The Complete Book of Esther Read Along
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IV.
THE Volume OF ESTHER.
AND it came to pass when Nebuchadnezzar died, that his son, Evil-Merodach, claimed the kingdom. Only the people refused to bless him as ruler, and they said to him:
"Behold, in one case before was thy father removed from the vicinity of human beings and compelled to eat herbs and grass like the beasts of the field for seven years. And lo, we deemed him dead and appointed princes in his stead to dominion over the states, and when he returned he put these princes to decease. How can we now make you lot king? It may exist with your father every bit it was chiliad erstwhile days, he may yet render."
At present when the people spoke thus to Evil-Merodach, he went to his father's tomb and removed from the same the corpse of the male monarch. He fastened an atomic number 26 chain about its feet, and dragged his male parent's torso through the streets of the capital, to prove to the people that he was indeed dead. Every bit it is written in Isaiah:
"But thou, chiliad fine art cast out of thy grave similar a discarded offshoot." (Isaiah 14: xix.)
And so the people of the state proclaimed Evil-Merodach king.
And Daniel said to the king:
"Thy father, Nebuchadnezzar, never opened the door of his prisons" (meaning when he once incarcerated a person it was for life), "as it is written, 'never opened the prison-house of his prisoners.' (Isaiah 14: 17.) Now when the
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[paragraph continues] Israelites were adjudged guilty by God of the many sins which they committed, behold thy male parent came upwards and laid the land of Israel desolate. He destroyed our holy temple, and our people he sent captives and exiles to Babel. Among them was Yehoyachim the king of Judah. For thirty-two years he has lain in prison because he neglected to follow the will of God. At present, I pray thee, let him be released. Oh, exist not stiff-necked. Remember the punishment of thy father when he became proud and blasphemed, and said, 'In that location is no rex or ruler merely myself only,' every bit it is written, 'I will ascend above the superlative of the clouds; I will be equal to the Most High.'" (Isaiah xiv: 14.)
Then Evil-Merodach listened to the words of Daniel and performed the will of God. He released Yehoyachim, the king of the tribe of Judah, and he opened the doors to the other prisoners and gave them freedom.
And He anointed Yehoyachim, and dressed him in imperial garments; "and he ate bread earlier him continually all the days of his life." (Kings 25: 29.)
And from Evil-Merodach the kingdom descended to Darius of Media, and Ahasuerus, of Persia, was the son of Darius of Media.
From the house of this same Ahasuerus was banished Vashti, the daughter of Evil-Merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar. For her iniquity was she banished, for she compelled the Jewish women to labour upon their holy Sabbath.
This aforementioned Ahasuerus commanded that the wine of 1 hundred and twenty-seven provinces should exist furnished on his banquet tabular array, that the men of one hundred and 20-seven provinces might beverage, each man of the wine of his own country, of his own province, that he might not eat foreign and hurtful drink.
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This same Ahasuerus was a foolish king. "My queen shall be sent away," he ordered; "only my decree must never exist abolished."
In the fourth dimension of this aforementioned Ahasuerus the people of Israel were sold,--aye, without coin; equally it is written: "For naught were ye sold." (Isaiah 52: three.)
And in the time of this same Ahasuerus the words written in the Pentateuch came to laissez passer: "In the morn shall ye say, 'Would that it were evening,' and in the evening, 'Would that the morning time were nigh.'" (Deut. 28: 67.)
This was the aforementioned Ahasuerus who once dismissed his wife for the sake of his friend, and over again killed his friend for the sake of his wife. He sent away Vashti, his married woman, in accordance with the advice of Memuchan his friend, and he killed his friend Haman, for the sake of Esther, his wife.
And it came to pass in the days of this Ahasuerus that he desired to sit down upon the throne of Solomon. The magnificent throne of Solomon which had been carried from Jerusalem to Egypt past Sheshak the king of Egypt. From his easily information technology passed to Sennacherib the king of Assyria; from him was it returned to Hezekiah, and again carried abroad past Pharaoh Nechoh of Arab republic of egypt. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babel, wrenched it from the possession of Pharaoh, and when Cyrus, the male monarch of Media,. conquered the land of Persia, the throne was brought to Shushan and passed into the possession of Ahasuerus.
Simply he had a new throne made for himself. He sent artisans to Alexandria, and they were two years making for him his throne. "In the 3rd year of his reign, the male monarch Ahasuerus sat upon his own throne, and Solomon's throne was not used whatsoever more."
"There was a certain Jew in Shushan, the uppercase, whose proper name was Mordecai."
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Why was Mordecai called a Jew? He was not of the tribe of Judah, merely a descendant of Benjamin? He was chosen a Jew because he feared the Lord as all Jews should do.
Mordecai was a descendant of Shimï, whose life King David spared when he had incurred the penalty of expiry for reviling his ruler. For David foresaw the miracle which should be wrought through the instrumentality of Mordecai in years then subconscious in the hereafter.
