Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Esther in royal attire presents herself to Assuerus, but struck by his terrible appearance, she collapses as if dead once and again: whereupon Assuerus runs to her, speaks kindly to her, and restores her to herself.
These things also I found added in the Vulgate edition.
Vulgate Text: Esther 15:1-19
1. And he commanded her (doubtless Mordecai commanded Esther) to go in to the king and ask for her people and for her country. 2. Remember (he said) the days of your lowliness, how you were nurtured by my hand, because Haman, who is second to the king, has spoken against us unto death: 3. and call upon the Lord, and speak to the king for us, and deliver us from death.
As well as these things that follow.
4. And on the third day she laid aside the garments of her adornment, and was surrounded by her glory. 5. And when she shone in her royal attire and had invoked God, the ruler and savior of all, she took two handmaids, 6. and upon one of them she leaned, as if unable to bear her own body for delicacy and excessive tenderness: 7. and the other handmaid followed her mistress, holding up the garments that flowed to the ground. 8. And she, her face suffused with a rosy color, and with gracious and shining eyes, concealed a sorrowful spirit, contracted with excessive fear. 9. Having therefore passed through all the doors in order, she stood before the king, where he sat upon the throne of his kingdom, clothed in his royal garments and gleaming with gold and precious stones, and he was terrible to behold. 10. And when he had raised his face and indicated the fury of his breast with burning eyes, the queen collapsed, and her color changing to pallor, she reclined her weary head upon her handmaid. 11. And God turned the spirit of the king to gentleness, and in haste and fear he leaped from his throne, and supporting her in his arms until she came to herself, spoke these soothing words: 12. What is the matter, Esther? I am your brother, do not be afraid. 13. You shall not die: for this law was established not for you, but for all.
14. Come, therefore, and touch the scepter. 15. And when she remained silent, he took the golden rod and placed it upon her neck, and kissed her, and said: Why do you not speak to me? 16. She answered: I saw you, my lord, as if an Angel of God; and my heart was troubled by the fear of your glory. 17. For you are very wonderful, my lord, and your face is full of graces. 18. And while she was speaking, she collapsed again and was nearly lifeless. 19. And the king was troubled, and all his ministers were comforting her.
This chapter is to be inserted at chapter V, verse 2; for what was said there more briefly is recounted here more fully.
Verse 2: You Were Nurtured by My Hand
Verse 2. You were nurtured by my hand, — by my hand, that is, by me and my help and care: although also in the proper sense infants are carried in the hand and bosom of nurses (as Mordecai had been to Esther), and are nourished there.
He has spoken against us unto death, — that is, unto death, so that he has condemned us to death by the king's edict.
Verse 4: She Laid Aside the Garments of Her Adornment
Verse 4. She laid aside the garments of her adornment — the modest and mournful ones, with which she had been clothed and adorned for mourning and penance. Whence in Greek it reads: she laid aside the garments of mourning.
She was surrounded by her glory, — that is, she put on the glorious royal crown and the rest of her golden and jeweled garments, as befitting a queen. So Job chapter XIX, verse 9, says: "He has stripped me of my glory," which he explains by adding: "And he has taken the crown from my head"; for Job was a king, and was crowned with a royal crown.
Verse 6: She Leaned upon One Attendant
Verse 6. And she leaned upon one of them, as if unable to bear her own body for delicacy (in Greek τρυφερευομένη, that is, acting delicately, carrying herself delicately) and excessive tenderness. — Esther assumed this appearance of tenderness in order through it to move Assuerus to compassion. And truly she was tender and weak, both from her sex, from fasting, and from fear; whence she also collapsed.
Verse 8: She Concealed a Sorrowful Spirit
Verse 8. She concealed a sorrowful spirit contracted with excessive fear; — for she knew that Darius was terrible, and that his edict concerning the slaughter of the Jews, already issued and promulgated, could not be revoked according to the law of the Persians; again, that it was a capital offense to approach the king unless one had been summoned by him. Therefore, knowing that she was certainly risking her life, she was full of fear and trembling, lest things should go badly and the king, flying into a rage, should immediately order his edict for the slaughter of the Jews to be carried out. Whence it follows.
Verse 9: She Stood Before the King
Verse 9. Having therefore passed through all the doors in order, she stood before the king. — It is likely that Esther, trembling, did not approach close to the king, but terrified by his fearful appearance, stood at a distance at the door, which was opposite the king sitting on his throne. Whence in chapter V, verse 1, it is said she stood "in the court of the king's house, which was the outer court opposite the king's hall."
