Esther 8:15 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Esther 8:15
And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.
Mordecai · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
out
יָצָ֣אya.Tza'
H3318
to go (causatively · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
presence
מִלִּפְנֵ֣יmi.lif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
king
הַמֶּ֗לֶךְha.Me.lekh
H4428
a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
royal
מַלְכוּת֙mal.Khut
H4438
a rule · noun, common feminine singular construct
apparel
בִּלְב֤וּשׁbil.Vush
H3830
a garment (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
blue
תְּכֵ֣לֶתte.Khe.let
H8504
the cerulean mussel · noun, common feminine singular absolute
white
וָח֔וּרva.Chur
H2353
white linen · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
great
גְּדוֹלָ֔הge.do.Lah
H1419
great (in any sense) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
crown
וַעֲטֶ֤רֶתva.'a.Te.ret
H5850
a crown · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
gold
זָהָב֙za.Hav
H2091
gold · noun, common masculine singular absolute
garment
וְתַכְרִ֥יךְve.takh.Rikh
H8509
a wrapper or robe · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
linen
בּ֖וּץbutz
H948
probably cotton (of some sort) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
purple
וְאַרְגָּמָ֑ןve.'ar.ga.Man
H713
purple (the color or the dyed stuff) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
city
וְהָעִ֣ירve.ha.'Ir
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · conjunction + definite article + noun, common feminine singular construct
Shushan
שׁוּשָׁ֔ןshu.Shan
H7800
Shushan · proper noun, a place name
rejoiced
צָהֲלָ֖הtza.ha.Lah
H6670
to gleam · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
glad
שָׂמֵחַsâmêach
H8056
blithe or gleeful
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Luke 16:19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
Genesis 41:42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain…
Esther 1:6 Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds we…
Esther 3:15 The posts went out, being hastened by the king’s commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat dow…
Esther 5:1 Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against t…
Esther 6:8 Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upo…
Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
Matthew 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Esther 8:15–end
It was but a few days ago that we had Mordecai in sackcloth and all the Jews in sorrow; but here is a blessed change, Mordecai in purple and all the Jews in joy. See Psa 30:5, Psa 30:11, Psa 30:12. 1. Mordecai in purple, Est 8:15. Having obtained an order for the relief of all the Jews, he was easy, he parted with his mourning weeds, and put on the royal apparel, which either belonged to his place or which the king appointed him as a favourite. His robes were rich, blue and white, of fine linen and purple; so was his coronet: it was of gold. These are things not worth taking notice of, but as they were marks of the king's favour, and that the fruit of God's favour to his church. It is well w…
MORDECAI'S HONORS, AND THE JEWS' JOY. (Est 8:15-17)
Mordecai went out . . . in royal apparel--He was invested with the khelaat of official honor. A dress of blue and white was held in great estimation among the Persians; so that Mordecai, whom the king delighted to honor, was in fact arrayed in the royal dress and insignia. The variety and the kind of insignia worn by a favorite at once makes known to the people the particular dignity to which he has been raised.
Next: Esther Chapter 9
Adam Clarke on Esther 8:15
Blue and white - Probably stripe interchanged with stripe; or blue faced and bordered with white fur.
A great crown of gold - A large turban, ornamented with gold, jewels, etc.
Fine linen and purple - See on Gen 41:42 (note). The בץ buts, here mentioned, is most probably the same with the byssus of the ancients; supposed to be the beautiful tuft or beard, growing out of the side of the pinna longa, a very large species of muscle, found on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, of which there are a pair of gloves in the British Museum. This byssus I have described elsewhere.
Shushan - was glad - Haman was too proud to be popular; few lamented his fall.
John Gill on Esther 8:15
And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king,.... And walked or rode about in the city to show himself to his friends:
in royal apparel of blue and white; such as the Persian kings wore, and were not allowed to any other, as Xenophon writes (g):
and with a great crown of gold; a coronet, such as princes and nobles wear; the latter Targum calls it a great golden chain, and such the eastern kings used to give to their favourites; see Daniel 5:29,
and with a garment of fine linen and purple; this must be an inner garment, since it is distinct from the royal robe before mentioned; though as the word signifies a wrap, or roll, it may design a turban, which was a roll of linen wrapped ab…
The Church Fathers
The glory of the holy teachers is exalted because it is through their doctrine and exhortation that the faithful defeat the cruelty of their most evil enemy with the help and strength of their heavenly king. And their reward remains with them in the heavenly kingdom of eternal blessedness and perpetual splendor, which appears to be signified by the colors of blue and white and the brightness of gold.