And Mordecai brought up his cousin Hadassah or Esther. She was called Hadassah (meaning "myrtle") because of her sweet disposition and kindly acts, which were compared to the fragrant perfume and ever fresh beauty of the myrtle. In many instances the righteous are compared to the myrtle, as in Isaiah (55: 13), "In identify of the thorn the fir tree shall jump along, and the nettle shall give place to the myrtle."
This judgement is thus construed:
Instead of Haman, the thorn, the fir tree, Mordecai shall spring forth; and in place of Vashti, compared to a nettle, Esther, the myrtle, shall share the Persian throne.
Her name, Esther, was also well chosen; from the Greek, Estarah, a bright star. Her pious deeds ceased merely with her life, and her beauty was equalled only by her spiritual qualities.
Shortly before Esther's nascence her begetter died, and her mother followed him when the babe drew her kickoff breath. Then Mordecai, her father's nephew, adopted her, and brought her upward as his child.
Afterward the king had married Esther he was anxious to learn her descent, and asked her, "Where are thy kindred? Behold, I take prepared a banquet, bid them attend."
And Esther answered him
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"Thou fine art a wise king, and surely thou knowest that my parents are expressionless; do not sadden me, I pray, my lord, by such inquiries."
'Twas then that the king released the people from the payment of the year'due south taxes, and gave presents "according to his ability" to all his nobles, declaring that it was done in "Esther's honour."
He imagined that through this the fame of the proceeding and Esther'due south proper name would become known throughout the nations, and he might learn thereby of her people.
When this program failed he called all the beautiful virgins of his provinces together again, thinking that jealousy might induce Esther to tell him of her predecessors, but without avail. Esther mentioned non her people.
"In those days, when Mordecai was sitting in the king's gate, .Bigthana and Theresh became wroth," &c.
Rabbi Johanan said: "God has made servants wroth against their lords for the accomplishment of justice, and He has likewise made masters wroth with their servants for the same purpose." The latter instance is to be found in the history of Joseph, as information technology is written, "In that location was with us in the prison a Hebrew lad," and the former case is that of Bigthana and Theresh, the chamberlains of the rex.
"And the thing became known to Mordecai."
The two officers spoke in a strange language; they thought that Mordecai could not understand them. But Mordecai had been a fellow member of the Sanhedrim; he was a learned man, and what they said was well understood by him.
One officer said to the other:
"Since the rex married Esther we have had neither rest nor peace; the coming and the going makes life wearisome it would exist better for us if we should remove him from the world."
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The other acquiesced with him, simply said:
"How is it to be done? I am on guard; I cannot leave."
Just the first speaker said:
"Get, and I will attend to both thy guard and mine."
Therefore information technology is written, "And the matter was inquired info and plant truthful;" that is, i of the guards was found absent from his post.
"Later these events." What events?
After God had created the remedy earlier the infliction of the wound; later Mordecai had saved the king's life before the orders for the destruction of his people were promulgated.
After these events the male monarch advanced Haman, the son of Hamdatha, the Agagite, to an illustrious position in the kingdom. He was raised, even so, but to be destroyed. His destiny was like to that of the hog in the parable of the horse, the colt, and the squealer.
A sure man possessed a horse, a colt, and a squealer. For the two former he measured out daily a sure amount of food; then much was their allowance, no more, no less; the hog, however, was allowed to swallow according to his own pleasance. Said the filly to the horse, "How is this? Is it only? We work for our food while the squealer is a useless animal; surely nosotros should accept equally much to swallow as is given him."
"Wait," answered the equus caballus, "and you lot will soon meet, in the downfall of the hog, the reason."
With the coming of the autumn the hog was killed.
"See," said the horse, "they did not give the hog and then much to eat for his ain do good, but in guild to fatten him for the killing."
Haman was a direct descendant of Esau. His father,
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[paragraph continues] Hamdatha, was the son of Sararch, he of Kuzah, Iphlotas, Joseph, Josim, Pedome, Madé, Belaäkan, Intimrom, Haridom, Shegar, Negar, Parmashtáh, Vayzathah, Agag, Sumki, Amalek, and lastly Eliphaz, the first-born of Esau.
"Why transgressest one thousand the rex's commands?"
The servants of the king'south gate said to Mordecai:
"Why wilt thou decline to bow before Haman, transgressing thus the wishes of the king? Exercise we non bow before him?"
