ESTHER INVITES THE KING AND HAMAN TO HER BANQUET Having fasted, together with her maids, with Mordeccai, and all the Jews in Shushan the citadel, in humility, and with tears before God, Esther set forth to the king, leaning upon the chest of her God, to invite the king and Haman to her banquet; which was truly the banquet of the cross, through which the people of God were saved, and Haman (the devil) perished. 1-Esther goes in to the king 1 - 2 2-Esther invites the king and Haman to her banquet 3 - 8 3-Haman had the gallows made for Mordeccai 9 – 14 1- ESTHER GOES IN TO THE KING: “Now, it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, across from the king’s house, while the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, facing the entrance of the house” (1). Esther prepared herself for that audience by fasting and praying with humiliation, and came to encounter the king on the third day, to invite him together with Haman to her banquet. According to several scholars, the figure 3, here refers to the resurrection1. If Esther’s banquet refers to the banquet of the cross, prepared by the Lord to save His people, and to crucify the devil with all his wicked deeds, Esther set forth to that banquet with the spirit of resurrection. In other words, if that banquet referred to the cross, what came upon Haman of perdition, has been by the cross of the Lord, risen from the dead. On the cross, the true Haman, namely, the devil, perished; For the one nailed on the cross was, Himself “the resurrection”(John 11: 25). Esther set forth to the king, as though to the cross through the power of the Lord’s resurrection; That is why, believing in God who lifts the poor up from the heap of ashes, she took off the sackcloth, and put on the royal apparel. The annex to the book of Esther presents to us a magnificent detailed portrait of Esther’s encounter with the king.(chapter 15); It mentions that, after she took off the sackcloth in which she had worshipped, and arrayed herself in splendid attire, she invoked the aid of the all-seeing God and Savior (5). It is as though she proclaims that, for His sake, she took off the sackcloth, and for his sake she put on the attire of glory, and that, without Him she would never set forth to act. She invoked Him, not only to accompany her, but to be in her heart, and to speak on her tongue; and even to let her hide in Him when He aims His arrows toward the king’s heart, to turn it from cruelty to love. She invoked God, the Savior of all, having known that “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes” (Proverb 21: 1). Esther set forth together with two maids, on one she leaned gently for support, while the other followed carrying her train. She was radiant with perfect beauty, and looked happy, and very amiable, but her heart was frozen with fear. When she had gone through all the doors, she stood before the king who was seated on his royal throne, clothed in the full array of his majesty, all covered with gold and precious stones, looking . 1 راجع تفسير يشوع 3 :3 ، خروج 3 :5 39 most terrifying. Lifting his face, flushed with splendor, he looked at her with fierce anger. The queen faltered, turned pale and faint, and leaned her head on the maid who accompanied her. Here, God changed the spirit of the king to gentleness, and in alarm he sprang from his throne and took her in his arms until she came to herself. He comforted her with soothing words, and said to her: ‘What is it Esther? I am your husband. Take courage! You shall not die, for our law applies only to our subjects. Come near’. Then he raised the golden scepter and touched her neck with it; he embraced her and said: ‘Speak to me’. She said to him: ‘I saw you, my Lord, like an angel of God, and my heart was shaken with fear at your glory. For you are wonderful, my Lord, and your countenance is full of grace. And while she was speaking, she almost fainted and fell. Then the king was agitated, and all his servants tried to comfort her” (15). What a scene that reveals the encounter of the living church, hidden in Christ Jesus, risen from the dead, with God the Father, to enjoy His love and his eternal embrace!We are in need to set forth together with Esther on the third day, bearing inside us the strength of the resurrection of the Lord, which takes away our mourning, and grants us inner glories, and royal attire that befit our encounter with the heavenly Father. Let us set forth together with her, also accompanied by two maids, one to support us, and the other to carry our trains; the way the Lamb of God carried the manhood, like a maid, appearing in weakness, when He is the King of kings; while the manhood kept following Him, submitted to His divine work in harmony…. Let us, likewise, lean on the body, as a maid, submitted to our souls in the Lord; and let the body walk behind us, follow the steps of the spirit, minister to it, but has no authority to move it with its temporal desires and pleasures. Let us walk together with Esther, who seemed frail, falling underneath the weight of the cross, together with her Christ, partaking of the cup of His passion, and His death, to carry the power of His resurrection. Let us, like Esther, hide in God our Savior, go through all doors, until we reach the audience of the King. For, the Word of God will bring us forth from strength to strength (Psalm 84: 7), and from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18); and the everlasting gates would open before us for His sake (Psalm 24: 7). Ultimately, Esther came to the king who comforted her with soothing words, and said to her: ‘What is it Esther? I am your husband, take courage, you shall not die; for our law applies only to our subjects, not to you’ … Are we not hearing the same words, when we enter into the bosom of the Father, to find the Son, our firstborn brother, interceding for us, to enjoy the fellowship of His glories; and assuring us not to fear the judgment, for we shall not die? For the apostle boldly says: “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercessions for us” (Romans 8: 32-34). As the king embraced Esther in his arms, and raised the golden scepter and touched her neck with it, So will God the Father embrace us, and set us a queen by the cross (the golden scepter) which we have received, and carried, with the Lord, on our neck. As to saying that she saw him like an angel of God, and her heart was shaken with fear at his glory, it bears a symbol of the church who, beholding the secrets of God and 40 His face, would enter into an eternal unceasing love; and would remain, her whole eternity, meditating in Him with love mixed with awe. Let us now say with St. Augustine: [Has God not realize her request for her (14: 13), to turn the king’s heart with an active hidden power, even before listening to her supplications1?]