midrash  represents  him  as  a  martyr.  The 
jjeople  wanted  him  to  make  the  golden  calf,  which  he  refused  to  do,  and 
therefore  they  killed  him.  Shemoth  Kabba,  cap.  41,  42,  ed.  Amst.  p.  139. 
inii^  IJim  lino  bn:>  n\i^  HM  ^6-  The  legend  seems  to  have  arisen  for 
the  sake  of  excusing  Aaron,  to  show  that  his  life  also  was  in  danger. 

1  From  1  Sam.  ii.  it  appears  clearly  that  the  two  sons  of  Eli  were  not 
virtuous  and  exemplary  characters.  And  yet  the  Midrash  (Beresh,  cap.  54, 
ed.  Amst.  49a)  represents  God  as  saying  to  Abraham  :  Thou  hast  offered 
seven  lambs,  and  so  the  Philistines  will  slay  thy  seven  righteous  (D''pnv), 
among  whom  Hophni  and  Phinehas  stand  first.  This  legendary  view  of 
their  character,  though  in  opposition  to  the  view  of  Scripture,  occasioned 
their  being  depicted  upon  the  candlestick.  It  displays  a  desire  to 
pei^petuate  the  fame  of  their  priest  warriors. 


THE  SECOND  TAEGUM.  273 

King  Solomon,  they  assembled  themselves  and  came  and 
bowed  before  him,  and  exclaimed  :  No  such  throne  was  ever 
made  for  any  king,  and  no  nation  can  manufacture  its  like ! 
And  when  the  kings  saw  its  glory,  they  prostrated  themselves 
and  praised  the  Creator  of  the  World.  As  oft  as  King 
Solomon  ascended  the  throne  and  sat  down,  the  crown  was 
placed  upon  his  head,  and  after  this  a  great  serpent  artificially 
wound  itself,  and  also  lions  and  eagles  rose  up  and  artificially 
shaded  his  head,  a  golden  dove  descended  from  one  pillar, 
opened  a  cabinet  and  took  out  the  book  of  the  law  and  placed 
it  in  his  hands,  in  accordance  with  the  words  of  Moses  :  "  And 
it  shall  be  with  him,  and  he  shall  read  therein  all  the  days  of 
his  life,"  that  he  and  his  sons  may  long  reign  in  Israel. 

When  the  high  priest  came  to  salute  King  Solomon,  and 
all  the  elders  sat  on  the  right  and  on  the  left  of  the  throne  to 
administer  justice,  and  there  appeared  witnesses  who  wanted 
to  bear  false  testimony  before  Solomon,  then  the  wheels 
moved  artificially,  the  oxen  lowed,  the  lions  roared,^  the  bears 
growled,  the  lambs  bleated,  the  panthers  yelled,  the  owls 
hooted,  the  cats  mewed,  the  peacocks  shrieked,  the  cocks 
crowed,  the  hawks  screamed,  and  the  birds  chirped,  and  caused 
terror  in  the  hearts  of  the  false  witnesses,  so  that  they  said  to 
themselves :  "  We  must  bear  witness  to  the  truth  ;  if  not,  the 
world  will  be  destroyed  on  account  of  us."  When  King 
Solomon  went  up  upon  the  throne,  rivers  of  spices  flowed  ;  and 
no  other  king  had  such  a  throne.  And  when  the  enemies  of 
Israel  reached  the  height  of  their  guilt  (see  above),  the  wicked 

^  The  words  describing  the  voices  of  the  animals  are  in  my  edition  ot 
the  Targum  emended,  py^  is  used  of  lambs,  but  of  the  panther  should 
be  used  pys  (boare).  In  reference  to  the  voice  of  cats,  instead  of  |''D''"'tD  read 
J''D''^D  (miza  mica,  etc.).  Of  peacocks,  instead  of  p^^''^  read  p^^JSO  (pupulare). 
Of  a  bear  may  be  said  pat^riD,  but  of  a  hawk  must  be  {'•DQDD.  as  it  is  called 
pipitare,  pipare,  piplire.     Comp.  my  Kaiser  und  Konigsthrone,  p.  140. 

|V3  ""J^,  elsewhere  t<^fJ  "13.  Levi  quotes  a  MS:  on  Job  xxxix.  29,  where 
the  last  occurs.  The  expression  son  of  p  is  somewhat  strange.  It  is 
certainly  a  kind  of  Nisus,  by  which  the  sea  eagle,  the  sparrow,  and  the 
hawk  is  sometimes  denominated.  The  name  arises  from  the  rapidity  of 
the  flight  of  the  bird. 

S 


274  APPENDIX  I. 

Nebuchadnezzar  equipped  himself.  He  went  up  against  them, 
destroyed  their  land,  plundered  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  burned 
the  temple,  took  the  people  of  Israel  captive,  and  brought 
them  to  Diblah  in  the  land  of  Hamath ;  and  with  them  he 
also  brought  the  throne  of  Solomon,  And  when  the  wicked 
King  Nebuchadnezzar  wanted  to  ascend  and  seat  himself  upon 
the  throne,  he  did  not  know  that  an  ascent  was  effected  by 
artificial  means,  and  so  when  he  put  his  foot  upon  the  first 
step,  a  golden  lion  stretched  out  his  riglit  paw,  and  gave  him 
a  blow  upon  his  left  foot,  so  that  he  became  lame  until  the 
day  of  his  death.^ 

After  the  Babylonian  King  Nebuchadnezzar,  came  Alex- 
ander the  Macedonian  and  took  the  throne  of  Solomon,  and 
brought  it  to  Egypt.  When  Shishak,  king  of  Egypt,  saw  this 
throne,  and  that  it  surpassed  in  beauty  all  the  royal  thrones, 
he  wanted  to  seat  himself  upon  it ;  but  he  also  did  not  know 
that  he  must  ascend  by  means  of  artificial  wheels,  and  so 
when  he  put  his  foot  upon  the  first  step,  a  golden  lion 
stretched  out  his  right  paw  and  smote  him  upon  his  left  foot, 
and  so  he  was  called  the  lame  Pharaoh  unto  the  day  of  his 

^  These  remarks  are  legendary,  but  they  contain  historical  impressions. 
The  occasion  for  them  was  given  by  King  Necho.  He  slew  Josiah,  and 
heavily  taxed  Jerusalem.  The  name  was  translated  the  lame  (as  if  it  had 
been  derived  from  5^33).  Another  Egyptian  king,  p^^%  plundered 
Jerusalem  in  the  time  of  Rehoboam  (1  Kings  xiv.  26),  and  the  quality  of 
lameness  was  ascribed  to  him,  as  if  his  name  is  derived  from  pic^,  "  a  leg.'' 
But  although  this  is  said  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  yet  a  political  allusion  to  a 
later  time  is  easily  discerned.  Nebuchadnezzar  stands  for  the  Roman 
emperor  who  also  destroyed  Jerusalem.  The  war  began  under  Claudius 
Nero,  and  Claudius  is  derived  from  Claudus,  "  lame."  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  leader  of  the  Vandals,  Genseric  (Geiserich),  who  took 
away  from  the  Romans  the  Jerusalem  temple  treasures  and  carried  them 
to  Africa  (Procop.  Vand.  ii.  9  ;  comp.  Papencordt,  Vandalen,  p.  350),  was 
lame  (Jordanes,  Get.  53),  "  equi  casu  claudicans."  A  remarkable  parallel 
to  the  throne  of  Solomon  is  found  in  the  Mongolian  legend  (comp.  Jlilg, 
Mongalische  Miihrehen,  p.  206).  A  golden  throne  is  shown  ;  upon  thirty- 
two  steps  stand  thirty-two  wooden  figures.  It  was  the  throne  of  the 
god  Churmista,  and  after  him  the  throne  of  the  king  Vikramaditja. 
When  Ardshi  Bordshi  wanted  to  sit  down  upon  it,  the  wooden  figures  did 
beat  and  push  him,  and  said,  "  If  thou  dost  sit  down  upon  it,  thou  wilt 
die."     Then  he  and  his  people  prayed. 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  275 

death.  And  wlien  Epiphanes/  son  of  King  Antioclms,  came 
to  Egypt  and  destroyed  it,  he  took  with  him  the  throne  of 
Solomon  and  brought  it  into  a  ship.  There  a  leg  of  the  throne 
with  the  chain  of  gold  was  broken,  and  they  brought  all  the 
artists  and  goldsmiths  of  the  world  to  repair  it,  but  they  could 
not  do  it  until  this  day. 

And  when  his  kingdom  was  at  an  end,  and  Cyrus  the  Persian 
rose  up  after  him,  he  for  the  sake  of  building  the  temple  had  the 
merit  of  being  able  to  ascend  and  seat  himself  upon  the  throne 
of  Solomon,  the  like  of  which  there  was  not  in  all  the  kingdoms. 

§  IV. 

In  the  third  year  of  King  Nebuchadnezzar  the  house  of 
Israel  wept,  groaned,  sighed,  and  exclaimed :  "  Woe  to  us  ! 
the  enemy  has  prevailed  over  us,  he  has  plundered  our  land, 
destroyed  our  provinces,  carried  us  into  exile,  and  has  done 
every  injustice  against  us.  Our  old  men  he  put  in  chains, 
our  princes  he  dragged  away,  our  young  men  he  slew  with  the 
sword,  and  our  children  he  took  captive  !  Ah  !  the  crown  of 
our  glory  is  taken  from  us."  For  when  the  kings  of  the 
house  of  David  were  in  existence  they  reigned  over  the  whole 
world.  After  David  succeeded  Solomon  his  son,  whom  the 
Holy  One,  blessed  be  He !  made  to  rule  over  all  the  beasts  of 
the  field,  and  over  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  over  the  creeping 
things  of  the  earth,  and  over  devils,  demons,  and  spirits,  whose 
language  he  understood  as  they  also  understood  his.  For  thus 
it  is  written:  "And  he  spake  of  trees"  (1  Kings  iv.  33). 

And  when  the  heart  of  King  Solomon  was  once  merry  with 
wine,  he  sent  to  invite  all  the  kings  of  the  East  and  of  the 
West  who  were  near  the  land  of  Israel,  and  he  lodged  them 
in  the  royal  palace.^  And  when  again  merry  with  wine,  he 
ordered  that  the  violins,  cymbals,  tambourines,  and  harps  upon 

^  Read  instead  of  D''J"lS^iX. 

^  Concerning  the  Solomonic  legend,  I  have  treated  in  my  "Thron 
Salomo's"  {Wissenscfiaftl.  Bericht  der  Erfurter  Akadamie,  1851)  in  my 
Kaiser  und  Konigsthrone,  Berlin  1873,  and  in  the  treatise  Schamir  (Erfurt 
1856). 


276  APPENDIX  I. 

which  his  father  played  should  be  brought  to  liim.  And, 
further  merry  with  wine,  he  commanded  the  wild  beasts,  the 
birds,  the  reptiles,  the  devils,  demons,  and  spirits  to  be  brought, 
that  they  should  dance  before  him,  to  show  his  greatness  to 
the  kings  who  were  staying  with  him.  The  royal  scribes 
called  them  all  by  their  names,  and  they  came  together  with- 
out being  bound  or  ibrced,  and  without  even  a  man  leading 
them.  At  that  time,  the  cock  of  the  wood  was  missed  among 
the  fowls,  and  was  not  found.  Then  the  king  commanded  in 
anger  that  he  should  appear  before  him,  or  else  he  would 
destroy  him.  Then  the  cock  of  the  wood  answered  and  said 
to  King  Solomon  :  "  0  lord  of  the  earth,  incline  thine  ears 
and  hear  my  words.  Are  there  not  tln-ee  months  since  thou 
hast  put  counsel  in  my  heart  and  words  of  truth  upon  my 
tongue  ?  Since  then  I  have  not  eaten  any  food,  nor  drank 
any  water,  and  have  flown  all  over  the  world  and  made  an 
inspection.  I  thought,  Is  there  a  country  or  a  kingdom  which 
is  not  subject  to  my  lord  the  king  ?  Then  I  saw  a  certain 
country,  the  name  of  whose  fortified  town  is  Kitor,^  whose 

^  "l^DV  is  from  n"lDp,  "  frankincense."  Salja,  in  Arabia,  was  famous  for 
frankincense.  Many  authors  report  of  it  (comp.  Kitter,  Weihrauch  und 
JVeihrauchland  in  Arahien,  xii.  p.  356).  The  note  of  Strabo  is  interesting 
when  lie  says:  "roaxvrcc.  o'  sari  ro  ttA'^^o?  (of  frankincense)  coar  oivrl  (tpvyu- 
uuu  Kiel  rv]g  xxvaif^ov  v7^r,i-  y^pvjiGui  Ktuucifio^urj)  kuI  "hotii'oc  kui  roig  oeAAo/j  .  .  . 
£%  'hi  iy.7:op'iocg  ovroi  rs  (the  Sabeans)  koci  Ysppxlot  'Vhovaiuroirot  ttxvtom/  sh'iu, 
£)C<^vai  T£   Troif/.TrT^Ti&'yjx,  utocoksv^v  ^cpviuf^ocTUv  T£  Kxl  »ypvpa[/,ccro}'j,  yJhivov  n 

KOCl  rpiTTohuV   Kul  KpoClVipOW  GVV    '^JCTTUflCtdl   KCll   T^  TUV   OiKUV   '7: UKVT ihi'l (X.  Kul   yup 

ffvpoifiuroe.  kolI  rdly^ot  kocI  cpo(pxi  Oi  t'hi^ct.VTOg  kxI  'Kpvaoi'  kxI  ocpyvpov  'hi6oKO>.- 
TiTiTov  rvyxavii  li wtt oi Ki'Afii v x"  (Mh.  xvi.  4,  §  19,  ed.  Paris,  p.  662).  "There 
is  such  a  great  quantity  of  frankincense  that  they  use  cinnamon  and  cassia 
for  fuel  instead  of  faggots  and  other  firewood.  Through  this  commerce, 
the  Sabeans  and  the  Gerrhaons  are  the  richest  of  all,  and  they  have  a  great 
number  of  gold  and  silver  vessels,  of  beds,  tripods,  basins,  together  with 
cups  and  the  whole  decoration  of  the  houses.  Even  the  doors,  walls,  and 
ceilings  are  decorated  with  gold,  silver,  and  ivory."  Kemarkable  details, 
which  Ritter  had  overlooked,  are  in  the  fragments  of  Juba  (Fragm.  Histor, 
Graecor.  iii.  479).  Strabo  says  also  :  "  On  account  of  abundance  of  servants, 
the  inhabitants  are  lazy  and  careless  in  their  manner  of  life."  The  authors 
from  which  Strabo  drew  his  information  tell  indeed  a  strange  story  of  a 
king  of  Saba  :  "  It  has  a  king  who  presides  over  the  court  of  justice  and 
other  things.     He  is  not  allowed  to  leave  the  palace,  the  people  would  at 


THE  SECOND  TAEGmr.  277 

dust  is  more  precious  than  gold,  and  where  silver  lies  about 
like  dung  in  the  streets.  Trees  also  are  there  standing  from 
primeval  times,  and  are  watered  from  the  garden  of  Eden. 
Great  crowds  of  people  are  there  from  the  garden  of  Eden, 
having  crowns  upon  their  heads,  who  know  nothing  of  warfare, 
nor  can  they  draw   the  bow.     For,  indeed,  I  have   seen  one 

once  stone  him,  in  consequence  of  a  saying  of  an  oracle.  Not  only  he, 
but  also  all  his  companions  live  in  effeminate  luxury."  The  Targum 
evidently  regards  Saba  as  Arabia.  A  curious  oj)inion  is  found  in  the 
Targum  on  Job  i.  15,  where,  on  the  words,  "and  the  Sabeans  fell  upon 
tliem,"  it  says  :  p^TliQ'Tl  "IJIIDT  D^^O  JT'^"'^.  This  hitherto  unexplained 
passage  is  interesting.  It  should  be  read,  not  }iym2"n,  but  jliTniOTl,  viz. 
the  Mauritians.  The  Targum  Jerushalmi  on  Gen.  x.  7  has  for  Saba  and 
Dedan  :iTDl  1^112'!-  Instead  of  njiDT  should  be  read  IJilJOJ  or  nnjij,  viz. 
Nigrotes,  and  ||tD  for  ^fo,  the  Musones,  well-known  Mauri tanian  nations. 
The  Targum  on  Job  understands  the  peoples  who  fell  upon  the  sons  of 
Job  to  have  been  Moors,  black  people  (hence  Nigros,  from  Niger,  Mauri- 
tanians).  From  this  is  seen  why  the  queen  is  called  n'h*'?,  who  is  also 
vmderstood  as  a  night  spectre,  from  np*"^,  night.  Such  a  one  appears  here 
as  queen  and  murderess,  because  Satan,  who  is  also  called  the  black  one 
(Shahhr),  has  caused  her  to  be  so.  There  was  also  a  tradition  that  the 
Queen  of  Saba  came  from  Ethiopia,  as  even  Josephus  reports  {Antiq.  viii. 
6.  5).  An  opinion  had  therefore  arisen  that  Cush  stood  at  the  head  of  the 
whole  race.  As  T\'h'h  is  here,  and  ^h'h,  spectres,  is  in  the  text  several 
times  spoken  of,  I  shall  add  a  note  upon  the  peculiar  story  of  Jerushalmi 
Hhagiga,  because  the  word  D"'"'i<  which  occurs  there  was  not  j)roperly  under- 
stood either  by  Rapaport  {Erech  Millin,  sub  wee)  or  by  Wiinsche  {Jerus. 
Talmud,  p.  181).  It  is  there  told  that  R.  Simon  ben  Shetahh  was  judging 
eighty  witches  in  Askalon.  He  went  there  with  eighty  young  men  whom 
he  had  concealed.  He  called  the  witches  D''''^,  D''''X  ;  hut  the  name  is  not 
Greek, — it  is  not  companions, — but  rather  refers  to  Jer.  1.  39.  The  Arabic  is 
bne  avri,  from  morning,  as  Delitzsch  has  already  explained  it,  according  to 
Bochart  (i.  848).  Jerome  renders  this  w^ord  by  Fauni,  "a  spirit  of  the  forest." 
The  Syriac  version  renders  it  by  Sirens,  which  on  the  whole  is  correct. 

It  is  also  instructive  that  the  Targum  on  Jer.  renders  O'lij^  by  |''7inn, 
cats.  The  witches,  according  to  the  opinion  of  the  ancients,  appeared  in 
the  form  of  cats  (comp.  Grimm,  MytJiol.  1051  ;  also  Ausland,  1855,  Nr. 
62,  p.  500  ;  my  Sunem,  vol.  vii.  256).  The  people  called  the  witches  by 
such  and  other  names  (like  weather-cats,  thunder-cats,  etc.).  The  saying 
also  of  Simon  ben  Shetahh  to  the  young  men,  that  they  must  lift  them  up 
from  the  earth  in  order  that  they  should  no  more  be  injurious,  wap  in 
accordance  with  the  common  notion.  It  was,  e.g.,  taught  in  connection 
with  lawsuits  about  witches,  that  they  should  not  be  permitted  to  touch 
the  ground,  otherwise  they  would  again  become  transformed  (comp. 
Grimm,  Mythol.  p.  1028).  We  are  reminded  of  similar  ideas  in  the  con- 
flict between  Heracles  and  Antaeus. 


278  APPENDIX  I. 

woman  who  rules  over  them  all,  and  her  name  is  Queen  of 
Saba.  Now,  if  it  please  my  lord  the  king,  I  shall  gird  my 
loins  like  a  mighty  man,  and  shall  arise  and  go  to  the  city 
of  Kitor,  in  the  land  of  Saba,  and  shall  bind  its  kings  and 
governor  in  chains  of  iron,  and  shall  bring  them  to  my  lord 
the  king."  This  speech  pleased  the  king,  and  royal  scribes 
were  called,  a  letter  was  written  and  tied  to  the  wings  of  the 
cock  of  the  wood,  who  lifted  up  his  wings  and  soared  up  in 
the  air,  and  compelled  other  birds  to  fly  with  it.  Then  they 
came  to  the  city  of  Kitor,  in  the  land  of  Saba.  Toward 
morning  the  queen  went  out  to  worship  the  sea,  when  the 
birds  obscured  the  sunlight,  so  that  the  queen  out  of  astonish- 
ment took  hold  of  her  clothes  and  tore  them  in  pieces.  The 
cock  of  the  wood  now  came  down,  and  she  observed  that  a 
letter  was  tied  to  its  wings,  which  she  at  once  opened  and 
read  what  was  written  therein,  as  follows :  "  From  me.  King 
Solomon,  peace  to  thee  and  to  thy  princes.  Thou  must 
certainly  know  that  the  Holy  One,  blessed  be  He !  made  me 
to  rule  over  the  wild  beasts,  over  the  fowls  of  the  air,  over 
devils,  demons,  and  spirits,  and  that  all  the  kings  of  the  East 
and  of  the  West,  of  the  South  and  of  the  North,  come  to 
salute  me.  If  thou  wilt  come  and  salute  me,  I  shall  show 
thee  greater  dignity  than  I  shall  show  to  all  the  kings  that 
are  sojourning  with  me ;  but  if  thou  wilt  not  come  to  salute 
me,  I  shall  send  kings,  legions,  and  riders  against  thee.  But 
if  thou  wilt  ask.  What  sort  of  kings,  legions,  and  riders  has 
King  Solomon  ?  So  know,  that  the  wild  beasts  are  the  kings 
and  the  legions,  and  the  riders  are  the  birds  in  the  air.  My 
army  consists  of  devils,  demons,  and  spirits,  who  will  strangle 
you  in  your  beds,  the  wild  beasts  will  kill  you  in  your  houses, 
and  the  fowls  of  the  air  will  devour  your  flesh  in  the  field." 
When  the  queen  heard  the  words  of  the  letter  she  again  rent 
her  clothes.  Then  she  sent  for  the  elders  and  prominent  men, 
and  said  to  them,  "  Do  you  know  what  King  Solomon  has 
sent  to  me  ? "  They  answered,  "  We  do  not  know  Solomon, 
nor  do  we  esteem  his  kingdom."     But  she  did  not  trust  them, 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  279 

nor  listen  to  their  words,  but  caused  all  the  ships  to  be 
collected  and  loaded  with  presents  of  pearls  and  of  precious 
stones.  And  she  also  sent  him  six  thousand  boys  and  girls 
who  were  born  in  the  same  year,  month,  day,  and  hour,  and 
who  were  of  the  same  stature  and  of  the  same  proportion ; 
and  they  were  all  dressed  in  purple.^ 

^  5<J"i:nX  i^K^nf',  purple  garments,  pjnj^  is  tlie  known  Hebrew  pi"lX ;  the 
p  and  p  are  undoubtedly  corresponding  terminations.  The  letters  m  and 
n  exchange  in  all  languages  (comp.  heav-en  and  himmel,  etc.).  j-ij5  is 
found  again  in  the  Greek  ctAoy/iyoV,  purple-dyed,  namely  a  A,  sea,  and  g/sy, 
which  has  nothing  to  do  with  soyog,  work.  Pape's  explanation,  that  it 
means  sea- work,  is  ])eculiar  in  connection  with  the  significance  of  dye.  It 
surely  means  the  shell-fish  from  which  the  purple  dye  is  extracted,  just  as 
in  Latin  murex  comes  from  mare.  The  words  Sili"lt<  Xt^^3P  correspond 
to  blatteae  vestes ;  hlatta  is  also  properly  a  worm.  That  hlatteus  came  to 
mean  purple,  is  to  be  explained  from  the  use  of  purple  silk.  Silk  and 
purple-silk  are  identical,  and  blatteus  of  silk  is  connected  with  words  in 
which  it  means  only  purple-dyed,  like  blatteus  colour.  Eutrop.  speaks  of 
Uattei  funes.  A  senator  was  called  blattifer.  From  this  the  use  has 
arisen  of  even  saying,  sericoblatta  and  pallium  hlattoserium  (comp.  Gerard, 
Joh.  Voss.  de  theologia  Gentili,  p.  1612).  From  this  promiscuous  use  of 
purple  dye  and  of  silk  material  arose  the  expression  of  "  silkworm  "  and 
"  purple  worm  ; "  but  we  shall  touch  upon  this  afterwards.  About  the 
names  of  silk  there  is  yet  something  to  be  said.  In  the  Mishna  (Kilayim, 
§  9.  1)  the  word  ^^^  stands  near  D"''T'JJ^,  which  scholars  have  long  ago 
recognised  as  related  to  sericum.  But  the  opinion  that  D''1"'K^  must  be 
read  somewhat  like  sei'is  or  serie  cannot  be  allowed,  for  even  the 
Armenians  also,  the  great  merchants,  say  sheram  for  "  silk."  ^  More 
interesting  and  difficult  is  the  word  which  the  Jerusalem  Talmud  has  in 
the  same  passage,  viz.  &<D3t2C  which  should  be  read  SD30D,  Gr.  fiirec^oc 
or  fiotTot^ec  (ed.  Krotoschin,  p.  32a).  Another  passage  in  which  it  occurs 
is  found  in  Bereshith  Rabba,  §  40,  p.  35c  (ed.  Amst.).  When  Abraham  was 
on  his  journey  to  Egypt  he  had  locked  up  his  wife  in  a  box,  in  order  to 
conceal  her  from  the  Egyptians.  Arrived  in  Egypt,  he  was  asked  to  pay 
duty  for  his  goods.  He  said  that  he  was  ready  to  pay  for  everything, 
only  they  must  not  open  that  particular  box.  They  said  to  him  :  "  Hast 
thou  gold  in  it  (jy^t3  nX3m)  ?  then  j)ay  duty  ;  or  hast  thou  silk  (|"'D3DD 
]'^V'^12)  '^  pay  duty."  Metaxa  was  then  here  used  for  valuable  articles  which 
are  taxed,  as  it  stands  between  gold  and  pearls,  \'hT\0  (comp.  Yalkut 
Shimoni,  n.  67).  There  is  a  curious  passage  in  Bereshith  Rabba,  chap.  77, 
p.  67c  (comp.  Yalkut  Shimoni,  n.  132,  ed.  Venice,  i.  39a),  where  we  read  : 
"  R.  Hhiya  Rabba  and  R.  Simon  had  business  with  Metaxa,  and  they  also 

^  [This  evidently  originated  from  the  fact  that  the  shell-fish  from  which  the 
purple  dye  of  the  silk  was  extracted  was  first  found  at  Tyre,  which  was  pronounced 
in  the  original  Sar  or  Sur,  with  a  strong  sibilant  like  Sc.  The  fish  was  likewise 
called  Scar.     Hence  also  the  name  scarlet.— Trans.] 


280  APPENDIX  I. 

She  wrote  a  letter  and  sent  it  through  them,  which  ran  as 
follows  :  "  From  the  city  of  Kitor  to  the  land  of  Israel  is 
indeed  a  journey  of  seven  years,  but  owing  to  the  questions 
which  I  have  to  ask  thee,  I  shall  come  in  three  years."  After 
three  years,  the  Queen  of  Saba  really  came  to  King  Solomon, 

found  a  forgotten  parcel  of  silk  (pD3DC"l  N^''^nD)."  The  word  ^b^^riD  has 
not  yet  been  explained.  It  is  Persian  and  Arabic,  ^r\  is  quilts  and  other 
utensils.  D?no  is  in  Arabic  volumen,  "a  book,"  as  well  as  sform  (comp. 
Freytag,  Lex.  Arab.  i.  290a).  Interesting  is  the  mention  of  Metaxa  by  Gush 
Chaleb  of  Giscala  in  Koheleth  Rabha  (ed.  Amst.  65&).  The  mentioning  of 
the  word  in  these  passages  is  important,  because  it  shows  how  groundless 
is  the  doubt  which  ancient  scholars  have  thrown  upon  the  use  of  metaxa 
in  the  title  of  Marcianus  which  was  received  in  the  Pandects  {De  Publi- 
canis  et  Vediglibus,  lib.  39,  iv.  16.  7),  and  which  they  held  as  interpo- 
lated. They  assert  that,  in  the  enumeration  of  metaxa  vestes  serica  sub 
serica  vel  attinda,  Tribonian  has  interpolated  the  word  metaxa.  This 
opinion  is  groundless  when  contemporaries  of  Marcian  (R.  Hhiya)  use  the 
word.  Rather  are  the  words  "  Vestis  serica  "  to  be  considered  as  a  gloss. 
The  word  also  occurs  in  Cod.  Theod.  (lib.  10,  tit.  xx.  de  Murilegibus ;  comp. 
Jus.  Gib.  Antejustin,  ed.  Hugo,  p.  777)  in  an  edict  of  the  year  406,  and — 
which  is  not  surprising — in  Cod.  Justin  (lib.  8,  tit.  xvi.  28,  de  pignoribus) 
in  an  edict  of  the  year  528.  All  these  quotations  are  older  than  those 
which  Du  Cange  has  {Gloss.  Graec.  p.  917),  where  Hesychius  and  Menander 
occupy  the  first  rank.  Michaelis  (in  Castelli,  Lex.  Syr.  p.  495)  quotes  it 
Syr.  {<D3D?D,  without  giving  the  source  of  the  quotation.  It  must  not  be 
overlooked  that  metaxae  is  used  by  Vitruvius,  vii.  3,  in  the  senses  of 
"  coil "  and  "  skein."  In  Turkish  Tartaric  also,  silk  was  originally  called 
ipek  jipek  ( Vambery,  Die  primitive  Cultur  der  Turktataren,  p.  88).  Metaxa  is 
also  twisting  {stria  taenia),  like  twisting  of  hair  (com p.  Reiske,  Zu  Constant 
Forphyr.  ii.  791).  Festus  quotes  it  from  Lucillius,  as  is  further  to  be  seen 
by  Alberti  on  Hesychius,  sub  voce  avic.  A  sufficient  etymological  explana- 
tion of  the  word  is  not  yet  given.  Ritter  has  found  none  in  his  sources 
{Geogr.  viii.  708),  and  Lassen  says  {Ind.  Alterthumskunde,  i.  321,  note):  "The 
word  f^iTu^oc  is  still  of  obscure  origin  among  the  later  Greeks."  Salmasius 
(comp.  Vopisc.  Aurelian,  ed.  Haack,  ii.  p.  540)  is  of  opinion  that  the  name 
that  was  applied  to  a  silk  thread  afterwards  signified  silk  in  general.  This 
is  improbable.  He  thought  of  a  formation  of  /airoi:  (from  /icia)  like 
7,spta(roi,  and  TTipt^  from  tso/,  and  like  af^i'Kog  and  a^/Aa^.  Braun,  De 
Vestitu  Sac,  Hebr.,  approved  of  this,  and  thought  that  fA-iTu^a,  is  for 
fiiTu^i;,  which  is  unacceptable.  I  think  that  the  explanation  of  metaxa  has 
its  analogy  in  the  other  names  which  silk  had  in  the  East  and  in  the  West. 
The  spinning  of  silk  by  a  worm  has  ever  been  the  astonishment  of  nations. 
Legend  and  fiction  are  connected  with  it.  Gervasius  of  Tilbury  has  the 
strangest  story  in  his  Otia  Imprialia,  chap.  Ivi.  (Leibnitz,  i.  978) :  "  Est 
enim  a  sui  principio  quasi  semen  sinapis  minutissimum  cumque  tempus 
panniculum  inclusum  coactum  illud  semen  in  sinu  dominarum  ac  virginum 


THE  SECOND  TAllGUM.  281 

who,  when  he  heard  of  her  arrival,  sent  Benayahu,  son  of 
Yehayada,  to  meet  her.  He  was  beautiful  as  sunrise  (or  like 
Venus  the  lustrous  star),  and  like  the  white  lily  which  stands 
by  brooks  of  water.  Now  when  the  Queen  of  Saba  saw 
Benayahu,  son  of  Yehoyada,  she  dismounted  from  her  riding 

tenetiir ;  beneficio  caloris  vivifactum  foliis  mori  siipponitiir  et  super 
tabulam  vernucuh  extensi  nutrimentuni  folium  mori  in  brevi  crescunt  ad 
grossorum  vermium  quantitatem,"  etc.  According  to  the  Arab  legend, 
Solomon  wanted  to  have  a  thread  l)rought  through  a  diamond,  so  he  com- 
manded Satan  to  bring  a  worm  to  do  it.  He  brought  the  worm,  which, 
after  accomplishing  the  work,  left  a  silk  thread  behind.  When  Solomon 
wanted  to  reward  the  worm,  it  besought  him  to  be  allowed  to  choose  a 
fruit  tree  for  its  dwelling,  and  he  assigned  to  it  the  mulberry  tree  {TFeil 
bibl.  Legenden,  p.  263).  Paulus  Silentarius  poetizes  of  silk,  "  Als  dem 
Gespiunst  der  fremden  emsigen  WUrmer "  (ed.  Kortiim.  near  Salzenberg, 
AUchristl.  Bandenkm.  p.  xlvi.).  In  a  Roman  Catholic  book  of  songs 
(Bamberg,  1628,  p.  483,  v.  Degen)  we  read, — 

"  Was  ist  der  Seyden  Pracht, 

Wer  hat  die  Pracht  gemacht  ? 

Es  haben  Wurm  gemacht 

Den  ganzen  Seydenpracht." 
Even  the  traveller  Olarius  exclaims,  "What  wonderful  work  of  nature 
there  is  in  such  a  little  worm  in  its  variation,  work,  and  production  ! " 
Owing  to  this,  most  of  the  names  of  silk  are  called  after  the  worm.  In 
Mahabarata,,  silk  is  called  Kitaga,  worm-product  (comp.  Lassen,  Ind.  Alterth. 
ii.  pp.  564,  614,  note).  The  well-known  Sericum  has  long  ago  been  derived 
from  the  name  of  the  worm,  called  in  Mongol,  sirkek,  in  Mandshu  sirghi, 
in  Corean  sir,  in  Chinese  sze  or  szu  (the  Chinese  have  no  r).  From  the 
Greek  bomhyx,  caterpillar,  silk  dresses  were  called  homhycinias.  Hesy- 
chius  adduces  a  name  (ipv6oc^  (fipv^ociag)  for  silk  stuff,  from  a  form 
iSovTouy  which  is  a  worm  (perhaps  the  German  Brut)  (comp.  Salmasius 
on  Tertidlian  de  Fallio,  p.  240). 

The  Latin  hlatta,  "  moth,"  is  in  well-known  use  applied  to  materials  of 
silk.  As  already  remarked,  we  meet  with  hlattei  funes,  blattei,  blattifer 
senatus,  with  which  the  idea  of  purple-dyed  is  connected  (comp.  Voss,  De 
theologia  gentili,  p.  1012).  The  best  known  name  was  Seide  (silk),  derived 
from  the  Greek  ttis  (in  older  forms,  gen.  aeog  and  then  ff'^ro;),  originally 
also  the  moth.  In  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  called  Seta,  and  the  name 
came  with  the  silk  from  Byzantium  (comp.  Du  Cange,  and  Bitter,  viii.  pp. 
708-9).  The  Aruch  also  mentions  the  name  as  i^T\^  i^i  the  twelfth  century 
in  Italy.  The  name  passed  then  over  into  French,  as  soie  (from  sida,  like 
foi  from  fides,  and  vair  from  videre).  It  is  found  as  n5<"'''1t^  in  Bashi  on 
Ezek.  xvi.  10.  The  Greek  avu  is  the  same  as  the  Hebrew  DD,  for  which 
also  it  is  given  in  the  Greek  version  on  Isa.  li.  8.  Elsewhere  it  stands  for 
^]}  (Isa.  1.  9  ;  Job  iv.  19,  xxvii.  18),  and  for  3p-|  (Prov.  xiv.  32,  etc.). 
Doubtful  is  the  Persian  Ebrisim  (Vullei'.^  Lex.  i.  67),  Armenian  aprsoum 


282  ^  APPENDIX  1. 

animal.  "  Why,"  asked  Benayahu,  son  of  Yelioyada,  "  dost 
thou  dismount  from  thy  riding  animal  ? "  She  rejoined,  "  Art 
not  thou  King  Solomon  ? "  He  replied,  "  I  am  not  King 
Solomon,  but  one  of  his  servants  who  attend  upon  him." 
Thereupon  she  turned  to  her  great  men,  and  said  this  pro- 
verbial saying:  "If  you  do  not  see  the  lion,  you  see  his  lair; 
though  you  do  not  see  King  Solomon,  yet  you  see  a  handsome 
man  who  stands  before  him."  Then  Benayahu  conducted  her 
to  the  king,  who,  when  he  heard  that  she  was  coming,  went 
and  sat  down  in  an  apartment  of  glass.  When  the  queen  saw 
the  king  sitting  there,  she  thought  in  her  heart,  and  in  fact 

(eprsoum),  which  also  passed  into  Arabic  (Freytag,  i.  pp.  2,  3).  Also 
Ahreshum  {Ehreshum)  in  Georgian  (Guldenstadt,  Reise  nach  Georgien,  ed. 
Klaproth,  p.  93).  The  extensive  and  interesting  explanation  of  Haug  in  the 
Gottinger  gelehrten  Anzeigen,  1854  (26,  27,  Stiick  vom,  11  Feb.  p.  259),  is  not 
decisive.    DD"'"l35<  is  nothing  else  than  the  Greek  h-mrov,  "worm,"  "reptile." 

According  to  these  analogies,  which  show  that  the  name  for  silk  was 
derived  from  the  name  that  was  given  to  "  worm  "  and  "  moth,"  there 
can  now  be  no  doubt  that  we  must  in  the  same  way  explain  the  word 
metaxa,  and  that  from  a  name  which  was  widely  known,  namely  from  the 
moth  itself  (with  which  probably  the  German  word  Made,  "  maggot," 
is  related).  It  is  called  in  Old  North  German  madkr,  Swedish  madk, 
Danish  madike,  maddik.  The  Low  German  forms  sound  maddik,  meddike, 
metke.  It  was  rightly  supposed  that  it  is  connected  with  the  Sanscr.  form 
matka  and  the  Persian  miteh,  moth  (comp.  Vullers,  ii.  1250).  This 
derivation  has  also  ethnographical  value.  When  one  meets  in  the  East  a 
name  for  silk  having  an  Old  Germanic  origin,  he  is  reminded  of  the  Sers, 
who  were  always  merchants  of  silk,  of  whom  Pliny  {Hist.  Nat.  vi.  chap, 
xvii.  No.  88,  ed.  Sillig,  i.  434)  says,  that  they  were  on  this  side  of  the 
Emodos :  "  Seras  ab  ipsis  adspici  notos  etiam  commercio  .  .  .  ipsos  vero 
excedere  hominum  magnitudinem,  rutilis  comis,  caeruleis  oculis,  oris  sono 
truci,  nullo  commercio  lingu  de,"  which  indicates  a  Germanic  type.  What 
Lassen  says  (ii.  359)  cannot  militate  against  this.  The  remarkable  traits 
of  nations  often  indicate  names.  The  Germanic  nations  now  call  silk 
by  a  Greek  name.  The  Byzantian  ages  transmitted  a  name  which  was 
essentially  Germanic. 

In  English,  silk  is  rightly  supposed  to  have  received  the  name  from 
Sericus,  which  has  come  from  the  Chinese  and  Tartar  peoples.  In  the 
Old  Testament  the  word  ""t^D  appears.  This  also  has  not  been  known 
until  now.  I  hold  it  to  be  the  same  as  ^grafse,  also  that  '•EJ'D  = ''E^tDD,  like 
the  Persian  miteh,  Greek  fAilocg,  Old  High  German  mizo,  French  mite, 
motte,  English  moth,  mite,  and  must  be  like  the  similar  forms  mentioned 
above  which  had  received  the  letter  k  (comp.  Dieffenbaeh,  Goth.  Worterh.  i. 
p.  6).     In  '^'^J2  is  clearly  seen  the  meaning  of  worm. 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  283 

said,  that  he  was  sitting  in  water,  and  she  raised  her 
dress  to  cross  the  water,  when  the  king  noticed  that  her 
foot  was  full  of  hair.  He  said  to  her,  "Thy  beauty  is  the 
beauty  of  women,  and  thy  hair  is  the  hair  of  men ;  hair  is 
becoming  to  a  man,  but  to  a  woman  it  is  a  shame."  The 
Queen  of  Saba  then  said :  "  My  lord  king !  I  will  give  thee 
three  riddles,^  which  if  thou  shalt  solve,  I  will  acknowledge 

^  The  riddles  which  Solomon  here  solves  are  not  like  those  which  the 
Muhamedan  tradition  relates  (comp.  Hammer,  Rosenol,  pp.  159, 160  ;  Weil, 
Bihl.  Legenden,  p.  260),  nor  like  those  in  the  Midrash  Mishle  (comp. 
Wiinsche,  Hcithsehueisheit,  p.  16).  The  Arabic  riddles  are  poetic.  That 
of  the  tear  is  also  mentioned  in  the  fable  of  Tewedud  (The  Thousand  and 
One  Nights  of  Hammer  and  Zinserling),  which  contains,  apart  from  this, 
plenty  of  Arabian  riddles.  Of  the  riddles  which  are  stated  here,  the 
author  of  a  German  translation  of  the  Targiim  in  the  year  1698  says  that 
he  does  not  give  them  because  they  are  different  in  various  places,  and  also 
because  he  does  not  understand  them.  The  same  has  happened  to  many 
others.  The  author  of  the  \'^T[^  nVD  (FUrth  1768)  explains  the  first 
thus  :  "  It  is  a  reed  made  of  wood,  in  which  is  put  dye  for  colouring  the 
eyes  ;  and  this  dye  is  very  hard,  like  a  stone  ;  and  when  one  wants  to  take 
out  the  stone,  he  must  use  an  iron  spoon  to  extract  the  colour,  and  when 
the  eye  is  smeared  over,  then  water  comes  out.  Of  the  second  he  says, 
this  is  pitch,  which  is  extracted  from  the  earth  like  water,  because  it  is 
thin  and  it  will  stick  to  a  house."  In  imperfect  language  he  rightly  gives 
the  old  interpretations.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  he  did  not  understand 
the  beginning  of  the  following  riddle,  which  is  the  most  interesting  one. 
I  must  here  remark  that  for  the  reading  of  pjjpis,  which  Eapaport  (Erech 
Millin,  p.  229)  considered  for  oraculum,  and  was  also  obscure  to  Buxtorf, 
must  be  read  jvpIS,  viz.  procella,  and  the  passage  should  be  translated  : 
"  In  the  storm  moves  and  arises  a  great  bitter  cry."  This  reminds  us  of 
the  praise  given  to  flax  by  Pliny  in  his  Introduction  to  Bib.  19,  where  he 
says  :  "  Andax  vita,  scelerum  plena,  aliquid  seri,  at  ventos  procellas 
recipiat."  But,  also  in  the  other  passage  which  Eapaport  quotes  under 
^p-lX,  the  reading  is  false.  In  Shirhashirim  Kabba  3a,  the  Kiss  of  God 
must  be  spoken  of.  The  reading  therefore  must  be  |"'S<i31pDfc<  for  oscula, 
instead  of  pxi'lplX-  Again,  for  sonn,  or  5<D^nn,  should  be  read  fc<Dn5<,  viz. 
sponsio.  For  the  passage  speaks  of  the  kiss  and  the  betrothal  of  God  to 
man.  The  riddle  itself  is  very  suggestive.  As  a  sail  flaps  violently  in  the 
storm  the  linen  made  of  flax  it  bows  low  its  head  like  a  rush  (comp.  Isa. 
Iviii.  5).  Linen  is  a  cause  of  dignity  to  the  rich  and  free  who  wear 
byssus  (there  is  a  play  upon  the  word  p-ilH,  free,  with  -nn,  white),  a  cause 
of  shame  to  the  poor  who  wear  rags,  an  ornament  for  the  dead  in  their 
shrouds — which  are  white  as  angels,  and  a  mockery  to  the  living  (the 
rope  of  flax),  a  joy  to  the  birds,  who  pick  up  the  seed  of  flax,  and  a  vexa- 
tion to  the  fish  on  account  of  the  nets.  Flax  is  called  in  Greek  and  in 
Latin  linouj  linum.   Hence  it  was  that  Yashua  ben  Levi  (Bereshith  Rabba, 


284  APPENDIX  I. 

that  thou  art  a  wise  man  ;  but  if  not,  then  thou  art  a  man 
like  all  the  rest." 

She  asked,  "  What  is  berries  of  wood  and  buckets  of  iron 
which  draw  up  stones  and  pour  out  water  ?  "  He  answered, 
"  A  tube  of  paint."  "  What  is,"  she  asked  again,  "  a  thing 
which  comes  as  dust  from  the  earth,  eats  dust,  is  poured  out 
as  water,  and  sticks  to  a  house  ?  "  He  answered,  "  It  is 
naphtha."  She  further  asked,  "  What  is  that  which  as  an 
oracle  (or  as  a  storm)  goes  at  the  head  of  all,  cries  loudly  and 
bitterly  with  its  head  bowed  down  like  a  rush,  is  a  cause  of 
praise  to  the  free,  of  shame  to  the  poor,  of  honour  to  the 
dead,  of  disgrace  to  the  living,  of  joy  to  the  birds,  and  of 
grief  to  the  fish?"  He  answered,  "It  is  flax."  She  ex- 
claimed, "  I  would  not  have  believed  it  had  I  not  come  here 
and  seen  it  with  mine  own  eyes ;  and  behold  the  half  has  not 
been  told  me,  for  thy  wisdom  and  thy  goodness  surpass  the 
report  I  have  heard.     Blessed  are  thy  people,  and  blessed  are 

§  20)  said :  "  God  had  made  for  them  garments  of  '•{<:f3,  '  linen ; '"  for  which 
Wlinsche  (Midrash  Eabba,  p.  95),  curiously  enough,  read  ^^'^^  "  garments 
of  the  skin  of  a  hare."  The  riddle  which  we  have  here  is  more  in- 
telligible and  instructive  than  that  contained  in  the  symposium  which  is 
ascribed  to  Lactantius, — 

"Major  eram  longe  quondam,  dum  vita  manebat 
Sed  nunc  examinis  lacerata,  ligata,  revulsa 
Dedita  sum  terrae,  tumulo  sed  condita  sum." 

Simrock  made  a  peculiar  mistake  in  his  German  book  of  riddles.     In 
No.  13  he  gives  us  the  riddle  thus  : — 

"  In  days  gone  by  when  young  I  was  green, 
A  robe  for  counts  and  princes  I've  been  ; 
And  when  I  am  old  and  not  much  use, 
My  learning  then  is  great  and  profuse." 

This  is  evidently  flax.     Linen  becomes  at  last  rags,  and  rags  become 
paper.     But  in  the  list  of  the  solutions  of  the  riddles,  the  cherry  is  given 
for  No.  13.     On  the  other  hand,  riddle  No.  22  is  as  follows  : — 
"  A  damsel  sits  upon  a  tree, 
Her  gown  is  red  as  red  can  be, 
Within  her  heart  a  stone  I  see, 
Guess  now,  I  pray,  what  this  may  be." 
The  solution  is  a  cherry  ;  but  in  Simrock's  list,  flax  is  given  for  it.    The 
copyist  must  have  confounded  the  two  solutions. 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  285 

these  thy  servants  who  are  about  thee ! "  Thereupon  he 
brought  her  into  the  tribunal^  (or  an  apartment)  of  the  royal 
palace.  'Now,  when  the  Queen  of  Saba  saw  his  greatness  and 
glory,  she  praised  the  Creator,  and  said  :  "  Blessed  be  the 
Lord  thy  God,  wdiom  it  has  pleased  to  set  thee  upon  the 
throne  of  the  kingdom  to  do  justice  and  right."  She  then 
gave  the  king  plenty  of  gold  and  silver,  and  he  gave  her  what 
she  desired.  And  the  kings  of  the  West  and  of  the  East,  of 
the  North  and  of  the  South,  who  heard  of  his  fame,  came 
tremblingly  from  their  various  places  with  extraordinary 
dignity,  and  they  presented  him  with  much  gold  and  silver, 
and  with  pearls  and  precious  stones. 

§  V. 

And  when  the  enemies  of  Israel  filled  up  the  measure  of 
their  guilt  (or  when  Israel  were  guilty),  the  prophet  ^  Jeremiali 
uttered  many  prophecies  to  them ;  and  as  they  did  not  listen 
to  him,  the  Holy  Spirit  persuaded  hira,  and  led  him  away 
into  the  land  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin.      Thus  it  is  written : 

« 

^  W1D"1D  can  best  be  explained  by  reading  S^UItO,  trihnna  =  trihimsi\,  of 
which  Reiske  (Constant.  Forphjr.  ii.  p.  83)  says  :  "  Tribunal  est  omne 
aedificium  excelsiim,  illustre,  non  taiitnm  /3^,mo6  in  quo  causae  aguntur." 
In  the  same  way  explains  Raslii :  p^l^TIH  pD^S  ""DIX  \\^hl  WmD  i?D1 
Twiyy?'     That  which  Munk  adduces  (p.  24)  does  not  explain  it. 

^  This  narrative  about  Jeremiah  is  owing  to  a  curious  homily  upon  two 
sentences  in  his  prophecy.  Tradition  assumed  that  he  really  did  what  is 
told  in  the  above  quotation  from  Jer.  xxxvii.  12,  and  it  therefore  under- 
stood by  the  "  gate  of  Benjamin,"  not  a  city  gate  by  which  people  went  to 
Benjamin,  but  a  gate  in  the  country  of  Benjamin  itself.  It  connected 
with  this  Jer.  xx.  7,  where  the  prophet  exclaims  :  "  O  Lord,  Thou  hast  per- 
suaded me,  and  I  was  persuaded  ;  Thou  hast  forcibly  taken  hold  upon  me, 
and  hast  prevailed,"  and  understood  by  these  words  that  Jeremiah  was  led 
by  the  Spirit  to  go  to  Benjamin,  but  his  heart  failed  him,  and  he  went 
instead  to  Jerusalem,  and  therefore  it  was  conquered  by  the  enemy.  For 
this  the  prophet  laments,  "  Thou  hast  persuaded  me."  A  similar  tradition 
is  in  Midrash  Echa  (i.  5,  ed.  Amst.  47a)  concerning  R.  Zadok.  About 
him  said  R.  Johhanan  to  Vespasianus  :  "  If  such  a  man  were  yet  in  Jeru- 
salem, thou  wouldest  not  be  able  to  take  the  city  with  double  thy  force." 
Another  like  saying  is  told  of  the  siege  of  Bether,  which,  so  long  as  R. 
Eliezer  ^VTl^H  (not  of  Modin,  as  Wiinsclie  says),  lived  in  it,  was  preserved 
on  account  of  his  piety  (Midrash  Echa,  ii.  1,  ed.  Amst.,  p.  526). 


286  APPENDIX  1. 

"  Tlien  Jeremiah  went  forth  out  of  Jerusalem  to  ^o  into  the 
land  of  Benjamin."  But  so  long  as  Jeremiah  was  in  Jeru- 
salem he  prayed  to  the  heavenly  Father,  and  the  city  was  not 
delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  they  did  not 
destroy  it.  But  when  he  went  into  the  land  of  Benjamin, 
then  came  up  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  king  of  Babylon,  and 
destroyed  the  land  of  Israel,  plundered  the  city  of  Jerusalem, 
and  burned  the  temple  with  fire.  While  yet  the  tyrant 
Nebuchadnezzar  was  dwelling  in  Antiochian  Eibla,  he  sent 
the  chief  executioner,  Nebuzaradan,  who  razed  the  walls  of 
the  city  Jerusalem  to  the  ground.  And  when  the  prophet 
Jeremiah  arrived,  and  saw  that  the  city  was  destroyed,  and 
that  the  Chaldeans  surrounded  it  on  every  side,  he  cried  aloud, 
and  wept  much  and  bitterly,  and  said :  "  Thou,  0  Lord,  hast 
persuaded  me,  and  I  was  persuaded  ;  Thou  hast  forcibly  taken 
hold  upon  me,  and  hast  prevailed."  And  when  the  wicked 
Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  heard  that  Jerusalem  was 
conquered,  he  assembled  all  the  troops  of  the  Chaldeans,  and 
came  to  avenge  himself  against  the  temple.  He  thoughtfully 
shook  his  head,  and  pointed  with  his  hands  here  and  there, 
as  the  fate  of  Sennacherib's  camp  was  known  to  him,  against 
which  angels  from  heaven  w^ere  sent,  who  slew  eighteen 
myriads  and  five  thousand  riders,  so  that  of  Sennacherib's 
camp  only  he  remained. 