"Ye are foolish," answered Mordecai, "yeah, wanting in reason. Listen to me. Shall a mortal, who must return to dust, exist glorified? Shall I bow down before i born of woman, whose days are brusk? When he is small he cries and weeps every bit a child; when he grows older sorrow and sighing are his portion; his days are full of wrath and anger, and at the end he returns to grit. Shall I bow to 1 like to him? No, I prostrate myself before the Eternal God, who lives for ever. He who dwells in Heaven and bears the world in the hollow of His hand. His word changes sunlight to darkness, His control illumines the deepest gloom. His wisdom fabricated the world, He placed the boundaries of the mighty bounding main; the waters are His, the sweet and the common salt; to the struggling waves he says, 'Be however, thus far shalt grand come, no farther, that the earth may remain dry for my people.' To Him the smashing Creator and Ruler of the Universe, and to no other volition I bow."
Haman was wroth against Mordecai, and said to him:
"Why art g and so stiff-necked? Did non thy forefather bow down to mine?"
"How?" replied Mordecai; "which of my ancestors bowed before forefather of thine?"
And so Haman answered:
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"Jacob, thy forefather, bowed down to Esau, his brother, who was my forefather."
"Not so," answered Mordecai, "for I am descended from Benjamin, and when Jacob bowed to Esau, Benjamin was not nonetheless born. Benjamin never bowed until his descendants prostrated themselves in the holy temple, when the divinity of God rested inside its sacred portals, and all Israel united with him. I will not bow before the wicked Haman."
"In the outset calendar month, that is, in the month Nissan (April), they bandage the lot before Haman." He cast the lot "from day to twenty-four hours." At commencement he selected the first twenty-four hour period of the week as the one for the destruction of the Jews; simply then he said, "No; lite was created upon that day, which is to their merit. On the 2nd day the heavens were created; as well to their merit. On the third day, the Garden of Eden, with all the herbs and trees; on the fourth the sun, moon, stars, and all the hosts of Heaven, also a merit to them. On the 5th mean solar day the fowls of the Heaven were created, and among them the pigeon, which the Jews have used for a cede, so that will non reply for their extermination. On the sixth day Adam and Eve were created, and on the seventh day is their Sabbath, the covenant between them and their God."
He then took his chances with the months. In the month of Nissan (April) they were released from the servitude of Egypt, and many miracles were performed in their favour. In the month of Iyar (May) the manna start descended from Heaven, and in that calendar month, too, five calamities were to happen. During the month of Sivan they received the ten commandments, and hold their banquet of weeks. Neither of these months would do. The next cast was the Calendar month Tamuz (July). But in that calendar month the walls of
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[paragraph continues] Jerusalem were destroyed, and Haman, thinking that might prove sufficient penalisation for whatsoever of their sins in that month, passed it by and cast again. The next lot fell on Ab (Baronial). But in that month the last of the generations doomed to wander through the wilderness 40 years had perished. The fourth dimension of their punishment had expired, and in that same month Moses had spoken with God, and prayed to Him, "Show me Thy Celebrity." This was too great a calendar month to the Israelites to allow its option for their extermination.
The side by side calendar month was Elul (September). 'Twas in this calendar month that Moses ascended for the third time the mount of God, to receive the second tables of stone. Also, during this calendar month, the walls of Jerusalem were completed, as it is written in Nehemiah 6: 15: "And then was the wall finished on the twenty-and-fifth day of the calendar month Elul."
Tishri (October) would non be favourable to his purpose, because the Day of Atonement, when all Israel would be devout in prayer, occurs within information technology. Neither would the following month, Heshvan, suit his designs, because it was in this month that the waters of the flood were set loose upon the globe and Noah and his family saved. During Kislev (December) the foundation of the Temple was laid. In Thebet (Jan) Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, also a sufficient punishment for that period, And also, during this calendar month, the 11 tribes made peace with Benjamin. Neither was Shebat (February) a month displaying any guilty activity deserving of God'due south wrath on the part of His people. When he came to the month of Adar, however, he said, "Lo, I have thee now, even as the fish of the sea" (the sign of the month's planet being 2 fish). In this month the lawgiver, Moses, died, and Haman thought information technology would prove unlucky for Israel. He forgot, however, that
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[paragraph continues] Moses was also built-in in Adar, on the seventh, day of the month.
"Then said Haman unto King Ahasuerus:
"In that location is a people scattered throughout thy provinces, withal split up and distinct from the nation among which they dwell. They will not intermingle or associate with us. They will not marry with the daughters of our land, neither volition they allow our sons to wed their daughters. They do not aid in building up the country, for they have many holy days on which they are idle and refuse to traffic. The first hr of each day they devote to their prayer, 'Hear, O State of israel, the Lord is One.' The second hour they also sing praises, and much time they waste matter in prayers and graces. Each seventh day they make a Sabbath, and pass the time in their synagogues reading from their Pentateuch and their prophets; yep, and in cursing thee, the king. They enter their children into a covenant of the flesh when they are but eight days quondam, that they may remain a peculiar people for ever. In the month of Nissan they concord a banquet, which they call the Passover, when they remove all leaven from their houses, and they say, 'As we remove the leaven from our houses, so may the wicked king exist removed from our midst.' They have many fasts and feasts, upon all of which they expletive the male monarch, and pray for thy death and the downfall of thy kingdom. Lo, there arose one time a king, Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed their temple, despoiled their great metropolis, Jerusalem, and sent the inhabitants thereof into exile. Still their pride and stubborn spirit remained unbroken. Know, as well, that their fathers went down into Egypt, seventy men, and when they went up from thence they numbered full vi hundred thousand, in addition to their women and trivial ones. Amid this nation there are men, big dealers they buy and they sell, but they
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execute not the laws of the king and the realm. What profit, then, is information technology to have such a people scattered through thy provinces?
