Liber Esther
by Anselm of Laon and his school
Source text: Public Domain. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://migne.app/pl/113/liber-esther/
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## THE PROLOGUE OF BLESSED JEROME ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER.

[n: ( Vide inter opera B. Hieronymi, tom. VIII.)]

## CHAPTER ONE.

[0739C]

[n: (RAB., expos. in lib. Esther, tom. III.)] The book of Esther, which the Hebrews number among the hagiographa, contains the mysteries of Christ and of the Church, etc., *as far as* who reigned after Darius his uncle, surnamed Nochus, forty years.

VERS. 2.-- « Susan the city, » etc. Susan is a chief city in Persia, which historians say that the brother of Memnon founded, and that it took its name from the river Susus. There is the royal house of Cyrus, adorned with white and variegated stone, with golden columns, and with panelled ceilings and with gems: containing a likeness of the heaven marked out with glittering stars, and many incredible things. There Assuerus celebrated a banquet most great in riches and abundant in delights. For the power of the sacred discourse sometimes so [0739D] narrates the things that are past that it sets forth the things to come: so approves the doer that it contradicts him in his ministry: so condemns the deeds that it urges these same to be done mystically.

VERS. 3.-- « In the third year therefore. » In the time, that is to say, of this age he [Christ] laid open the mystery of his incarnation, and most abundantly ministered the spiritual feasts of preaching, and of his own body and blood. The first time was before the law, the second under the law, the third under grace.

« A great banquet [sic: *convivum*] for all the princes. » -- « The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that is a king, who made [0740C] a marriage for his son [n: (Matth. XXII)]. » And elsewhere: « A certain man made a great supper: and called many [n: (Luc. XIV)]. » The history of this banquet shows the pomp of riches and the luxury of the king: but allegorically it signifies the spiritual delights of Christ, which he dispenses to each one. For Christ is that most wealthy king who, entreated by the prayers of his wife, that is, of the Church, delivers the Jews, that is, his own confessors, out of the hand of their enemies, and justly condemns those same [enemies]. For neither is it necessary that, if the good things of certain men signify Christ, their evil things also should suit him, that is to say, Christ. For Moses signified Christ in many things; but not in this, that he doubted at the waters of contradiction. But neither did Aaron in the making of the calf. Nor Solomon in the filth of lust. So Assuerus in that judgment, [0740D] as in the bountiful banquet, signifies Christ, just as Isaias in Cyrus the king of the Persians signifies Christ, of whom he afterwards subjoins: « I girded thee, and thou hast not known me [n: (Isa. XLV)], » etc. For if unjust kings in their evil deeds signify the devil; why do not just kings in their good deeds show forth Christ? Nabuchodonosor commanded the peoples, when the sound of the symphonies and of the musicians was heard, to fall down and adore the statue. And the devil by worldly sweetness bends the human race away from rectitude of mind to the following of avarice, which is the service of idols.

VERS. 5.-- « The days of the banquet. » The first of the great ones, or of the primitive [0741A] faithful, were refreshed, according to that: « I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel [n: (Matth. XV)]. » In the sacrament of circumcision, of the Lord's resurrection, and of the New Testament and of the true circumcision: and there are eight beatitudes, to which that banquet leads, which is held only in the days; but the wicked feasted in the nights.

VERS. 6.-- « And there hung. » Fine linen signifies the mortification of the flesh. Purple, the blood of martyrdom. Marble columns, the steadfastness of the teachers. Well therefore is it said that hangings of divers colours were suspended by cords of fine linen and of purple through rings of ivory upon marble columns; because the comeliness of the Church ought to shine forth in the teachers, in the meditation of wisdom and in the [0741B] ascent of the virtues, through the mortification of the flesh and through chastity together with the dignity of martyrdom; and by their word and example to come to the knowledge of others: that being instructed and strengthened by these, they may deserve to enter the hall of paradise.