Then  a  Bathkol  (an  echoing  voice)  was  heard,  which  ex- 
claimed :  "  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  arise,  and  return 
to  Kibla  in  the  land  of  Hamath."  ^ 

Ribla  is  the  place  where  Nebuchadnezzar  encamped,  where  Zedekiah's 
eyes  were  taken  out,  and  his  sons  killed  before  him.  It  is  supposed  to  be 
the  same  as  the  present  Eibleh,  10  to  12  hours  distant  from  Homs,  on  the 
Orontes  (El  Asy),  in  the  northern  part  of  Bekoa  (comp.  Robinson,  Pales- 
tine^ iii.  747).  The  Rabbis  have  identified  it  with  Antioch,  or  Daphne 
near  Antioch,  where  they  think  Nebuchadnezzar  sojourned  for  a  time. 

The  Midrash  Echa  states  twice  that  he  tarried  5<"'D'it3JX  h'^  ^JQIQ  (ed. 
Anist.,  51a  at  the  close  of  the  Introduction,  and  58c),  where,  by  the  way, 
Wiinsche  has  not  correctly  rendered  it  by  Daphne  Antiocliena.  It  is  called 
in  Greek,  as  byJosephus  {Jewish  Wars,  i.  13.  5,  etc.),  '' kuTio'^na.  Axipvyi,  and 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  287 

He  cast  arrows/  consulted  the  oracle ;  lie  threw  an  arrow 
westward,  and  it  fell  in  the  direction  of  Jerusalem  ;  then  east- 
ward, and  it  fell  in  the  direction  of  Jerusalem ;  and  then 
again  he  threw  an  arrow  towards  the  guilty  city  (i.e.  Eome) — 

not  seldom  '  kvnl-^noi.  Wi  ^oi(pu-^  (see  Kitter,  xvii.  1163).  The  reason  wliy 
the  Rabbis  identify  Ribla  with  Daphne  is  more  of  an  ethical  than  a  historical 
character.  What  Eibla  was  for  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  same  was  Daphne 
for  the  Syrian  and  the  Eoman  kings.  There  in  the  Orient  was  their  seat. 
Thence  issued  all  the  misery  that  came  upon  the  besieged. 

1  In  Ezek.  xxi.  25  we  have  that  grand  passage  which  informs  us  that 
Nebuchadnezzar  was  in  doubt  whether  he  should  march  against  Rabbath 
Ammon  or  against  Jerusalem. 

"  He  stood  at  the  parting  of  the  way,  at  the  head  of  two  ways,  to  use 
divination  ;  he  shook  the  arrows  "  (D"'Vn  h\hp)-  Upon  the  meaning  of  the 
word  ^\h\>  a  good  deal  has  been  conjectured.  It  is  of  an  onomatopoetic 
kind,  and  is  connected  with  BaAA?/;/,  "  to  throw."  Throwing  was  used  in 
the  sense  of  casting  a  die  (comp.  balloter),  like  the  Latin  Alea,  has  arisen 
from  the  Greek  iu'K'ka,  "  to  throw  "  (comp.  my  Spielhaus  auf  Monte  Carlo^ 
p.  23).  The  commentators  have  mostly  been  influenced  by  what  Jerome 
says  on  this  passage,  but  they  overlooked  that  he  (ed.  Migne,  v.  p.  206) 
confounded  helomantia,  "  arrow-divination,"  with  mace-divination,  which 
was  not,  nor  could  be,  the  same.  The  examples  of  Arabic  usage  by  Van 
Dale  (Be  Orig.  et  Progr.  Idolatriae^  etc.  p.  456),  and  quoted  from  Herbelot, 
do  not  appear  to  be  applicable  (  Voc.  Acda.).  It  was,  on  the  other  hand, 
overlooked  that  Haman  cast  the  lot,  and  chose  the  thirteenth  day,  which 
was  called  Tir,  "  an  arrow,"  for  issuing  his  destructive  decree.  See  my 
Commentary  on  Esther,  p.  103.  There  would  be  more  ground  for  Chwol- 
sohn's  reminder  of  Sabian  usage  (Sabier,  ii.  200)  if  he  had  not  laid  stress 
upon  the  extinguishing  of  the  torch.  The  ancient  JeAvish  expositors  are 
light  when  they  speak  of  "the  shooting  of  the  arrow."  The  decision 
depended  upon  the  direction  in  which  the  arrow  fell.  Rashi  has  well 
translated  the  words  "shooting  an  arrow"  by  the  French  ri"'5<  KIJO,  which 
should  he  read  n'''1D  i<"iDj  "  t'i'fer  trait."  It  was  a  kind  of  casting  the  lot 
when  Jonathan  shot  an  arrow  to  give  a  sign  to  David  (1  Sam.  xx.  21),  and 
Elisha  prophesied  by  the  shooting  of  arrows  concerning  the  victory  of 
Joash  over  Syria  (2  Kings  xiii.  15).  The  Targum  uses  the  homily  of  the 
Midrash  as  in  Echa  Rabbathi  (ed.  Anist.  p.  39a),  but  gives  it  more  cor- 
rectly than  it  is  in  Midrash  Echa.  The  latter  appears  to  have  taken  the 
word  ^p5?p  in  the  sense  of  calculari,  "  to  reckon  "  the  arrows.  The  Targum 
is  more  explicit  when  it  says,  "  He  shot  towards  the  west  and  the  east,  and 
it  fell  towards  Jerusalem  ;  he  then  shot  towards  the  city  which  is  guilty, 
that  it  should  soon  be  rooted  out  from  the  world  (by  which  it  means  Rome, 
as  is  expressly  said  in  Midrash  Echa),  and  it  rebounded  towards  Jerusalem." 
The  time  for  its  destruction  had  come,  and  Nebuchadnezzar,  as  the  tradi- 
tion tells,  was  directed  by  his  oracle  to  undertake  the  siege  reluctantly, 
for  he  remembered  what  had  happened  to  Sennacherib.  The  Midrash  Echa 
speaks  also  of  a  divination,  upon  which  both  Ezekiel  and  the  Targum  are 


288  APPENDIX  I. 

may  it  soon  be  rooted  out  from  the  world ! — and  this  also  fell 
towards  Jerusalem. 

Then  he  arose  and  sent  his  generals  against  Jerusalem, 
whose  names  were  Nargal,  Sharezer,  Shamgar,  Nebosar,  Sechim, 
Kabsaris,  and  Eabmag,  i.e.  Chief-eunuch,  and  Chief-magus.    He 

silent.  It  says  :  "  Nebucliadnezzar  lit  candles  and  torches  (d"'D3D'I  HPi), 
and  appointed  them  for  Eome,  and  they  were  extinguished  ;  for  Alex- 
andria, and  they  were  again  extinguished  ;  finally,  he  appointed  them  for 
Jerusalem, and  they  burned."  Chwolsohn  would  have  been  right  in  connect- 
ing this  with  the  Sabian  custom,  according  to  which  an  arrow  was  fastened 
to  a  torch,  and  if  it  burned,  it  bore  an  omen  of  good  fortune  ;  and  if  it  was 
extinguished,  it  bore  an  omen  of  misfortune  {Sabier,  ii.  26  and  p.  201). 

D32,  Syriac  5<Dj2,  occurs  also  in  compounds,  as  in  Midrash  Koheleth, 
p.  63a  (ed.  Amst.),  DiD?Dp,  viz.  ^v'ho(Pa,yYi:,  ^v\o(pa.viov,  a  wooden  torch 
{^v'KoT^uxvo;,  comp.  Spanheim,  de  Praest.  Numism.,  ed.  Amst.,  iv.  p.  128). 
Through  this  rare  word  a  passage  in  Hesychius  is  explained.  He  says 
there,  under  " I;),j^o:' :  unrpov  .  .  .  ^v'ho'Pxvio'j.  Some,  like  Spohn,  corrected 
this  by  aKOL'Tzccvyi,  which  is  altogether  unnecessary,  as  the  passage  in  the 
Midrash  shows.  ^v^.o(pa,viou  is,  like  |yAo^«!/>3?,  "a  piece  of  wood  which 
was  applied  to  torches."  DiSpDp  is  here  used  in  contrast  to  DJDDIpJO. 
They  are  lanterns  with  net-laces.  The  Greeks  also  used  with  the  word 
'Kvy/joc  such  words  as  Viy.v^rt-  and  Tzohv^L^a;  (see  Stephanus,  suh  voce 
/^l^ocj  and  Wlistemann,  T)e7'  PalasL  des  Scaurus,  p.  133).  Indeed,  we  also 
know  from  mediaeval  legends,  that  arrows  were  applied  to  purposes  of 
witchcraft.  In  the  Gesta  Bomanorum,  n.  102,  we  read  of  a  certain  cleric 
who  wished  to  marry  a  man's  wife  during  his  absence  in  a  distant  place, 
so  he  placed  a  wax  figure  and  shot  an  arrow  upon  it,  intending  thereby  to 
kill  the  man  in  the  distance.  This  man  was  just  then  in  Eome,  where  he 
was  warned  by  a  wise  man  of  the  danger  he  was  in.  He  showed  it  to  him 
in  a  magic  mirror  while  he  was  in  the  bath.  He  then  dipped  his  head 
under  the  water,  and  thus  escaped  the  danger,  while  the  arrow  which  the 
cleric  shot  rebounded  upoi;i  himself  Another  wonderful  story  is  told  in 
Gesta  Piomanornm,  cap.  10  f  There  was  once  a  beautiful  secret  chamber 
which  contained  an  image  with  precious  stones,  into  which  a  cleric  entered 
clandestinely,  with  the  intention  of  stealing.  Then  the  image  upon  which 
was  sculptured  an  arrow  and  a  bow,  shot  an  arrow  upon  a  luminous  car- 
buncle, and  this  caused  thick  darkness  as  in  the  night.  In  the  eleventh 
narrative  of  the  English  edition  (ed.  Grasse,  ii.  339)  it  is  told  :  A  knight 
once  shot  a  beautiful  bird  that  sang  gloriously,  in  consequence  of  which  a 
mountain  was  cleft  in  two,  and  then  sank  into  the  abyss.  In  the  Image 
du  Monde  it  is  told  that  the  Apostle  Paul  had  visited  the  grave  of  Virgil 
to  find  his  books.  He  entered  it,  and  saw  a  lamp  hanging  from  the  roof, 
and  an  archer  stood  before  Virgil  ready  to  shoot.  When  he  was  about  to 
take  the  books,  the  archer  shot  an  arrow  upon  the  lamp,  and  then  every- 
thing was  turned  into  dust  (comp.  Virgili  im  Mittelalter  iihersetzt  von 
Ddtschke,  p.  265). 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  289 

followed  his  generals  and  entered  the  temple,  and  thus 
exclaimed,  "  Art  Thou  the  great  God  who  has  stirred  us  up, 
and  brought  us  against  Thy  city  and  against  Thy  temple  ? " 

But  when  the  gate  of  the  temple  saw  the  unclean  people 
standing  against  it,  it  shut  itself,  and  would  by  no  means  open. 
Then  came  all  the  army  of  the  Chaldeans,  and  brought  with 
them  three  hundred  and  sixty  camels  laden  with  iron  axes ; 
but  the  external  gates  of  the  temple  destroyed  them,  and  con- 
tinued not  to  open  themselves  until  Parnitus  ^  came  and  slew 
a  swine,  and  sprinkled  its  blood  upon  the  temple,  and  defiled  it. 

After  the  temple  was  defiled,  the  gate  opened,  and  then 
the  wicked  Nebuchadnezzar  went  in  and  sat  down  in  the 
hall  of  Zechariah,  son  of  Yohoiyada  the  high  priest,  and  he 
saw  his  (Zechariah's)  blood  moving  upon  the  ground.  So  he 
asked  the  elders  of  Israel,  "  Whose  blood  is  this  ? "  They 
answered,  "  We  had  a  prophet  amongst  us  who  reproved  us ; 
but  we  did  not  hearken  to  his  words,  but  rose  up  and  slew 
him  in  the  temple."  ^ 

1  This  cannot  be  thought  of  Ptolemaeus  Euergetes,  for  he  was  kind 
towards  the  Jews.  Josephus  acknowledges  this  {Contra  Ajpionem,^  ii.  5, 
ed.  Havercamp,  ii.  472).  The  one  who  offered  swine  in  the  temple  was 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  as  it  is  narrated  in  the  book  of  the  Maccabees  and 
by  Josephus.  The  Greeks  called  him  instead  of  Epiphanes,  Epimanes, 
viz.  "  the  mad  one."  The  same  is  expressed  by  the  above  name  D"lt3"'3"iS, 
the  effrenatus,  "  the  wild  and  unrestrained."  We  should  gain  the  same 
sense  if  we  should  read  D1p"'D:J1D,  phreneticuSj  "  Until  the  mad  and  the 
bokl  one  come." 

2  The  awful  story  about  the  blood  of  the  prophet  is  in  allusion  to 
2  Chron.  xxiv.  22,  where  it  is  recorded  that  Zechariah,  the  slain  prophet, 
uttered  these  last  words :  "  The  Lord  look  upon  it  (i.e.  my  blood),  and 
require  it."  They  connected  this  passage  with  Hos.  iv.  2 :  "  Blood 
toucheth  blood."  The  underlying  thought  is,  that  blood  boils  up  when 
the  murderer  comes  near  it.  The  blood  of  Zechariah  continued  to  boil 
until  Nebuchadnezzar  came.  Even  then  it  was  not  pacified,  however 
many  were  slain, — for  the  murderer  was  still  there, — and  only  at  last  out 
of  pity  it  became  still  (see  my  Symboliks  des  Blutes,  p.  22,  etc.).  The  story 
is  told  in  various  ways  in  Echa  Rabbathi,  p.  39a,  b.  Comp.  Bab.  Gittin, 
576;  Sanhedrin  96b.  [He  appears  to  have  been  the  same  as  in  Matt, 
xxiii.  35.  The  first  component  parts  interchange  as  in  Jehoiakim,  who  was 
called  Eliakim.  Jerome  says  that  the  Gospel  of  the  Nazarenes  read  the 
son  of  Jehoiada. — Trans.] 

T 


290  APPENDIX  I. 

When  the  wicked  Nebuchadnezzar  heard  these  words, 
he  said  to  them :  "  Go  and  bring  me  four  thousand  young 
priests."  These  he  slew  over  that  blood,  and  yet  it  would 
not  enter  the  earth,  until  Nebuchadnezzar  rebuked  it  by 
saying,  "  Shall  thy  whole  people  be  destroyed  for  thy  sake ! " 
After  this  it  was  absorbed  by  the  earth.  Then  the  high 
priest,  seeing  that  the  priests  were  killed,  put  on  his  upper 
garment  and  the  ephod,  took  the  keys  of  the  temple  in  his 
hands,  and  went  upon  the  roof  of  the  temple  and  called  out : 
"  The  house  is  now  given  back  to  its  Lord,  and  the  keepers 
are  no  more  in  it ! "  Thereupon  he  threw  himself  into  the 
burning  pile  and  was  consumed.  When  the  remaining  priests 
saw  that  the  high  priest  was  burned,  they  took  their  violins 
and  harps,  and  all  their  other  musical  instruments,  and  like- 
wise threw  themselves  into  the  fire,  and  were  burned. 

When  Nebuchadnezzar  wanted  now  to  enter  the  Holy  of 
Holies,  the  doors  closed  and  would  not  open  until  an  echoing 
voice  from  heaven  exclaimed,  and  said,  "  Open,  Libanon,  thy 
gates ! "  After  this  a  door  opened  itself,  and  the  wicked 
Nebuchadnezzar  defiled  the  Holy  of  Holies  by  entering  into 
it ;  and  he  saw  there  the  glories  of  the  King  of  all  the 
worlds,  of  the  Lord  of  hosts.  But  when  he  saw  that  the 
holy  vessels  which  the  priests  and  the  kings  of  the  house  of 
David  used  were  sunk  into  the  earth,  he  was  very  wroth,  and 
hastened  away  and  slew  a  great  number;  and  many  others  he 
took  captive,  and  led  the  people  of  Israel  into  exile,  bound  in 
iron  chains,  naked,  and  carrying  sand  upon  their  necks. 
The  prophet  Jeremiah  went  with  them  until  he  reached  the 
graves  of  the  patriarchs.  Here  he  wept,  and  cried :  "  0  our 
merciful  fathers,  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  !  arise  from  your 
graves  and  behold  your  children,  the  people  of  Israel,  are  led 
into  captivity !  "  Then  answered  the  Holy  Spirit  and  said 
to  him :  "  I  have  long  ago  told  thee,  0  prophet  Jeremiah, 
that  I  have  withdrawn  my  peace."  He  then  rose  up  from 
the  graves  of  the  fathers  and  went  to  the  graves  of  the 
mothers,    and   prostrated    himself,    and    cried,    "  0    merciful 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  291 

mothers,  Sarah,  Eebekah,  Eachel,  and  Leah !  arise  from 
your  graves  and  see  your  sons  and  daughters,  the  people  of 
Israel,  whom  you  have  brought  up  in  the  truth,  are  going 
barefoot  into  captivity  1 "  The  Holy  Spirit  then  answered  : 
"  A  voice  was  heard  in  Eamah,"  etc.  He  then  arose  from 
the  graves  of  the  mothers,  and  went  to  the  graves  of  the 
prophets,  and  prostrated  himself,  and  cried :  "  0  merciful 
prophets,  Moses  and  Samuel !  arise  from  your  graves  and 
see  the  people  of  Israel,  whom  you  have  led  in  the  truth,  are 
going  barefoot  into  captivity."  The  Holy  Spirit  answered  and 
said :  "  I  have  long  ago  told  thee,  0  prophet  Jeremiah,  '  If 
even  Moses  and  Samuel  should  stand  before  me,' "  etc.  He 
then  rose  up  from  the  graves  of  the  prophets,  and  went  and 
prostrated  himself  in  the  house  (or  upon  the  graves)  of  the 
mourners,  and  said :  "  Bring  me  '  the  bread  of  the  mourners  to 
eat,  and  the  cup  of  comfort  to  drink,'  for  I  mourn  for  the 
people  of  Israel  who  went  into  captivity."  The  Holy  Spirit 
answered  and  said :  "  Do  not  go  into  the  house  of  mourning." 
Thus  Jeremiah  mourned,  wept,  and  groaned  concerning  the 
people  of  Israel  who  went  into  exile  naked,  and  carrying 
sand  upon  their  necks,  they  and  their  kings  and  princes  and 
governors,  until  they  reached  a  place  which  is  called  Beth- 
Coro,^  where  they  changed  their  garments.  Then  Jeremiah 
said  to  Nebuchadnezzar  the  wicked,  and  to  all  the  army  of  the 
Chaldeans  who  came  with  him,  "  Do  not  go  to  your  idols  and 
praise  them.  Eather  know  that  you  have  only  killed  and  taken 
captive  a  people  which  was  already  captured  and  killed."  They 
then  went  on  until  they  reached  a  certain  country,  where  Jere- 
miah bitterly  wept  and  sobbed.  Two  tears  fell  from  his  eyes, 
which  became  there  two  fountains  that  exist  to  this  day. 

^  1113  n"'3-  It  would  be  difficult  to  identify  this  place.  But  the  legend 
of  the  Jews  has  made  the  figurative  prophecies  of  the  prophets  a  reality. 
11D  n""!  is  "  a  furnace,"  of  which  the  prophet  says  that  the  children  of 
Israel  must  he  refined  in  it  (Isa.  xlviii.  10).  The  legend  considers  this  as  a 
place.  The  exclamation  of  Jeremiah,  "  Oh  that  my  head  were  waters,  and 
mine  eyes  a  fountain  of  tears  ! "  was  also  made  to  refer  to  a  place.  Like- 
wise the  harps  of  which  Ps.  cxxxvii.  speaks  are  historically  placed  together. 


292  APPENDIX  T. 

When  the  people  of  Israel  had  arrived  at  the  rivers  of 
Babylon,  the  wicked  King  Nebuchadnezzar  said  to  them : 
"  Let  those  singers  who  used  to  sing  before  your  Lord  in 
Jerusalem  come  and  sing  before  me."  When  the  Levites 
heard  this,  they  hung  up  their  harps  on  the  willows  which 
stood  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon.  For  thus  it  is  written : 
"  By  the  rivers  of  Babylon,"  etc.  The  Levites,  moreover,  said 
to  Nebuchadnezzar  the  tyrant :  "  Had  we  done  the  will  of  our 
heavenly  Father,  and  had  we  praised  Him  in  Jerusalem,  we 
should  not  have  been  delivered  into  thy  hands.  But  how  can 
we  now  sing  the  praise  of  our  Lord  before  thee  ! "  For  thus 
it  is  written :  "  How  shall  we  sing  the  Lord's  song,"  etc. 
When  Nebuchadnezzar  the  wicked  heard  this,  he  said  :  "  Kill 
them,  for  they  have  transgressed  the  command  of  the  king ! " 
Then  an  Israelite,  by  the  name  of  Pelatya,  son  of  Yohoiyada, 
said  to  him :  "  When  one  delivers  his  flock  to  a  shepherd, 
and  a  bear  comes  and  snatches  away  a  sheep,  of  whom  will 
it  be  required  ? "  He  answered,  "  From  the  shepherd  will  it 
be  required."  Pelatya  then  said :  "  Let  thy  ears  hear  what 
thy  mouth  has  spoken."  Then  the  king  ordered  to  bring 
Zedekiah  before  him,  and  they  removed  the  chains  of  iron 
and  of  brass  from  him,  and  changed  his  captive  garments  for 
others. 

§VI. 

"  In  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  he  made  a  feast  for  all 
the  princes  and  ministers  of  Persia  and  Media,  and  for 
all  the  governors  of  the  districts.  They  were  clothed  in 
silk  and  pur'ple  garments,  ate  and  drank,  and  rejoiced 
before  him." 

It  is  not  said  here,  he  showed  them  his  riches,  but  "  he 
showed  them  the  riches  of  his  glorious  kingdom."  By  which 
riches  is  to  be  understood,  that  which  came  from  the  temple. 
For  a  mortal  eye  has  no  riches,  but  all  riches  belong  to  God ; 
as  it  is  written,  "  Mine  is  the  silver  and  the  gold,  saith  the 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  293 

Lord  of  hosts."  During  a  hundred  and  eighty  days  he  showed 
them  daily  six  treasuries,  as  it  is  written,  "  riches,  honour, 
dominion,  glory,  majesty,  greatness  "  (Esther  i.  4), — so  then  six 
expressions.  But  when  the  Israelites  saw  there  the  vessels  of 
the  temple,  they  did  not  remain  any  longer.  The  king  was  told 
that  the  Jews  did  not  want  to  take  refreshment,  because  they 
saw  there  the  vessels  of  the  temple,  and  so  he  ordered  that 
they  should  have  another  banquet  for  themselves. 

When  those  days  were  ended,  the  king  said :  "  Now  I  will 
make  a  feast  for  all  the  inhabitants  of  my  city,  for  all  the 
people  that  are  found  in  Shushan,  both  small  and  great." 
They  were  brought  to  the  royal  garden  where  fruit  and 
spice  trees  stood,  some  of  which  were  broken  and  arranged 
for  arbours,  and  others  were  planted  for  shades ;  seats  also  were 
prepared,  and  the  paths  were  strewn  with  costly  stones  and 
pearls. — And  they  drank  out  of  golden  cups  and  bowls ;  and 
when  one  drank  of  a  cup,  he  did  not  drink  of  the  same  again, 
but  he  was  given  a  new  cup.  The  cups  were  of  various 
descriptions,  as  it  is  written :  "  And  the  vessels  were  diverse 
from  one  another."  But  when  they  brought  out  the  vessels 
of  the  temple,  and  the  heathen  began  to  pour  wine  into  them, 
the  appearance  of  the  vessels  became  different  from  what  they 
were.  And  for  this  reason  it  is  said :  "  The  vessels  being 
diverse  from  one  another;"  "And  royal  wine  was  (pr\)  in  abun- 
dance." That  is,  the  wine  was  older  than  the  person  who  drank 
it.  For  example,  the  butlers  asked  a  man  how  old  he  was,  and 
he  said  forty  years,  and  so  they  gave  him  wine  forty  years 
old ;  and  thus  they  did  with  every  man.  For  this  reason  it  is 
written :  "  And  royal  wine  was  in  abundance."  And  the 
drinking  was  according  to  regulation,  so  that  it  could  hurt  no 
one.  Why  could  it  not  hurt  ?  Because  when  at  royal  feasts 
generally,  a  cup  was  given  to  a  Persian  containing  from  four 
to  five  Hemins  (a  certain  measure  that  was  called  Pithka^), 

^  Xpn"'S.  Neither  Buxtorf  nor  Micliaelis  nor  Levi  has  properly- 
explained  this  word,  the  reading  of  which  is  unassailable.  It  is  the 
Persian  drinking  vessel  ^xtiuk-zi,  '''' 'TnpifjKvi  ts  (piaM  vj  fiocTixx.^ ;"  comp. 


294  APPENDIX  I. 

he  had  to  drink  the  whole  out  in  one  breath.  Owing  to  this 
the  butlers  used  to  become  rich,  for  no  Persian  guest  could 
be  found  able  to  drink  the  whole  cup  at  once,  and  therefore 
they  used  to  beckon  to  the  butlers  to  take  it  away  for  a 
certain  sum  of  money.  But  Ahhashverosh  gave  order  that 
no  such  cups  should  be  given  this  time,  but  that  every  one 
should  drink  as  much  as  he  liked.  Therefore  it  is  written  : 
"  And  the  drinking  was  according  to  law."  Vashti  also  made 
a  feast  for  the  women,  and  gave  them  red  wine,^  and  seated  them 
in  the  palace,  in  order  to  show  them  its  riches.  They  asked 
her  various  question,  for  they  wanted  to  know  everything,  e.g. 
where  the  king  eats,  drinks,  and  sleeps  ;  and  she  showed  them 
all  the  places.  Therefore  it  is  written  :  "  In  the  royal  house." 
On  the  seventh  day,  when  the  king  and  the  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  crowned  princes  who  were  with  him  were  merry 
with  wine,  a  dispute  arose  among  them  about  indecent  things. 
The  kings  of  the  West  said,  Our  women  are  the  handsomest. 
The  others  said  the  same  of  their  women.  Ahhashverosh  also 
took  part  in  the  dispute,  and  in  his  drunken  freak  said: 
"There  are  no  more  beautiful  in  the  world  than  the  Babylonian; 
but  if  you  will  not  believe  me,  I  shall  send  for  the  Baby- 
lonian wife  which  I  have  in  the  palace,  and  you  shall  see 
that  she  surpasses  in  beauty  all  your  wives."  Immediately 
King  Ahhashverosh  sent  seven  eunuchs  to  the  queen.  He 
said :  "  Go  and  say  to  Queen  Vashti :  Arise  from  thy  royal 
throne,  strip  thyself  naked,^  put  the  crown  upon  thy  head, 
take  a  golden  cup  in  thy  right  hand  and  another  in  thy  left, 
and  thus  appear  before  me  and  the  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
crowned  kings,  that  they  may  see  that  thou  art  the  fairest 
of  all  women."  She  refused.  Vashti  answered  to  the  seven 
eunuchs :  "  0  shame.     Go  and  tell  your  master,  the  fool, — 

Casaubon  on  Athenaeus  (pp.  484,  494).  In  passing,  I  may  remark  that 
bJIlD  has  no  connection  with  >joy?,  as  Levi  says.  It  is  the  Greek  Kva&og, 
cup.     Conip.  Athenaeus,  p.  480.     T  stands  for  6,  th. 

^  [Read  KpDID  instead  of  J^DDIN- — Trans.] 

2  [This  reminds  one  of  the  story  of  Lady  Godiva,  whom  Leofric,  her 
-husband,  ordered  to  ride  naked  through  the  town  of  Coventry. — Trans.] 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  295 

you  also  are  fools  like  him, — I,  Queen  Vasliti,  am  the  daughter 
of  Babylonian  kings  of  more  ancient  times.  My  ancestor 
Belshazzar  drank  as  much  wine  as  a  thousand  persons,  and  yet 
the  wine  never  made  him  so  silly  as  to  utter  such  improper 
words  as  thou  hast  to  me."  Then  they  went  and  told  the  king 
the  reply  of  Queen  Vashti.  And  when  he  heard  it,  his  anger 
was  kindled,  and  he  again  sent  the  seven  eunuchs,  saying  to 
them :  "  Go  and  say  to  her,  If  thou  dost  not  hearken  to  me, 
and  dost  not  appear  before  me  and  before  these  kings,  I  shall 
cause  thee  to  be  slain,  and  thy  beauty  will  perish."  The 
nobles  came  to  her  with  the  message,  and  she  did  not  honour 
them,  but  said :  "  Go  and  tell  the  foolish  kins^,  whose  counsel 
is  as  much  folly  as  his  command  is  unjust,  I  am  Queen 
Vashti,  the  daughter  of  Evil-Merodach  and  granddaughter  of 
Nebuchadnezzar.  Ever  since  I  was  born  no  man  has  seen 
my  body  except  thou  alone,  and  if  I  now  appear  before  thee 
and  before  the  hundred  and  twenty-seven  crowned  kings,  the 
end  will  be,  they  will  slay  thee  and  marry  me."  Now  a  noble 
Persian  lady  said  to  Queen  Vashti :  "  Even  if  the  king  should 
kill  thee,  and  cause  thy  beauty  to  perish,  thou  must  by  no 
means  dishonour  the  name  of  thy  ancestors,  and  thou  must 
not  show  thy  body  to  any  man,  except  to  the  king  alone." 

At  the  same  time  the  nobles  told  the  king  that  Vashti 
refused  to  obey  the  command  which  he  sent  to  her  by  the 
eunuchs,  and  his  wrath  quite  overpowered  him.  Then  the 
king  laid  the  matter  before  the  sages  and  statesmen,  for  royal 
affairs  are  brought  before  those  who  are  acquainted  with  laws 
and  statutes.  There  were  some  in  the  cabinet  council  who 
were  from  near,  and  others  who  were  from  a  distance.  Those 
from  near  were  Carshena-^  from  Africa,  Shethar  from  India, 

1  The  information  about  the  countries  of  the  seven  officials  is  merely 
for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  world-wide  empire  of  the  Persian  king, 
Carshena  was  an  African,  according  to  the  meaning  of  the  name. 

The  Targum  does  not  use  a  scientific  method  in  its  explanation,  but 
rather  bases  it  upon  a  fanciful  hypothesis,  that  the  names  of  these  men 
indicate  the  places  they  came  from.  Thus  SJIDIS  has  some  similarity 
with   DIIK,   therefore  he   must  be  an  Edomite.     So  also  Carshana   or 


296  APPENDIX  I. 

Admatha  from  Edomaea,  Tarshish  from  Egypt,  Meres-Marsena 
from  Meres,  a  distant  country,  Mem u can  from  Jerusalem.  To 
those  seven  great  Persians  and  Medes,  who  looked  upon  the 
king's  face  and  were  of  the  first  rank,  he  communicated  the 
royal  order  which  he  sent  to  Yashti  by  the  eunuchs.  Then 
said  Memucan,  who  is  Daniel.  But  why  is  he  called  Memucan  ? 
Because  when  the  tribe  of  Judah  were  taken  captive  to  Babylon, 
— Hananiah,  Mishael,  Azariah  were  among  them, — Daniel  also 
was  exiled,  through  whom  great,  wonderful,  and  mighty  works 
were  done,  and  again  through  whom  heaven  determined  that 
Queen  Vashti  should  be  killed,  in  consequence  of  which  he 
was  called  Memucan,  i.e.  "  establisher."  And  Memucan  spake 
to  the  king  and  governors — there  was  a  royal  statute  at  the 
time  which  provided,  that  in  the  cabinet  consultations  the 
younger  ministers  should  give  their  advice  first.     If  it  was 


Carshena  must  be  an  African,  because  it  sounds  hke  Carthage.  Near  this 
stands  IT)^,  and  he  is  said  to  have  come  from  "•plin.  This  is  done  on  the 
ground  of  the  explanation  of  the  Targum  of  the  words  "  sons  of  Cush," 
viz.  ''K:i:n  ••Nmi'l,  "-Nn^DD,  V^^n  'K1^:"'D.  The  last  ^xjjt  are  the  Tingitani. 
Zinghi.  tx3i^  are  the  Libyans.  For  ^S"lDD  must  be  read  '•J^IDJ,  the 
Numidians.  "'pn^n  are  the  Hindoos = Ethiopians  ;  and  for  ''j<ni''D  must  be 
read  "'N3''1D,  the  Cyrenians.  On  account  of  the  vicinity  of  these  in  Africa, 
the  Targumist  has  assigned  '•p"ijn  to  "iriE^,  by  which  he  thought  of  the  real 
India.  In  consequence  of  this  he  assigns  D''^VD,  Egypt,  to  K^''tJ>"in-  In 
another  place  (1  Kings  xxii.  49  ;  Jer.  x.  9)  the  Targum  has  for  Tarshish, 
Africa  ;  and  the  LXX.,  too,  renders  it  by  Carthage.  But  this  has  already 
been  assigned  to  Carshena,  and  could  not  be  made  use  of  again  for  the 
other  ministers,  who  were  all  supposed  to  be  sons  of  Cush,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  Memucan.  The  explanation  also  of  DID  by  j^JDID  shows  this.  >It 
is  Maurusia,  and  the  Greek  name  for  Mauretania  is  to  be  understood  by  it. 
The  Targum  also  explains  ncj?"l  (Cen.  x.  7)  by  this  word.  The  name 
Memucan  is  very  artificially  explained.  Because  the  fate  of  Vashti  was 
decided  through  him,  therefore  he  is  compared  with  Daniel,  and  is  called 
Memucan,  "  the  one  who  was  appointed  to  this  work."  For  the  Hebrew 
p^n,  part,  Mucan  is  usually  reproduced  in  the  Targum  by  jpn,  hence  ppno 
=  p"IDD.  This  connecting  of  Memucan  with  Daniel  is  more  remarkable 
than  that  which  the  Targum  ascribes  to  Daniel,  which  does  not  redound 
to  his  honour.  The  explanations  in  Midrash  Esther  are  quite  different. 
Memucan  is  not  there  identified  with  Daniel.  In  the  first  Targum  he  is, 
on  the  contrary,  compared  with  Haman  (comp.  Megill.  j).  126).  Mordecai 
is  explained  by  S''3"IX1D,  "pure  balm,"  in  allusion  to  Ex.  xxx.  23  (comp. 
Bab.  Chulin  139&). 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  297 

a  proper  one,  they  carried  it  into  execution ;  but  if  not,  the 
older  ministers  gave  their  advice.     And  as  Memucan  was  the 
youngest  of  them  all,  he  gave  his  advice  first.     It  so  happened 
that  Memucan  had  married  a   Persian  wife  who  was  richer 
than  himself,  and  she  refused  to  speak  to  him  in  any  other 
language  but  her   own,  and  so  he  thought  to  himself,  now 
is   the    opportunity   to    compel    the    wives    to  honour   their 
husbands.     Therefore  he  said   to  the  king  and  the    nobles  : 
"  IS^ot  against  the  king  alone   has  Queen  Vashti  failed,  but 
also  against  all  the  nations  and  governors  that   are  in   the 
empire  of  Ahhashverosh.      For  the  answer  of  the  queen  will 
be    spread    among    all    the   women   who    now    honour    their 
husbands,  and  every  woman  will  say  to  her  husband,   '  Art 
thou  perhaps   worthier   than   King  Ahhashverosh,  who  com- 
manded that  Queen  Vashti  should  come  before  him,  and  she 
refused  to  come  ? '      Even  this  day  the  noble  women  of  Persia 
and  Media  repeat  the  language   of  the  queen   to  the  royal 
governors  in   such   a    manner   that   it   causes   contempt   and 
occasion  for  wrath."     But  at  the  very  time  when  Memucan 
gave  this  decision,  he  was  anxious  about  himself.     He  thought, 
perhaps  the  king  will  not  issue  a  decree,  and  Queen  Vashti 
may  hear  of  my  advice  concerning  her,  and  she  will  judge  me 
severely,  and  cause  me  to  be  killed.      I  will  therefore  see  that 
the  king  should  not  order  her  to  appear  before  him,  by  bind- 
ing him  by  an  oath  which  the  Persians  and  Medes  fear  (to 
break).      Hence  he  further  said :    "  If  it  please  the  king,  let 
this  decree  be  issued,  and  this  oath  be  written  in  the  statute 
book    of   the    Medes    and    Persians    that   it  should   not    be 
invalidated,  namely,  that  Vashti  should  no  more  come  before 
the  king,  and  that  her  kingdom  should  be  given  to  her  com- 
panion, who  is  better  than  she.     And   let  this  decision  be 
proclaimed  in  all  the  empire,  however  great  it  may  be,  and 
all  the  women,  great  and  small,  will  honour  their  husbands." 
This  advice  pleased  the  king  and  his  governors,  and  he  acted 
according  to  the  words  of  Memucan.     The  king  sent  letters  to 
all  the  provinces,  to   each  according  to  its  writing,  and  to 


298  APPENDIX  I. 

every  people  in  its  own  language,  to  the  effect  that  every 
husband  should  be  honoured  in  his  house,  and  that  he  should 
speak  his  native  tongue. 

§  VII. 

After  these  things,  when  the  wrath  of  King  Ahhashverosh 
was  pacified,  he  sent  and  called  his  nobles,  and  said  to  them  : 
"  I  am  angry,  not  against  Vashti,  but  against  you ;  I  have 
spoken  a  word  when  drunk  with  wine,  but  why  have  you 
provoked  me  that  I  should  kill  Vashti,  and  blot  out  her  name 
from  the  kingdom  ?  Now  I  shall  also  kill  you,  and  blot  out 
your  names  from  the  kingdom."  After  the  nobles  were 
killed,  Vashti  was  remembered,  and  that  which  was  decreed 
concerning  her,  that  she  herself  did  not  deserve  punishment  of 
death,  but  that  it  was  so  determined  in  heaven,  in  order  that 
the  posterity  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Babylon,  should  perish. 

Then  said  the  royal  young  men  and  servants :  "  Let  fair 
young  virgins  be  sought  for  the  king,  and  let  the  king  appoint 
officers  and  trustworthy  men  in  all  his  dominion  who  should 
collect  fair  virgins  and  bring  them  to  Shushan  to  the  harem, 
and  that  Hega,  the  royal  eunuch,  be  appointed  to  guard  them 
and  to  provide  for  them.  And  the  virgin  that  shall  please 
the  king  shall  reign  in  place  of  Vashti."  The  king  was 
pleased  with  these  words,  and  he  did  so.  There  lived  a  Jewish 
man  in  the  capital  Shushan,  and  his  name  was  Mordecai.  But 
why  w^as  he  called  a  Jewish  man  ?  Because  he  feared  to 
commit  sin.  Concerning  him  David  prophesied  when  he 
said :  "  Shall  there  die  on  this  day  a  man  of  Israel  ? "  And 
from  that  man  descended  the  man  Mordecai,  son  of  Yair,  son 
of  Shimei,  son  of  Shmida,  son  of  Baanah,  son  of  Elah,  son  of 
Micah,  son  of  Mephibosheth,  son  of  Jonathan,  son  of  Saul, 
son  of  Kish,  son  of  Abiel,  son  of  Zeror,  son  of  Becorath,  son  of 
Aphia,  son  of  Shehharim,  son  of  Uziah,  son  of  Sheshak,  son 
of  Mica,  son  of  Elyael,  son  of  Amihud,  son  of  Shephatyah,  son 
of  Pethuel,  son  of  Pithon,  son  of  Malich,  son  of  Yerubaal,  son 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  299 

of  Yeruhbam,  son  of  Hhanayah,  son  of  Zabdi,  son  of  Elpaal, 
son  of  Shimri,  son  of  Zecharyah,  son  of  Merinioth,  son  of 
Hhushim,   son    of    Shehhorah,   son   of  Gazah,   son   of  Azah, 
son  of  Gera,  son  of  Bela,  son  of  Benjamin,  son  of  Jacob,  wbo 
was  also  called  Israel.     But   why  was  Mordecai  called  the 
son  of  Shimei  ?     Tor   this  reason.     When  Shimei   despised 
David,  king  of  Israel  (on  his  flight),  and   said  to  him,  "  Go 
away,  thou  wicked  man,  who  deservest  to  be  slain  ! "  then 
Abishai,  son  of  Zeruyah,  said  to  David,  "  I  shall  go  and  take 
off  his  head."     But  David  saw  prophetically  that  Mordecai 
would  descend  from  him.     And  foreseeing  this,  he  commanded 
his  son  Solomon  that  he  should  only  then  kill  Shimei  in  case 
he  would  cease  to  beget  a  son  who  would  be  worthy  to  bring 
him  to  the  world  to  come  (he    should   spare   him),  because 
from  him   would   come    a    righteous    son,  by  whose    instru- 
mentality wonders  would  be  done  to  Israel  in  four  exiles  ;  and 
this  is  Mordecai,  i.e.  pure  myrrh,  son  of  Yair,  son  of  Shimei,  son 
of  Kish,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin.     But  Shimei  did  indeed 
deserve  punishment  of  death,  as  it  is  written  in  the  law  of 
Moses :  "  A  righteous  judge  shalt  thou  not  vex,  and  a  prince 
of  thy  people  shalt  thou  not  curse."     Yet  David  had  pity  on 
him  and  spared  him,  because  he  foresaw  that  two  righteous 
persons   would  one   day  descend   from  him,   through  whom 
Israel  would  be  delivered.     Mordecai  and  Esther  were  from 
Jerusalem,    and    were    banished     into     exile    together    with 
Jeconiah,    king    of   Judab.     Mordecai    returned    with    those 
people  who   volunteered    to  go  up  and  build  the  temple  a 
second    time,   when    Nebuchnadnezzar    again    banished    him. 
Yet  again  in  the  country  of  the  children  of  the  exile  he  did 
not  cease  from  doing  wonderful  and  mighty  works.     Mordecai 
brought  up  Hadassah.     This  is  Esther;  and  she  was  called 
Hadassah,  because   as   the   myrtle  spreads   fragrance  in  the 
world,  so  did  she  spread  good  works.     And  for  this  reason 
she  was  called  in   the  Hebrew   language   Hadassah,  because 
the  righteous  are  likened  to  a  myrtle.     In  reference   to  her 
Isaiah  prophesied,  saying :  "  Instead  of  the  Naazuz  (the  thorn) 


300  APPENDIX  I. 

shall  come  up  the  Berosh  (fir-tree),  and  instead  of  the  Sarpard 
(briar)  shall  come  up  an  Hadassah."  That  is  to  say,  instead 
of  Naazuz,  the  thorn,  shall  grow  up  a  tamarinth,  i.e.  instead 
of  the  pious  Mordecai  the  wicked  Haman  shall  ascend  the 
scaffold.  Sarpard  is  a  willow  ;  ^  instead  of  the  willow  shall 
grow  up  the  myrtle,  i.e.  instead  of  Vashti,  Esther  shall  ascend 
the  throne. 

For  the  sake  of  this  Esther,  Mordecai  went  into  exile. 
He  said :  "  I  will  rather  go  into  exile  and  educate  Esther  than 
remain  in  the  land  of  Israel."  She  was  called  Esther,  because 
she  was  like  the  planet  Venus,  which  is  called  in  Greek 
Astara.  But  her  name  Hadassah  was  on  account  of  her  piety, 
for  the  righteous  are  called  so,  like  Hananiah,  Mishael,  and 
Azariah,  of  whom  it  is  said :  "  And  he  stood  among  the 
myrtle  trees  that  were  in  the  captivity  "  (E.  V.  "  bottom  "  or 
*' shady  place")  (Zech.  i.  8).  And  Zula,  "  bottom,"  "shady 
place,"  is  Babylon,  for  thus  it  is  written,  "  that  saith  to  the 
deep.  Be  dry  "^  (Isa.  xliv.  27).  She  was  also  called  Hadassah, 
because  as  the  myrtle  does  not  dry  up  either  in  summer  or  in 
winter,  so  the  righteous  have  a  share  in  this  world  and  in  the 
world  to  come.  This  Esther  was  the  daughter  of  Mordecai's 
father's  brother ;  she  remained  the  same  in  her  youth  and  in 

^  X:"'3'Tl&5-  About  the  various  forms,  see  Low,  Aram.  Pflanzennamen,  p. 
54,  who  yet  overlooks  that  the  Lat.  Eubus  is  connected  with  it.  I  cannot 
agree  with  him  in  finding  fault  with  Kohut  in  the  Aruch  because  he 
placed  acantha  for  snm,  for  it  is  no  other  word  (p.  145). 

2  The  explanation  that  nblV  is  Babylon,  is  a  figurative  rather  than  a 
verbal  one.  They  took  this  idea  from  the  context  of  the  above  passage, 
which  speaks  of  Cyrus  as  the  deliverer.  With  the  word  nh^  they  identi- 
fied ni5"iVD  of  Zech.  i.  8  [see  also  D.  Kimchi,  m  loco.  —  Trans.],  where 
myrtle  trees  are  spoken  of,  and  hence  the  Targum  applied  it  to  Esther, 
who  came  from  Babylon.  In  reference  to  the  meaning  of  the  word  nhv> 
it  is  generally  in  modern  times  translated  by  "  the  bottom,"  "  the  deep," 
which  meaning  is  to  my  mind  an  improbable  one.  It  surely  refers  to  the 
wonderful  conquest  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus,  when  he  dried  up  the  inunda- 
tion which  protected  it,  as  Vitringa  already  has  inferred  this  from  Hero- 
dotus and  Xenophon.  ni?1^  cannot  mean  anything  else  but  "water," 
"  sea,"  and  is  connected  with  da,'h{xaax).  K  Moses  ha  Cohen  (quoted  by 
Ibn  Ezra  on  Zechariah)  considered  the  word  n^lVD  as  equivalent  to 
CD  n3''"l2,  "  a  pool  of  water." 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  301 

her  old  age,  and  never  ceased  from  doing  good.  She  had 
neither  father  nor  mother,  was  fair  in  appearance  and  graceful 
in  figure,  and  when  her  father  and  mother  died,  Mordecai 
adopted  her  as  his  daughter. 

Now  when  the  royal  decrees  were  made  known,  and  virgins 
were  gathered  to  Shushan  through  Hega  the  royal  eunuch 
and  keeper  of  the  women,  and  when  Mordecai  heard  that 
virgins  were  forcibly  demanded,  he  took  Esther  and  with- 
drew her  from  the  royal  messengers,  that  they  should  not 
carry  her  away.  He  hid  her  in  a  summer-house,  that  they 
should  not  see  her.  The  daughters  of  the  heathen  used  to 
dance  and  show  their  beauty  through  the  windows  when  the 
royal  messengers  passed  by,  therefore  the  messengers  brought 
many  virgins  from  the  provinces.  And  the  messengers  knew 
Esther,  and  when  they  saw  that  she  was  not  among  these 
virgins,  they  said  one  to  another :  "  In  vain  have  we  exerted 
ourselves  to  bring  virgins  from  the  provinces,  when  we  have 
in  our  province  a  virgin  who  surpasses  in  beauty  all  those 
whom  we  have  brought."  And  when  search  was  made  for 
Esther  and  she  was  not  found,  they  made  it  known  to  the 
king.  When  the  king  heard  it,  he  issued  an  order  ^  that 
every  virgin  who  shall  conceal  herself  from  the  royal  mes- 
sengers, shall  be  punished  with  death.  Mordecai,  hearing 
this  order,  was  afraid,  and  he  conducted  his  uncle's  daughter 
to  the  market,  and  so  Esther  was  brought  by  Hega,  the 
keeper  of  the  women,  unto  the  king.  And  the  girl  pleased 
him,  and  was  by  him  rewarded  with  favours ;  he  was  zealous 
in  giving  her  presents  of  ornaments  and  portions,  like- 
wise seven  virgins  were  appointed  for  her  from  the  royal 
house.  Yet  she  gave  her  portions  away  to  the  heathen 
virgins,  because  she  did  not  want  to  taste  of  the  wine  which 
came  from  the  house  of  the  king.  He  distinguished  her  as 
the  best  of  all  the  women.  Esther  did  not  tell  who  her 
people  or  her  family  were,  for  Mordecai  had  commanded  her 
not  to  tell.  Day  by  day  Mordecai  passed  by  the  seraglio,  in 
^  Instead  of  D^DDjn  read  D^DJD"''!,  ^.<?.  lixrxit;. 


302  .  APPENDIX  I. 

order  to  learn  how  Esther  fared,  and  what  wonderful  thincs 

were  accomplished  through   her.     IsTow  when  the  time  had 

come  that  these  virgins  should  appear  before  King  Ahhash- 

verosh,  for  according  to  the  custom  the  women  had  to  remain 

twelve   months,  of  which  six  months  were   spent   in    using 

unguents  and  oil  of  myrrh,  and  six  months  in  using  spices 

and  other  female  preparations.     Then  the  girl  came  before  the 

king,  and  whatever  she  wished  to  take  from  the  harem  to  the 

king's  house  was  given  her.      In  the  evening  she  went  there, 

and  in  the  morning  she  returned  to  the  harem,  accompanied 

by  Shaashgaz,  the   royal  eunuch  and  keeper  of  the  women. 

Her  name  was  inscribed  in  a  book,  and  she  could   not   come 

again  to  the  king  unless  he  wanted  her,  and  called  her  by  her 

name.     But   when   the    time   had  arrived   that   Esther,   the 

daughter  of  Abihhayil,  Mordecai's  uncle — who  had  in  truth 

brought  her  up  like  his  own  daughter — had  to  appear  before 

the  king,  she  did  not  ask  for  anything   but  what   Hega,  the 

royal  eunuch,  wished  her  to  have ;  and  Esther  found  favour 

in  the  eyes  of  all  who  saw  her.     Esther  was  then  led  to  the 

King  Ahhashverosh  into  the  royal  palace,  in  the  tenth  month, 

the  month  Tebeth,  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign.     And  the 

king  loved   Esther   more   than  all  the   wives,  and   she    was 

rewarded  by  him  with  more  grace  and  favour   than   all   the 

virgins ;  and  he  caused  her  to  reign  in  tlie  place  of  Vashti. 

The  king  made  a  great  feast,  the  feast  of  Esther,  for  all  his 

lords  and  statesmen,  and  distributed  many  presents  in   the 

provinces.     On  the  occasion,  he  said  to  her :  "  Pray  tell  me, 

who  are  thy  people,  and  what  is  thy  family  ?  "     She  replied  : 

"  I  am  ignorant  both  concerning  my  people  and  concerning  my 

family,  because  when  I  was   quite  a   child,  my  father   and 

mother  died  and  left  me."     Now  when  the  king  heard  these 

words,  he  universally  remitted  the  taxes,  and  gave  presents  to 

the  provinces,  because  he  thought  and  said  to  himself,  I  will 

do  good  to  all  the  nations  and  governments,  among  whom  is 

certainly  the  people  of  Esther. 

