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CHAPTER VI

That night the king, not being able to sleep, orders the chronicles of the kingdom to be read to him; and finds there the record concerning the discovery of the treason of the two eunuchs, made by Mordecai, 1, 2. He inquires whether Mordecai had been rewarded, and was answered in the negative, 3. At this time Haman arrives, in order to request the king's permission to hang Mordecai; and being suddenly asked what should be done to the man whom the king delighted to honour, supposing that himself must be meant, presented the ceremonial, 4-9. The king orders him to give Mordecai those honours; which he performs, to his extreme mortification, 10, 11. He informs his wife Zeresh of these transactions, who predicts his downfall, 12-13. He is hurried by the eunuchs to the queen's banquet, 14.

NOTES ON CHAP. VI

Verse 1. "On that night could not the king sleep" - The Targum says the king had a dream, which was as follows:-"And the king sat one in the similitude of a man who spoke these words to him: Haman desireth to slay thee, and to make himself king in thy stead. Behold, he will come unto thee early in the morning, to ask from thee the man who rescued thee from death, that he may slay him: but say thou unto Haman, What shall be done for the man whose honour the king studieth? And thou wilt find that he will ask nothing less from thee than the royal vestments, the regal crown, and the horse on which the king is wont to ride." The records of the chronicles] It may be well asked, Why should the king, in such a perturbed state of mind, wish such a dry detail, as chronicles afford, to be read to him? But the truth is, as chronicles were composed among the Persians, he could not have brought before him any work more instructive, and more entertaining; because they were all written in verse, and were generally the work of the most eminent poets in the empire.

They are written in this way to the present time; and the famous epic poem of the finest Persian poet, Ferdusi, the Homer of India, is nothing else than a collection of chronicles brought down from the creation to the reign of Mohammed Ghezny, in the beginning of the tenth century. After thirty years' labour, he finished this poem, which contained one hundred and twenty thousand lines, and presented it to the Sultan Mahmoud, who had promised to give him a dinar (eight shillings and sixpence) for every line. The poem was finished A.D. 984; and was formed out of compositions of a similar nature made by former poets. This chronological poem is written in all the harmony, strength, and elegance of the most beautiful and harmonious language in the universe; and what adds greatly to its worth is, that it has few Arabic words, with which the beautiful Persian tongue was loaded, and in my opinion corrupted, after the conquest of the major part of Asia by the Mohammedans. The pedants of Hindoostan, whether they speak or write, in prose or in verse, affect this commixture of Arabic words; which, though they subjugate them to Persian rules, are producing a ruggedness in a language, which in Ferdusi, flows deep and strong like a river of oil over every kind of channel. Such, I suppose, was the chronicle that was read to Ahasuerus, when his distractions prevented his sleep, and his troubled mind required that soothing repose which the gentle though powerful hand of poetry is alone, in such circumstances, capable of affording. Even our rough English ancestors had their poetic chronicles; and, among many, the chronicle of Robert of Gloucester is proof in point. I need not add, that all that is real in Ossian is of the same complexion.

Verse 3. "What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai" - It is certain he found nothing in the record; and had any thing been done, that was the most likely place to find it.

Verse 4. "Who is in the court?" - This accords with the dream mentioned by the Targum; and given above.

"Now Haman was come" - This must have been very early in the morning.

Haman's pride and revenge were both on the tenters to be gratified.

Verse 6. "The king said unto him" - He did not give him time to make his request; and put a question to him which, at the first view, promised him all that his heart could wish.

Verse 8. "Let the royal apparel be brought" - Pride and folly ever go hand in hand. What he asked would have been in any ordinary case against his own life: but he wished to reach the pinnacle of honour: never reflecting that the higher he rose, the more terrible would be his fall. The royal apparel was never worn but by the king: even when the king had lain them aside, it was death to put them on. The Targum has purple robes.

"And the horse-and the crown royal" - Interpreters are greatly divided whether what is called here the crown royal be not rather an ornament worn on the head of the horse, than what may be called the royal crown.

The original may be understood both ways; and our version seems to favour the former opinion; but I think it more likely that the royal crown is meant; for why mention the ordinary trappings of the royal steed?

Verse 9. "One of the king's most noble princes" - Alas, Poor Haman! Never was the fable of the dog and shadow more literally fulfilled. Thou didst gape at the shadow, and didst lose the substance.

Verse 10. "Make haste, and take the apparel-and do even so to Mordecai" - O mortifying reverse of human fortune! How could Haman bear this? The Targumist might speak according to nature when he said that "Haman besought the king to kill him rather than degrade him so." How astonishing is the conduct of Divine providence in all this business! From it we plainly see that there is neither counsel nor wisdom against the Lord; and that he who digs a pit for his neighbour, is sure to fall into it himself.

Verse 12. "Mordecai came again to the king's gate" - He resumed his former humble state; while Haman, ashamed to look up, covered his face, and ran home to hide himself in his own house. Covering the head and face was a sign of shame and confusion, as well as of grief, among most people of the earth.

Verse 13. "But shalt surely fall before him." - The Septuagint adds, oti o qeov o zwn metĘ autou, for the living God is with him. But this is a sentiment that could scarcely be expected to proceed from the mouth of heathens, such as these were.

Verse 14. "Hasted to bring Haman" - There was a dreadful banquet before him, of which he knew nothing: and he could have little appetite to enjoy that which he knew was prepared at the palace of Esther.