Women in white raiment

by John Lemley

However, in her great undertaking, she displayed a humble dependence upon the God of Israel; she also showed great prudence and wisdom. She asked her people to fast and pray three days; and all her maidens—who were selected, no doubt, on account of their sympathy with her faith—would also fast and pray. When the books are opened it may appear that the Hebrews were led, through the deliverance that she wrought for them, to the penitence that made it possible for God to take them back to the fatherland.

ESTHER PLEADING FOR HER PEOPLE.

At the end of the fast she put on her royal apparel and went unto the king while he was seated upon his throne. The first gleam of hope lighted up her distressed heart when Ahasuerus held out his golden sceptre.

It has been said that men’s hearts are reached through their stomachs. Whether this was true of Ahasuerus, or whether Esther knew of this avenue or not, she certainly showed great tact when she desired to make a banquet for the king and his favorite prince, Haman, which the beautiful queen would prepare, where he could then hear her request.

It would have been a most natural thing to do, after Esther had risked her life by going uncalled into the presence of the king, and when she found him graciously disposed to partake of her feast, to throw herself at once upon his mercy, and beg for her life and the lives of her people. But no. She must have great power over him to get him to undertake the difficult task of setting aside one of his own decrees. Probably her faith in God was not yet strong enough for her to make a sure move. She saw that she was not yet sure of her ground, nor firm in her faith; so, when he made the great offer even of dividing his kingdom with her, she simply asked that he and Haman should honor her with their presence at another banquet.

Doubtless, as she sat at the second banquet with the perfect self-control that they have who rely only on God, having used every device to fortify her position in the good graces of the capricious despot, her keen Hebrew insight weighed every light expression from his lips, although she knew a sword of doom hung over her jewel-crowned head, and yet she was calm and self-contained, as if she had no thought but to please him. Thus she led the king on until her power over him was at its height, and when he again offered her half the kingdom, she asked only for her life and the lives of her people.

It must be that, although Haman was present at this banquet, he did not hear the request of Queen Esther, for he went forth from the feast “that day joyful and with a glad heart.” But when he saw Mordecai, in the king’s gate, and that he still refused to bow to him, “he was full of indignation.”

So when he reached his own residence, he called his friends, and took counsel with them, and they advised him to cause a gallows to be built, eighty feet high, and to ask the next morning to have the king order Mordecai to be hanged thereon.

But matters had taken a different turn at the palace. The king could not sleep that night. To pass the long, wakeful hours, he called for the reading of the records of the kingdom. As they were reading before the king, it was found written in the chronicles of the conspiracy of Bigthan and Terish, and that Mordecai had discovered the plot, and that nothing had been done for him as a reward.