"Now, if it exist pleasing in the eyes of the king, let a decree exist published to destroy and exterminate them from our midst."
And Ahasuerus answered:
"We are not able to do this matter. Their God has not deserted them, and they accept prevailed over people greater and stronger than ourselves. We cannot accept thy advice in this matter."
Still Haman persisted from fourth dimension to time to pour complaints against the Jews in the ears of the king, and to urge their complete devastation. Finally Ahasuerus said, "Every bit thou hast troubled me and then much about this thing I will call together my officers, counsellors, and wise men, and inquire their opinion."
When these sages were called before him the king put the question to them, and asked:
"Now what is your communication, shall this nation be destroyed or not?"
And the wise men answered unanimously, and said:
"Should State of israel be stricken from beingness the world itself would no longer be; for through the merit of Israel and the police given to them the world exists. Are the people not called near to God (relatives)? 'Unto the children of Israel, a people virtually to Him.' Not lonely this, they are as well called children of the Lord, as information technology is written, 'Ye are the children of the Lord your God' (Dent. xiv: r). Who can escape that raises a hand against his children? Pharaoh was punished for his conduct towards them; how shall we escape?"
And so Haman arose and replied to these words:
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"The God who caused the death of Pharaoh and his hosts has grown old and feeble; his power leas departed from him. Did non Nebuchednezzar destroy his temple and send his people into exile? Why did he non forbid that if he was all-powerful?"
By such arguments as these Haman altered the opinions and advice of the sages, and the messages ordering the massacre which he desired were prepared co-ordinate to his control.
When Mordecai ascertained what had been done he rent his garments, clothed himself in sackcloth, and sat in ashes. He wept in his ache, and said, "Woe, woe to usa for this severe prescript. Not even a one-half of our people shall be saved, nor a third part nor a quaternary, but the whole body must exist rooted out; woe, woe to us!"
And so when the Israelites beheld Mordecai's grief and heard his words, they assembled together, a keen multitude of people, and Mordecai addressed them equally follows:
"Ye people of Israel, ye chosen ones of our Male parent in Sky, know ye not what has happened? Have ye heard naught of the decree against us, that Haman and the king have ordered our destruction from the face of the globe? Nosotros have no friendly influence on which to depend, no prophets to pray for us, no city of refuge. We are a flock without a shepherd; we are every bit a ship at sea without a pilot, every bit orphans without a begetter, aye, equally sucklings who have lost their mother."
Then they carried the ark in which the scrolls of the law were deposited, into the streets of Shushan, and draped the same in mourning colours. And Mordecai opened the scrolls and read the passage in Deuteronomy (4: 30), "When yard fine art in tribulation, and all these things have overtaken thee, in the latter end of days, then wilt 1000 return to the
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[paragraph continues] Lord thy God, and be obedient unto His phonation. For a merciful God is the Lord thy God."
"People of the house of State of israel," said Mordecai, "let u.s.a. follow the example of the men of Nineveh, at the fourth dimension when Jonah, the son of Amitai, was sent to proclaim the overthrow of their uppercase. The king rose from his throne, changed his royal robes for sackcloth and ashes, and caused a fast to exist proclaimed. Neither human nor creature, neither herds nor flocks, tasted of food or drank of water. 'God saw their works that they turned from their evil means, and God bethought Himself of the evil which He had spoken that He would do them and He did it non' (Jonah 3: 7). Let united states of america also proclaim a penitential fast; these men were saved, and they were heathens; we are the sons of Abraham, and information technology behooves us more than specially to repent our evil ways and trust to the forgiveness of a merciful God Turn ye, turn ye from your unrighteous paths, oh house of Israel, wherefore will ye die!"
And when he had finished speaking these words, Mordecai went out into the city and cried with a loud and bitter weep.
The house of Israel was filled with dread at the edict of the king. Sorrow crossed the threshold of each Jewish home; a spirit of ache filled every habitation.
A certain man called on a Western farsi friend and entreated him to utilize his influence to salvage his life and the lives of his family. "I, my wife, and my children will be your slaves," said he, "only save our lives."
The Western farsi answered:
"How can I exercise so? The prescript stares that any Persian harbouring a Jew shall be put to expiry with him."
