"Why do you disobey the king's command?" When they had spoken to him day
after day without his listening to them, they told Haman, so as to find
out whether Mordecai's acts would be permitted, for he had told them
that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down before
him, he was very angry; but as they had told him that Mordecai was a
Jew, he decided not to lay hands on him alone but to plot to destroy
all the Jews in the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
So Haman said to King Xerxes, "There is a certain people scattered among
the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, whose laws differ from
those of every other and who do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it
is not right for the king to leave them alone. If it seems best to the
king, let an order be given to destroy them, and I will pay ten thousand
silver talents into the royal treasury."
So the king took off his ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, "The
money is yours and the people also to do with them as you wish." So
messages were sent by men on horses to all the king's provinces, to
destroy, to kill, and to put an end to all the Jews, young and old,
little children and women, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month,
and to rob them of all that they had. Then the king and Haman sat down
to drink, but the people of Susa were troubled.
When Mordecai learned all that had been done, he tore his clothes and
put on sackcloth and put ashes on his head, and went out into the city
and raised a loud and bitter cry of sorrow. And he went as far as the
king's gate, for no one could enter the gate clothed with sackcloth. In
every province, wherever the king's command went, there was great
mourning, fasting, weeping, and wailing among the Jews; and many of them
sat in sackcloth and ashes.
When Esther's maids and servants told her about it, she was greatly
troubled. She sent garments for Mordecai to put on, that he might take
off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them. So Esther called
Hathach, one of the king's servants whom he had appointed to wait on
her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this meant and how
it had happened.
So Hathach went to Mordecai at the city square in front of the king's
gate. And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him and the exact
sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasury.
Also he gave him a copy of the order to destroy them, that had been
given out in Susa, to show to Esther that she might know about it. He
also urged her to go to the king and ask his mercy and plead with him
for her people.
When Hathach came and told Esther what Mordecai had said, she commanded
Hathach to go and say to Mordecai, "All the king's servants and the
people of the king's provinces know that death is the punishment for
every man or woman who goes to the king into the inner court without
being called, except for the one to whom the king may hold out the
golden sceptre, which means that he may live. But now for thirty days I
have not been called to go in to the king."
When Mordecai was told what Esther had said, he sent back this answer to
Esther, "Do not think that you alone of all the Jews will escape because
you belong to the king's household. If you keep silent at this time,
help will come to the Jews from somewhere else, but you and your family
will perish. Who knows but that you have been raised to the throne for a
time like this?"
Then Esther sent this message to Mordecai: "Go, gather all the Jews in
Susa and fast for me; do not eat nor drink anything for three days and
nights. I and my maids will fast also, and so I will go in to the king,
although it is against the law. And if I perish I perish." So Mordecai
went away and did as Esther directed.
On the third day, Esther put on her royal garments and stood in the
inner court of the royal palace opposite the king's house. The king was
sitting on his throne in the palace, opposite the entrance. When he saw
Esther, the queen, standing in the court, she won his favor, and he held
out to her the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther went up
and touched the top of the sceptre. Then the king said to her, "Whatever
you wish, Queen Esther, and whatever you ask, it shall be granted, even
if it is the half of the kingdom." Esther said, "If it seems best to the
king, let the king and Haman come to-day to the feast that I have
prepared for him." Then the king said, "Bring Haman quickly, that
Esther's wish may be granted."
So the king and Haman went to the feast that Esther had prepared. While
they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, "Whatever you ask
shall be granted, even if it takes the half of my kingdom." Esther
answered, "If I have won the king's favor and if it seems best to the
king to grant what I ask, let the king and Haman come to the feast which
I shall prepare for them; and to-morrow I will do as the king wishes."
So Haman went out that day joyful and happy, but when he saw Mordecai in
the king's gate and noticed that he neither stood up nor moved for him,
he was furiously angry with Mordecai. But Haman controlled his temper
and went home. Then he called together his friends and Zeresh, his wife,
and told them the greatness of his wealth, how many children he had, and
all the ways in which the king had honored him, and how he had given
him a place above the officials and the royal servants. Haman said,
"Queen Esther brought no one in with the king to the feast which she had
prepared but me, and to-morrow also I am invited by her along with the
king. 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 a gallows
seventy-five feet high be built and in the morning speak to the king and
let Mordecai be hanged on it. Then go merrily with the king to the
feast." The advice pleased Haman, and so he had the gallows built.
On that night the king was unable to sleep; so he gave orders to bring
the books that told of great deeds; and they were read before the king.
And it was written how Mordecai had told about the two servants of the
king who had tried to kill King Xerxes. Then the king said, "How has
Mordecai been honored and rewarded for this?" When the king's pages who
waited on him replied, "Nothing has been done for him," the king said,
"Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the
king's house to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows
that he had prepared for him. So the king's pages said to him, "Haman is
standing there in the court." The king said, "Let him enter."
