Esther 5:8

Let the king and Haman come to the banquet, &c.— Esther's intention, in desiring to entertain the king twice at her banquet before she made known her petition, was, that thereby she might the more endear herself to him, and the better dispose him to grant her request; for which reason she thought it a piece of no bad policy to invite his first favourite to come with him. But in the whole matter the singular providence of God is not a little conspicuous; which so disposed her mind, that the high honour which the king bestowed upon Mordecai the next day might fall out in the mean time, and so make way for her petition, which would come in very seasonably at the banquet of wine. For, as it was then most likely for the king to be in a pleasant humour, so also it was most usual for the Persians to enter upon business of state when they began to drink. See Prid. Connect. An. 453.