75. Queen Esther undertakes to plead for her people, and Aman prepares a gallows for Mardochai. Word was brought to Esther the queen, that Mardochai was sitting in sackcloth at the king's gate.. Esther sent to know what was the reason of his sitting thus in sackcloth. Mardochai sent word to her of all that had happened, and gave her messenger a copy of the edict. Esther, on receiving the copy of the edict, understood what was required from her, and sent an QUEEN ESTHER INTERCEDES FOR HER PEOPLE. 469 answer to Mardochai, "that he must know that it would be death for her to go into the inner palace to the king, except the king should hold out the golden sceptre in token of clemency, and that she had not been called to the king for thirty days." When Mardochai had heard this, he sent word to Esther again, saying, "Think not that thou mayst save thy life only, because thou art in the king's house, more than all the Jews: For if thou wilt now hold thy peace, the Jews shall be delivered by some other occasion: and thou, and thy father's house, shall perish. And who knoweth whether thou art not therefore come to the kingdom, that thou mightest be ready in such a time as this?" And again Esther sent to Mardochai in these words: "Go, and gather together all the Jews whom thou shalt find in Susa, and pray ye for me. Neither eat nor drink for three days; and I and my handmaids will fast in like manner, and then I will go into the king against the law, and expose myself to death and danger." Mardochai went, and did all that Esther had commanded. him. On the third day, Esther attired herself in her royal apparel, and trembling as she passed through the suite of apartments, she presented herself to the king. She pleased his eyes, and he extended to her the golden sceptre, and said to her, "What wilt thou, Queen Esther, what is thy request? if thou shouldest ask onehalf of the kingdom it shall be given thee." Esther answered, "If it please the king, I beseech thee to come to me this day, and Aman with thee, to the banquet which I have prepared." The king graciously assented, and word was sent to Aman, in the palace, who made haste to join the king at the banquet. Esther, however, did not then make her request known, but promised on the following day if the king and Aman would come to her banquet, to make it known. Aman was overjoyed with his second invitation; but his joy was somewhat troubled, on going out of the palace, by observing that Mardochai, who was sitting at the palace gate, not only did not rise to honour him, but did not so much as move from the place where he sat. However, he dissembled his anger till his return home. Here his pent-up wrath burst forth. He was boasting before his wife and friends of his riches and greatness, and that Esther the queen had again invited none but himself to her second banquet: "But whereas," he said, "I have all these things, I think I have nothing, so long as I see Mardochai the Jew sitting before the king's gate." Then Zares his wife, and the rest of his friends answered him, "Order a great beam to be prepared, fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the king, that Mardochai may be hanged upon it, and so thou shalt go full of joy with the king to the banquet." The counsel pleased him, and he commanded high gibbet to be prepared. § 76. Aman going to obtain the king's sentence to hang Mardochai, meets with a mortification. The same night the king passed without sleep, and by way of entertainment during his sleeplessness, he commanded the records of his kingdom to be brought out and read to him. Hearing the portion read where it AMAN LEADS MARDOCHAI IN PROCESSION. 471 told him how Mardochai had discovered the treason of two officers of the palace, the king asked what honours and reward Mardochai had received. His servants answered, "he hath received no reward at all." At this moment Aman was coming through the palace gate to speak to the king, that Mardochai should be hanged on the gibbet which he had prepared, and when the king asked who was in the court, the servants answered, "Aman standeth in the gate." When Aman was come in, the king said to him, "What ought to be done to the man whom the king is desirous to honour ?" But Aman thinking in his heart, and supposing that the king would honour no other but himself, answered: The man whom the king desireth to honour, ought to be clothed with the king's apparel, and to be set upon the horse that the king rideth upon, and to have the royal crown upon his head, and let the first of the king's princes and nobles hold his horse, and going through the street of the city, proclaim before him and say: 'Thus shall he be honoured, whom the king hath a mind to honour."" And the king said to him: "Make haste and take the robe and the horse, and do as thou hast spoken to Mardochai the Jew, who sitteth before the gates of the palace. Beware how thou pass over any of those things which thou hast spoken." So Aman took the robe and the horse, and arraying Mardochai in the street of the city, and setting him on the horse, went before him, and proclaimed: "This honour is he worthy of, whom the king hath a mind to honour." And Mardochai returned to the palace gate and Aman made haste to go to his house, mourning and having his head covered.. When he told his wife and friends what had happened, they said, "If Mardochai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou canst not resist him, but thou shalt fall in his sight." As they were yet speaking, the king's officers came, and compelled him to go quickly to the banquet which the queen had prepared. |