Esther 7:4

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish,.... She makes use of these several words, to express the utter destruction of her and her people, without any exception;

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 tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage.

We are sold by the craft and cruelty of that man, who offered a great sum of money to purchase our destruction. I and my people; for we are all given up to his malice and rage, without any exception of my own person. To be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish: she useth variety of expressions to make the deeper impression upon the king’ s mind. I had held my tongue, because that calamity had neither been irrecoverable, nor intolerable, nor yet unprofitable to the king, for whose honour and service I should willingly have submitted myself and people to any kind of bondage. The enemy could not countervail the king’ s damage; his ten thousand talents, if paid into the king’ s treasury, would not repair the king’ s loss in the customs and tributes which the king receives from the Jews within his dominions.

Esther 7:4 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 tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king’ s damage.Ver. 4. For we are sold] i.e. Given up wholly into the power of the enemy, as that which a man hath bought with his money, is his own to dispose of. She refers, doubtless, to the sum proffered by Haman, Esther 3:9, not fearing the face of so potent an enemy, nor going behind his back to set him out in his colours; yea, though her discourse could not but somewhat reflect upon the king, who had given Haman his consent. I, and my people] She makes it a common cause, and saith to her countrymen, as once David did to Abiathar, 1 Samuel 22:23, or as Charles V said to Julius Pestugius, who complained that he had been much wronged by the duke of Saxony, Have a little patience, thy cause shall be my cause, neither will I sit down till I have seen you some way righted. See Esther 7:3. To be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish] These were the very words of that bloody decree which she purposely maketh use of, that he might be sensible of what he had consented to, and might see that she complained not without cause. But what a case was Haman in at the hearing of this! and how did he now repent him, but too late, of ever having a hand in so bloody a business! His iniquity was now full, and the bottle of his wickedness, filled up to the brim with those bitter waters, was even about to sink to the bottom. His gallows was finished last night, and now it groaned hard for him, that he might be destroyed, slain, and made to perish. - Neque enim lex iustior ulla est, Quam necis artifices arte perire sua. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen] Though it had been a hard and sad condition for a queen, especially (which yet was Hecuba’ s case and Zenobia’ s), yet it would not be grievous to them to sacrifice their liberty to the service of their life: the Gibeonites were glad they might live upon any terms, Joshua 9:24-25. Masters might slay their bondservants, but that was counted a cruelty, and when one did it at Rome, he was amerced by the censor; many times they were manumitted for their good service, and came to great estates. I had held my tongue] Silence is in some cases a crying sin. Taciturnity, I confess, is sometimes a virtue, but not at all where it tends to the betraying of a good cause, or the detriment of the labouring Church. "For Zion’ s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’ s sake I will not rest," &c., Isaiah 62:1.

(4) We are sold.—See above, Esther 3:9. To be destroyed. . . .—Literally, to destroy and to kill, and to cause to perish. The identical words used in the king’s proclamation for the destruction of the Jews. Herein Esther at once makes confession of her nationality, and relying on the king’s still recent gratitude to one of the race, aided by his present cordiality to herself, she risks, as indeed she can no longer help doing, the fate of herself and her race on the momentary impulse of her fickle lord. Happily for her, God has willed that these, perhaps at any other time untrustworthy grounds of reliance, shall suffice. The “hearts of kings are in His rule and governance,” and now the heart of one is “disposed and turned, as it seemeth best to His godly wisdom.” Although the enemy. . . .—The meaning of this clause is not quite clear. The literal translation is, although (or because) the enemy is not equal to (i.e., does not make up for) the king’s hurt. This may mean (a) that Haman, though willing to pay a large sum into the royal treasury, cannot thereby make up for the loss which the king must incur by wholesale massacre being carried on in his realm; or (b) “were we merely to be sold into slavery, instead of being killed outright, I should have said nothing, because the enemy was not one worth the king’s while to trouble himself about.” We prefer the former view. The word “enemy” is that translated adversary, in Esther 7:6, and properly means one who oppresses, afflicts, distresses. The word which is, literally, equal to, comparable with, has already occurred in Esther 3:8; Esther 5:13.

Verse 4. To be destroyed, to be slain] She here repeats the words which Haman put into the decree. See Es 3:13. Could not countervail the king's damage.] Even the ten thousand talents of silver could not be considered as a compensation to the state for the loss of a whole nation of people throughout all their generations.

4. we are sold] She refers to the bribe which Haman had offered the king for permission to destroy her people, and of which Mordecai had told her (Esther 3:9, Esther 4:7). although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s damage] The original text is obscure. The R.V. makes good sense, as meaning that Haman, by enslaving the Jews, would do the king an injury (by depriving him of the persons of so many of his subjects and of the revenues derived from them) for which it would be out of his power to make compensation. The fatal objection to this rendering is that it is impossible as a translation of the Heb. as it stands, inasmuch as the word rendered ‘although’ cannot have that sense, but must be rendered for, or because. The margin of the R.V., retaining the Heb. consonants as they stand while slightly changing a vowel[74] (for our affliction is not to be compared with the king’s damage), means, ‘the suffering which would be inflicted on us is a trivial matter compared with the loss to the king.’ [74] Reading δַ ?φַּ ?ψ for δַ ?φָּ ?ψ.Other translations are (a) (keeping the same change of vowel in the Heb.) ‘for such oppression would not be worth troubling the king about,’ or (b) (without the change of vowel) ‘for the adversary (Haman) is not worth troubling the king about.’ But we are not justified in forcing the word properly translated ‘damage’ to mean ‘annoyance.[75]’ The LXX. have ‘for the adversary is not worthy of the court of the king.’[76][75] It may be noted that the word is a ‘loan-word’ from Aramaic, and occurs in this passage only of the Bible. [76] οὐγὰρἅξιοςὁδιάβολοςτῆςαὐλῆς (apparently reading δφψ over again as ηφψ) τοῦβασιλέως.

The king now learned, perhaps for the first time, that his favorite was a Jewess. Although the enemy ... - i. e.

4. We are sold — Allusion to Haman’s offer to pay into the king”s treasury ten thousand talents. Esther 3:9.