When    the  virgins  were  again  gathered,  and  this  second 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  303 

gathering  was  only  because  Esther  was  living  in  the  palace 
of  the  king,  and  he  loved  her  more  than  all  the  wives,  and 
had  put  the  royal  crown  upon  her  head.  Yes,  the  second 
gathering  was,  because  the  governors  said  to  the  king :  "If 
thou  wilt  that  Esther  should  reveal  to  thee  her  nation  and 
family,  cause  her  to  be  jealous  by  gathering  other  women, 
and  then  she  will  reveal  both."  So  the  virgins  were  gathered 
a  second  time,  and,  just  then,  Mordecai  sat  at  the  royal  gate. 
Nevertheless,  Esther  did  not  tell  concerning  her  people  and 
her  origin,  but  was  doing  just  what  Mordecai  commanded 
her ;  for  as  she  was  modest  in  her  youth,  so  she  remained 
even  when  she  became  queen.  Therefore  Scripture  says : 
"  Esther  did  the  commandment  of  Mordecai,  like  as  when  she 
was  brought  up  with  him." 

In  those  days  when  Mordecai  sat  at  the  gates  of  the  royal 
house,  Bigthan  and  Teresh,  two  of  the  royal  eunuchs  and 
keepers  of  the  wardrobe,  were  wroth,  and  wanted  to  lay 
violent  hands  upon  and  to  kill  King  Ahhashverosh,  having 
devised  a  plan  of  putting  a  poisonous  snake  ^  in  the  golden 
cup  from  which  Ahhashverosh  drank,  in  order  that  it  might  bite 
and  kill  him.  This  affair  was  revealed  to  Mordecai  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  he  told  it  to  Esther,  who  communicated  to 
the  king  in  Mordecai's  name.  The  matter  was  investigated 
and  found  true,  and  they  were  both  hanged  on  a  scaffold ;  and 
the  event  was  recorded  in  the  chronicle  of  the  king. 

§  VIII. 

After  these  events.  King  Ahhashverosh  promoted  Haman,^ 

^  p"l"in,  a  snake.  The  expression  in  Syro-Chald.  came  from  Persia.  It 
is  nothing  else  than  "  Agramainyus,"  "Aharman,"  "Ahriman,"  the  evil 
spirit,  who,  especially  as  a  serpent,  was  thought  to  bring  death.  This  is 
well  to  be  assumed,  and  not  the  contrary  (Spiegel,  Eranische  Alterthums- 
kunde,  ii.  122). 

2  The  genealogy  of  Haman  is  most  interesting,  because  it  enumerates 
all  the  enemies  and  oppressors  of  the  Jews  who  have  oppressed  them  in 
the  Holy  Land.  It  discloses  impressions  which  date  from  before  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem.      It  is  not  indeed  very  easy  to  restore  the 


304  APPENDIX  I. 

son  of  Hamdatha  the  Agagite,  son  of  Stench,  son  of  Eobbery, 
son  of  Pilate,  son  of  Lysius,  son  of  Florus,  son  of  Fadus,  son 
of  riaccus,  son  of  Antipater,  son  of  Herod,  son  of  Kefuse,  son 
of  Decay,  son  of  Parmashta,  son  of  Vajasatha,  son  of  Agag, 
son  of  the  Ked,  son  of  Amalek,  son  of  the  concubine  of 
Eliphaz,  the  eldest  son  of  Esau.  He  made  him  great,  and 
placed  him  upon  a  throne  higher  tlian  all  his  nobles  and 
ministers.  And  all  the  servants  of  the  king  who  sat  at  the 
gate  of  the  royal  palace  bowed  down  and  prostrated  them- 
selves before  Haman,  because  the  king  had  commanded  it ; 
but  Mordecai  did  not  kneel  before  him,  nor  salute  him. 
Then  the  servants  of  the  king  who  sat  at  the  gate  of  the 
royal  palace  said  to  Mordecai :  "  What  privilege  hast  thou 
above  us,  that  we  should  make  obeisance  before  Haman,  and 
that  thou  shouldst  not  kneel  before  him  ?  Why  dost  thou 
transcfress  the  command  of  the  kinsj  ? "  Mordecai  answered 
and  said  to  them :  "  You  are  foolish,  and  without  under- 
standing !  Hear  me,  and  tell  me,  you  hypocrites  (or  coal 
blacks),  Where  is  there  a  man  who  dares  to  be  so  proud 
and  haughty  ?  He  a  man  born  of  a  woman,  and  his  dura- 
tion but  a  few  days  !     He  who  at  his  birth  weeps  and  cries, 

corrupted  names,  yet  the  whole  underlying  thought  supports  and  confirms 
the  emendation.  Instead  of  Dltoi'DX  must  be  read  Dlt^^S,  Pilatus  the 
governor,  who  was  not  the  less  hated  by  the  Jews  when  he  assumed 
the  fatal  position  in  the  history  of  Christ.  Instead  of  D^DIH  must  Felix 
(D'^D^S)  be  placed  (Joseph.  Ant.  xii.  7.  3  ;  1  Mace.  chap,  iii.),  the  remarkable 
and  cruel  brother  of  Pallus.  Instead  of  D1"lS  is  to  l3e  read  D"11^2»  Florus. 
Under  Gessius  Florus  broke  out  the  Jewish  war  (Joseph.  Ant.  xx.  10. 
11).  For  '»lj;o  is  to  be  read  "i^VSj  Fadus  the  procurator  of  Judea  under 
Claudius  (Joseph.  Ant.  xx.  1. 1,  etc.).  For  Ipyi^n  is  to  be  read  jpvi^a,  Flaccus 
the  governor  of  Syria  (Joseph.  Ant.  xviii.  6.  2).  For  D'^"^D''tD3^<  is  to  be 
read  D11DS''£33i<,  Antipater,  as  this  clearly  appears  from  his  being  con- 
nected with  Herod.  Agag  is  called  "'pOlD  12,  the  son  of  the  red,  viz. 
Kufus.  The  name  Rufus  was  not  merely  the  name  of  the  enemy  in  the 
Jewish  war,  but  it  is  a  translation  of  Edom,  Esau  himself.  Rome  was 
understood  to  be  a  successor  to  Edom  (com  p.  my  Chazar.  Konigsbrief, 
Berlin  1876,  p.  53).  n^  13  means  a  young  calf,  and  refers  to  Vitellius. 
"^33  12  refers  to  Cestius  Gallus,  for  njj  means  a  cock  (j^niD  1^2,  cock 
of  the  wood).  "With  respect  to  the  meaning  of  the  names  of  Haman's 
sons,  see  the  commentary. 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  305 

in  his  youth  mourns  and  sighs,  and  during  all  his  days  is 
full  of  trouble  and  vexation,  and  at  last  returns  to  his  dust ! 
And  shall  I  kneel  before  him  ?  Never  !  I  only  bow  before 
the  one  great  and  living  God  in  heaven,  who  is  a  consuming 
fire  and  whose  angels  are  fire,  who  holds  the  earth  in  His 
arm,  who  spread  out  the  heavens  by  His  mighty  power, 
who  by  His  will  makes  the  sun  to  be  darkness  and  the 
darkness  to  be  light,  who  by  His  wisdom  surrounded  the 
ocean  with  sand,  provided  the  sea  with  odorous  salt  and 
with  banks,  keeping  the  waves  bound  in  the  deep  as  with 
chains  that  they  should  not  overflow  the  land  and  not  pass 
their  limit.  By  His  word  He  created  the  firmament  and 
spread  it  as  a  cloud  in  the  air,  yea.  He  spread  it  as  a 
vapour  upon  the  world,  and  a  tent  upon  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  and  by  His  power  He  carries  the  things  that  are  above 
and  below.  Before  Him  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  Pleiades 
run  their  course,  and  the  stars  and  planets  are  not  for  a 
moment  inactive.  None  of  them  rest,  but  all  run  before 
Him  as  His  messengers,  who  go  right  and  left  to  do  His 
will.  To  Him  who  created  them  belongs  praise,  and  before 
Him  one  must  bow."  They  replied  to  Mordecai :  "  Neverthe- 
less, one  of  thy  fathers  bowed  before  one  of  the  fathers  of 
Haman  ! "  "  Who  was  it,"  exclaimed  Mordecai,  "  who  bowed 
before  the  ancestor  of  Haman  ? "  Tbey  rejoined :  "  Was  it 
not  thy  father  Jacob  who  bowed  before  his  brother  Esau, 
the  ancestor  of  Haman  ?  "  He  in  reply  said,  "  I  am  of  the 
posterity  of  Benjamin,^  and  when  Jacob  bowed  before  Esau, 

1  It  appears  from  the  above  that  in  the  days  of  the  Targum  Jacob's 
bowing  before  Esau,  who  was  identified  with  Rome,  was  not  looked  upon 
by  the  Jews  with  a  favourable  eye.  But  this  happened  when  Benjamin 
was  not  yet  born,  therefore  Mordecai  his  descendant  was  justified  in 
refusing  homage  to  Haman,  Esau's  descendant.  Nor  was  Benjamin 
present  when  the  children  of  Jacob  sold  Joseph,  therefore  his  descendant 
Mordecai  becomes  the  deliverer  of  Israel  whom  Haman  had  sold.  The 
silence  of  Esther  concerning  her  origin  was  referred  to  as  typified  in 
the  silence  of  Rachel  when  Jacob  searched  for  the  teraphim  of  Laban, 
and  especially  to  Benjamin.  The  latter  was  on  the  ground,  that  the  stone 
for  his  [Benjamin's]  tribe  in  the  breastplate  of  Aaron  (Ex.  xxviii.  20) 

U 


306  APPENDIX  I. 

Benjamin  was  not  yet  born,  and  he  never  in  all  his  life 
bowed  before  a  man.  Hence  an  eternal  covenant  was  made 
with  him  while  he  was  yet  in  his  mother's  womb,  until  the 
time  that  Israel  shall  go  up  to  their  land  and  build  the 
temple  in  his  territory,  and  that  the  Shechinah  shall  dwell 
in  his  border,  and  that  all  Israel  shall  rejoice  there,  and  that 
the  nations  shall  bow  and  prostrate  themselves  in  his  land. 
But  I  shall  not  bow  before  the  wicked  Haman,  this 
enemy ! " 

Day  by  day  they  thus  spake  to  him,  and  he  did  not 
hearken  to  them.  They  then  reported  him  to  Haman,  to 
see  whether  the  words  of  Mordecai  will  stand,  in  that  he 
told  them  that  he  was  a  Jew.  When  Haman  saw  that 
Mordecai  refused  to  bow  before  him,  he  was  full  of  wrath 
against  him. — But  he  was  too  despicable  an  object  in  his 
eyes  to  lay  violent  hands  on  him  alone,  and  he  wanted 
rather  to  destroy  all  those  Jews  who  were  sojourning  in  the 
empire  of  Ahhashverosh.  In  the  first  month,  which  is  the 
month  Msan,  in  the  twelfth  year  of  the  reign  of  Ahhashverosh, 
he  cast  the  lot,  in  order  to  destroy  the  holy  people.  Then 
an  echoing  voice  from  heaven  resounded,  and  said :  "  Fear 
not,  congregation  of  Israel !  If  you  turn  with  repentance 
to  God,  then  the  lot  will  fall  upon  him  instead  of  thee." 
The  scribe  Shamshai  began  to  cast  the  lot  before  Haman  day 
by  day.  He  began  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  but  did  not 
succeed,  because  on  that  day  were  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
created.  The  second  day  was  likewise  unpropitious,  because 
on  it  the  firmament  was  created.  He  failed  on  the  third  day, 
because  on  it  the  garden  of  Eden  was  created.  The  fourth 
day  was  unfavourable  to  him,  because  on  it  were  created  the 
sun,  the  moon,  the  seven  stars,  and  the  twelve  planets.     The 

was  a  jasper  (Heb.  nSK^''),  which  was  interpreted  as  composed  of  two 
words  na  K'N  "he  had  a  mouth,"  and  yet  he  was  silent  (Midrasli 
Esther  926;  comp.  K.  Behhai  on  Yalkut  Keuheni  104c).  From  this 
etymology  plainly  comes  that  which  Pliny  observes  (lib.  37,  §  118)  : 
"Libet  obiter  sanitatem  magicam  hie  qiioque  coarguere,  ipioniam  hanc 
utilem  esse  concionantibus  prodiderunt." 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  307 

fifth  day  ^  did  not  serve  liis  purpose,  because  on  it  were  created 
the  leviathan  and  the  cock  of  the  wood,  which  have  been  ap- 
pointed for  a  feast  to  the  congregation  of  Israel  on  the  great  day. 
The  sixth  day  was  unfavourable,  because  on  it  Adam  and 
Eve  were  created ;  and  likewise  the  seventh  day,  because  it  is 
a  covenant  between  the  word  of  the  Lord  and  the  people  of 
Israel.     He  then  left  the  days  and  began  with  the  months. 

^  The  legend  of  the  leviathan  and  cock  of  the  wood  being  created  on 
the  fifth  day,  in  order  that  Israel  should  feast  on  them  on  the  great  day 
(X3"l  NJDV),  is  very  remarkable,  and  betrays  Christian  influence.  In 
Gen.  i.  21  we  read  that  on  the  fifth  day  were  created  the  ocean  monsters 
(D^J^^n).  The  Targum  Yerushalmi  adds,  that  the  leviathan  was  also 
created  on  the  fifth  day  for  the  purpose  of  serving  a  feast  on  the  great 
day.  But  no  mention  is  made  of  the  cock  of  the  wood  (j<"i3  t^^lJin).  The 
passages  which  are  generally  adduced  from  the  0.  T.  for  the  great  feast, 
viz.  Isa.  xxvii.  1,  Job  xl.  26,  etc.,  do  not  give  in  the  slightest  way 
any  information  concerning  a  banquet  of  leviathan  and  the  cock  of  the 
wood.  The  passage  here  is  to  be  understood  as  a  contrast  to  Christian 
symbolism.  The  leviathan  is  the  opposite  of  ichthys  [fish],  which  is  the 
emblem  of  Christ,  and  contains  the  acrostic  of  His  name.  Joshua  (yiK^), 
the  conqueror  of  Canaan,  was  also  the  son  of  Nun,  which  means  fish.  On 
the  fifth  day — on  Thursday,  which  is  called  the  great  fifth  (^£y«?i>j 
-TrifiTrrYi) — Christ  constituted  the  Lord's  Supper,  when  He  said,  "Take, 
eat,  this  is  my  body."  The  idea  of  the  feast  of  the  leviathan  was  started 
as  a  counterpart  to  the  supper  of  the  ichthys.  That  this  is  really  so,  is 
seen  from  the  addition  of  the  5^13  ^JilD,  which  is  only  found  in  this  place. 
The  cock  of  the  wood,  or  "wild  cock,"  stands  for  the  cock  in  general. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  Jews  have  on  the  eve  of  the  Day  of  Atonement 
a  cock  for  every  male  as  an  atonement,  when  they  say  :  "  This  is  my 
substitution,  this  is  my  vicarious  sacrifice,  this  is  my  atonement,  this 
cock  shall  go  to  death,  and  I  shall  enter  into  life."  That  this  act  is 
vicarious  may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  the  cock  is  called  Geber,  i.e. 
"  man,"  and  has  special  reference  to  Christ,  who  is  called  Geber  in  Zech. 
xiii.  7.  Certainly  most  Jews  are  not  acquainted  with  the  fact  that  these 
Christian  ideas  are  contained  in  that  ceremony ;  but  learned  Jews  have 
perceived  the  hidden  meaning,  and  have  consequently  discouraged  the  use 
of  the  ceremony  altogether.  It  is  remarkable  that  it  was  customary  to 
use  a  fish  for  the  same  purpose,  in  case  a  cock  was  wanting.  It  had  the 
same  symbolism.  Julius  Africanus  says  also  :  "  Christ  is  the  fish  who 
nourishes  the  world."  Upon  pictures  of  the  Lord's  Supper  are  found  a 
fish  instead  of  a  lamb  on  the  dish.  It  is  likewise  the  custom  among  the 
Jews  to  have  fish  and  cock  in  their  Sabbath  meals.  The  feast  of  the 
leviathian  represented  the  same  as  that  of  the  cock.  The  Targumist 
unites  the  two,  in  order  to  indicate  that  the  feast  will  consist  of  fish  and 
meat.  Concerning  the  symbolism  of  the  fish,  see  my  Eddischen  Studien 
pp.  118-121. 


308  APPENDIX  I. 

Nisan  was  not  appropriate,  because  of  the  meritorious  influence 
of  the  feast  of  the  Passover.  Nor  lyar,  because  during  this 
month  fell  the  manna.  Nor  Sivan,  because  in  it  was  the 
Law  given  on  Mount  Sinai.  Nor  Tamuz,  because  in  it  were 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem  broken,  and  two  evils  cannot  take 
place  in  the  same  month.  Nor  Ab/  because  in  it  the 
Israelites  in  the  desert  ceased  from  dying  away,  and  the 
Shechinah  of  the  Lord  of  the  universe  began  again  to  speak 
with  Moses.  Nor  Elul,  because  in  it  Moses  went  up  on 
Mount  Sinai  to  bring  down  the  second  tables.  Nor  Tishri, 
because  in  it  the  sins  of  Israel  are  forgiven.  Nor  Marh- 
heshvan,  because  the  flood  ceased  in  the  same  month,  when 
Noah  and  all  his  were  saved.  Nor  Kislev,  because  in  it  was 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  temple.  Nor  Tebeth,  because  in  it 
the  wicked  Nebuchadnezzar  went  up  against  Jerusalem,  and 
this  tribulation  was  sufficient.  Nor  Shebat,  because  this 
month  is  the  new  year  for  the  trees,  of  which  the  first-fruits 
are  offered.  When  he  finally  came  to  the  twelfth  month,  the 
month  Adar,  he  said  :  "  Now  they  are  caught  by  my  hands  like 
the  fish  of  the  sea."  But  he  did  not  know  that  the  children 
of  Joseph  are  likened  to  fish,  as  it  is  written :  "  They  shall 
multiply  like  the  fish  of  the  sea,  among  men  upon  the  earth." 
And  Haman  spake  to  King  Ahhashverosh :  "  There  is  a 
certain  people  of  the  Jews,  scattered  and  thrown  about  among 
the  nations  in  all  the  provinces  of  the  empire  ;  they  are  proud 
and  haughty,  they  bathe  in  Tebeth  in  tepid  water,  and  in 
Tamuz  they  sit  in  cold  baths.  They  practise  laws  and 
customs  which  are  different  from  those  of  every  other  nation 
and  country,  and  do  not  walk  according  to  our  laws,  nor  have 
pleasure  in  our  customs,  nor  do  they  serve  the  king.  When 
they  see  us  they  spit  on  the  ground,  and  consider  us  in  the 
light  of  an  unclean  thing.  When  we  go  to  them  and  order 
them  to  do  some  service  to  the  king,  then  they  jump  down 
the  walls,  break  down  the  fences,  and  make  their  escape 
through  the  gaps.  When  we  try  to  catch  them,  they  turn 
^  This  significance  of  the  month  Ab  appears  only  in  this  place. 


THE  SECOND  TAEGUM.  309 

round  and  stand  staring  at  us,  gnash  with  their  teeth,  stamp 
with  their  feet,  and  so  frighten  us  that  we  are  not  able  to 
take  hold  of  them.  We  do  not  marry  their  daughters,  and 
they  do  not  marry  ours.  Is  any  of  them  taken  for  the 
service  of  the  king,  he  passes  the  day  in  idleness,  with  all 
kinds  of  excuses,  such  as  to-day  is  the  Sabbath,  to-day  is 
Passover.  The  day  on  which  they  want  to  buy  from  us  they 
call  a  lawful  day,  and  the  day  on  which  we  want  to  buy 
something  from  them  they  call  an  unlawful  day,  and  they 
close  the  market  for  us.  In  the  first  hour  of  the  day  they 
say,  '  We  must  read  the  Shema '  (Deut.  vi.  4) ;  in  the  second 
hour  they  say,  *  We  must  pray ; '  in  the  third,  '  We  must 
eat ; '  in  the  fourth  they  say,  '  We  must  thank  the  God  of 
heaven  for  having  given  us  bread  and  water.'  In  the  fifth 
they  go  out  for  a  walk.  In  the  sixth  they  come  back.  In 
the  seventh  they  go  to  meet  their  wives,  who  say  to  them, 
*  Here  is  some  soup  to  refresh  you  after  the  heavy  toil  which 
the  tyrannical  king  put  on  you.'  One  day  in  the  week  they 
keep  as  a  day  of  rest,  in  which  they  go  to  their  synagogues, 
read  in  their  books,  interpret  their  prophets,  curse  our  king, 
imprecate  our  rulers,  and  say :  '  This  is  the  seventh  day,  in 
which  the  great  God  rested.' 

"  Their  unclean  wives  go  after  seven  days,  in  the  middle 
of  the  night,  and  defile  the  water.  On  the  eighth  day  they 
circumcise  their  sons,  without  any  pity  upon  them,  in  order, 
as  they  say,  thereby  to  differ  from  other  nations.  Thirty 
days  they  call  a  month,  and  they  say  one  month  is  complete 
and  another  is  defective.  In  the  month  of  Nisan  they  keep  a 
feast,  lasting  eight  days,  when  they  remove  and  burn  every- 
thing that  is  leaven,  and  cleanse  their  utensils,  and  say, 
'  This  is  the  day  in  which  our  fathers  were  redeemed  from 
Egypt ; '  and  they  call  this  day  Passover,  and  go  to  their 
synagogues,  read  their  books,  interpret  their  prophets,  curse 
the  king,  imprecate  the  governors,  and  say,  *  Like  the  leaven 
is  removed  from  that  which  is  unleavened,  so  may  the  king- 
dom of  the  tyrant  be  removed  from  among  us,  and  so  may  we 


310  APPENDIX  I. 

be  delivered  from  this  foolish  king.'  In  the  month  Sivan 
they  keep  a  feast  of  two  days,  in  which  they  go  into  their 
synagogues,  read  the  Shema,  pray,  read  their  law,  interpret 
their  prophets,  curse  the  king,  imprecate  the  governors,  and 
call  it  the  day  of  convocation/  They  then  go  up  to  the 
roof  of  the  house  of  their  God,  and  throw  down  pomegranates 
and  apples,  and  then  collect  them,  and  say,  '  Like  as  we 
gather  these  pomegranates  and  apples,  so  may  their  sons  be 
gathered  out  from  amongst  us.'  They  also  say,  'This  is 
the  day  in  which  the  Law  was  given  to  our  fathers  on  Mount 
Sinai.'  A  certain  time  they  call  new  year,  viz.  the  first  of 
Tishri,  in  which  they  go  to  their  synagogues,  read  their 
books,  interpret  their  prophets,  curse  the  king,  imprecate  the 
governors,  blow  the  trumpets,  and  say,  'On  this  day  the 
remembrance  of  our  fathers  comes  up  before  our  Father  in 
heaven.  May  our  remembrance  conduce  to  our  good,  and 
that  of  our  enemies  conduce  to  their  evil.'  On  the  ninth  of 
the  same  month  they  slaughter  geese  and  animals,  eat  and 
drink  sumptuously — they,  their  wives,  their  sons,  and  their 
daughters.  The  tenth  of  this  month  they  call  a  great  fast 
day,  on  which  they,  their  wives,  and  their  sons  and  daughters 
fast;  and  they  harass  even  their  children  and  sucklings, 
without  pity  upon  them,  and  they  say,  '  On  this  day  are  our 
sins  atoned,  yea,  our  sins  are  collected  and  added  to  the  sins 
of  our  enemies.'  They  go  to  their  synagogues,  read  their 
books,  interpret  their  prophets,  curse  the  king,  imprecate  the 
governors,  and  say,  'May  this  foolish  kingdom  be  blotted 
out  from  the  world ; '  and  they  pray  and  supplicate  that  the 

1  On  the  t^mvyi  XDI^  they  go  to  their  synagogues  and  throw  apples. 
The  Feast  of  Weeks  was  called  Azereth,  "  convocation,"  like  the  last  day 
of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles.  The  former  is  a  commemoration  of  the  giving 
of  the  Law,  the  latter  is  devoted  to  rejoicing  for  the  Law.  In  the  West 
the  throwing  of  apples  takes  place  on  the  latter  feast,  on  miD  nniOSJ^, 
which  is  in  the  autumn.  The  Tania  (p.  129a)  speaks  of  DHJO,  "fruit," 
which  the  min  |nn  caused  to  be  thrown.  Of  this  also  speaks  the  Minhagini 
(p.  47),  and  therefore  the  pTl,  the  priestly  benediction,  does  not  take  place 
at  C]D1D,  "the  supplementary  service."  The  use  of  tl)Zr\  was  chosen  in 
allusion  to  Pro  v.  xxv.  11. 


THE  SECOND  TAEGUM.  311 

king  may  die,  and  that  his  government  may  be  destroyed. 
On  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  same  month  they  erect  booths 
on  the  roofs  of  their  houses,  then  they  go  into  our  orchards, 
cut  down  our  palm  leaves,  pluck  down  our  citrons,  break  our 
willows  (or  spice  trees),  destroy  our  gardens  and  our  fences  with- 
out any  pity,  and  then  they  make  of  the  branches  hosannas,^ 
and  say,  'As  the  king  does  among  the  arrayed  army,  so  do 
w^e/  Then  they  go  to  their  synagogues,  read  their  books,  pray, 
rejoice,  go  around  wdth  their  hosannas,  jump  and  dance  like 
goats,  and  we  do  not  know  whether  they  curse  or  bless  us- 
They  call  this  feast  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  and  do  not 
perform  the  work  of  the  king,  saying  to  us,  '  This  is  a 
forbidden  day/  Thus  they  spend  the  year,  with  the  excuse  of 
'  Sheehy,  Pheehy,'  i.e.  '  To-day  is  a  Sabbath,  to-day  is  a  feast.'  ^ 

^  [Hosanna  means,  Save  now.  It  was  first  used  as  a  prayer  in  Ps.  cxviii.  25. 
Secondly,  as  a  Messianic  acclamation  when  Jesus  entered  triumphantly 
into  Jerusalem.  Thirdly,  the  five  twigs  of  willow  tied  with  a  palm  leaf, 
and  smitten  in  the  synagogue  on  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  to  symbolize  the 
defeat  of  the  Satanic  kingdom  by  the  Messiah,  are  called  hosanna. — Trans.] 

^  The  speech  of  Haman  before  the  king,  as  given  by  the  Targum,  is 
very  remarkable.  It  vividly  describes  the  accusations  which  were 
brought  against  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  the  Targumist,  and  which  are 
still  brought  against  them  by  their  enemies.  Whatever  they  did  is  taken 
amiss.  They  are  represented  to  live  extravagantly,  because,  forsooth, 
they  bathe  in  the  summer  in  cold,  and  in  the  winter  in  tepid  water. 
They  are  reproached  for  feeding  upon  roast  geese  before  the  fast  day. 
They  are  further  reproached  that  they  have  no  relish  for  the  service  of 
the  king,  that  they  hate  other  nations,  curse  the  kings,  and  that  they 
continually  have  holidays  as  an  excuse  for  not  doing  loyal  service  to  the 
government.  We  must  remark  upon  some  of  the  items  of  this  speech, 
because  they  are  not  without  historical  interest.  It  is  said  twice  that  they 
spent  their  time  with  TID  MEJ'  instead  of  doing  some  useful  service.  The 
same  expression  is  found  in  Bab.  Megilla  136  (MtJ'n  i<n^  ifh)2b  SpD^T 
MDl).  Eashi  explains  the  words  as  initial  letters  of  n3K^  DVn  riDS 
DVn,  as  if  they  always  excused  themselves  with  the  saying,  "  To-day  is 
iBabbath,  to-day  is  Passover."  Though  this  explanation  is  given  above, 
yet  I  do  not  agree  with  it.  Levy  in  Chald.  Lex.^  voce  TID,  says  that  Rashi's 
explanation  is  forced.  I  now  think  it  an  impossible  one.  First,  because 
the  feast  of  the  Passover  happens  only  once  in  the  year,  and  they  could 
not  excuse  themselves  the  whole  year  round  by  saying :  "  To-day  is 
Passover."  Secondly,  such  an  acrostic  abbreviation  may  look  well  to  the 
Rye,  but  sounds  badly  to  the  ear.  It  is  plainly  an  alliterative  formula, 
expressing  "doing  nothing,"  or  "doing  useless  things,"  as  we  have  in 


312  APPENDIX  I. 

"  Fifty  years  they  call  a  jubilee ;  seven  years,  a  jubilee  week  ; 
twelve  months,  a  year ;  thirty  days,  a  month  ;  the  seventh  day 
they  call  a  day  of  rest,  and  they  keep  it  as  a  feast  day,  in  which 
the  Lord  of  the  universe  rested.  When  their  kingdom  was 
yet  standing,  there  arose  a  king  among  them  whose  name  was 
David,  who  harboured  thoughts  of  evil  against  us,  and  wished 
to  kill  us  and  to  exterminate  us  from  the  world.  Two  parts  of 
us  he  killed  and  rooted  out,  and  one  part  he  left.  Yet  of 
those  he  left  he  made  servants.  As  it  is  written:  *And  he 
measured  them  with  the  line,  making  them  to  lie  down  on 
the  ground '  (2  Sam.  viii.  2).  After  him  rose  up  one  of  the 
kings  w4io  were  thy  predecessors ;  his  name  was  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, and  he  went  against  them,  destroyed  their  temple, 
plundered  their  city,  and  led  them  into  captivity,  and  still 
they  are  high-spirited  and  have  not  given  up  their  haughti- 
ness till  now,  but  say :  *  We  are  the  children  of  renowned 
fathers,  and  we  have  never  subjected  ourselves  nor  bowed  to 
liings,  neither  have  we  obeyed  governors.'  They  send  letters 
to  every  place,  asking  for  prayers  to  God  that  the  king  may 
die,  and  that  our  rule  may  be  destroyed  ;  and  this  they  do 
without  our  knowledge.  When  their  forefathers  came  down 
to  Egypt  they  were  only  seventy  persons,  but  when  they 
went  up  (out  of  Egypt)  they  were  sixty  myriads.  And  even 
now,  though  they  are  likewise  in  captivity,  and  have  nothing, 
yet  they  say  :  '  We  are  the  children  of  pious  and  good  people.' 
But,  in  fact,  there  is  not  a  more  poor  and  faulty  people  in  the 
world  than  they  are.  This  people  is  in  all  the  towns  ;  some 
of  them  are  dealers  in  wax^  and  candle  provisioners,  and  some 

German  Larifari  and  SchnicJcschnack,  and  in  English  shilly-shally  and 
helter-skelter.  I  remark,  in  passing,  that  Larifari  comes  from  the  Greek 
7.i^pog,  which  Grimm  and  others  have  overlooked.  The  Komans  said 
hutu  batta.  It  is,  moreover,  interesting  to  note  that  such  meaningless 
alliterations,  like  Phehy,  generally  begin  with  F,  thus :  Foxen,  Jloccus, 
flyaros,  larifari,  and  therefore  Sheehy,  Pheehy,  may  mean  useless  words  in 
reference  to  Pe,  month. 

•^  fc^lV  "•33T-  When  the  Targumist  makes  Haman  complain  that  some 
are  dealers  in  wax  and  candles,  and  that  others  are  rich,  but  that  they 
obtain  their  riches  in  a  wrong  way,  he  shows  that  Haman's  intention 


THE  SECOND  TAEGUM.  313 

of  them  are  great  men.  Everything  they  sell,  they  sell  at  an 
overcharged  price,  and  everything  they  buy,  they  do  not  pay 
its  value ;  they  do  not  observe  the  laws  and  ordinances  of  the 
king,  and  the  king  has  no  advantage  in  tolerating  them  or  in 
allov^ing  them  to  exist. 

"  If  it  please  the  king,  let  him  write  an  order  for  their 
extermination,  and  I  will  give  thee  for  every  one  of  them  a 
hundred  zuzin ;  and  as  the  total  number  of  their  ancestors 
when  they  went  out  from  Egypt  was  six  hundred  thousand 
men,  and  ten  thousand  kikar  silver  are  equal  to  six  hundred 
thousand  zuzin,  so  if  it  please  the  king  I  will  deliver  this 
money  from  my  treasury  into  thy  treasury.  It  needs  only  a 
stroke  of  the  pen,  and  the  silver  in  full  weight  shall  be 
delivered  through  the  officers  of  the  mint  into  the  treasury  of 
the  king."  Then  the  king  of  kings  answered  and  said  :  "  They 
have  long  ago  paid  a  sela  (half  a  shekel)  per  head,  when  they 
went  out  of  Egypt,  and  the  sum  amounted  to  one  hundred 
kikar,  and  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven  selas. 
Thou  hast  therefore  no  right  to  sell  them,  nor  has  Ahhash- 
verosh  a  right  to  buy  them."  Then  the  king  took  off  his  ring 
from  his  hand  and  gave  it  to  Haman,  son  of  Hamdatha  the 

was  to  make  the  Jews  appear  contemptible.  He  represents  them  on  the 
one  hand  as  poor  miserable  people,  who  maintain  themselves  as  dealers 
in  a  small  way,  and  on  the  other  hand  as  usurers.  The  trade  in  wax,  ii,i^p 
(cera),  did  not  bring  large  profits.  The  Jews  were  in  the  habit  of  using 
many  wax  candles  in  their  service  in  the  synagogue  as  well  as  at  home, 
especially  on  the  Day  of  Atonement ;  and  the  singling  out  of  this  trade 
seems  to  be  a  mocking  allusion  to  it.  This  is  seen  in  Sanhed.  95a  .•  "  Thy 
grandson  buys  wax,  and  art  not  thou  sorry  ? "  In  the  Minhagim  of  the  year 
1692  (Dyhernfurt),  p.  38,  we  read  :  "  On  the  eve  of  the  Day  of  Atonement 
it  is  necessary  to  light  a  candle,  for  the  candle  atones  ("1D3D)  for  the  soul 
(niDtJ^j),  which  is  also  a  candle.  It  is  also  an  honour  for  the  synagogues 
to  have  many  candles."  A  curious  story  is  told  that  in  t^^t^'Ji,  Germany, 
candles  were  only  lighted  for  men  and  not  for  women.  The  man  has  258 
members  in  his  body  ;  add  to  this  his  soul  and  spirit,  nil  and  HDK^J, 
the  initials  of  which  are  ^j,  candle,  and  numerically  also  250.  In  other 
countries,  candles  are  lighted  for  the  women  also,  though  they  have  four 
members  more  in  their  bodies  than  the  men.  As  iCi'^p  "^^Tj  "buyers  of 
wax,"  and  j'tviQ  ptTlj  "  those  who  hang  up  candles,"  are  connected  together, 
so  in  the  usage  of  the  Byzantine  Church  KYipoi  and  v'h^''^'  stand  together. 


314  .  APPENDIX  I. 

Agagite,  the  oppressor  of  the  Jews.  And  the  king  said  to 
Haman :  "  The  money  is  given  to  thee,  and  the  people  too,  to 
do  with  them  as  it  seems  best  in  thy  sight." 

But  thou,  Ahhashverosh,  hast  neither  acted  like  a  buyer 
nor  like  a  seller,  for  a  buyer  gives  money  and  a  seller  takes 
money ;  but  thou  hast  given  thy  ring  to  Haman,  and  hast  said 
to  him :  "  Thy  money  is  given  thee  and  the  people,  to  do 
with  them  as  it  seems  best  in  thy  sight."  In  thee  is  the 
verse  verified  whicli  says :  "As  a  ring  of  gold  in  a  swine's 
snout  (Prov.  xi.  22).  As  rings  do  not  befit  swine,  so  the 
kingdom  does  not  befit  thee,  and  thou  art  like  a  beautiful 
woman  of  bad  morals." 

Then  the  scribes  of  the  king  were  called  together  on  the 
thirteenth  day  of  the  month  Nisan,  and  everything  which 
Haman  commanded  concernincr  the  Jews  was  written  down, 
for  all  the  dignitaries  of  the  king,  and  for  all  the  great  men 
in  every  province,  and  for  the  rulers  of  every  people.  In  the 
writing  and  language  of  each  country  and  people  it  was 
written  in  the  name  of  King  Ahhashverosh  and  sealed  with 
the  royal  seal.  And  letters  were  sent  by  swift  messengers 
to  all  the  provinces  of  the  king  to  destroy,  to  kill,  and  to 
exterminate  all  the  Jews,  from  boys  to  old  men,  infants  and 
women  in  one  day,  namely,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  the 
twelfth  month,  the  month  Adar,  and  also  to  plunder  their 
houses.  The  writing  was  explained,  and  its  object  was 
revealed  and  published  to  all  the  nations  in  every  province, 
that  they  should  be  prepared  for  that  day.  All  this  happened 
that  thou  (reader)  mayest  know  that  God  never  fails  to 
punish  with  measure  for  measure.  You  have  seen  that 
because  the  brethren  of  Joseph  sold  him  into  a  strange  land, 
therefore  their  descendants  were  likewise  sold  into  a  strange 
land ;  but  as  Benjamin  did  not  take  part  in  this  transaction 
with  his  brethren,  for  that  reason  two  of  his  descendants,  viz. 
Mordecai  and  Esther,  became  redeemers  of  Israel.  The  swift 
messengers  hastened  on  with  the  decree  of  the  king,  and  it 
was  also  published  in  the  capital  Shushan,  while  the  king  and 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  315 

Haman  sat  down  to  eat  and  to  drink,  and  the  city  of  Shushan 
was  in  a  state  of  lamentation. 

§  IX. 

And  Mordecai,  the  righteous,  saw  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
everything  that  had  been  done,  viz.  that  the  king  had  sent 
word  from  his  palace  by  his  servants  to  the  righteous 
Haggai,  Zechariah,  and  Malachai,  who  were  in  the  chamber 
of  hewn  stones,  and  were  prophesying  on  the  great  wall  of 
Jerusalem,  that  they  should  stop  the  w^ork  of  building 
after  seventy-two  towers  were  already  built.  The  wicked 
Ahhashverosh  also  fetched  a  hundred  and  twenty -seven 
scribes  from  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven  provinces,  every 
one  of  whom  had  a  roll  and  a  book  in  his  hand.  They 
sat  at  the  gates  of  Shushan  and  wrote,  and  sent  out 
grievous  decrees  concerning  the  Jews  and  their  laws.  The 
first  letter  written  in  the  name  of  the  king,  and  sealed  with 
his  signet-ring,  they  despatched  by  swift  messengers,  and  the 
contents  were  as  follows : — "  From  me.  King  Ahhashverosh, 
to  all  peoples,  nations,  and  languages  who  live  in  all  the 
land,  peace  be  multiplied.  I  make  known  to  you,  that  a 
certain  man  came  to  us,  who  is  not  from  our  place  nor  from 
our  province,  and  he  came  for  the  purpose  of  joining  us,  that 
we  might  prevail  against  our  enemies.  We  have  made 
investigation  concerning  him,  and  (we  find)  that  his  name  is 
Haman,  son  of  King  Agag,  son  of  the  great  Amalek,  son  of 
Eeuel,  son  of  Eliphaz  the  first-born  of  Esau,  in  fact,  a 
descendant  of  prominent  lords  and  wealthy  people.  This 
man  asked  of  me  a  small  and  insignificant  petition,  and 
informed  me  concerning  the  Jews  and  their  blameworthy 
laws  and  affairs.  He  said,  *When  they  came  out  from 
Egypt  they  numbered  six  hundred  thousand  men,  and  so  I 
will   give   thee    six    hundred    thousand    minas  ^  of   silver,   a 

^  [Mina  was  a  certain  weight  of  silver,  variously  estimated  as  consisting 
of  from  fifteen  to  one  hundred  shekels.  Comp.  2  Chron.  ix.  16  ;  1  Kings 
X.  17  ;  Ezek.  xl.  12,  etc.— Trans.] 


316  .  APPENDIX  I. 

mina  for  every  man ; '  for  which  sum  he  desired  that  I 
should  sell  this  people  to  him  to  be  killed.  Then  I, 
Ahhashverosh,  greatly  rejoiced,  and  after  mature  deliberation, 
I  took  the  money  from  him  and  sold  the  people  to  him  to 
be  slauf^htered.  Therefore,  eat  and  drink  and  be  merry,  as  I 
eat  and  drink  and  am  merry.  He  that  understands  to 
handle  the  bow,  let  him  use  the  bow ;  and  he  that  can  fight 
with  the  sword,  let  him  seize  the  svvord,  and  go  you  out  and 
overpower  them  on  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  days  of  the 
month,  which  is  called  in  our  language  Adar.  Do  not  spare 
either  their  princes,  their  rulers,  their  great  men,  nor  even 
their  little  children,  but  kill  them  and  spoil  their  goods.  I, 
King  Ahhashverosh,  do  therefore  hereby  decree  for  all 
nations,  languages,  places,  provinces,  and  for  every  tribe  and 
family  and  town,  that  wherever  a  Jewish  man-servant  or  a 
Jewish  maid-servant  is  found,  their  masters  shall  slay  them 
at  the  gate  of  the  city,  because  they  have  not  obeyed  the 
order  of  the  king  which  was  issued  by  me,  that  no  Jews 
should  be  found  upon  the  soil  of  my  empire." 

And  when  Mordecai,  the  righteous,  heard  of  the  decree 
which  was  issued,  and  of  the  letters  which  were  sealed,  he 
rent  his  garments  in  the  front  and  behind,  and  put  on 
sackcloth  and  rolled  himself  in  ashes,  and  lifted  up  his  voice 
and  cried,  "  Woe !  how  great  is  this  decree  which  the  king 
and  Haman  have  decreed  against  us !  Not  a  half  of  us  has 
he  condemned  and  a  half  spared,  no  not  even  a  third  or  a 
fourth  part  has  he  spared,  but  the  king  and  Haman  have 
determined  that  we  should  all  as  a  body  be  killed,  destroyed, 
and  rooted  out."  Now,  when  the  people  of  Israel  saw  the 
righteous  Mordecai,  who  was  a  greatly  esteemed  Eab  ^  over 
them,  they  assembled  together  and  came  to  him  in  very 
large  multitudes.  Then  Mordecai  stood  up  in  the  midst  of 
the    assembly   and  addressed  them   as   follows :   "  People   of 

^  [This  title  may  also  help  us  in  deciding  as  to  the  age  of  the  Targum. 
It  shows  that  it  was  written  outside  of  Palestine,  for  there  the  same  title 
was  Mar. — Trans.] 


THE  SECOND  TAEGUM.  317: 

Israel,  beloved  and  dear  to  the  Father  in  heaven  I  Do  you 
not  know,  and  have  you  not  heard,  that  the  king  and  Haman 
have  determined  to  destroy  us  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth, 
and  to  exterminate  us  from  under  heaven  ?  Alas  !  we  have 
no  king  on  whom  we  can  rely,  nor  a  prophet  who  should 
pray  for  us,  nor  a  place  into  which  we  can  flee,  nor  a 
country  where  we  would  be  safe,  for  to  every  place  it  was 
written,  and  to  every  province  a  message  was  sent  concerning 
us !  We  are  like  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  and  like  a  ship 
without  a  pilot.  Yea,  we  are  like  orphans  without  a  father, 
and  like  suckling  babes  whose  mother  has  died."  Immedi- 
ately the  holy  ark  was  brought  out  to  the  gates  of  Shushan, 
and  the  book  of  the  Law  was  taken  out,  and  they  covered 
it  with  sackcloth,  and  ashes  spread  upon  it,  and  then  they 
read  therein  :  "  When  thou  art  in  tribulation,  and  all  these 
things  have  come  upon  thee,  etc.,  thou  should  turn  to  the 
Lord  thy  God ;  for  the  Lord  thy  God  is  a  merciful  God " 
(Deut.  iv.  30,  31).  Mordecai  again  rose  in  the  midst  of  the 
congregation  and  said  :  "  People  of  Israel !  Beloved  and  dear 
people  !  Beloved  and  precious  to  God  1  Let  us  look  for 
an  example  to  the  people  of  Nineveh !  When  the  prophet 
Jonah,  the  son  of  Amittai,  was  sent  to  announce  to  them  that 
the  city  of  Nineveh  would  be  destroyed,  and  when  the  tidings 
reached  the  king  of  Nineveh,  he  arose  from  his  throne,  laid 
aside  the  royal  throne,  put  on  sackcloth,  rolled  himself  in 
ashes,  and  issued  a  proclamation  in  Nineveh,  saying :  *  The 
decree  of  the  king  and  his  nobles  commands  thus:  Let 
neither  man  nor  beast,  herd  nor  flock,  taste  anything;  let 
them  not  feed  nor  drink  water.  Let  them  turn  from  their 
evil  ways,  and  from  the  violence  that  is  in  their  hands.' 
'  And  the  Lord  turned  by  His  word  from  the  evil  which  He 
thought  He  would  do  unto  them,  and  He  did  it  not.'  Let 
us  also  do  as  they  did,  and  institute  and  proclaim  fasts, 
because  we  are  banished  from  Jerusalem ;  and  because  of 
Israel's  guilt,  an  echoing  voice  called  upon  wicked  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, and  said :  '  Nebuchadnezzar,  king  of  Chaldea  !     Arise 


318  APPENDIX  I. 

and  go  against  Jerusalem,  and  destroy  it,  and  burn  the 
temple  with  fire  I '  At  that  time  Nebuchadnezzar  shook 
his  head  and  wrung  his  hands,  knowing  well  what  was  the 
fate  of  Sennacherib's  army,  when  an  angel  was  sent  down 
from  heaven  who  killed  eighteen  myriads  and  five  thousand 
of  them,  so  that  none  remained  alive  but  he  himself."  While 
Mordecai  was  thus  speaking,  he  rent  his  garments,  put  on 
sackcloth,  sat  down  in  the  dust,  rolled  himself  in  ashes,  and 
burst  into  tears,  and  cried :  "  Woe  to  you,  0  house  of  Israel, 
that  such  a  decree  has  been  issued  against  you  ! "  He  then 
went  into  the  city  and  cried  loudly  and  bitterly.  Then  he 
went  to  the  gate  of  the  royal  palace,  because  there  was  a 
decree  which  ordered  that  no  man  should  come  to  the  gate 
of  the  house  of  the  king  clothed  in  sackcloth.  When,  now, 
an  Israelite  came  to  a  heathen  and  said  to  him :  "  I  pray 
thee,  let  me  and  my  wife  and  children  be  thy  slaves,  only 
that  we  may  be  delivered  from  being  killed,"  then  the 
heathen  answered :  "  Seest  thou  not  what  is  written  in  the 
decree  which  King  Ahhashverosh  has  published,  that  if  a 
Jew  is  found  with  any  of  our  people,  that  man  shall  be 
killed  like  him."  Whereupon  the  Jew  went  home  in  great 
distress.  At  this  time  was  verified  that  which  is  written  in 
the  law  of  Moses  concerning  Israel :  "  Ye  shall  sell  yourselves 
unto  your  enemies  for  bondmen  and  bondwomen,  and  no 
man  shall  buy  you  "  (Deut.  xxviii.  68).  Day  by  day  every  one 
of  them  went  and  read  the  published  royal  decree,  and  then  he 
knew  how  long  he  had  yet  to  live  in  the  world.  Thus  again 
was  realized  what  is  written  in  the  law  of  Moses :  "  And  thy 
life  shall  hang  in  doubt  before  thee ;  and  thou  shalt  fear 
night  and  day,  and  shalt  have  none  assurance  of  thy  life ;  in 
the  morning  thou  shalt  say,  Would  God  it  were  even  1  and  at 
even  thou  shalt  say,  Would  God  it  were  morning !  for  the 
fear  of  thine  heart  which  thou  shalt  fear,  and  for  the  sight  of 
thine  eyes  which  thou  shalt  see"  (Deut.  xxviii.  06,  67). 

In  every  place  and  province  where  the  king's  decree  came, 
there  was  great  lamentation  amongst  the  Jews,  consisting  of 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  319 

fasting,   weeping,   wailing,   mourning,   sackcloth,   and,  among 
many  of  them,  lying  in  ashes. 

And  Esther's  maidens  and  her  chamberlains  came  and  told 
it  her;  and  the  queen  was  exceedingly  grieved,  and  she  sent 
raiment  to  clothe  Mordecai,  and  to  take  his  sackcloth  from  off 
him,  but  he  received  it  not.     Then  called  Esther  for  Hathach, 
one  of  the  king's  chamberlains,  whom  he  had  appointed  to 
attend  upon  her,  to  charge  him  to  go  to  Mordecai,  to  know 
what  this  was,  and  why  it  was.     So  Hathach  went  forth  to 
Mordecai,  unto  the  broad  place  of  the  city,  which  was  before 
the  king's   gate.     And   Mordecai  told   him  of  all   that  had 
happened  unto  him,  and  the  exact  sum  of  the  money  that 
Haman    had    promised    to    pay    by    weight    to    the    king's 
treasuries  for  the  Jews  to  destroy  them.     And  he  gave  him 
an   explicit    copy   of    the   writing    of   the    decree    that    was 
published   in    Shushan,   to   destroy   them,   to    show   it    unto 
Esther,  and  to  declare  it  unto  her ;  and  to  charge  her  that 
she  should  go  in  unto  the  king,  to  make  supplication  unto 
him,  and  to  make  request  before  him  for  her  people.     And 
Hathach    came    and    told    Esther    the    words    of    Mordecai. 
Then  Esther  spake  unto  Hathach,-^  and  charged  him  to  say 
to  Mordecai :    "  All  the    king's  servants,  and   the  people  of 
the  king's  provinces,  do  know  that  whosoever,  whether  man  or 
woman,  shall  come  unto  the  king  into  the  inner  court  who  is 
not  called,  there  is  one  law  for  him,  that  he  be  put  to  death, 
except  such  as  to  whom  the  king  shall  hold  out  the  golden  sceptre, 
that  he  may  live.     And  behold,  I  have  been  praying  for  thirty 
days,  that  the  king  should  not  ask  for  me  and  cause  me  to  sin  ; 
for  as  I  was  trained  by  thee,  thou  didst  say  to  me,  that  every 
woman  of  the  daughters  of  Israel  who  of  her  own  free  will  co- 
habits with  a  heathen,  has  no  part  among  the  tribes  of  Israel." 
And  because  Hathach  was  a  messenger  between  Esther  and 
Mordecai,  Haman  was   very  wroth  against  him,  and  killed 
him.     The  words  of  Esther  were  then  reported  by  writing  to 

^  It  is  inferred  that  Haman  caused  Hathach  to  he  killed,  because  he 
is  no  more  mentioned.     But  in  Megilla  15a  he  is  identified  with  Daniel. 