. 2- ESTHER INVITES THE KING AND HAMAN TO HER BANQUET: According to the historian ‘Herodot’2, the kings of Media used to forbid anyone to enter the room of their royal throne unless he is invited, to show off their awe and majesty, and at the same time to protect themselves against any attempt of assassination…. As for Esther, she not only entered into the room of the throne, but she entered, as well, into the king’s heart, who embraced and comforted her, asking her: “What do you wish Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to half of my kingdom” (3). Yet he did not expect to hear her answer: “My petition and my request is; if I have found favor in the sight of the king, let the king and Haman come to the dinner that I shall prepare them, and tomorrow I will do as I have today” (7, 8). We do not know why did Esther postpone her request, when the king has already promised to give it to her, even to half his kingdom. Did she feel some kind of fear, intend to restore her courage by more prayers to God; or wisely chose not to hasten her request, lest the king may feel that she abused his love for her to apply pressure on him?! … But we are sure of one thing, that she had to postpone it until the next day, to let the cup of Haman’s evil be filled to the rim, by preparing the cross for Mordeccai (14), on which he, himself would be hanged. It was God’s hand that made her postpone her request, until God’s salvation plan be realized in its most magnificent fullness, to glorify Mordeccai through the humiliation of Haman, proclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man the king delights to honor” (6: 11); while Haman would prepare the cross for himself. The postponement of Esther’s request was therefore through a divine intervention, in response to her supplication to God to work in her heart, and to grant her words of wisdom; and through that postponement, God hastened to honor Mordeccai, by taking sleep away from the king (Chapter 6), to enquire: “what honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordeccai for exposing the plot against the king?” As to why Esther invited Haman together with the king to her banquet; and it was the first time to do that, as is obvious from Haman’s joyful reaction to that invitation, saying to his family and friend: “Besides, queen Esther invited no one but me to come in with the king to the banquet that she prepared, and tomorrow I am again invited by her, along with the king” (12); It was probably, as she intended to complain against him to the king, she chose not do it behind his back, but in his presence. To strike two birds with one stone, she intended to please the king through inviting Haman, his beloved and favorite companion, with him; and at the same time, to complain against Haman, in his presence, to the king. Anyway, if that was the banquet of the cross, set by the church at ‘Calvary’, to invite the king to rejoice in the fruit of His suffering church, risen from the dead, in the 1 Against 2 letlers of the Pelagians, ch 38 (20). 2 Herodotus 1: 99; 3:118. 41 presence of Haman (the devil), to let him be condemned to be crucified, and to lose all his dominion. As according to St. Jerome: [On the cross, although Christ was hanged according to the flesh, yet, on it, the devil was actually crucified, and his dominion was destroyed]. 3- HAMAN HAD THE GALLOWS MADE FOR MORDECCAI: “So Haman went out that day joyful and with a glad heart” (9). For, in his pride, thinking only of himself, Haman counted that the queen, by inviting him together with the king to her banquet, tended to honor him; and could not imagine that she did it for his judgment. In that, the words of God on the tongue of the prophet ‘Obadiah’ apply to him, saying: “Behold, you shall be greatly despised, The pride of your heart has deceived you” (Obadiah 2, 3). He went out joyful and with glad heart; gathered his household and friends, and said to them: “Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordeccai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate” (13) … That is how the devil feels toward the children of God, not enduring to see any of them sitting at the gate of he King of kings, counting it as his great loss! Let us meditate in how Mordeccai, after tearing his clothes, putting on sackcloth and ashes, and going out into the midst of the city, crying out with a loud and bitter cry, we find him, after such a humiliation, go back to the palace, yet he still does not bow before Haman, nor pay him homage; For he would never seek favor with anyone at the expense of the truth, nor give any man what befits to God alone. Seeing Haman losing his peace, his wife and friends counseled him “to let a gallows be made, fifty cubits high, and in the morning suggest to the king that Mordeccai be hanged on it; then go merrily with the king to the banquet” (6: 14). And like Haman, who was hanged on the gallows he made for Mordeccai, the devil, counting that he would get rid of the Lord Christ by crucifying Him on the cross he prepared through his followers; he, himself, was secretly crucified on it, and lost his dominion on the believers in the Lord (Colossians 2: 14, 15). He let a gallows be made, fifty cubits high, to be able to enjoy watching Mordeccai hanged on it, while sitting in his palace from afar. … The figure 50 bears a symbolic meaning, it refers to freedom, as in the Jubilee (the fiftieth year) the Jews were commanded by the law of God to give freedom to their slaves; and to restore the land to its owners1…. By the cross, the believing humanity was liberated from the true Haman; …, on it, she saw her Christ stretching His arms to embrace the whole world: Jews and Gentiles, to liberate them from the captivity of the devil, and to bring them forth into the bosom of His Father.
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