Esther 1:1
Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)
Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus,.... Who he was is not easy to say; almost all the kings of Persia are so named by one or another writer. He cannot be the Ahasuerus in Daniel 9:1, he was Astyages, the father of Cyaxares or Darius the Mede; but this must be one who had his royal palace in Shushan, which was never the royal city of the Medes, but of the Persians only; nor does he seem to be the Ahasuerus in Ezra 4:6, who is thought to be Cambyses, the son and successor of Cyrus; since, according to the canon of Ptolemy, he reigned but eight years, whereas this Ahasuerus at least reigned twelve, Esther 3:7, though indeed some account for it by his reigning in his father's lifetime; besides, Cambyses was always an enemy to the Jews, as this was not; and yet this way go many of the Jewish writers {n} and so a very learned man, Nicolaus Abram {o}; according to Bishop Usher {p}, this was Darius Hystaspis, who certainly was a friend to the Jewish nation; but he is rather the Artaxerxes of Ezra and Nehemiah; and so says the Midrash {q}. Dr. Prideaux {r} thinks Ahasuerus was Artaxerxes Longimanus, which is the sense of Josephus {s}, and who is thought by many to be the Artaxerxes in the foresaid books. Capellus {t} is of opinion, that Darius Ochus is meant, to which Bishop Patrick inclines; but I rather think, with Vitringa {u} and others {w}, that Xerxes is the Ahasuerus that was the husband of Esther here spoken of; so the Arabic writers {x}; and as he was the son and successor of Darius Hystaspis, if he is meant by Artaxerxes in the preceding books, the history of which is carried to the thirty second year of his reign, Nehemiah 13:6 and who reigned but four years more; this book of Esther stands in right order of time to carry on the history of the Jewish affairs in the Persian monarchy; and Mr. Broughton {y} owns, that the name of Xerxes, in Greek, agrees with Achasuerus in Hebrew; and in Esther 10:1 his name is Achashresh, which, with the Greeks, is Axeres or Xerxes {z}:
this is Ahasuerus, which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia; properly so called; the Ethiopians had been subdued by Cambyses the son and successor of Cyrus {a}, and the Indians by Darius Hystaspis the father of Xerxes {b}; and both, with other great nations, were retained in subjection to him {c}; and many of both, as well as of other nations, were with him in his expedition into Greece {d}:
over an hundred and twenty and seven provinces; there were now seven provinces more under his jurisdiction than were in the times of Darius the Mede, Daniel 6:1.
{n} Targum & Jarchi in loc. Seder Olam Rabba, c. 29. Zuta, p. 108.
{o} Pharus Vet. Test. l. 11. c. 12. p. 305.
{p} Annal. Vet. Test. p. 160. so Broughton, Works, p. 38, 259, 581.
{q} Midrash Esther, fol. 86. 2.
{r} Connection, &c. par. 1. B. 4. p. 252, &c.
{s} Antiqu. l. 11. c. 6. sect. 1. and so Suidas in voce esyhr.
{t} Chronolog. Sacr. p. 294.
{u} Hypotypos. Hist. Sacr. p. 110.
{w} Schichart. de Festo Purim. Rainold. Praelect. 144. p. 231. Alsted. Chronolog. p. 126, 181.
{x} In Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. p. 87.
{y} Ut supra. (Broughton, Works, p. 38, 259, 581.)
{z} Vid. Hiller. Arcan. Keri & Ketib, p. 87. & Onomastic. Sacr. p. 639.
{a} Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 97.
{b} lb. Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 44.
{c} lb. Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 9.
{d} lb. c. 65, 69, 70.