The Israelite departed with a broken spirit. "How truly," said he, "have the words of the Bible been fulfilled?
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[paragraph continues] 'Ye will offering yourselves for sale unto your enemies, for bondmen and bondwomen, without any one to buy ye.'" (Deut. 28: 68.)
Each day the people marked the passage of time, by proverb, "Thus many days more have the Jews to alive," and and so was another Biblical passage verified.
"And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee . . . . In the morning yard wilt say, Who would only grant that it were only evening! And at evening thousand wilt say, Who would but grant that it were but morning! From the dread of thy eye which k wilt experience, and from the sight of thy optics which g wilt see." (Deut. 28: 66-67.) And with each day the morning increased and hope seemed yet more vain.
If we lose a relation or a honey friend, our grief is at first intense, but with each day it loses its poignancy until we are consoled and comforted. How different was it in the instance of the condemned Jews; each day the wailing grew stronger, for each day simply brought them nearer to the hour of their devastation.
The act of Ahasuerus in intrusting his ring to Haman, was productive of more repentant feelings in the people of Israel than had been the words of their forty-eight prophets.
The prophets had cautioned Israel confronting serving idols, and urged upon them the necessity of atonement, and however their words had been unheeded; but with the transmission of the king's ring to Haman's possession, the not bad call for repentance fabricated itself immediately heard.
Simply Haman was to receive his penalisation. There is a saying of the Rabbis, "If a rock falls upon a pitcher, the pitcher breaks; if the pitcher falls upon the rock, the pitcher also breaks." Be it as information technology may, it is bad for the pitcher, and bad similarly for the enemies of Israel; for
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even when Israel strays from righteousness, the instruments of their chastisement are also punished, as in the instances of Nebuchadnezzar, Titus, Haman, &c.
"Then came the maidens of Esther with her chamberlains, and told it to her (the grief of Mordecai) . . . And she chosen Hathach and gave him a charge for Mordecai to know what this was, and why this was . . . And Mordecai told him all that had happened unto him."
Meaning, a dream, which Mordecai had dreamt in the 2d year of the reign of King Ahasuerus, he now recollected and told to Hathach. "An convulsion shook the world, and darkness and great storms frightened the inhabitants. 2 monsters were engaged in deadly conflict, and the noise of the struggle acquired the nations to quake with fear. In the midst of the nations was a minor weak people, and the other nations wished to blot it from the world. A great distress oppressed this few people and they cried aloud to God for succour and protection. Then a minor spring arose, even betwixt the two monsters that were battling, and information technology increased in size until information technology seemed to become as wide and boundless equally the sea, even as though it would engulf the globe. Then the sun bankrupt forth in effulgence o'er the globe, and the weak nation, blessed with peace, dwelt safely, though the ruins of many greater nations were spread about it."
This dream he had previously related to Esther, and now through her messenger, he sent the queen this word:
"Behold, g wilt call up the dream which I related to thee in thy youth. Ascend, pray to God and beseech from Him mercy; then go before the king and speak bravely for the cause of thy people and thy kindred." And further he sent to Esther these words:
"'Imagine non in thy soul,' and say not 'the male monarch has selected me for his queen; and. therefore I need not pray
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for mercy to Israel.' Into exile thou wert carried as well as the rest of thy people, and the decree which destroys i, destroys all. Do not imagine that thou lone canst escape, of all the Jews. For the sin of thy bully grandfather Saul do nosotros now suffer. If he had obeyed the words of Samuel, the wicked Haman had not descended from him who was of the family of Amalek. If Saul had slain Agag, the son of Hamadatha had not bought the states for ten thousand silver talents; the Lord would not have delivered Israel into the easily of the wicked. Nevertheless Moses prayed to the Lord for State of israel, and Joshua discomforted Amalek; so arise thou, and pray before thy Father in heaven, and he who did execute justice on Amalek will now practice the same to his wicked seed. From 3 oppressors of Israel does Haman draw his life-claret. First, Amalek, who was the start to fight against Israel, and who was defeated by Joshua. Adjacent, Sisera, who laid a hand of fe upon our ancestors and met his punishment through a woman, Ja'el. Lastly, Goliath, who defied the camp of State of israel and was laid depression by the son of Jesse. Therefore, allow not thy prayers cease, for God has ever listened to the breathings of a contrite heart, and for the sake of our ancestors He volition evidence u.s. favour. They were delivered from their enemies when all seemed hopeless. Pray, therefore, and imagine not that thou alone, of all thy people, shall exist able to find safe."
