19 Nov. Esther pleads for the lives of the Jewish people
“So the king and Haman went in to eat with Queen Esther. As they were drinking wine on the second day, the king asked Esther again, ‘What are you asking for? I will give it to you. What is it you want? I will give you as much as half of my kingdom.’”
“Then Esther answered, ‘My king, if you are pleased with me, and if it pleases you, let me live. This is what I ask. And let my people live, too. This is what I want. My people and I have been sold to be destroyed, to be killed and completely wiped out. If we had been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because that would not be enough of a problem to bother the king.’”
“Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, ‘Who is he, and where is he? Who has done such a thing?’ Esther said, ‘Our enemy and foe is this wicked Haman!’”
“Then Haman was filled with terror before the king and queen. The king was very angry, so he got up, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman stayed inside to beg Queen Esther to save his life. He could see that the king had already decided to kill him.”
“When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, he saw Haman falling on the couch where Esther was lying. The king said, ‘Will he even attack the queen while I am in the house?’”
“As soon as the king said that, servants came in and covered Haman’s face. Harbona, one of the eunuchs there serving the king said, ‘Look, a 25-metre-high platform stands near Haman’s house. This is the one Haman had prepared for Mordecai, who gave the warning that saved the king.’”
“The king said, ‘Hang Haman on it!’ So they hanged Haman on the platform he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king was not so angry any more.”
(Esther 7:1-10)
King Xerxes and his chief advisor, Haman, arrived to dine with Queen Esther. At the banquet, Esther begged for the king’s mercy for herself, a Jew, and for all her people.
Xerxes was horrified to hear that the Jews – including Esther and her family – were being sacrificed for money, and enquired who had hatched this plan. Haman's evil intentions were exposed, and the king stormed out into the palace garden in a rage.
On his return, he found Haman pleading for mercy over the couch where Esther was reclining. Having infuriated the king by his actions, Haman was executed on the gallows he had erected to destroy Mordecai.
The photo shows a painting of Esther denouncing Haman by Ernest Normand (1888).
You can read more of the story of Esther @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney2/35-the-exiles-return-to-judah/mordecai-uncovers-a-plot-to-kill-the-king/