Q. What request did she make?

A. She invited the king and Haman to a banquet, to which they accordingly went on this occasion the king urged her again to prefer some petition, but she only requested their company to another banquet on the following day. "Then went Haman forth that day joyful, and with a glad heart."

*

Q. Was his felicity of long continuance ?

A. No: the refusal of Mordecai to do him reverence had such an effect upon him, that on coming home he advised with his family and friends; and after telling them of his great riches, his numerous offspring, and of the honours heaped upon him by the king and queen, he observed, "Yet all this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate." Q. What advice did his friends give him?

A. They said, "Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and to-morrow speak thou unto the king, that Mordecai may be hanged thereon then go ; thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet." And "the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.” Q. What occurred at the palace that night?

A. The king, unable to sleep, commanded his servants to read for his amusement the chronicles of the kingdom.t

* Why she postponed her request to a second banquet, does not appear: probably her courage failed, or she did not think the opportunity altogether favourable.

+ The Persian Chronicles, being written in verse by some of their celebrated poets, were very entertaining.-See Dr. A. CLARKE's Comment.

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While thus engaged, the service which Mordecai had rendered in the detection of the conspiracy of the chamberlains, was brought to the king's remembrance, and he resolved to bestow upon him some signal mark of royal favour.

Q. What measures did he adopt thereupon ?

A. Haman having gone to the palace the next morning to solicit the condemnation of Mordecai, the king sent for him, and asked him what should be done for the man whom the king delighted to honour. Ignorant of what had transpired, and thinking himself the object of the king's solicitude, Haman advised that the individual, clad in the royal apparel, and bearing the crown upon his head, should be placed on the king's horse, and conducted by one of the most noble princes through the city, whilst a herald proclaimed before him, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour." This counsel receiving the king's approbation, he gave a particular charge to Haman to conduct Mordecai in this manner through the city; which mandate was immediately obeyed.

Q. What was the consequence?

A. Haman returned mourning to his house; and having related to his wife and household what had happened, his wise men pronounced it ominous of his downfall. This conversation was interrupted by the king's chamberlains, who came to conduct Haman to the queen's banquet.

Q. What occurred at the banquet?

A. Ahasuerus again desired to know Esther's request,

DD

when to his great surprise she petitioned for her life, and for the lives of her people who had been decreed to extirpation. The nature of Haman's plot being thus disclosed to the king, he withdrew from the banquet in great indignation, and went into the garden. Haman seeing that evil was determined against him, stood up to make request for his life to Esther: but the king returning to the banqueting room, manifested his displeasure in such a manner as induced the attendants to cover Haman's face.*

Q. To what punishment was he condemned ?

A. Harbonah the chamberlain informing the king at this juncture, that Haman had erected a gallows for the execution of Mordecai, the king said, "Hang him thereon." This sentence was instantly executed: and the vast estate of Haman was given to the queen.

Q. What instruction does the fate of Haman convey? A. It points out to us the unhappy consequences of pride and revenge; the instability of human grandeur; and the retributive providence of God, who suffered Haman to fall into the snare he had laid for Mordecai. Q. What honours were conferred upon Mordecai? A. Esther having acknowledged him as her kinsman, the king gave him the ring that he had taken from Haman.† Q. How did the king further manifest his regard for Esther?

*This was indicative of the royal displeasure,

This ring was the royal signet, Esther iii. 12.

viii. 8, 10.

which had been entrusted to Haman. It was probably taken from him at the second banquet.

A. Unable to repeal the decree for the massacre of the Jews, because the laws of Media and Persia were unalterable, he issued another decree granting permission to the Jews to defend themselves on the appointed day against their enemies, and to take the spoil. This decree produced great joy every where ; "and many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them."

Q. What was the result of these conflicting decrees on the day appointed for their execution?

A. The Jews were attacked by their enemies, but made a vigorous defence; and being assisted by the governors of the respective provinces, who feared Mordecai's influence with the king, they successfully repelled every assault, and through the whole empire, slew seventy-five thousand men.

Q. How did the Jews commemorate this deliverance? A. With great rejoicings; and to perpetuate the remembrance of this event, they resolved to observe annually, "throughout every generation," the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, as the Feast of Purim, or the Lots.*

Q. Did the promotion of Mordecai ultimately benefit the Jews?

A. Yes he was 66

accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed."

Q. Who was Ezra ›

* See Appendix R.

A. A Jewish priest: "he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses-and had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments."

Q. To what circumstance does Ezra owe his celebrity? A. To his influence with Artaxerxes, king of Persia, from whom he obtained a very ample grant for the support of the temple service; an exemption from tribute for all persons therein engaged; authority to appoint magistrates in Judah and Jerusalem to enforce the laws; and permission for as many Jews as were so disposed, to return to the land of their forefathers.

Q. How did he proceed with this commission ?

A. He assembled all his brethren who were disposed to go to Judea, at “the river that runneth to Ahava ;”† but being ashamed to solicit a military escort, because he had assured the king that God would defend them, he caused the assembly to hold a solemn fast, and to implore the divine protection. After this, having made suitable preparations, they set forward on the twelfth day of Nisan and the hand of God being with them to deliver them from all their enemies, they arrived at Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month.‡

Q. What was their first business after taking a little repose?

For this grant, see Ezra vii. 11-26.

+ Ezra may have taken a circuitous rout to collect as many of the dispersed Jews as possible. Casiphia spoken of viii. 17. is supposed by some commentators to be the region of the Caspian mountains, between Media and Hyrcania.-See Dr. A. CLARKE's Comment. Ezra vii. 8, 9.