Esther 8:6

Est 8:6 For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?

Ver. 6. For how can I endure to see the evil, &c.] She had her life already given her at her petition; but unless she might have her people at her request, who were sold as well as herself, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish, Est 7:3-4, her life would be unto her a joyless, that is, a lifeless life, Mortis enim habet vices quae trahitur vita gemitibus. It is rather a death than a life that is spent in heaviness and horror. And this would be Esther’s case if her people should be massacred, as was designed and decreed; such was her holy sympathy and endeared affection to her countrymen and fellow citizens of heaven, that she could not live to behold such a sad and bloody spectacle:

Absit ut excisa possim super vivere Troia,

said Anchises to his son Æneas, that would have saved his life in that common destruction of his country: Far be it from me to outlive Troy. Curtius telleth us, that Alexander the Great, when he was extremely thirsty, and had water offered to him, he would not receive it, but put it by with this brave speech, Nec solus bibere sustineo, nec tam exiguum dividere omnibus possum, There is not enough for all my soldiers to share with me, and to drink it alone I cannot find in my heart, I will never do it. Compare herewith this speech of Esther, and you will find it far the better, as being full of those precious graces (whereunto Alexander was a perfect stranger), humility, prudence, faith, zeal toward God, and ardent love toward his people. Oh how great is the number of those today (saith Lavater here), qui ne micam Spiritus Estherae habent, who have not the least parcel of Esther’s spirit, but are all for themselves, and for their own interests!

Or how can I endure to see] Heb. Quomodo potero et videbo? How can I? and shall I see? how should I do otherwise than sink at the sight (as she did in the Roman History, when her son was butchered; and as the Virgin Mary felt a sword at her heart when she beheld Christ crucified, Luk 2:35). Melancthon said, that good Oecolampadius died of grief for the Church’s calamities. Nehemiah was heart sick for the breaches of Joseph, Neh 2:3 Amo 6:6. Moses wished himself expunged, and Paul accursed, rather than it should go ill with God’s people.

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.

Verse 6. To see the destruction of my kindred?] She had now informed the king that she was cousin to Mordecai, and consequently a Jewess; and though her own life and that of Mordecai were no longer in danger, Haman being dead, yet the decree that had gone forth was in full force against the Jews; and if not repealed, their destruction would be inevitable.

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

For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people?.... I cannot bear it; it will break my heart; I shall die to see all my people massacred throughout the realm; the thought of it is shocking and shuddering; to see it, intolerable: or "how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?" the same thing in different words, and somewhat more express and explanative. She explains the evil coming upon her people of the utter destruction of them, not barely an oppression, but an extermination of them; and she makes use of a word expressive of their relation to her, as more endearing, being her kindred; she and they being, as it were, of the same family, and with whom she could not but sympathize in distress.

For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people?.... I cannot bear it; it will break my heart; I shall die to see all my people massacred throughout the realm; the thought of it is shocking and shuddering; to see it, intolerable: or "how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?" the same thing in different words, and somewhat more express and explanative. She explains the evil coming upon her people of the utter destruction of them, not barely an oppression, but an extermination of them; and she makes use of a word expressive of their relation to her, as more endearing, being her kindred; she and they being, as it were, of the same family, and with whom she could not but sympathize in distress.

Esther 8:7

est 8:7

est 8:7

est 8:7Then the King Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen, and to Mordecai the Jew,.... Who was present at the same time, either at the desire of Esther, or by virtue of his office, being now one of those that saw the king's face, Est 8:1,

behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman; See Gill on Est 8:1,

and him they have hanged upon the gallows; which he had prepared for Mordecai, Est 7:10

because he laid his hand upon the Jews; intended to do so, and had prepared for it, and wrote letters, ordering their destruction on such a day. Now as the king had shown favour to Esther and Mordecai, and had punished Haman for contriving mischief against them and the Jews, which was publicly known, the people would be fearful of doing anything against them, lest they should incur the king's displeasure, and therefore might make themselves easy about this matter; but, however, to give them all the satisfaction he could, he directs them to do as follows.

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

My heart will sink under it, and I shall never be able to survive it.

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

Patriotism.

Esther"s life was now safe, and probably her cousin"s too. But that was not enough. Her nation was still in danger. The royal decree had delivered the Jews throughout the empire into the hands of their enemies. In a few months, unless measures were meantime taken to check and hinder the malice of their foes, thousands of Israelites might be exposed to violence, pillage, and massacre. The thought was to Esther cruel beyond bearing. "How," said she, "can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people, the destruction of my kindred?" This was patriotism indeed.

I PATRIOTISM IMPLIES A SENTIMENT OF SYMPATHY. Esther felt for her people, her kindred. Every lover of his country will not only rejoice in its prosperity, cherish a glow of pride and satisfaction in any great deeds of his countrymen, but will grieve over national calamities and mourn over national sins; will "sigh and cry for the abominations that are done in the land.

II PATRIOTISM DETERS MEN FROM DOING ANYTHING THAT CAN INJURE THEIR COUNTRY. If personal advantage can be secured by any harm to his country, the patriot will spurn the thought of so profiting himself at the expense of the nation. As a citizen, whose life must have some influence, he will refrain from conduct by which his countrymen might suffer.

III TRUE PATRIOTISM WILL LEAD MEN TO SEEK NOT ONLY THE MATERIAL PROSPERITY, BUT THE REAL AND MORAL GREATNESS OF THEIR COMMON COUNTRY. They cannot contemplate uninterested, unmoved, a state of society

Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.

