According to the tale, King Ahasuerus selected as his wife Esther,
the cousin and foster-daughter of Mordecai, the son of Jair. And
Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Aggagite, became the favourite of
King Ahasuerus, who set his seat above all the princes that were
with him. And all the king’s servants that were in the king’s gate
bowed and reverenced Haman. Except Mordecai. This angered the son
of Hammedatha, and his heart was filled with wrath. But he scorned
to wreak vengeance on Mordecai alone. His rage was like a sea that
overflows its shores; in this sea he desired to drown and destroy the
entire Jewish people. Then he came before the king and asked of him
permission to annihilate the Jews. He offered ten thousand talents of
silver and spoke plain words.
“There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the
people in all the provinces of your kingdom. And their laws are
diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore
it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them.” This was poison
in the king’s ears,—poison in his heart, and he even renounced the
money. He took his ring from his hand and gave it to the Aggagite
to do with the Jews as his heart desired. Whereupon Haman issued a
decree in the name of the king, sealed with the king’s ring, to all
the hundred and seven and twenty provinces of King Ahasuerus, to
destroy, to kill and cause to perish all Jews, both young and old,
little children and women, in one day, upon the thirteenth of the
twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
The Jews learned of all that had been planned and a great terror
descended upon them; their fright knew no bounds. They raised a loud
and bitter cry, rent the clothes upon them and put on sackcloth with
ashes. They sought counsel but found it not. Who would save them from
certain death? Where should they turn and whither should they go?
Where could they hide and whither might they flee? In their great
terror and in their great misfortune they raised their eyes to Queen
Esther. Esther must help them,—Esther, the Jewish daughter upon the
royal throne. And Mordecai, her cousin, turned to her, asking that
she go to the king and make supplication to him for her people.
Esther could not make up her mind, because whosoever came unbidden
before the king was put at once to death, and she had not been
summoned to him for thirty days.
Mordecai sent sharp words to her.
“Think not that you of all the Jews will escape because you are in
the king’s house. For if you altogether hold your peace, then shall
help and deliverance come to the Jews from another place; but you and
your father’s house shall be destroyed; and who knows but that you
ascended to royal power for just such a time as this?”
Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer:
“Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and
fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day;
I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and then will I go in to
the king, despite the law. And if I perish, I perish.” Mordecai went
his way and did according to all that Esther had commanded him. The
Jews assembled in their meeting-house in Shushan, weeping, fasting,
wailing and hoping in Esther. And when any one opened the door and
came in, he was greeted with tear-stifled voices: “What says Esther?
What does Esther? What news of Esther?”