So Haman entered, and the king said to him, "What shall be done for the
man whom the king wishes to honor?" Haman said to himself, "Whom besides
me does the king wish to honor?" So Haman said to the king, "For the man
whom the king wishes to honor let a royal garment be brought, which the
king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden and on whose
head a royal crown has been placed. Then let the garment and the horse
be placed in charge of one of the king's noble officials and let him
clothe the man whom the king longs to honor and make him ride on the
horse through the city square and proclaim before him, 'This is what is
done for the man whom the king wishes to honor.'"
Then the king said to Haman, "Make haste and take the garment and the
horse, as you have said, and do thus to Mordecai, the Jew, who sits in
the king's gate. Do not fail to do all you have said." So Haman took the
garment and the horse and clothed Mordecai, and made him ride through
the city square and proclaimed before him, "This is what is done for the
man whom the king wishes to honor."
Mordecai returned to the king's gate, but Haman hurried to his house,
mourning, with his head covered. And Haman told Zeresh, his wife, and
all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men
and Zeresh, his wife, said to him, "If Mordecai before whom you have
already been disgraced is of the Jewish race, you can do nothing against
him, but you will surely fall before him."
While they were still talking with him, the king's servants came and
quickly took Haman to the feast that Esther had prepared. So the king
and Haman went to drink with Queen Esther. And the king said to Esther,
as they were drinking wine, "Whatever you ask, Queen Esther, it shall be
granted you, even if it takes half of the kingdom." Then Queen Esther
answered, "If I have won your favor, O king, and if it seems best to the
king, let my life and my people be given me at my request, for I and my
people have been sold to be destroyed, to be killed, and to perish!"
The King Xerxes said to Queen Esther, "Who is he and where is he who
dares to do so?" Esther answered, "A foe, an enemy, this wicked Haman."
Then Haman shrank in terror before the king and the queen, and Harbonah,
one of those who waited on the king, said, "There, standing in the house
of Haman, are the gallows, seventy-five feet high, which Haman built for
Mordecai, who spoke a good word for the king." The king said, "Hang him
on them." So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for
Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king was quieted.
At that time King Xerxes gave the property of Haman, the Jews' enemy, to
Queen Esther. And Mordecai was made one of the king's advisers, for
Esther had told of his relationship to her. The king also drew off his
signet-ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai; and
Esther placed Mordecai in charge of Haman's property.
Then Esther came again before the king and fell at his feet and with
tears begged him to prevent the evil that Haman had planned against the
Jews. The king held out to her the golden sceptre, and she arose and
stood before him. Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai,
the Jew, "Write in behalf of the Jews, as seems best to you, in the
king's name and seal it with the king's ring; for what is written in the
king's name and sealed with the king's ring no one may disobey."
So Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the
king's ring. And he sent by messengers, who rode the king's swift
horses, mules, and camels, the king's command that the Jews who were in
every city should gather together and protect their lives.
The command had also been given out in the royal palace at Susa; and
Mordecai had gone out from the presence of the king in royal garments of
violet and white and with a great crown of gold and with a robe of fine
linen and purple. The people of Susa shouted and were glad. To the Jews
there came light and gladness and joy and honor. And in every country
and city, where the king's command came, there was gladness and joy
among the Jews, and a holiday.
On the fourteenth day of the month Adar, the Jews rested and made it a
day of feasting and rejoicing. Therefore the Jews who live in the
country villages keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar as a day of
rejoicing and feasting and a holiday, and as a day on which they send
gifts to one another. But the Jews in Susa rested on the fifteenth day
of the same month and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.
The Jews made it a custom for them, and for their children, and for all
who should join them, so that it might not be changed, that they should
observe these two days as feasts each year. For Haman had plotted to
destroy the Jews completely, and he cast pur, that is, the lot, to
destroy them. For this reason these days are called Purim.
REBUILDING THE TEMPLE
That the promise made by Jehovah through the mouth of Jeremiah might be
fulfilled, Jehovah influenced Cyrus, king of Persia, in the first year
of his reign to make this written law throughout all his kingdom, "Thus
commands Cyrus, king of Persia: 'Jehovah, the God of heaven, has given
me all the kingdoms of the earth and has charged me to build him a
temple in Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you of all his people wishes
to return, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, in
Judah, and rebuild the temple of Jehovah, the God of Israel. (He is the
God who lives at Jerusalem.) In every place where any who are left of
Jehovah's people now live, let the men of that place help with silver,
with gold, with goods, and with animals, in addition to the offering
each man wishes to give for the house of God at Jerusalem.'"
[Illustration: (C) _Ernest Normand_
_Esther Denouncing Haman_
Painted by Ernest Normand]
Then the heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin and the priests
and the Levites, including all whom God had influenced to build the
temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem, started to return. And all their
neighbors supplied them with silver, with gold, with goods, with
animals, and with precious things in addition to all that each man
wished to give.
