King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 6 notes
1So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.
Ah, the stage was perfectly set for the showdown by God.
2And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.
3Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:
4For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king’s damage.
Oh, palace protocols. To just tell the king, her husband, her petition required such elaborate preparations. Months maybe.
It was not as simple as just walking up to him and speaking her mind.
Anything goes wrong and it could be a life and death matter.
Though the situation was urgent, she had to keep her cool and present her case in such a way as to paint the picture more clearly, as it deserves...
Such wisdom.
5Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?
6And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
This was no joke; no one jokes before the king, lest your head goes. So with this statement there was such a rush of information into the king's 👑 head 🤕.
His own right hand man 👨 dared to plot against the beautiful queen 👑. Then that would mean a 3rd queen 👑... What would that say about his kingdom and reign?
Was that the plan all along? That was why he asked for the Jews to be exterminated, and invariably that would affect the queen and possibly topple the kingdom.
There was so much at stake with this simple decree.
He trusted Haman, and these were the possibilities of such an action; his right hand man had betrayed him.
No wonder he desired the royal robe and crown 👑 and other royalties.
Was all this not a set-up for the insurrection that Haman was probably brewing?
No wonder the king had to go cool himself up in the next verse from such a rush of information.
Esther might have been a very good wife for the king to be so concerned for her and her safety.
7And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.
Yeah, he needed to cool it off. Worst of it all was this: imagine on the D-day some insurrectionists come against the queen 👑 and the king got a wind of it.
Only to be told he can do nothing about it, because he had decreed it.
It was too late. He would lose his wife right before his eyes, and only God knew who else of value was going to be lost.
Then he hears Mordecai had been hanged on gallows, the Mordecai who saved his life from assassination by the king's door keepers.
What a foolish mistake. He could lose his kingdom entirely from infighting.
I can imagine the scene: the king felt the set-up of Esther and knew in his heart how that because of Haman it had to take such disguise and shrewdness in order to reach out to him, the king.
And she was justified in doing that, because one of his own trusted royals was playing games right under his nose — he was mad with anger at what was happening.
8Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
9And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon.
Ei, games and politics. How did he know about the gallows? Smh 🤦♂️.
I like also the way he communicated it.
He knew the king had many matters on his head 🤕, so he said Mordecai who spoke good.
There was no way the king could have forgotten that. No need for ambiguity. The king was too busy and too much on his mind for such headaches of trying to figure out who.
Lord, give me wisdom to speak well, and especially in the corridors of power.
10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.