Esther 1:6

Est 1:6 [Where were] white, green, and blue, [hangings], fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds [were of] gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble.

Ver. 6. Where were white, green, and blue hangings] Rich and royal tapestry, set forth with variety of colours, pleasant to the eye.

Fastened with cords of fine linen] More precious than silk.

And pillars of marble] To bear up the hangings, that the guests might the better behold them, and be defended by them from wind, dust, and heat.

The beds] Whereon they sat at meat (which was the manner of all those Eastern parts), their bodies so composed, as that the upper part thereof being somewhat bent and bowed, the rest lay along.

Were of gold and silver] The bedsteads were. See Amo 6:4; Amo 2:8; Jer 23:40.

Upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble] Or, porphyry or crystal. All very costly and stately; and these are those things that made us desirous to live longer here, as Charles V told the duke of Venice; who had showed him his fair palace richly furnished, Haec sunt quae nos faciunt invitos mori. These are what they make for us, [who are] unwilling to die. But what said Nugas, the Scythian prince, to certain ambassadors who brought him brave and rich presents? Will these save a man from sickness? Will they stave off death? Do not these outward gauds {festivities} and gaieties carry away the heart from the love and care of better things? (Val. Max. Christian). Solomon saith as much in his sacred retractations; and Charles V (who besides other territories and dominions, had twenty-eight kingdoms) voluntarily gave over the empire as a burden; and cursing his honours in his old age, his trophies, riches, royalties, said to them all, Abite hinc, abite longe, Be gone, all of you; get you hence. Abi perdita bestia quae me perdidisti, as Cornelius Agrippa said on his death bed, to his familiar devil, Be packing, thou wretched beast, that hast undone me for ever.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Est 1:6. Where were white, green, and blue hangings — Set up like tents. The beds were of gold and silver — On which they sat, or rather lay, at their meat. The beds themselves, it is probable, were of the softest wool; but the bedsteads were of gold and silver, that is, studded with gold and silver, or overlaid with plates of them, as the fashion then was. Upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black marble — The Hebrew words babat and shesh, and dar, and sochereth, signify several sorts of marble, as Bochart hath proved beyond contradiction.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:6 White and blue (or violet) were royal colors. Even the mosaic pavement was exquisitely opulent.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which they used in those countries instead of tables.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Where were white, green, and blue hangings, &c.--The fashion, in the houses of the great, on festive occasions, was to decorate the chambers from the middle of the wall downward with damask or velvet hangings of variegated colors suspended on hooks, or taken down at pleasure.

the beds were of gold and silver--that is, the couches on which, according to Oriental fashion, the guests reclined, and which were either formed entirely of gold and silver or inlaid with ornaments of those costly metals, stood on an elevated floor of parti-colored marble.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. White, green, and blue hangings] It was customary, on such occasions, not only to hang the place about with elegant curtains of the above colours, as Dr. Shaw and others have remarked, but also to have a canopy of rich stuffs suspended on cords from side to side of the place in which they feasted. And such courts were ordinarily paved with different coloured marbles, or with tiles painted, as above specified. And this was the origin of the Musive or Mosaic work, well known among the Asiatics, and borrowed from them by the Greeks and the Romans.

The beds of gold and silver mentioned here were the couches covered with gold and silver cloth, on which the guests reclined.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(6) Where were white. . . .—This should be [hangings of] “white cotton and blue.” The word translated “cotton” (Heb., carpas) occurs only here. Canon Rawlinson remarks that “white and blue (or violet) were the royal colours of Persia.”

Linen.—White linen; so the word is used, e.g., in 2Ch_5:12.

Marble.—White marble, as in the last clause of the verse.

Beds.—That is, the couches. The gold is not to be referred simply to the gold- mbroidered coverings, but to the framework of the couch.

Red and blue . . .—These words are not names of colours, but of actual stones, although the meaning of most is doubtful enough. The first (bahat) is rendered by the LXX. as a stone of emerald colour, and may perhaps be malachite. The second (shesh) is white marble, the third (dar) is pearly, and the last (sokhereth) black.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. there were hangings of white cloth, of green, and of blue] marg. fine cloth, white (or cotton) and blue. The word translated ‘green’ in the text is best rendered cotton, and is of Persian origin.[58] The cords, which by means of silver rings attached the hangings to the pillars, furnished a contrast of colour, viz. fine, white linen, mixed with a reddish purple.