Cyrus, king of Persia, had the vessels of the temple of Jehovah, which
Nebuchadrezzar had carried from Jerusalem, brought out under the
direction of Mithredath, the treasurer, and given to Sheshbazzar, the
prince of Judah; and he carried them to Jerusalem, with the people who
returned from captivity in Babylon. And Jehovah commanded them, through
Haggai, the prophet, "Go up to the mountains and bring wood and rebuild
the temple, then I will be pleased with it and I will show my glory."
Then Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest, with all the rest of the
people obeyed the command of Jehovah their God; and they came and worked
on the temple of Jehovah their God. They finished the building as the
God of Israel commanded.
NEHEMIAH'S ANSWER TO A CALL FOR HELP
In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes' reign, in the month of November, I
(Nehemiah) was in Shushan, the royal palace, when Hanani, one of my
brothers, and certain men came from Judah. I asked them about Jerusalem
and about the Jews who were left from the captivity. They told me,
"Those still living there in the province are in great trouble and
disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been
destroyed by fire."
When I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned several days.
Then I fasted and offered this prayer to the God of heaven, "I pray
thee, O Jehovah, the God of heaven, who showest kindness to those who
love and follow thy commands, let thine ears now be open to hear the
prayers of thy servant which I am now making before thee day and night
for the Israelites, thy servants, while I confess the sins which we have
committed. These are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast saved
by thy great power and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I pray thee, let
thine ear be open to the petition of thy servant and to the petitions of
thy servants who take pleasure in worshipping thee, and give success to
thy servant this day, and grant that he may win this man's sympathy."
Now I was cupbearer to the king, and in the month of March in the
twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, the king, I had charge of the
wine offered to the king. Up to this time I had not been sad; so the
king said to me, "Why is your face sad, for you are not sick? This is
nothing else but sorrow of heart." Then I was greatly afraid, and I said
to the king, "Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad,
when the city, the place where my fathers are buried, lies in ruins and
its gates are destroyed by fire?" Then the king said to me, "What do you
wish?" So I prayed to the God of heaven and said to the king, "If it
please the king and if your servant has won your favor, then send me to
Judah, to the city where my fathers lie buried, that I may rebuild it."
The king said to me (and the queen was also sitting by him), "How long
will your journey take, and when will you return?" Then I told him when
I would return, so that the king was willing to let me go.
I also said to the king, "If the king is willing, let letters be given
me to the governors of the province west of the Euphrates, that they may
let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph, the
keeper of the king's park, that he may give me timber to make beams for
the gates of the castle which guards the temple and for the wall of the
city and for the house in which I shall live." The king granted me all
this, for my God kindly cared for me.
Then I went to the governors of the province and gave them the king's
letters. The king had sent with me officers and horsemen; and when
Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah, the Ammonite slave, heard of it, it
troubled them greatly, that one had come to look out for the welfare of
the Israelites.
So I arrived at Jerusalem. After I had been there three days I rose in
the night, together with a few of my followers. I told no one what my
God had put into my mind to do for Jerusalem, and I had no animal with
me except the one upon which I rode. I went out by night through the
Valley Gate, toward the Dragon's Well and to the Dung Gate; and I
examined carefully the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and the
places where its gates had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the
Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no place for the
animal on which I rode to pass.
I also went up in the night along the Brook Kidron and examined the
wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate and so returned.
The rulers did not know where I went or what I did, and I had not as
yet told my plan to the Jews or to the priests or to the nobles or to
the rulers or to the others who did the work.
Then I said to them, "You see the bad condition in which we are, how
Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates are destroyed by fire. Come and
let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be in
disgrace." I told them too how my God had kindly cared for me and the
words which the king had spoken to me. They said, "Let us go to work and
build?" So they entered heartily into the good work.
OVERCOMING GREAT DIFFICULTIES
Now when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he was so
angry and indignant that he mocked the Jews. He spoke before his
tribesmen and the army of Samaria and said, "What are these feeble Jews
doing? Will they leave it to God? Will they offer a sacrifice? Will they
finish the work in a day? Will they recover the stones from the heaps of
rubbish even after they have been destroyed by fire?"
Tobiah, the Ammonite, was with him, and he said, "This stone wall which
they are building--if a fox should go up on it, he would break it down!"
But we went on rebuilding the wall; and all the wall was joined together
to half its height, for the people were eager to work. But when
Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the
Ashdodites heard that the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem was going
on, so that the broken places began to be closed, they were very angry.
And they all planned together to come and fight against Jerusalem and
frighten the people there. But we prayed to our God and set a watch as a
protection against them day and night.
