Esther 10

Esther 10:1-3

In this short chapter we are told, 1. Ahafuerus’s greatness, ver. 1, 2. 2. Mordecai’s advancement, and his kindness to his nation, ver. 2, 3. 1. AND the king Ahafuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the uses of the sea. 2. And all the acts of his power, and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persa 3. For Mordecai the Jew next next unto king Ahafuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted

of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.

We have here the conclusion of the book of Bithers, for though in the Greek copies six other chapters are added, they are rejected as apocryphal. We are here informed,

1. That Ahafuerus laid a general tribute on all his dominions. Either the tribute he had remitted, chap. ii. 18. or if, as is supposed, this was Xerxes, his expensive expeditions made it necessary to replenish his treasury. In arbitrary governments, the king’s will is law; blessed be God for the enjoyment of liberty and property.

2. The greatness of this mighty monarch was at large recorded in the chronicles, or records of his kingdom, where

Mordecai’s name also bore a distinguished place, and reflected honour upon the master to whom he owed his advancement.

3. Mordecai, good as he was great, approved himself by every act of kindness and favour to his countrymen. His honours had not changed his manners; he was courteous and kind to all his brethren, and his desire to serve them seemed but to increase with his ability. Univerfully respected and beloved, his greatness procured no envy; whilst the multitude of his brethren were deeply sensible, that for all their happiness and prosperity they were indebted to his kindness and protection. Now, He is truly great, whose power and dignity are employed for the public good.

Vol. I. 6 S THE EVANGELICAL EXPOSITOR; OR, A PRACTICAL COMMENT Upon the Book of J O B.

THE book of Job is the first of those filled Poetical, and appears to be the most antient of them all, and, probably, even prior to the book of Genesis; it being most generally supposed, that he was a near descendant of Ux, Nabor’s first-born, Abraham’s brother, Gen. xxii. 21. in whose family the true religion was kept up, Gen. xxxi. 53. His age also seems to speak him before Moses’s time, when man’s life was shortened to seventy years; whereas Job lived an hundred and forty years after his restoration. No mention is made of the giving law, though more antient transactions, as the deluge, and destruction of Sodom, are referred to; and tradition of former times appears as yet to have been the only repository of truth. It should seem also, that no other idolatry had as yet crept in, but of the sun and moon; and that sacrifices were not confined to one family, but every father was a priest in his own house; arguments which speak the most remote antiquity.

Some have fancied that the whole was a mere apologue, and not a real history; but Ezekiel, xiv. 14. leaves no more doubt of the reality of such a man as Job, than of Noah or Daniel; and the apostle James, v. 11. is very express to the point. Besides, the names of his friends and family, his country, substance, and a variety of particulars, all serve to prove the story not fabulous, but authentic.

Various have been the conjectures about the author of this history, some ascribing it to Moses, others to Solomon, Ezra, &c. but Job himself seems most likely to have preserved and published these memoirs, which so nearly related to himself. Certain however it is, whoever wrote them, they were given by inspiration from God, and stamped with Divine authority, as appears from James v. 11. chap. v. 13. compared with 1 Cor. xiv. 19. chap. v. 17. compared with Heb. xii. 5. Accordingly, this book hath been ever received among the Jews, as belonging to the oracles of God.

The great design of the book, which is full of the most sublime sentiments and expressions, appears to be,

1. To convince us of the insufficiency of all human righteousness, the deep corruption of the human nature, and the necessity of a better righteousness than our own, if ever we would be just before God.

2. To assert and explain the doctrine of a particular providence; to answer the objections which arise from the afflictions of good men; to urge submission to all God’s dispensations, and patient waiting, without murmuring, the issue of every temptation.

3. To display the glory of God in his adorable perfections, his absolute sovereignty, inflexible justice, unfearable wisdom, irresistible power, and infinite goodness; to exalt him as the Creator, Governor, and Judge of all; and to lay every mouth in the dust in silence before him.

4. To present us with an illustrious type of our Divine Saviour, first suffering, then exalted; sunk under the depths of adversity then rising to the pinnacle of glory.

The book gives a short history of Job, and the afflictions he suffered; but is chiefly taken up in several dialogues between himself and friends, to whose charges he replies; whilst Elihu, at the close, as moderator of the dispute, takes up the argument, and God himself at last determines the question.

The chief argument which his three friends principally insist upon, is the constant blessedness and prosperity of the righteous, and the misery of the wicked; from whence they would infer, that his sins must necessarily be the cause of his afflictions; and, as his sufferings were great, consequently his sins, though secretly committed, must be great also. They seem to look at no distribution of rewards and punishments hereafter, but conclude, that the present dispensations of Divine Providence are ever correspondent to men’s deserts.

Job appears firm in his replies, conscious of his integrity respecting the accusations laid against him; maintaining his innocence, and appealing to his whole conduct for the exemplariness of his conversation: so far was