Читать книгу Stories of the Wars of the Jews - A. L. O. E. - Страница 7

Table of Contents

Persian Records—Malice Defeated—Pleading of Esther—Punishment of Haman—Triumph of the Jews.

That night King Ahasuerus could not sleep. Those peaceful slumbers which the meanest of his subjects could enjoy, fled from the eyelids of the monarch. It does not appear, however, that the rest of the despot was destroyed by any thought of the thousands of innocent families doomed by his caprice to destruction. Unable to obtain sleep, the king ordered that the book of records should be brought and read before him; and as he listened to the account of the events of his reign, the conspiracy of his servants, and the means by which the dangerous plot had been discovered, were brought to the remembrance of the monarch.

“What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai?” said the king.

“There is nothing done for him,” was the reply.

“Who is in the court?” asked Ahasuerus.

“Behold, Haman standeth in the court,” answered his servants.

“Let him come in,” said the king.

Now Haman had come into the outer court to procure from his master an order to hang Mordecai on the lofty gallows which had been erected. Full of his evil design, he presented himself before the king.

“What shall be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour?” said Ahasuerus, addressing his favourite.

Now Haman thought in his heart, “To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?” and eager to obtain the most distinguished mark of royal favour, to which his ambitious, presumptuous heart could aspire, Haman replied to his lord, “Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: and let this apparel and horse be delivered to one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal that the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour.’”

THE BOOK OF RECORDS.

Then Ahasuerus said to Haman, “Make haste, take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew. Let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.”

What must have been the feelings of Haman on receiving this most unexpected command, which he dared not for an instant dispute! What must have been the torment of his soul when he led through the city his intended victim, crowned and royally apparelled, and proclaimed aloud to wondering crowds, that the despised and persecuted Jew was one whom the king delighted to honour! Doubtless Mordecai received this singular reward as a token of good from the King of kings, as a sign that his prayers had been heard by Him who can give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

His hateful commission executed, Haman hurried back to his home, mourning and with his face covered. He found little consolation there from those who on the preceding day had encouraged him in the path of crime. “If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall,” said Zeresh and her friends unto Haman, “thou shalt not prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him.”

And while they were yet talking to Haman, the king’s chamberlains arrived, and hastened to bring him to the banquet, to which he had been invited by the queen.

Then at the feast Esther at length made known to Ahasuerus the grief that weighed upon her heart, and pleaded with earnest eloquence for her own life and the lives of her nation; “For we are sold,” she exclaimed, “I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, to perish!”

“Who is he,” cried the astonished king, “that durst presume in his heart to do so?”

Then Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.”

The king’s indignation knew no bounds. Thoughtlessly he had signed the decree, little dreaming that it could possibly compromise the safety even of his beloved Esther! Haman saw the rising anger of his master, and, in an agony of terror, made supplication for his life to the queen. But he who had shown no mercy found none in his hour of need. Those who had not dared to oppose him in his power, were now eager to hasten his downfall. One of the chamberlains who was present told the incensed monarch of the gallows fifty cubits high, erected by Haman for Mordecai.

“Hang him thereon!” cried the king. The just command was instantly obeyed, and the wretched Haman was cut off in his wicked career by the very death which he had designed for another!

It was less easy to revoke the murderous order which had already been proclaimed, by reason of that law of the Medes and Persians, which made royal decrees irrevocable. But Ahasuerus did all that he could do to counteract the evil effects of his own sinful compliance. A decree was published throughout the land, permitting the Jews to defend themselves against any enemy that might dare to attack them. The result was the complete triumph of the persecuted race over all whom hatred induced to attempt to execute the king’s first decree. Mordecai was raised to high power, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; the Jews had rest, and peace, and favour; and an annual feast was appointed in commemoration of the great deliverance which the Lord had wrought for his people, through the instrumentality of a feeble woman!