« And they were supported by marble columns. » That is, by the teachers, of whom it is said: « I have established the pillars thereof [n: (Psal. LXXIV)]. » From elsewhere [cj: *Ex*; read *Et*, "And elsewhere"]: « He made the columns of silver, the resting place of gold [n: (Cant. III)]. »

« Upon the pavement. » The emerald is so called from its exceeding greenness. Parian, a kind of most white marble. For by the greenness of faith and the whiteness of chastity is built the foundation of humility. « For blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [n: (Matth. V)]. » And: « He that humbleth himself [0741C] shall be exalted [n: (Luc. X)]. And elsewhere: « Learn of me, because I am meek [n: (Matth. XI)], » etc.

VERS. 7.-- « Wine. » According to that: « The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts [n: (Rom. V)], » etc. To one is given the word of knowledge, to another of wisdom, to another faith, to another the grace of healings.

« Should compel the unwilling to drink, » etc. No one is compelled to receive a spiritual gift: God wills sons, not slaves: he wills the will, not necessity, according to that: « He that can take it, let him take it [n: (Matth. XIX)]. » Likewise. « If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments [n: (Ibid.)]. » And: « If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all things that thou hast [n: (Ibid.)], » etc. [var: Vulg. Matt. 19:21 *vade, vende quae habes* — the verse has neither the conjunction nor "all things"]

VERS. 8.--Every one what he would, » etc. According to the swiftness and the capacity and the profit [0741D] of each. For so is preaching to be tempered, that it may become useful in all, may harm none, and may pass among the vices of all as a two-edged sword. So let it take away, cutting off on account of pride, that it may not increase timidity. So laying upon the idle and the sluggish the solicitude of work, that it may not increase importunate activity in the restless and the curious, and so of the rest.

VERS. 9.-- « In the palace, where king Assuerus, » etc. Jerusalem, where the temple is and the holy of holies, or in the meditation of holy Scripture; in which the Godhead grants the knowledge of its own power.

VERS. 11.-- « That he might show, » etc. « When the fulness of time came, God sent the Son [n: (Gal. IV)], » etc. For then the Son of God, being incarnate, manifested with more abundant grace the mysteries of the law [0742A] with which he had before fed the faithful.

VERS. 12.--Who refused. » Despising not only the envoys, but the king's command also; whence in the Gospel the elder son, being asked by his father to the banquet, would not go in: and they who were called to the supper, being taken up with other matters, would not come, and according to the indignation of the master of the house they were rejected and others appointed in their place.

VERS. 16.-- « And Mamuchan answered, in the hearing of the king and of the princes: The queen hath injured not only the king, » etc. He, reckoned last in the order of the seven wise men, promulgates the sentence, and signifies Paul the apostle, who says: « I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle [0742B] [n: (I Cor. XV)]. » And to the Jews contradicting and filled with zeal he says: « Because you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the Gentiles [n: (Act. XIII)]. »



## CHAPTER II.

VERS. 7.-- « Who was. » Esther is called hidden, Edissa, one that hath obtained mercy. This is the Church of the Gentiles, which, nourishing in the hidden place of the heart the chastity of faith, found mercy and grace before the eyes of the Lord, the synagogue being cast off, which in Osee was called without mercy. Her the spiritual Mardochaeus nourishes, and adopts for a daughter, who is the teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth, and is of the stock of Jemini, that is, of the stock of Benjamin.

VERS. 8.-- « Esther. » Her the spiritual Nabuchodonosor [0742C] and king of confusion carried over from the natural law and the worship of the one God into the confusion of idolatry, but the divine mercy called her back through preachers to the way of truth.

VERS. 9.-- « And seven maidens. » That is, faithful souls regenerated and dedicated by the grace of the Holy Spirit, which follow her [the Church's] footsteps in faith, in doctrine, and in work, of whom it is said: « The young maidens have loved thee exceedingly. » [var: Vulg. Cant. 1:2 *adolescentulae dilexerunt te*, without the adverb]

« Who would not. » Because, being cleansed through baptism from the stain of sins and from the filth of idolatry, she no longer endured the reproach of her former iniquity.

VERS. 13.-- « And they that went in. » Whatever soul strives to hasten to the bridal chamber of Christ receives from its own teachers a worthy adornment, and [0742D] the more it prepares itself devoted to the acknowledging of the faith and to the exercise of work, so much the more fully is it instructed by the teachers, that from the number of the competentes it may come to the entire faith and confession of the holy Trinity and to the receiving of baptism and the unction of chrism, that it may be truly joined to the heavenly spouse.

