Esther 4:11

There is one law of his to put him to death.

The person of. Persian king was held to be sacred, and none could intrude on his privacy under peril of death, unless invited. Even then etiquette required subjects to crawl prone upon the earth, concealing even their hands in their sleeves. Herodotus, the Greek historian who visited Persia, notes this custom and the penalty of intrusion into the king's presence. Esther declares that this law applies to every one, man or woman, even the queen.

Except... shall hold out the golden sceptre.

All the ancient representations of the Persian kings show them holding. long, tapering staff, the golden sceptre, the emblem of power. If one came into the royal presence and the sceptre was extended, it implied mercy and favor; if it was not extended, it was. signal of death.

I have not been called in unto the king these thirty days.

Even the queen only saw the king at rare intervals. Court etiquette did not allow her to seek him, and it was only at long intervals, amid. crowded harem, that she was bidden to come to the royal presence. Thirty days had passed since Esther had seen him and. long interval might pass before she would be invited again. With the free and easy ways of Western life and the social equality of women under Christianity, we find it hard to imagine the repression and isolation of the sex in the East.