When our enemies heard that their plan was known to us and that God had
not let them carry it out, we all returned to the wall, each to his own
work. From that time on, while half of my servants were at work, half of
them held the lances, the shields, the bows and the coats of mail; and
the rulers stood behind all the people of Judah. Those who built the
wall and those who carried burdens were also armed, each using one of
his hands for the work, and was ready with the other to grasp his spear.
And each builder worked with his sword fastened at his side. The man who
sounded the alarm was by me; and I said to the nobles and to the rulers
and to the rest of the people, "The work is great and spread out, and we
on the wall are far from each other. Wherever you hear the sound of the
trumpet, gather about us; our God will fight for us."
So we worked hard, while half of them held the lances from early in the
morning until the stars came out. And I said at that time to the people,
"Let each man with his servant stay in Jerusalem, that they may protect
us at night and work during the day." So neither I, nor any of my
relatives, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who accompanied me
took off our clothes, but each kept his spear in his right hand.
After fifty-two days the wall was finished. When our enemies heard of
it, all the nations around us were afraid, and it seemed very wonderful
to them, and they knew that this work had been done by our God.
After the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the
porters and the singers and the Levites had been appointed, I placed my
brother Hanani, the commander of the castle, in charge of Jerusalem, for
he was a faithful man and more God-fearing than many. And I said to
them, "Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until after sunrise; and
at night, while the watchmen are still on guard, let them shut the doors
and bar them. Also let the people who live in Jerusalem be on guard,
each at his post opposite his own house."
Now the city was wide and large, but there were few people in it, and
the houses had not been rebuilt. So my God put it into my mind to gather
together the nobles and the officials and the people. The officials
lived in Jerusalem. The rest of the people drew lots that one out of
every ten should live in Jerusalem, the sacred city, while the others
stayed in the villages.
Then I had the officials of Judah take their place on the wall, and I
formed two great processions. The first marched to the right upon the
wall toward the Dung Gate; and behind them went Hoshaiah and half of the
officials of Judah. At the Fountain Gate they went straight up the
stairs of the City of David by the ascent along the wall above the House
of David to the Water Gate on the east of the city.
The other procession went to the left on the wall above the Tower of the
Furnaces, and I after them, with half of the people, to the broad wall
and above the Gate of Ephraim and past the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the
Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred to the Sheep Gate. Then
they stood in the Gate of the Guard. So the two processions took their
position in the temple and I and half of the rulers who were with me.
Then the singers sang loudly, and the people offered many sacrifices
that day and rejoiced, for God had given them great cause for joy. The
women and children rejoiced, too, so that the cries of joy at Jerusalem
were heard far away.
A BRAVE KNIGHT
Then the common people and their wives raised a loud cry against their
fellow Jews. Some said, "We must give up our sons and our daughters in
pledge to get grain that we may eat and live." Others said, "We must
give up our fields and our vineyards and our houses, that we may get
grain because there is so little." Others said, "We have borrowed money
to pay the king's taxes. Although our flesh is as the flesh of our
brothers, our children as their children; yet we must sell our sons and
our daughters as slaves. Some of our daughters have already been made
slaves, and it is not in our power to stop it, for our fields and our
vineyards belong to the nobles."
When I heard their cry and these words, I was very angry. After I had
thought about it, I rebuked the nobles and the rulers and said to them,
"You make each of your fellow Jews pay what you loan him."
Then I called a great meeting to protest against what they were doing.
And I said to them, "We ourselves have, as far as we could, bought back
our fellow Jews who have been sold to foreigners. Would you sell your
fellow Jews, and should they be sold to us?" Then they were silent and
could not find a word to say. So I said, "What you are doing is not
good. Ought you not to live in the fear of God, so as not to be an
object of shame to our foreign foes? I, too, my relatives, and my
servants lend the people money and grain. Let us stop taking anything
for what we lend. Give back to them at once their fields, their
vineyards, their olive-yards, and their houses, and whatever you have
made them pay for the money, the grain, the new wine and the oil."
Then they said, "We will give them back and will ask nothing from them;
we will do even as you say." Then I called the priests and made them
solemnly promise that they would do as they had said.
For twelve years from the time that I was appointed to be their governor
in the land of Judah, I and my relatives did not eat the food which was
my right as governor. But the governors who were before me were an
expense to the people and took from them bread and wine and forty pieces
of silver each day. Their servants also were cruel to the people. But I
did not do so, for I feared God. I also gave myself to the work on the
wall, and we did not buy any land, but all my servants were gathered
there for work. Also a hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside
those who came to us from other nations, were fed at my table. Each day
one ox and six choice sheep and fowls were prepared at my expense, and
once in ten days plenty of wine for all. Yet with all this expense, I
did not demand the food which was due me as governor, because the public
work was a heavy burden upon this people. Remember to my credit, O my
God, all that I have done for them!
JONAH THE NARROW-MINDED PATRIOT