Seeing that he is in favor with the king and queen, Haman takes counsel from his wife and friends to build a gallows upon which to hang Mordecai as he is in their good favors, he believes he will be granted his wish to hang Mordecai the very next day. During the banquet, the king repeats his offer again, whereupon Esther invites both the king and Haman to a banquet she is making on the following day as well. She tells the king she will reveal her request at the banquet. Esther invites the king and Haman to a banquet she has prepared for the next day. On the third day, Esther goes to the courtyard in front of the king's palace, and she is welcomed by the king, who stretches out his scepter for her to touch, and offers her anything she wants "up to half of the kingdom". Esther asks that the entire Jewish community fast and pray for three days before she goes to see the king Mordecai agrees. Esther hesitates, saying that she could be put to death if she goes to the king without being summoned nevertheless, Mordecai urges her to try. When Mordecai learns of this, he tells Esther to reveal to the king that she is Jewish and ask that he repeal the order. Using the seal of the king, in the name of the king, Haman sends an order to the provinces of the kingdom to allow the extermination of the Jews on the thirteenth of Adar. Haman casts lots, Purim, using supernatural means, and sees that the thirteenth day of the Month of Adar is a fortuitous day for the genocide. When Mordecai (who had stationed himself in the street to advise Esther) refuses to bow to him, Haman pays King Ahasuerus 10,000 silver talents for the right to exterminate all of the Jews in Ahasuerus' kingdom. This act of great service to the king is recorded in the Annals of the Kingdom.Īfter Mordecai saves the king's life, Haman the Agagite is made Ahasuerus' highest adviser, and orders that everyone bow down to him. Mordecai tells Esther, who tells the king in the name of Mordecai, and he is saved. įollowing Esther's coronation, Mordecai learns of an assassination plot by Bigthan and Teresh to kill King Ahasuerus. The king falls in love with her and makes her his Queen. Even as she advances to the highest position of the harem, perfumed with gold and myrrh and allocated certain foods and servants, she is under strict instructions from Mordecai, who meets with her each day, to conceal her Jewish origins. Upon the king's orders, Esther is taken to the palace where Hegai prepares her to meet the king. She was the orphaned daughter of Mordecai's uncle, another Benjamite named Abihail. Įsther, a cousin of Mordecai, was a member of the Jewish community in the Exilic Period who claimed as an ancestor Kish, a Benjamite who had been taken from Jerusalem into captivity. Beautiful maidens gather together at the harem in the citadel of Susa under the authority of the eunuch Hegai. In the third year of the reign of King Ahasuerus of Persia the king banishes his queen, Vashti, and seeks a new queen. Main article: Book of Esther Esther Denouncing Haman (1888) by Ernest Normand The name "Esther" probably derives from the name of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar or from the Persian word cognate with the English word "star" (implying an association with Ishtar) though some scholars contend it is related to the Persian words for "woman" or "myrtle". This name is absent from the early Greek manuscripts, although present in the targumic texts, and was probably added to the Hebrew text in the 2nd century CE at the earliest to stress the heroine's Jewishness. When she is introduced, in Esther 2:7, she is first referred to by the Hebrew name Hadassah. The book exists in two related forms: a shorter Biblical Hebrew-sourced version found in Jewish and Protestant Bibles, and a longer Koine Greek-sourced version found in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles. The Book of Esther provides the traditional explanation for the Jewish holiday of Purim, celebrated on the date given in the story for when Haman's order was to go into effect, which is the day that the Jews killed their enemies after the plan was reversed. However, Esther foils the plan by revealing Haman's eradication plans to Ahasuerus, who then has Haman executed and grants permission to the Jews to kill their enemies. Haman plots to have all the Jews in Persia killed, and convinces Ahasuerus to permit him to do so. His grand vizier, Haman, is offended by Esther's cousin and guardian, Mordecai, who refuses to prostrate himself before Haman. The story the book tells is as follows: Ahasuerus, the king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, falls in love with the beautiful Jewish woman Esther and makes her his Queen. Esther (originally Hadassah) is the eponymous heroine of the Book of Esther.
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