On the day when Mordecai ordered his brethren to fast and humble themselves earlier God, he uttered the following supplication:
"Our God and God of our fathers, seated on Thy throne of grace! Oh Lord of the universe, Yard knowest that not through the promptings of a proud heart did I reject to bow before Haman. Thee only I fear, and I am jealous of the glory of Thy presence; I could not give to flesh and
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blood Thy honour--to the animate being that which belongs to the Creator lonely. Oh God, deliver us from his hand, and allow his feet become entangled in the cyberspace which he has spread for u.s.a.. Let the world know, oh our Redeemer, that G hast not forgotten the hope which supports and strengthens us in our dispersion. 'And nonetheless for all that, though they be in the land of their enemies, will I non cast them away, neither volition I loath them to destroy them utterly, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God.'"
When Esther received the message of Mordecai, she too ordered a fast, and replaced her royal clothes with the sackcloth and ashes of mourning; and bowing her face earlier the Lord, she uttered this heartfelt prayer:
"God of Israel, from the beginning of time Thou hast reigned; the earth and all it contains Thy power has created; to Thee, Thy handmaid calls for help! I am solitary, oh God, without father and mother. Even as a poor woman, who begs from door to door, practise I come up before Thee for mercy, from window to window in the business firm of Ahasuerus.i From Thee alone can help and salvation flow. Oh, Father of the fatherless! stand up upon the correct paw of the orphan, I beseech Thee; requite her mercy and favour in the eyes of Ahasuerus, that he may exist moved to grant her petition for the lives of her people. 'May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my center be adequate before Thee, oh Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Amen!'"
"And it came to pass on the third day."
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Afterwards Esther had fasted three days, on the third day of her fast she arose from the ashes on which she had reposed, removed her garments of sackcloth, arrayed herself in her gorgeous robes of state, wearing her richest ornaments of aureate of Ophir and precious stones, and prepared to enter the presence of the rex. First, however, in voice broken by sobs and strong emotion, she again in privacy addressed the Nigh High.
"Earlier Thee, oh God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, before Thee, oh God of Benjamin, my ancestor, I pray. Before Thee I pray, ere I appeal unto my husband, Ahasuerus, the king, to supplicate for Thy people, Israel, whom Thou didst split up from other nations, to whom Thou gayest Thy holy law. Thy chosen people, oh God, who praise Thee iii times daily, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is total of His celebrity.' As Thou didst save Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah from the raging furnace, and Daniel from the jaws of the lions, and so save us now from the enemies who lie in wait for our devastation. Give me grace, I pray Thee, in the eyes of my lord, the king. Through our sins, oh Lord, are nosotros condemned; yea all of u.s.a. in whom the blood of Abraham quickens; yet surely the children should non endure for the father'south sin! If we accept provoked Thy wrath, why should tender hearts and innocent babes be with us condemned to death? Oh remember the merit of Abraham to our salvation. Ten times didst Thou tempt him and he remained faithful before Thee. Protect the children of Thy beloved friends, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; banish from well-nigh them the evil with which Haman has encircled them." And Esther wept bitterly, and her tongue refused to utter the words which rose to her lips. "I become now," she said in her middle, "unto the king; oh let Thy angels of mercy precede
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my footsteps; let the favour of Abraham go earlier me, and the merit of Isaac support my trembling frame; let the kindness of Jacob be in my oral fissure, and the purity of Joseph upon my tongue. As Yard didst listen to the phonation of Jonah when he called upon Thee, so listen now to me. Oh God, whose eye seest the inmost recesses of the heart, recollect the merit of the pious ones who served Thee faithfully, and for their sakes allow non my petition to be rejected. Amen."
And Esther took with her two of her waiting maids and entered the courtroom of the king. On the arm of one she leaned, while the other followed begetting her railroad train, that the golden cloth might not sweep forth the ground. She concealed her grief in her middle, and her face up was bright and her appearance happy.
It happened, when the king saw Esther standing in the court, that he was very wroth to recall that she had overstepped both law and custom. Esther glanced up, and reading his anger in his eyes, became profoundly terrified, and leaned heavily upon the handmaid who supported her. God saw her failing motility, and, pitying the distress of the orphan, he gave her grace earlier the male monarch. The anger vanished from his eyes, and ascension from his seat, he advanced to Esther and embraced and kissed her. With his arm about her neck he looked into her optics, and seeing at that place her fear, he said, "What wilt one thousand, Queen Esther? Why art thou alarmed? Our laws are not meant for thee; grand art my friend; wherefore didst thou not speak when thy eyes looked upon me?"
And Esther answered:
"Considering, my lord, when outset I looked upon thee, thy glory and thy laurels terrified me."
* * * * *
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Esther had three objects in inviting Haman to her feast with the king.
First. She did not wish Haman to think that she knew of his guilt, or was conspiring against him, which he might suspect if he discovered that Hatach carried messages betwixt herself and Mordecai.
Secondly. She desired, in pursuance of her programme, to make the king jealous of Haman. Naturally he would ask himself why she had invited merely Haman, thus singling him from, and honouring him to a higher place, the other princes.
Thirdly. That Israel might non be too certain of her efforts and and so depend upon her altogether. Rather to let them find additional reasons for relying solely on the Lord.
