The banquet
1So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared. ① 2And again, on that second day, while they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther “Whatever your petition is, Queen Esther, it shall be granted. Whatever request you make shall be fulfilled, even if it were half of my kingdom.”
3Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, grant me my life; and spare also the lives of my people. This is my petition and request for myself and for my people. 4For my people and I have been delivered to destruction, slaughter and extinction. Had we been sold merely as male and female slaves, I would have said nothing, for our calamity would not be as great a loss to the king.”
5King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, “Who and where is the man who dared do such a thing?” 6Esther answered, “He is no other than this wicked Haman – an enemy and a foe!”
At this, Haman was seized with terror. 7The king left the banquet in anger and went to the garden. Haman stayed to beg Queen Esther for his life, realizing that the king had decided on his doom.
8When the king returned from the garden to the banquet hall, Haman had thrown himself on the bed where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Is he going to molest the queen even before my eyes in my own house?” No sooner had the king spoken than his assistants covered Haman’s face. 9Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “This man built a fifty-cubit gallows for Mordecai who gave the report that saved the king. It is standing there at his house.”
The king said, “Very well, hang him on it.” 10So Haman was hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.
- Es 7:1 God helps those who ask, but we must always use human resources. Esther trusts God, but she uses prudence and the necessary tactics so as not to prevent what God is about to achieve. History has demonstrated that those who persecute God's people never come out victorious. We have no trouble seeing with what irony the author of this book depicts the great kings, with their whims and vanity.