VERS. 14.-- « And thence. » He who shall have separated himself from the Church through the filth of vices is deservedly thrust back into the second house where the concubines of the king abide: because a fall from sound faith deserves a descent of honour, nor has he any longer power to return to the king, unless, being visited by grace from above, he be restored into the state of his former dignity.

VERS. 15.-- « But the time being ended. » That is, the five ages of the world being passed, [0743A] through which the offspring of the fathers had gone forward, the sixth age was at hand with the coming of the Redeemer, in which the multitude of the Gentiles was to be called through the Gospel.

VERS. 16.-- « Tebeeth. Among the Hebrews; Xudimos, among the Greeks; among the Latins it is January. In which the Lord, being incarnate, was circumcised on the eighth day, was adored by the Magi, and was honoured with mystical gifts, in which also he is proclaimed to have been baptized by John.

VERS. 19.-- « And when a second time also. » It did not suffice Christ to associate to himself the primitive Church, but through preachers he acquired a plentiful multitude from among the Gentiles; whence: « Other sheep I have that are not, etc. [n: (Joan. X)]. »

VERS. 21.-- « Two eunuchs of the king, » etc. There may [0743B] be noted in the two eunuchs the schismatics and the heretics, who, bearing in their heart the poison of fraud and of malice, take counsel against the truth that they may take it away from believers, and that they may slay Christ, that is, the faith of Christ, in the faithful themselves: but the holy teachers make their iniquity manifest, that the innocent may be saved, and those men punished with a just vengeance.

VERS. 23.-- « Delivered to the histories and the annals before the king, » etc. By the two Testaments, in which it is written what rewards are due to the just, what punishments to the unjust; whence: « These shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just into life everlasting [n: (Matth. XXV)]. » And in Ezechiel: « The justices of the just [shall be] upon him, and the impiety of the impious shall be upon him [n: (Ezech. XVIII)]. » [var: Vulg. Ezek. 18:20 *justitia justi super eum erit*, singular, with its own verb]

## CHAPTER III.

[0743C]VERS. 1.-- « Aman the son. » The mighty of the world, who, abusing the benefits conferred upon them by the divine power, disdain to have as partners of grace those whom they have as partners of nature: and strive to transfer to themselves the honour and reverence which they owed to God alone. But those who will not consent they persecute with hatreds and with torments: but by the just judgment of God the wicked are taken in their own snares. Whence it is said: « The just is delivered out of distress, and the wicked is delivered up for him [n: (Prov. XI)]. » By Aman (whom Josephus records to have been of the stock of Amalec) the people of the Jews may be figured: who slew the prophets, and the Lord of the prophets, and the apostles, losing the nobility of their race because of unbelief and hardness of heart, who by Isaias [0743D] are called princes of Sodom and people of Gomorrha. Whence Ezechiel: « Thy father was an Amorrhite, and thy mother a Cethite. »

VERS. 7.-- « The lot was cast. » They who belong to the lot of the Lord are slain, whom that goat signifies which according to the lot of the Lord was slain in the law.

VERS. 10.-- « He took therefore. » As Aman, directing letters, endeavours to fortify them with the seal of the king: that his wish may the more easily be fulfilled, so the Jews take for a testimony the books of the divine law, in which is the seal of the highest king, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, to compass their own heresy, rejecting the fellowship of the Gentiles and the Gospel of Christ, as contrary to the divine precepts.

## CHAPTER IV.

[0744A]

VERS. 2.-- « As far as the doors. » So the master of the Church, by the intercession of the queen, of whom it is said: « The queen stood on thy right hand [n: (Psal. XIV)], » etc., which in part sojourns in the world, and in part reigns with the Lord, desires to be heard by the king of all ages.

