Esther 5:3

_THEN SAID THE KING UNTO HER, WHAT WILT THOU, QUEEN ESTHER? AND WHAT IS THY REQUEST? IT SHALL BE EVEN GIVEN THEE TO THE HALF OF THE KINGDOM._ It shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom. This mode of speaking originated in the Persian custom of appropriating for the maintenance of great men, or royal favourites, one city for his bread, another for his wine, a third for his clothes, etc., so that the phrase denoted great liberality....

1-8 Esther having had power with God, and prevailing, like Jacob, had power with men too. He that will lose his life for God, shall save it, or find it in a better life. The king encouraged her. Let us from this be encouraged to pray always to our God, and not to faint. Esther came to a proud, imperious man; but we come to the God of love and grace. She was not called, but we are; the Spirit says, Come, and the Bride says, Come. She had a law against her, we have a promise, many a promise, in favour of us; Ask, and it shall be given you. She had no friend to go with her, or to plead for her; on the contrary, he that was then the king's favourite, was her enemy; but we have an Advocate with the Father, in whom he is well pleased. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. God put it into Esther's heart to delay her petition a day longer; she knew not, but God did, what was to ha...

IT SHALL BE EVEN GIVEN THEE ... - Xerxes, on another occasion, when pleased with one of his wives, offered to grant her any request whatever, without limitation. Compare the margin reference....

EXPOSITION AHASUERUS RECEIVING ESTHER FAVOURABLY, SHE INVITES HIM AND HAMAN TO A BANQUET. ALLOWED TO ASK WHATEVER BOON SHE LIKES, SHE INVITES THEM BOTH TO A SECOND BANQUET (Esther 5:1). Esther, we must suppose, kept her fast religiously for the time that she had specified (Esther 4:16), and then, "on the third day," made her venture. It has been asked, Why did she not request an a

THEN SAID THE KING UNTO HER, WHAT WILT THOU, QUEEN ESTHER?.... He supposed she had some business with him, some suit to make to him, by her coming in this manner: AND WHAT IS THY REQUEST? signifying he was ready to grant it, be it what it would: IT SHALL BE EVEN GIVEN THEE TO THE HALF OF THE KINGDOM; as it was usual with the Persian kings to give their wives cities for certain purposes, Esther 2:18, here Ahasuerus, out of his great affection to Esther, offers half of his dominions, his one hundred and twenty seven provinces; meaning that he would grant her anything, and everything that was reasonable, and even magnificent; it is an hyperbolical and courtly way of speaking, and which has been used in later times, and in other countries; see Mark 6:23....

ESTHER AND THE KING AND HAMAN'S DELUSION CHAPTER 5 _ 1. Esther before the king and her request (Esther 5:1)_ 2. Haman's delusion (Esther 5:9) Esther 5:1. On the third day Esther put on her royal apparel, a significant day in Scripture as we point out in the typical application of this chapter. The days of fasting and agony were passed and she is seen no longer attired in sackcloth but in royal garments. It is of great interest that Rabbinical exposition (Midrash) gives a tradition that in her great anxiety and anguish of soul she uttered the opening sentence of Psalms 22, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” She made use

ESTHER 5. ESTHER OBTAINS THE KING'S FAVOUR AND INVITES HIM WITH HAMAN TO A BANQUET. Haman's Elation is DASHED BY VEXATION AT MORDECAI'S REFUSAL TO HONOUR HIM. In Esther 5:1 to Esther 8:3 we read how these prayers are answered by blessing after blessing. The girl-queen is filled with purpose, courage, and ability. She enters the audience-hall trembling, but is welcomed by the king LXX gives a fine picture of this, saying that the king kissed his wife tenderly, and restored her when she fainted through excitement. The Heb. has excised that. Esther asks simply that Ahasuerus and his vizier, Haman, shall come to a drinking-feast (Esther 5:4). They come, but are only bidden to come again next day ...

WHAT WILT THOU, QUEEN ESTHER? WHAT IS THY REQUEST? Her attitude and expression were those of. suppliant, and the king knew well that she would not have dared, timid and modest as she was, to have taken so dangerous. liberty, except compelled by some urgent necessity. Had his mood been ungracious it would have proved her ruin, but Xerxes never did things by halves, and at once, without learning her request, he promised to grant, "even unto the half of his kingdom." Any one who thinks such. promise extravagant is cited to. statement of Herodotus that this same king once promised one of his wives, when pleased with her, to grant her any request she made, without any limitation whatever. He kept his promise, too, though it involved him in the most cruel of crimes. One will think, at once, of the promise of Herod to Herodias' daughter, and the death of John. This verse brings us to the king'...

KINGDOM. Put by Figure of speech _Metonomy_ (of Adjunct), for. year's revenue. Compare Mark 6:23....

Esther 5:1-8. Esther's interview with the king Esther is received graciously. The king, however, obviously guesses that she has an important object to gain in thus presenting herself, and so enquires the nature of her request. She is careful not to add to the difficulties of her position by anything like precipitancy in revealing her desire. She will shape her plans so as to secure the most favourable moment for preferring her petition....