next unto king.

Genesis 41:44 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

1 Samuel 23:17 And he said to him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel...

2 Chronicles 28:7 And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the king's son, and Azrikam the governor of the house...

Daniel 5:16,29 And I have heard of you, that you can make interpretations, and dissolve doubts: now if you can read the writing...

accepted.

Esther 3:2 And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him...

Romans 14:18 For he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.

seeking.

Nehemiah 2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it...

Psalm 122:6-9 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love you...

Romans 9:2,3 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart...

Romans 10:1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

REMARKS ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER.

This Book, which derives its name from the person whose history it chiefly relates, is termed in Hebrew, megillath Esther, the volume of Esther. Concerning its author there are various opinions: some attribute it to Ezra; some to Joachim, the son of Joshua the high priest; others to the men of the great synagogue; and others to Mordecai, which seems the most probable opinion. The events here related probably refer to the time of Artaxerxes Longimanus, who, according to Prideaux, was the Ahasuerus of Esther, agreeably to Josephus, (Ant.

Esther 10:1 And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land, and on the isles of the sea.

xi. c.6,) the Septuagint version, and the apocryphal additions to this book. The history, therefore, comes in between the sixth and seventh chapters of Ezra, commencing about A.M.

3540, and continuing through a period of twelve years: it relates the royal feast of Ahasuerus; the disgrace of Vashti, (ch. i.;) the elevation of Esther to the Persian throne; the essential service rendered to the king by Mordecai, in detecting a plot against his life, (ch. ii.;) the promotion of Haman, and his purposed destruction of the Jews, (ch. iii.;) the consequent affliction of the Jews, and the measures pursued by them, (ch. iv.;) the defeat of Haman's plot, through the instrumentality of Esther, against Mordecai, (ch. v.-vii.;) and also the defeat of his general plot against the Jews, (ch. viii.; ix.

1-15;) the institution of the feast of Purim to commemorate this deliverance, (ch. ix.

16-32;) and the advancement of Mordecai, (ch. x.;) and though some Christians have hesitated to receive this book into the sacred canon, yet it has always been received by the Jews, not only as perfectly authentic, but also as one of the most excellent of their sacred books. That it is a genuine and faithful description of a real fact, the observation of the feast of Purim, to the present day, is a sufficient evidence; since it is impossible, and in fact inconceivable, that a nation should institute, and afterwards continue to celebrate without interruption, through every generation of that people, in a long succession of ages, in whatever places they may have sojourned, this solemn annual festival, merely because one of their nation had written an agreeable fable or romance. It has been remarked, as an objection to this book, that the name of God no where occurs in it: His superintending providence, however, is frequently illustrated. It is shewn, indeed, in every part of the work; disconcerting evil designs, and producing great events, by means seemingly inadequate. It also presents an interesting description of mortified pride, and of malice baffled to the destruction of its possessors; and exhibits a very lively representation of the vexations and troubles, the anxieties, treachery, and dissimulation of a corrupt court.