"And so said unto him Zeresh, his wife, with all her friends, 'Let them make a gallows,'" &c.
"Thou canst never prevail against Mordecai by means which have already been brought to bear against his people," said Zeresh to Haman. "Thou canst non kill him with a knife or sword, for Isaac was delivered from the same; neither canst yard drown him, for Moses and the people of Israel walked safely through the body of water. Fire will not burn down him, for with Chananyah and his comrades it failed; wild beasts will non tear him, for Daniel was rescued from the lions' fangs; neither will a dungeon contain him, for Joseph walked to laurels through a prison'southward gates. Even if nosotros deprive him of sight we tin can not prevail confronting him, for Samson was made blind, and even so destroyed thousands of the Philistines. There is but one way left us; nosotros must hang him."
Information technology was in accordance with this advice that Haman built the gallows l cubits high. After he had erected this dread instrument of decease, he sought the presence of Mordecai, to gloat over his coming triumph. He found the
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[paragraph continues] Jew in the college, with his pupils gathered around him. Their loins were girded with sackcloth, and they wept at the words which their teacher was addressing to them.
"To-morrow," said Haman, "I will first destroy these children, and I volition then hang Mordecai on the gallows I have prepared."
He remained in the school and saw the mothers of the pupils bring them their meals; but they all refused to eat, proverb, "By the life of our instructor, Mordecai, nosotros will neither eat nor drink; fasting will nosotros die."
"In that dark slumber fled from the king."
Ahasuerus imagined that Haman was a lover of Esther, because he lone, of all the princes, was invited to her banquet. When he slumbered he dreamed that he saw Haman with a sword in his mitt, attempting his life, and awakening in fright, he was unable over again to sleep. And so he arose and called to Shimshi, his scribe, who was a relative of Haman, and bade him open the book of the chronicles of events which happened during the reigns of the kings of Persia and Media, and read to him from the same. The first page at which Shimshi opened the book contained the record of Mordecai'south discovery and disclosure of the treason of Bigthana and Theresh, the king's chamberlains. The scribe did not wish to read this, and was virtually turning to some other portion, when the male monarch saw the action, and commanded him to read from the page which was first spread before him.
"Haman, therefore, said to the king, 'For the man whom the king desireth to accolade allow them bring a regal apparel,'" &c.
When the rex heard this advice his suspicions seemed to him equally facts. "He wishes to put on my royal apparel," thought Ahasuerus, "and to place my crown upon his head; then he volition destroy me and reign in my stead."
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And then said the king to Haman, "Bring from my land wardrobe the garment of purple from Ethiopia, the garment set with precious stones, to each of the four corners of which a golden chain is attached; bring also the ornaments which I wore on the day of my coronation, my lid of Ethiopian manufacture, and my purple cloak, embroidered with pearls from Africa. Get, then, to my stables, and take from thence the all-time steed which I possess; assortment Mordecai, the Jew, in the garments, and place him upon the horse."
And Haman answered, "There are many Jews in Shushan who are called Mordecai; which 1 is to accept the accolade?"
"Practise all this that thou hast spoken," replied the king, "to Mordecai, the Jew, who lives by the king's gates; he who hath spoken well to the king and saved his life."
When Haman heard these words the blood seemed to congeal in his heart; his confront grew blanched, his eyes became dim, and his mouth as though paralysed; with bully effort he said:
"Oh king, how--how--tin I tell which Mordecai g meanest?"
"I have merely just said," returned the male monarch; "he who dwells at my gates."
"But he hates me," exclaims Haman, "me and my ancestors; do non force me to do him this honor, and I will pay x 1000 silver talents into thy treasury."
The male monarch answered:
"Though I should give that ten m talents to Mordecai, aye, and give him also thy firm to rule over it, yet this honour which grand hast spoken shouldst thou also do to him."
"My 10 sons shall run earlier thy chariot," pleaded Haman; "they shall be thy slaves, if thou wilt but forego this order "
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The king answered:
"Though m, and thy wife, and thy ten sons should be slaves to Mordecai, withal this honour should be as well his." But Haman still entreated:
"Lo, Mordecai is just a common subject of the king, appoint him ruler of a city, a province, or a street--permit that be the honor paid him."
And again the king replied:
"Though I should appoint him ruler over al my provinces, though I should crusade him to command all who owe me obedience on sea and land, notwithstanding this honor, besides, which thou hast spoken, should be done him. Surely he who has spoken to the reward of his king, he who has preserved the life of his male monarch, deserves all that should belong to the one whom the rex most delights to laurels."
"But the messages," continued Haman; "the letters which have been sent to all thy provinces, condemning him and his people to death.'
"Peace, peace," exclaimed the king; "though they should be recalled, Mordecai should still be honoured every bit 1000 hast spoken. Say no more than, Haman; equally thousand hast spoken, do quickly; leave out nil of all that 1000 hast said."
