The Pulpit Commentary on Esther 5:3

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

What is thy request? It shall be even given thee. The practice of granting requests beforehand is one common among Oriental monarchs. Sometimes no limit at all is placed to the petitioner's liberty of choice—seldom any less wide limit than that of the present passage.

According to Herodotus (9:111), there was one day in the year on which the king was bound to grant any request made by a guest at his table. To the half of the kingdom. Compare Mark 6:23, where Herod Antipas makes the same limitation.

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