320  APPENDIX  I. 

Mordecai.  And  Mordecai  said  in  reply  to  Esther  as  follows  : 
"  Perhaps  thou  imaginest  that  thou  at  any  rate  art  safe,  and 
sayest  to  thyself,  I  need  not  pray  for  Israel ;  but  when  only 
a  foot  of  one  Jew  is  struck,  do  not  think  that  thou,  of  all 
Jews,  shalt  escape.  For  thy  ancestor  Saul  caused  this  evil  to 
Israel,  because  if  he  had  done  what  the  prophet  Samuel  told 
him,  then  the  tyrant  Haman  would  not  have  sprung  from  the 
children  of  the  house  of  Amalek ;  and  if  he  had  killed  King 
Agag,  this  son  of  Hamdatha  would  never  have  risen  against 
us,  and  would  never  have  sold  us  for  ten  thousand  kikar  of 
silver  to  King  Ahhashverosh,  and  the  Holy  One,  blessed 
be  He !  would  not  have  delivered  Israel  into  the  hands  of 
two  tyrants.  Nor,  at  the  beginning  (of  our  history)  would 
Amalek,  the  ancestor  of  Haman,  have  come  against  Israel  and 
carried  on  war  against  Joshua,  son  of  Nun,  at  Eephidim, 
though,  through  the  prayer  of  Moses,  the  memory  of  Amalek 
was  blotted  out  from  the  world.  Arise,  therefore,  and  pray 
to  thy  heavenly  Father  for  the  people  of  Israel.  He  who  did 
justice  to  the  first  generation  will  also  do  justice  to  those 
who  came  after  them.  Is,  then,  Haman  the  tyrant  stronger 
than  another  ?  Or  is  his  decree  of  greater  duration  ?  Is  he 
stronger  than  his  ancestor  Amalek,  who  came  against  Israel, 
but  whom  the  Lord  removed  from  the  world  ?  Is  he  stronger 
than  those  thirty-one  kings  who  likewise  came  against  Israel, 
but  against  whom  Joshua,  instructed  by  a  word  from  heaven, 
went  and  killed  them  ?  Is  he  stronger  than  Sisera,  who 
came  against  Israel  with  nine  hundred  iron  chariots,  and  closed 
the  cisterns  against  them,  in  order  that  their  wives  should 
not  bathe,  .  .  .  that  they  should  not  multiply  and  increase 
in  the  world,  but  whom  God  delivered  into  the  hand  of  a 
woman,  and  she  killed  him  ?  Is,  indeed,  this  wicked  Haman 
stronger  than  Goliath,  who  came  and  blasphemed  the  armies 
of  Israel,  but  who  was  delivered  into  the  hands  of  David,  and 
he  killed  him  ?  Is  he  stronger  than  the  sons  of  Orphah,  who 
came  and  carried  on  war  against  Israel,  but  who  were  delivered 
into  the  hands  of  David  and  of  his  servants,  and  they  killed 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  321 

them.  Therefore  withhold  not  thy  mouth  from  prayer,  nor  thy 
lips  from  interceding  for  mercy  from  thy  Creator.  And  pray  that, 
for  the  sake  of  the  righteousness  of  our  fathers'  Israel,  we  may 
be  delivered  from  slaughter ;  and  He  who  has  at  all  times  done 
wonders  for  them  will  also  deliver  our  enemies  into  our  hands, 
and  we  shall  do  with  them  as  we  please.  But,  0  Esther,  do  not 
fancy  that  thou,  of  all  the  Jews,  shalt  be  saved  in  the  house 
of  the  king.  For  if  thou  neglectest  thy  opportunity  at  this 
time.  He  who  is  the  Holy  One,  and  the  Eedeemer  of  the  Jews 
at  all  times,  will  cause  redemption  to  spring  up  for  them  from 
another  place,  but  thou  and  thy  father's  house  shall  perish. 
And  who  knows  whether  thou  hast  not  come  to  the  kingdom 
because  the  sins  of  thy  father's  house  are  called  to  account." 

Then  Esther  answered  Mordecai  by  letter :  "  Go  gather 
together  all  the  Jews  that  are  found  in  Shushan,  and  fast  for 
me,  and  neither  eat  nor  drink  three  days  and  three  nights ; 
and  I  also  and  my  maidens  will  fast  in  like  manner,  and  so 
will  I  go  in  unto  the  king  without  being  summoned ;  and  if 
I  perish  in  this  world  for  your  sake,  I  shall  have  a  portion 
in  the  world  to  come.  Hitherto  I  went  to  the  king  against 
my  will,  but  now  I  go  willingly.  And  a  daughter  of  Israel 
who  is  violated  by  a  Gentile  is  a  lawful  wife  to  her  husband. 
Let  the  bridegroom  go  out  from  his  sleeping-room  covered 
with  sackcloth,  and  let  the  bride  likewise  leave  her  nuptial 
chamber  with  her  head  covered  with  ashes.  Let  men  and 
beasts  and  sheep  not  taste  anything  for  three  days,  and  let 
the  babes  be  separated  from  the  breasts  of  their  mothers." 

Immediately  they  inspected  the  assembly,  and  they  found 
in  it  twelve  thousand  young  priests.  These  seized  trumpets 
with  their  right  hand  and  the  books  of  the  law  with  their 
left,  and  then  wept  and  cried  towards  heaven,  and  said :  "  O 
God  of  Israel !  behold  the  law  which  Thou  hast  given  us. 
Behold,  Thy  beloved  people  is  about  to  cease  from  the  world. 
Who  will  read  therein  and  speak  of  Thy  name  ?  The  sun  and 
moon  will  be  dark,  and  not  give  their  light,  for  they  were 
created  but  for  Thy  people  Israel."    They  then  fell  upon  their 


.322  APPENDIX  I. 

faces,  and  cried:  "Answer  us,  0  Father,  answer  us  !  Answer 
us,  0  King,  answer  us  ! "  And  they  blew  the  trumpets,  and 
the  people  cried  aloud  after  them,  so  that  the  hosts  of  heaven 
wept,  and  the  patriarchs  were  moved  in  their  graves. 

Mordecai  went  and  did  everything  which  Esther  charged 
him  to  do.  And  it  was  on  the  third  day,  after  Esther  had 
three  successive  fasts,  she  arose  from  the  earth  where  she  was 
sitting,  bowed  down  in  dust  and  ashes,  not  having  changed 
her  raiment,  and  she  put  on  royal  apparel,  which  was  em- 
broidered with  gold  of  Ophir,  adorned  herself  with  a  fine  silk 
dress  wrought  with  diamonds  and  pearls  that  were  brought 
from  Africa,^  and  put  the  golden  crown  upon  her  head,  and 
shoes  of  pure  refined  gold  ^  upon  her  feet.  After  this  she 
prayed  thus  :  "  0  Thou  who  art  the  great  God  of  Abraham,  of 
Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,  and  the  God  of  my  father  Benjamin,  it 
was  not  because  I  was  right  before  Thee  that  I  came  to  this 
foolish  king,  but  for  the  sake  of  Thy  people  Israel,  that  they 
should  not  perish  from  the  world.  For  the  sake  of  Israel  the 
whole  world  was  created,  and  if  Israel  should  perish  from  the 
world,  who  will  say  before  Thee  thrice  every  day,  '  Holy,  holy, 
holy '  ?  Save  me  from  the  hand  of  this  foolish  king,  as  Thou 
didst  once  save  Hananiab,  Mishael,  and  Azariah  from  the 
burning  furnace,  and  Daniel  from  the  den  of  lions,  and  cause 
me  to  find  favour  and  grace  in  his  eyes."  She  broke  forth 
into  tears,  and  further  prayed  and  earnestly  supplicated :  "  I 
beseech  Thee,  hear  this  prayer,  hearken  to  my  supplication 
at  this  time,  when  we  are  banished  and  removed  from  our 
land.  Ah  !  on  account  of  our  sins  hast  Thou  delivered  us, 
that  that  which  is  written  might  be  fulfilled  in  us :  '  And 
then  ye  shall  sell  yourselves  unto  your  enemies  for  bondmen 

^  That  pearls  should  have  been  brought  from  the  land  of  ''p''lDX  would 
he  surprising,  were  it  not  that  in  the  ethnographical  tables,  Gen.  x.,  the 
Targuin  Yerushalrni  in  some  copies  puts  under  sons  of  Cush  the  countries 
lying  between  Cyrene  and  Numidia.  The  Indian  pearls  were  considered 
in  ancient  times  as  the  most  famous  (Pliny,  lib.  ix.  c.  45).  Aelian  says 
{Thiergesch.  x.  13)  that  the  pearls  of  India  and  the  Red  Sea  are  the  best. 

^  [r"i3K  is  probably  derived  from  Ophir  ;  the  Q  is  changed  into  a  3. — 
Trans.] 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  323 

and  bondwomen,  and  no  man  shall  buy  you.'  A  law  has 
been  issued  to  kill  us,  and  we  are  all  appointed  to  the  sword 
and  to  utter  extermination.  The  children  of  Abraham  are 
clothed  in  sackcloth,  and  they  have  thrown  ashes  upon  their 
heads.  If  our  forefathers  have  sinued,  why  are  the  children 
guilty  ?  If  we  are  destroyed,  who  will  then  praise  Thee  ?  If  the 
children  have  sinned  and  provoked  Thine  anger,  what  have  the 
sucklings  done  ?  The  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  have  moved 
from  their  graves  because  Thou  hast  delivered  their  children 
to  the  slaughter.  Thou  makest  us  vanish  away  like  the  clouds 
of  heaven.  How  few  are  our  days  of  joy !  To  the  wicked 
Haman  hast  Thou  delivered  us — to  our  enemy — to  be  slaugh- 
tered. I  will  remember  before  Thee  the  deeds  of  Thy  beloved. 
Of  Abraham  I  will  begin  to  say :  Thou  hast  tried  him  with 
all  trials ;  Thou  hast  proved  him,  and  found  him  faithful. 
Oh,  assist  and  support  his  beloved  children,  whom  Thou  hast 
brought  to  Thyself  by  the  seal  of  the  covenant.  Demand  an 
account  from  Haman  for  our  disgrace,  and  take  vengeance  on 
the  son  of  Hamdatha  by  the  hands  of  Thy  people  Israel,  whom 
he  wants  to  cut  off  like  a  lamb,  and  wdiom  he  oppresses 
grievously  in  all  their  places. 

"  Thou  hast  made  an  everlasting  covenant  with  us.  By  the 
binding  (sacrifice)  of  Isaac  do  thou  raise  us  up  !  Behold, 
Haman  has  offered  the  king  ten  thousand  talents  of  silver  to 
buy  us !  Hear  us,  and  bring  us  out  from  tribulation  into 
freedom.  Break  down  the  mighty,  yea,  break  down  Haman, 
that  he  should  not  rise  from  his  fall."  And  Esther  lifted  up 
her  voice  and  cried  aloud,  and  lamented  bitterly.  With  tears 
she  prayed  fervently,  so  that  her  throat  and  lips  became  dry, 
and  her  eyes  became  dim  from  weeping.  Esther  thought  in 
her  heart,  and  said :  "  It  may  be  when  I  go  to  the  king  he 
will  not  listen  to  me.  Nevertheless,  I  shall  go  to  the  king 
to  pray  for  mercy  upon  mine  inheritance,  and  may  an  angel 
of  mercy  go  before  me,  and  grace  and  favour  accompany  me, 
the  righteousness  of  Abraham  prevent  me,  the  sacrifice  of 
Isaac  support  me,  the  goodness   of  Jacob  be  given  into  my 


324  APPENDIX  I. 

mouth,  and  the  gracefulness  of  Joseph  upon  my  tongue. 
Happy  is  the  man  who  trusts  in  God,  for  he  that  trusts  in 
Him  shall  not  be  confounded.  He  will  extend  to  me  His 
right  hand  and  His  left,  with  which  He  created  the  whole 
world.  You,  all  you  Israel,  pray  for  mercy  for  me  (for  I  rely 
upon  your  kindness),  as  I  also  pray  for  mercy  on  your  behalf. 
For  whatever  a  man  asks  in  the  time  of  his  distress  from  the 
Holy  One,  blessed  be  He  !  his  prayer  is  heard.  Let  us  see 
that  we  do  the  (good)  deeds  of  our  fathers,  and  He  will 
answer  our  petition.  The  left  hand  of  Abraham  seized  Isaac 
by  the  throat,  and  his  right  hand  held  the  knife.  He  will- 
ingly did  the  will  of  Thy  word,  and  did  not  delay  to  carry 
out  Thy  message.  Heaven  opened  its  windows  to  give  place 
to  the  angels  from  on  high  who  cried  bitterly,  and  said  thus  : 
*  Woe  to  the  world  if  this  deed  be  done  ! '  I  also  call  upon 
thee,  0  answer  me !  For  Thou  answerest  the  prayer  of  him 
who  is  oppressed  and  afflicted.  Thou  seest  the  afflicted  soul. 
Thou  art  called  the  merciful  and  the  gracious  ;  Thou  art  slow 
to  anger,  and  plenteous  in  mercy  and  truth,  and  forgivest 
iniquity  and  transgression  ;  Thou  keepest  the  covenant  of  grace 
to  those  who  love  Thee  and  keep  Thy  commandments  for  a 
thousand  generations.  Yea,  by  our  fathers  wast  Thou  called 
the  merciful.  This  covenant  which  Thou  hast  made  was  with 
them.  Thou  hast  heard  the  voice  of  Jonah,  when  he  sat  and 
wept  like  a  woman  in  childbirth ;  hear  also  our  voice  and 
answer  us,  and  bring  us  out  from  tribulation  into  freedom. 
Three  days  I  have  already  fasted  before  Thee,  what  can  I  do 
more  ?  Lord  of  the  universe  !  I  have  forgotten  the  fast  of  the 
fourth  and  the  fifth,  but  I  fasted  three  days  according  to  the 
three  days  in  which  Abraham  went  to  bind  his  son  upon  the 
altar  before  Thee.  Thou  didst  then  make  a  covenant  with  him, 
and  didst  promise  him :  '  Whenever  thy  children  shall  be  in 
tribulation,  I  will  remember  them  favourably  for  the  sake  of 
the  sacrifice  of  their  father  Isaac,  and  will  redeem  them.' 
Again,  I  fasted  three  days  in  reference  to  the  three  divisions, 
the  priests,  Levites,  and  Israelites,  who  stood  at  the  foot  of 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  325 

Mount  Sinai  when  they  said :  '  All  that  the  Lord  hath  spoken, 
we  will  do  and  obey.'  Therefore  redeem  them  from  this  oppres- 
sion!" And  Esther  continued  to  pray,  and  said  :  "  0  God,  Lord 
of  hosts  !  Thou  that  searchest  the  heart  and  reins,  remember 
in  this  hour  the  righteousness  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of 
Jacob,  and  do  not  turn  away  from  my  petition,  nor  delay  an 
answer  to  my  request ! "  Esther  then  put  on  royal  apparel 
and  stood  at  the  gate  of  the  royal  palace  of  the  inner  court, 
opposite  to  the  royal  palace,  and  the  king  sat  upon  his  throne 
opposite  the  gate.  And  when  the  king  saw  Queen  Esther 
standing  in  the  court,  she  found  favour  and  grace  in  his  sight. 
But  the  royal  executioners^  who  stood  there  were  ready  to 
kill  Esther ;  then  the  king  stretched  out  the  golden  sceptre 
which  he  held  in  his  hand  to  her,  and  she  approached  and 
touched  the  top  of  the  sceptre. 

Then  the  king  said  to  her:  "What  wilt  thou,  Queen 
Esther  ?  and  what  is  thy  request  ?  It  shall  be  given  thee 
even  to  the  half  of  the  kingdom."  When  Esther  heard  these 
words  she  trembled,  and  said  :  "  I  ask  for  nothing  else,  but  if 
it  please  the  king,  let  the  king  and  Haman  come  this  day 
unto  the  banquet  that  I  have  prepared  for  him." 

And  the  king  said :  "  Call  Haman,  and  make  him  hasten 
to  do  as  Esther  has  said."  So  the  king  and  Haman  came  to 
the  banquet  that  Esther  had  prepared.  And  the  king  said 
to  Esther  while  drinking  wine :  "  What  is  thy  petition  ?  and 
it  shall  be  granted  thee ;  and  what  is  thy  request  ?  even 
to  the  half  of  the  kingdom  it  shall  be  performed."      Then 

1  The  ni^f'pDDX  of  the  king  would  have  killed  Esther  had  not  the 
king  intervened,  because  she  came  to  the  king  without  being  summoned. 
Levy  in  his  Chald.  Lex.  reads  speculator.  But  it  must  be  spiculator,  the 
lance-bearers  which  the  Greek  Onomasticon  calls  lopvOvpot,  of  whom  we 
read  in  Sueton.  Claud,  cap.  xxxvi.  :  "  Neque  convivia  inire  ausus  est, 
nisi  ut  spiculatores  cum  lanceis  circumstarent "  (comp.  Sueton.  Galba, 
cap.  xviii.).  It  is,  indeed,  true  that  we  find  in  manuscripts  speculator  and 
spiculator  are  often  interchanged,  hut  in  no  place  is  speculator  used  for  a 
lance-bearer.  The  ideas  of  spy  (speculator)  and  of  bodyguard  (spiculator) 
are  quite  different.  Even  Salmasius  on  Spart  Hadrian  (cap.  xi.  ed.  Haack, 
i.  107)  has  not  clearly  distinguished  the  one  from  the  other. 


326  APPENDIX  I. 

answered  Esther  and  said :  "  My  petition  and  my  request  ? 
Thou,  0  king,  art  good  without  parallel,  and  if  I  have  found 
favour  and  grace  and  mercy  before  thee,  and  if  it  please  the 
king  to  grant  my  petition  and  to  perform  my  request,  let  the 
king  and  Haman  come  to  the  banquet  that  I  shall  prepare  for 
them,  and  I  will  to-morrow  do  as  the  king  has  said."  For  three 
reasons  Esther  invited  Haman  to  the  banquet.  Eirst,  because 
Esther  knew  that  Haman  was  angry  against  Hathach,  and 
was  about  to  kill  him,  for  his  going  on  errands  between  her 
and  Mordecai,  and  therefore  she  thought :  "  I  will  invite  him 
to  the  banquet  in  order  to  appease  him."  Secondly,  she 
thought :  ■'  I  may  eradicate  the  hatred  from  his  heart,  and  again 
I  shall  excite  the  jealousy  of  Ahhashverosh  against  Haman, 
for  the  king  will  say  :  '  What  must  be  the  reason  that  of 
all  my  governors  Esther  invited  none  but  Haman  to  the 
banquet  ? ' "  Thirdly,  she  thought :  '*  The  eyes  of  all  Israel 
are  directed  towards  me,  that  I  should  request  the  king  to 
kill  Haman  ;  I  will  therefore  invite  him  to  the  banquet,  in 
order  that  the  heart  of  Israel  may  be  changed  and  directed 
to  the  heavenly  Father  to  ask  for  mercy  from  Him."  Then 
went  Haman  forth  that  day  joyful  and  glad  of  heart ;  but 
when  Haman  saw  Mordecai  in  the  king's  gate,  that  he  stood 
not  up  nor  moved  for  him,  he  was  filled  with  wrath  against 
Mordecai.  Nevertheless,  Haman  restrained  himself  and  went 
to  his  house,  and  he  sent  and  fetched  his  friends  and  Zeresh 
his  wife.  And  Haman  recounted  unto  them  the  glory  of  his 
riches,  and  the  multitude  of  his  children,  and  all  the  things 
wherein  the  king  had  promoted  him,  and  how  he  had 
advanced  him  above  the  princes  and  servants  of  the  king. 
Haman  said,  "  Moreover,  yea,  Esther  the  queen  allowed  no  man 
to  come  in  with  the  king  unto  the  banquet  that  she  had  pre- 
pared but  myself ;  and  to-morrow  also  I  am  invited  by  her 
together  with  the  king.  Yet  all  this  gives  me  no  joy,  and  I 
am  not  pleased  so  long  as  I  see  Mordecai  the  Jew  sitting 
at  the  king's  gate."  Then  said  Zeresh  his  wife  and  all  his 
friends  unto  him :  "  Thou  canst  not  throw  him  into  fire,  be- 


THE  SECOND  TAEGUM.  327 

cause  his  ancestor  Abraham  was  delivered  out  of  it.  Thou 
canst  not  kill  him  with  the  sword,  because  his  ancestor 
Isaac  was  delivered  from  it.  Thou  canst  not  drown  him  in 
water,  because  from  water  were  Moses  and  .the  children  of 
Israel  saved.  Thou  canst  not  throw  him  into  a  den  of  lions, 
because  Daniel  was  saved  from  it.  Therefore,  make  a  gallows 
fifty  cubits  high,  and  in  the  morning  speak  to  the  king  that 
Mordecai  may  be  hanged  thereon.  For  thus  far  not  one  of 
them  who  was  hanged  on  the  gallows  was  delivered.  After 
that,  go  with  the  king  to  the  banqueting-house  with  joy." 
This  advice  pleased  Haman,  and  he  made  a  gallows  for 
himself. 

§  X. 

In  that  night  orreat  lamentation  of  the  infants  of  Israel 
went  up  to  heaven,  and  it  resounded  before  the  Lord  of  the 
universe  like  the  voice  of  kids  and  goats,  so  that  the  angels 
from  on  high  were  moved  and  trembled,  and  said  to  one 
another :  "  Has,  perchance,  the  time  come  that  the  world 
should  be  destroyed  ?  "  Then  they  assembled  and  went  before 
the  Lord  of  the  universe,  the  Lord  asked  them  :  "  What  is 
this  voice  of  kids  that  I  hear  ? "  Then  the  attribute  of  mercy 
answered  :  "  It  is  no  voice  of  kids  which  Thou  hearest,  but  the 
voice  of  the  infants  of  Israel,  against  whom  the  wicked  Haman 
issued  a  decree  that  they  should  be  killed."  Immediately,  the 
Lord  of  the  universe  was  full  of  compassion  and  goodness,  and 
He  commanded  to  tear  the  seal  which  sealed  Israel's  evil 
destiny,  and  ordered  the  angel  who  is  in  charge  of  confusion 
to  confound  Ahhashverosh,  and  to  deprive  him  of  his  sleep. 
Very  early  in  the  morning  Ahhashverosh  rose  with  a  sad 
countenance,  and  gave  order  to  Shimshe  the  scribe  to  bring 
the  Chronicle  in  which  were  recorded  the  events  that  took 
place  in  Medo-Persia  from  the  earliest  times.  When  Shimshe 
the  scribe  saw  what  was  told  concerning  Mordecai  in  the 
affair  of  Bigthan  and  Theresh,  he  turned  over  the  leaves  and 
did  want  to  read  them ;  but  it  was  the  will  of  the  Lord  of  the. 


328  APPENDIX  I. 

world  that  the  leaves  should  open  and  read  of  themselves 
before  the  king  the  record  written  on  them.  He  then  saw 
and  considered  what  was  written  in  the  Chronicle,  that  it 
revealed  concerning  the  deed  of  Mordecai  in  the  matter  of 
Bigthan  and  Theresh,  two  officers  of  the  king,  keepers  of  his 
head,  that  they  wanted  to  stretch  out  their  hands  and  kill 
King  Ahhashverosh.  And  the  king  said  :  "  What  honour  and 
dignity  hath  been  done  to  Mordecai  for  this  ? "  Then  said 
the  young  men  of  the  king  that  ministered  unto  him : 
"  Nothing  was  done  for  him."  And  the  king  said  :  "  Who  is 
in  the  court  ? "  Haman  was  come  into  the  outward  court  of 
the  king's  house  to  speak  to  the  king  to  hang  Mordecai  on  the 
gallows  that  he  had  prepared  for  him.  And  the  young  men 
of  the  king  said  to  him :  "  Behold,  Haman  stands  in  the  court." 
And  the  king  said  :  "  Let  him  come  in."  So  Haman  came  in. 
Then  the  king  said  to  him  :  "  What  shall  be  done  to  the 
man  whom  the  king  desires  to  honour  ? "  Now  Haman 
thought  in  his  heart,  who  among  all  the  king's  servants  are 
so  worthy  as  I  am,  and  to  whom  would  the  king  delight  to 
do  honour  more  than  to  myself  ?  Haman  answered  and  said 
to  the  king  :  "  For  the  man  whom  the  king  wishes  to  honour, 
let  royal  apparel  be  brought  which  the  king  is  accustomed  to 
wear,  and  the  horse  that  the  king  is  accustomed  to  ride,  and  let 
the  crown  of  the  kingdom  be  placed  on  his  head,  and  let  the 
apparel  and  the  horse  be  delivered  to  the  hand  of  one  of  the 
king's  most  noble  princes,  that  they  may  array  the  man  withal 
whom  the  king  delights  to  honour,  and  cause  him  to  ride  on 
horseback  through  the  street  of  the  city,  and  proclaim  before 
him :  '  Thus  shall  it  be  done  to  the  man  whom  the  king 
delights  to  honour  ! ' "  Then  the  king  gazed  upon  Haman,  and 
thought  in  his  heart :  "  Haman  wants  to  kill  me  and  to  reign 
in  my  stead,  as  I  see  in  his  face."  And  the  king  said  to 
Haman:  "Make  ready,  and  go  into  the  royal  treasury  and 
take  from  the  wardrobe  a  purple  covering,  an  apparel  of  fine 
silk,  adorned  with  fringes  and  costly  stones  and  pearls,  having 
bells  of  gold  on  its  four  corners,  and  pomegranates  on  every 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  329 

side.  Bring  also  from  there  the  great  golden  Macedonian 
crown  ^  which  was  brought  to  me  from  the  province  on  the 
first  day  that  I  was  raised  to  the  kingdom.  Further,  bring 
from  there  the  sword  and  the  coat  of  mail  which  were  brought 
to  me  from  the  country  of  Cush,  and  the  two  royal  veils 
embroidered  with  pearls  which  were  brought  to  me  from 
Africa ;  then  fetch  from  the  royal  stables  the  horse  whose 
name  is  Hippus  Kegius^  (royal  horse)  which  I  rode  on  my 
coronation  day,  and  go  and  invest  Mordecai  with  all  these 
marks  of  distinction."  Haman  answered  and  said :  "  There 
are  many  Jews  in  Shushan,  the  capital,  by  the  name  of  Mor- 
decai, to  which  of  them  shall  I  go  ?  "  The  king  said  :  "  Go 
to  Mordecai,  the  Jew  who  spoke  good  about  the  king,  and 
who  sits  at  my  gate."  When  Haman  heard  these  words  he 
was  in  great  trouble,  his  countenance  was  changed,  his  sight 
became  dim,  his  mouth  became  distorted,  his  thoughts  con- 
fused, his  loins  languid,  and  his  knees  beat  one  against  the 
other.  He  then  addressed  the  king  :  "  My  Lord  King,  there 
are  many  Mordecais  in  the  world,  and  I  do  not  know  of  which 
of  them  thou  hast  spoken  to  me."  The  king  in  reply  said : 
"  Have  I  not  told  thee  that  I  mean  Mordecai  who  sits  at  my 
gate  ?  "  "  But,"  rejoined  Haman,  "  there  are  many  royal  gates, 
and  I  do  not  know  of  which  gate  thou  hast  spoken  to  me." 

^  t<"'i*Tp1D  N3m  i^h'^h^  must  be  read  /xxKpvKopav^.  See  the  Introduction 
to  my  edition  of  this  Targum.  Though,  indeed,  Macedonia  was  famous 
for  gokl,  as  Strabo  expressly  says  (Hb.  vii.  fragm.  33,  ed.  Paris,  p.  280), 
especially  the  territory  of  Datum  (Axtop),  whence  came  the  saying  Aecroif 
clyxduv,  in  reference  to  the  Lat.  daturrij  from  dare.  Comp.  34  on  the  gold 
mines  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Philippi.  Yet  this  is  not  the  case  of  the 
imperial  time  ;  and  the  name  "  Macedonian  "  is  not  found  for  the  above 
word,  "a  golden  crown." 

^  TJ"IDn  should  be  read  instead  of  tJ"iS"'K^.  The  lexicographers — Levy 
also — have  given  up  the  interpretation  of  this  word  in  despair.  My 
suggested  reading  stands  for  iV-ro;  prtyog,  horse  of  the  king.  The  word 
rex  has  passed  into  Greek  (comp.  Du  Cange,  Gloss.  Ch\).  Of  the  horse 
of  the  King  of  Byzantium,  says  Codin  {de  officiis,  cap.  xvii.,  ed.  Bonn, 
p.  97),  that  it  wore  pearls  and  diamonds  -^spi  rpct,-)Cfihov^  and  upon  the  back 
the  so-called  ^c'^-tuf^.ccrx.  Around  the  ankles  were  tied  red  silk  ribbons, 
which  were  called  rovtlict. 


330:  APPENDIX  I. 

"  Have  I  not  told  thee,"  said  the  king,  "  that  I  mean  the  gate 
which  is  passed  from  the  harem  to  the  palace  ? "  Haman 
said :  "  This  man  is  my  enemy,  and  the  enemy  of  my  fathers  ; 
I  will  rather  give  him  ten  thousand  talents  of  silver,  only  let 
this  honour  not  he  done  to  him."  The  king  replied :  "  Go 
and  give  him  ten  thousand  talents,  and  he  shall  rule  over  thy 
house,  and  this  honour  also  shall  not  he  withheld  from  him." 
Haman  said  to  the  king :  "  I  have  ten  sons,  let  them  run 
before  the  horse  (another  reading,  thy  throne),  hut  let  not  this 
honour  be  done  to  him."  The  king  replied  :  "  Thou  and  thy 
sons  and  thy  wife  shall  be  slaves  to  Mordecai,  and  this  honour 
shall  not  be  withheld  from  him."  Haman  continued :  "  He 
is  only  a  common  man;  place  him  over  a  province  or  over  a 
district,^  but  let  not  this  honour  be  done  to  him."  The  king 
answered :  "  I  make  him  to  rule  over  provinces  and  districts, 
and  all  my  possessions  upon  land  and  sea  shall  obey  him,  and 
this  honour  shall  not  be  withheld  from  him."  "  My  fame  and 
thy  fame,"  said  Haman,  "  is  spread  in  all  the  country,  may 
thy  fame  and  his  be  spread  in  all  the  world,  only  let  not  this 
honour  be  done  to  him."  The  king  answered  :  "  A  man  who 
spoke  good  of  the  king,  and  has  saved  him  from  being  killed, 
his  fame  shall  be  spread  all  over  the  world,  and  this  honour 
shall  not  be  withheld  from  him  "  Haman  said  again  :  "  Mes- 
sengers with  letters  are  already  sent  out  to  all  the  provinces 
of  the  king  to  destroy  the  people  of  Mordecai,  and  yet  this 
honour  shall  be  done  to  him  ?  "  The  king  answered  :  "  The 
messengers  and  the  letters  which  I  sent  out  I  invalidate,  and 
this  honour  shall  not  be  withheld  from  him."  Then  the  king 
for  the  second  time  rebuked  him,  and  said :  "  Haman,  make 
haste !  Be  quick !  Do  not  fail  to  do  all  that  I  command 
thee ! "  Now  when  the  wicked  Haman  saw  how  his  words 
were  received  by  the  king,  and  that  he  did  not  pay  any  atten- 
tion to  his   speech,  he  went   to   the  royal   treasuries  bowed 

^  The  word  KpHDl,  which  appears  to  be  used  for  an  estate,  has  not  this 
sense,  nor  is  the  reading  j^priDH,  hut  KpinOI,  viz.  districtus,  district.  So 
are  all  the  passages  in  which  j^pflD"!  or  fc^pnOT  are  found  to  be  explained. 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  331 

down  and  sad,  his  head  being  covered  like  that  of  a  mourner, 
his  ears  deafened,  his  eyes  dim,  his  mouth  distorted,  his  heart 
oppressed,  his  bowels  aching,  his  loins  weakened,  and  his 
knees  beating  one  against  the  other.  And  he  took  from  there 
the  apparel  of  the  king  which  was  brought  to  him  on  the  first 
day  of  his  reign,  and  all  sorts  of  royal  things,  according  as  he 
was  commanded,  and  hastened  to  the  royal  stables  and  fetched 
the  king's  horse,  which  stood  at  the  head  of  the  stable,  upon 
which  were  suspended  stirrups  of  gold.  He  then  took  hold 
of  the  horse's  bridle,  and  carried  the  saddle  and  harness  upon 
his  shoulder,  and  went  to  Mordecai,  and  said  to  him  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Arise,  righteous  Mordecai,  thou  son  of  Abraham,  of 
Isaac,  and  of  Jacob.  Thy  sackcloth  and  ashes  have  won  the 
victory  over  the  ten  thousand  talents  of  silver  which  I  pro- 
mised to  deliver  from  my  treasury  into  the  royal  treasury,  but 
which  were  not  accepted,  because  you  are  beloved  by  your 
Father  in  heaven,  who  hears  your  prayers  at  all  times  when 
you  come  before  Him,  and  delivers  you  from  your  enemies. 
Now  arise  from  your  sackcloth  and  ashes,  and  put  on  the 
royal  garment,  and  ride  upon  the  royal  horse."  The  righteous 
Mordecai  answered  and  said  to  the  wicked  Ham  an  :  "  Haman, 
wicked  descendant  of  Amalek,  wait  one  hour,  that  I  may  eat 
food  of  wormwood  and  drink  bitter  waters,  and  then  lead  me 
out  and  hang  me  on  the  gallows."  Haman  answered  and 
said  :  "Arise,  righteous  Mordecai,  descendant  of  a  noble  genera- 
tion ;  so  long  as  you  exist,  miracles  were  done  for  you.  The 
gallows  which  I  erected  I  have  erected  to  my  misfortune. 
Now  stand  up,  and  put  on  the  royal  apparel  and  ride  the 
royal  horse,  and  do  not  frustrate  the  words  of  the  king."  But 
Mordecai  answered  and  said  to  Haman  :  "  He  that  fasted  three 
days  and  three  nights,  how  can  he  mount  the  royal  horse?" 
When  Haman  heard  these  words  he  went  to  the  royal  stores, 
and  brought  from  there  all  kinds  of  spices  and  ointment,  and 
anointed  him  and  bathed  him,  put  the  royal  apparel  upon  him, 
dressed  him  up  in  the  nicest  fashion,  and  brought  him  food 
which  Esther  had  sent  for  him. 


332  APPENDIX  I. 

But  before  he  mounted  the  royal  horse  there  were  sent  to 

him  twenty-seven  thousand  choice  young  men  from  the  king's 

house,  who  carried  golden  cups  in  the  right  hand  and  golden 

goblets  in  the  left,  and  they  went  before  Mordecai  and  praised 

him,  and  proclaimed  :  "  This  is  done  to  the  man  whom  the  king 

delighteth  to  honour  I "     When  the  Israelites  saw  this  they 

went  on  his  right  and  left  hand,  and  cried :  "  This  is  done  to 

the   man   whom   the   King    who   created   heaven    and   earth 

delighteth  to  honour  !  "     And  when  Esther  observed  Mordecai, 

the  son   of   her    father's    brother,  dressed   in  royal   apparel, 

wearing  the  royal  crown  upon  his  head  and  riding  upon  the 

royal  horse,  she  thanked  and  praised  the  God  of  heaven  for 

this  redemption,  and  she  said  to  Mordecai :  "  In  thee  is  fulfilled 

the  Scripture  which  says :  '  He  raiseth  up  the  poor  out  of  the 

dust,  and  lifteth  the  needy  from  the   dunghill,  that  He  may 

set  him  with  princes,  and  put  him  in  possession  of  a  throne  of 

honour.' "     Mordecai  also  praised,  and  said  :  "  Thou  hast  turned 

my  mourning  into  joy ;  Thou  hast  taken  away  the  sackcloth 

from  me,  and  hast  clothed  me  with  royal  apparel.     I  praise 

Thee,  0  God,  for  my  redemption,  and  that  Thou  hast  not  caused 

mine  enemies  to  rejoice  over  me."     Then  Mordecai  returned 

to  the  gate  of  the  palace  with  great  honour  and  dignity ;  but 

Haman  went  to  his  house  covered  with  leprosy,  sad,  and  his 

head  wrapped  up.     He   had   at  that  time  to  perform  four 

offices  for  Mordecai — (1)  He  was  his  barber,  and  had  to  shave 

him;  (2)  he  then  was  his  attendant  at  the  bath  ;  ^  (3)  his  groom, 

for  he  led  the  horse ;  (4)  his  herald,  for  he  proclaimed :  "  This 

is  done  to  the   man  whom  the   king  delighteth  to  honour." 

Haman  told  Zeresh  his  wife  and  all  his  friends  what  had 

happened  unto  him.     Then  said  his  wise  men  and  Zeresh  his 

wife  to  him :  "  Hast  thou  never  heard  of  the  three  Jewish 

men  in   the   country   of   Babylon,    Hananiah,   Mishael,   and 

^  t5''iN3  is  one  who  washes  in  a  bath  or  baptizes  another.  John  was  a 
fc5"'3Xn.  His  imitator  was  Banus,  whom  Josephus  mentions  as  his  teacher 
— while  at  the  same  time  he  gives  a  true  copy  of  John  {Life  of  Josephus^ 
chap.  i.).  "T'^'^ii,  Galearius,  probably  caballarius,  cavalarius,  groom,  and  is 
to  be  read  i'»fj"i3 


THE  SECOND  TAEGUM.  333 

Azariah,  who,  because  they  did  not  obey  the  command  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  were  thrown  by  him  into  a  burning  furnace ; 
but  they  came  out  from  the  flames  without  being  hurt,  yea, 
the  flames  consumed  their  oppressors,  but  they  were  delivered. 
Now,  if  this  Mordecai  is  a  descendant  of  these  men,  his  deeds 
are  like  theirs ;  and  if  thou  hast  begun  to  fall  before  him,  thou 
shalt  not  prevail  over  him,  but  shalt  continue  to  fall  and 
not  rise  any  more."  While  they  were  yet  speaking,  the  king's 
courtiers  came  and  hastened  Haman  on  to  come  to  the  banquet 
which  Esther  had  prepared.  And  the  king  and  Haman  went 
to  dine  with  Queen  Esther.  And  the  king  said  to  Esther 
also  on  the  second  day  of  the  banquet  of  wine :  "  What  is 
thy  petition  ?  and  it  shall  be  granted  thee ;  and  what  is  thy 
request  ?  even  to  the  half  of  the  kingdom  it  shall  be  performed." 
Then  answered  Esther  and  said :  "  If  I  have  found  favour  and 
mercy  in  thy  sight,  0  king,  and  if  it  please  the  king,  let  my 
life  be  granted  to  me  at  my  petition,  and  the  life  of  my  people 
at  my  request:  for  we  are  sold,  I  and  my  people,  to  be  destroyed, 
to  be  slain,  and  to  perish.  But  if  we  had  been  sold  for  bondmen 
and  bondwomen,  I  had  held  my  peace.  Verily,  the  adversary 
does  not  care  for  the  king's  vengeance  (or  jealousy)."  King 
Ahhashverosh  then  spake  to  an  interpreter,  and  the  interpreter 
asked  Queen  Esther :  "  Who  is  this  man,  and  whose  son  is  he, 
that  durst  presume  in  his  heart  to  do  so  ?  "  And  Esther 
said  :  "  A  bad  man  and  an  adversary,  even  this  wicked  Haman!  " 
And  why  is  he  called  Haman,  because  it  means  |n*d  5<n,  i.e. 
"  this  one  who  wanted  to  lay  violent  hands  "  on  the  people  of 
the  Jews,  who  are  called  the  children  of  the  Lord  of  All,  and 
to  kill  them.  Then  Haman  was  afraid  before  the  king  and 
the  queen.  And  the  king  arose  in  his  wrath  from  the  banquet 
of  wine,  and  went  into  the  palace  garden,  where  beautiful 
trees  were  cut  down  to  appease  his  wrath ;  but  it  would  not 
be  appeased.  Haman  stood  up  to  make  request  for  his  life  to 
Esther  the  queen,  for  he  saw  that  there  was  evil  determined 
against  him  by  the  king.  When  the  king  returned  from  the 
palace  garden  to  the  place  of  the  banquet  of  wine  and  saw 


334  APPENDIX  I. 

that  Haman  was  fallen  upon  the  couch  whereupon  Esther  was 
sitting,  he  said  to  him :  "  Dost  thou  also  want  to  force  the 
queen  before  me  in  my  palace  ? "  Scarcely  had  the  words 
gone  out  from  the  king's  mouth  when  they  covered  Haman's 
face.  Then  said  Hharbonah,  one  of  the  king's  eunuchs — this 
Hharbonah  is  elsewhere  mentioned  for  evil,  because  he  was  in 
the  counsel  of  Haman  for  hanging  Mordecai,  but  here  he  is 
mentioned  for  good  ;  for  when  he  saw  that  misfortune  had 
befallen  Haman  and  his  house,  he  went  of  his  own  accord  to 
the  king,  and  said :  "  Thee  also  Haman  wished  to  kill,  and  to 
take  the  kingdom  from  thee ;  but  if  thou  wilt  not  believe  me, 
send  some  one  to  see  the  gallows  which  Haman  had  erected 
for  Mordecai,  who  spake  good  for  the  king.  It  stands  in  his 
house,  and  is  fifty  cubits  high."  Then  said  the  king  to 
Mordecai :  "  Hang  him  thereon."  In  Mordecai  was  the 
Scripture  verified  which  says :  "  When  God  is  pleased  with 
the  ways  of  a  man,  He  makes  his  enemies  also  his  supporters." 
The  king  then  said  further  to  Mordecai,  who  had  saved  the 
king  from  being  killed  :  "  Go  and  take  Haman,  the  enemy  and 
the  oppressor  of  the  Jews,  and  hang  him  on  the  gallows  which 
he  has  now  prepared  for  himself,  punish  him  terribly,  and  do 
with  him  as  it  seems  good  to  thee."  Presently,  Mordecai  went 
from  the  king  and  fetched  Haman  from  the  gate  of  the  palace, 
and  said  to  him  :  "  Come  with  me,  Haman,  thou  wicked  enemy 
and  oppressor  of  the  Jews,  and  I  shall  hang  thee  on  the  gallows 
which  thou  hast  erected  for  thyself."  Then  the  wicked  Haman 
answered  righteous  Mordecai :  "  Before  I  am  brought  to  the 
gallows,  I  ask  of  thee,  righteous  Mordecai,  do  not  hang  me  on 
the  same  gallows  on  which  common  criminals  are  hanged. 
For  I  have  not  held  in  esteem  famous  men,  and  governors  of 
countries  were  subject  under  me.  I  have  made  kings  tremble 
by  a  word  of  my  mouth,  and  countries  to  be  afraid  by  an 
utterance  of  my  lips.  I,  Haman,  had  the  title  of  viceroy,  and 
was  called  father  of  the  king.  I  am  afraid  that  thou  wilt  do  to 
me  as  I  intended  to  do  to  thee.  0  pity  my  nobility,  and  do  not 
kill  nor  destroy  me  in  the  same  manner  as  my  ancestor  Agag 


( 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  335 

was  destroyed  !  0  Mordecai !  show  me  kindness  in  not  slaying 
me  as  a  murderer  does,  for  there  are  no  murderers  among  you  ! 
Eemember  not  the  hatred  of  Agag  and  the  envy  of  Amalek 
against  me.  Take  no  vengeance  of  me  as  an  enemy,  and  do  not 
have  a  rancorous  feeling  against  me,  as  my  ancestor  Esau  had 
[against  Jacob].  Great  wonders  have  been  accomplished  for 
thee,  as  once  for  thy  forefathers  when  they  passed  through  the 
sea.  My  eyes  are  too  dim  to  see  thy  face,  and  I  cannot  open 
my  mouth  before  thee  that  I  should  take  counsel  concerning 
thee  from  my  friends  and  from  my  wife  Zeresh.  I  pray  thee 
lord,  righteous  Mordecai,  to  have  compassion  upon  my  soul, 
and  not  to  blot  out  my  name  so  quickly  as  they  blotted  out 
that  of  my  ancestor  Amalek,  and  do  not  hang  my  grey  head 
upon  the  gallows.  But  if  thou  art  determined  to  kill  me, 
then  cut  my  head  off  with  the  sword  of  the  king,  with  which 
all  the  nobles  of  the  kingdom  are  beheaded ! "  Then  Haman 
began  to  cry  and  to  weep,  but  Mordecai  gave  no  heed  to  him. 
And  when  Haman  saw  that  his  words  were  not  heeded,  he 
lamented  bitterly  in  the  midst  of  the  palace  garden,  and  cried  : 
"  Hearken  unto  me,  ye  trees  and  plants  which  I  have  planted 
of  old,  when  I,  the  son  of  Hamdatha,  wanted  to  go  to  the 
Exedra^  to  Bar-Panthera  !     Assemble  yourselves  together  and 

1  Levy  is  of  opinion  that  we  must  read  Alexandria  ;  but  this  is  impos- 
sible (comp.  my  "  Jiid.  Gesch." Ersch  u.  Gruber,  xxvii.  p.  28,  Nr.  40).  Instead  of 
t5''"n3DD5<  the  reading  is  evidently  X^ilDDJ^,  a  well-known  word  for  Exedra, 
"  hall,"  "lecture-room."  The  passage  in  Shabhath  (104a)  about  witchcraft 
of  Bar-Pandira  has  no  reference  either  to  Alexandria  nor  to  Haman.  The 
sense  of  the  above  address  of  Haman  to  the  trees  is  as  follows  :  "  I  have 
planted  you  when  1  went  for  instruction  to  Bar-Pandira,  consequently  I 
must  be  hanged  on  one  of  you,  as  he  was."  We  have  here  a  latent  attack 
upon  Jesus,  whom  the  Jews  call  son  of  Pandira.  The  Targum  insinuates 
that  all  the  Hamans  were  educated  in  the  Exedra,  or  school  of  Pandira. 
One  can  understand  the  national  ill-humour  in  the  midst  of  dire  persecu- 
tions, but  it  is  deplorable  enough  to  remember  that  those  who  treated  Him 
whom  they  call  son  of  Pandira,  like  Haman,  have  suffered  worse  than  the 
latter.  At  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  there  were  not  sufficient  trees  on 
which  to  crucify  all  of  them.  Those  who  bear  the  character  of  Haman  do 
not  go  to  the  Exedra  of  the  son  of  Pandira,  but  rather  keep  far  away  from 
it.  pn  is  in  Gematria  =  j*n,  Judenhetze.  I  have  written  a  special  treatise 
concerning  son  of  Pandira  and  son  of  Stadah.     Suffice  it  here  to  say  that 


336  APPENDIX  I. 

take  counsel,  if  any  of  you  has  fifty  cubits  in  height,  upon  it 
Ilaman's  head  shall  be  hanged."  The  vine  said  :  "  I  am  too 
short,  and,  besides,  he  cannot  be  hanged  upon  me,  because 
from  me  is  taken  wine  for  oblations."  The  fig  tree^  said  :  "  He 
cannot  be  hanged  on  me,  because  from  me  was  taken  the  first 
fruit-offerinof,  and  from  me  Adam  and  Eve  were  clothed." 
The  olive  tree  said :  "  He  cannot  be  hanged  on  me,  because 
from  me  was  taken  the  oil  for  the  lampstand  in  the  temple. 
Besides,  He  to  whom  all  the  mysteries  are  not  hid  created  me 
to  pay  the  bill  of  debt  of  the  prophet  Obadiah.  Let,  therefore, 
another  be  taken  to  hang  him  on."  The  palm  tree  said  to 
his  keeper  (God) :  "  All  men  know  that  the  tyrant  Haman  is 
descendant  of  Agag  and  of  Amalek,  and  all  kings  acknowledge 
that  Thou  alone  art  God,  and  none  beside  Thee,  and  it  behoves 
Thee  to  redeem  Thy  children  as  Thou  hast  once  redeemed  their 
fathers."     God  answered :  "  Thou  art  right  in  what  thou  hast 

these  names  originated  in  the  early  times  of  Christianity.  ^^"miS  n3 
stands  for  s:n~lD  "13,  "the  son  of  the  virgin"  {Trocpdiuog),  and  mtDD  ^2 
stands  for  Bar,  miDD,  "  the  son  of  the  star." 

^  i<"nN.  From  what  follows,  it  undoubtedly  appears  that  the  fig  tree  is 
meant,  and  therefore  the  reading  must  be  {<3"IN,  viz,  opvog^  opvioc,  the  later 
Greek  name  for  the  wild  fig  tree.  The  remarks  of  Levy  (Chald.  Lex.  p. 
12)  are  not  to  the  point.  I  embrace  this  opportunity  to  explain  an 
important  passage  about  the  names  of  trees,  the  reading  of  which  has  thus 
far  not  been  understood.  It  is  in  Eosh  Hashanah  23a,  where  we  read  : 
"  There  are  four  sorts  of  cedars."  These  are  :  \ir\^2,  jrDK^  yVj  Dnnp,  PN. 
Dlinp  is  citrus  (citron  orange).  When  we  there  read  that  Rav  says  Dlinp 
is  X"nK,  and  the  school  of  Shila  say  it  is  KJ''i33D,  we  must  read  for  the 
former  5<"np,  viz.  Kelpx  or  Kilpec  ;  for  the  latter  must  be  read  j<3li?DD, 
malon,  or  rather  lemon.  Malus  lemon,  ^iiXou  T^i/icauiov.  Further  on,  XJT'K^ 
is  explained  by  fc^n^Jlin,  which  should  be  read  xrT'iin,  viz.  ocpKsvhg,  the 
juniper  tree.  For  J<J5<SJ>  must  be  read  i^Hi^Zi,  fagus,  beech  tree  ;  for  Xin*""!"!!^ 
must  be  read  fc^riQISJ',  viz.  suher,  the  cork  tree.  For  K^''dS"I3,  which  Low 
{Aramaische  PJlangennamen,  p.  60)  leaves  unexplained,  must  be  read  Jj^ijot'llj 
viz.  keltis,  the  other  name  for  lotus  (Columella  de  re  rust.  ix.  76) ;  comp. 
Langkawel,  Botanik  der  Spdtern  Griechen,  p.  93. 

In  Shabb.  157a  occur  the  words  TlltJ'&^l  PJ^-  It  appears  to  me  that  ^nitJ't? 
is  meant  for  the  ash  tree.  The  jiyopS,  which  Low  quotes  from  Tanchum 
is  to  be  taken  as  fraxinus,  and  therefore  the  reading  is  pjiDplQ.  The 
word  |lDni£DJ<  in  Tanch.  is  (T(psvlx,u,voi,  the  maple  in  Sinope.  Acer  pseudo 
platanus  occurs  in  forms  like  airhov^vov^  cia(psu'hvvoc,  and  s<psi/loifiuos. 
Langkawel,  p.  16. 


THE  SECOND  TARGUM.  337 

said,  and  in  hesitating  to  be  the  gallows  for  Haman,  because 
thou  art  considered  as  the  companion  of  the  congregation  of 
Zion."  The  citron  tree  or  paradise  apple  said :  "  He  cannot 
be  hanged  on  me,  because  from  me  all  the  people  come  to  take 
my  fruit  wherewith  to  praise  Thee  "  (on  the  Feast  of  Taber- 
nacles). The  myrtle  then  opened  its  mouth,  and  said  :  "  He 
cannot  be  hanged  on  me,  because  with  me  they  say  joy  and 
gladness,^  and  I  am  also  an  associate  of  the  paradise  apple 
tree."  The  terebinth  cried :  "  On  me  he  cannot  be  hanged, 
because  Deborah,  the  nurse  of  Eebekah,  was  buried  under  me." 
The  oak  called  out :  "  On  me  he  cannot  be  hanged,  because 
Absalom,  the  son  of  David,  remained  suspended  upon  me." 
The  pomegranate  tree  said  :  "  On  me  he  cannot  be  hanged, 
because  the  righteous  are  likened  to  me."  The  cedar  then 
said  :  "  Hearken  to  me.  Hang  the  wicked  Haman  and  his 
ten  sons  upon  the  gallows  which  I  have  prepared  for  him." 
So  they  hanged  Haman  upon  the  tree  which  he  had  prepared 
for  Mordecai,  and  the  wrath  of  the  king  was  pacified.  And  in 
Mordecai  was  fulfilled  what  is  written  in  Scripture,  "  The 
righteous  is  delivered  from  oppression,  and  in  his  place  comes 
the  wicked." 

