Hatach found him at the king"s gate, and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and of the great sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king"s treasuries for the Jews to destroy them. He also gave him a copy of the decree to show Esther, and told Hatach to charge her that she go before the king and make request for her people.
Hatach took these words to Esther, and Esther sent a reply by Hatach, saying that it was known in all the king"s palace that no man or woman could come into the king"s presence in the inner court who had not been called, and for any who so entered there was but one law, and that was that they be put to death, unless the king hold out to them the golden sceptre. She had not been called to see the king, she said, in thirty days.
Hatach gave this message to Mordecai, and he again sent word to Esther that she could not hope to escape the decree, as she too was of the Jews. He told her that deliverance must come to the Jews in some other way, but she and her family would be destroyed, and then he added,
"Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
Then Esther made her resolve, and sent word to Mordecai to gather all the Jews in Shushan together to fast night and day, while she and her maidens fasted also.
"And so I will go in unto the king," she said, "which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish."
And Mordecai went his way and did as Esther had commanded.
It was the third day when Esther arose from her fast before the Lord and put on her beautiful royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king"s house in sight of the royal throne.
When the king saw Esther standing in the inner court he was not displeased, but his heart was turned toward her, and he held out to her the golden sceptre that was in his hand.
"What wilt thou, Queen Esther?" he said, "and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom."
"If it seem good unto the king," said Esther, "let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him."
So the king commanded Haman, and they came to the queen"s banquet. The king knew that Esther had a favor to ask of him, so he said again:
"What is thy pet.i.tion? and it shall be granted thee; and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed."
But Esther was wise. She begged as her pet.i.tion and request that the king and Haman would come to the banquet she should prepare the next day also, and she would then do as the king had said.
Haman went home very happy and proud that he had been so honored by the queen, and told his wife and his friends of all the glory and honor that had come to him.
"Yet all this availeth me nothing," he said, "so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king"s gate."
Then his wife and his friends urged him to build a high gallows and ask the king on the next day to hang Mordecai upon it. "Then go thou merrily with the king unto the banquet," they added.
This pleased Haman, and he ordered the gallows to be made.
That night the king was restless, and he could not sleep, and he commanded that the book of records be brought and read aloud to him.
Then he found that it was written that Mordecai had saved the king"s life when it was threatened by his two chamberlains.
"What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this?" he asked, and his servants replied:
"There is nothing done for him."
"Who is in the court?" cried the king. Now Haman had come in to speak to the king to have Mordecai hanged.
"Haman standeth in the court," said the king"s servants, and the king said,
"Let him come in."
As Haman came in the king said,
"What shall be done to the man that the king delighteth to honor?"
Haman thought in his heart, "To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself," and then he replied, thinking all the time of himself.
"For the man whom the king delighteth to honor 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 the hand of one of the king"s most n.o.ble princes, that they may array the men withal whom the king delighteth to honor, 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 honor.""
Then the king said, "Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai, the Jew, that sitteth at the king"s gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken."
Haman did as he was commanded, for he could do nothing else, and after it was all over Mordecai took his place again at the king"s gate, but Haman hastened home mourning, and with his head covered.
The next day he came to the queen"s banquet with the king, and again the king said,
"What is thy pet.i.tion, Queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee; and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of my kingdom."
Then the queen made her request, saying,
"If I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my pet.i.tion, and my people at my request; for we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king"s damage."
"Who is he, and where is he," cried the king, "That durst presume in his heart to do so?"
Then Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman."
[Ill.u.s.tration: Haman denounced by the queen]
Haman was overcome with fear at this, and the king was so angry that he rose up and went out into the palace garden. Haman stood up to make a plea for his life, and when the king came in he found Haman fallen at the queen"s feet.
One of the king"s chamberlains who knew what the king wished told him of the gallows at Haman"s house that had been made for Mordecai, and the king said, "Hang him thereon," and they did so, and the king"s anger was pacified.
That day the king gave Haman"s house to the queen. Mordecai came before the king that day also, for Esther had told him how he was related to her, and the King gave to Mordecai the ring that he had once given to Haman. Esther"s pet.i.tion was not yet finished, so she fell down at the king"s feet and asked for the life of her people, and that the decree might be changed.
Then the king held out his golden sceptre to Esther, and she arose.
She spoke n.o.ble words of pet.i.tion for her people, and the king told Mordecai to write in the king"s name and seal with the king"s seal letters that should make the decree void.
So the scribes were called in and the letters were written and sealed with the king"s ring, and sent out to every province in the kingdom.
Mordecai went out of the palace that day clothed in royal garments of violet and white, fine linen and purple, and a great crown of gold upon his head, and there was joy in Shushan, and there was joy among the Jews all over the land. They hanged the ten sons of Haman, and destroyed their enemies by the king"s permission, so that they had rest from persecution. They also set apart two days for a feast of thanksgiving through all time, and the feast of Purim is kept by all Jews to this day, as it was first confirmed by the decree of Esther.
And Mordecai was next to the king and honored by his brethren the Jews as long as he lived, for he always sought their peace, and was as a father to them.
CHILD"S STORY OF THE BIBLE.
THE NEW TESTAMENT.
CHAPTER I.
THE ANGELS OF THE ADVENT.