CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF ESTHER.
Persian Records—Malice Defeated—Pleading of
Esther—Punishment of Haman—Triumph of the Jews.
That night King Ahasuerus could not sleep. Those peaceful slumbers
which the meanest of his subjects could enjoy, fled from the eyelids of
the monarch. It does not appear, however, that the rest of the despot
was destroyed by any thought of the thousands of innocent families
doomed by his caprice to destruction. Unable to obtain sleep, the king
ordered that the book of records should be brought and read before
him; and as he listened to the account of the events of his reign, the
conspiracy of his servants, and the means by which the dangerous plot
had been discovered, were brought to the remembrance of the monarch.
“What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai?” said the king.
“There is nothing done for him,” was the reply.
“Who is in the court?” asked Ahasuerus.
“Behold, Haman standeth in the court,” answered his servants.
“Let him come in,” said the king.
Now Haman had come into the outer court to procure from his master an
order to hang Mordecai on the lofty gallows which had been erected.
Full of his evil design, he presented himself before the king.
“What shall be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour?”
said Ahasuerus, addressing his favourite.
Now Haman thought in his heart, “To whom would the king delight to do
honour more than to myself?” and eager to obtain the most distinguished
mark of royal favour, to which his ambitious, presumptuous heart could
aspire, Haman replied to his lord, “Let the royal apparel be brought
which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon,
and the crown royal which is set upon his head: and let this apparel
and horse be delivered to one of the king’s most noble princes, that
they may array the man withal that the king delighteth to honour, and
bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim
before him, ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth
to honour.’”
[Illustration: THE BOOK OF RECORDS.]
Then Ahasuerus said to Haman, “Make haste, take the apparel and the
horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew. Let
nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.”
What must have been the feelings of Haman on receiving this most
unexpected command, which he dared not for an instant dispute! What
must have been the torment of his soul when he led through the city his
intended victim, crowned and royally apparelled, and proclaimed aloud
to wondering crowds, that the despised and persecuted Jew was one whom
the king delighted to honour! Doubtless Mordecai received this singular
reward as a token of good from the King of kings, as a sign that his
prayers had been heard by Him who can give _beauty for ashes, the oil
of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness_.
His hateful commission executed, Haman hurried back to his home,
mourning and with his face covered. He found little consolation there
from those who on the preceding day had encouraged him in the path of
crime. “If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast
begun to fall,” said Zeresh and her friends unto Haman, “thou shalt not
prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him.”
And while they were yet talking to Haman, the king’s chamberlains
arrived, and hastened to bring him to the banquet, to which he had been
invited by the queen.
Then at the feast Esther at length made known to Ahasuerus the grief
that weighed upon her heart, and pleaded with earnest eloquence for her
own life and the lives of her nation; “For we are sold,” she exclaimed,
“I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, to perish!”
“Who is he,” cried the astonished king, “that durst presume in his
heart to do so?”
Then Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.”
The king’s indignation knew no bounds. Thoughtlessly he had signed the
decree, little dreaming that it could possibly compromise the safety
even of his beloved Esther! Haman saw the rising anger of his master,
and, in an agony of terror, made supplication for his life to the
queen. But he who had shown no mercy found none in his hour of need.
Those who had not dared to oppose him in his power, were now eager to
hasten his downfall. One of the chamberlains who was present told the
incensed monarch of the gallows fifty cubits high, erected by Haman for
Mordecai.
“Hang him thereon!” cried the king. The just command was instantly
obeyed, and the wretched Haman was cut off in his wicked career by the
very death which he had designed for another!
It was less easy to revoke the murderous order which had already been
proclaimed, by reason of that law of the Medes and Persians, which made
royal decrees irrevocable. But Ahasuerus did all that he could do to
counteract the evil effects of his own sinful compliance. A decree was
published throughout the land, permitting the Jews to defend themselves
against any enemy that might dare to attack them. The result was the
complete triumph of the persecuted race over all whom hatred induced
to attempt to execute the king’s first decree. Mordecai was raised to
high power, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; the Jews
had rest, and peace, and favour; and an annual feast was appointed in
commemoration of the great deliverance which the Lord had wrought for
his people, through the instrumentality of a feeble woman!