§  XL 

On  that  day  did  the  king  Ahhashverosh  give  the  house  of 
Haman,  the  Jews'  enemy,  unto  Esther  the  queen.  And 
Mordecai  came  before  the  king ;  for  Esther  had  told  what  he 
was  unto  her.  And  the  king  took  his  ring,  which  he  had 
taken  from  Haman,  and  gave  it  to  Mordecai.  And  Esther  set 
Mordecai  over  the  house  of  Haman.  And  Esther  spake  yet 
again  before  the  king,  and  fell  down  at  his  feet,  and  besought 
him  with  tears  to  put  away  the  mischief  of  Haman  the  Agagite, 
and  his  devices  that  he  had  devised  against  the  Jews.  Then 
the  king  held  out  to  Esther  the  golden  sceptre.  So  Esther  arose, 
and  stood  before  the  king.  And  she  said:  "If  it  please  the  king, 
and  if  I  have  found  favour  in  his  sight,  and  the  thing  seem 
^  [Here  is  allusion  to  weddings,  in  which  myrtle  was  used. — Trans.] 


^38-  APPENDIX  L 

right  before  the  king,  and  I  be  pleasing  in  his  eyes,  let  it  be 
written  to  reverse  the  letters  devised  by  Haman  the  son  of 
Hamdatha  the  Agagite,  which  he  wrote  to  destroy  the  Jews 
which  are  in  all  the  king's  provinces :  for  how  can  I  endure 
to  see  the  evil  that  shall  come  unto  my  people  ? "  Then  the 
king  Ahhashverosh  said  to  Esther  the  queen,  and  to  Mordecai 
the  Jew :  "  Thou  hast  from  the  outset  committed  a  fault,  for 
when  I  asked  thee  from  what  nation  thou  art,  in  order  to 
make  of  them  kings  and  princes,  and  from  wliat  family  thou 
art,  in  order  to  make  some  of  them  governors  and  generals, 
thou  saidst  to  me,  *  I  have  not  known  father  and  mother,  for 
they  died  and  left  me  when  I  was  a  little  child.'  But  now, 
behold,  I  have  given  Esther  the  house  of  Haman,  and  him  they 
have  hanged  upon  the  gallows,  because  he  laid  his  hand  upon 
the  Jews.  Write  to  the  Jews,  as  you  think  best,  in  the  name 
of  the  king,  and  seal  it  with  the  king's  ring  ;  for  a  writing  thus 
written  and  sealed  is  irrevocable."  Then  were  the  king's  scribes 
called  at  that  time  in  the  third  month,  which  is  the  month 
Sivan,  on  the  twenty-third  day  thereof;  and  it  was  written, 
according  to  all  that  Mordecai  commanded,  unto  the  Jews,  and 
to  the  satraps,  and  the  governors  and  princes  of  the  provinces 
which  are  from  India  unto  Cush,  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
provinces,  unto  every  province  according  to  the  writing  thereof, 
and  unto  every  people  after  their  language,  and  to  tlie  Jews 
according  to  their  writing  and  language.  And  he  wrote  in 
the  name  of  the  king  Ahhashverosh,  and  sealed  it  with  the 
king's  ring;  and  sent  letters  by  posts  on  horseback,  riding 
on  swift  steeds  and  young  dromedaries :  Wherein  the  king 
granted  the  Jews  which  were  in  every  city  to  gather  them- 
selves together  and  to  stand  for  their  life,  to  destroy,  to  slay, 
and  to  cause  to  perish,  all  the  power  of  the  people  and  pro- 
vince that  would  assault  them,  and  to  take  their  little  ones 
and  women,  and  households  and  servants  for  a  prey,  upon  one 
day,  in  all  the  provinces  of  the  king  Ahhashverosh,  namely, 
upon  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  twelfth  month,  which  is  the 
month  Adar.     The  contents  of  the  published   royal  circular 


THE  SECOND  TAEGUM.  339 

were  as  follows :  "  King  Ahhasliverosh  sends  a  letter  to  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  isles  and  countries,  to   all   the   rulers   of 
districts,  nobles,  and  generals  who  dwell   in   every    country. 
May  your  peace  be  multiplied.     I  have  written  this  document 
to  apprise  you,  that  although  I  rule  over  many  nations,  and 
upon  the  inhabitants  of  land  and  sea,  yet  I  am  not  proud 
about  my  power,  but  will  rather  walk  in  lowliness  and  meek- 
ness of  spirit  all  my  days  in  order  to  provide  for  your  peace 
and  prosperity,  and  to  all  who  live  in  my  dominion,  that  there 
may  be  free  intercourse  between  those  who  want  to  trade  by 
land  or  by  sea  between  the  various  peoples  and  languages. 
I  am  the  same  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other.      It  is 
further  made  know^n  to  you,  that  in  spite  of  the  sincerity  and 
truthfulness  of  those  who  love  all  the  nations,  revere  all  kings, 
and  are  loyal  to  all  the  governors,  there  are  others  who  stand 
near  to  the  king,  and  to  whose  hands  the  government  was 
entrusted,  who  have  by  their  intrigues  and  falsehoods  led  the 
king   astray,  and   have  written   letters  which   are   not   right 
before  heaven,  and  which  are  bad  before  men,  and  cruel  before 
the  king.     And  this  is  the  petition  wliich  they  asked  from 
the   king,   that   righteous   men   should   be   killed,  and  much 
innocent  blood  should  be  shed  of  people  who  have   neither 
done   any   evil   nor   were   guilty   of  death,   but  were   rather 
righteous.      Such  are  Esther,  who  is  famous  for  all  virtues, 
and  Mordecai,  who  is  expert  in  every  science ;  and  there  is  no 
blemish  to  be  found  in  them  nor  in  their  people.     I  thought 
to  myself  that  I  was  requested  concerning  another  nation,  and 
did  not  know  that  it  concerned  the  Jews  who  are  called  the 
children  of  the  Lord  of  all  that  created  heaven  and  earth,  and 
who  led  them  and  their  fathers  in  greater  and  mightier  king- 
doms than  mine.      Haman  also,  the  son  of  Hamdatha  from 
India,^  a  descendant  of  Amalek,  who  came  to  us  and  enjoyed 

^  In  this  peculiar  letter  the  king  says  tliat  Hanian  is  from  j^"'"!;]?!.  This 
is  to  be  distinguished  from  the  t52"i  fc5''n:n  by  which  the  Targumist  trans- 
lates nn.  This  India,  ''pljn,  is  identical  with  Ethiopia,  and  is  therefore  in 
.^ome  copies  of  the  Jerusalem  Targum  put  in  the  ethnographical  table  as 
the  son  of  Cush.     Cush  is  the  son  of  Ham.     It  should  be  said  of  Haman 


340  APPENDIX  I. 

mucli  kindness,  praise,  and  dignity  from  us,  whom  we  made 
great,  and  called  him  '  father  of  the  king,'  and  who  sat  at  the 
right  of  the  king.  He  did  not  know  how  to  appreciate  his 
dignity  and  how  to  conduct  himself  in  the  kingdom,  but 
harboured  thoughts  in  his  heart  to  kill  the  king  and  to  take 
the  kingdom  from  him.  Therefore  we  have  caused  the  son  of 
Hamdatha  to  be  hanged,  and  all  that  he  deserved  we  have 
brought  upon  his  head ;  and  the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth 
brought  his  machinations  upon  his  own  head." 

The  swift  messengers  upon  dromedaries  hastened  on  with 
the  king's  commandment,  and  the  decree  was  published  in 
Shushan  the  capital. 

And  Mordecai  went  forth  from  the  presence  of  the  king  in 

royal  apparel  of  blue  and  white,  and  with  a  great  crown  of 

gold,  and  with  a  robe  of  fine  linen  and  purple :  and  the  city  of 

Shushan  rejoiced  and  was  glad.     The    Jews  had  light,  and 

gladness,  and  joy,  and  honour.     And  in  every  province,  and 

in  every  city,  whithersoever  the  king's  commandment  and  his 

decree  came,  the  Jews  had  gladness  and  joy,  a  feast  and  a 

good  day.     And  many  from  the  peoples  of  the  land  became 

proselytes ;  for  the  fear  of  the  Jews  was  fallen  upon   them. 

Now,  in  the  twelfth  month,  which  is  the  month  Adar,  in  the 

thirteenth  day  of  the  same,  when  the  king's   commandment 

and  his  decree  were  to  be  put  in  execution,  in  the  day  when 

the  enemies  of  the  Jews  hoped  to  have  rule  over  them,  in  the 

same  day  the  opposite  happened — the  Jews  ruled  over  their 

enemies.       The  Jews  gathered  themselves  together  in  their 

cities,  throughout  all  the  provinces  of  the  king  Ahhashverosh, 

to  lay  hand  on  such  as  sought  their  hurt,  and  to  kill  them  :  and 

no  man  could  withstand  them ;  for  the  fear  of  them  was  fallen 

upon  all  the  peoples.     And  all  the  princes  of  the  provinces, 

and  the  magistrates,  and  the  governors,  and  they  that  did  the 

that  he  came  from  the  land  of  Ham,  and  was  a  descendant  of  Amalek. 
He  was  called  ND^DT  K3&5,  "father  of  the  king."  It  is  well  known  that  father 
was  a  title  of  honour,  and  the  Arab  women  call  their  husbands  "  father." 
So  also  the  Turkish  sultan  called  Ferdinand  III.  father  after  the  war,  when 
he  took  Hungary  from  him  (Hammer,  Gesch.  des  osman.  ReichSy  iii.  140). 


THE  6EC0ND  TARGUM.  S4l 

king's  business,  praised  the  Jews  ;  because  the  fear  of  Mordecai 
was  falkn  upon  them.  For  Mordecai  was  mighty  in  the 
king's  house,  and  his  fame  went  forth  throughout  all  pro- 
vinces :  for  the  man  Mordecai  waxed  greater  and  greater.  And 
the  Jews  smote  all  their  enemies  with  the  stroke  of  the  sword, 
and  with  slaughter  and  destruction,  and  did  what  they  would 
unto  them  that  hated  them.  And  in  Shushan  the  capital,  the 
Jews  slew  and  destroyed  five  hundred  men.  And  they  slew 
also  the  ten  sons  of  Haman,  son  of  Hamdatha,  the  oppressor 
of  the  Jews ;  but  on  the  spoil  they  laid  not  their  hand.  And 
on  the  same  day  the  number  of  the  slain  in  Shushan  the 
capital  was  given  to  the  king.  ,  .  .  And  the  king  commanded 
to  do  so,  and  the  command  was  explained  in  Shushan.  Haraan 
was  hanged  within  three  cubits.  Parshanandatha  a  cubit  dis- 
tant from  him.  Parshanandatha  was  hanged  within  three 
cubits.  Dalphon  a  cubit  distant  from  him,  and  was  hanged 
within  three  cubits.  Aspatha  a  cubit  distant  from  him,  and 
was  hanged  within  three  cubits.  Poratha  a  cubit  distant 
from  him,  and  was  hanged  within  three  cubits.  Adalya  was 
hanged  within  three  cubits.  Aridatha  a  cubit  distant  from 
him,  and  was  hanged  within  three  cubits.  Parmashta  a  cubit 
distant  from  him,  and  was  hanged  within  three  cubits.  Arisa 
a  cubit  distant  from  him,  and  was  hanged  within  three  cubits, 
Arida  a  cubit  distant  from  him,  and  was  hanged  within  three 
cubits.  Vaisatha,  the  tenth,  a  cubit  distant  from  him,  and  was 
hanged  within  three  cubits.  And  so  all  the  ten  sons  were 
hanged  on  the  gallows.  The  gallows  was  sunk  in  the  earth 
three  cubits,  and  Haman's  last  son  was  three  cubits  distant  from 
the  earth,  and  so  they  were  hanged  within  forty-four  cubits ; 
for  the  length  of  the  gallows  was  fifty  cubits. 

Now,  when  Mordecai  came  and  saw  Haman  and  his  sons 
hanging  on  the  gallows,  he  addressed  him  as  follows :  "  Thou 
hast  thought  to  do  evil  to  the  people  of  Israel,  but  He  who 
knows  the  hidden  and  the  revealed  things  has  brought  thy 
design  upon  thine  own  head.  Thou  hast  desired  to  kill  us, 
and  to  remove  us  from  under  the  wini^s  of  our  Father  in 


842  APPENDIX  I. 

heaven ;  but  now  have  we  dealt  kindly  with  thee,  and  have 
hanged  thee,  and  thy  sons  nnder  thy  wings."  And  the  Jews 
that  were  in  Shushan  the  capital  again  assembled  themselves 
on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  Adar,  and  killed  in 
Shushan  three  hundred  men ;  but  on  the  spoil  they  laid  not 
their  hand.  And  the  rest  of  the  Jews  that  were  in  the  king's 
provinces  gathered  themselves  together,  and  stood  as  masters 
for  their  lives,  and  had  rest  from  their  enemies,  and  slew  of 
them  that  hated  them  seventy  and  five  thousand ;  but  on  the 
spoil  they  laid  not  their  hand.  These  are  the  men  whom 
they  killed  in  Shushan,  namely,  those  of  their  enemies  who 
had  said  to  them :  "  In  a  few  days  from  now,  we  shall 
kill  you,  and  shall  dash  your  children  to  the  grou.nd."  This 
was  done  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  month  Adar,  and  on 
the  fourteenth  day  of  the  same,  they  rested  and  made  it  a 
day  of  feasting  and  gladness.  Therefore  the  Jews  who  were 
in  the  villages  and  in  the  small  towns,  made  the  fourteenth 
day  of  Adar  a  day  of  feasting  and  gladness  and  a  good  day, 
and  sent  portions  one  to  another.  And  Mordecai  wrote  these 
events,  and  sent  letters  unto  all  the  Jews  that  were  in  all  the 
provinces  of  the  king  Ahhashverosh,  both  nigh  and  far,  to 
enjoiu  them  that  they  should  keep  the  fourteenth  day  of  the 
month  Adar,  and  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  same,  yearly,  as  the 
days  wherein  the  Jews  had  rest  from  their  enemies,  and  the 
month  which  was  turned  unto  them  from  sorrow  to  gladness, 
and  from  mourning  unto  a  good  day,  that  they  should  make 
them  days  of  feasting  and  gladness,  and  of  sending  portions  and 
presents  one  to  another,  and  gifts  to  the  poor.  And  the  Jews 
undertook  to  do  as  they  had  begun,  and  as  Mordecai  had 
written  on  their  behalf.  Because  Haman  the  son  of  Ham- 
datha,  the  descendant  of  Agag,  the  oppressor  of  all  the  Jews, 
had  devised  against  the  Jews  to  destroy  them,  dipped  the  dice 
(^.e.  cast  the  lot),  threw  the  ring,  that  is,  "  the  lot,"  in  order 
to  confound  and  to  exterminate  them. 

When  the  royal  scribes  of  Haman  saw  him  and  his  sons 
hanging  many  days  on  the  gallows,  they  asked :  "  Why  does 


THE  SECOND  TAEGUM.  843 

Esther  transgress  what  is  written  in  the  law,  *  Thou  shalt 
not  let  his  body  remain  all  night  upon  the  tree  '  ? "  Esther 
answered  them  :  "  Because  King  Saul  had  killed  the  proselytes 
of  the  Gibeonites,  his  sons  hung  upon  the  gallows  from  the 
beginning  of  barley  harvest  until  the  day  when  rain  came 
down  upon  them,  which  lasted  six  months;  and  when  the 
Israelites  came  up  to  appear  before  the  temple,  the  nations 
asked  them  :  '  Why  do  these  hang  ? '  The  Israelites  answered 
them :  '  Because  their  father  has  laid  his  hand  upon  the  pro- 
selytes of  the  Gibeonites  and  killed  them.'  How  much  more 
does  the  wicked  Haman  and  his  sons,  who  wanted  to  destroy 
all  Israel,  deserve  to  hang  on  the  gallows — yea,  for  ever ! " 
When  Esther  came  to  the  king,  she  said  what  is  written  in 
the  book :  "  Ye  shall  blot  out  the  remembrance  of  Amalek 
from  under  heaven;"  and  as  Haman  was  of  the  seed  of  Amalek, 
and  had  devised  an  evil  device  against  Israel,  it  fell  upon  his 
own  head,  and  he  and  his  sons  were  hanged  on  the  gallows. 

Therefore,  because  this  has  happened  to  them,  they  called 
these  days  Purim,  on  account  of  the  lot  and  of  the  oppression 
which  befell  them,  as  it  is  written  and  explained  in  this  letter 
(concerning  all  that  the  fathers  had  seen,  which  led  them  to 
appoint  a  day  in  commemoration  of  the  miracles  which  the 
Lord  of  heaven  did  for  them),  and  that  their  children  might 
know  of  the  past  events.  The  Jews  took  upon  themselves 
and  their  children,  and  the  proselytes  that  shall  be  added 
to  them,  that  they  shall  never  cease  to  keep  these  two  days, 
in  their  season,  year  by  year,  according  .to  Scripture.  And 
these  are  remembered  and  kept  in  every  generation  by  every 
family,  in  every  province  and  in  every  city;  and  these  days 
of  Purim  shall  not  pass  away  from  the  Jews,  and  their 
remembrance  shall  not  cease  from  their  children.  Then 
Esther  the  queen,  the  daughter  of  Abihhail,  and  Mordecai  the 
Jew,  wrote  with  all  authority,  to  confirm  for  the  second  time 
the  ordinance  of  Purim  ;  and  they  ordained  that  in  a  leap  year 
the  scroll  (of  Esther)  should  not  be  read  in  the  first,  but  in 
the  second  Adar. 


344  APPENDIX  I. 

He  sent  letters  to  all  the  Jews,  to  tlie  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  provinces  of  the  kingdom  of  Ahhashverosh,  which  con- 
tained words  of  peace  and  truth,  to  confirm  these  days  of 
Purim  in  their  appointed  times,  according  as  Mordecai  the 
Jew  and  Esther  the  queen  had  enjoined  them,  and  as  they 
had  ordained  for  themselves  and  for  their  seed  in  the  matter 
of  their  fastings  and  prayers.  And  the  commandment  of 
Esther  confirmed  the  matters  of  these  days,  and  it  was  written 
in  the  book  of  the  Scroll  (of  the  Chronicle).  And  the  king 
Ahhashverosh  put  a  tribute  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  land ; 
but  when  he  knew  who  the  people  and  family  of  Esther  were, 
he  declared  them  free,  and  set  them  over  all  the  nations 
and  over  the  whole  kingdom,  and  laid  that  tribute  upon  the 
inhabitants  of  the  land  and  upon  the  merchants  of  the  sea. 
And  all  the  acts  of  his  power  and  of  his  might,  and  the 
full  account  of  the  greatness  of  Mordecai,  whereunto  the  king 
advanced  him,  are  they  not  written  in  the  books  of  the 
Chronicles  of  the  kings  of  Media  and  Persia  ?  For  Mordecai 
the  Jew  was  viceroy  of  King  Ahhashverosh,  president  and 
elder  among  the  Jews,  and  supreme  over  all  the  nations. 
Kis  fame  was  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other.  All 
kings  were  afraid  of  him,  and  trembled  when  they  saw  him. 
This  is  that  Mordecai  who  is  like  the  star  Noga  that  glitters 
among  the  stars,  and  like  the  dawn  of  the  morning.  He  was 
the  Master  of  the  Jews,  who  had  pleasure  in  the  greatness  of 
his  brethren,  who  sought  the  good  of  his  people,  and  spoke 
peace  to  all  his  seed. 


II. 
MITHRA. 

1.  There  can  be  no  more  erroneous  opinion  with  regard  to  the 
book  of  Esther  than  that  given  by  Zung  in  his  Gottesd. 
Vortrdge  (pp.  14,  15),  where  he  remarks  :  "  The  book  of  Esther 
is  especially  a  monument  of  obscurity  and  of  deficiency  in  the 
prophetic  spirit.  For  although  it  was  scarcely  necessary  to 
mention  the  Persian  king  and  kingdom  187  times,  and  his  name 
twenty-six  times,  yet  it  found  no  opportunity  to  mention  the 
name  of  God  even  a  single  time."  This  very  fact,  that  it 
omits  to  mention  the  name  of  God,  is  rather  to  be  taken 
as  the  best  testimony  concerning  the  age  and  the  originality 
of  the  little  book.  The  name  of  God  could  not  have  been 
mentioned  without  awakening  a  sense  in  the  heart  of  Israel 
that  the  king  is  far  heiicath  His  glory  and  power.  The 
reproach  which  Haman  made  to  the  Jews  consisted  just  in  his 
saying,  "  that  they  do  not  keep  the  king's  laws,"  chap.  iii.  8. 
This  could  not  have  referred  to  their  not  paying  taxes,  or  to 
their  refusal  to  render  any  other  service  to  the  State  which 
they  were  obliged  to  render,  but  it  referred  to  the  religious 
laws  of  the  country,  according  to  which  the  Persian  king  was 
to  be  regarded  by  the  people  as  the  human  representative  of 
Mithra  the  sun-god,  and  they  could  not  possibly  so  regard  him. 

That  the  king  of  Persia  was  so  regarded,  and  that  Mithra 
was  the  image  of  the  sun,-^  will  be  seen  in  the  following : — 

All  qualities  which  occur  in  the  Zendic  writings,  especially 

^  The  treatise  of  Windisclimann,  Mithra  ein  Beitrag  zur  Mythengeschichte 
des  Orients,  Leipzig  1875,  which  was  considered  of  first-rate  importance 
among  the  treatises  on  the  Orient,  is  a  distinguished  book,  and  is  still  of 
great  value.     Just  with  respect  to  it,  or,  properly  speaking,  against  it,  are 

345 


346  APPENDIX  11. 

in  the  Mihryast,  are  such  as  are  everywhere  ascribed  to 
the  sun.  The  same  can  be  observed  in  the  accounts  of  the 
Greek  and  Eoman  writers.  The  Mihr  (Mithra)  yast  (Win- 
dischmann,  1;  S'piegel,  Avesta,  iii.  79)  reads:  "  Ahuramazda 
spake :  *  When  I  created  Mithra,  who  possesses  wide 
pasturages,  I  created  him  as  laudable  as  myself.' "  Ahura- 
mazda signifies  the  "  lord  of  liglit,"  and  not  "  wise  lord,"  as 
Spiegel,  Uran.  AlthertJmmsk.  i.  10,  says,  for  it  is  derived  from 
"11{<,  light,  just  as  NairyoQagha  connects  nj  with  fire. 

He  perfectly  resembles  the  Greek  Zeus,  who  no  less 
signifies  the  heavenly  light,  and  is  like  him  the  father  of 
Apollo,  and  of  noble  sun  heroes  (Hermes,  Bacchus,  Heracles, 
Perseus),  and  of  Yulcan, — so  also  the  progenitor  of  Mithra 
as  sun  and  of  fire. 

Of  Mithra  it  is  said  in  the  Mihryast,  as  well  as  in  the 
Quarret-nyasis  (Spiegel,  iii.  9)  and  elsewhere,  that  "  he  has 
1000  eyes  and  10,000  ears,"  who  sees  all  and  hears  every- 
thing, as  Aelios  is  called  the  shining  eye  (Sophocles,  Antig. 
870,  etc.),  and  as  we  read  of  him  in  Homer:  "Who  seest 
and  hearest  all"  (09  nravr  e<f>opa<i  koI  irdvr  liraKovei^). 
The  horse  in  the  sun-car  is  called  in  the  Edda,  Alswidr, 
"  Omniscient."  Therefore  is  Mithra  also  called  "  wide  rang- 
ing," for  he  shines  and  sees  over  all,  just  as  Odin  sees  over  all 
with  the  eye  of  the  sun. 

Hence  he  is  called  a  sleepless,  vigilant  scout,  a  penetrating 
one,  and  a  thousand  scout  (Wind.  Mihryast,  x.  p.  6),  like  as  the 

the  above  remarks  written.  Space  is  wanting  to  enter  upon  an  extensive 
exposition.  It  would  become  an  Oriental  mythology  ;  but  I  believe  the 
task  is  in  a  manner  accomplished — to  refute  the  opinions  and  elucidations 
of  Windischmann,  particularly  in  reference  to  the  identity  of  Mithra 
and  the  sun.  This  might  also  be  done  according  to  Spiegel's  Eranische 
Alterthumskunde,  ii.  70.  Further  proofs  are  reserved  s.d.v.  for  another 
occasion.  For  more  information,  which  owing  to  the  brief  space  granted 
me  I  cannot  here  adduce,  I  refer  to  my  following  writings  : — "  Esmun  eine 
archaeologische  Untersuchung  aus  der  Geschichte  Phmiciens  und  Kenaans  "  ; 
2.  "Kaiser  und  Konigsthrone,"  in  Geschichte,  Symbol  und  Sage;  3.  Drachen- 
kampfe,  Berlin  1878  ;  4.  Der  Phonix  und  seine  Aera ;  5.  Lowenkdmpfe  von 
Nemea  his  Golgotha;  6.  Weihnachten  XJrsjprunge,  BrciuchCy  Aberglauben ; 
7.  Kittim  Chittim,  Berlin  1887,  etc. 


.      MITHRA.  347 

sun  is  called  in  Homer :  "  Who  espies  the  gods  and  men  " 
(delov  aKOTTOf;  rjBe  Kal  dvBpcov,  Hymn  in  Ceres,  63).  The 
ten  thousand  eyes  are  only  the  images  of  affluence  and  power, 
as  Ardvigura  Anahita  has  1000  canals,  the  three-legged  ass 
needs  as  much  space  with  his  feet  as  1000  sheep,  or  the  tree 
at  the  Bouru- Kasha  produces  every  year  1000  branches 
(Spiegel,  AUerth.  p.  118). 

Very  remarkable  is  the  passage  in  the  Mihryast  which 
speaks  of  the  eight  friends  of  Mithra,  but  which  neither  Wind, 
nor  Spiegel  could  explain.  Damascius  says  (comp.  my 
Esmun,  p.  35):  "  To  Sadukos  are  born  sons,  which  they  call 
Dioscuri  and  Kabires,  but  the  eighth  is  called  Esmunus." 
TheKabires  (onnn)  are  none  else  than  "  the  friends"  spoken  of 
above.  The  number  eight  was  that  of  the  stars,  including 
Esmun.  We  read  ah^eady  in  Xenophon  that  they  used  to  swear 
by  Mithra  (Ma  ruu  MlOpTjv,  Cyrop.  viii.  5.  53  ;  Windischm. 
p.  55).  Plutarch  reports  that  Artaxerxes  swore  also  by 
Mithra ;  and  Darius  demanded  of  the  eunuchs  to  give 
testimony,  looking  reverently  at  the  great  light  of  Mithra 
(cre/9oyLtez;o9  MiOpou  re  (pm  (jLeya).  Just  so  was  in  Homer  the 
sun  invoked  at  taking  an  oath  (comp.  Preller,  Myth.  p.  292  ; 
Nitzsch,  Nachhomerische  Theol.  p.  118,  etc.).  In  the  Mihr- 
yast, §  15,  we  read:  "Mithra  the  espy,  .  .  .  who  causes  the 
water  to  stream,  the  trees  to  grow,  and  who  makes  the  fur- 
rows," which  is  a  more  correct  translation  than  that  of  Spiegel. 
In  Aeschylus  {Agamemnon,  633)  it  is  said  that  no  one  can 
announce  this  but  Helios,  who  nourishes  the  nature  of  the 
earth  ("  rpicpovTo^  'HXiov  ')(dovo<i  <\>vaLv  "). 

He  cannot  be  deceived,  he  is  called  Adaoyamna ;  as  the 
proverbial  saying  of  the  sun  is :  "  Nothing  is  so  finely  spun, 
but  what  is  exposed  to  the  light  of  the  sun."  Innocent  people 
can  in  their  sufferings  call  the  sun  to  witness.  The  sun  has 
seen  the  act  of  murder,  and  brought  about  its  punishment. 
Pindar  speaks  of  the  sun  as  the  measure  and  the  source  of 
all  wisdom. 

Mithra  is  an  enemy  of  long  sleep.     Owing  to  this,  the  cock, 


348  APPENDIX  II. 

who,  as  the  watch  and  the  symbol  of  the  sun,  drives  away  evil 
spirits  and  wakes  men,  is  his  type.  In  the  Vendidad  (Spiegel, 
Avesta,  i.  237)  we  read :  "This  bird  raises  his  voice  on  every 
divine  dawn  crying :  Get  np,  ye  men,  praise  the  best  purity, 
drive  away  the  Daevas ;  Daeva  Bushyancta  daregliogava  is 
running  towards  you ;  he  lulls  again  to  sleep  the  whole 
corporeal  world  when  it  awakes.  Long  sleep  is  not  becoming 
to  thee."  In  all  folk-lore  the  cock  is  the  symbol  of  the  sun, 
and  by  his  crowing  drives  away  evil  spirits  (comp.  my  Eclcl, 
Studien,  pp.  53,  54,  etc.).  Mithra  goes  as  a  victorious  warrior 
to  battle  against  the  evil  spirits,  with  a  carriage  of  four  white 
horses,  which  calls  to  mind  the  sun-carriage  of  Helios.  White 
horses  are  always  everywhere  symbols  of  light.  The  sun  was 
always  a  warrior,  and  Apollo  no  less  then  Heracles  and  Perseus 
were  combatants  against  the  dragons  and  lions  of  the  night. 

2.  The  Persian  king  manifests  himself  as  the  image  of  the 
sun-god  Mithra.  The  king  had  also  "  eyes  and  ears,"  namely, 
officers  through  whom  he  was  made  cognizant  of  everything 
that  was  going  on.  Apuleius  says :  "  He  was  believed  by 
men  as  a  god,  as  he  through  the  report  of  those  eyes  and 
ears  knew  what  happened  everywhere."  No  event  in  his 
country  could  be  hid  before  him,  as  before  the  sun. 

It  was  a  witty  remark  of  Vespasian,  who  said  of  a  comet 
with  long  hair  that  appeared  in  his  time,  that  it  belonged 
to  the  king  of  Persia,  cui  capillus  effusior, — just  as  Helios 
is  represented  with  curly  hair.  They  used  to  worship  the 
king  from  a  distance,  as  if  by  reason  of  the  glow  which 
proceeded  from  him.  Even  modern  etiquette  in  the  Persian 
court  requires  that  no  one  come  near  before  the  order  to  do 
so  is  repeatedly  given.  A  young  courtier  made  his  fortune, 
because  on  the  occasion  when  he  was  called  to  come  near,  he 
replied  :  "  Misusum  (I  burn) ;  I  pray  not  to  command  me  to 
come  near."  The  king  appeared  upon  the  golden  throne 
like  the  sun  in  the  sky  ;  behind  him  stood  umbrella  carriers, 
[as  depicted]  upon  Persepolitan  and  Assyrian  monuments. 
Of  the  education  of  Minuntshehr,  Firdussi  muses, — 


MITIIEA.  349 

''A  silk  umbrella  shaded  his  head."  But  not  for  the  sake 
of  the  shade  which  he  needed,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  world, 
which  without  the  shade  would  be  consumed  by  the  sun. 
The  servants  held  the  sunshade  over  him  as  a  perpetual  sign 
that  he  as  a  sun  might,  if  he  were  so  disposed,  burn  up 
the  world.  All  royal  usage  was  transferred  from  Persia  to 
the  modern  Oriental  lords  ;  just  as  the  carriage  of  Mithra  was 
drawn  by  white  horses,  so  are  the  carriages  of  kings — as  it 
is  more  specially  told  of  Cyrus  and  Xerxes  that  their 
carriages  were  drawn  by  Nysaeic  white  horses.  He  sat 
behind  his  seven  councillors,  as  the  sun  behind  the  stars. 
So  general  became  this  image,  that  even  a  German  monk 
describes  an  audience  which  the  Greek  Embassy  had  with 
Charlemagne  in  this  manner  :  "  They  saw  the  emperor  at  the 
splendid  window,  covered  with  gold  and  precious  stones, 
shining  as  the  rising  sun,  and  surrounded  as  by  a  heavenly 
host."  Strabo  has  a  remarkable  notice,  to  the  effect  that 
owing  to  the  continual  sun  in  Shushan,  no  serpents  nor 
lizards  are  found  there.  This  is  a  misunderstanding  of  the 
author,  who  understood  in  a  literal  sense  what  was  meant 
figuratively.  Of  all  the  cities  of  the  sun  and  of  Apollo,  the 
saying  was,  that  no  serpents  could  live  in  them,  neither  in 
Delos,  nor  in  Claros,  nor  in  Crete.  This  is  also  in  Christian 
legend  said  to  have  been  the  case  in  more  famous  spiritual 
places,  and  especially  in  Jerusalem.^ 

3.  Much  more  significant  appears  the  identity  of  the  king, 
Mithra,  and  the  sun,  upon  important  figures  and  in  customs, 
which  are  generally  misunderstood.  In  the  great  hall  of 
the  ruins  of  Persepolis,  the  king  is  represented  as  carrying  on 
a  combat  with  three  animals,  which  stand  erect  and  defend 
themselves  with  their  forelegs  as  with  hands ;  all  three  have 
each  one  horn  and  wings.  The  king  seizes  with  one  hand 
the  horn,  and  with  the  other  he  thrusts  the  sword  into  the 
body.     They   are   now   photographed   in   the   great  work  of 

1  [The  Talmud  asserts  that  serpents  and  scorpions  never  hurt  any  one 
in  Jerusalem  (Yoma,  p.  2a). — Trans.] 


350  APPENDIX  II. 

Stolze,  thougli  they  were  very  clearly  portrayed  in  former 
works,  such  as  of  Ker  Porter  and  Chardin,  and  also  nicely 
reproduced  by  Kossowitz.  The  opinions  about  them  are 
curious  enough.  The  whole  tableau  indicated  that  the  king 
fio-hts  against  an  enemy  endowed  with  animal  qualities  and 
symbolized  by  it.  The  wings  are  everywhere  signs  of  an 
inhuman  nature.  With  peaceable  animals  they  refer  to 
holy  divine  nature,  but  with  wild  creatures  they  are  signs  of 
demoniac  and  Daeva  nature.  So  likewise  the  horns  in  them 
are  not  merely  natural  signs,  but  also  symbolic.  They  signify 
the  destructive  will  of  force,  for  which  we  have  an  instructive 
example  in  Dan.  vii.  The  horn  indicates  evil  thoughts  ;  the 
king  breaks  it :  the  belly  is  the  seat  of  carnal  lust  and 
uncleanness  ;  the  king  pierces  it  with  the  sword. 

It  is  Mithra  the  sun-hero  who  is  depicted  in  the  king  ; — - 
of  the  animals  is  represented  the  nature  of  the  wolf,  the  lion, 
and  the  dragon,  which  are  representatives  of  the  night,  and  of 
the  enemies  of  the  gods  of  light.  So  Odin  in  the  northern 
doctrine  combats  the  evil  spirit  in  the  wolf ;  and  the  wolf 
is  also  characterized  as  a  special  enemy  in  the  thirteenth 
Fargard  of  the  Avesta.  In  the  dream  of  Astyages  there 
appear  three  hostile  men  riding  respectively  upon  a  lion, 
a  leopard,  and  a  dragon  with  wings.  Diodorus  describes 
monuments  in  Babylon  which  represent  Semiramis  fighting 
with  a  leopard,  and  Ninus  with  a  lion.  In  the  vision  of 
Daniel,  also,  appear  lions,  bears,  and  leopards  with  wings. 
The  wild  creatures  are  the  attributes  of  the  national  as  well 
as  of  the  spiritual  antithesis.  The  lion  especially  is  the  type 
of  Ahriman,  as  the  king  is  depicted  upon  a  seal  fighting  a 
lion ;  and  he  is  in  various  other  groups  represented  as  seizing 
the  bull,  the  sacred  animal  of  Iranian  thought.  Hence 
Apollo  combats  the  dragon,  and  Heracles  combats  both  the 
lion  and  the  dragon. 

Apollo  is  especially  surnamed  *'  the  archer  ;  "  the  arrows 
were  figures  of  the  sunbeams :  therefore  he  is  called  e/caro^;, 
€Kdepyo<;,  €KaTi]l3o\o<;,  to^lo^;  ;  the  arrows  rattle  in  his  quiver, 


MITHRA.  351 

he  shoots  and  sends  arrows  for  deliverance  and  for  destruc- 
tion. It  is  therefore  interestinsj  to  observe  that  the  coins 
of  the  Arsacide  kings  usually  bear  the  image  of  the  king 
carrying  a  bow  in  his  hand.  Mithra  was  particularly  much 
spoken  of  at  that  time,  and  he  appears  in  names  of  kings. 
One  of  the  kings  calls  himself  Mitraetus  {Vaillant  Imp. 
Arsac.  p.  246).  The  king  intimates  that  he  is  the  image  of 
the  sun  Mithra  with  the  bow,  and  the  more  so  as  the  use 
of  the  bow  was  nmch  in  vogue  among  the  Persians  and 
Parthians.  It  is  to  be  assumed  that  the  name  Mithra  also 
signifies  this. 

By  •the  transition  of  Mithra  into  Mihr,  one  is  reminded 
not  only  of  the  Hebrew  verb  "ino  (to  hasten),  as  the  arrow 
tlies,  but  even  more  so  of  miD,  meaning  an  archer.  One  may 
also  compare  the  Latin  mittere,  which  is  used  to  denote 
sending  an  arrow,  as  missile  itself  means  arrow,  dart. 

Though,  indeed,  we  read  in  Plutarch  (De  Is.  et  Os.  cap.  46)  : 
"  Therefore  the  Persians  call  Mithra  a  fiea-LTrj^;,  mediator ; " 
yet  this  is  not  to  be  understood  verbally,  but  essentially.  To 
ascribe  the  meaning  of  mediator  to  the  name  Mithra,  would 
be  just  as  erroneous  as  to  explain  Christ  by  fie<ji77]<;,  because 
He  is  called  so.  The  sun  is  a  mediator,  because  he  is  the 
visible  light  of  Ahuramazda,  who  manifests  himself  through 
his  medium.  What  is  called  here  Mesites  is  given  in  the 
surnames  of  the  Parthian  and  Syrian  kings  as  Epiphanes, 
as  the  one  Arsaces  calls  himself  "  ApaaKo^  fjurpdr^To^ 
iiTK^avri^"  namely,  he  is  the  visible  representative  of  Mithra 
himself.  That  was,  too,  the  arrogance  of  that  Antiochus,  who 
as  Epiphanes  wanted  to  destroy  the  religion  of  Israel.  Just 
as  the  throne-culte  was  transplanted  from  the  Persians  to  the 
Western  nations,  so  also  the  opinion  that  kings  are  visible 
representatives  of  the  sun,  or  aped  the  gods — like  Mithra  the 
Mesites  of  Ahuramazda.  The  name  Mesites  has  had  indeed  a 
great  significance  in  Christian  doctrine.  When  the  apostle 
(Gal.  iii.  20)  says:  "  o  jiecrijr]^  evo^  ovk  eanv^  6  Be  0ec9  eh 
iaTLv,"  we  obtain  from  the  use  of  the  word  a  clear  idea  of 


352  APPENDIX  II. 

Mithra.  Neither  is  he  kvo^,  for  he  is  only  as  sun  the 
visible  operating  agent  of  Ahuramazda ;  nor  is  Christ  €1/09,  for 
what  He  is,  that  He  lives  and  works  as  the  visible  and  incar- 
nate Logos.  The  apostle  could  therefore  say  :  Tor  there  is  one 
God,  one  Mesites  also  between  God  and  men  (1  Tim.  ii.  5) ; 
just  as  Jesus  says  to  His  disciples,  "  He  that  hath  seen  me, 
hath  seen  the  Father "  (John  xiv.  9).  Precisely  from  this 
idea  of  Mithra  is  seen  that  his  name  included  the  essence  of 
the  visible  sun. 

4.  A  peculiar  but  instructive  report  is  given  by  Ctesias  in 
Athenaeus  (corap.  Ctesiae  fragm.  p.  79,  ed.  Paris),  that  it  is 
permitted  to  the  king  of  Persia  to  get  drunk  on  the  day 
when  offerings  are  made  to  Mithra  ;  and  from  Duris  it  is 
reported,  that  the  king  does  this  on  the  feast  Mithra,  when 
he  also  dances  the  Persian  dance.  This  report  has  not  been 
quite  understood.  The  month  Mihr  (Mithra)  corresponded 
to  the  month  Tishri  in  the  Jewish  calendar,  and  was  the 
beginning  of  the  civil  year.  I  have  through  this  circum- 
stance explained  the  name  itself  {Lit.  u.  Gesch.  p.  319);  it 
corresponded  to  October,  which  was  everywhere  the  proper 
month  for  vintage.  It  is  indeed  called  by  the  Anglo-Saxons 
Vinterfylled,  that  is,  vintage  month,  and  also  Vindumemanoth 
or  Winmanoth,  from  the  Latin  vindemia.  The  feast  of  the 
sixteenth  day  in  the  month  Mihr  is  called  mihr  rHz,  and 
lasted  to  the  twenty-first,  which  was  high  festival.  These 
days  correspond  to  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  which  obviously 
was  originally  a  nature  feast,  and  only  through  the  Mosaic 
law  was  elevated  to  the  position  of  a  religious  feast.  It  is 
at  any  rate  interesting  that  Plutarch  in  his  Table-talk  speaks 
of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  "  as  falling  in  the  midst  of  the 
time  of  vintage,"  and  is  of  opinion  that  it  was  dedicated  to 
Bacchus. 

So  then  we  see  that  the  king's  conduct  on  the  Mithra- 
feast  was  connected  with  the  feast  of  vintage.  The  vine 
thrives  through  the  sun  ;  he  produces  the  juice  in  the  grape  ; 
Mithra,  the  sun,  drinks  the  wine,  his  production, — this   the 


MITHEA.  353 

king  as  his  representative  imitates ;  it  is  the  portion  of 
victory  by  which  Mithra  celebrates  the  victory  of  the  sun 
over  the  nightly  darkness.  Of  such  a  feast  of  victory  the 
Persian  tradition  rightly  reminds.  It  is  said,  that  on  this 
day  the  kings  were  anointed  with  oil,  and  adorned  with  the 
crown  upon  which  was  to  be  seen  the  image  of  the  sun. 
Then  a  dish  containing  fruit,  white  grapes,  seven  berries, 
myrtle,  citrons,  sugar,  and  other  things  was  brought  to  the 
king — all  signs  of  productiveness  which  the  sun  caused  to  the 
earth. 

The  tradition,  that  on  that  day  Feridun  was  victorious 
over  Dahak  agrees  with  this;  they  saw  in  it  an  act  of 
emancipation  and  deliverance,  which  has  its  Biblical  coun- 
terpart in  the  words  of  the  Psalmist :  "  I  will  take  the  cup 
of  salvation,  and  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord"  (Ps, 
cxvi.  13). 

The  dance  of  the  king  on  the  Mithra  feast  signifies  the 
dance  of  the  sun  himself. 

Mithra  rejoices  over  his  victory.  So  King  David  dances 
before  the  ark ;  and  a  Latin  hymn  calls  upon  the  east  and  the 
west,  upon  heaven  and  earth,  mountain  and  river,  to  move 
their  hands  for  joy.  On  this  rests  the  old  popular  notion,  that 
on  the  feasts  of  Christ  the  sun  dances  and  leaps  for  joy.  In 
Silesia  and  other  places  they  used  to  place  a  tub  of  water  in  the 
court,  in  order  to  see  in  it  the  skipping  of  the  lamb-offering. 
People  were  so  sure  that  the  leaping  of  the  sun  became  signs  of 
the  calendar,  as  to  be  quite  certain  that  the  introduction  of  the 
Gregorian  calendar  was  faultless.  In  the  Christian  Church 
the  Peast  of  Tabernacles  was  not  preserved,  and  its  place  is 
occupied  by  Christmas.  This  has  occurred  not  without  deep 
thought.  When  paganism  was  still  prevalent,  there  was  a 
repeated  attempt  to  dedicate  Christmas  day  to  the  sun  instead 
of  to  Christ.  Indeed,  it  was  notably  Julian,  who  fell  in  the  war 
against  the  Persians,  who  exerted  himself  to  make  January  1 
as  a  sun -feast,  in  order  thereby  to  displace  Christmas  day, 
which  was  then  on  January  6.     It  is  probable  that  a  trans- 


354  APPENDIX  II. 

ference  of  New  Year  from  October  to  January  had  also  taken 
place  among  the  Persians.  When  Golius  says  the  Arabs 
called  the  feast  Mihragzan,  the  sixth  day  of  the  feast,  "  night 
of  the  kindling  of  the  fire,"  he  appears  to  confound  this  with 
January  6,  viz.  Epiphany,  which  was  in  fact  called  Phota 
(feast  of  lights).  The  drinking  of  the  king  on  the  Mihragzan 
illustrates  a  peculiar  popular  custom  in  connection  with  Janu- 
ary 6,  which  was  especially  preserved  in  the  Netherlands  in 
quite  a  different  manner.  They  proceed  to  the  election  of  a 
king ;  and  that  person  is  chosen  who  finds  a  bean  in  the  royal 
cake  given  to  him,  or  who  draws  a  royal  figure  from  a  bag 
containing  other  figures.  The  chosen  king  is  then  duly 
crowned  and  his  court  established ;  after  which  follows  feast- 
ing on  good  and  sweet  things,  as  on  the  day  of  Mithra ;  and 
when  the  king  raises  his  glass,  all  shout  with  joy,  "  The  king 
drinks."  Thus  the  Occident  gives  a  mirror  of  ancient  Oriental 
usage. 

A  much-spoken-of  myth  of  Mithra  is,  that  he  was  born  of 
a  rock,  e/c  Trerpa?  'ye'yivrjcrOaL,  as  Justin  says.  The  poet 
Commoedianus  calls  him  "  Invictus  de  petra  natus."  Even 
John  Lydus  calls  him  irerpoyevij^i.  It  did  not  suggest  itself  to 
the  expositors  that  the  same  is  said  of  the  Greek  gods  of  light. 
Apollo  was  born  in  Delos,  an  unsightly  rocky  island.  The 
island  in  which  Aesculapius,  son  of  Apollo,  was  worshipped, 
DD,  Cos,  means  a  rock.  The  Dioscuri  were  born  upon  a  cliff 
near  Pephnos.  I^arallel  to  this,  might  be  considered  the 
reported  solemnities  as  held  in  his  honour  in  a  cave  {o-irrfKaLov) 
out  of  which  he  came  forth.  "  Everywhere,"  says  Porphyrins, 
*'  where  Mithra  is  known,  God  is  propitiated  by  a  cave." 
And  he  adds  that  such  caves  were  consecrated  to  Zeus  in  Crete, 
to  the  moon  and  Lightpan  in  Arcadia,  and  to  Dionysus  in 
Naxos.  The  writer  overlooked  that  Hermes  was  in  a  hidden 
grotto  of  a  hill ;  and  that  Perseus,  who  appears  as  a  Greek 
Mithra,  of  whom  the  oracle  speaks  as  of  "a  winged  lion," 
whose  name  reminds  the  ancients  of  Persia,  came  into  the 
world  in  a  subterranean  dungeon.     The  births  in  rocks  and  in 


MITHRA.  355 

caves  represent  both  the  battle  and  the  victory  of  the  god  of 
light.  As  the  demigods  must  fight  against  the  giants  of  the 
rocks  to  secure  their  existence.  The  sun  rises  out  of  obscurity. 
Out  of  the  crags  of  the  rocks,  where  nothing  thrives,  rises  the 
light,  in  order  to  make  everything  fruitful,  just  as  the  spark 
issues  from  the  stone. 

This  is  spiritualized  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  whole  of 
theology  had  its  birthplace  in  isolated  localities.  The  whole 
doctrine  about  God  was  hidden  at  the  beginning.  Moses 
came  from  the  rigid  desert  in  order  to  educate  his  people  in 
the  desert.  On  a  hidden  rocky  mountain  (Sinai-rock)  God 
was  revealed. 

What  could  be  more  hidden  than  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  ? 
The  stable  is  like  a  cave,  out  of  which  came  the  Light.  As 
Moses  brought  forth  water  out  of  the  rock,  so  Jesus  says  that 
He  will  make  disciples  of  stones  if  men  will  not  hear.  Peter 
was  a  man  of  flint. 

The  report  of  Elisaeus  the  Armenian,  that  Mihr  was  a  divine 
incarnation,  and  that  he  was  a  king  of  divine  descent,  has  its 
origin  in  the  tendency  to  find  Mithra  again  in  Christ.  The 
sun  comes  forth  out  of  the  obscure  deep,  just  as  the  spiritual 
light  of  the  nations  comes  out  of  the  hidden  corners  of  the 
nations.  That  which  is  told  of  the  cattle  robbery  which 
Mithra  has  committed,  certainly  signifies  the  deliverance  of 
the  fertility  of  the  earth  from  the  hands  of  darkness  and 
frigidity.  For,  as  we  saw  above,  cattle  and  earth  mean  the 
same  thing.  So  Perseus  delivers  Andromeda,  who  represents 
the  earth  as  sustaining  men.  The  sun  has  herds  of  cattle 
with  which  Hermes  has  his  lively  game.  Geryon  is  a  lord 
of  the  nether  world,  from  whom  Heracles  robs  his  flock,  and 
gives  back  to  the  earth,  as  agriculture,  fertility. 

Least  of  all,  in  our  opinion,  has  the  so-called  Mithra- 
offering,  whose  relief  is  in  the  Louvre  in  Paris,  been  under- 
stood. Mithra  as  a  youth,  dressed  in  Oriental  costume,  pierces 
with  his  sword  the  neck  of  a  bull,  while  he  lifts  the  head 
upwards.     Blood  streams.     There  are  the  words  :  Nama  sehesio. 


356  APPENDIX  II. 

A  dog,  a  serpent,  and  a  scorpion  are  present.  The  tail  of  the 
bull  ends  in  the  form  of  a  bundle  of  corn.  A  raven  sits  upon 
a  rock  behind  Mithra.  Two  genii  with  erected  torches  stand 
there,  upon  one  the  sun  with  the  morning  star,  upon  the  other 
the  moon  with  the  evening  stars.  There  was  always  the  mis- 
take committed  in  assuming  that  Mithra  does  violence  to  the 
bull,  which  is  otherwise  ascribed  to  Ahriman.  Just  the  con- 
trary is  the  case.  What  he  does  is  a  benefit.  Therefore  he  is 
worshipped.  It  represents  the  consecration  of  his  life.  The 
bull  is  the  earth,  his  blood  is  the  water,  without  which  the 
earth  cannot  thrive.  Mithra  is  the  sun,  who  with  golden 
sword,  his  ray,  opens  the  earth.  Its  being  apparently  wounded, 
is  its  safety.  The  bull  has  therefore  a  sheaf  of  corn  on  his 
tail,  as  a  sign  of  the  fruit  which  Mithra  produces.  The  wolf 
(which  may  more  properly  be  instead  of  the  dog),  the  serpent, 
and  the  scorpion  are  hostile  creatures  which  defile  the  earth 
and  desire  to  destroy  Mithra's  work.  The  raven  behind 
Mithra  belongs  to  the  sun  -  worship.  It  is  the  servant  of 
Apollo,  as  Coronis,  the  crow,  is  his  beloved.  Where  there  is 
a  service  of  Apollo  tliere  are  ravens,  as  hence  two  ravens, 
"  Hugin  and  Munin,"  accompany  Odin.  Nama  sehesio  is  not 
difficult  to  explain.  Nama  expresses  celebration,  sehesio  is 
equivalent  to  Sabazios.  It  well  belongs  to  the  Hebrew  nntJ', 
not  because  it  contains  the  idea  of  rest,  but  of  celebration. 
It  is  Mithra's  feast, — the  deeds  of  his  power,  the  nature  of  his 
life,  that  he  displays  when  he  kills  the  bull  from  morning  till 
evening. 