[58] Karpas borrowed by the Greek in the form κάρπασος (Lat. carbasus).

pillars of marble] The remains of the pillars found at Susa are of a dark blue limestone, which the Heb. word may very well denote.

the couches were of gold and silver] i.e. with coverlets of gold and silver work, or possibly with a framework of these materials (so the Targum explains), like those which Herod. (ix. 82) tells us that Xerxes brought with him on his expedition against Greece.

of red, and white, and yellow, and black marble] marg. or, of porphyry, and white marble, and alabaster, and stone of blue colour. For the ‘white and yellow’ of R.V. A.V. had ‘blue and white.’ A mosaic pavement of various costly materials is apparently meant, but the precise meaning of the terms used is uncertain. Perhaps we may take it that each is the name of a material, not a colour, and render porphyry (or alabaster), marble, pearl-stone, and dark paving-stone. We should observe, however, that the second of these is the same word as that used in the description of the pillars (see note), and that the last may mean marble with dark spots or streaks. The LXX. adds that there were crystal couches scattered over with roses.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Where were white, green, and blue hangings,.... Or curtains of fine linen, as the Targum, which were of these several colours; the first letter of the word for "white" is larger than usual, to denote the exceeding whiteness of them. The next word is "carpas", which Ben Melech observes is a dyed colour, said to be green. Pausanias (q) makes mention of Carpasian linen, and which may be here meant; the last word used signifies blue, sky coloured, or hyacinth:

fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings, and pillars of marble; these pillars are said, in the Targum, to be of divers colours, red, green, and shining yellow and white, on which the silver rings were fixed, and into them were put linen strings of purple colour, which fastened the hangings to them, and so made an enclosure, within which the guests sat at the feast:

the beds were of gold and silver; the couches on which they sat, or rather reclined at eating, as was the manner of the eastern nations; these, according to the Targum, were of lambs' wool, the finest, and the softest, and the posts of them were of gold, and their feet of silver. Such luxury obtained among the Romans in later times (r):

these were placed in a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble; which, according to some, are the porphyrite, Parian, alabaster, and marble of various colours; the marble of the Persians is of four colours, white, black, red and black, and white and black (s); but others take them to be precious stones, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra; the first is by the Targum interpreted crystal, by others the emerald, one of which Theophrastus (t) speaks of as four cubits long, and three broad, which might be laid in a pavement; the third is, by Bochart (u), supposed to be the pearl; and in the Talmud (w) it is said to be of such a nature, that if placed in the middle of a dining room, will give light in it as at noonday, which seems to be what is called lychnites; to which Lucian (x) ascribes a like property: nor need all this seem strange, since great was the luxury of the eastern nations. Philostratus (y) speaks of a temple in India paved with pearls, and which he says all the Barbarians use in their temples; particularly it is said (z), that the roofs of the palaces of Shushan and Ecbatana, the palaces of the kings of Persia, shone with gold and silver, ivory, and amber; no wonder then that their pavements were of very valuable and precious stones: and from hence it appears, that the "lithostrata", the word here used by the Septuagint, or tesserated pavements, were in use four hundred years before the times of Sylla, where the beginning of them is placed by Pliny (a); there was a "lithostraton" in the second temple at Jerusalem, by us rendered the pavement, Joh 19:13, perhaps the same with the room Gazith, so called from its being laid with hewn stone. Aristeas (b), who lived in the times of Ptolemy Philadelphus, testifies that the whole floor of the temple was a "lithostraton", or was paved with stone: it is most likely therefore that these had their original in the eastern country, and not in Greece, as Pliny (c) supposed.

(q) Attica, sive, l. 1. p. 48. (r) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 33. c. 11. Sueton. Vit. Caesar. c. 49. (s) Universal History, vol. 5. p. 87. (t) Apud Plin. l. 37. c. 5. (u) Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 8. (w) T. Bab. Megillah, fol. 12. 1. (x) De Dea Syria. (y) Vit. Apollon. l. 2. c. 11. (z) Aristot. de Mundo, c. 6. Apuleius de Mundo. (a) Nat. Hist. l. 36. c. 25. (b) De 70 Interpret. p. 32. (c) Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 36. c. 25.)

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rather, “where was an awning of fine white cotton and violet.” White and blue (or violet) were the royal colors in Persia. Such awnings as are here described were very suitable to the pillared halls and porches of a Persian summer-palace, and especially to the situation of that of Susa.

The beds - Rather, “couches” or “sofas,” on which the guests reclined at meals.