The progress of knowledge, of virtue, of true religion amongst their kindred will be sought with ardour and zeal.

IV PATRIOTISM WILL LEAD TO PRACTICAL EFFORT TO AVOID THREATENING DANGERS. The patriot is unwilling to contemplate, to anticipate evil. But mere sentiment is insufficient, and he will exert himself to avert the evil he dreads. Especially will he use any influence he possesses with those who have the means, the power, the opportunity of assisting to secure the safety and welfare of the country. The examples of Ezra and of Nehemiah, among the children of the captivity, show us what true patriotism will lead men to undertake and do and bear. But the supreme example, alike of patriotism and of philanthropy, is to be beheld in Jesus Christ, who wept over Jerusalem as well as over the world, and who would fain have averted ruin from the city he favoured with his teaching and ministry, and in which he shed his precious blood.

HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER Ver. 6.

True patriotism.

Esther felt that her work was not yet done. An overconfident and sanguine disposition might have taken for granted, as we do in the mere retrospect, that all else which was requisite would follow as matter of course. She had met as yet no rebuff, had suffered no failure. Each move, well considered beforehand, had been crowned with success, surpassing the utmost that she or Mordecai had dared to imagine. In the flush of personal success, and of joy because of the safety and great promotion of Mordecai, she does not forget the larger family of her "people" and "kindred." The fearful decree is not reversed. It still overhangs the heads of thousands upon thousands. Esther feels that her mission will not be fulfilled until she has obtained the abrogation of the decree, and secured the lives of her people. In all the methods she had employed hitherto a remarkable calmness and circumspection are observable. But now a change is visible in favour of a demonstrativeness which it must have required very strong effort to keep up to this time in such restraint. Esther "fell down at the feet of the king, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman, and his device that he had devised against the Jews (ver. 3). This change is interesting to observe, as occurring at the time when thought and affection left self and home for the scattered kindred of a hundred and twenty-seven provinces. This verse is the irrepressible outcry of true patriotism. It is the expostulation of vivid and tender sympathy. It is the argument of a forcible principle of our nature, which oversteps the boundaries of the personal and the domestic in order to travel much farther, and to embrace the national. It mounts by the stepping-stones of self-love and sacred family love to the love of vast numbers of those never seen nor personally known, yet in some special sense related. The passage suggests, by a leading illustration, the general subject of patriotism; and we may notice

I WHAT TRUE PATRIOTISM IS.

1. It is evidently an original and ultimate principle. As soon as ever it waspossible it showed its existence The fact of its presence, and operative presence, has been visible in all ages, traceable in all kinds and degrees of civilisation among the barbarous, and among the most advanced and elevated nationalities.

2. It is a principle of a high moral kind. A form of love above the sympathywhich is between individual and individual, above that which lies between those born of the same parents, and, on the other hand, falling short of that universal love of man, as such, which is one of the very highest teachings of Christianity.

3. It is a somewhat quickened regard for those united to us by communityof race. A stronger interest in their welfare and advantage is marked by it, while divested as far as possible of any conscious reflex action or benefit to self. This affection was no doubt exceedingly strong in the Jewish race, was at Esther"s time greatly intensified by adversity and persecution and natural causes, but owed its most determined hold to distinctly Divine purpose.

II THE USE OF PATRIOTISM IN THE INDIVIDUAL CHARACTER.

1. It must be enlarging to the heart. It must expand the affections in theiroutlook, which then seek the various and the distant instead of ever keeping at home. It must give greater and freer exercise to the more important moral elements of our nature.

2. It must operate ever as a distinct corrective to some portion of thedangers of selfishness. There is much selfishness in our self-love; there is often not a little even in the family and domestic circle; sympathies may run round indeed, but in too narrow a circle. But the circle is immensely widened by this community of interest, while yet kept within a manageable area.

3. It is able to give enough natural motive to the awakening of moralenergies, which without it would have found no sufficient appeal. In point of fact, some of the grandest displays of human force, and among them that of the present history, have been due to it.

III ITS USEFULNESS TO PUBLIC SOCIETY. There will be a vast amount of this necessarily entailed indirectly and unconsciously, as arising from the previous considerations; but, in addition, manifest practical use on a large scale will also result.

1. It secures the prospect of bringing together to one point a greataggregate of force in emergency. It is like public opinion in action, seasoned by genuine affection.

2. It is equal also to the converse of this, spreading, as in Esther"s example, the willing benefit, the critical advantage of opportunity, of one loving, praying heart, over a vast area.

3. Pervading the whole mass of mankind, it so divides it up and so allots it,that in place of unwieldiness a well-knit-together organisation is found. Thus it offers a strong and very traceable analogy to the body with its members.

IV THAT IN PATRIOTISM WE HAVE ANOTHER EVIDENCE OF DIVINE DESIGN IN THE STRUCTURE OF HUMAN SOCIETY. For

1. It cannot possibly be attributed to mere human arrangement or compact.

2. It does not at all really contravene either the descent of all from onehead, or the fact that "God has made of one blood all nations of the earth.

3. Its operation is not malevolent, setting "nation against nation." It isbeneficent, and is ever growing to show itself more and more so, leading up to mutual service, mutual dependence, and mutual love, to the attainment of which it were very hard to see any other way so compact, so sure. B.

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