5.  Much  has  been  written  and  copied  about  the  mysteries 
and  the  solemnities  of  the  worship  of  Mithra.  The  central 
point  in  all  the  writing  is  Mithra  as  a  sun.  This  is  recog- 
nised in  the  names  of  the  animals,  or  in  the  masks  of  animals 
in  which  the  initiated  appeared.  The  famous  passage  of 
Porphyrins  (Be  Abst  iv.  16)  has  from  this  side  not  yet  been 
understood.  What  is  remarkable  in  it  is,  that  it  is  influenced 
by  Persian  as  well  as  Egyptian  interpretations.  In  Egypt 
especially  the  lion  was  sacred  to  the  sun,  because  when  he 


MITHEA.  357 

entered  the  zodiacal  sign  of  the  lion,  the  Nile  began  its 
fertilizing  inundation.  Horapollo  says,  that  when  the 
Egyptians  pray  for  a  full  Nile,  they  bring  the  image  of  a  lion. 
It  is  therefore  the  image  of  the  Sphinx,  as  Arnobius  calls  it : 
"  that  of  a  fruit  -  producing  lion  "  (leonis  frugiferi).  The 
Egyptian  hieroglyphic  has  no  connection  with  the  general 
nature  of  the  animals,  so  also  not  here  with  the  rapacious 
lion,  but  only  with  the  one  thought,  that  it  is  the  sign  of  the 
happy  inundation  ;  hence  all  wells  spring  from  the  jaws  of 
lions.  Indeed,  Heracles  also,  who  conquers  the  lion,  wears 
his  stamp ;  and  Dionysus,  too,  appears  as  a  terrifying  lion. 
The  initiated  went  to  meet  the  novice  in  masks  of  lions ;  the 
mysteries  themselves  were  types  of  nature's  production 
through  the  sun.  Of  these  TertuUian  says,  the  lions  philo- 
sophize {Ad.  Marcion,  i.  cap.  13) ;  but  they  were  not  destitute 
of  a  natural  ethic.  As  Tertullian  reports,  the  warrior  of  the 
mysteries  was  obliged  to  throw  away  his  usual  wreath,  for 
Mithra  was  his  wreath.  There  rests  upon  him  to  a  certain 
extent  the  disc  of  the  sun,  like  a  nimbus  (as  Porphyry 
narrates,  iv.  16);^  the  attendants  were  called  ravens.  We 
have  already  explained  the  ravens  before.  The  fathers  they 
call  eagles  and  hirakes  (hawks).     Of  the  eagle,  who  is  called 

^  The  passage  literally  reads  :  "  While  they  call  those  who  are  initiated 
into  the  sacred  acts  {Spyioju  (/.iaroc;)  lions,  the  women  hyenas,  the  servants 
have  the  name  of  ravens.  As  concerning  the  fathers  {kxi  n  rau  'Trotripuv 
.  .  .),  they  are  called  eagles  and  hawks  (UpocKtg).  And  who  that  takes 
upon  himself  the  order  of  the  lions  {T^iovrtKoi  'TroipxXecu.^ocvav),  invests  him- 
self everywhere  with  the  appearance  of  the  animals."  The  supposition 
that  T^ictivcc;  is  to  be  read  for  voe,iua.i  originated  with  Felicianus,  who  trans- 
lated Porphyry  into  Latin,  but  did  not,  like  Hercher,  insert  the  conjectural 
reading  into  the  text.  Hercher  states  that  he  has  done  it  on  the  authority 
of  Kircher.  He  thinks  that  the  vxiviko.  of  Salmasius  rests  only  upon 
this  passage,  which  may  not  be  correct,  for  the  old  inscription  has  also 
hienocoracica  (comp.  the  Coram,  of  Hieronymus,  ii.  869,  ed.  Migne ; 
the  edition  of  Porphyry,  Trajedi  ad  Rhenum,  ed.  Jacob,  de  Ehoer, 
p.  350). 

With  respect  to  the  marks  of  the  animals,  compare  especially  (p.  351) 
with  the  passage  of  Diodors.  i.  62,  where  he  narrates  :  "  It  is  the  custom, 
among  the  lords  of  Egypt  to  put  on  masks  of  the  head  of  lions,  bulls,  and 
dragons  as  symbols." 


358  APPENDIX  II. 

aero^  (d^v),  as  of  the  rapacious  bird  in  general,  it  was  thought 
to  resemble  the  sun  in  seeing  at  a  distance.  The  eagle,  says 
Aristotle,  compels  his  young  ones  to  gaze  at  the  sun.  When 
the  Egyptians,  says  Horapollo,  wished  to  designate  a  far- 
seeing  man,  they  called  him  a  vulture  (yvyjr).  Sacred  above 
all  was  the  hierax,  "  hawk."  Horapollo  says :  "  When  one 
wants  to  draw  the  victory  of  the  sun-god,  it  is  done  by 
drawing  the  hawk."  Therefore  the  image  of  the  Phoenix  as 
a  figure  of  the  course  of  the  sun  is  represented  by  a  crowned 
eagle,  or  hierax.-^ 

Why  the  Egyptians  regarded  birds  of  prey  so  sacred  was, 
as  it  is  taught,  because  these  birds  have  a  great  relish  for 
carcases,  around  which  gather  ravens,  eagles,  and  hawks. 
Among  the  quadrupeds  is  the  hyena,  which  has  relation  to 
these. 

It  is  interesting  information  that  the  female  initiates 
appeared  in  masks  of  hyenas ;  though,  indeed,  E.  Hercher 
(in  the  Paris  edition,  1856)  read  XeatW?  instead  of  valvar, 
but  he  only  followed  a  conjectural  reading ;  the  codices  have 
rightly  valvar;,  There  is  in  themselves  no  difference  between 
the  masks  of  lions  and  lionesses,  but  the  myth  which  touches 
iipon  the  hyenas  gives  sufficient  support  to  the  idea,  that  just 
they  were  the  proper  images  for  the  initiated.     Of  them  it  is 

1  Jerome  writes  to  Laeta  (Ejjp.  n.  107,  ed.  Migiie,  ii.  p.  869  (679)): 
"Nonne  specum  Mithrae  et  omnia  portentosa  simulacra,  quibiis  Corax 
Nymplius  (al.  Nyplius,  Gryplms),  Miles,  Leo,  Perses,  Helios,  Dromo, 
Pater  initiantur."  The  text  is  not  quite  clear.  For  Niplius,  Nymplius, 
Gryphus,  should  be  read  Eniphus,  namely,  the  Egyptian  Cneph,  which  is 
connected  with  Pj33,  "wing"  (D''DiD  hv2),  and  signifies  here  the  hawk  of 
which  Porphyry  speaks.  Perses  is  Perseus.  Dromo  is  explained  by  the 
commentators  of  Jerome  as  hpofiog,  crab.  The  crab  lias  indeed  some 
relation  to  the  sun,  but  only  a  hostile  one,  for  it  helps  the  hydra  against 
Heracles.  Again,  dromos  is  only  a  sea-crab,  in  reference  to  which  there 
are  certainly  quite  other  legends  (comp.  my  Drachenkampfe,  p.  50). 
Apart  from  this,  it  is  improbable  that  the  name  of  an  animal  stood 
between  Perseus,  Helios,  and  Pater.  It  must  be  read  :  Bronios,  viz. 
Dionysus,  who  would  stand  well,  near  Pater  (Pater  Liber).  It  is  also 
false  that  Dionysus  has  no  relation  to  the  mysteries  of  Mithra.  The  sun, 
Mithra,  Dionysus,  were  one  there.     They  all  merged  in  the  sun-worship. 


MITHRA.  359 

said  that  they  are  of  a  double  gender,  and  can  be  man  and 
wife. 

The  hyena  appears  in  the  legend  a  decided  enemy  of  the 
dog,  and  the  dog  again  was,  as  an  animal  of  the  nether  world, 
obnoxious  to  the  sun  and  his  heroes. 

It  was  said  that  even  the  shadows  of  the  sun  made  dogs 
dumb.  We  have  indeed  but  one  notice  of  Porphyry  which 
speaks  of  the  hyena  in  the  mysteries  of  Mithra;  but  Salmasius, 
too,  cites  vaivLKa.  In  the  Latin  translation  of  Palladius 
{Histor.  Zausiaca,  cap.  20  ;  comp.  Bochart,  Hieroz.  i.  835) 
there  is  an  anecdote  told,  that  he  once  healed  a  young  hyena, 
and  out  of  gratitude  its  mother  brought  him  a  sheep-skin. 
The  saint  said :  "  Where  didst  thou  get  the  skin,  if  thou  didst 
not  rob  the  sheep  from  some  one  ?  What  is  wrongly  obtained 
I  do  not  accept."  The  hyena  with  dejected  head  prostrated 
itself  before  the  feet  of  the  saint,  and  laid  down  the  skin. 
The  saint  said  again :  "  I  do  not  accept  it  unless  thou  swearest 
solemnly  not  to  vex  the  poor  by  devouring  their  lambs." 
The  hyena  bowed  its  head  as  a  sign  of  consent  to  the  words 
of  the  saint.  It  appears  to  me  that  this  is  a  story  of  the 
conversion  of  a  hyena  which  originated  among  the  adherents 
of  Mithra. 

I  was  thus  far  concerned  to  prove  that  Windischmann 
is  mistaken  in  his  opinion  that  Mithra  was  ever  anything 
else  but  the  sun,  and  invoked  independently  from  the  sun. 
They  are  both  identified  everywhere,  although  it  cannot 
be  contested  that  some  authors  have  not  understood  the 
significance  of  Mithra.  Even  if  the  passage  in  Curtius  {et 
Solem  et  Mithrean  invocans,  iv.  48.  12)  were  genuine,  it  could 
only  prove  their  identity,  but  not  their  distinctiveness — 
because  it  speaks  only  of  the  sun  and  fire.  Strabo  is  surely 
a  sincere  witness  to  this  when  he  plainly  says :  "  They 
worship  the  sun,  which  they  call  Mithras."  When  some  say 
that  Mithra  was  also  held  as  fire,  it  is  to  be  understood  that 
Mithra  was  the  visible  representative  of  Ahuramazda,  who 
was  identified  with  fire.     Mithra,  as  sun,  was  identified  with 


360  APPENDIX  II. 

Titan  (with  Osiris,  as  Statins  calls  him  torquentem  cornua, 
which  may  just  as  well  refer  to  the  sun  as  to  the  bull,  the 
symbol  of  the  fertile  earth).  And  the  heretical  early  Chris- 
tians found  that  Mithra  signified  as  much  numerically  as  the 
mystical  Abraxas,  namely  365,  as  the  number  of  the  days  in 
a  solar  year.  The  Church  Fathers  have  rightly  laid  stress 
upon  the  fact  that  the  heathen  of  the  first  centuries,  like 
Julian,  upheld  the  sun-worship  in  opposition  to  the  doctrine 
of  Christ.  Justin  Martyr  affirmed  that  there  was  an  imitation 
of  the  Communion  in  the  mysteries  of  Mithra.  Tertullian  is 
of  opinion  that  there  was  also  in  them  an  imitation  of  baptism, 
the  signing  of  the  forehead  and  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ. 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite  speaks  also  of  such  an  imitation 
among  the  Magi,  who  celebrated  the  memory  of  a  threefold 
Mithra  {rpLifKaalov),  which  was  obviously  only  borrowed 
from  Christianity.  But  not  only  was  the  sun  everywhere 
understood  by  Mithra,  but  also  the  opinion  was  universally 
held,  that  the  king,  and  therefore  also  the  Eoman  emperor, 
assumed  to  himself  the  attributes  of  Mithra.  Dio  Cassius 
narrates  that  Kiug  Tiridates,  at  his  coronation  in  Eome,  said 
to  Nero  that  he  came  to  worship  him  as  Mithra  (irpoa- 
Kvvrjaayv  ere  w?  Kal  rov  MlOpav). 

Specially  noteworthy  is  the  fact  that  the  inscriptions  which 
were  designed  for  Mithra :  Deo  soli  invido  Mithrae,  were 
by  Eoman  emperors  entirely  appropriated  to  themselves. 
Particularly  since  Commodus  they  called  themselves  invictus 
— a  term  with  which  even  a  month  was  designated.  Cara- 
calla  was  addressed :  invide  im'perator !  Constantine  still 
bore  that  title,  and  Arcadius  and  Honorius  were  called 
invidissimi. 

Joined  to  this  by  way  of  a  brief  reminder,  is  the  strange 
opinion  which  wandered  from  one  book  to  the  other,  that  the 
Eomans  kept  a  Mithra-feast  on  the  25th  of  December,  which 
is  not  merely  a  fable,  but  also  a  striking  testimony  of  the 
rapidity  of  bookmaking.  The  remark  of  the  Eoman  Calendar 
of  the  year  354  to  the  VIII.  Cat.  Jan.,  which  read  N.  Z,  was 


MITHEA.  361 

understood  as  Natalis  Liocti,  viz.  Solis,  regardless  of  the  fact 
that  this  is  the  only  designation  of  this  day — as  there  is  no 
similar  notice  in  existence.  But  N.  I.  only  signifies  invidi 
imperatores,  and  refers  to  Constantine,  who  celebrated  on  the 
25th  December  351  the  decisive  day  of  his  assuming  the 
government.  Yet  even  at  present  one  can  find  in  compiled 
books  that  Christmas  is  for  this  reason  observed  on  the  25th 
of  December,  because  it  was  once  the  day  of  the  Mithra- 
feast.^ 

^  [The  autlior  has,  in  the  above  essay,  thrown  much  light  on  the 
omission  of  the  name  Jehovah  or  Elohim  from  the  book  of  Esther.  Had 
they  inserted  the  sacred  name,  it  would  either  at  once  have  provoked  the 
just  appeased  king,  or  it  would  have  been  associated  with  Mithra,  and 
perhaps  have  been  perverted  into  the  same.  We  know  that  the  heathen 
have  turned  the  ineffable  name  into  Jove.  Macrobius  quotes  an  oracle  : 
loca  6  TTxurai/  vTrccro;  Qto;.  According  to  Jerome,  the  cultus  of  Mithras 
lasted  till  377  a.d.  It  has  left  its  traces  even  in  Germany  on  the 
monuments  at  Hedernheim,  near  Frankfort- on -the -Main.  What  a 
wonderful  providence  it  was  which  caused  the  Jews  to  exercise  their  usual 
cleverness  in  omitting  both  the  name  of  their  God  and  of  the  god  of  the 
country  from  this  book  !  Had  they  done  the  latter,  we  should  have  had 
many  Jews  named  Mithridates,  as  we  have  many  named  Jehoshua. — 
Trans.] 


III. 

THE  WINGED  BULLS  OF  PERSEPOLIS. 

The  monuments  which  were  discovered  in  the  last  century 
in  Persia,  and  in  recent  years  in  Assyria,  have  received  great 
and  well-deserved  attention,  but  the  knowledge  of  them  is  yet 
incomplete.  Those  of  Persepolis  and  Nineveh,  around  which 
all  the  monuments  of  every  place  may  be  grouped,  have  for 
the  culture  of  all  times  another  importance  than  is  the  case 
with  the  Greek  monuments.  Almost  all  of  them  disclose  in- 
dications of  the  intellectual  life  of  great  nations.  No  writings 
existed  to  give  us  in  any  way  these  indications  before  the 
monuments  were  discovered  and-  deciphered.  No  trace  of 
them  is  found  in  all  the  rich  literature  which  reflects  Hellenic 
art.  The  scanty  information  which  we  possess  about  some 
feature  of  these  nations,  is  not  derived  from  their  sentiments, 
and  shows  only  the  smallest  part  of  their  spiritual  nature. 

That  the  Iranic  nations  excel  the  Assyrian  by  means  of 
religious  writings  of  the  Avesta,  is  of  great  importance  to  us ; 
but  these  writings,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  the  idiom,  are 
still  of  little  use.  Therefore  a  thorough  examination  of  these 
monuments  reveals  to  us,  as  it  were,  antiquity  alive  again. 
Sixteen  hundred  years  ago,  when  Charon,  the  ferryman  in  the 
infernal  regions  (Lucian),  paid  a  visit  to  the  world,  in  order 
to  see  for  himself  whether  it  was  so  magnificent  as  the  dead 
had  described  it  to  him,  his  guide,  Mercurius,  had  then  to 
report  to  him  about  the  monuments  of  Nineveh.  "  Nineveh, 
my  dear  ferryman,  is  destroyed,  and  one  cannot  even  say 
where  it  stood.  That  large  city  with  many  towers  and  high 
walls  is  Babylon,  whose  locality  will  soon  be  sought  as  that 


THE  WINGED  BULLS  OF  PEKSEPOLIS.  363 

of  Mneveh."  But  fortunately  Mercurius  can  now  receive 
information  from  us.  We  now  know  more  of  Nineveh  than 
it  ever  seemed  probable  that  we  should.  Our  old  philologians 
were  not  in  a  position  to  regard  the  artistic  monuments  of 
Greece  in  their  relation  to  the  history  of  the  country.  They 
had  indeed  the  hoary  sketcher  of  Grecian  art,  Homer,  whose 
pictures  and  statues  date  of  the  most  ancient  time.  But  this 
is  quite  different  with  respect  to  the  mentioned  Asiatic  nations. 
The  Oriental  monuments  not  only  supply  us  with  the  lost 
literature  of  poets  and  describers  of  art,  but  they  have  also 
done  this  in  ancient  times.  They  were  themselves  a  kind 
of  art  literature.  Everything  may  be  described  in  a  few 
words.  To  express  one's  thoughts  properly  and  in  elegant 
language  is  the  highest  art.  So  also  it  is  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty with  the  artist  to  give  a  complete  expression  to  the 
general  idea  which  his  mind  has  grasped,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  delineate  beautifully  all  the  qualities.  Homer  was 
the  teacher  of  all  the  artists  of  Greece.  With  the  artist  in 
colour  and  marble,  who  has  carried  out  his  thoughts  in  the 
minutest  stroke  and  shade,  the  general  idea  is  uppermost  in 
his  mind.  Of  this  Schiller  says,  "  that  it  is  the  germ  in  the 
plant  which  produces  the  w^ork  of  art  and  gives  an  inexpres- 
sible charm  to  the  whole."  This  cannot  be  otherwise.  The 
descriptive  arts  do  not  in  their  works  create  books,  in  which 
one  should  so  read  that  nothing  etherial  should  remain.  The 
silent  beauty  which  does  not  need  letters  and  syllables, 
and  which  speaks  in  summary  forms,  can  be  more  easily 
brought  nearer  to  completion  than  the  speaking  and  syllabic 
beauty.  Hence  the  language  in  figures  is  the  elementary 
language  of  man,  and  therefore  hieroglyphics  are  attempts  of 
thoughtful  people  to  express  their  ideas  in  a  beautiful  and 
tangible  manner.  They  have  hence  become  the  elements  of  a 
sacred  language,  because  they  appeal  to  the  soul  Avithout 
effacing  the  tender  pain  of  the  idea  through  a  disguised  and 
confused  manner.  Next  to  them  was  no  literature  which  either 
did  or  could  communicate  what  they  expressed.     Therefore  a 


364  APPENDIX  IIT. 

symbol  is  like  a  fleeting  hieroglyph  of  life,  and  the  language 
of  the  greatest  master  is  not  capable  so  much  as  to  fathom 
the  depth  of  this  word  and  reproduce  it  in  a  plain  and  perfect 
definition.  Therefore  it  would  be  to  make  life  shallow  and 
dam  up  its  streams,  if  its  symbol  should  be  removed.  They 
would  destroy  the  copious  activity  of  the  musing  soul,  who,  if 
it  were  possible,  could  have  dissolved  it  by  sober  reflection. 
From  this  deficiency  of  language,  which  is  the  characteristic 
of  all  uncultured  nations,  but  which  does  by  no  means  imply 
a  want  of  ideas,  much  of  the  life  and  of  the  views  of  the 
ancient  nations  is  to  be  explained.  In  considering  the 
sources  of  art,  we  are  unable  to  pursue  here  all  the  stand- 
points which  suggest  themselves,  but  it  is  certain  that  the 
chief  source  of  pagan  aH  in  all  its  religious  and  national 
relations  lies  in  the  need  felt  of  giving  utterance  hy  its  means. 
In  the  Orient  especially,  which  was  the  cradle  of  man  and 
of  his  thoughts,  this  cradle  remained,  and  in  its  elementary 
conditions.  This  also  accounts  for  the  Oriental  languages 
being  in  relation  to  ours  what  a  figure  of  speech  is  in  relation 
to  a  word.  Hence  a  metaphor  was  more  used  in  the  East  by 
way  of  making  clear  an  idea  symbolically,  than  as  an  object 
in  which  a  word  is  incorporated  for  the  sake  of  its  beauty. 
In  communicating  his  religious  views  the  Oriental  was  satis- 
fied with  a  symbolic  representation,  and  had  no  other  intention 
in  it.  So,  then,  we  also  mean  when  we  speak  of  the  relics 
of  Mneveh  and  Persepolis,  that  in  their  discovery  we  have 
not  lost  such  descriptive  writers  as  Pausanias  and  Philostratus, 
for  such  writings  as  these  produced,  did  not  exist.  The  want 
of  such  was  essential  to  the  mode  of  life  in  the  East.  There 
was  no  literature  to  excite  their  production,  the  monuments 
were  the  only  literature.  Some  things  have  been  found, 
dating  from  later  times,  which  might  illustrate  the  past,  but 
they  are  only  isolated  ruins  which  remain  from  the  flourishing 
time  of  life — groups  upon  a  tablet,  representations  in  relief 
upon  disinterred  walls  of  a  palace,  monumental  stones  which 
form  a  path  to  themselves,  and  in  which  we  recognise  remains 


THE  WINGED  BULLS  OF  PERSEPOLIS.  365 

of  another  alphabet  of  ancient  thoughts  than  that  of  the 
cuneiform  which  our  experts  have  deciphered.  This  is  not 
the  case  with  all,  and  indeed  the  same  rule  and  test  cannot 
to  most  of  them  be  applied.  But  the  already  accomplished 
investigation  of  single  monuments  establishes  the  fact,  that 
they  offer  us  a  greater  insight  into  ancient  views  and  fancies, 
than  even  was  possible  to  have  by  the  writers  of  monumental 
inscriptions  themselves.  We  shall  consider  one  such  single 
monument  by  way  of  attempt. 

On  the  plain  of  Merdosht,  thirty-five  English  miles  north- 
east of  Shiras,  lie  the  grand  ruins  of  Persepolis.  He  that 
was  so  fortunate  as  to  see  them  was  quite  struck  by  their 
phantastic  bulk.  The  ruins  stand  upon  an  artificial  even 
platform,  hewn  out  of  the  rock;  on  the  south  side  802,  on 
the  north  926,  and  on  the  west  1425  feet  long.  The  plat- 
form is  ascended  from  the  plain  by  means  of  double  marble 
steps,  which  travellers  describe  as  the  finest  in  the  world. 
On  the  front  of  the  gate,  which  is  reached  after  climbing  up 
the  steps,  there  are  figures  in  bass-relief  of  animals  of  colossal 
dimensions,  which  deserve  special  attention.  The  columns 
upon  which  they  appear  are  immense  blocks  of  marble  of  27^ 
feet  in  length,  5  feet  in  width,  and  30  feet  in  height.  The 
animals  cover  them  almost  entirely,  and  only  the  heads,  which 
are  now  broken  plastically,  protrude.  Various  opinions  have 
been  expressed  as  to  the  kind  of  animals  they  are.  But  a 
careful  inspection  of  the  cloven  hoofs,  the  powerful  jaws,  and 
of  the  form  of  the  tails,  shows  to  a  certainty  that  they  are 
bulls.  This  is  confirmed  by  a  similar  bass-relief  of  the  hinder 
gate.  Here  huge  bulls  are  clearly  recognised.  The  legs  and 
bodies  are  those  of  bulls,  the  neck  is  sfcriped,  the  ears  have 
ornaments  in  them.  On  the  head  appears  a  tiara  in  the  form 
of  a  cylinder,  at  both  of  whose  sides  are  clearly-marked  horns, 
rising  from  near  the  eyebrows  upwards  to  the  heads  of  the  bulls 
which,  though  injured,  still  disclose  human  faces,  and  from 
their  backs  proceed  gigantic  wings ;  and  they  are  adorned  with 


366  APPENDIX  11  r. 

curled  beards.  The  true  meaning  of  these  rare  and  artistically 
splendid  figures  has  become  more  apparent  since  the  finding 
of  similar  winged  bulls  in  Chorsabad  and  Nineveh.  The 
attempts  at  an  explanation  hitherto  made  are  acknowledged 
by  the  learned  themselves  as  unsatisfactory,  because  they 
proceeded  from  too  narrow  a  standpoint.  For  it  has  been 
disproved  that  the  Persians  adored  the  bull,  seeing  that  in 
Egypt  they  scoffed  at  the  worship  of  Apis,  and  destroyed  the 
idols.  That  these  winged  bulls  represent  any  specific  heroes 
is  doubtful,  as  they  are  also  found  in  Assyria.  Again,  to 
assume,  with  Lassen,  that  they  are  of  Babylonian- Assyrian 
origin,  because  the  Assyrians  are  older  than  the  Persians, 
would  explain  very  little  why  the  palace  of  the  Persian  kings 
was  chosen  as  the  place  for  these  monuments. 

We  have  already  made  some  remarks  above  on  the  figu- 
rative language  of  the  Orient.  Its  soul  speaks  in  images, 
symbols,  and  hieroglyphics.  Life  in  the  East  has  from  very 
ancient  times  another  relation  to  the  animal  world  than  it 
has  in  the  West,  not  only  because  of  the  want  of  culture 
there,  but  also  because  of  the  abundance  and  the  variety  of 
animals  which  are  within  reach  of  man.  Language,  by  means 
of  animal  designation,  or  the  expression  of  one's  thoughts 
through  animal  symbols  in  a  simple  or  complex  form,  is 
therefore  of  Oriental  origin,  and  is  to  be  considered  as  a 
contrast  to  the  Greek  Mythos,  which  first  issued  from  man, 
and  was  then  applied  to  the  animal  symbol.  The  difference 
between  the  Hellenic  and  Oriental  culture  is  especially  to 
be  seen  in  the  different  manner  in  which  the  Greeks  and  the 
Orientals  did  speak.  The  Greek  spoke,  the  Oriental  symbol- 
ized. Hence  the  conceptions  of  the  Greek  became  men,  those 
of  the  Oriental  became  animals.  The  fulness  of  thought 
which  in  Greece  found  its  expression  in  language,  was  repro- 
duced by  the  Asiatic  in  nature,  in  especially  exhausting  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms.  Herodotus  says,  the  Persians 
had  no  gods  which  they  thought  to  be  in  the  form  of  men. 
Quite   right.      But   the   Persians,  who   paid   homage   to   the 


THE  WINGED  BULLS  OF  PERSEPOLIS.  367 

Iranic  idea  of  God,  expressed  their  views  in  reference  to  the 
origin  and  conditions  of  the  world,  in  the  same  manner 
through  the  medium  of  symbolic  animals  as  the  Greeks  did 
through  symbolic  men.  The  figure  of  language  and  of  the 
word  was  to  them  still  merely  an  image.  Just  as  the 
Egyptian  wrote  by  means  of  figures,  notably  figures  of  ani- 
mals, so  the  Oriental  generally  thought  that  the  bird,  horse, 
wolf,  lion,  etc.,  are  terms  capable  of  containing  and  giving 
expression  to  a  whole  series  of  thought.  N"ow,  without 
pursuing  this  subject  in  its  wide  range,  we  return  to  the 
bull-figures,  concerning  which  we  are  of  opinion  that  they 
do  not  represent  animals  as  objects  of  idolatrous  worship,  but 
hieroglyphs  and  symbols  typifying  and  portraying  ancient 
thought.  It  is  not  difficult  to  recognise  which  thought  the 
hull  was  symbolically  intended  to  express  when  it  could  not 
fail  to  be  on  the  portals  of  Persepolis.  The  bull  was  especially 
the  symbol  of  the  Iranic-Zoroastrian  Theology,  which  we  have 
still  preserved  in  a  remarkable  though  covered  and  obscure 
manner  in  the  Zendavesta.  The  doctrine  of  Zoroaster,  in  so 
far  as  we  gather  it  from  these  books,  represents  a  warfare, 
not  merely  between  virtue  and  vice,  but  a  strife  especially 
between  the  civilised  agricultural  life  and  the  wild,  rough, 
natural,  hunting  life.  Ahuramazda,  i.e.  Ormuzd,  therefore 
always  appears  under  the  figure  of  tame  domestic  animals, 
and  when  we  read  in  the  Third  Fargard  of  the  Avesta : 
Creation  of  world  filled  with  bodies.  What  is  the  third  most 
a^ireeable  thimr  to  this  earth  ?  Ahuramazda  answers  as 
follows :  Where  agriculture  mostly  abounds,  and  holy  Zara- 
thustra  blesses  the  land  with  corn  and  fruitful  trees.  What 
is  the  fourth  thing  most  agreeable  to  this  world  ?  When  there 
is  plenty  of  cattle  and  beasts  of  burden,  etc.  All  things, 
therefore,  that  are  sinful,  injurious,  and  imperfect  in  life  are 
expressed  through  animals,  which  are  hindering  and  destruc- 
tive to  agriculture.  Therefore  Ahuramazda  declares  that 
the  animals  which  are  most  disageeable  to  this  world  are 
those  which  Ahriman  created,  like  the  wolf  and  the  serpent. 


368  APPENDIX  III. 

Hence  it  was  imposed  upon  the  Persians  as  an  atonement 
for  a  sin,  to  kill  ten  thousand  lizards  (which  evidently  means 
a  great  many  sexcents),  ten  thousand  ants,  which  carry  away 
the  grain,  and  ten  thousand  gnats.  The  regular  order  of 
things,  rich  possession  of  fields  and  animals,  health,  good 
weather,  everything  which  is  favourable  to  the  villager  and 
townsman,  was  created  by  Ormuzd,  and  was  represented  in 
such  images ;  and  the  opposite,  the  mortality  of  man,  and 
adversity  in  life  in  every  possible  form,  was  considered  as 
the  creatures  and  weapons  of  Ahriman.  All  existent  things, 
only  Ahriman  hinders  their  prosperous  development.  Accord- 
ing to  these  ideas  the  bull  was  the  picture  of  happiness,  and 
peculiarly  appropriate  to  designate  the  earth  itself.  In  the 
thousands  of  years  before  power  was  given  to  Ahriman,  there 
lived  through  Ormuzd,  Willca  the  original  bull,  i.e.  the  world 
v/as  without  sin  and  misery.  When  the  wicked  appeared, 
he  poisoned  the  bull,  that  he  died.  From  his  ribs  proceeded 
man,  and  from  his  tail  fifty-five  kinds  of  corn,  and  also  the 
good  trees  sprang  forth.  From  the  seed  of  the  original  bull, 
when  purified  by  the  light  of  the  moon,  proceeded  again  a  pair 
of  bulls  of  both  sexes,  from  which  all  the  animals  descended. 
The  soul  of  the  first  bull  after  being  poisoned  went  to  Ormuzd 
and  said :  Whom  hast  thou  appointed  for  the  globe  ?  Ahri- 
man hastened  to  destroy  the  earth.  Is  it  man  of  whom  thou 
hast  said,  I  will  create  him,  that  he  may  learn  to  protect 
himself  against  evil  ?  Ormuzd  replied :  The  bull  has  become 
weak  through  Ahriman's  weakness,  but  man  is  preserved  for  a 
globe,  and  a  time  when  Ahriman  will  not  be  able  to  exercise 
his  power.  Ormuzd  is  therefore  called  also  in  prayers  the 
protector  of  the  soul  of  the  bull,  and  the  seed  of  the  latter  is 
called  effulgent,  holy,  and  exalted.  It  is  not  the  place  here 
to  show  fully  the  analogous  views  of  other  ancient  nations, 
and  we  shall  only  touch  upon  what  is  necessary  to  our  pur- 
pose. One  who  was  well  acquainted  with  Egypt  has 
collected  many  passages,  according  to  which  Isis,  by  which 
name  the  Egyptians  understood  the  earth,  was  designated  by 


THE  WINGED  BULLS  OF  PERSEPOLIS.  369 

the  picture  of  a  cow.  Plutarch  phiinly  says  that  /Sou?,  the 
ox,  was  among  the  Egyptians  a  symbol  of  Isis  and  the  earth. 
It  has  also  long  ago  been  noticed  that  the  Greek  word  7?), 
earth,  comprises  the  Sanscrit  ga,  the  common  name  for  kine, 
masculine  and  feminine.  Jacob  Grimm  has  noticed  the  con- 
nection between  Old  High  German  Rinta,  "  earth,"  and  Rind, 
"  kine."  So  likewise  the  Sanscrit  hhumi,  "  earth,"  reminds  one 
of  the  Greek  ^ov<{.  The  old  doctrine  as,  e.g.,  it  is  manifested 
in  the  Zendavesta,  has  expressed  the  bull,  but  understood  the 
earth.  It  was  an  ancient  hieroglyphic  picture,  which  the 
language  perhaps  occasioned,  and  later  on  drew  a  view  from 
the  picture.  It  was  at  all  times  the  custom  to  borrow  such 
hieroglyphic  pictures  and  symbols  from  analogy  of  language. 
Well-known  instances  are  the  emblems  of  many  cities  of 
antiquity,  which  were  later  called  in  heraldry  "  speaking  coats 
of  arms,"  "  armes  parlantes."  Euboea  had  for  its  emblem 
a  bull,  or  a  bull's  head,  ySoi)?  Evj^oia ;  the  island  Aegina  was 
represented  by  a  goat,  which  is  in  Greek  al'f,  al<y6<;.  Rhodes 
had  the  rose  {pohov) ;  the  city  of  Cardia,  in  Thracia,  was  symbol- 
ized by  a  heart ;  Melos  by  an  apple ;  Myrina  by  a  wolf,  which 
is  in  Greek  fivpivrj ;  Selimos  by  parsley  (aeXivoi/) ;  Side,  in 
Pamphylia,  by  a  pomegranate  (crtS?;),  as  also  Granada  in 
Spain.  With  this  is  to  be  compared  the  better  known  coats 
of  arms,  as  of  Berlin  and  Berne,  which  are  represented  by 
a  bear,  and  Bieberach  by  a  beaver.  It  is  an  established  fact 
that  the  bull,  as  it  represents  the  sense  of  yrj  in  the  Zend- 
avesta, is  always  called  by  corresponding  words  which  have  a 
similar  sound  in  Zend,  Pehlevi,  and  in  Persian.  Only  in 
later  times  was  the  symbol  petrified,  and  the  literal  sense  of 
the  bull  was  received  into  the  cult.  This  appears  in  the 
ceremonies  which  the  Avesta  prescribes,  and  which  is  still 
carried  out  by  the  Parsees,  namely,  the  use  of  the  water  of 
the  bull  for  purification.  It  almost  excites  merriment  when 
reading  through  the  treatises  concerning  this  custom,  and 
applying  to  it  the  rule  of  decency.  Undoubtedly  the  ancient 
idea  was,  that  the  water  of  the  bull  purifies,  viz.  in  the  sense 

2a 


370  APPENDIX  III. 

that  the  bull  and  the  earth  are  the  same.  The  vrnter  that 
springs  from  the  earth  was  meant.  In  this  sense  the  bull 
became  the  emblem  of  the  Iranic-Zoroastric  faith,  and  it  can 
be  established  and  explained  in  various  ways.  One  of  the 
badges  of  the  Persian  kingdom  is  still  the  club-shaped  part  of 
a  bull's  head.  With  it  Feridun  killed  the  old  Persian  hero, 
the  wicked  Zohak.  The  later  legend  explained  the  origin  of 
the  club  as  coming  from  the  cow  which  he  sucked  as  a  child. 
In  the  sacred  writincrs  of  the  Persians  the  tauriform  club  is 
mentioned  with  which  Guershasp  killed  the  demons.  It  was 
the  chivalrous  adornment  of  all  the  ancient  Persian  lords  and 
kings.  They  bore  it  on  their  thrones  and  into  war.  It  was 
the  formidable  weapon  of  Eustem  when  he  accomplished  his 
herculean  deeds,  as  Pirdussi  sings, — 

"  Brandishing  the  tauriform  club  with  his  right  hand, 
He  gave  them  no  respite  or  ground  to  stand, 
But  fiercely  attacked  the  whole  band." 

In  connection  with  this  we  mention  for  the  present  that 
the  Indian  Ciwa  is  likewise  joined  with  productive  nature. 
Therefore  he  is  called  Pa^upati,  the  "  lord  of  the  animals," 
and  the  bull  is  his  symbol ;  whence  comes  his  name  Vrishadh- 
vaga,  the  bearer  of  the  bull  banner.  To  this  may  be  added 
the  hitherto  unexplained  image  of  a  bull's  head  upon  old 
Indian  coins.  Images  of  Minerva  have  the  shield-emblem  of 
a  bull's  head,  of  which  the  explanation  of  our  well-known 
student  of  art  Gerhard,  is  certainly  insufficient.  Less  obscure 
is  it  upon  the  shield  of  the  Geryones  who  defend  themselves 
against  Heracles.  An  Etruscan  bronze  figure  at  Gori  has  a 
bull's  head ;  whilst  Pausanias  tells  of  a  statue  of  Apollo  on 
which  the  foot  of  the  god  stands  upon  a  bull's  head.  From 
this  is  explained  the  heads  of  oxen  on  coins  of  Phocis.  Coins 
of  Caligula  have  sometimes  the  impression  of  a  whole  bull, 
and  sometimes  only  the  head  of  a  bull.  We  know  a  coin 
with  a  fine  bull's  head,  having  upon  the  shield  a  female  figure 
and  circular  inscription :  Britannia,  After  these  apparently 
iinconnected   notices,  we  cannot   leave  unmentioned  that  in 


THE  WINGED  BULLS  OF  PERSEPOLIS.  371 

the  description  of  the  throne  of  Solomon,  which  seems  to 
have  been  after  the  model  of  a  Persian  one :  a  bull  is  at  the 
liead  of  the  whole  order  of  tame  animals  which  stand  under 
the  protection  of  the  king. 

Be  it  also  noted  that  Mirkhond  narrates  that  the  Byzantiau 
emperor  had  caused  the  Sassanide  king  Shapur  (Sapor)  to  be 
sewn  up  in  a  skin  of  a  bull  and  there  imprisoned.  That  tlie 
bull  w^as  really  considered  as  symbol  of  the  Iranic-Zoroastrian 
system,  and  that  other  nations  and  tribes  had  certain  animals 
as  symbols  upon  coins,  as,  e.g.,  the  Greek-Indian  kings  were 
depicted  on  coins  in  Cabul  hunchbacked  upon  elephants, 
which  signified  the  Indian  Peritapotamia,^  is  clearly  evident 
from  the  combination  in  the  bull  statues  of  human  heads  with 
wings.  The  figures  are  to  be  regarded  as  congruous  symbols 
with  hieroglyphics.  The  union  of  attributes  in  various  kinds 
of  animals  upon  one  figure  indicates  a  union  of  various 
thoughts  in  one  symbol.  The  human  head  with  horns  in 
the  front  signifies  that  the  enormous  strength  of  the  bull  is 
also  symbolized  in  man.  Man  has  and  comprehends  that 
which  is  inherent  in  the  bull.  So  also  was  the  symbol 
of  the  king  who  represented  the  land  and  the  Zoroastrian 
faith.  Only  heads  of  such  figures  appear  on  coins  as  that 
which  is  ascribed  to  Pacorus  the  Arsacide.  A  coin  of  the 
Bactric  king  Eukratides  shows  a  king  with  ear  and  forehead 
of  a  bull.  Eckhel  reports  of  a  fighting  bull  with  a  human 
face  upon  a  Parsee  figure,  and  also  refers  to  the  existence  of 
such  upon  other  coins  of  Cretan  colonies,  as  upon  those  of 
Gela,  Agyrium,  and  Tauromenium.  The  attribute  of  the 
wings  is  likewise  significant.  It  signifies  the  connection  of 
the  celestial  with  the  terrestrial.  By  their  medium  the 
possibility  of  harmony  between  heaven  and  earth  is  indi- 
cated. For  this  reason  superhuman  beings  have  wings,  as 
also  Bundehesh  expressly  says  is  the  case  with  daevas.  On 
the  other  hand,  they  are  expressive  of  the  possession  of  the 
power  over  the  kingdom  of  the  air.  As  the  bull's  head  with 
^  [This  name  still  appears  in  the  name  of  Punjab. — Trans.] 


$72  APPENDIX  III. 

the  tiara  was  the  symbol  of  royal  power  over  the  Iranian 
empire,  inasmuch  as  the  bull  comprised  the  possessions,  the 
crop,  and  the  eartli,  so  the  wings  on  the  same  indicated  that 
the  king  claimed  to  have  dominion  over  the  air.  This 
Firdussi  expresses  when  he  represents  King  Kaikawus,  who 
Tuled  over  the  whole  world,  as  being  persuaded  by  a  daeva  to 
conquer  also  the  heaven,^ — 

"  O  Lord  (spake  the  daeva),  tliy  will  caused  the  earth  to  shake  ; 
As  a  shej)herd  does  his  flock,  so  leadest  thou  mankind  in  thy  wake. 
To  only  one  thin<^  thou  may  est  lay  claim, 
Then  shall  all  the  universe  be  filled  with  thy  fame. 
Hast  thou  observed  the  course  of  the  sun, 
And  knowest  thou  how  his  rise  and  set  do  run  ? 
Thy  rule  upon  eartli  thou  dost  well  accomplish, 
What  is  wanting  is  that  thou  dost  also  heaven  vanquish. 
The  heart  of  the  king  is  thus  enticed  to  undertake  the  deed. 
And  he  meditates  whether  somehow  he  will  succeed 
To  reach  the  air  with  wingless  feet ; 
Then  inquires  of  his  sages  how  far 
From  here  to  the  moon,  and  thence  to  some  star." 

Then  he  ordered  to  catch  eagles  and  to  tie  them  to  a  throne, 
and  thus  to  be  carried  to  heaven.  This  perhaps  gave  rise  to 
Lucian's  representation  of  the  philosopher  Menippus  catching 
an  eagle  and  a  vulture,  and  severing  the  right  wing  from  the 
one  and  the  left  from  the  other,  and  then  fastening  them  with  a 
string  strapped  to  his  shoulders,  and  thus  flying  to  the  assembly 
of  the  gods  in  heaven.  Lucian  further  narrates,  that  Jupiter 
did  not  receive  Menippus  in  a  very  friendly  manner,  for  fear 
that  in  a  short  time  all  mankind  might  in  this  way  fly  to  him  ; 
and  so  when  he  was  to  depart  he  clipped  his  wings  and  let 
him  be  carried  by  Mercury  to  the  earth. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  use  of  wings  in  Grecian  art  came 
only  in  vogue  in  the  Persian  war.  But  when  the  scholiast 
on  Aristophanes,  whom  Gerhard  quotes,  mentions  that  only  in 
later  times  did  Nike  and  Eros  appear  with  wings,  he  means 

1  [A  similar  though  somewhat  different  story  is  told  in  the  Talmud 
Tamid,  p.  32a,  about  Alexander  the  Great,  and  had  perliaps  this  for  its 
source. — Trans.] 


THE  WINGED  BULLS  OF  PERSEPOLIS.  373 

just  simply  that  wings  represent  heavenly  might.  For  Nike 
the  goddess  of  victory,  and  Eros  the  god  of  love,  have  special 
rule  over  man. 

We  will  not  further  enter  fully  into  the  domain  of  Greek 
and  Eoman  works  of  art,  and  upon  thoughts  in  connection  with 
them,  which  apply  wings  in  manifold  w^ays,  but  one  thing 
which  has  remained  obscure  we  must  add.  An  Etruscan 
vase  picture  represents  the  giant  Geryon  and  winged  bulls 
carrying  on  war  against  Heracles,  as  if  the  same  was  attributed 
to  them  as  to  the  daeva  and  demon,  though  this  is  only 
corroborated  elsewhere  by  a  reported  observation  upon  an 
Egyptian  two-handled  vessel  called  ampJiora.  Wings  appear 
upon  other  figures  of  animals,  in  so  far,  which  we  here  do  not 
consider,  as  they  in  the  views  of  the  nations  represented  the 
symbol  of  heavenly  or  demoniac  power. 

But  the  bull,  with  or  without  wings,  appears  as  the  symbol 
of  Iranic  Zoroastrianism,  as  it  is  represented  in  its  sacred 
books.  So  likewise  the  opponents  of  this  faith  and  state,  are 
designated  by  animal  symbols  that  are  hostile  to  the  bull. 
Here,  too,  the  opposition  of  the  religious  and  political  state  is 
compressed  into  one  element  and  picture.  The  traveller  Ker 
Porter  found  depicted  upon  the  bas-relief  on  the  west  end  of 
the  platform,  a  king  in  the  act  of  fighting  with  animals,  a 
closer  description  of  which  we  here  omit,  and  only  remark 
that  they  represent  tlie  lion,  the  wolf,  and  the  ass,  with  wings 
and  heads  of  the  eagle.  The  king  appears  as  the  conqueror. 
Of  course  the  wings  do  also  signify  service,  civility,  or 
respect,  but  the  political  enemy  is  no  less  emblematically 
expressed  in  them.  To  this  may  be  compared  the  dream 
of  King  Astyages,  of  which  Moses  of  Chorene  speaks.  In 
it  he  saw  a  woman  who  had  three  sons.  One  riding 
upon  a  lion  hastened  to  the  west,  the  second  upon  a  leopard 
ran  to  the  east,  and  the  third  upon  a  dragon,  with  tlie 
wings  of  an  eagle,  rushed  towards  him.  Attention  needs  only 
be  called  to  the  wonderful  prophecy  of  Daniel.  A  lion  with 
the  wings  of  an  eagle,  a  bear,  and  a  panther,  together  with  a 


374  APPENDIX  III. 

strange  wild  animal,  rise  from  the  sea.      The  prophet  himself 
interprets  them  as  symbols  of  great  empires  and  kings.     In 
the  second  dream  this  is  still  more  clearly  represented, — the 
Ayil  (ram)  with  two  horns,  as  it  appeared  to  him  one  higher 
than  the  other,  and  he  saw  him  push  westward,  northward, 
and  southward,  so  that  no  beast  could  stand  before  him.     But 
a  he-goat  with  two  horns  came  against  him  from  the  west,  and 
vanquished  him,  and  brake  his  two  horns.     Of  his  conquest  it 
is  said  :  "  he  touched  not  the  ground,"  as  if  he  had  a  swift- 
winged  victory.      It  is  the  war  of  Alexander  (Deul  Karnain) 
against  Media  and  Syria  which  Daniel  predicts.      All  who 
have  seen  the  winged  bulls  and  lions,  or  who  have  read  a 
description  of  the  same,  have  been  reminded  of  the  prophetic 
mysterious  vision  of  Ezekiel  in  its  entire  greatness  and  wonder- 
ful spiritual  application.     He  speaks  of  figures  of  animals  with 
wings  which  had  the  face  of  a  man,  the  face  of  a  lion,  the  face 
of  an  ox,  and  the  face  of  an  eagle,  upon  which  the  glory  of 
God  passed.     It  is  remarkable  about  this,  that  while  in  the 
first  chapter  of  the  prophecy  which   proceeded  by  the  river 
Chebar,  the  word  cherubim  is  not  even  named,  on   the  other 
hand,  in  chap,  x.,  in  which  the  prophetic  vision  in  Jerusalem 
gets  an  insight  into  the  mystery,  the  animals  are  called  Cheru- 
bim.    Although  it  was  the  same  animal  which  he  saw  by  the 
river  Chebar,  in  the  place  of  an  ox  appears  a  cherub,  while  the 
lion,  man,  and  eagle  are  also  so  called.     The  significance  of 
this  symbolizing,  which  expressed  at  the  same  time  the  worldly 
power  and    the    religious  view,   had   an  extensive   influence 
upon    ancient    legends    as    far    as  the   West.      Through   its 
elucidation  the  monuments  of  Nineveh  will  gain  in  light ;  its 
contents  are  the  more  important  the  higher  one  ascends  into 
the  obscure  walks  of  antiquity.     And  there  could  not  have 
been  merely  the  simple  combination  of  art  and  artists,  which 
created  figures  and  porticoes  in  Nineveh  and  in  Persepolis. 
The  combination  and  the  contrast  that  there  exist  between  a 
lion  and  a  bull,  as  they  are  represented  in  a  Persepolitan  figure, 
engaged  in  battle  with  one  another,  testify,  what  may  be  more 


THE  WINGED  BULLS  OF  PERSEPOLIS.  375 

fully  dwelt  upon  elsewhere,  to  the  contrast  of  principles  at 
stake,  of  which  the  one  which  is  hostile  is  always  considered 
as  the  evil  and  Satanic  one.     Art    gave    expression  to  the 
language  of  these  symbols,  and  without  it   symbolic   repre- 
sentation would  have  remained  inexplicable.      On  the  other 
hand,  the   artistic   monuments  upon    which    the   symbols  of 
remarkable  animals  are  portrayed,  elucidate  a  series  of  his- 
torical information  which  till  then  had  remained  obscure  ;   of 
which  we  only  mention  a  few.    It  has  been  affirmed  of  Grecian 
monuments  of  art,  that  they  reacted  upon  life,  as  representa- 
tions upon  marble  were  transported  into  fancy  and  knowledge. 
This  also  Oriental  art  has  done.     The  symbol  w^hich  it  has  laid 
down  in  the   figures  of  the   above   description,  passed  into 
legendary    lore    without    being    understood     and    explained. 
Eustem  the  great  hero  was  so  strong,  that  he  engraved  with 
his  nails   figures  of   eagles   and  the  like  upon  rocks.     The 
wonderful  animals  which  natives  and  strangers  long  centuries 
after  have  seen  in  their  gigantic  and  violent  forms  upon  walls 
and  rocks,  were  taken  up  by  fancy  and  by  this  winged  mes- 
senger carried  farther.    After  they  were  found  in  isolated  places, 
they  came  forth,  loosed  the  bonds  which  had  kept  them  tied 
to  the  marble,  and  passed  into  actual  life  as  pictures  of  former 
living  and  wonderful  creatures.     Much  of  the  truth  of  this 
kind  which  ancient  tales  and  legends  contain  has  arisen  in 
this   manner.       The   stranger   who   travelled  in  the  country 
looked  upon  the  figures  as  types  of  existing  animals,  and  could 
speak  of   them  at  home  without  properly  saying  what  was 
false.     What  effect  ancient  art  in  the  Orient  as  well  as  in  the 
Occident  produced  through  the  influence  of  human  fancy  upon 
the  culture  of  the  nations,  has  not  yet  been  sufficiently  proved, 
nor  applied  by  authors  in  criticism.      Old  Berosus  says  this  in 
Eusebius  clearly  enough :  "  Once  when  all  things  were  yet 
in   obscurity   and   chaos,   there  were    also   animals   of  other 
sorts  .  .  .  men  with  two  wings,  others  with  a  double  pair  of 
wings  and  two  faces,  others  again  who  had  one  body  and  two 
heads,  one  of  a  man  and  one  of  a  woman  ;  other  men  had  a 


376  APPENDIX  III. 

sort  of  roebuck's  legs  upon  their  heads,  others  had  legs  of 
horses,  and  again  others  were  half  horse  and  half  man.  Bulls 
had  human  heads,  and  dogs  had  four  bodies  with  tails  of  fish  ; 
there  were  horses  with  dogs'  heads,  men  and  animals  with 
heads  of  horses,  and  their  lower  parts  were  formed  like  a  fish ; 
and  still  many  more  creatures  which  united  in  themselves 
the  appearance  of  animals  of  many  sorts.  There  were  also  fish, 
dragons,  serpents,  and  other  wonderful  kinds  of  animals, 
whose  images  were  severally  preserved  in  the  temple  of  Bel" 
Berosus  evidently  assumed,  that  the  images  of  the  various 
symbols  of  animals  were  such  as  had  actually  existed 
and  lived  in  hoary  antiquity.  So  misunderstood  things 
become  by  and  bye  false,  the  more  so  when  one  takes  a  false 
way  to  establish  their  truth.  Only  a  few  years  ago,  the 
famous  Indologian  Lassen  declared  Ctesias  to  be  a  liar,  because 
he  says  he  had  seen  the  Martichoras  with  the  king  of  Persia, 
to  whom  the  Indian  king  gave  it  as  a  present.  I  believe 
that  he  may  be  freed  from  this  reproach.  "  Here  is,"  says  he, 
"  an  Indian  animal  of  enormous  strength,  larger  than  the 
largest  lion,  red  of  colour  like  vermilion,  and  with  thick  hair 
like  dog's.  Among  the  people  of  India  it  is  called  Martichoras, 
which  translated  means  '  man.'  The  head  is  not  like  that 
of  an  animal,  but  it  has  a  human-like  face.  Its  legs  are 
like  those  of  a  lion,  on  its  tail  it  has  a  sting  like  that  of  a 
scorpion." 