When Haman saw that all entreatment was useless, he obeyed the king's orders with a heavy centre. With the garments and the richly caparisoned steed he sought Mordecai, and said, "Arise, oh Mordecai the righteous, descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, arise from thy sackcloth and ashes; lo, they have prevailed more than than my talents of silver, and thy God has bestowed mercy upon thee. Arise, Mordecai, throw off thy sackcloth and ashes and don these purple garments."
Then Mordecai answered, "Oh, wicked Haman! the
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time cometh when thou shalt eat wormwood and drinkable gall, oh son of Amalek."
"Come up," returned Haman, "dress and mountain the steed; the orders of the king must be obeyed."
Haman anointed Mordecai with sweet perfumes; arrayed him in royal robes, and mounted him upon the male monarch's horse, co-ordinate to his words and the commands of Ahasuerus. Then a procession was formed. Seventeen yard soldiers were detailed equally escort and divided into two bodies; one preceded and the other followed Mordecai, who was thus in the centre on a equus caballus led by Haman. Equally they marched through the streets of Shushan the soldiers shouted, "Thus shall be done to the homo whom the male monarch desireth to honour."
When the Jews beheld this groovy procession, and Mordecai honoured in the midst of it, they followed after; and in render to the shouts of the troops they called out loudly, "Thus shall be washed to the man who serves the King who created sky and earth, and whom he desireth to honour." When Esther saw her kinsman thus arrayed, she thanked the Lord and praised Him.
"With the Psalmist I may say," she exclaimed, "'He raiseth up out of the grit the poor, from the dunghill he lifteth up the needy.' (Ps. 113: 7.) 'That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of His people.'"
Mordecai also praised the Lord, and said:
"'Thousand hast changed my mourning into dancing for me, K hast loosened my sackcloth and girded me with joy; I will extol Thee, oh Lord, for Thousand hast lifted me up, and hast not suffered my enemies to rejoice over me.'" (Ibid. 30: 12.)
4 distinct services did Haman return Mordecai. First, he was his hairdresser, for he shaved and all-powerful
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him. Secondly, he was his valet, for he attended him in the bath. Thirdly, he was his footman, for he led the equus caballus Mordecai rode. Fourthly, he was his trumpeter, for he proclaimed earlier him: "Thus shall exist done to the human being whom the king desireth to laurels."
"And Haman related to Zeresh his married woman," &c.
Haman received only piffling comfort from his friends. "Thou wilt surely fall," said his married woman; "for those who endeavoured to burn down Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah in the fiery furnace, were themselves consumed in the flames; take heed, for thousand wilt surely fall before this Jew."
When the servants of the king saw that Haman was losing prestige, they too turned confronting him. Charbonyah told the king that Haman had designs confronting his royal person. "If thou believest not me," said the sycophant, "ship to his firm and there wilt 1000 observe a gallows fifty cubits high for Mordecai, because he spoke well of thee and saved thy life."
The king said to Mordecai, "Become bring thy enemy Haman and hang him upon the gallows; do to him whatever is pleasing to thee."
Haman appealed to Mordecai and begged to be put to expiry by the sword, only Mordecai hearkened not to his words.
"Who digs a pit for another deserves to autumn therein himself,' said he; "he who rolls a rock against some other must not complain if it turn back and crush himself."
The following is the letter sent under the male monarch's seal to counteract the decree issued against the Jews:
"To the noblemen, princes, and inhabitants of all our provinces, peace. Our government cannot prosper unless its people are united; let this find you all living in congenial harmony. Let all the people of our provinces merchandise together
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every bit 1 nation; permit them have pity and clemency towards all nations and creeds, and honour all peaceful kingdoms of the globe. They who would deceive the king by evil reports apropos whatever people in our midst, and endeavour to obtain permission to exterminate peaceful, police-abiding persons, deserve expiry, and should meet with it. Let such equally they perish, and the residual live in harmony, forming a bond of peace never to exist broken; aye, of triple thickness, that it may never abound weak. Let no insult exist offered to whatsoever people.
"Esther is pious, worthy, and our queen, and Mordecai is the wisest of his historic period; he is without fault, he and his people. Through the advice of Haman, the son of Hamdatha, was our quondam prescript issued, which at present is alleged null and void. And further nosotros decree that the Jews may arise and protect themselves, yes, and have vengeance on such as raise a bloody hand against them.
"He who created Sky and Earth has put these words in our heart and in our mouth, and thus we utter and decree them according to the laws of Persia and Media."
Footnotes
182:i It was the ancient custom of the Jews to stand by a window and look upon the sky when praying. We find the fact thus recorded in Daniel (6: 11): "He had open windows in his upper bedchamber in the management of Jerusalem."
Source: https://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/pol/pol13.htm
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