Esther 5:8

_IF I HAVE FOUND FAVOUR IN THE SIGHT OF THE KING, AND IF IT PLEASE THE KING TO GRANT MY PETITION, AND TO_ _ PERFORM MY REQUEST, LET THE KING AND HAMAN COME TO THE BANQUET THAT I SHALL PREPARE FOR THEM, AND I WILL DO TO MORROW AS THE KING HATH SAID._ Let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare. The king ate alone, and his guests in an adjoining hall; but they were admitted to sit with him at wine. 'Sometimes,' says Mr. Rawlinson ('Ancient Monarchies,' 4:, p. 167), 'at a "banquet of wise," a certain number of privileged boon companions were received, who drank in the royal presence, not, however, of the same wine, nor on the same terms. The monarch reclined on a couch with golden feet, and sipped the rich wine of Helbon; the queen, when present, sat on a chair beside him; while the guests invited drank an inferior beverage seated upon the floor' (Athenaeus, 'Deipno,' 4...

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...

Verse Esther 5:8. _I WILL DO TO-MORROW_] She saw she was gaining on the king's affections; but she was not yet sufficiently confident; and therefore wished another interview, that she might ingratiate herself more fully in the king's favour, and thus secure the success of her design. But Providence disposed of things thus, to give time for the important event mentioned in the succeeding chapter....

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

IF I HAVE FOUND FAVOUR IN THE SIGHT OF THE KING,.... Or, seeing she had; for it was a clear case she had, both by his holding out the golden sceptre to her, and by accepting her invitation to her banquet: AND IF IT PLEASE THE KING TO GRANT MY PETITION, AND TO PERFORM MY REQUEST; as he had been so gracious as to promise in such a large and liberal manner as before expressed: LET THE KING AND HAMAN COME TO THE BANQUET THAT I SHALL PREPARE FOR THEM; the Targum says, in the evening; but from Esther 5:12, it appears to be on the morrow; and which agrees with what follows: AND I WILL DO TOMORROW AS THE KING HATH SAID; make her petition and request to him; which she had deferred, partly in hope of still increasing his affection to her, and partly to prepare him to expect something of moment and importance to be asked of him. Jarchi restrains

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 ...

DO TO MORROW. She still keeps back her petition, showing the king that he had rightly divined that there was something important behind it....

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....

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....