After finishing her prayer, Esther betook herself to the king,
accompanied by three attendants, one walking to the right of her, the
second on the other side, and the third bearing her train, heavy with
the precious stones with which it was studded. (144) Her chief
adornment was the holy spirit that was poured out over her. But
scarcely did she enter the chamber containing the idols, when the holy
spirit departed from her, and she cried out in great distress: "Eli,
Eli, lamah azabtani! Shall I be chastised for acts that I do against my
will, and only in obedience to the promptings of sore need? (145) Why
should my fate be different from that of the Mother? When Pharaoh only
attempted to approach Sarah, plagues came upon him and his house, but I
have been compelled for years to live with this heathen, and Thou dost
not deliver me out of his hand. O Lord of the world! Have I not paid
scrupulous heed to the three commands Thou didst specially ordain for
women?"
To reach the king, Esther had to pass through seven apartments, each
measuring ten ells in length. The first three she traversed unhindered;
they were too far off for the king to observe her progress through
them. But barely had she crossed the threshold of the fourth chamber,
when Ahasuerus caught sight of her, and, overcome by rage, he
exclaimed: "O for the departed, their like is not found again on earth!
How I urged and entreated Vashti to appear before me, but she refused,
and I had her killed therefor. This Esther come hither without
invitation, like unto a public prostitute."
In consternation and despair Esther stood rooted to the centre of the
fourth chamber. Having once allowed her to pass through the doors under
their charge, the guards of the first four rooms had forfeited their
authority over her; and to the guards in the other three rooms, she had
not yet given cause for interfering with her. Yet the courtiers were so
confident that Esther was about to suffer the death penalty, that the
sons of Haman were already busy dividing her jewels among themselves,
and casting lots for her royal purple. Esther herself was keenly aware
of her dangerous position. In her need, she besought God: "Eli, Eli,
lamah azabtani," and prayed to Him the words which have found their
place in the Psalter composed by King David. (146) Because she put her
confidence in God, He answered her petition, and sent her three angels
to help her: the one enveloped her countenance with "the threads of
grace," the second raised her head, and the third drew out the sceptre
of Ahasuerus until it touched her. (147) The king turned his head
round, to avoid seeing Esther, but the angels forced him to look her
way, and be conquered by her seductive charm. (148)
By reason of her long fast, Esther was so weak that she was unable to
extend her hand toward the sceptre of the king. The archangel Michael
had to draw her near it. Ahasuerus then said: "I see, thou must have a
most important request to prefer, else thou hadst not risked thy life
deliberately. (149) I am ready to give it thee, even to the half of the
kingdom. There is but one petition I cannot grant, and that is the
restoration of the Temple. I gave my oath to Geshem the Arabian,
Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the Ammonite, not to allow it to be
rebuilt, from fear of the Jews, lest they rise up against me." (150)
For the moment, Esther refrained from uttering her petition. All she
asked was, that the king and Haman would come to a banquet she proposed
to give. She had good reasons for this peculiar course of conduct. She
desired to disarm Haman's suspicions regarding her Jewish descent, and
to lead her fellow-Jews to fix their hope upon God and not upon her. At
the same time, it was her plan to arouse jealousy of Haman in both the
king and the princes. She was quite ready to sacrifice her own life, if
her stratagems would but involve the life of Haman, too. (151) At the
banquet she therefore favored Haman in such manner that Ahasuerus could
not but be jealous. She moved her chair close to Haman's, and when
Ahasuerus handed her his wine-cup, to let her drink of it first, she
passed it on to his minister.
After the banquet, the king repeated his question, and again made the
asseveration, that he would fulfill all her wishes at whatever cost,
barring only the restoration of the Temple. Esther, however, was not
yet ready; she preferred to wait another day before taking up the
conflict with Haman. She had before her eyes the example of Moses, who
also craved a day's preparation before going out against Amalek, the
ancestor of Haman. (152)
Deceived by the attention and distinction accorded him by Esther, Haman
felt secure in his position, priding himself not only on the love of
the king, but also on the respect of the queen. He felt himself to be
the most privileged being in all the wide realm governed by Ahasuerus.
(153)
Filled with arrogant self-sufficiency, he passed by Mordecai, who not
only refused to give him the honors decreed in his behalf, but,
besides, pointed to his knee, inscribed with the bill of sale whereby
Haman had become the slave of Mordecai. (154) Doubly and triply
enraged, he resolved to make an example of the Jew. But he was not
satisfied with inflicting death by a simple kick.
On reaching his home he was disappointed not to find his wife Zeresh,
the daughter of the Persian satrap Tattenai. As always when Haman was
at court, she had gone to her paramours. He sent for her and his three
hundred and sixty-five advisers, and with them he took counsel as to
what was to be done to Mordecai. (155) Pointing to a representation of
his treasure chamber, which he wore on his bosom, (156) he said: "And
all this is worthless in my sight when I look upon Mordecai, the Jew.
What I eat and drink loses its savor, if I but think of him." (157)
Among his advisers and sons, of whom there were two hundred and eight,
none was so clever as Zeresh his wife. She spoke thus: "If the man thou
tellest of is a Jew, thou wilt not be able to do aught to him except by
sagacity. If thou castest him into the fire, it will have no effect
upon him, for Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah escaped from the burning
furnace unhurt; Joseph went free from prison; Manasseh prayed to God,
and He heard him, and saved him from the iron furnace; to drive him out
in the wilderness is useless, thou knowest the desert did no evil to
the Israelites that passed through it; putting out his eyes avails
naught, for Samson blind did more mischief than ever Samson seeing.
Therefore hang him, for no Jew has ever escaped death by hanging."
(158)
Haman was well pleased with the words of his wife. She fetched
artificers in wood and iron, the former to erect the cross, the latter
to make the nails. Their children danced around in high glee while
Zeresh played upon the cithern, and Haman in his pleasurable excitement
said: "To the wood workers I shall give abundant pay, and the iron
workers I shall invite to a banquet."
When the cross was finished, Haman himself tested it, to see that all
was in working order. A heavenly voice was heard: "It is good for Haman
the villain, and for the son of Hammedatha it is fitting." (159)