Scripture Daily

Context No. 194 of 4322 · Esther (Greek)

Context · Reflection

Esther (Greek) 7:1-5: in context

1So the king and Haman went in to drink with the queen. 2The king said to Esther at the banquet on the second day, “What is it, queen Esther? What is your request? What is your petition? It shall be done for you, up to half of my kingdom.” 3She answered and said, “If I have found favor in the sight of the king, let my life be granted as my petition, and my people as my request. 4For both I and my people are sold for destruction, pillage, and genocide. If both we and our children were sold for male and female slaves, I would not have bothered you, for this isn’t worthy of the king’s palace.” 5The king said, “Who has dared to do this thing?”

Esther is a Jewish woman who has become queen of Persia without her origin being known. Haman, the king's highest official, has obtained a decree to destroy every Jew in the empire, unaware that the queen is one. Esther has invited the king and Haman to two private banquets. This passage is the second.

The king asks again, for the third time, what her petition is, up to half the kingdom. And she finally answers. The phrasing is exact: if I have found favor in your sight, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. She asks for her own life first, which forces the king to grasp that the queen is under sentence. Then she quotes the decree's own language back, that they have been sold to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated, and adds that had they merely been sold as slaves she would have kept silent, since that would not be worth troubling the king about.

The king, who signed the decree, asks who has dared to do this. And she names him: a foe and enemy, this wicked Haman. Haman is at the table. She waited through two banquets, chose the room, and made the accusation in front of the man's face. When I have something dangerous to say, do I choose the moment and the room, or just wait until I cannot hold it any longer?

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