It is to the great credit of our sacred teachers that with their teaching and encouragement the faithful are able to conquer, through the power of the supreme king, the savagery of a most wicked enemy; and their reward for this awaits them in the heavenly kingdom of eternal blessing and perpetual brightness, which seem to be prefigured by the color blue and the flash of gold. Moreover, in the celestial citadel the martyrs of Christ, along with those who are going to rule together with Christ the king, are repaid with the dignity given to kings by that most righteous of source of recompense, in exchange for shedding their blood. The terms "purple" and "silken" offer us a prefiguration of this fact; and every gathering of saints will be happy and rejoice no less over this in the celestial Jerusalem. This is described in what follows: "So for the Jews, a new light was seen to arise; and joy, and honor, and celebration. Among every people, city and province, and wherever the king's orders reached, there was a wonderful exultation, banquets, and feasting, and a holiday; and so much so that many members of other nations and beliefs adopted their religion and their rites. For a great terror of the Jewish people had fallen upon them all." Many, therefore, among the gentiles and enemies of the Church left behind their idolatry and their gentile superstitions, and were converted to the Christian faith by the power, wisdom and perseverance of the holy martyrs, and through the virtue of Christ that shines through them; which should be perfectly obvious to anyone who reads about the sufferings of the saints and the triumphs of the martyrs. And since that time, the numbers of the faithful have been growing every day by the mercy of God, and the precincts of the Church have been replenished. This is mentioned by the Psalmist: "Let all the land fear the Lord; let everyone be moved by him, and all who inhabit the world" (Psalms 33). And likewise: "The righteous will rejoice in the Lord and will hope in him; and all the upright in heart will be praised" (Psalms 64). And the apostle says: "In the name of Jesus every creature—celestial, terrestrial and infernal—shall bend his knee, and every tongue shall proclaim that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2).
Dictionary and topics
Colour — The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18),…
Dress — (1.) Materials used. The earliest and simplest an apron of fig-leaves sewed together (Gen. 3:7); then skins of animals (3:21). Elijah’s dress was probably the skin of a sheep (2 Kings 1:8). The…
Linen — (1.) Heb., pishet, pishtah, denotes “flax,” of which linen is made (Isa. 19:9); wrought flax, i.e., “linen cloth”, Lev. 13:47, 48, 52, 59; Deut. 22:11. Flax was early cultivated in Egypt (Ex. 9:31),…
Colors · .SYMBOL OF ROYALTY — .SYMBOL OF ROYALTY
Crown · By queens — By queens
Garments · Materials used for: Linen — Materials used for: Linen
Gold · .Crowns ma — .Crowns ma
Linen · Livery of royal households ma — Livery of royal households ma
Medo-Persian Kingdom · Shushan a chief city of — Shushan a chief city of
Mordecai · Promoted in Haman’s place — Promoted in Haman’s place
Shushan (Susa) · 1. — 1.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The joy experienced throughout the kingdom at these measures. Est 8:15. After transacting with the king this measure so favourable to the Jews, Mordochai went out from the king in a garment of deep blue and white material (comp. Est 1:6), and with a great crown of gold, and a mantle of byssus and purple. תּכריך, ἁπ. λεγ., in the Aramaean תּכריכא, a wide mantle or covering. The meaning is not, as Bertheau remarks, that he left the king in the garment which had been, according to Est 6:8., presented to him, nor that he left him with fresh tokens of his favour, clothed in a garment, crown, and mantle just bestowed on him, but that he left him in a magnificent state garment, and otherwise festa…
Just as the city of Susa had been in great confusion after Haman’s original decree (3:15), now there was great rejoicing by all—they understood the injustice of the original decree and the justice of the new one.
Rashi on Esther 8:15
And a cloak of linen. A wrap of linen, a shawl in which to enwrap oneself.