The Living Bible (159 page)

Esther
7

So the king and Haman came to Esther’s banquet.
²
 Again, during the wine course, the king asked her, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? What do you wish? Whatever it is, I will give it to you, even if it is half of my kingdom!”

    
³
 And at last Queen Esther replied, “If I have won your favor, O King, and if it please Your Majesty, save my life and the lives of my people.
⁴
 For I and my people have been sold to those who will destroy us. We are doomed to destruction and slaughter. If we were only to be sold as slaves, perhaps I could remain quiet, though even then there would be incalculable damage to the king that no amount of money could begin to cover.”

    
⁵
 “What are you talking about?” King Ahasuerus demanded. “Who would dare touch you?”

    
⁶
 Esther replied, “This wicked Haman is our enemy.”

    
Then Haman grew pale with fright before the king and queen.
⁷
 The king jumped to his feet and went out into the palace garden as Haman stood up to plead for his life to Queen Esther, for he knew that he was doomed.
⁸
 In despair he fell upon the couch where Queen Esther was reclining, just as the king returned from the palace garden.

    
“Will he even rape the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes?” the king roared. Instantly the death veil was placed over Haman’s face.

    
⁹
 Then Harbona, one of the king’s aides, said, “Sir, Haman has just ordered a 75-foot gallows constructed, to hang Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination! It stands in Haman’s courtyard.”

    
“Hang Haman on it,” the king ordered.

    
¹⁰
 So they did, and the king’s wrath was pacified.

Esther
8

On that same day King Ahasuerus gave the estate of Haman, the Jews’ enemy, to Queen Esther. Then Mordecai was brought before the king, for Esther had told the king that he was her cousin and foster father.
*
²
 The king took off his ring—which he had taken back from Haman—and gave it to Mordecai appointing him Prime Minister;
*
and Esther appointed Mordecai to be in charge of Haman’s estate.

    
³
 And now once more Esther came before the king, falling down at his feet and begging him with tears to stop Haman’s plot against the Jews.
⁴
 And again the king held out the golden scepter to Esther. So she arose and stood before him,
⁵
 and said, “If it please Your Majesty, and if you love me, send out a decree reversing Haman’s order to destroy the Jews throughout the king’s provinces.
⁶
 For how can I endure it, to see my people butchered and destroyed?”

    
⁷
 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have given Esther the palace of Haman, and he has been hanged upon the gallows because he tried to destroy you.
⁸
 Now go ahead and send a message to the Jews, telling them whatever you want to in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring so that it can never be reversed.”
*

    
^9-10
 Immediately the king’s secretaries were called in—it was now the 23rd day of the month of July—and they wrote as Mordecai dictated—a decree to the Jews and to the officials, governors, and princes of all the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 in all: the decree was translated into the languages and dialects of all the people of the kingdom. Mordecai wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed the message with the king’s ring and sent the letters by swift carriers—riders on camels, mules, and young dromedaries used in the king’s service.
¹¹
 This decree gave the Jews everywhere permission to unite in the defense of their lives and their families, to destroy all the forces opposed to them, and to take their property.
¹²
 The day chosen for this throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus was the 28th day of February!
*
¹³
 It further stated that a copy of this decree, which must be recognized everywhere as law, must be broadcast to all the people so that the Jews would be ready and prepared to overcome their enemies.
¹⁴
 So the mail went out swiftly, carried by the king’s couriers and speeded by the king’s commandment. The same decree was also issued at Shushan Palace.

    
¹⁵
 Then Mordecai put on the royal robes of blue and white and the great crown of gold, with an outer cloak of fine linen and purple, and went out from the presence of the king through the city streets filled with shouting people.
¹⁶
 And the Jews had joy and gladness and were honored everywhere.
¹⁷
 And in every city and province, as the king’s decree arrived, the Jews were filled with joy and had a great celebration and declared a holiday. And many of the people of the land pretended to be Jews, for they feared what the Jews might do to them.

