mightest be ready for such a time as this?” Esther, therefore, praying fervently, and abstaining from food and drink for three days, resolved against the law, to go in to the king without being called, and thus expose herself to the danger of death.
On the third day she put on her glorious apparel and wore her glittering robes, and passed through the door with a smiling countenance which hid a mind full of anguish and exceeding great fear. But when the king had lifted up his face, and with burning eyes had shown the wrath of his heart, Esther sank down and rested her head upon her handmaid. Then the king was seized with pity. He leaped from his throne, upheld her in his arms and said: “What is the matter, Esther? I am thy brother, fear not! Thou shalt not die, for this law is not made for thee, but for all others. What wilt thou, queen Esther?” She, recovering herself, answered: “If it please the king, I beseech thee to come to me this day, and Aman with thee, to the banquet[1] which I have prepared.”
The king acceded to her wish; and during the repast he desired to know her request. She answered: “If it please the king to give me what I ask, and to fulfil my petition, let the king and Aman come again to the banquet which I have prepared them, and to-morrow I will open my mind to the king.” The king promised to do so, and Aman left the palace with a joyful heart[2]. But in going out he saw Mardochai sitting at the door of the palace. And because Mardochai would not bow down before him like the others, he was filled with rage; and going home to his house, ordered a gallows fifty cubits high to be erected whereon to hang Mardochai on the following morning.
Now it happened that the king could not sleep that night, and to divert his mind he ordered the annals of his reign to be read to him. When the reader came to the place which related how Mardochai had discovered the plot against the king’s life, Assuerus suddenly asked what reward Mardochai had received for
- ↑ The banquet. Because she had approached the throne without being summoned. With great prudence she abstained from at once presenting her chief petition, and only invited the king to sup with her. The king would probably have been angry when he discovered that she had concealed her nationality from him.
- ↑ A joyful heart. For it was an extraordinary honour for him to be invited alone to supper with the king.
