Discovery BoxEsther 1:3 
Context1:3 in the third 1 year of his reign he provided a banquet for all his officials and his servants. The army 2 of Persia and Media 3 was present, 4 as well as the nobles and the officials of the provinces.
Esther 5:11
Context5:11 Haman then recounted to them his fabulous wealth, 5 his many sons, 6 and how the king had magnified him and exalted him over the king’s other officials and servants.
1 sn The third year of Xerxes’ reign would be ca. 483
2 tc Due to the large numbers of people implied, some scholars suggest that the original text may have read “leaders of the army” (cf. NAB “Persian and Median aristocracy”; NASB “the army officers”; NIV “the military leaders”). However, there is no textual evidence for this emendation, and the large numbers are not necessarily improbable.
3 sn Unlike the Book of Daniel, the usual order for this expression in Esther is “Persia and Media” (cf. vv. 14, 18, 19). In Daniel the order is “Media and Persia,” indicating a time in their history when Media was in the ascendancy.
4 sn The size of the banquet described here, the number of its invited guests, and the length of its duration, although certainly immense by any standard, are not without precedent in the ancient world. C. A. Moore documents a Persian banquet for 15,000 people and an Assyrian celebration with 69,574 guests (Esther [AB], 6).
5 tn Heb “the glory of his riches” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “the splendor of his riches.”