Verse 10: The Queen Collapsed
Verse 10. And when he had raised his face and indicated the fury of his breast with burning eyes, — which he had conceived, says Josippus as well as Josephus, from the fact that Esther had entered his presence unsummoned, contrary to the law, thinking that he was being despised by Esther. For the kings of Persia displayed great, indeed divine majesty, and demanded great reverence, indeed the worship of latria from their subjects, wishing to be adored as gods. In addition, Darius was by nature choleric and fierce, as is clear from what Seneca narrates of him, book III of On Anger, chapter XVI: "When he had declared war, he says, against the Scythians who surrounded the East, and was asked by Obazus, a noble old man, that out of his three sons he leave one as a comfort to his father and use the service of two, he promised more than was asked, saying he would send them all back to him; and he threw them slain before the eyes of their father, and would have been cruel had he taken them all away." He adds a similar story about Xerxes, the son of Darius: "When Phythius, he says, the father of five sons, asked for the recall of one, he allowed him to choose whichever he wished. Then the one he had chosen he tore in two parts and placed on either side of the road, and with this victim he purified the army."
The queen collapsed. — Some suspect that she feigned the swoon in order to bend the king's anger. But the pallor and what followed indicate that it was a true swoon. For, as preceded, she herself approached contracted with excessive fear; then seeing the king in such majesty gazing at her with flashing and furious eyes, struck with trembling, she collapsed as if dead. For royal majesty wonderfully overwhelms those who approach it. Serious men related that those who otherwise feared no one and were accustomed to drink and deal familiarly with princes, when they approached Philip II, King of Spain, to ask something, and the king fixed his eyes upon them with royal gravity, were struck dumb with dismay, and although the king courteously invited them to present their case, they could not utter even a word.
Verse 11: God Turned the King's Spirit to Gentleness
Verse 11. And God turned the spirit of the king to gentleness. — "He turned it," both through the pitiable sight of the collapsing queen, and through the internal impulse and prompting by which He inclined him to compassion, so that he changed his anger to gentleness and kindness. "The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord; He will incline it wherever He wishes," Proverbs XXI, 2; especially because Assuerus saw that Esther had not approached out of contempt, as he had thought, but that she feared and revered him greatly (for this is what kings seek), and so from reverence and trembling she was collapsing and suffering a swoon.
Verse 12: What Is the Matter, Esther? I Am Your Brother
Verse 12. What is the matter, Esther? I am your brother. — Brother, that is, husband, who loves you not as a husband and lord, but as a brother, companion, and equal. Note that spouses sometimes address each other as brother and sister, partly for modesty and chastity, partly for good will and close conjugal love, especially because the first marriages in the world after Adam and Eve were between brothers and sisters. So the bride in the Song of Songs is called sister by the bridegroom: so wisdom is called the bride of the wise man, Wisdom VIII, 2. She is also called friend and sister, Proverbs VII, 4. Finally (which is proper to this passage), the Persians were accustomed to take their sisters as wives, as St. Jerome testifies, book II Against Jovinian. The same is taught from Herodotus, Agathias, Clement of Alexandria, and Diogenes Laertius by Brissonius, book II On the Kingdom of the Persians, page 214.
Verse 15: He Kissed Her
Verse 15. And he kissed her, — as a beloved bride, so that by these caresses he might restore her who was almost lifeless to herself. Esther here represents the Blessed Virgin, who approached Assuerus, that is, God who was angry with the entire human race on account of the sins of Adam and his posterity, with two handmaids, that is, with a twofold creature, namely angelic and human, says St. Bonaventure, in the Speculum, chapter III. Mystically, with a twofold virtue and life, namely active and contemplative, and beseeching Him, she collapsed as if in a swoon from sacred awe and reverence of the divine majesty; but God, speaking kindly to her and kissing her, granted what she asked, namely the salvation of the human race, and therefore gave her His Son, so that assuming flesh in her He might become a propitiatory victim and Redeemer of the world. This is what she herself was asking, Song of Songs I, 1: "Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His mouth."
Verse 16: I Saw You as an Angel of God
Verse 16. I saw you, my lord, as if an Angel of God, — shining with angelic majesty and splendor, and therefore striking fear and terror into me and into all others. Hence Chosroes, the pagan king of Persia, whom the Emperor Heraclius defeated, ordered a wonderful sphere to be built near himself, in which angels surrounded the king. Hear Theophanes, and from him Baronius, volume VIII, at the year of Christ 622: "Heraclius, having defeated Chosroes, found the abominable idol of Chosroes, and his image in the shape of a globe, surmounting the dome of the palace, as if sitting in heaven. Around him were the sun, moon, and stars, which that superstitious man served as gods, with scepter-bearing angels standing around him. Moreover, the impious man had prepared machines which from that place would emit drops like rain, and produce a sound imitating thunder. All these things, the very temple of fire, and the whole city, Heraclius burned." See how Chosroes aspired to divinity, by representing the Angels, thunder, and lightning which are proper to God.
Verse 17: Your Face Is Full of Graces
Verse 17. And your face is full of graces, — that is, full of beauty, splendor, magnificence, majesty that is angelic and divine rather than human. By this reverence and fair speech Esther soothed Assuerus and completely won him over to herself, so that he would grant whatever she asked.