Who  does  not  see  in  this  a  description  of  some  old  image  of 
a  lion  with  a  human  head  such  as  is  still  found  on  the  monu- 
ments of  Persia  and  Assyria  ?  The  notice  becomes  more 
interesting  from  the  addition  of  the  name.  Martichoras  is 
unanimously  explained  as  Martijakara,  "  killer  of  man."  We 
have  thus  an  image  of  an  evil  demon  for  the  Iranians,  as  is  also 
clear  from  the  scorpion-like  tail.  The  form  of  a  lion,  as  already 
remarked  above,  indicated  in  the  animal  kingdom  hostility. 
Grotefend  has  long  since  found  upon  an  ancient  seal  Ahriman 
depicted  in  a  lion.  According  to  the  Bundehesh,  Ahriman 
created  the  scorpion.     Its  title  in  the  Avesta  is :  "  He  is  the 


THE  WINGED  BULLS  OF  TEKSEPOLIS.  377 

fulness  of  death,  the  destroyer  of  man,  the  briiiger  of  unhappi- 
iiess  generally."  Ctesias  had  seen  such  an  image :  and  when 
he  asked  what  it  meant,  he  was  told  that  it  was  Martichoras ; 
and  he  went  home  with  the  impression  and  the  name  of  an 
animal  which  he  had  never  known.  In  this  it  is  very  in- 
teresting to  notice  that  we  definitely  learn  to  know  Ahriman 
in  the  form  which  Heeren  wished  to  explain  the  Persepolitan 
giant  animals.  'Now  we  can  explain  Martichoras  more 
accurately  from  the  figures.  So  here  also  the  world  since 
1814  has  turned  round.  The  ancient  authors  whose  credi- 
bility has  beeii  much  doubted,  because  true  descriptions  of 
actual  life  was  missed  in  them,  will  receive  a  new  charm 
when  they  shall  be  regarded  as  guides  {Pcrigeten)  and 
reporters  of  the  truth  of  art.  They  made  of  the  picture,  life : 
we  shall  do  well  if  we  make  life  a  picture.^ 

1  The  above  essay  could  not  be  carried  out  so  far  as  it  deservedly 
requires.  It  was  also  not  possible  to  add  the  scientific  references  and 
(quotations.  Much  of  that  which  is  above  indicated  is  more  fully  explained 
than  I  could  do  in  the  continuation  of  the  Hierozoxkous  {Lowenkdm'pfe). 


IV. 
ZOROASTER. 

HIS  NAME  AND  TIME. 

The  name  Eran  (Iran)  does  not  occur  in  the  book  of  Esther. 
Classic  authors  also  are  unacquainted  with  it  as  a  title  applied 
to  the  entire  Persian  empire.  It  could  not  possibly  have  been 
so  used  at  the  times  of  Graeco-Persian  wars.  Doubtless  it 
would  otherwise  have  been  mentioned  in  the  records  of  the 
Old  Testament  and  by  Herodotus,  as  there  seems  to  be  no 
scarcity  of  personal  names  even  in  the  book  of  Esther,  in 
whose  composition  it  occurs  as  aTi  =  ariya. — Now,  just  as 
Strabo  makes  record  of  a  province  called  Ariana,  so  also  we 
should  surely  have  heard  of  the  name  for  the  whole  empire  if 
it  had  been  of  a  like  sound.  It  is  therefore  not  extraordinary 
that  Spiegel  should  have  found  no  trace  that  already  in  the 
ancient  times  such  a  name  was  used  for  the  whole  empire. 
It  is  quite  true  that,  according  to  the  cuneiform  versions, 
King  Darius  calls  himself  an  Aryan ;  but  he  does  not  give  a 
like  term  to  his  whole  empire.  It  is  not  simply  by  chance, 
but  for  political  reasons,  that  only  the  title  King  of  Persia 
or  Persia  and  Media  ('•^Dl  D"id)  occurs  in  the  proper  official 
documents  and  inscriptions.  But  taken  on  its  own  merits, 
the  name  Aryan  seems  to  me  to  give  the  best  proof  that  in 
researches  for  the  home  of  the  Aryan  tribe  the  account  of 
the  O.  T.  has  been  unreasonably  neglected.  The  cognate 
sound  in  the  name  Ararat  {\Tr\^)  is  beyond  doubt. 

1.  The  Scriptures  describe  the  nations  as  coming  down  from 
Ararat.  That  Ararat  means  high  land  is  indisputable,  especi- 
ally when  one  takes  into  account  the  various  names,  such  as 


ZOROASTER.  379 

Aram  and  Armena,  which  that  district  has  borne  in  the  past 
and  present.  And  to  interpret  Aryans  as  highlanders  is 
certainly  possible,  which  in  later  times  appears  by  an  abstract 
form  as  high,  or  the  honourable  one. 

Whatever  of  common  culture  and  religion  Aryans  and 
Indians  had  in  common  proceeded  thence.  Aryan  conquerors 
descended  to  India,  just  as  Mahmud  of  Gazna  and  Islam  have 
done. 

Herodotus  has  the  remarkable  memorial  that  the  Medians 
were  called  Aryans  in  former  times,  and  connects  the  myth  of 
Medea  and  Colchis  with  the  change  of  name.  And  this  is  not 
preserved  by  him  alone.  —  Diodorus  also  gives  us  the  sayings 
of  others  about  a  Medus,  a  son  of  Medea,  who  was  said  to 
have  become  king  of  Media. — That,  however,  there  really  are 
Aryan  traces  in  the  legend  of  Medea  is  quite  clear  from  the 
report  of  Pausanias.  He  tells  us  that  in  Corinth,  where 
Medea  lived  with  Jason,  she  hid  each  of  her  children  in  the 
temple  of  Juno,  being  under  the  impression  that  they  would 
become  immortal ;  that  Jason  had  discovered  her  engaged  in 
the  act,  and  that  their  separation  followed  thereupon.  We 
should  not  be  able  to  understand  what  constituted  Medea's 
offence  in  Jason's  eyes  if  we  did  not  remember  the  Indian 
story  of  Ganga,  who,  reborn  as  a  human  being,  weds 
Santanu,  the  son  of  Pratipa.  She  puts  her  children  into  the 
river  to  make  them  immortal ;  and  when  Santanu  surprises 
her,  she  has  to  separate  from  him. 

It  is  also  noticeable  that  in  the  ethnographic  table  of 
Genesis,  Media  ('•id)  alone  appears  as  the  son  of  Japhet,  and 
that  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  |V  (Javan),  that  is  to 
say,  of  the  Ionic- Greek  nation.  Up  to  the  time  of  Cyrus  it 
has  the  palpable  precedence  of  Persia.  Its  name  also  points 
to  the  meaning  of  central  position  which  it  possesses.  With- 
out doubt  Media  (nD)  signifies  Zend,  maidhya  =  medius,  maidh- 
yana^  the  middle,  a  meaning  which  may  have  been  not  alone 
local,  but  national  and  religious  as  well.  A  land  specially 
praised    and    holy,  situated    between   the    Jam  una    and   the 


380  APPENDIX  IV. 

Ganges,  is  called  Madyadeqa  by  the  Indians,  i.e.  "  land  of  the 
middle." 

A  name  of  like  meaning  is  applied  to  China  (Tschung  Kue). 
The  Greek  Messene  stands  for  Middleland  (legend  tells  of  a 
woman  of  this  name,  as  of  Medea).  It  was  said  of  Delphi, 
that  Apollo  there  inhabited  the  earth's  navel,  which,  however, 
Varro  somewhat  prosaically  denies.  So  the  Jewish  com- 
mentators called  the  Holy  Land  the  navel  of  the  earth 
("iud), — ideas  which  seem  to  have  been  held  concerning  the 
Kaaba  in  Mecca  by  the  adherents  of  Islam. 

The  ancient  central  place  occupied  by  the  Medes  is  proved 
by  this  circumstance,  that  even  during  the  most  flourishing 
period  of  the  Persian  empire  and  during  the  Persian  wars  the 
word  "  Median  "  was  used  by  the  Greeks,  and  interchangeably 
for  Persian,  in  the  same  sense  as  one  now  uses  "  Iranic "  or 
"  Aric."  This  application  is  not  limited  to  poetic  usage,  as 
when  Aeschylus  says,  "  Such  an  host  as  has  already  inflicted 
great  damage  on  the  Medes,"  or  as  it  occurs  in  Eoman  poets 
(cf.  CatuU.  67:"  Cum  Medi  irrupere  novum  mare,"  etc.  ;  cf. 
again,  "  Otimu  Medi  pharetra  decori,"  which  was  also  poetic 
usage,  even  when  historians  like  Arrian  and  Aelian  and  others 
use  "  Media7i "  for  "  Persian ").  So  also  it  is  only  poetic 
metaphor  when  TertuUian  exclaims,  ''Alexander  vicerat  medi- 
cam  gentem  et  victus  est  medica  veste." 

But  the  word  has  a  deeper  signification  when  Herodotus 
not  only  makes  Themistocles  speak  of  a  "king  of  the 
Medes  "  (viii.  5),  but  also  places  a  Greek  and  a  Median  party 
spirit  in  antithesis.  He  tells  us,  for  instance,  that  the 
Phocians  would  not  become  "  Median "  because  they  were 
hostile  to  the  Thessalians,  the  latter  being  Median.  Had 
these  been  of  the  Greek  party,  he  surmises  that  the  Phocians 
would  have  become  "Median'*  (viii.  30).  In  like  manner  he 
says  later  on  of  the  Boetians  that  they  are  "  Median "  in 
their  entirety.  This  is  the  more  peculiar  as  it  is  Herodotus 
specially  who  records  the  distinction  between  the  Persians 
and  Medes. 


ZOROASTER.  381 

2.  The  fall  of  the  Median  supremacy  was,  as  is  well 
known,  brought  about  by  Cyrus. — But  it  was  obviously  no  mere 
political  revolution.  Just  as  in  later  times  the  Sassanides 
introduced  not  only  a  new  dynasty,  but  also  a  new  religious 
era,  so  did  also  the  Persians  when  they  became  masters  of  the 
Median  dominion.  The  folk-lore  and  science-system,  which 
we  call  (Zarathustra)  after  Zoroaster,  first  came  to  power  over 
the  whole  empire  with  Cyrus. 

Through  him  a  political  and  religious  revolution  of  extra- 
ordinary importance  in  Asiatic  and  general  history  was  intro- 
duced, and  which  was  only  fully  accomplished  by  Darius 
Hystaspes. — I  think  that  even  a  few  historical  fragments  and 
legends  should  suffice  to  make  this  probable. 

We  read  in  Herodotus  (i.  20)  that  the  Magi  address 
Astyages  in  the  following  fashion :  "  King,  it  is  very  impor- 
tant to  us  that  your  mastership  should  continue. — For  in  the 
other  case  we  shall  become  slaves  of  the  Medes  and  lightly 
esteemed  by  the  Persians.  But  as  long  as  you  are  king  we 
participate  in  the  government,  and  win  honour  from  you." 
And  when,  as  Herodotus  further  records,  after  the  death  of 
Cambyses,  pseudo-Smerdes  the  Magus  usurped  the  throne,  it 
was  considered  as  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Medes  to 
regain  the  mastery, — e.g.  Gobryas  says  (iii.  73)  :  "  For  now  ive 
Persians  are  being  ruled  by  a  Mede,  a  Magus!' 

For  this  reason  the  discovery  of  the  fraud  caused  a  universal 
bitterness  among  the  Persians. 

The  Magi  that  could  be  reached  were  put  to  death ;  and 
like  a  Persian  Purim,  the  death  of  the  Magi  was  long 
celebrated  as  a  national  liberation  festival. 

According  to  Herodotus,  the  Magi  formed  a  tribe  of 
Medes  ;  they  represented  a  sort  of  priest  caste.  In  the  Old 
Testament,  on  one  occasion  Kab-Mag,  a  Magus,  appears  in  the 
train  of  the  Babylonian  king  Nebuchadnezzar.  When  later 
authors  call  also  the  Zoroastrian  priests  by  the  name  Magi, 
it  is  only  a  general  term  in  accordance  with  old  habits. — In 
itself  it  was  not  a  name  for  them.     Eather  with  the  mastery 


382  APPENDIX  IV. 

of  Cyrus  there  was  introduced  a  Persian  hatred  against  the 
Magi,  as  they  were  identified  with  the  Medes.  Could  one 
rely  on  the  interpretation  of  the  Bisutun  cuneiform  inscription, 
this  would  be  strikingly  confirmed.  Darius  recounts  in  it  his 
conquest  of  pseudo-Smerdes  (Bartiya). 

"  The  mastery,  which  had  been  snatched  from  our  race,  I 
have  brought  back  again  ;  I  restored  it  happily  as  it  had 
ibrmerly  been  ;  I  ordered  that  what  Gumata  the  Magus  had 
professed  should  not  be  honoured  ;  I  have  the  service  and 
temple  of  the  protector  of  the  state,  and  have  given  back  to 
the  gods  what  Gumata  the  Magus  had  robbed  them  of  .  .  . 
and  so  through  the  grace  of  Ahuramazda  I  have  won  back 
that  which  was  lost." 

This  much  is  certain,  that  in  this  inscription  a  victory  of 
Ahuramazda  over  his  enemies  is  celebrated  for  the  reason  that 
Darius  had  dethroned  the  Magus. 

The  historic  legend  of  the  rise  of  Cyrus,  as  it  is  recounted 
by  Herodotus  and  in  later  Persian  poetry,  doubtless  supports 
the  view  that  the  victory  of  the  old  Persian  empire  was  also 
shared  by  the  Zoroastrian  system. 

Firdussi  recounts  from  the  traditions  known  to  him  that  it 
was  Kai  Khosru  (Khosrav)  who  built  the  temple  in  Bahmandiz 
for  the  "  Adar  Gushasp  "  (the  holy  fire).  The  w^orship  of  the 
latter  is  always  preferred  before  his.  The  Bundehesli  says 
that  (cap.  17)  the  fire  Adar  Gushasp  was  a  friend  of  Kai 
Khosru,  and  that  when  he  destroyed  the  idol-temple,  the  fire 
took  its  seat  on  the  mane  of  his  horse.  Only  through  his 
service  to  the  fire  Kai  Khosru  gains  the  right  of  succession  to 
the  throne.     He  is  the  first  shah  of  whom  this  is  told. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Herodotus's  accounts  of  Cyrus  are 
reflected  in  the  legends  of  Kai  Khosru.  It  is  not  only  the 
name  that  reminds  one  of  this.  Kai  Khosru  is  the  grandson 
of  the  ruler  whom  he  serves,  just  like  Cyrus.  As  a  child  he 
is  placed  amongst  shepherds,  and  is  brought  up  unrecognised. 
His  royal  demeanour  soon  shows  itself.  A  dream  declares 
his  royalty.     Kai  Khosru  alone  has  the  Quareno,  the  divine 


ZOROASTER.  383 

nimbus,  which  proves  him  to  be  a  destined  king.  His  grand- 
father Kai  Kans  has  no  nimbus,  and  indeed  retires  deeply  into 
the  background  as  one  who  has  injured  his  grandson.  Quareno 
is  derived  from  Khar,  "  to  shine."  It  is  connected  with  the 
Hebrew  ^ip  (Karan),  which  is  used  (Ex.  xxxiv.  29)  when 
Moses's  face  shone  so  divinely  that  every  one  feared  to  draw 
near  to  him.  It  is  manifestly  from  this  that  Apollo  derives 
his  name  Karneios,  Karnose,  the  shining  god.  It  is  certain 
that  from  this  the  house  of  Cyrus  or  t^ns  is  derived,  who 
manifested  himself  as  the  rightful  and  appointed  sovereign. 
Of  course  many  details  diverge  in  the  brilliant  mixture  of 
Firdussi's  poem,  but  the  groundwork  of  similarity  cannot  be 
mistaken. — The  fact  that  Herodotus's  account  declares  Cyrus 
to  have  been  reared  by  the  woman  Spako,  or  bitch,  may  be 
referred  to  the  honours  which,  as  we  shall  see  later  on,  are 
paid  to  the  dog  in  Zoroastrianism.  By  the  action  of  youthful 
Cyrus  in  causing  the  Persians  to  till  a  thorny  field  one  day 
and  enjoy  its  fruits  the  next,  the  essence  of  Zoroastrianism  is 
really  portrayed,  which  represents  the  cleansing  of  the  earth 
from  thorns  and  vermin  as  religion,  in  order  to  have  a  joyful 
life  later  on. 

As  regards  Cambyses,  one  must  not  overlook  the  fact  that 
his  killing  of  apes  and  burning  of  the  Hephaestos  image  recall 
the  ideas  of  the  bull  and  the  fire  which  appear  in  Zoroas- 
trianism, and  concerning  which  the  necessary  remarks  are  given 
in  the  preceding  Appendix.  One  must  also  notice  the  words 
which,  according  to  Herodotus  (iii.  65),  Cambyses  addressed 
to  the  Persians  on  his  deathbed :  "  ^N'ow  therefore,  whilst 
invoking  the  royal  gods  (Oeovs  tov?  ^aaiXiKw^i  einKakeoDv), 
I  lay  it  on  your  consciences  —  that  you  do  not  allow 
the  supremacy  to  pass  again  to  the  Medes.  If  ye  observe 
this,  may  the  earth  bring  forth  fruit  for  you,  and  may 
you  have  fruitful  vines  and  herds,  and  may  you  be  free 
(in  this  consists  the  blessing  of  Zoroastrianism).  And  if 
not,  then  I  invoke  on  you  the  contrary  of  all  this." 

3.  In  a  special  sense  Darius  is  called  the  son  of  Hystaspes. 


384  APPENDIX  IV. 

Darius  is  the  real  architect  of  tlie  great  Persian  empire,  and 
under  him  also  Zoroastrianism  attained  its  permanent  success. 
The  name  Hystaspes  (ViqtaQpa,  Gustasp)  is  connected  with 
the  origin  of  Zoroastrian  teaching.  We  do  not  think  that 
he  could  have  been  the  father  of  Darius ;  but  this  is  certain, 
that  through  the  circumstance  that  he  is  called  the  son  of 
Hystaspes,  his  adherence  to  Zoroastrianism  receives  accentua- 
tion, and  through  that,  attainment  of  royal  dignity  became  easy. 

In  VigtaQpa  appears  the  connection  with  asp,  horse.  Ac- 
cording to  the  legend  of  Herodotus,  Darius  becomes  king 
through  the  neighing  of  his  horse. 

In  one  of  the  legends  of  his  life  Zoroaster  demonstrates  upon 
a  horse  of  Gustasp  the  truth  of  his  doctrine.  Its  four  feet 
shrinking  into  its  body  disappear ;  Zoroaster  restores  to  the 
horse  its  natural  existence  ;  on  account  of  this,  Gustasp  enlists 
himself  and  his  son  Isfendiar  in  the  service  of  the  new 
teaching.  The  consequence  of  this  is  that  the  separate  feet 
emerge  again. 

I  consider  in  these  legends  the  horse  to  be  the  symbol  of 
Persia  itself.  Many  records  of  the  ancients  show  that  Persia  is 
a  very  special  horse-raising  country.  In  the  legends  of  heroes 
the  horse  is  a  prominent  associate  of  the  Iranian  conquest. 
Kai  Khosru  could  not  become  king  unless  he  obtained  the  horse 
Behzad  which  had  served  his  father  Siawusch  (Syawaksch). 
The  horse,  however,  quickly  allowed  the  son  to  catch  it  when 
it  saw  the  rein  and  saddle  that  had  belonged  to  the  father. 

But  this  is  not  the  case  with  Vigta^pa  alone  ;  also  his  father 
Lohrasp  and  the  chief  antagonist  of  Zoroastrianism  are  named 
after  horses  in  the  legend  "  Arzasp  of  Turan,"  just  as  the 
good  and  the  bad  genii  Tistrya  and  Apaosha  contend  with 
each  other  in  the  shape  of  a  white  and  a  black  horse. 

Persia  itself  as  DID  signifies  nothing  but  horse-land,  and  is 
identical  with  tJ'iQ  (horse,  horseman),  just  as  in  modern  Per- 
sian it  means  horse  and  Persian. 

In  like  manner  in  the  various  terms  of  the  Hebrew  records 
tri3   (Cyrus,  shine)   and  Din  (sunshine)  converge.     But  con- 


ZOROASTER.  385 

tainecl  therein  is  a  deeper  symbolical  thought.  The  horse, 
especially  the  white  one,  was  the  type  of  the  sun.  Sun-steeds 
were  known  to  all  Oriental  nationalities. 

In  the  march  of  Xerxes  and  his  army,  Herodotus  describes 
(vii.  40  and  55)  the  holy  chariot  of  Zeus  drawn  by  eight 
white  horses,  which  was  followed  by  the  royal  chariot. — What 
Herodotus  here  ascribes  to  Zeus  is  told  of  Mithra  in  the 
Persian  sacred  scriptures,  before  whose  chariot  four  gleaming 
steeds  are  harnessed ;  a  like  chariot  is  ascribed  to  Ardvigura 
Anahita,  who  resembles  Mithra  in  conception. 

It  is  therefore  no  wonder  that  the  sun  is  said  to  be  possessed 
of  swift  steeds.  Xenophon  also  expressly  calls  the  chariot 
that  preceded  the  king's  that  of  the  sun.  It  was  a  most 
ingenious  combination  of  the  ancients  which  joined  together 
the  name  of  Perseus  with  Persia.  The  lesjend  of  this  hero  is 
Oriental.  Perseus  is  nothing  but  ens,  the  knight.  He  comes 
from  heaven  a  sun-hero  on  the  steed  which  overcomes  the 
dragon.  So  the  Persian  heroes  overcome  the  Azhis  dahaka,  the 
evil  serpent,  of  which  it  is  said  that  it  slays  men  and  horses, 
even  as  Andromeda  is  called  the  rescued  "  bearer  of  men." 

The  famous  hero  Keregaspa,  who  conquers  the  terrible 
Cruvara,  signifies  perhaps  nothing  else  than  the  horse,  as  we 
shall  see  farther  on. 

Also  when  Herodotus  has  the  statement  that  the  Persians 
had  formerly  been  called  Kephenes  by  the  Greeks,  we  must 
not  regard  this  as  simply  a  playful  idea.  We  are  reminded 
of  the  legends  about  the  conquering  smith  Kawi  and  the 
royal  family  of  Kawi  Kawata  (Kai  Kobad),  Kaviuca  (Kai 
Kaus),  and  Kawi  Hugrava  (Kai  Khosru).  The  father  of 
Zoroaster  is  called  Purushagpa  (comp.  Prexaspes).  The 
translation,  "  possessing  many  horses,"  does  not  seem  to  be  the 
correct  one.  I  would  rather  suggest  here  "purus,"  pure,  and 
TTvp,  fire,  if  indeed  the  name  is  ancient.  But  when  the 
Persians  have  the  names  of  their  horses  as  symbols  of  the 
victory  of  the  sun,  it  is  only  natural  that  in  the  time  of  their 
power  they  should  emphasize  these  names. 

2  B 


386  APPENDIX  IV. 

Of  Qraoslia,  who  in  reality  is  perhaps  nothing  else  than 
Mithra,  we  are  therefore  told  in  the  11th  Yagna  (after 
Spiegel),  "  whom  the  four  horses  guide  (carry),  without  speck 
(pure),  hrightly  shining,  beautiful,  holy,  wise,  swift,  obeying 
the  heavenly  behest."  What  he  sees  in  Eastern  India  (hendu, 
nin),  he  seizes  ;  what  in  the  Western  (c'n),  he  strikes  (conquers). 
He  is  the  type  (ensample)  of  the  king  of  Persia,  who  from  out 
of  his  chariot  judges  (governs)  the  Oriental  world. 

Hitherto  I  have  frequently,  and  I  think  justly,  used  the 
treasures  of  the  Semitic  languages  for  the  explanation  of 
Persian  names.  It  is  legitimate  ;per  se,  because  the  real 
relations  of  men  and  nations  were  much  freer  and  wider 
than  the  modern  science  of  language  seems  to  be  inclined 
to  assume.  But  there  is  a  reason  for  it  in  a  narrower 
sense.  It  is  remarkable  that  while  Media  (no)  appears 
already  in  the  table  of  nations  in  Genesis,  the  name  of 
Persia  (dis)  appears  only  late  in  the  time  of  the  captivity, 
when  Israel  got  into  relations  with  the  great  empire. 
Instead  of  it,  however,  we  find  another.  At  the  head  of 
the  sons  of  Shem  appears,  on  the  side  of  Ashur,  Arpachshad, 
Lud  and  Aram,  the  name  of  Elam  (Dh^]}).  It  occurs  in 
Gen.  xiv.,  in  company  of  Amraphel  king  of  Sliinar,  Arioch 
king  of  Elasar,  Tidal  king  of  Goyim,  as  -iD3;b~n3,  king  of 
Elam.  It  is  the  opinion  of  all  tradition  that  this  Elam 
stands  here  for  D"ia,  Persia.  Scripture  itself  gives  us  a  proof. 
In  Isa.  xxi.  2  and  Jer.  xxv.  25,  Elam  stands  in  the  same 
conjunction  with  Media  as  usually  is  the  case  with  Persia. 
In  Isa.  xxii.  6  it  stands  in  conjunction  with  Kir,  reminding 
us  either  of  the  Kuran,  a  tributary  from  Khusistan  to  the 
lower  Schatul  -  Arab,  or  perhaps  of  Kur,  Kyros,  another 
tributary  from  the  Bhaktegan  lake  in  Ears.  The  prophet 
depicts  the  Elamites  as  Persians  with  quivers,  chariots,  and 
horses.  Finally,  Daniel  sees  his  vision  in  Susa,  in  the  land 
of  Elam,  on  the  river  ''fjis  (Eulaeus  or  Choaspes). 

The  Scriptures,  in  counting  Elam  amongst  the  descendants 
of  Shem,  and  Media  amongst  those  of  Japhet,  wish  to  indi- 


ZOROASTER.  387 

cate  thereby  a  difference  in  language  and  people.  Every 
Elamitic  signification  can  be  explained  by  Semitic  language. 
In  Elam  we  find  high  land  or  plateau,  as  the  name  seems  to 
be  derived  from  nbv,  to  mount,  and  brings  us  to  Asia,  just 
as  Elyon  means  high  or  exalted  (as  it  is  explained  of  Ariya). 
Shushan  (p)^)  gets  its  name  from  the  lily,  combined  with 
tj'tj^,  white.  In  Eulaeus  we  find  another  form  of  a  Semitic 
name,  Uval,  ''i'i5<=''i5n5<,  Juval,  the  river;  while  Choaspes  was 
the  Arian  name,  mountain-horse,  since  the  horse  was  com- 
pared to  rivers  springing  from  hills. 

Highly  interesting  is  the  explanation  of  nny^-na.  Schrader 
has  compared  with  it  kings'  names  from  other  inscriptions; 
so  Kudur  -  nanhundi ;  he  also  thinks  Kudur  -  Mabuk  an 
Elamitic  king.  It  is  related  of  Kudur-nanhundi  that  he 
had  robbed  an  image  of  the  goddess  Nana,  which  returned 
again  to  Babylon,  and  that  he  laid  hands  on  the  temple 
at  Akkad.  Kudur -Mabuk  calls  himself  Euler  of  the 
West  country.  Schrader,  however,  has  not  interpreted  the 
name  itself.  Thirty  years  ago  I  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  names  of  the  ancient  kings  of  Mesopotamia 
are  compounded  with  those  of  the  gods.  This  is  seen  in 
Kudurlaomer.  Kudur  occurs  in  ivnauj  =  "iV"n3l23.  Benfey 
reads  Nabucodrossor ;  in  the  inscriptions,  Nabokudurriussur ; 
in  Schrader's  version,  Nabu  Khadrachara.  It  is  composed 
out  of  Nabo,  Zar  or  azar  and  Kudur,  Kudan,  or  Adon,  Lord ; 
Adir,  mighty  one.  In  Laomer  we  recognise  El  Amir,  "  God, 
Prince."  In  Kudur-nanhundi,  who  robbed  Nana,  I  see  a 
composition  with  the  name  of  the  goddess  Anahita,  the  same 
as  Nana,  called  in  the  Avesta,  Ardvigura  Anahita,  the  goddess 
of  fertility.  For  this  reason  I  consider  the  Semitic  derivation 
of  D"iQ  as  the  most  likely. 

In  Persia,  Elam  was  the  Semitic  element ;  through  the 
preponderance  of  the  Median- Arian  tribe,  the  Arian  language 
became  the  prevailing  one.  However,  it  was  only  by  means 
of  the  old  reminiscences  of  Persian  life  as  far  as  the  spirit 
of   the    matter   required    it,    especially    in    worship,    which 


388  APPENDIX  IV. 

seems  to  have  proceeded  from  Elam,  that  the  Semitic  vocabu- 
lary was  used. 

II. 

When  Aristagoras  came  to  Sparta  to  persuade  Kiug 
Kleomenes  to  war  against  the  Persians,  he  described  to  him 
the  condition  of  the  great  empire :  "  They  have  more  good 
things  than  all  others  taken  together ;  beginning  with  gold, 
silver,  brass,  many-coloured  garments,  cattle,  and  slaves." 

The  empire  was  indeed  well  cultivated,  not  only  in  the 
Provinces  of  Asia  Minor,  but  also  in  Mesopotamia  and 
Persia.  All  the  gifts  of  the  earth  were  well  cultivated. 
Through  good  communication  the  nations  were  joined  to 
each  other.  Roads  led,  as  Herodotus  describes  (v.  25), 
through  inhabited  and  safe  countries.  Even  the  way 
through  the  desert  to  Egypt  was  made  easy  by  the  quantity 
of  water  led  into  the  desert  (Herod,  iii.  6).  The  remark 
of  Xenophon,  that  the  Persians,  wherever  they  are  or  come 
to,  have  gardens  laid  out,  and  make  the  land  beautiful  and 
fertile,  characterizes  Persian  life  in  manners  and  morals.^ 
The  so-called  Paradises  (D"ns,  fenced  gardens)  show  more  than 
the  desire  after  luxury  and  pleasure.  The  chase  of  wild 
animals  was  not  only  a  warlike  game.  When  Lysander, 
visiting  the  younger  Cyrus,  found  him  in  his  garden,  he 
was  astonished  at  the  costly  culture,  the  beauty  of  the 
trees,  the  careful  tilling  of  the  ground,  fertility,  and  beauty. 
Hearing  that  the  prince  had  ordered  all,  and  even  worked 
at  it  himself,  he  burst  out  in  the  foUowiog  words :  "  Eightly 
I  call  thee  happy,  because  thou  joinest  virtue  to  riches ;  not 
understanding  that  Cyrus  followed  a  still  higher  motive — 
a  kind  of  moral  obligation.  When  Xenophon  depicts  Dascy- 
lium,  the  capital  of  a  mere  satrap,  Pherenbazes,  as  wonder- 
fully  cultivated,  endowed  with    gardens    and    lakes,  fit    for 

1  [The  Talmud  testifies  to  this  by  representing  the  Persians  pleading  on 
the  day  of  judgment  before  God  that  they  were  busy  in  making  bridges, 
etc.,  for  Israel     Abvodah  Zarali,  p.  26.— Trans.] 


ZOROASTER.  389 

chase  and  fishing,  with  its  rich  landscape,  what  must  the 
royal  gardens  of  Susa  have  been,  which  the  book  of  Esther 
praises !  Everywhere  were  trees  and  gardens  found  in  the 
splendour  of  Persian  royalty.  Firdussi  sketches  them  in  his 
poetical  traditions.  Art  imitated  nature  in  poetry  and  reality. 
Firdussi  says  that  when  Kai-Khosroe  gave  a  feast, — 

"  A  tree  was  erected,  opaque  in  its  branches,  the  summit 
inclining  to  the  throne,  the  stem  of  silver,  the  branches 
of  gold,  rubies  formed  the  flowers,  fruits  of  carniol  and 
sapphire  smiled  out  of  the  dark-green  leaves  of  emeralds." 

The  splendour  of  the  palaces  and  thrones  of  the  caliphs 
later  on,  was  only  a  remembrance  of  the  old  Persian  glory. 
Caliph  Al  Moktader  had  a  silver  tree ;  in  its  branches 
sat  birds  of  silver  and  gold,  which  sang  automatically,  and 
were  able  to  move  about.  Hammer  considers  the  gardens 
of  Chumaruye  in  Egypt  as  the  first  botanical  garden,  and 
the  type  of  those  in  the  Arahian  Nights.  But  the  Persian 
kings,  in  doing  these  things,  did  not  think  of  splendour 
and  pleasure  only ;  not  of  pleasure  -  gardens  only,  but  the 
tilling  of  fields,  the  culture  of  meadows,  —  and  not  only 
profit  even,  but  the  profit  to  religion  was  the  real  motive. 

The  teaching  of  Zoroaster  is  the  religion  of  a  national 
tilling  of  the  land.  To  plant  trees,  make  use  of  forests,  to 
plough  the  land,  to  regulate  rivers,  were  the  fundamentals 
of  their  religion. 

What  was  serviceable  to  this  culture  was  good;  what 
contrary  to  it,  bad.  Animals  helping  therein  were  good ; 
those  that  hindered,  demoniac.  For  a  rational,  well-con- 
ducted life  they  wanted  fire,  water,  the  plough,  the  ox,  the 
horse,  and  the  dog.  P>efore  all,  they  symbolized  the  idea 
of  good.  Only  the  useful  was  good.  The  Persians  explain 
Mipana,  one  of  their  deities,  as  "  a  ^perpetual  usefulness." 
One  of  the  attributes  of  Ahuramazda  was  Cevista,  "  the  most 
useful."  The  Anushagpentas  have  the  cognomen  "always 
useful ; "  Arstat,  "  helping  on  the  world ;  "  fire,  "  affording  use 
to  all."     Spiegel  thinks  "Qaoka"  is  nothing  but  utility.     The 


390  APPENDIX  IV. 

egoism  peculiar  to  the  farmer,  according  to  which  weather, 
time,  the  field  and  animals  are  good  according  to  their 
usefulness,  is  the  chief  doctrine  of  Zoroastrianism,  out  of  which 
has  been  developed  its  dualism,  ethical  and  historical,  social 
and  historical. 

A  similar  view  of  nature  appears,  indeed,  among  all 
heathen  nations.  Originally  there  was  a  contrast  in  Zeus 
and  Hera,  night ;  their  children  were  enemies ;  Zeus  repre- 
sented Ahuramazda ;  Heracles  was  victorious  over  serpents. 
As  the  hero  of  civilisation,  he  conquers  rapacious  night, 
waterless  deserts,  poisonous  swamps,  and  illness.  In  the 
Greek  view  of  the  world,  these  contrasts  are  united  harmoni- 
ously. Hera  and  Zeus  marry.  Hephaestus  becomes  a  member 
of  the  Olympic  "  round  table."  Prometheus  is  taken  into 
i'avour  with  an  iron  ring  on  his  hand.  The  contrast  is  also 
harmonised  in  Indian  mythology,  for  even  the  serpents  are 
made  alive  again  through  the  Amrita. 

Neither  does  the  northern  legend  maintain  the  full  contrast. 
Loki  is  one  of  the  Asi,  i.e.  demigods.  In  order  to  free  the 
world -views  of  the  other  Aryans  of  these  irreconcilable 
contrasts,  historical  events  had  to  take  place  in  them  and 
around  them.  I^owhere  else  do  we  find  this  sharp  contrast 
but  in  the  dualism  of  the  Persians.  Tlie  same  corresponds 
only  with  the  view  of  Holy  Scripture.  But  here  the  contrast 
is  between  spirit  and  nature.  Creator  and  creature ;  but  there, 
within  nature — profit  or  hurt  of  the  agriculturist. 

This  doctrine  was  brought  to  a  height  through  the  Persians, 
whose  first  dynast  was  Cyrus,  and  was  in  opposition  to  the 
Hamitic  Baal  service,  ruling  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Medi- 
terranean, from  Babylon  to  Egypt,  with  which,  however,  it 
must  have  had,  notwithstanding  the  antagonism,  many  features 
in  common.  This  doctrine  is  ascribed  to  Zoroaster,  who  is  said 
to  have  lived  in  the  time  of  Gustasp  (Hystaspes).  IS'obody, 
however,  is  able  to  give  the  meaning  of  his  name,  his  home,  or 
his  generation  with  certainty.  The  legend  of  Zoroaster  in- 
dicates this  doctrine  in  all  its  points.     His  mother  has  dreams 


ZOKO  ASTER.  391 

in  which  lions,  tigers,  wolves,  and  dragons  attempt  to  rob  her 
of  her  child  ;  they  can,  however,  do  nothing  to  her,  for  all  wild 
animals  are  driven  away  by  his  doctrine.  The  child  is  the 
only  one,  born,  not  only  without  tears,  but  coming  laughing  into 
the  world.  This  legend  is  told  already  by  Pliny  and  Solinus. 
Tears  and  pains  belong  to  that  hostile  nature  which  he  attempts 
to  conquer.  Other  miracles  related  of  his  youth  have  all  the 
character  of  his  teaching.  He  sleeps  quietly  in  the  fire  ;  cows 
and  horses  minister  to  him ;  the  former  give  him  their  milk ; 
wolves  have  to  flee ;  as  man  he  has  to  contend  with  countless 
serpents,  which  dare  not  hurt  him.  Vohu-mano  commands 
him  to  tell  the  people  to  take  good  care  of  useful  animals,  and 
especially  not  to  kill  young  lambs.  Another  genius  tells  him 
to  plant  (extend)  fire  and  fire-altars.  Cpenta-armaiti  tells  him 
not  to  defile  the  earth  with  blood,  nor  to  heap  impure  matter 
upon  it,  but  to  cultivate  it  diligently  at  any  price.  The  care 
of  water,  plants,  and  trees  is  recommended  to  him. 

In  one  legend  we  have  a  peculiar  notice.  His  mother  is  told 
she  will  be  pregnant  with  her  child  five  months  and  twenty- 
three  days,  i.e.  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  the  fifth  month  she 
will  become  mother  of  a  great  man.  The  first  month  from 
which  to  reckon  the  time  of  his  development  can  only  be 
December,  when  the  sun  appears  smallest ;  the  fifth  is  the 
spring  month  (Ardibihist),  corresponding  to  our  April.  On 
the  23rd  the  Mohammedans  celebrate  the  feast  of  Khisr,  when 
the  horses  are  taken  to  the  pastures  ;  spring-day  has  conquered. 
Khisr  corresponds  with  St.  George,  the  George  of  farmers 
and  gardeners,  who  conquers  the  dragon — winter.  On  his  day, 
the  25th  of  April,  the  Emperor  of  China  celebrates  the  initia- 
tion of  spring,  guiding  with  his  own  hand  the  agricultural 
plough.  In  the  legend  also  the  victory  over  winter  is  thereby 
transferred  to  Zoroaster.  His  name  also  can  alone  be  explained 
out  of  the  spirit  of  his  doctrine.  Many  attempts,  it  appears 
to  me,  have  been  made  to  do  this,  without  having  regard  to 
harmonious  connection  with  the  spirit  of  his  doctrine. 

Windischmann  and,  following  him,  Spiegel  reject  the  deriva- 


392  APPENDIX  IV. 

tion  generally  given,  without  putting  something  more  satis- 
factory in  its  place.  Windischmann,  following  Burnouf,  demon- 
strates that  in  the  name  Zarathustra  the  last  part,  ustra, 
may  mean  camel.  As  there  are  names  composed  with  agpa, 
horse,  or  ukhsan,  ox,  so  also  may  Zarathustra  be  a  compound  of 
usthra,  camel.  Fr.  Mliller  translates  therefore :  "  possessing 
courageous  camels,"  which  Spiegel  thinks  the  most  likely. 
But  horse  and  bullock  frequently  occur  in  the  teaching  of 
Zoroaster,  while  camel  never  occurs  in  his  writings.  One 
ought  to  find  some  traces  of  it;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it 
appears  to  me  that  the  camel,  as  the  animal  of  the  desert  and 
of  the  hostile  Arabs,  is  repugnant  to  Zoroaster's  views.  The 
name  has  still  less  an  ideal  sense,  as  "rich  in  gold,"  which  Bar 
Bahlul  gives;  or  "gold  pure,"  which  Hyde  quotes  from  a  Persian; 
or  "  gold-star,"  which  Windischmann  thinks  not  problematical, 
as  adduced  by  Lassen.  The  opinion  of  Deinon  (fourth  century 
B.C.)  inclines  to  star,  who  suggests  dcrrpoOvTrj^;,  "  sacrificing  to 
stars  ; "  while  Bochart  reads  aaTpodeaTr}^.  One  cannot  agree 
to  this,  as  it  does  not  regard  the  nature  of  the  name ;  but 
Bochart  is  right,  that  the  reading  of  Deinon  is  capable  of 
emendation.  Had  Deinon  known  anything  of  Zoroaster's 
cultus,  he  would  not  have  called  him  daTpo6vTr)<;,  "  a  sacrificer 
to  stars."  Most  likely  his  true  reading  is  acnpo(f)VT7}(;,  born 
of  stars.  Windischmann  wonders  why  the  Greeks  have  not 
pronounced  Zarathystres  for  Zarathustra,  rather  than  Zoroastros 
or  Zoroastres.  The  reason  is,  that  they  recognised  in  thustra 
the  name  of  the  star,  and  indeed  that  of  Sirius  the  Dog-star, 
as  Anquetil  and  Wahl  thought,  Tistrya  or  Teshtri.  Sirius 
was  frequently  called  simply  aster,  as,  e.g.,  sunstroke  is  called 
aa-TpofiX7}(na,  from  Sirius,  under  whose  light  is  the  greatest 
heat.  I  am  the  more  inclined  to  this  interpretation,  because 
Sirius  plays  an  important  part  in  the  doctrines  of  Zoroaster. 

It  is  well  known  which  signification  it  had  in  Egypt.  People 
saw  in  it  the  forerunner  of  the  Nile-flood  and  the  guardian 
of  its  approach.  They  saw  in  the  manner  of  its  rising  a  sign 
of  the  year's  fertility  brought  about  by  the  flood.    Prom  thence 


ZOROASTEE.  393 

began  the  world's  birthday.     Thence  Jablonski   explains  its 
name,  Sothi,  "  beginning."     Thence  also  Plutarch  derives  the 
name  from  Kveiv,  to  bear,  and  therefore  was  called  Kvwv,  Canis 
Major.      But  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  star  got  the  name  of 
Dog  from  being  heaven's  guardian.     Kvetv  and  kvcov  not  only 
depend  upon  each  other,  but  in  Sanscrit  also  gua  and  gvajate, 
to  swell,  are  related  to  gvan,  gvni,  dog,  as  Plutarch  himself, 
speaking  of  Horomazes  (Ahuramazda),  the  god  of  the  Persians, 
says,  "  he  placed  a  star,  Seirios,  as  guardian,  <^v\aKa,  and  over- 
seer."    The   name    Seirios    itself   is  very  instructive.      It  is 
specially  brilliant;  in  3rd  Yagna,  "the  brilliant  shining;"  in 
I7th  Ya^na,  "the  splendid,  majestic."     In  the  Khordavesta 
its  splendour  is  praised  repeatedly.    The  name  is  derived  from 
the  Semitic  int  ("ino,  Syr.  fc^ino,  similar  to  the  Arabic  word  for 
moon  =  Isis,  whence  the  connection  of  Isis  and  Sirius).     Comp. 
Jablonski,  Pantheon,  ii.  25.     The  Greek  creipio^;,  "hot,  burning," 
is  taken  from  the  Dog-star.     I  am  the  more  astonished  that 
Spiegel  could  doubt  whether  Sirius  and  Tir  are  different  in 
Persian  names  and  texts.     Sirios  and  Tir  stand  to  each  other  as 
nnr  and  "into  (Sir — Tir),  splendid  and  pure.     The  names  of  Tiri- 
bazus  and  Tiridates  are  taken  from  Sirius  =  Tir.     That  Tir 
appears  as  Counter-Sirius  may  be  explained  in  the  same  way  as 
that  Mithra  occurs  as  an  opponent,  on  account  of  the  damage 
which  the  Dog-star  heat  sometimes  occasions.     While  it  brings 
blessing   as   "lord   of   the    water,"   its    heat   is   burning  and 
hurtful.     Por  this  reason  are  the  old  Bactrian  texts  right  to 
translate  the  month  Tir  with  Tistrya. .    This  identity  appears 
plainly  in  the  Tistar-yast  of  the  Khordavesta.     Tir  is  "the 
arrow,"  and  of  Tistrya  it  is  said  therein,  according  to  Spiegel, 
"  who  is  a  fearfully  flexible  arrow,  very  supple,  gliding  along 
like  an  arrow." 

The  festival  of  Tiraghan  is  therefore  most  likely  placed  in 
the  month  of  Tir,  which  festival  is  otherwise  called  "  abriza- 
ghan,"  sprinkling  of  water ;  reckoned  from  April,  the  month 
of  Tir  falls  into  the  Dog-star  season.  I  see  in  Tistrya, 
"  Tistar,"  a  compound  of  Tir  and  aster  (stara),  and  it  means 


394  APPENDIX  IV. 

nothing  else  than  Sirius-star,  as  (in  Greek)  Astrokyon  =  Dog- 
star. 

The  importance  of  Tistar  for  the  teaching  of  Zoroaster  is 
eminent.  He  is  praised  like  Ahuramazda  himself.  For  him 
the  highest  genii  prepare  the  way.  Above  all  things  his  is 
the  task  to  further  fertility  by  water,  like  the  Egyptian 
Sothi ;  he  draws  out  the  clouds  ;  animals  and  plants  yearn 
for  him  (cf.  Spiegel,  Avesta,  iii.  22).  Zoroaster  is,  so  to  say, 
his  image.  As  he,  Zoroaster,  is  overseer  over  men,  so  is  he 
over  stars ;  it  is  therefore  natural  that  Zoroaster's  name  as 
benefactor  and  teacher  is  taken  from  him.  I  see  in  tlie  name 
of  Zoroaster  a  formation  similar  to  that  of  Zerubbabel.  hiyrsi 
is  derived  from  jnt,  seed,  sperma,  Zerubbabel,  therefore  son, 
seed,  or  power  from  Babel.  The  same  word  appears  Iranic  in 
Bundehesh  as  zor,  zormed.,  powerful,  zors,  power ;  cf  Justi  on 
Bundehesh,  170.  71  ;  in  modern  Persian  "iir,  power,  just  as  vnt 
means  both  power  and  arm.  The  son  and  offspring  is  a  sign  of 
manhood,  as  Jacob  says.  Gen.  xlix.  3  :  "  Thou  marrow  and 
firstling  of  my  power."  Zarathustra-Zoroaster  might  therefore 
express  the  meaning  that  he  should  be  a  "  Son  of,  or  power 
of,  the  star;"  just  as  the  celebrated  pseudo-Messiah  of  the 
Jews  called  himself  Barcochba  (Son  of  a  Star),  referring  to 
the  words  of  Balaam,  Num.  xxiv.  17:  "  There  shall  come 
a  Star  out  of  Jacob,"  and  like  the  star  seen  by  the  Magi 
standing  over  the  hut  of  Jesus. 

In  the  foregoing  I  have  changed  the  reading  by  Deinon 
into  aGTpo^vTT]^.  It  would  mean  the  same,  offspring  of  [a] 
star ;  but  the  meaning  found  in  the  Recognitions  of  Clement 
has  hitherto  not  been  regarded  profoundly  enough. — If  there 
the  name  of  Zoroaster  is  expounded  by  vivum  sidus,  it  does 
signify  "  living  bodily  and  incarnate  star,"  which  is,  indeed, 
the  true  sense  of  the  name.  This  is  made  plainer  still  when 
it  is  said  in  the  Clementines  (1.  ix.  c.  51),  "He  is  called  thus, 
because  a  living  river  of  the  star  had  come  upon  him." 
Zoroaster  is,  as  it  were,  the  incarnation  of  the  Tistar-spirit. 

As  in  Tistar  is  understood  the  fertilizing  of  the  earth  and 


ZOROASTER.  395 

watcher  over  the  earth-blessmg  in  heaven,  so  Zoroaster  is 
to  be  understood  as  he  who  by  his  doctrine  fertilizes  the 
earth  and  watches  over  its  safety.  It  may  be  asserted  with 
almost  certainty  that  thence  is  derived  the  honour  shown  to 
the  dog  in  the  cultus  of  the  Persians. 

We  cannot  agree  with  the  researches  made  by  Windischmann 
on  the  other  names  which  appear  to  have  been  in  use  about 
Zoroaster.  Porphyry  confounds  him  with  the  Chaldeans  when 
he  says :  "  In  Babylon  he  met  with  the  Chaldeans  and  came 
to  Zabratos "  (read  Zaratos).  The  dualistic  doctrine  quoted 
by  Aristoxenus  as  the  teaching  of  Zaratas,  who  taught 
Pythagoras,  can  only  be  referred  to  the  opinion  held  con- 
cerning the  teaching  of  Zoroaster.  This  dualism  was  known 
as  his  peculiarity.  Whenever  the  name  of  Nazaratos  occurs, 
Zaratos  is  not  to  be  read,  for  otherwise  he  could  not  have 
been  held  to  be  the  prophet  Ezekiel.  When  Clement  says, 
Pythagoras  has  been  a  zealous  follower  of  Zoroaster,  he 
means  nothing  else  than  that  he  had  been  his  disciple.  There 
is  therefore  no  reason  why  Zaratus,  Zarades,  or  Zaras  should  not 
be  considered  identical.  Windischmann  might,  indeed,  think 
Apuleius  an  offensive  talker,  but  he  is  not  the  only  one  who 
considers  Pythagoras  a  disciple  of  Zoroaster.  The  formation 
of  the  names  Zaratus  and  Zarades  are  interesting  even  in  a 
higher  degree.  They  indicate  that  the  sources  from  which 
they  are  drawn  knew  the  name  of  Zarathustra,  and  as  they 
recognised  in  itstra  or  astra  the  sense  of  star,  they  obtained 
by  omitting  ustra  the  abbreviation  in  Zarath. 

