SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:1
¶ Y aconteció en los días de Asuero (el Asuero que reinó desde la India hasta la Etiopía sobre ciento veinte y siete provincias),
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Esther 1:1
Verse 1. Now it came to pass] The Ahasuerus of the Romans, the Artaxerxes of the Greeks and Ardsheer of the Persians, are the same. Some think that this Ahasuerus was Darius, the son of Hystaspes; but Prideaux and others maintain that he was Artaxerxes Longimanus. Reigned from India even unto Ethiopia] This is nearly the same account that is given by Xenophon. How great and glorious the kingdom of Cyrus was beyond all the kingdoms of Asia, was evident from this: Æwrisqh men prws ew th eruqra qalatth? prov arkton de tw euxeinw pontw? prov esperan de kuprw kai aiguptw? prov meshmbrian de aiqiopia. "It was bounded on the east by the Red Sea; on the north by the Euxine Sea; on the west by Cyprus and Egypt; and on the south by Ethiopia." -CYROP. lib. viii., p. 241, edit. Steph. 1581.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus , etc.] Who he was is not easy to say; almost all the kings of Persia are so named by one or another writer. He cannot be the Ahasuerus in ( Daniel 9:1), he was Astyages, the father of Cyaxares or Darius the Mede; but this must be one who had his royal palace in Shushan, which was never the royal city of the Medes, but of the Persians only; nor does he seem to be the Ahasuerus in ( Ezra 4:6), who is thought to be Cambyses, the son and successor of Cyrus; since, according to the canon of Ptolemy, he reigned but eight years, whereas this Ahasuerus at least reigned twelve, ( Esther 3:7), though indeed some account for it by his reigning in his father’s lifetime; besides, Cambyses was always an enemy to the Jews, as this was not; and yet this way go many of the Jewish writers and so a very learned man, Nicolaus Abram f14 ; according to Bishop Usher f15 , this was Darius Hystaspis, who certainly was a friend to the Jewish nation; but he is rather the Artaxerxes of Ezra and Nehemiah; and so says the Midrash f16 . Dr.
Prideaux thinks Ahasuerus was Artaxerxes Longimanus, which is the sense of Josephus f18 , and who is thought by many to be the Artaxerxes in the foresaid books. Capellus is of opinion, that Darius Ochus is meant, to which Bishop Patrick inclines; but I rather think, with Vitringa and others f21 , that Xerxes is the Ahasuerus that was the husband of Esther here spoken of; so the Arabic writers f22 ; and as he was the son and successor of Darius Hystaspis, if he is meant by Artaxerxes in the preceding books, the history of which is carried to the thirty second year of his reign, ( Nehemiah 13:6) and who reigned but four years more; this book of Esther stands in right order of time to carry on the history of the Jewish affairs in the Persian monarchy; and Mr. Broughton owns, that the name of Xerxes, in Greek, agrees with Achasuerus in Hebrew; and in ( Esther 10:1) his name is Achashresh, which, with the Greeks, is Axeres or Xerxes f24 : this is Ahasuerus, which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia ; properly so called; the Ethiopians had been subdued by Cambyses the son and successor of Cyrus f25 , and the Indians by Darius Hystaspis the father of Xerxes f26 ; and both, with other great nations, were retained in subjection to him f27 ; and many of both, as well as of other nations, were with him in his expedition into Greece f28 : over an hundred and twenty and seven provinces ; there were now seven provinces more under his jurisdiction than were in the times of Darius the Mede, ( Daniel 6:1).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-9 - The pride of Ahasuerus's heart rising with the grandeur of his kingdom he made an extravagant feast. This was vain glory. Better is a dinne of herbs with quietness, than this banquet of wine, with all the nois and tumult that must have attended it. But except grace prevails in the heart, self-exaltation and self-indulgence, in one form or another will be the ruling principle. Yet none did compel; so that if any dran to excess, it was their own fault. This caution of a heathen prince even when he would show his generosity, may shame many calle Christians, who, under pretence of sending the health round, send sin round, and death with it. There is a woe to them that do so; let the read it, and tremble, Hab 2:15, 16.
Original Hebrew
ויהי 1961 בימי 3117 אחשׁורושׁ 325 הוא 1931 אחשׁורושׁ 325 המלך 4427 מהדו 1912 ועד 5704 כושׁ 3568 שׁבע 7651 ועשׂרים 6242 ומאה 3967 מדינה׃ 4082