« For it was not lawful. » No one can enter the heavenly hall with the corruption of the present life, but before his death every man ought, by chastisement of the body and compunction of heart, to knock at the entrance of the kingdom, that afterwards he may enter rejoicing into the palace on high. If any man ask how a most just king inflicts torments upon the innocent, let him know that this is not from a wish of malice, but proceeds from the nod of the highest counsel. « For wisdom overcometh malice [n: (Sap. VII)], » [var: Vulg. Wisd. 7:30 *sapientiam autem non vincit malitia*, "but malice doth not overcome wisdom" — subject and object are reversed in what Migne prints, which also has no negative] « it reacheth from end [0744B] to end mightily: and ordereth all things sweetly [n: (Ibid., VIII)]. » « All things whatsoever he would he hath done in heaven and in all the depths [n: (Psal. CXIII)]. » By whose just judgment it comes to pass that the faithful are delivered into the hand of persecutors either for purgation, or for correction, or for the increase of merits: so Job is delivered to Satan; Paul is buffeted by an angel of Satan.

« And again. » Mardochaeus and Esther pray for one another, that is, masters and disciples, as Paul prays for his disciples, and beseeches that prayer be made for himself, as in the Acts of the Apostles prayer was made by the Church without ceasing for Peter.

## CHAPTER V.

VERS. 2.-- « The golden rod. » The power of governance, or the cross of the passion, through which he acquired [0744C] the power of which it is said: « All power is given to me in heaven and in earth [n: (Matth. XXVIII)]. » And elsewhere: « For which cause he exalted him, and gave him a name which is above every name [n: (Philip. II)]. » [var: Vulg. Phil. 2:9 *propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum, et donavit illi nomen*, where God is named as the one who exalts]

VERS. 8.-- « If I have found in the sight. » The delay in asking is not reckoned to sloth, but to patience. For not in the present but in the future shall the wage be repaid to the good and to the wicked: for to morrow is put for the future, whence: « Be not solicitous for the morrow; » and Jacob in Genesis says: « My justice shall appear for me to morrow [n: (Matth. VI)]. » [var: Vulg. Gen. 30:33 *respondebitque mihi cras justitia mea*, "shall answer for me"] And of the lamb it is said: « There shall not remain any thing of it until the morning [n: (Gen. 30)]. » When the judgment shall come, it shall be revealed with what garment each one has entered to the banquet.



## CHAPTER VI.

[0744D]

VERS. 1.-- « The king passed that night without sleep, » etc. Remaining movable [cj: *mobilis*; read *immobilis*, "unmoved"] in himself, he [God] contemplates the course of times and the acts of all men, and no thought lies hid from him to whom all things are present; whence the Apostle: « There is not in him, is and was, but in him there always is is [n: (II Cor. I)]. » [var: Vulg. II Cor. 1:19 *non fuit Est et Non, sed Est in illo fuit*, "there was not Yes and No, but in him there was Yes"]

VERS. 2.-- « They came. » The deeds of Mardochaeus are called to mind before the king; because the good works of holy teachers shall never be delivered over to oblivion, but the just shall be in everlasting remembrance.

VERS. 10.-- « Make haste. » The masters of the Church, made illustrious by the practice of all the virtues and by the comeliness of wisdom, are honoured with the diadem of royal dignity, as [0745A] members of the highest king. They mount upon the royal horse, that is, upon the people of the faithful in whose hearts the king of angels resides; whence Habacuc the prophet: « Mounting upon thy horses, and thy cavalry is health. » [var: Vulg. Hab. 3:8 *qui ascendes super equos tuos, et quadrigae tuae salvatio*, "and thy chariots are salvation"] To these Aman, the special enemy of the people of God, though even unwilling, renders obedience, when the persecutors of the Church are compelled to render testimony to that same Church, not being able to hide what is manifest.

« He took therefore. » This is the change of the right hand of the Most High, he who, if he seemed the more glorious, appears beneath others baser and lower, according to that: « He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble. » Likewise Isaias says: « Libanus shall be turned into Chermel, and Chermel shall be esteemed as a forest. » So was the pride of the Synagogue crushed, [0745B] the humility of the Church exalted. So were the persecutors of the faith brought to nothing: the confessors of Christ exalted in the whole world. The head was turned into the tail, and the tail into the head: « For every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled [n: (Luc. XXIV)]. »

## CHAPTER VII.

« On the second day, » etc. But when Esther opened her petition, he [Aman], being condemned, withdrew to his punishment. For in the Gospel a dinner and a supper are mentioned. The dinner designates the present time of the Church, but the supper the eternal and last banquet. Whence, the wicked being separated, the good rejoice for ever. For Aman, because he had not a garment worthy of the banquet, deserved to be cast forth.

