Esther 10: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The book closes with a short royal note: King Ahasuerus put a tax on the whole empire, out to its most distant coasts. The record of his power, and of the high position he gave Mordecai, is said to be written in the official annals of the kings of Media and Persia. Mordecai the Jew ranked second only to the king, was honored by the Jews, and worked for the good of his people.

Claim by Claim

1. 10:1
   • King Ahasuerus imposed forced labor or tribute on the land.
   • King Ahasuerus imposed forced labor or tribute on the coastlands of the sea.
2. 10:2
   • All the acts of the king's power and might were recorded.
   • The full account of the greatness of Mordecai was recorded.
   • The king made Mordecai great.
   • These things are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia.
   • The statement is posed as a question asking whether these things are not written there.
3. 10:3
   • Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus.
   • Mordecai was great among the Jews.
   • Mordecai was favored by the multitude of his brothers.
   • Mordecai sought the good of his people.
   • Mordecai spoke peace to all his seed.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

10:1

"Ahasuerus" is the Hebrew form of the Persian royal name Khshayarsha, which comes into English through Greek as Xerxes; the two names refer to the same king. "Tribute" here is a compulsory levy imposed on subject territories (paid in silver, goods, or forced labor), rather than a tax voted by those who paid it. "The isles of the sea" translates a Hebrew word meaning coastlands as much as islands: the shores and islands of the Mediterranean at the western edge of the Persian empire, standing for its farthest reaches.

10:2

"The book of the chronicles" was the Persian court's official day-by-day record of royal business, kept by court secretaries; the same archive is what is read aloud to the sleepless king earlier in the story. "Are they not written...?" is a standard formula in Hebrew historical writing, a rhetorical question that points the reader to a separate source rather than repeating its contents. The order "Media and Persia" reflects that the empire was formed from two allied peoples, the Medes and the Persians, ruled from Persia; the phrase appears in both orders in this book.

10:3

"Next unto king Ahasuerus" means second in rank in the whole empire, the highest office under the throne, the position Haman had held. "Wealth" in 1611 English meant well-being or prosperity in the broadest sense, not money; the Hebrew word means good or benefit. "Speaking peace" uses the Hebrew shalom, which covers safety, prosperity, and wholeness, not merely the absence of war. "All his seed" is a literal rendering of a Hebrew idiom for offspring or descendants, used here of his people as a whole rather than of children he fathered.