Esther Chapter 6 verse 8 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 8. - Let the royal apparel be brought. To wear a dress previously worn by the king was, under ordinary circumstances, a breach of Persian law (Plut., 'Vit. Artax.,' 5); but the king might allow it (Herod., 7:17) or condone it (Plut., 1. s.c.). The horse that the king rideth upon. Rather, "a horse that the king hath ridden." And the crown royal which is set upon his head. Rather, "and that hath a crown royal set on his head." Some peculiar ornament by which the royal steed was made conspicuous is intended, not his own crown, which even Xerxes would scarcely have allowed another to wear. See vers. 9 and 11, where the dress and the horse are referred to, but the crown, as an adjunct of the horse, not particularised.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(8) Let the royal apparel be brought . . .--These exceedingly great distinctions Haman suggests, thinking with unaccountable vanity (for nothing is said or implied as to any service rendered by him to the king) that the king must necessarily have been referring to him, and in a moment he is irretrievably committed. Whether Hainan's character had at its best estate much discretion, or whether he rose to his high position, not by the qualities that should commend a statesman to a king, but, like many another Eastern Vizier, had by flattery and base arts gained the royal favour, we cannot say; here he shows the lack of the most ordinary discretion, his vanity is so inordinate that he cannot see the possibility of any one's merits save his own. The request which Haman made may be illustrated by the permission granted by Xerxes to his uncle Artabanus to put on the royal robes and sleep in the royal bed at Susa (Herod, vii. 15-17).The horse that the king rideth upon.--Thus Pharaoh, desiring-to honour Joseph, made him ride in his own chariot (Genesis 41:43): David, wishing to show that Solomon had really become king in his father's lifetime, commands that he should ride on the king's mule (1Kings 1:33; 1Kings 1:44).And the crown royal which is set upon his head.--If we take the Hebrew here quite literally, the meaning must be and on whose (i.e., the horse's) head a royal crown is set. The only objection to this view is, that there appears to be no evidence of such a custom among the Persians. Some render, and that a (or the: the Hebrew is necessarily ambiguous in such a case) royal crown be set, but this we consider does violence to the Hebrew. It must be noted that both the king in his reply, and the writer in describing what actually took place, make no mention of a crown as worn by Mordecai, nor does Haman in the following verse.