[0745C]VERS. 7.-- « He went into the garden. » The king hastening into the garden, that is, inviting the elect with himself to the delights of paradise, he [Aman] strove to beseech the queen for his own safety, but had not a fitting time. For too late are the remedies of salvation sought, when the perils of death are at hand; whence Solomon: « Then shall they call, and I will not hear them: in the morning they shall rise early, and shall not find [n: (Prov. I)]. »

VERS. 8.-- « And immediately. » The entreaty of Aman is called an oppression, because in the day of judgment the prayer of the wicked is a provocation: whence: *When he is judged, may he go forth condemned [n: (Psal. CVIII)]*, etc. Then the oppression wherewith they oppressed the humble shall be cast in their own teeth.

VERS. 9.-- « Harbona. » It signifies the doctors of the law, who foretold the crimes and the deceits of the Jews, whence [0745D] Moses: « I know that after my death you will do wickedly, and will decline from the way which I have shown you [n: (Deut. XXXI)]. » [var: Vulg. Deut. 31:29 *declinabitis cito de via quam praecepi vobis*, "will quickly decline from the way which I have commanded you"] And in the Gospel: « There is one that accuseth you, Moses, in whom you trust [n: (Joan. V)]. »

« In the house of Aman. » Aman signifies the wicked who raise tumult against Christ, and who persecute his Church. But Christ had been promised to them in the law; the law therefore, which was given for the keeping of life, was turned to death for them, by which they contrived to blot out Christ and to slay his confessors: and they who wished by the law to oppress the guiltless; that same law accusing them, received the sentence of a just judgment. They who have sinned in the law shall be punished by the law.

## CHAPTER VIII.

[0746A]

VERS. 1.-- « On that day. » Esther holds the house of Aman, the enemy of the Jews, when the Church possesses the world, which the devil, the enemy of Christians, had possessed; whence: « When a strong man armed keepeth his court [n: (Luc. XI)], » etc. Mardochaeus goes in before the face of the king, when daily the souls of the saints go in from the sojourning of the present life to the contemplation of the divine majesty.

« The house of Aman. » The dignity and the honour which the Jews had by the knowledge of the law and of the prophets, and by the practice of religion; whence in the Proverbs: « The substance of the sinner is kept for the just [n: (Prov. XIII)]. » And in the Gospel: « The kingdom shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof [n: (Matth. XXI)]. »

[0746B]VERS. 2.-- « And the king took. » [The king] praising and proclaiming the earnestness of the masters, they receive from the Lord grace for grace in the sight of the creator of all; whence: « He hath nourished the hearts of the faithful. »

« He delivered it to Mardochaeus. » To the preachers of the Gentiles, that they might cleave to him, and might minister to the Gentiles.

VERS. 3.-- « She fell down at his feet, » etc. Because holy Church, for the deliverance of her sons, daily entreats almighty God through faith and the mysteries of the incarnation, that the boldness of the enemies may be crushed, and the innocence of the faithful set free.

VERS. 5.-- « I beseech that. » Because the evangelical doctrine, which is preached in the whole world in the name of Christ, is declared to be confirmed by the seal of the Holy Spirit, filled with whose gift the preachers themselves remained [0746C] unconquerable, and glorious triumphers over their enemies.

VERS. 9.-- « And the scribes being called, » etc. Because the doctrine of the Gospel was so composed by the writers of the New Testament, the Lord mediating, that the faith of the holy Trinity might be most fully contained in it, and the highest perfection of the whole decalogue be shown forth in the two precepts of charity.

« Who over a hundred and twenty. » In which the whole world is signified. For the number ten multiplied by twelve makes a hundred and twenty, to which the number seven being joined concludes the fulness of the whole sum: so, the keeping of the decalogue being spread through the whole world by apostolic tradition, the grace of the sevenfold Spirit is poured into [0746D] the hearts of the faithful, or is consummated.

