John Trapp on Esther 10:1

CHAP. X. Verſe 1. And the King Ahaſhuerus laid a tribute, &c,]

AN extraordinary tribute to maintain warre againſt the Grecians, who uniting together, were then grown potent and formidable. To enable himſelf therefore the better againſt them, Xerxes gathered money, the ſinews of warre, but loſt the affections of his ſubjects the joynts of peace. He became hereby ill beloved of all ſorts, and far a leſſe King, by ſtriving to be more then he was. And hence haply one letter of his name is loſt here, for the Maſurites tell us,Druſ in lo[illegible: 1 letter] that in the ancient Copies he is written, not Ahaſhuerus, but Ahaſres without a Vau.

And upon the Iſles of the ſea] Judea was an Iſle, Iſa. 20.6. (but not of the ſea, for it was part of the Continent) becauſe mediâ inſeperabilis undâ, ſeparated from other Countreyes, and encircled with Gods powerful Protection. It was, ſay ſome,Herod. l. 3. by Mordecai's meanes exempted from this great taxation. Herodotus ſaith, that a Countrey near unto Arabia was exempted. He meaneth Judea, ſaith Junius, though he name it not. It may be ſo. And it may be, ſaith an Interpreter, that this is here inſerted, as being intended only of the reimpoſing of the tribute, whereof there was granted a releaſe at Eſthers marriage. chap. 2.18. yet it may be alſo added, to ſhew how God puniſhed the Nations for their late greedy gaping after the lives and eſtates of Gods people.