A pavement ... - See the margin. It is generally agreed that the four substances named are stones; but to identify the stones, or even their colors, is difficult.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Were. Protestants, "where were," white, green, and blue hangings. --- Ivory. Hebrew, "silver." (Haydock) --- Beds, to lie down on at table; though sitting was formerly the fashion, Genesis xliii. 33. The other custom prevailed among the more luxurious nations, and was observed in our Saviour’s time, each person reclining upon his left arm, and having his feet behind the next. (Tirinus) --- These beds were made very low, in Persia; so that Alexander had one put under his feet, when he sat on the throne of Darius, as he was not so tall. (Curtius v. 7.) --- Their magnificence was surprising. (Herodotus ix. 81.) (Calmet) --- Variety, in Mosaic work. (Tirinus) --- They lay upon sheep skins. (Chaldean) Septuagint, "and the beds (or coverlets) were transparent, with various flowers, and full-blown roses, all round." (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The beds; for in those eastern countries and ancient times they did not sit at tables, as we do, but rested or leaned upon beds; of which we have many testimonies, both in Scripture, as Est 7:8; Amo 2:8; 6:4; Joh 13:23, and in all other authors.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. White, green, and blue — White and blue, or violet, seem to have been royal colours in Persia. Comp. Est_8:15. The great hall of marble pillars was adorned with hangings of various colours and materials, which were fastened in festoon-like form to the pillars, and served probably both for ornament and awning. It is difficult to identify precisely the various colours and substances mentioned in this verse. Keil renders the whole verse thus: White stuff, variegated and purple hangings, fastened with cords of byssus and purple to silver rings and marble pillars; couches of gold and silver upon a pavement of malachite and marble, mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell. “The description,” he remarks, “consists of mere allusions to, or exclamations at, the splendour of the preparations. In the first half of the verse the hangings of the room, in the second the couches for the guests, are noticed.” These couches (which were placed upon the tessellated pavement of the court, and on which the guests reclined at the banquet) were probably not of solid gold and silver, but either “covered with cloth woven of gold and silver thread,” (Keil,) or else mounted and beautifully set with plates of these precious metals. Herodotus (ix, 80-82) makes mention of the vast quantities of gold and silver vessels of various kinds, together with gold and silver couches and tables, and various coloured awnings, (παραπετασματα,) which Xerxes carried with him on his expedition to Greece. Strabo (xv, 3, 19) says of the Persians, “their couches, drinking cups, and other articles are so brilliantly ornamented that they gleam with gold and silver.” Other ancient writers also mention the immense wealth of Persia.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Where were white, green, and blue hangings. There is nothing in the original corresponding to "green." The "hangings," or rather awning, was of white cotton (karphas) and violet. Mr. Loftus supposes that it was carried across from the central pillared hall to the detached porticoes, thus shading the guests from the intense heat of the sun ("Chaldaea and Susiana," p. 375). Fastened with cords of fine linen and purple. Very strong cords would be needed to support the awning if it was carried across as above suggested, over a space of nearly sixty feet. To rings of silver. The exact use of the rings is doubtful. Perhaps they were inserted into the stone work in order that the cords might be made fast to them. Pillars of marble. The pillars at Susa are not of marble, but of a dark-blue limestone. Perhaps the Hebrew shesh designated this stone rather than marble. The beds were of gold and silver. The couches on which the guests reclined are intended (comp. Est_7:8) These were either covered with gold and silver cloth, or had their actual framework of the precious metals, like those which Xerxes took with him into Greece (see Herod., 9:82). Upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black marble. The four words which follow "pavement" are not adjectives denoting colours, but the names of four different materials. One is shesh, the material of the pillars, which accords with the fact that such pavement slabs as have been found at Susa are, like the columns, of a blue limestone. The other materials are unknown to us, and we cannot say what the exact colours were; but no doubt the general result was a mosaic pavement of four different hues.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Beds - For in those eastern countries, they did not then sit at tables as we do, but rested or leaned upon beds or couches.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

white, fine cotton, and blue He spread out various types of colored garments for them for spreads.

embroidered with cords of linen and purple embroidered with threads of linen and purple; he spread these out for them on rods of silver and on columns of marble.

couches of gold and silver he set [them] up to sit upon for the feast.

on a pavement of floors of green and white, etc. Our Sages identified them as kinds of precious stones, and according to the apparent meaning of the verse, these were their names.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.