Esther 8:15

And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king,.... And walked or rode about in the city to show himself to his friends: in royal apparel of blue and white; such as the Persian kings wore, and

And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.

With a great crown of gold; which the chief of the Persian princes were permitted to wear, but with sufficient distinction from the king’ s crown. The city of Shushan; not only Jews, but the greatest number of the citizens, who, by the law of nature written upon their hearts, had an abhorrency from bloody counsels and designs, and a complacency in acts of benignity and mercy; or for other reasons, of which See Poole "".

Esther 8:15 And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.Ver. 15. And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king] Whither he went is not set down. It is probable he either went to Haman’ s house, the oversight whereof was committed to him by Esther, or that he went to some other parts of the city, upon the public employment, whereof now he had his hands full; and, therefore, all his faculties were in motion, and every motion seemed a well guided action, as one saith well of Queen Elizabeth, when she first came to the crown. In royal apparel] Suitable to his new condition. This he might lawfully do, no doubt, as did Joseph, Daniel, Solomon. Generally those that are in king’ s houses are clothed in softs, and go gorgeously. There is indeed a blame worthy excess herein, Zephaniah 1:8 Isaiah 3:18. Alcisthenes’ s costly cloak, prized at one hundred and twenty talents; Demetrius, king of Macedonia’ s, robe of state, which none of his successors would wear, propter invidiosam impendii magnificentiam on account of their hatred of its expensive magnificance. (Athenaeus); Herod’ s cloth of silver, which, by refraction of the sunbeams upon it, gave such a splendour, that the foolish people for that, and for his speech, cried him up for a god. Good Mordecai thought never a whit the better of himself for his gay clothing; neither did his heart rise with his clothes, as the boat doth with the water that carrieth it. He affecteth not this change, but rather accepteth it; he endureth it rather than desireth it. Sheep’ s russet would please him every whit as well as cloth of tissue, but that the king will have it so; and being now the second man in the kingdom, he must go accordingly, lest he should be slighted, as Agesilaus, king of Sparta, was by the Persians for his overly plain habit. Vestis virum facit, a man is esteemed as he is arrayed: cultusque concessus atque magnificus, comely and costly attire addeth authority, as Quintilian long since observed. And with a great crown of gold] We read not that Haman had any such. It may be the king had bestowed it upon Mordecai as a special favour, for having saved his life, Esther 2:19-21. Sure it is that he gave it to him for a better cause than Alexander the Great did his crown of one hundred and eighty pounds, provided by him at a great supper, and promised to him that should drink most. Mordecai had his temporal crown upon far better terms, and yet looked for a more weighty one in heaven, 2 Corinthians 4:17, even such a weight of glory, as that if the body were not by the power of God upheld, it were impossible it should bear it.

(15) Blue and white.—See Note on Esther 1:6. Crown.—This is a different word from that previously used of a “royal crown” (Esther 6:8). Garment.—The inner robe or tunic. That of the king was of purple striped with white. Linen.—White linen. The city of Shushan rejoiced.—The tide of royal favour had changed, and the people of Shushan were evidently not very different from the mass of the populace of the present day, who shout with the winning side. Nothing succeeds like success, and the mobile vulgus of Susa cheered Mordecai as doubtless they would have hooted had they seen him led to execution. The crowds who welcomed our Lord into Jerusalem on His triumphal entry soon let their enthusiasm die away—“ Hosanna!” now; tomorrow, “Crucify!”

Verse 15. Blue and white] Probably stripe interchanged with stripe; or blue faced and bordered with white fur. A great crown of gold] A large turban, ornamented with gold, jewels, c. Fine linen and purple] See on Genesis 41:42. The בץ buts, here mentioned, is most probably the same with the byssus of the ancients supposed to be the beautiful tuft or beard, growing out of the side of the pinna longa, a very large species of muscle, found on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, of which there are a pair of gloves in the British Museum. This byssus I have described elsewhere. Shushan - was glad.] Haman was too proud to be popular; few lamented his fall.

15. in royal apparel of blue and white] by way of indicating externally the revulsion of feeling. The Persian king’s own robe was purple, or purple embroidered with gold over another garment of purple striped or mixed with white. See Rawlinson’s Anc. Mon. (2nd ed.), iii. 203. crown] not kether, that of the monarch, but ‘aṭ ?ârâh, which may have been a less rich one. a robe of fine linen and purple] The LXX. erroneously translate ‘a diadem’ etc. The king wore a diadem consisting of a blue and white band or fillet, encircling the lower part of the crown. The description as regards the sentiments both of Mordecai and the city is worded so as to present a sharp contrast with that of the earlier condition of affairs (Esther 3:15, Esther 4:1). shouted] The Heb. verb denotes joy audibly expressed. Thus the A.V.’s ‘rejoiced’ is inadequate.

See the Esther 1:6 note. The “crown” was not a crown like the king’s, but a mere golden band or coronet. A garment - Or, “an inner robe.” The tunic or inner robe of the king was of purple, striped with white.

15. Mordecai went out from… the king — This verse relates back to Esther 8:1-2.