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Context No. 709 of 4322 · Esther (Greek)

Context · Reflection

Esther (Greek) 5:1-6: in context

1It came to pass on the third day, when she had ceased praying, that she took off her servant’s dress and put on her glorious apparel. Being splendidly dressed and having called upon God the Overseer and Preserver of all things, she took her two maids, and she leaned upon one, as a delicate female, and the other followed bearing her train. She was blooming in the perfection of her beauty. Her face was cheerful and looked lovely, but her heart was filled with fear. Having passed through all the doors, she stood before the king. He was sitting on his royal throne. He had put on all his glorious apparel, covered all over with gold and precious stones, and was very terrifying. And having raised his face resplendent with glory, he looked with intense anger. The queen fell, and changed her color as she fainted. She bowed herself upon the head of the maid who went before her. But God changed the spirit of the king to gentleness, and in intense feeling, he sprang from off his throne, and took her into his arms, until she recovered. He comforted her with peaceful words, and said to her, “What is the matter, Esther? I am your relative. Cheer up! You shall not die, for our command is openly declared to you: ‘Draw near.’” 2And having raised the golden sceptre, he laid it upon her neck, and embraced her. He said, “Speak to me.” So she said to him, “I saw you, my lord, as an angel of God, and my heart was troubled for fear of your glory; for you, my lord, are to be wondered at, and your face is full of grace.” While she was speaking, she fainted and fell. Then the king was troubled, and all his servants comforted her. 3The king said, “What do you desire, Esther? What is your request? Ask even to the half of my kingdom, and it shall be yours.” 4Esther said, “Today is a special day. So if it seems good to the king, let both him and Haman come to the feast which I will prepare this day.” 5The king said, “Hurry and bring Haman here, that we may do as Esther said.” So they both came to the feast about which Esther had spoken. 6At the banquet, the king said to Esther, “What is your request, queen Esther? You shall have all that you require.”

This is the moment the book of Esther has been building toward. A decree engineered by Haman has doomed the Jews of the empire, and Esther, the Jewish queen, has decided to go to the king to plead for her people, though anyone who approaches him unsummoned is put to death unless he extends his golden scepter. She has fasted three days first. In the Greek version of the book, which fills in what the Hebrew leaves spare, the scene is vivid: she dresses in her splendor, leans on one maid while another carries her train, radiant on the outside and, the text says, her heart frozen with fear.

She reaches the throne, and the king looks up in a blaze of anger, and she faints. Then the Greek adds the line the Hebrew never dares say aloud: God changed the king's spirit to gentleness. He leaps from his throne, takes her in his arms, and tells her she will not die. He offers her anything, up to half his kingdom. And here Esther is patient where she could be desperate. She does not pour out her request. She asks only that the king and Haman come to a banquet she has prepared. Her courage is not the absence of fear; she has fainted twice. It is going through with the deadly thing afraid, and then having the nerve to wait.

Esther did the thing that could have killed her while trembling, and still had the poise not to rush her ask. What necessary, frightening step am I refusing until the fear goes away, when the fear may never go?

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