Esther

There was a Jewish man in the Shushan palace named Mordecai, son of Jair son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjamite, who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives that had been carried away with King Jeconiah of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had taken away. He had raised Hadassah—that is Esther—his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The girl was attractive and had a beautiful figure. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her to him as his own daughter.

After the king’s order and decree became known, many young women were assembled in the palace of Shushan under the supervision of Hegai. Esther also was taken into the king’s household under the supervision of Hegai, guardian of the women. This young woman pleased him and found favor with him. He quickly arranged her beauty treatments and provided her special food. He also provided her with seven specially chosen young women from the king’s household. Then he moved her and her maids to the best place in the women’s house.

Esther had not disclosed her people or her lineage, because Mordecai had commanded her not to make them known. Every day Mordecai walked in front of the women’s courtyard to find out how Esther was, and what might happen to her.

When each young woman’s turn came to go to King Ahasuerus at the end of months as prescribed for the women—for in this way they fulfilled their beautification: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women’s cosmetics — the young woman would go to the king in this way: whatever she asked for was given to her to take with her from the women’s house to the king’s palace. In the evening she would go, and in the morning she would return to the second women’s home under the supervision of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, guardian of the concubines. She would not go back to the king unless the king was pleased with her, and summoned her by name.

When the turn came for Esther to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the guardian of the women, advised. And Esther won favor in the eyes of all who saw her. Then Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus at his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tevet, in the seventh year of his reign. Now the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his grace and favor more than all the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

Some time later King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, elevating him and setting his chair above all the officials who were with him. All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded it. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay him honor.

Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” Day after day, they spoke to him but he would not listen to them. Therefore they told Haman in order to see whether Mordecai’s resolve would prevail, for he had told them that he was a Jew.

When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him honor, Haman was filled with rage. But it was repugnant in his eyes to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him the identity of Mordecai’s people. So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

In the first month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast the pur (that is, ‘the lot’) in the presence of Haman from day to day and month to month, up to the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

Haman then said to King Ahasuerus: “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws differ from those of every other people and who do not obey the king’s laws. It is not in the king’s interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let an edict be written to destroy them. I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who carry out this business, to put it into the king’s treasuries.”

The king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman—son of Hammedatha the Agagite—enemy of the Jews. The king said to Haman, “The silver and the people are yours—do with them as you please.”

The king’s scribes were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day, and an edict was written as Haman had commanded. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s provincial governors, and to the officials who were in every province, and to the officials of every people, province by province, according to its script and people by people according to its language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s ring.

Dispatches were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, stating to destroy, slay, and annihilate all the Jews—from the youth to the elderly, both little children and women—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions. A copy of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to all people, so that they would be ready for that day. The couriers went out hurriedly with the king’s command and the edict was issued in the palace in Shushan. The king and Haman then sat down to drink. But the city of Shushan was dumbfounded.

Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him instructions for Mordecai: “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces understand that for anyone, man or woman, who approaches the king in the inner courtyard without being summoned, he has one law—that he be put to death, unless the king extends his golden scepter permitting him to live. But I have not been summoned to come to the king for 30 days.” So they conveyed Esther’s words to Mordecai.

Mordecai told them to reply to Esther with this answer, “Do not think in your soul that you will escape in the king’s household more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place—but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows whether you have attained royal status for such a time as this?”

Esther sent this to reply to Mordecai, “Go! Gather together all the Jews who are in Shushan and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast in the same way. Afterwards, I will go in to the king, even though it is not according to the law. So if I perish, I perish!”

So Mordecai left and did all that Esther commanded him.

On the third day, Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance. When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she found favor in his eyes, so the king held out to Esther the golden scepter and Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter.

Then said the king to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? Whatever you request, even as much as half of the kingdom, it will be given to you.”

So Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”

The king replied, “Bring Haman quickly so we may do what Esther said.” Then the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther prepared. As they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your request? It will be granted to you. Whatever you request, even as much as half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”

Esther answered and said, “My petition and my request is this: if I have found favor in the king’s eyes and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and my request, then let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I will prepare for them—and then I will do as the king requests.”

Haman went out that day happy and in good spirits. However, when Haman saw Mordecai at the king’s gate, and he did not rise or tremble before him, Haman was filled with rage against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.

He sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh. Haman boasted to them about his vast wealth, his many sons, and how the king had promoted him and exalted him above the other officials and servants of the king. Haman added, “And that’s not all! Queen Esther invited only me to accompany the king to a banquet that she prepared. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. Yet all this does not satisfy me, as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “Let them set up a gallows fifty cubits high, and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go happily with the king to the banquet.” This idea delighted Haman and he ordered the gallows to be built.

So the king and Haman came to dine with Queen Esther, and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king asked Esther again, “Whatever you request, even as much as half of the kingdom, it will be given to you.” So Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life—this is my petition. Spare the life of my people—this is my request! For we have been sold, I and my people, for destruction, slaughter and annihilation. If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not be worth disturbing the king.”

King Ahasuerus responded to Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is the man that presumed to do this?”

Esther replied, “The man is this wicked Haman!”

Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. Enraged, the king got up from the banquet of wine and withdrew to the palace garden. But Haman stayed behind to plead with Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king had determined a catastrophic end for him.

When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the same couch where Esther was. The king exclaimed, “Will he also assault the queen while she is with me in the palace?”

As soon as these words came out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “Look, a gallows fifty cubits high is standing next to Haman’s house. Haman himself made it for Mordecai, who spoke good on behalf of the king!”

The king said, “Hang him on it!” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s rage subsided.

Giovanni Andrea Sirani - Esther Before Ahasuerus

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