Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Mordecai through Esther reveals to Ahasuerus the conspiracy of the eunuchs against him, concerning which see chapter 2, verse 21; therefore in historical order this chapter should be inserted at that place: for what was briefly stated there is here recounted more fully.
Vulgate Text: Esther 12:1-6
1. Now he was dwelling at that time in the king's court, with Bagatha and Thara, eunuchs of the king, who were doorkeepers of the palace. 2. And when he had understood their designs, and had observed their plans more carefully, he learned that they were trying to lay hands on King Artaxerxes: and he reported it to the king. 3. The king, having conducted an inquiry into both of them, ordered the confessed criminals to be led to death. 4. Now the king wrote what had been done in the records; and Mordecai also committed the matter to writing. 5. And the king commanded him to remain in the court of the palace, and gave him gifts for the denunciation. 6. But Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Bugaean, was the most honored before the king, and wished to harm Mordecai and his people, on account of the two eunuchs of the king who had been put to death.
Thus far the Prologue.
What follows was placed in the place where it is written in the book: And they plundered the goods, or property, of those men. Which we find only in the Vulgate edition. And this was the copy of the letter.
Verse 5: Gifts Given for the Denunciation
5. HAVING GIVEN GIFTS FOR THE DENUNCIATION — small and of little importance; for afterward he gave greater ones, as is clear from chapter 6, verse 3. Or rather it is a prolepsis, or anticipation: for these gifts seem to have been given to Mordecai not immediately after the denunciation, but long afterward, when the king, reading the Annals, understood that no reward had been given to Mordecai for his denunciation, as is narrated in chapter 6, verse 3.
Verse 6: Haman the Bugaean Honored
6. NOW HAMAN THE SON OF HAMMEDATHA THE BUGAEAN WAS THE MOST HONORED. — Why is Haman called Bugaean? Some answer: He is called Bugaean, that is, son of Bogis. For Xerxes honored Bogim, as Herodotus attests in books 7 and 8; that Boges was also a Macedonian, as Haman was, is clear from the fact that Herodotus adds he was from the city of Sion, that is, Amphipolis, which is a city of Macedonia past which the river Strymon flows. But these events occurred before Xerxes under Darius the father of Xerxes, as I showed in the Prooemium. I say therefore: 'Bugaean,' or as some secondly read, 'Ugaean,' is the same as Agagaean, that is, descended from the stock of Agag king of Amalek. That this is so is clear from the fact that the word 'Bugaean' is not in the Hebrew, but is taken from the Septuagint, who in chapter 3, verse 1, translate 'of the stock of Agag' as: Bugaean. For from Agag, removing the first aleph by aphaeresis, we get Gag, or Gog, as the Septuagint translates for Agag in Numbers 24:7. Now from Gog comes Gogaean, and thence Bogaean or Bugaean. For the letter b is sometimes interchanged with g, as St. Jerome teaches in his work on Hebrew places, where he says that Gobel, or Gyblum, which is found in Ezekiel in the Hebrew, is Byblos, the celebrated city of Phoenicia. Angelus Caninius in his Hellenismus provides many similar examples of the interchange of the letter b with g. For although Haman by his immediate stock was a Macedonian, as is said in chapter 16, verse 10, yet by his ancient lineage and origin he was an Amalekite of the stock of Agag, as I said at chapter 3, verse 1.
Secondly, the word 'Bugaean' may be not a proper name nor a patronymic, but an appellative; whence the Romans write it with a small b, to signify a great boaster and braggart, which Haman is said here to have been, so that 'Bugaean' would be composed of bou, a particle which in Greek signifies augmentation from bous, that is, ox, as if to say of bovine magnitude, and gaio, that is, I boast, I brag, so that 'Bugaean' means the same as one who boasts bovinely, that is, monstrously. Whence Plutarch in his Greek Questions says: 'They regard the buffalo as great, just as the Poet (Homer regarding Agamemnon) says boopis, that is, having bovine, that is, great eyes, and bugaean, one who boasts gloriously.' Hence Homer calls a great braggart bogaion. Hence also the Italian bugia, that is, a lie: for boastful braggarts who make great claims about themselves, like Haman, tell many lies; for the Italians take many words from the Greeks, as people who lived in Italy. Whence Calabria, in which Pythagoras taught, was called Magna Graecia.
ON ACCOUNT OF THE TWO EUNUCHS — who were hanged through the denunciation of Mordecai. For these were friends and allies of Haman, as I said at chapter 2, verse 21.