Attributed commentary excerpt
John Gill's Exposition on Esther 1:8
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Exposition of the Old and New Testament
John Gill (1697–1771) · 18th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
And the drinking was according to the law, none did compel, etc.] According to the law Ahasuerus gave to his officers next mentioned, which was not to oblige any man to drink more than he chose; the Targum is, ‘according to the custom of his body;’ that is, as a man is able to bear it, so they drank: some f55 read it, “the drinking according to the law, let none exact”; or require it to be, according to the custom then in use in Persia; for they were degenerated from their former manners, and indulged to intemperance, as Xenophon f56 suggests: the law formerly was, not to carry large vessels into feasts; but now, says he, they drink so much, that they themselves must be carried out, because they cannot go upright: and so it became a law with the Greeks, at their festivals, that either a man must drink or go out f57; so the master of a feast, at which Empedocles was, ordered either that he should drink, or the wine be poured on his head f58; but such force or compulsion Ahasuerus forbad: and thus with the Chinese now, they force none to drink, but modestly invite them f59: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure; to let them have what wine they would, but not force them to drink more than was agreeable to them.
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