Esther
9

So on the 28th day of February, the day the two decrees of the king were to be put into effect—the day the Jews’ enemies had hoped to vanquish them, though it turned out quite to the contrary—the Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the king’s provinces to defend themselves against any who might try to harm them; but no one tried, for they were greatly feared.
³
 And all the rulers of the provinces—the governors, officials, and aides—helped the Jews for fear of Mordecai;
⁴
 for Mordecai was a mighty name in the king’s palace and his fame was known throughout all the provinces, for he had become more and more powerful.

    
⁵
 But the Jews went ahead on that appointed day and slaughtered their enemies.
⁶
 They even killed 500 men in Shushan.
^7-10
 They also killed the ten sons of Haman (son of Hammedatha), the Jews’ enemy—Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha. But they did not try to take Haman’s property.

    
¹¹
 Late that evening, when the king was informed of the number of those slain in Shushan,
¹²
 he called for Queen Esther. “The Jews have killed 500 men in Shushan alone,” he exclaimed, “and also Haman’s ten sons. If they have done that here, I wonder what has happened in the rest of the provinces! But now, what more do you want? It will be granted to you. Tell me and I will do it.”

    
¹³
 And Esther said, “If it please Your Majesty, let the Jews who are here at Shushan do again tomorrow as they have done today, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.”

    
¹⁴
 So the king agreed, and the decree was announced at Shushan, and they hung up the bodies of Haman’s ten sons.
¹⁵
 Then the Jews at Shushan gathered together the next day also and killed 300 more men, though again they took no property.

    
¹⁶
 Meanwhile the other Jews throughout the king’s provinces had gathered together and stood for their lives and destroyed all their enemies, killing 75,000 of those who hated them; but they did not take their goods.
¹⁷
 Throughout the provinces this was done on the 28th day of February, and the next day they rested, celebrating their victory with feasting and gladness.
¹⁸
 But the Jews at Shushan went on killing their enemies the second day also and rested the next day, with feasting and gladness.
¹⁹
 And so it is that the Jews in the unwalled villages throughout Israel to this day have an annual celebration on the second day when they rejoice and send gifts to each other.

    
²⁰
 Mordecai wrote a history of all these events and sent letters to the Jews near and far, throughout all the king’s provinces,
²¹
 encouraging them to declare an annual holiday on the last two days of the month,
²²
 to celebrate with feasting, gladness, and the giving of gifts these historic days when the Jews were saved from their enemies, when their sorrow was turned to gladness and their mourning into happiness.

    
²³
 So the Jews adopted Mordecai’s suggestion and began this annual custom
^24-25
 as a reminder of the time when Haman (son of Hammedatha the Agagite), the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted to destroy them at the time determined by a throw of the dice; and to remind them that when the matter came before the king, he issued a decree causing Haman’s plot to boomerang, and he and his sons were hanged on the gallows.
²⁶
 That is why this celebration is called “Purim” because the word for “throwing dice” in Persian is
pur.
²⁷
 All the Jews throughout the realm agreed to inaugurate this tradition and to pass it on to their descendants and to all who became Jews; they declared they would never fail to celebrate these two days at the appointed time each year.
²⁸
 It would be an annual event from generation to generation, celebrated by every family throughout the countryside and cities of the empire, so that the memory of what had happened would never perish from the Jewish race.

    
^29-31
 Meanwhile Queen Esther (daughter of Abihail and later adopted by Mordecai the Jew) had written a letter throwing her full support behind Mordecai’s letter inaugurating his annual Feast of Purim. In addition, letters were sent to all the Jews throughout the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus with messages of good will and encouragement to confirm these two days annually as the Feast of Purim, decreed by both Mordecai the Jew and by Queen Esther; indeed, the Jews themselves had decided upon this tradition as a remembrance of the time of their national fasting and prayer.
³²
 So the commandment of Esther confirmed these dates, and it was recorded as law.