Esther 4:11

“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces do know, etc.] Not only the princes and courtiers, but all the king’s subjects, the meanest of them; there is scarce a person throughout the whole empire, to whom the following law is not known; this is said, to show how notorious it was: that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death; according to the former Targum, Human got this law to be made now, to prevent any application to the king about this affair; but then it would not have been so universally known as before declared; and it appears that there was such a law among the…”

“whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called--The Persian kings surrounded themselves with an almost impassable circle of forms. The law alluded to was first enacted by Deioces, king of Media, and afterwards, when the empires were united, adopted by the Persians, that all business should be transacted and petitions transmitted to the king through his ministers. Although the restriction was not intended, of course, to apply to the queen, yet from the strict and inflexible character of the Persian laws and the extreme desire to exalt the majesty of the sovereign, even his favorite wife had not the privilege of entree, except by special favor…”

“The golden scepter - In all the numerous representations of Persian kings at Persepolis the monarch holds a long tapering staff (probably the scepter of Esther) in his right hand. It was death to intrude on the privacy of the Persian king uninvited. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Inner court - Within which, the king's residence and throne was. Not called - This was decreed, to maintain both the majesty, and the safety of the king's person; and by the contrivance of the greater officers of state, that few or none might have access to the king but themselves and their friends. I have not been called, &c. - Which gives me just cause to fear that the king's affections are alienated from me, and that neither my person nor petition will be acceptable to him. Esther 4:14”

“4:11 anyone who appears . . . without being invited is doomed to die: Access to the king was strictly controlled by his guards to prevent unwanted guests from wasting the king’s time with petty requests. Since these were the official rules of the court, the danger to Esther’s life was enormous. Apparently she ruled out requesting an audience with the king through a messenger, possibly because she would have to tell the messenger why she wanted to talk to the king. • has not called for me to come to him for thirty days: Esther had no guarantee of the king’s favorable response.”

“shall come: Herodotus informs us, that ever since the reign of Deioces, king of Media, for the security of the king's person, it was enacted that no one should be admitted into his presence; but that if any one had business with him, he should transact it through the medium of his ministers. the inner court: Est 5:1 one law: Dan 2:9 the king shall: Est 5:2, Est 8:4 the golden sceptre: That the kings of Persia carried a golden sceptre, we have the following proof in Xenophon: Οτι ου τοδε το χρυσουν σκηπτρον το μην βασιλειαν διασωζον εστιν, αλλ οι πιστοι φιλοι σκηπτρον βασιλευσιν αληθεστατον και ασφαλεστατον. "It is not (said Cyrus to his son Cambyses) the golden sceptre that saves the…”