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Biblical Person · Old · Return & Second Temple

Ahasuerus

Ahasuerus

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Ahasuerus, also known as Xerxes, was a Persian king during the time of Esther, under whose reign the Jewish people were saved from a plot to destroy them.

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Where Ahasuerus appears

30 verses across 3 books.

Esth28×Ezra1×Dan1×

Verses mentioning Ahasuerus

  • Dan 9:1 — In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
  • Esth 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:)
  • Esth 1:2 — That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace,
  • Esth 1:9 — Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.
  • Esth 1:10 — On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence o
  • Esth 1:15 — What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?
  • Esth 1:16 — And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the kin
  • Esth 1:17 — For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be bro
  • Esth 1:19 — If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasu
  • Esth 2:1 — After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
  • Esth 2:12 — Now when every maid’s turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished,
  • Esth 2:16 — So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
  • Esth 2:21 — In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king’s gate, two of the king’s chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.
  • Esth 3:1 — After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
  • Esth 3:6 — And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus,
  • Esth 3:7 — In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that
  • Esth 3:8 — And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither k
  • Esth 3:12 — Then were the king’s scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king’s lieutenants, and to the governors that wer
  • Esth 6:2 — And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.
  • Esth 7:5 — Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?
  • Esth 8:1 — On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews’ enemy unto Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was unto her.
  • Esth 8:7 — Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the
  • Esth 8:10 — And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus’ name, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries:
  • Esth 8:12 — Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
  • Esth 9:2 — The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of the
  • Esth 9:20 — And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,
  • Esth 9:30 — And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,
  • Esth 10:1 — And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea.
  • Esth 10:3 — For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.
  • Ezra 4:6 — And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
Voices from the tradition

The Church Fathers on Ahasuerus

Patristic commentary on the Scriptures that name Ahasuerus.

Verse 1. "In the first year of the Darius who was the son of Ahasuerus of the race of the Medes and who reigned over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign..." This is the Darius who in cooperation with Cyrus conquered the Chaldeans and Babylonians. We are not to think of that other Darius in the second year of…

The worldly philosophers drive out an old passion by instilling a new one; they hammer out one nail by hammering in another. It was on this principle that the seven princes of Persia acted toward Ahasuerus, for they subdued his regret for Vashti by inducing him to love other maidens. But whereas they cured one fault by another fault…

We must distinguish between the reign of Darius son of Ahasuerus and that of Darius the Persian. In this way, the things that are now being read will harmonize with the things that were spoken earlier. He did not simply introduce Darius as Darius the Mede but rather as one "from the race of the Medes." Now, as it is clear, he was not a…

— Theodoret of Cyrus (458) on Dan 9:1

In the year of the reign of Ahasuerus... they wrote an accusation, etc. Josephus (Antiquities XI, 2, 3) believes that this Artaxerxes, who received the letter of accusation from the Samaritans and forbade the construction of Jerusalem and the temple, was Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who, after his father ruled for thirty years, reigned…

The fact that King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, clearly signifies that the true king who is our Lord transferred to the holy church all the dignity and honor which the people previously possessed because of their knowledge of the law and the prophets and because of their holy and religious…

Hence we should also bear in mind the crucial moment when Esther was brought to the king's bedchamber: "So she was brought to the bedchamber of King Ahasuerus in the tenth month, which is called Tevet, in the seventh year of his reign; and the king loved her more than all the women, and placed the diadem of kingship on her head, and…

Historic voices touch this life

43 passages from 6 historic works cite verses that mention Ahasuerus.