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On the third day of the fast, Esther put on her royal robes and entered the inner court of the palace, just across from the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne, facing the entrance. When he saw Queen Esther standing there in the inner court, he welcomed her and held out the gold scepter to her. So she approached and touched the scepter.

Then the kin asked her, “What do you want, Queen Esther? What is your request? I will give it to you, even if is half the kingdom!”

And Esther replied, “If it please the king, let the king and Haman come to day to a banquet I have prepared for the king.”

The king returned to his attendants and said, “Tell Haman to come quickly to a banquet, as Esther requested.” So the king and Haman went to Esther’s banquet.

And while they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, “No tell me what you really want. What is your request. I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!”

Esther replied, “This is my request and deepest wish. If I have found favor in the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request and do what I ask, please come with Haman tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for you. Then I will explain what this is all about.” (vv. 1-8, NLT)

Then Esther told Hathach to go back and relay this message to Mordecai: “All the king’s officials and even the people of the provinces know that anyone who appears before the king in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the king olds out his gold scepter. And the king has not called for me to come to him for thirty days.” So Hathach gave Esther’s message to Mordecai.

Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you will escape when all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps your were made queen for such a time as this?”

Then Ester sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, , I must die.” So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordred him. (vv. 10-17, NLT)

When Queen Esther’s maids and eunuchs cam and told her about Mordecai, she was deeply distressed. She sent clothing to him to replace the burlap, but he refused it. Then Esther sent for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who had been appointed as her attendant. She ordered him to go to Mordecai and find out what was troubling him and why he was mourning. So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the square in front of the palace gate.

Mordecai told him the whole story, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the decree issued in Susa that called for the death of all Jews. He asked Hathach to show it to Esther and explain the situation to he. He also asked Hathach to direct her to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead for her people. So Hathach returned to Esther with Mordecai’s message. (vv. 4-9, NLT

So on April 17, the king’s secretaries were summoned and a decree was written exactly as Haman dictated. It was sent t the highest officers, the governors of the respective provinces, and the nobles of each province in their own scripts and languages. This decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. Dispatches were sent by swift messengers into all the provinces of the empire, giving the order that all Jews-young and old, including women and children-must be killed, slaughtered, and annihilated on a single day. This was scheduled to happen on March 7 of the next year. The property of the Jews would be given to those who killed them. (vv. 12-13, NLT)

One day as Mordecai was on duty at the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthana and Teresh- who were guards at the door of the king’s private quarters- became very angry at King Xerxes and plotted to assassinate him. But Mordecai heard about the plot and gave the information to Queen Esther. She then told the king about it and gave Mordecai credit for the report. When an investigation was made and Mordecai’s story was found to be true, the two men were impaled on a sharpened pole. This was all recorded in The Book of History of King Xerxes’s Reign. (vv. 21-23, NLT)

Esther was the daughter of Abihail, who was Mordecai’s uncle. (Mordecai had adopted his younger cousin Esther.) When it was Esther’s turn to go to the king, she accepted the advise of Hegai, the eunuch in charge of the harem. She asked for nothing except what he suggested, and she was admired by everyone who saw her.

Esther was taken to King Xerxes at the royal palace early in winter of the seventh year of his reign. And the king loved Esther more than any of the other young women. He also so delighted with her that he set the royal crown on her head and declared her queen instead of Vashti. To celebrate the occasion, he gave a great banquet in Esther’s honor for all his nobles and officials, declaring a public holiday for the provinces and giving generous gifts to everyone. Even after all the young women had been transferred to the second harem, and Mordecai had become a palace official, Esther continued to keep her background and nationality a secret. She was still following Mordecai’s directions, just as she did when she lived in his home. (vv. 16-20, NLT)

At that time there was a Jewish man in the fortress of Susa whose name as Mordecai son of Jair. He was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shimei. His family had been among those who, with King Jehoiachin of Judah, had been exiled form Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchanezzar. This man had a very beautiful and lovely young cousin, Hadassah, who was also called Esther. When the father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her into his faimly and raised her as his own daughter.

As a result of the king’s decree, Esther, along with many other youny women, was brought to the king’s harem at the fortress of Susa and placed in Hegai’s care. Hegai was very impressed with Esther and treated her kindly. He quickly ordered a special menu for her and provided her with beauty treatments. He also assigned her seven maids specially chosen from the king’s palace, and moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem.

Esther had not told anyone of her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had directed her not to do so. Every day Mordecai would take a walk near the courtyard of the harm to find out about Esther and what was happening to her. (vv. 5-11, NLT)

On the seventh day of the feast, when King Xerxes was in high spirits because of the wine-he told the seven eunuchs who attended him-….to bring Queen Vashti to him with the royal crown on her head. He wanted the nobles and all the other men to gaze on her beauty, for she was a very beautiful woman. But when they conveyed the king’s order to Queen Vashti, she refused to come. This made the kind furious, and he burned with anger.

He immediately consulted with his wise advisors, who knew all the Persian laws and customs, for he always asked for their advice…..They meet with the king regularly and held the highest positions in the empire.

“What must be done to Queen Vashti?” the king demanded. “What penalty does the law provide for a queen who refuses to obey the king’s orders, properly sent through eunuchs?”

Memucan answered the king and his nobles. “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but also every noble and citizen throughout your empire. Women everywhere will begin to despise their husbands when they learn that Queen Vashti refused to appear before the king.” (vv. 10-17, NLT)

“So if it please the king, we suggest that you issue a written decree, a low of the Persian and Medes that cannot be revoked. It should order that Queen Vashti be forever banished from the presence of King Xerxes and that the king should choose another queen more worthy than she.”When this decree is published through the king’s vast empire, husbands everywhere, whatever their rank, will receive proper respect from their wives.” (vv. 19-20, NLT)

These events happened in the days of King Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia. At that time, Xerxes ruled from his royal throne at the fortress of Susa. In the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for all of his nobles and officials. He invited all the military officers of Persia and Media, as well as the princes and nobles of the provinces. The celebration lasted 180 days-a tremendous display of the opulent wealth of his empire and the pomp and splendor of his majesty. (vv. 1-4, NLT)

At the same time, Queen Vashti gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes. (v. 9, NLT)