8 let royal clothing be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the head of which a crown royal is set.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The honors here proposed by Haman were such as Persian monarchs rarely allowed to subjects. Each act would have been a capital offence if done without permission. Still, we find Persian monarchs allowing their subjects in these or similar acts under certain circumstances.
Let the royal apparel be brought - Pride and folly ever go hand in hand. What he asked would have been in any ordinary case against his own life: but he wished to reach the pinnacle of honor: never reflecting that the higher he rose, the more terrible would be his fall. The royal apparel was never worn but by the king: even when the king had lain them aside, it was death to put them on. The Targum has purple robes.
And the horse - and the crown royal - Interpreters are greatly divided whether what is called here the crown royal be not rather an ornament worn on the head of the horse, than what may be called the royal crown. The original may be understood both ways; and our version seems to favor the former opinion; but I think it more likely that the royal crown is meant; for why mention the ordinary trappings of the royal steed?
Let the royal apparel be brought which the king [useth] to wear, and the (c) horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head:
(c) Meaning by this that the king should make him next to himself as Joseph was known to be next to Pharaoh in (Genesis 41:43).
Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear,.... Not a whole suit of clothes, but a single garment; the purple robe, as both the Targums, such as kings wore; that which Cyrus appeared in public in was half purple, and half white, and no other person besides might wear such an one (p); it was a capital crime with the Persians to wear any of the king's apparel; Trebazus, an intimate of Artaxerxes, having begged an old gown of him, it was granted, on condition that he would not wear it, it being contrary to the laws of Persia; but he, regardless of the order, appeared in it at court; which affront to the king was so resented by the Persians, that they were for punishing him rigorously, according to the law, had not Artaxerxes declared, that he had ordered him to appear in that dress as his fool (q); hence Artabanus, though uncle to Xerxes, was very unwilling to obey his orders, to put on his royal robes, sit on his throne, and sleep on his bed (r); so that this was a daring proposal in Haman, which he would never have ventured to have made, had it not been for the great confidence he had in the king's favour:
and the horse that the king rideth upon: the kings of Persia, as Herodotus (s) relates, had horses peculiar to them, and those were Nisaean horses, which were brought from Armenia, as Strabo says (t), and were remarkable for their beauty (u); and if the same law obtained in Persia as did in Judea, no man might ride on the king's horse any more than sit on his throne, or hold his sceptre (w) and perhaps this horse here was not proposed for the person to ride on, but to be led in state before him; and though it is afterwards said that Mordecai rode on horseback, yet it might not be on the king's horse, which might be only led; and what follows seems to confirm it:
and the crown royal which is set upon his head; or, "let it be set", &c. not the head of the man, but on the head of the horse; and so Aben Ezra; and which sense is countenanced by the Targum, and by the Syriac version, and is approved of by Vatablus and De Dieu; and which the order of the words requires, the horse being the immediate antecedent; and no mention is made of the crown afterwards, as set on the head of Mordecai; nor would Haman have dared to advise to that, nor could it be granted; but this was what was wont to be done, to put the royal crown on the head of a horse led in state; and this we are assured was a custom in Persia (x), as it is with the Ethiopians to this day (y); and so, with the Romans, horses drawing triumphal chariots were crowned (z) which Tertullian calls (a) public horses with their crowns.
(p) Xenophon Cyropaedia, l. 8. c. 23. (q) Plutarch. in Artaxerxe. (r) Herodot. Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 15, 16. (s) Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 192. (t) Geograph. l. 11. p. 365. (u) Julian. Opera, par. 1. Orat. 2. p. 94. (w) Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 2. sect. 5. (x) Brisson. apud Castell. Lexic. col. 4008. (y) Alvarez Hist. Ethiop. c. 105. apud ib. col. 3869. (z) Paschal. de Coronis, l. 8. c. 5. p. 536. (a) De Corona Militis, c. 13.
the royal apparel . . . which the king useth to wear--A coat which has been on the back of a king or prince is reckoned a most honorable gift, and is given with great ceremony.
the horse that the king rideth upon--Persia was a country of horses, and the highbred charger that the king rode upon acquired, in the eyes of his venal subjects, a sort of sacredness from that circumstance.
and the crown royal which is set upon his head--either the royal turban, or it may be a tiara, with which, on state processions, the horse's head was adorned.
Royal apparel - His outward garment, which was made of purple, interwoven with gold, as Justin and Cartius relate.
*More commentary available at chapter level.