It  seems  to  have  escaped  Windischmann  that  the  narration 
given  by  Plato  of  a  man  of  the  name  of  Er,  son  of  Armenios, 
killed  in  battle,  picked  up  uninjured  ten  days  later  on  the 
battlefield,  revived  after  two  days  on  the  funeral  pyre,  telling 
what  he  had  seen  in  the  other  world,  is,  indeed,  given  by 
Moses  of  Chorene  as  an  Armenian  tradition.  Ara,  son  of 
Aram  (from  whom  Armenia  derives  its  name),  was  loved  by 
Semiramis  on  account  of  his  beauty,  but  he  rejected  her  offer. 
In  the  subsequent  war  Ara  fell  in  battle,  though  the  queen 


396  APPEXDIX  IV. 

had  given  orders  to  spare  him.  Moses  of  Chorene  relates, 
though  he  disapproves  of  it,  that  the  queen  by  incantations 
and  sorcery  had  brought  Ara  again  to  life.  When  Clement 
Alexandrinus,  telling  the  story  of  Er  (Ara),  adds,  "  this  is 
Zoroaster,"  it  proves  that  the  learned  Father  knew  the  legend 
of  Zoroaster  which  is  left  to  us. 

There  is  one  account,  that  Turberatus,  a  warrior  of  the 
army  of  Aryasphad,  killed  Zoroaster  with  the  sword.  Another 
relates  that  Ahuramazda,  in  compensation  for  not  having  made 
him  immortal,  had  given  Zoroaster,  a  moment  before  his  death, 
the  gift  of  omniscience,  so  that  he  (Zoroaster)  had  seen  the 
joys  of  Paradise  and  the  torments  of  hell,  and  gained  an 
insight  into  the  wisdom  of  Ahuramazda. 

The  accounts  of  his  home,  indicate  Aramean  influences  in 
his  teaching.  When  we  are  told  in  Avesta  and  Bundehesh, 
that  Zoroaster  had  lived  in  Airiyana  Vaeja,  i.e.  in  the  country  of 
the  sources,  Airyana  (cf.  Justi,  p.  265),  we  have  a  reference  to 
the  country  of  Ara  in  Armenia,  which  is  also  a  land  of  springs. 
He  is  born  near  the  river  Daraja,  flowing  out  of  this  Airyana. 
This  seems  to  be  the  Tigris,  called  justly  the  Master  of  the 
Bara  rivers.  The  name  in  modern  Persian  is  Tir,  the  arrow, 
as  Tigris  is  explained  by  the  ancients,  just  as  Tir  is  Sirius. 

It  may  be  added  to  the  above  notices  on  Er,  son  of  Armenius, 
that  he  is  called  a  Pamphylian.  Such  a  statement  cannot  be 
without  reason ;  but  it  seems  that  he  became  a  ird/n^vXo^^ 
because  he  was  TrdfKpiXo,  dilectissimits,  much  beloved,  as  he 
appears  in  the  legend. 

Pliny  has  a  remarkable  notice,  that  Zoroaster  came  from 
Prokonnesos,  which  is  the  same  as  Elaphonnesos,  isle  of  stags. 
Prox  signifies  stag  (hinnuhcs),  which  is  a  sun-animal,  the 
enemy  of  the  serpent;  its  skin  was  the  garment  of  the 
Eleusinian  Mysteria.  Mithridates,  calling  himself  Dionysus, 
had  a  stag  in  his  coat  of  arms  on  his  coins.  The  horn  was  an 
old  symbolical  image  for  light.  Alexander  was  called  the 
two-horned,  because  he  wore  the  Persian  Quareno,  the  divine 
nimbus    of  royalty.      Zoroaster    descends,   according  to   the 


ZOROASTER.  397 

legend,  out  of  the  country  of  this  light.  The  doctrine 
of  Zoroaster  may  have  appeared  as  a  reformation  of  the 
Babylonian  Magismus.  The  enmity  against  the  Magi,  of 
which  there  are  still  traces  under  Darius,  is  certainly  much 
older.  The  remembrance  thereof  is  shadowed  in  the  accounts 
which  we  have  of  the  contest  of  Semiramis  with  Zoroaster. 
Ctesias  tells  of  a  war  of  Ninus  and  Semiramis  with  Oxyartes, 
a  king  of  the  Bactrians,  in  whom  appears  no  identity  with 
Zoroaster.  When  later  writers  tell  the  same  of  Zoroaster,  we 
can  only  explain  that  Babylonian  enmity  of  the  teaching  of 
Zoroaster  was  identified  with  this  Bactrian  as  it  had  proceeded 
as  far  as  Bactria  (Balkh).  Moses  of  Chorene  tells  of  a  war 
of  Semiramis  with  the  Median  magus  Zoroaster,  in  which  she 
is  beaten.  Arnobius  says  in  his  remarkable  notice,  that  there 
had  been  contests  between  Assyria  and  Bactria,  not  only  with 
the  sword,  but  also  witli  different  religions.  According  to  a 
later  legend,  Zoroaster  is  killed  by  Aryasp  at  the  conquest  of 
Balkh  (Bactra).  The  whole  story  of  the  Bactrian  origin  of 
Zoroaster  arose  out  of  this  interpretation  of  Ctesias.  Later 
religious  phenomena  were  by  historical  learning  transferred 
to  these  early  days. 

But  into  what  times  ought  we  to  place  the  actual  rise  of 
Zoroaster's  teaching,  and  therefore  also  his  life  ?  I  have 
already  stated  above  that  Windischmann  attempts  to  make 
Apuleius  alone  responsible  for  the  statement  that  Pythagoras 
had  been  a  disciple  of  Zoroaster.  But  how  should  Apuleius 
get  this  notion  ?  It  cannot  be  denied  that  Porphyry  means 
the  same ;  Clement  Alexandrinus  communicates  the  same  in 
his  learned  collections.  Other  circumstances  agree  to  make  it 
likely  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century  before  Christ 
the  new  movement  had  arisen.  It  is  Kyros  whom  I  have 
placed  with  Kawe  U^rawa  (Khosru),  who  founds  the  Persian 
empire.  Under  Khosru  the  services  of  Adar  Gushasp  become 
paramount.  That  the  restorer  of  the  Zoroaster-cultus  is  called 
a  Darius,  the  son  of  Hystaspes,  shows  at  least  that  the  doctrine 
which  arose  in  the  time  of  an  Hystaspes  cannot  have  been 


398  APPENDIX  IV. 

very  far  off.  From  this  we  can  explain  how  not  only 
Apuleius,  but  also  later  writers  like  Abulfarage  and  Eutychius 
make  him  live  under  Cambyses.  The  question  is,  whether 
their  sources  do  not  refer  to  Cambyses  the  father  of  Cyrus, 
as  Cambyses,  in  the  cuneiform  inscriptions  Kabuyija,  is  surely 
the  same  as  Kave-U9a  =  Kai  Kaus.  Agathias  relates  that 
he  lived  under  an  Hystaspes,  but  does  not  know  whether  he 
was  the  father  of  Darius. 

I  should  like  to  add  another  consideration,  resting  on  the 
spirit  of  Zoroaster's  doctrine,  affording  an  important  proof 
that  Zoroaster  lived  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  speak  here  of  the  high  importance 
of  astronomy  and  astrology  amongst  both  Chaldeans  and 
Persians.  Horoscopy  and  belief  in  a  man's  nativity  reach 
surely  into  high  antiquity.  Zoroaster  w^as  the  Star-  son. 
Upon  him  flowed  the  Star-soul.  He  was  the  animated 
Tistrya  or  Sirius.  His  life  also  must  come  in  contact  with 
the  Dog-star.  Just  as  the  star  of  the  Magi  appeared  at 
Christ's  birth,  so  likewise  is  for  Zoroaster's  appearance  obtained 
the  division  of  a  star  period.  The  cycle  of  a  Dog-star  period 
is,  according  to  Tacitus,  well  known.  He  confounds  it  indeed 
with  the  Phoenix  period  from  which  it  differs.  But  similar 
things  are  predicted  of  either.  Geminus  says,  that  the 
festival  of  Isis  (identical  with  Sirius)  ran  in  1460  years 
through  the  whole  cycle  of  the  seasons.  Ideler,  according 
to  Censorinus,  has  determined  that  in  the  year  1322  B.c. 
a  Dog-star  period  began,  which  closed  139.  But  these 
periods  fell  into  divisions  in  which  the  same  was  celebrated. 
When,  e.g.,  Tacitus  relates  that  there  had  been  Phoenix  appear- 
ances under  Sesostris,  Amasis,  Ptolemaeus,  and  Tiberius,  the 
times  which  lie  between  are  not  full  Phoenix  periods,  but 
only  portions  of  the  same.  Between  Amasis  and  Ptolemaeus 
elapsed  as  much  time  as  between  Ptolemaeus  and  Tiberius, 
i.e.  280  years,  in  round  numbers  the  twenty-ninth  portion  of  a 
period  of  7000,  according  to  Chaerephon,  or  the  hundred  and 
twenty-fifth  portion  of  one  taken  at  35,000  years.     Half  of  a 


ZOROASTER.  399 

Dog-Star  period  is  730,  which, beginning  at  1322,  would  bring 
us  to  about  the  year  590.  Eegarding  this  as  the  beginning 
of  Zoroaster,  this  would  agree  with  all  the  given  data,  easily 
bringing  out  the  contemporaneous  existence  of  Pythagoras. 
The  other  notices  about  the  life  of  Zoroaster  teach  us  that  these 
hypotheses  delivered  to  us  by  antiquity  are  not  without  reason, 
and  are  more  valuable  than  has  hitherto  been  supposed. 

These  are  three :  the  first,  according  to  which  Hermodor 
places  in  a  highly  valuable  note,  Zoroaster  5000  years  before 
the  destruction  of  Troy;  the  second,  according  to  which 
Eudoxus  and  Aristotle  have  fixed  the  same  6000  before  the 
death  of  Plato ;  the  third,  where  Xanthus  states  Zoroaster's  life 
6000  years  before  the  campaign  of  Xerxes.  These  dates  can 
be  judged  rightly,  only  if  one  calculates  them  as  cycles,  having 
formed  a  foundation  for  the  teaching  of  Zoroaster.  The 
events  which  with  the  Greeks  were  used  as  aids  of  calculation, 
are  in  themselves  very  interesting.  People  saw  in  the  Trojan 
and  the  Persian  war  political  combinations,  the  latter  as  a 
kind  of  revenge  for  the  former ;  both  were  regarded  as 
conflicts  of  the  East  with  the  Greek  West.  Plato's  pre- 
visions, and  the  opinions  about  his  divine  origin,  make  him, 
as  a  Greek  prophet,  appear  as  counterpart  of  Zoroaster  the 
Oriental.  In  effect,  the  death  of  Plato  forms  an  epoch  in 
the  Dog-star  period,  closing  139  B.C.  The  period,  consisting 
of  1461  years,  is  divided  in  halves  (730^  years),  thirds  of 
487  years,  and  sixths  of  243^  years.  That  they  fixed  the 
death  of  Plato  correctly  at  348  B.C.  is  evident.  For  from 
B.C.  348  to  A.D.  139  is  just  487  years,  i.e.  a  third  of  a  Sirius 
period.  By  the  exact  mention  of  the  death  of  Plato  it 
appears  that  the  above  dates  have  reference  to  the  Dog-star 
chronology.  When  Hermodor  places  Zoroaster  5000  years 
before  the  fall  of  Troy,  one  must  remember  that  the  same 
was  believed  in  ancient  times,  as  Clement  Alex,  tells 
us  to  have  happened  417  before  the  first  Olympiad,  i.e. 
1192  B.C.  Four  Dog-star  periods  amount  to  5844.  Take 
their  beginning  as  the  commencement  of  Hermodor's  5000 


400  APPENDIX  IV. 

years,  and  deduct  844  from  1192,  you  obtain  348,  the 
year  of  Plato's  death,  from  which  it  is  evident  that  this  date 
is  also  reckoned  by  the  Sirius  cycle.  From  its  beginning 
till  A.D.  139  four  periods  and  a-half  have  elapsed. 

The  death  of  Plato  has  a  still  nearer  relation  to  the  year 
indicated  above  as  the  eventual  time  of  Zoroaster.  Half  of 
the  Sirius  period  beginning  B.C.  1322  falls  in  591^.  Thence 
to  the  death  of  Plato,  348  B.C.,  elapse  243:|-  years,  just  one- 
sixth  of  the  Sirius  period.  When  one  sees  the  death  of 
Plato  reckoned  as  an  epoch  in  this  chronology,  one  is 
entitled  by  the  hypothesis  (it  being  two-thirds  of  the  Sirius 
period)  to  find  therein  Zoroaster,  "  the  son  of  Sirius."  When 
Eudoxus  and  Aristotle  speak  of  6000  years  before  the  death 
of  Plato,  they  make  use  of  a  round  number  instead  of  5844, 
where,  indeed,  the  accuracy  of  Hermodor  is  not  shown.  Such 
round  numbers  in  chronological  data  are  not  uncommon,  as 
when  the  divisions  of  the  Phoenix  period  are  given  at  500 
years,  while  they  really  amount  to  560. 

Very  remarkable  is  the  statement  by  Xanthus,  who  gives 
6000  before  Xerxes'  campaign,  anno  B.C.  480,  showing  a 
richer  knowledge  of  the  current  Persian  chronology.  Ideler 
has  shown  it  probable  that  the  Persian  before  Mohamed  had 
a  cycle  consisting  of  twelve  intercalary  periods  of  120  years. 
In  a  cycle  of  1440  years  the  intercalary  month  ran  through 
the  whole  year.  This  cycle  stood  to  the  Sirius  cycle,  having 
also  365  days,  but  without  intercalation  1440-1461,  or  every 
intercalary  period  of  120  years  counted  12 If  in  the  Sirius 
cycle.  Xanthus  has  surely  made  use  of  this  chronology. 
6000  is  50x120,  and  it  is  remarkable  that  B.C.  480  is 
made  the  boundary  whence  four  intercalary  periods  run  to 
the  star  of  the  Magi.  This  star,  place  it  exegetically  where 
you  like,  must  be  considered  not  only  as  a  heavenly  star,  but 
also  as  characterizing  a  new  era,  and  it  could  also  not  have 
been  without  a  reason  that  the  Magi  had  seen  it.  It  is  not 
without  interest  that  the  reign  of  Cyrus  is  560  years,  a  period 
of  the  Phoenix  cycle  before  it. 


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JOSEPH    HENEY    THAYEE,    D.D., 

BUSSEY  PROFESSOR   OF  NEW  TESTAMENT  CRITICISM  AND  INTERPRETATION  IN  THE 
DIVINITY  SCHOOL  OF  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY. 


EXTRACT    FROM    PREFACE. 

TOWARDS  the  close  of  the  year  1862,  the  "  Arnoldische  Buchhandlung  " 
in  Leipzig  published  the  First  Part  of  a  Greek-Latia  Lexicon  of  the 
New  Testament,  prepared,  upon  the  basis  of  the  "  Clavis  Novi  Testamenti 
Philologica"  of  C.  G.  AYilke  (second  edition,  2  vols.  1851),  by  Professor  C.  L. 
AViLiBALD  Grimm  of  Jena.  In  his  Prospectus  Professor  Grimm  announced  it 
as  his  purpose  not  only  (in  accordance  with  the  improvements  in  classical  lexico- 
graphy embodied  in  the  Paris  edition  of  Stephen's  Thesaurus  and  in  the  fifth 
edition  of  Passow's  Dictionary  edited  by  Rost  and  his  coadjutors)  to  exhibit  the 
historical  growth  of  a  word's  significations,  and  accordingly  in  selecting  his 
vouchers  for  New  Testament  usage  to  show  at  what  time  and  in  what  class  of 
writers  a  given  word  became  current,  but  also  duly  to  notice  the  usage  of  the 
Septuagint  and  of  the  Old  Testament  Apocrypha,  and  especially  to  produce  a 
Lexicon  which  should  correspond  to  the  present  condition  of  textual  criticism, 
of  exegesis,  and  of  biblical  theology.  He  devoted  more  than  seven  years  to  his 
task.  The  successive  Parts  of  his  work  received,  as  they  appeared,  the  out- 
spoken commendation  of  scholars  diverging  as  widely  in  their  views  as  Hupfeld 
and  Hengstenberg ;  and  since  its  completion  in  1868  it  has  been  generally 
acknowledged  to  be  by  far  the  best  Lexicon  of  the  New  Testament  extant.' 


'  I  regard  it  as  a  work  of  the  greatest  importance.  ...  It  seems  to  me  a  work  show- 
ing the  most  patient  diligence,  and  the  most  carefully  arranged  collection  of  useful  and 
helpful  references.' — The  Bishop  of  Gloucester  and  Bristol. 

'  The  use  of  Professor  Grimm's  book  for  years  has  convinced  me  that  it  is  not  only 
unquestionably  the  best  among  existing  New  Testament  Lexicons,  but  that,  apart  from 
all  comparisons,  it  is  a  work  of  the  highest  intrinsic  merit,  and  one  which  is  admirably 
adapted  to  initiate  a  learner  into  an  acquaintance  with  the  language  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. It  ought  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  first  and  most  necessary  requisites  for  the 
study  of  the  New  Testament,  and  consequently  for  the  study  of  theology  in  general.' — 
Professor  Emil  SchOrer. 

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a  very  great  want.  It  is  certainly  unequalled  in  its  lexicography,  and  invaluable  in  its 
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all  those  students  who  want  to  be  thoroughly  furnished  for  the  work  of  understanding, 
expounding,  and  applying  the  "Word  of  God.' — Evangelical  Magazine. 

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some  corrections  and  improvements  of  the  original,  it  will  be  prized  by  students  of  the 
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AN   INTRODUCTION   TO   THEOLOGY: 

Its  Principles,  /fs  Branches,  Its  Results,  and  Its  Literature. 
By  ALFRED    CAYE,   B.A., 

PRINCIPAL,   AND  PROFESSOR  OF  THEOLOGY,   OF  HACKNEY  COLLEGE,   LONDON. 


'We  can  most  heartily  recommend  this  work  to  students  of  every  degree  of  attain- 
ment, and  not  only  to  those  who  will  have  the  opportunity  of  utilizing  its  aid  in  the 
most  sacred  of  the  professions,  but  to  all  who  desire  to  encourage  and  systematize  their 
knowledge  and  clarify  their  views  of  Divine  things.' — Nonconformist  and  English 
Independent. 

'  We  know  of  no  work  more  likely  to  prove  useful  to  divinity  students.  Its  arrange- 
ment is  perfect,  its  learning  accurate  and  extensive,  and  its  practical  hints  invaluable.' — 
Christian  World. 

'  Professor  Cave  is  a  master  of  theological  science.  He  is  one  of  the  men  to  whose 
industry  there  seems  no  limit.  .  .  .  We  can  only  say  that  we  have  rarely  read  a  book 
with  more  cordial  approval.' — Baptist  Magazine. 


BY    THE    SAME   AUTHOR. 
In  demy  Suo,  price  12s., 

THE  SCRIPTURAL  DOCTRINE  OF  SACRIFICE, 

Including  Inquiries  into  the  Origin  of  Sacrifice,  the  Jewish  Ritual,  the 
Atonement,  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 


'  A  thoroughly  able  and  erudite  book,  from  almost  every  page  of  which  something 
inoy  be  learned.  The  Author's  method  is  exact  and  logical,  the  style  perspicuous  and 
forcible — sometimes,  indeed,  almost  epigrammatic ;  and,  as  a  careful  attempt  to  ascertain 
the  teaching  of  the  Scripture  on  an  important  subject,  it  cannot  fail  to  be  interesting 
even  to  those  whom  it  does  not  convince.' —  Watchman. 


T,  and  T,  Claries  Publicatiojis. 


In  demy  Uo,  Third  Edition,  with  Supplement,  price  385., 

BIBLICO-THEOLOGICAL  LEXICON  OF  NEW 
TESTAMENT  GREEK. 

By  HERMANN  CREMER,  D.D., 

PROFESSOR  OF  THEOLOGY  IN  THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  GKKIFSWALD. 

TRANSLATED    FROM    THE    GERMAN    OF    THE    SECOND    EDITION 
By  WILLIAM  URWICK,  M.A. 

THE   SUPPLEMENT     WHICH    IS    INCLUDED  IN   THE  ABOVE,    MAY   BE   HAD 
SEPARATELY,  price  Us. 


TRANSLATOR'S    NOTE. 

qrvrv  fhP  TinWication  of  the  Large  English  Edition  of  Professor  Cramer's  Lexicon  by  Messrs  T.  & 
?  Clark  inSe  yfar  187^  aLird"^  edition  (1883),  and  a  fourth  in  the  present  year  (ISSo) 

ImvetppSred  Saining  much  additional  and  valuable  matter.  Articles  upon  important  words 
iTZ!rW?nHv  treated  have  bpcTi  rearranged  and  enlarged,  and  several  new  words  have  been  inserted 
rVifflL  f  ^Crmau  woSof  the  kind,  the  Lexicon  has  grown  edition  by  edition  :  it  is  growing,  and 
Like  mf=t  !^«"f^"  Y  '  -nt  in  vears  ^  The  noble  English  Edition  of  1878  being  stereotyped, 

probably  it  will  ^till  giow  in  yeais  to  c^^^^^^  Supplement  involving  the  somewhat  difficult 

ia'kTt'gaSr/U^a^^^^^^^^  -d  insertions  under  wonls  aWy  discu^^^^^^^^ 

together  with  the  simpler  work  of  translating  the  articles  upon  words  ("^P^^.f  ^«  ^^ /JJ) '^f^^  ,^ 
aS     The  present  Supplement,  extending  over  323  pages,  embodies  both  clas.es  of  addiUonal 

"'"""ToVacilitate  reference,  a  new  and  very  copious  Index  of  the  entire  work  Lexicon  and  Supple- 

?:;Sg In  an?ca'^e"f;e1ueni%e^^^^^^^^^^  tX  the  Index.  Here  at  a  glance  it  will  be  seen  where  any 
word  is  treated  ""^ll^'^'^'^^^^'^  additions  is  the  consideration  of  the  Hebrew  Equivalents 

several  pages,  is  appended. 

'Tt  is  not  too  much  to  say  thnt  th«  Supplement  will  greatly  enhance  the  value  of  the 
oriinal  workT  while  of  this  we  imagine  it  needless  to  add  many  words  of  com-endation 
It  holds  a  deservedly  high  position  in  the  estimation  of  all  students  of  the  Sacred 
tongues."— Xt«eJ-art/  Churchman. 

'We  particularly  call  attention  to  this  valuable  ^or\: -Clergyman's  Magazine. 

i  Dr  Cremer's  work  is  highly  and  deservedly  esteemed  in  Germany.  It  gives  with 
care  anS  tTorougrness  a  complete  history,  as  far  as  it  goes,  of  each  word  and  phrase 
thit  it  deals  with.  .  .  .  Dr.  Cremer's  explanations  are  most  lucidly  set  out.'-G^warcitan. 

'  It  is  hardlv  possible  to  exaggerate  the  value  of  this  work  to  the  student  of  the  Greek 
Testament  .The  translation  is  accurate  and  idiomatic,  and  the  additions  to  the 
later  edition  are  considerable  and  important.'— C/mrc/i  Bells. 

'We  cannot  find  an  important  word  in  our  Greek  New  Testament  which  is  not 
discussed  wUh:^  fulness  Ld  discrimination  which  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired.- 
Nonconformist.  .    ,  ^      . 

'This  noble  edition  in  quarto  of  Cremer's  Biblico-Theological  Lexicon  quite  super- 
.edS  the  trrnsSn  of  the  first  edition  of  the  work.  Many  of  themost  important 
nrticles  have  been  re-written  and  re-arranged.'-^riitsA  Quarterly  Review. 


T.  and  T.  Clark's  Publications. 


HERZOG'S  ENCYCLOPEDIA. 

In  Three  Volumes,  imperial  8yo,  price  248.  each, 

ENCYCLOPAEDIA    OR    DICTIONARY 

OF 

BIBLICAL,  HISTORICAL,  DOCTRINAL,  AND 

PRACTICAL  THEOLOGY. 

BASED  ON  THE  REAL-ENCYKLOPADIE  OF  HERZOG,  PUTT,  AND  HAUCK. 

Edited  by  PHILIP  SCHAFF,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

PROFESSOR  IN  THE  UNION  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY,  NEW  YORK. 

'  As  a  compreliensive  work  of  reference,  within  a  moderate  compass,  we  know 
nothing  at  all  equal  to  it  in  the  large  department  which  it  deals  with.' — Church  Belts. 

'  The  work  will  remain  as  a  wonderful  monument  of  industry,  learning,  and  skill.  It 
will  be  indispensable  to  the  student  of  specifically  Protestant  theology  ;  nor,  indeed,  do 
we  think  that  any  scholar,  whatever  be  his  especial  line  of  thought  or  study,  would 
find  it  superfluous  on  his  shelves.' — Literary  Churchman. 

'  We  commend  this  work  with  a  touch  of  enthusiasm,  for  we  have  often  wanted  such 
ourselves.  It  embraces  in  its  range  of  writers  all  the  leading  authors  of  Europe  on 
ecclesiastical  questions.  A  student  may  deny  himself  many  other  volumes  to  secure 
this,  for  it  is  certain  to  take  a  prominent  and  permanent  place  in  our  literature.' — 
Evangelical  Magazine. 

'  Dr.  Schaff's  name  is  a  guarantee  for  valuable  and  thorough  work.  His  new  Encyclo- 
paedia (based  on  Herzog)  will  be  one  of  the  most  useful  works  of  the  day.  It  will  prove 
a  standard  authority  on  all  religious  knowledge.' — Howard  Crosby,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
ex- Chancellor  of  the  University,  New  York. 

'This  work  will  prove  of  great  service  to  many;  it  supplies  a  distinct  want  in  our 
theological  literature,  and  it  is  sure  to  meet  with  welcome  from  readers  who  wisli  a 
popular  book  of  reference  on  points  of  historical,  biographical,  and  theological  interest. 
Many  of  the  articles  give  facts  which  may  be  sought  far  and  wide,  and  in  vain  in  our 
encyclopaedias.' — Scotsman. 

'  It  is  with  great  pleasure  we  now  call  attention  to  the  third  and  concluding  volume 
of  this  work.  ...  It  is  a  noble  book  .  .  .  For  our  ministerial  readers  we  can  scarcely 
wish  anything  better  than  that  every  one  of  them  should  be  put  in  possession  of 
a  copy  through  the  generosity  of  the  wealthy  laymen  of  their  congregation;  such  a 
sowing  of  good  seed  would  produce  results  most  beneficial  both  to  those  who  preach 
and  to  those  who  hear.  But  this  Cyclopaedia  is  not  by  any  means  for  ministerial 
students  only ;  intelligent  and  thoughtful  minds  of  all  classes  will  discover  in  it  so  much 
interest  and  value  as  will  make  it  a  perfect  treasure  to  them.' — Christian  World, 

Supplement  to  Herzog^s  Engyglop>edia. 

Just  published,  in  imperial  8vo,  price  8s., 

ENCYCLOPi^lDIA    OF    LIVING    DIVINES 
AND   CHRISTIAN   V\^ORKERS, 

OF  ALL    DENOMINATIONS   IN  EUROPE   AND    AMERICA. 
Being  a  Supplement  to '  Schaff-Herzog  Encyclopaedia  of  Religious  Knowledge.' 

EDITED   BY 

PHILIP  SCHAFF,  D.D.,  and  Rev.  S.  M.  JACKSON,  M.A. 

'  A  very  useful  Encyclopaedia.  I  am  very  glad  to  have  it  for  frequent  reference.' — 
Kinht  Rev.  Bishop  Lightfoot. 

'  The  information  is  very  lucidly  and  compactly  arranged.' — Eev.  Canon  Driver. 

'  Very  useful,  and  supplies  information  not  elsewhere  obtained.'— Eev.  Dr.  Henry 
Allon. 


T.  and  T.  Clark's  Publications. 


WORKS    BY    PROFESSOR   C.    A.    BRIGGS,    P.P. 

Just  published,  in  One  Volume,  post  8vo,  price  7s.  6d., 

MESSIANIC    PROPHECY. 

By  Pkofessor  C.  A.  BRIGGS,  D.D., 

PROFESSOR  OF  HEBREW  AND  THE  COGNATE  LANGUAGES  IN  THE  UNION  THEOLOGICAL 

SEMINARY,  NEW  YORK  ; 

AUTHOR  OF  'biblical  STUDY,'  '  AMERICAN  PRESBYTERIANISM,'  ETC. 

ITOTE. — This  Work  discusses  all  the  Messianic  passages  of  the  Old  Testamentin  a 
fresh  Translation,  with  critical  notes,  and  aims  to  trace  the  development  of  the  Messianic 
idea  in  the  Old  Testament. 

'  Professor  Briggs'  Messianic  Prophecy  is  a  most  excellent  book,  in  which  I  greatly 
rejoice.' — Prof.  Franz  Delitzsch. 

'  All  scholars  will  join  in  recognising  its  singular  usefulness  as  a  text-book.  It  has 
been  much  wanted.' — Rev.  Canon  Cheyne. 

'  Professor  Briggs'  new  book  on  Messianic  Prophecy  is  a  worthy  companion  to  his 
indispensable  text-book  on  "Biblical  Study."  ...  He  has  produced  the  first  English 
text-book  on  the  subject  of  Messianic  Prophecy  which  a  modern  teacher  can  use.' — 
The  Academy.  

In  post  8vo,  price  7s.  6d., 

BIBLICAL    STUDY: 

ITS     PRINCIPLES,     METHODS,     AND     HISTORY. 

With  Introduction  by  Professor  A.  B.  Bruce,  D.D.,  Glasgow. 

•  A  book  fitted  at  once  to  meet  the  requirements  of  professional  students  of  Scripture, 
and  to  serve  as  an  available  guide  for  educated  laymen  who,  while  using  the  Bible 
chiefly  for  edification,  desire  to  have  the  advantage  of  the  light  which  scholarship  can 
throw  on  the  sacred  page,  ought  to  meet  with  wide  acceptance  and  to  be  in  many  ways 
useful.  Such  a  book  is  the  one  now  published.  Dr.  Briggs  is  exceptionally  well 
qualified  to  prepare  a  work  of  this  kind.' — Prof.  Bruce. 

'  We  are  sure  that  no  student  will  regret  sending  for  this  book,' — Academy. 
'  Dr.  Briggs'  book  is  a  model  of  mabterly  condensation  and  conciseness.     He  knows 
how  to  be  brief  without  becoming  obscure.' — Freeman. 

In  post  8vo,  with  Maps,  price  7s.  6d., 

AMERICAN    PRESBYTERIANISM: 

its  Origin  and  Early  History. 

Together  with  an  Appendix  of  Letters  and  Documents,  many  of  -which  have 
recently  been  discovered. 

'  We  have  no  doubt  this  volume  will  be  read  with  intense  interest  and  gratitude  by 
thousands.' — Presbyterian  Churchman. 

'  An  honest  and  valuable  contribution  to  ecclesiastical  history.' — Glasgow  Herald. 

In  demy  Svo,  price  10s.  6  c?., 

THE  OLD  TESTAMENT  PROPHECY  OF  THE 
CONSUMMATION   OF  GOD'S   KINGDOM. 

Traced  in  its  Historical  Development. 
By    C.    von    OEELLI, 

PEOFESSOR  OF  THEOLOGY,  BASEL. 

'  Translated  by  Rev.  J.  S.  BANKS,  Headingley  College,  Leeds. 

*  A  valuable  contribution  to  the  methodology  of  Scripture  interpretation.' — British 
Quarterly  Review. 

'  Cannot  fail  to  be  regarded  as  a  standard  work  upon  the  subject  of  Old  Testament 
prophecy.' — Sword  and  Trowel. 


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In  Twenty  Handsome  8yo  Volumes^  Subscription  Price  £5,  5s., 

MEYER'S 

Commentary  on  the  New  Testament. 

*  Meyer  has  been  long  and  well  known  to  scholars  as  one  of  the  very  ablest  of  the  German 
expositors  of  the  New  Testament.  We  are  not  sure  whether  we  ought  not  to  say  that  he  Is 
unrivalled  as  an  interpreter  of  the  grammatical  and  historical  meaning  of  the  sacred 
writers.  The  Publishers  have  now  rendered  another  seasonable  and  important  service  to 
English  students  in  producing  this  translation.' — Guardian. 


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Lack  Volume  will  be  sold  separately  at  lOa.  6d  to  Non-Subscribers. 


CRITICAL  AND   EXEGETICAL 

COMMENTARY  ON  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

By    Dr.     H.    A.    W.    MEYEE, 

Oberconsistorialrath,  Hannover. 
The  portion  contributed  by  Dr.  Meyer  has  been  placed  under  the  editorial 
care  of  Rev.  Dr.  Dickson,  Professor  of  Divinity  in  the  University  of  Glasgow  ; 
Rev.  Dr.  Crombie,  Professor  of  Biblical  Criticism,  St.  Mary's  College,  St. 
Andrews ;  and  Rev.  Dr.  Stewart,  Professor  of  Biblical  Criticism,  University 
of  Glasgow. 

1st  Year — Romans,  Two  Yolumes. 
Galatians,  One  Volume. 
St.  John's  Gospel,  Vol.  I. 
2d  Year— St.  John's  Gospel,  Vol.  II. 

Philippians  and  Colossians,  One  Volume. 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  Vol.  I. 
Corinthians,  Vol.  I. 
3d  Year— Acts  of  the  Apostles,  Vol.  II. 

St.  Matthew's  Gospel,  Two  Volumes. 
Corinthians,  Vol.  II. 
4th  Year — Mark  and  Luke,  Two  Volumes. 

Ephesians  and  Philemon,  One  Volume. 
Thessalonians.     {Dr.  Liinemann.) 
6th  Year— Timothy  and  Titus.     {Dr.  Huther.) 
Peter  and  Jude.     {Dr.  Huther.) 
Hebrews.     {Dr.  Liinemann.) 
James  and  John.     {Dr.  Huther.) 
The  series,  as  written  by  Meyer  himself,  is  completed  by  the  publication  of  Ephesians 
with  Philemon  in  one  volume.    But  to  this  the  Publishers  have  thought  it  right  to  add 
Thessalonians  and  Hebrews,  by  Dr.  Liinemann,  and  the  Pastoral  and  Catholic  Epistles, 
by  Dr.  Huther.    So  few,  however,  of  the  Subscribers  have  expressed  a  desire  to  have  Dr. 
Dilsterdieck's  Commentary  on  Bevelation  included,  that  it  has  been  resolved  in  the  mean- 
time not  to  undertake  it.  

'  I  need  hardly  add  that  the  last  edition  of  the  accurate,  perspicuous,  and  learned  com- 
mentary of  Dr.  Meyer  has  been  most  carefully  consulted  throughout ;  and  I  must  again, 
as  in  the  preface  to  the  Galatians,  avow  my  great  obligations  to  the  acumen  and  scholar- 
ship of  the  learned  editor.' — Bishop  Ellicott  in  Preface  to  his  '  Commentary  on  Ephesians.'' 

'  The  ablest  grammatical  exegete  of  the  age.' — Philip  Schaff,  D.D. 

'  In  accuracy  of  scholarship  and  freedom  from  prejudice,  he  is  equalled  by  few.' — 
Literal^  Churchman. 

'  We  have  only  to  repeat  that  it  remains,  of  its  own  kind,  the  very  best  Commentary 
of  the  New  Testament  which  we  possess.' — Church  Bells. 

'  No  exegetical  -work  is  on  the  whole  more  valuable,  or  stands  in  higher  public  esteem. 
As  a  critic  he  is  candid  and  cautious;  exact  to  minuteness  in  philology ;  a  master  of  the 
grammatical  and  historical  method  of  interpretation.' — Princeto7i  Review. 


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In  demy  8vo,  price  10s.  6d., 

REVELATION; 

ITS     NATURE     AND     RECORD. 

By  HEINRICH  EWALD. 

TRANSLATED  by  Rev.  Pkof.  THOS.  GOADBY,  B.A. 

Contents.— Introductory :  The  Doctrine  of  the  Word  of  God.— Part  I.  The 
Nature  of  the  Revelation  of  the  Word  of  God. — Part  II.  Revelation  in 
Heathenism  and  in  Israel. — Part  III.  Revelation  in  the  Bible. 

Note. — This  first  volume  of  Ewald's  great  and  important  work,  'Die  Lehre  der 
Bibel  von  Gott,'  is  offered  to  the  English  public  as  an  attempt  to  read  Eevelation, 
Religion,  and  Scripture  in  the  light  of  universal  history  and  the  common  experience  of 
man,  and  with  constant  reference  to  all  the  great  religious  systems  of  the  world.  The 
task  is  as  bold  and  arduous  as  it  is  timely  and  necessary,  and  Ewald  was  well  fitted  to 

accomplish  it The  work  has  not  simply  a  theological,  but  a  high  and  significant 

apologetic  value,  which  those  who  are  called  upon  to  deal  with  the  various  forms 
of  modern  scepticism  will  not  be  slow  to  recognise. — Extract  from  Translator's  Preface. 

'This  volume  is  full  of  nervous  force,  eloquent  style,  and  intense  moral  earnestness. 
There  is  poetry  of  feeling  in  it  also ;  and,  whilst  it  manifests  an  original  mind,  it  is 
accompanied  by  that  spirit  of  reverence  which  ought  always  to  be  brought  to  the  study 
of  the  Holy  Scripture.  A  masterly  intellect  is  associated  in  Ewald  with  the  humility  of 
a  child.' — Evangelical  Magazine. 

'  Ewald  is  one  of  the  most  suggestive  and  helpful  writers  of  this  century.  This  is 
certainly  a  noble  book,  and  will  be  appreciated  not  less  than  his  other  and  larger 
works,  .  .  .  There  is  a  rich  poetic  glow  in  his  writing  which  gives  to  it  a  singular 
charm.' — Baptist  Magazine. 

In  Two  Volumes,  demy  8vo,  price  21s., 

ENCYCLOPEDIA    OF    THEOLOGY. 

By  J.   F.   RABIGteR,  D.D., 

Professor  of  Theology  in  the  University  of  Breslau. 

SEransIateti   from   tje    ffir£rman, 

And  Edited,  with  a  Review  of  Apologetical  Literature, 
By  Rev.  JOHN  MACPHERSON,  M.A. 

'  It  is  impossible  to  overrate  the  value  of  this  volume  in  its  breadth  of  learning,  its 
wide  survey,  and  its  mastt^rly  power  of  analysis.  It  will  be  a  "sine  quS,  non"  to  all 
students  of  tlie  history  of  theology.' — Evangelical  Magazine. 

'  Another  most  valuable  addition  to  the  library  of  the  theological  student.  ...  It  is 
characterized  by  ripe  scholarship  and  thoughtful  reflection.  ...  It  would  result  in  rich 
gain  to  many  churches  if  these  volumes  were  placed  by  generous  friends  upon  the 
shelves  of  their  ministers.' — Christian  World. 

'  One  of  the  most  important  additions  yet  made  to  theological  erudition.' — Nonconfor- 
mist and  Independent. 

'  Eabiger's  EncyclopsBdia  is  a  book  deserving  the  attentive  perusal  of  every  divine. 
...  It  is  at  once  instructive  and  suggestive.' — Athenceum. 

'  A  volume  which  must  be  added  to  every  theological  and  philosophical  library.' — 
British  Quarterly  JReview. 

In  Two  Volumes,  8yo,  price  Is.  Qd.  each^ 

HANDBOOK    OF    CHURCH    HISTORY. 

By  Rev.  Professor  KURTZ. 

VOL.  l.—TO  THE  REFORMATION.     VOL.  II.— FROM  TEE  REFORMATION. 

'  A  work  executed  with  great  diligence  and  care,  exhibiting  an  accurate  collection  of 
facts,  and  a  succinct  though  full  account  of  the  history  and  progress  of  the  Church,  both 
external  and  internal  .  .  .  The  work  is  distinguished  for  the  moderation  and  charity  of 
its  expressions,  and  for  a  spirit  which  is  truly  Christian.' — English  Churchman. 


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In  One  Volume^  Suo,  640  pp.^  price  155., 

HISTORY   OF   THE    SACRED   SCRIPTURES 
OF   THE   NEW  TESTAMENT. 

By  Professor  E.  EEUSS,  D.D. 
translated  from  the  fifth  revised  and  enlarged  edition. 
CONTENTS.— Introduction.     Book  First  :— History  of  the  Origin  of  the  New 
Testament  Writings — History  of  the  Literature.     Book  Second  ; — History 
of  the  Collection  of  the  New  Testament  Writings — History  of  the  Canon, 
Book  Third  : — History  of  the  Preservation  of  the  New  Testament  Writings 
— History  of  the  Text.      Book  Fourth: — History  of  the  Circulation  of 
the  New  Testament  Writings — History  of  the  Versions.     Book  Fifth  : — 
History  of  the  Theological  Use  of  the  New  Testament  Writings — History 
of  Exegesis. 
'  It  would  be  hard  to  name  any  single  volume  which  contains  so  much  that  is  helpful 
to  the  student  of  the  New  Testament.  .  .  .  Considering  that  so  much  ground  is  covered, 
the  fulness  and  accuracy  of  the  information  given  are  remarkable.     Professor  Reuss's 
work  is  not  that  of  a  compiler,  but  of  an  original  thinker,  who  throughout  this  encyclo- 
pesdic  volume  depends  much  more  on  his  own  research  than  on  the  labours  of  his 
predecessors.  .  .  .  The  translation  is  thoroughly  well  done,  accurate,  and  full  of  Hfe.' — 
Expositor. 

'One  of  the  most  valuable  volumes  of  Messrs.  Clark's  valuable  publications.  .  .  .  Its 
usefulness  is  attested  by  undiminished  vitality.  .  .  .  His  method  is  admirable,  and  he 
unites  German  exhaustiveness  with  French  lucidity  and  brilliancy  of  expression.  .  .  . 
The  sketch  of  the  great  exegetic  epochs,  their  chief  characteristics,  and  the  critical 
estimates  of  the  most  eminent  writers,  is  given  by  the  author  with  a  compression  and 
a  mastery  that  have  never  been  surpassed.' — Archdeacon  Fakrar. 

'I  think  the  work  of  Reuss  exceedingly  valuable.' — Professor  C.  A.  Briggs,  D.D. 
'  I  know  of  no  work  on  the  same  topic  more  scholarly  and  at  the  same  time  readable, 
and  I  regard  the  work  as  one  of  real  value  to  scholars.' — President  Alvah  Hovey, 
Newton  Theological  Institute. 

'A  work  of  rare  and  long-tested  merit.  .  .  .  I  am  sure  that  every  theological  teacher 
will  be  glad  to  be  able  to  refer  his  students  to  it.' — Professor  P.  H.  Seenstka, 
Cambridge,  Mass. 

In  crown  8yo,  price  3.v.  6t/., 

THE    RELIGIOUS    HISTORY    OF    ISRAEL. 

A  Discussion  of  the  Chief  Problems  in  Old  Testament  History, 
as  opposed  to  the  Development  Theorists. 

By  Dr.  FEIEDRICH  EDUAED  KONIG, 

THE  UNIVERSITY,   LEIPZIG. 

Translated  by  Rev.  ALEXANDER  J.  CAMPBELL,  M.A. 


'  An  admirable  little  volume.  .  .  .  By  sincere  and  earnest-minded  students  it  will  be 
cordially  welcomed.' — Freeman. 

'  Every  page  of  the  book  deserves  study.' — Church  Bells. 

In   crown   8yo,  price  bs.    6(i., 

CREATION; 

OR,  THE  BIBLICAL  COSMOGONY  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  MODERN  SCIENCE. 

WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

By  Professor  AENOLD  GUYOT,  LL.D. 

'  "Written  with  much  knowledge  and  tact,  .  .  .  suggestive  and  stimulating.' — British 
Quarterly  Review. 

'  The  issue  of  this  book  is  a  fitting  conclusion  to  a  beautiful  career.  .  .  .  This,  his  last 
book,  coming  from  the  author's  deathbed,  will  serve  two  causes  ;  it  will  aid  science  by 
showing  that  it  is  a  friend  of  the  faith,  and  it  will  aid  Christianity  by  showing  that  it 
need  not  fear  the  test  of  the  latest  scientific  research.' — Presbyterian  Review. 


T,  and  T,  Clark's  Publications, 


Now  comj)lete,  in  Four  Volumes,  imperial  ^vo,  price  12s.  Qd.  each, 

COMMENTARY  ON  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS  AND   MAPS. 
Edited  by  PHILIP  SCHAFF,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

CONTRIBUTORS. 

The  Very  Rev.  Dean  Howson;  The  Very  Rev.  Dean  Plumptre;  Principal  David 
Brown,  D.D.;  J.  Rawson  Lumby,  D.D.;  W.  Milligan,  D.D.;  W.  P.  Moulton, 
D.D.;  Rev.  Canon  Spence ;  Marcus  Dods,  D.D.;  J.  Oswald  Dykes,  D.D.;  Joseph 
Angus,  D.D.  ;  Paton  J.  Gloag,  D.D.  ;  S.  D.  F.  Salmond,  D.D.  ;  William  B.  Pope, 
D.D. ;  Philip  Schaff,  D.D.;  Matthew  B.  Riddle,  D.D. 

Maps  and  Flans — Professor  Arnold  Guyot. 
Illustrations— W.  M.  Thomson,  D.D.,  Author  of  '  The  Land  and  the  Book.' 


Volume  I.  Volume  II. 

THE  SYNOPTICAL  GOSPELS.  ST.  JOHN'S  GOSPEL,  and 

THE  ACTS  OF  THE  APOSTLES. 

Volume  III.  Volume  IV. 

ROMANS  TO  PHILEMON.  HEBREWS  TO  REVELATION. 


'  A  useful,  valuable,  and  instructive  commentary.  The  interpretation  is  set  forth  with 
clearness  and  cogency,  and  in  a  manner  calculated  to  commend  the  volumes  to  the 
thoughtful  reader.  The  book  is  beautifully  got  up,  and  reflects  great  credit  on  the 
publishers  as  well  as  the  writers.' — The  Bishop  of  Gloucester. 

'  I  have  looked  into  this  volume,  and  read  several  of  the  notes  on  crucial  passages. 
They  seem  to  me  very  well  done,  with  great  fairness,  and  with  evident  knowledge  of 
the  controversies  concerning  them.  The  illustrations  are  very  good.  I  cannot  doubt 
that  the  book  wiU  prove  very  valuable.' — The  Bishop  of  Winchester. 

'  We  have  already  spoken  of  this  commentary  with  warm  praise,  and  we  can  certainly 
assert  that  the  enterprise  has  now  been  brought  to  a  close  with  really  admirable  work.' 
— English  Churchman. 

'  We  congratulate  Dr.  Schaff  on  the  completion  of  this  useful  work,  which  we  are  now 
able  to  commend,  in  its  complete  form,  to  English  readers  of  the  Scriptures.  ...  It  will 
be  seen  that  we  have  a  high  opinion  of  this  commentary,  of  the  present  volume,  and  also 
of  the  whole  work.  In  this  last  respect  it  is  perhaps  of  more  uniform  excellence  than 
any  of  its  rivals,  and  in  beauty  of  appearance  it  excels  them  all.' — Church  Bells. 

'  External  beauty  and  intrinsic  worth  combine  in  the  work  here  completed.  Good 
paper,  good  type,  good  illustrations,  good  binding,  please  the  eye,  as  accuracy  and 
thoroughness  in  matter  of  treatment  satisfy  the  judgment.  Everywhere  the  workman- 
ship is  careful,  solid,  harmonious.' — Methodist  Recorder. 

'  There  are  few  better  commentaries  having  a  similar  scope  and  object ;  indeed,  within 
the  same  limits,  we  do  not  know  of  one  so  good  upon  the  whole  of  the  New  Testament.' 
— Literary  World. 

'  We  predict  that  this  work  will  take  its  place  among  the  most  popular  of  the  century. 
.  .  .  The  publishers  have  spared  no  pains  to  secure  volumes  that  shall  be  worthy  of  the 
theme,  and  of  the  scholarship  of  the  age.' — Freeman. 

Just  published,  in  crown  Svo,  jirice  2s.  6d., 

THE    IGNATIAN    EPISTLES 

ENTIRELY   SPURIOUS. 

A  Reply  to  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  Lightfoot,  Bishop  of  Durham. 
By  W.  D.  KILLEN,  D.D., 

principal  of  the  PRESBYTERIAN  THEOLOGICAL  FACULTY,   IRELAND. 


BY   THE    SAME   AUTHOR. 

In  demy  Svo,  price  9s. , 

THE    OLD    CATHOLIC    CHURCH, 


T.  and  T.  Clark's  Publications, 


Just  published,  in  crown  8vo,  price  3-9.  6d., 
SECOND     EDITION,     REVISED 

THE    THEOLO.GY 

AND 

THEOLOGIANS    OF    SCOTLAND, 

CHIEFLY   OF  THE 

Being  one  of  the  'Cunningham  Lectures.' 
By    JAMES    WALKEE,    D.D.,    Caknwath. 

CONTENTS.— Chap.  I.  Survey  of  the  Field.  II.  Predestination  and  Provi- 
dence. III.  The  Atonement.  IV.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Visible  Church. 
V.  The  Headship  of  Christ  and  Erastianism.  VI.  Present  Misrepresenta- 
tion of  Scottish  Religion.  VII.  Do  Presbyterians  hold  Apostolical 
Succession  ? 

*  These  pages  glow  with  fervent  and  eloquent  rejoinder  to  the  cheap  scorn  and 
scurrilous  satire  poured  out  upon  evangelical  theology  as  it  has  been  developed  north 
of  the  Tweed.'-  British  Quarterly  Review. 

'  We  do  not  wonder  that  in  their  delivery  Dr.  Walker's  lectures  excited  great  interest ; 
we  should  have  wondered  far  more  if  they  had  not  done  so.' — Mr.  Spurgeon  in  Sword 
and  Trowel. 

'  As  an  able  and  eloquent  vindication  of  Scottish  theology,  the  work  is  one  of  very 
great  interest — an  interest  by  no  means  necessarily  confined  to  theologians.  The  history 
of  Scotland,  and  the  character  of  her  people,  cannot  be  understood  without  an  intelligent 
and  S3^Tnpatlietic  study  of  her  theology,  and  in  this  Dr.  Walker's  little  book  will  be 
found  to  render  imique  assistance.' — Scotsman. 

Just  published,  in  demy  B>vo,  price  lOs.  6rf., 

THE    FIRST    EPISTLE     OF    PETER: 

REVISED    TEXT, 

WITH 

I^ntrotmction  antr  Commentarg. 

By  EOBEPtT  JOHNSTONE,  LL.B.,  D.D., 

PROFESSOR   OF   NEW  TESTAMENT  LITERATURE  AND   EXEGESIS  IN  THE  i 
UNITED   PRESBYTERIAN   COLLEGE,    EDINBURGH. 

Just  published,  in  demy  8vo,  price  7s.  6d., 

STUDIES    ON   THE    BOOK    OF    PSALMS. 

THE  STRUCTURAL  CONNECTION  OF  THE  BOOK  OF 

PSALMS,   BOTH  IN  SINGLE  PSALMS  AND  IN 

THE  PSALTER  AS  AN  ORGANIC  WHOLE. 

By  JOHN  FOEBES,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

EMERITUS-PROFESSOR  OF   ORIENTAL  LANGUAGES,   ABERDEEN. 

'  A  glorious  book.  We  know  not  when  we  had  such  a  treat  as  we  have  enjoyed  in 
reading  this  fine  exposition.  ...  It  is  the  production  of  a  scholarly  man,  and  cannot  fail 
to  be  an  enrichment  to  the  intelligent  reader.' — Methodist  New  Connexion  Magazine. 


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