VERS. 11.-- « They should kill, » etc. Lest the revived plantings of an evil seed should sprout again. Likewise the Lord commanded the seven nations which dwelt in the land of promise to be slain, and afterwards the Amalecites to be utterly destroyed, that he might take away from them every occasion of scandal; whence David says: *In the morning I put to death [n: (Psal. C)]*, etc.

VERS. 14.-- « In Susan, » etc. In the pride of the world that is to be overcome. For Susis is interpreted riding, or overturning; whence the Saviour says: « Have confidence, I have overcome the world [n: (Joan. XVI)]. »



## CHAPTER IX.

VERS. 4.-- « And they had learned that he could do very much. » [0747A] Because the praiseworthy action of the teachers, and the power of their virtues, bestows honour and reverence upon the multitude of the faithful. Whence in the Acts of the Apostles: « Many wonders and signs were wrought [n: (Act. V)], » whence it is read elsewhere: « For fear came upon every soul [n: (Ibid. II)]. Likewise: « No one durst join himself to them, and the people magnified them [n: (Ibid. V)]. »

VERS. 5.-- « So the Jews smote. » The divine sentence of the Holy Spirit judges not only the other workers of iniquity, who persevere in sins, and care not to receive the remission of sins, to be condemned, but also the carnal Jews, transgressors of the decalogue, that they shall feel in the cities of hell the guilt of the cross of Christ, which they contracted out of perfidy.

VERS. 6.-- « Whose names are these. » The interpretations of these [0747B] names we do not search out with much labour, nor do we force them to serve allegory. For the type is in a part, not in the whole. For if the type is in the whole, it is not history. The historian ought to set forth the true order of the thing done, and neither to stop short of it nor to go beyond it: the allegorical interpreter, to choose out the excellent parts that agree in a spiritual sense.

VERS. 16.-- « So far. » All who receive the law carnally by the five bodily senses, and, though through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit it is especially full and perfect, refuse to understand it spiritually, are as it were overcome and laid low in two days.

VERS. 17.-- « Now the day. » It is to be noted that certain of the Jews slay on the thirteenth day, and [0747C] cease on the fourteenth, and keep the solemnity, certain slay through two days, that is, on the thirteenth and the fourteenth day of the same month, and on the fifteenth solemnly rest: because certain [0748A] of the saints, after the labours are completed in which they serve God by believing well and living well, now, before the time of judgment, have in their souls the sabbath of eternal rest: others, enduring in the flesh until the last day of the resurrection, all their enemies being overcome, suddenly changed, receive the rest of souls and of bodies; whence the Apostle: « The dead who are in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, shall rise again with them to meet Christ in the air [n: (I Thes. IV)], » etc. [var: Vulg. I Thess. 4:16 *qui relinquimur, simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Christo in aera*, "who are left shall be taken up together with them in the clouds"] For the fourteenth, which contains twice seven, signifies the perfect rest of souls, but the fifteenth, embracing the number seven and the number eight, signifies the rest of souls and of bodies.

VERS. 24.-- « And he cast Phur, » etc. The lot cast into the urn [0748B] signifies the disposing of any matter whatsoever in the mind of man, the outcome of which not human but divine judgment governs, whence Solomon: « Lots are cast into the lap: but they are disposed of by the Lord [n: (Prov. XVI)]. »

VERS. 28.-- « These are the days. » Because the rest of souls and the resurrection of bodies is deservedly and firmly kept and celebrated by the faithful: or, because for the sake of the rest of souls and of the resurrection of bodies a festival is kept and celebrated by the faithful.

## CHAPTER X.

VERS. 1.-- « But king Assuerus made all the earth tributary. » Christ, who, cut out of the mountain without hands, grew into a great mountain and filled the whole world: historically, for he [Assuerus] made not all the earth tributary, [0748C] because neither did he possess it.

[nt: ( In the ancient copies of the Glossa ordinaria no exposition adjoins the sacred text from this point to the end of the book. We therefore pass over chapters 11-16. )]
