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Haman is so angered that he gives the exact specifications of the gallows to
be built for Mordecai public execution (NIV Esther 6:3-14). The saving of the
Jews begins when Esther approaches Ahasuerus and invites him and Haman to
banquet she has prepared the next day. Ahasuerus accepts and he and Haman go to
the banquet. At the banquet Ahasuerus asks Esther “What is your request, Queen
Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your petition? Ask for half the
kingdom, and it shall be done!” Esther asks for Mordecai and her people, the
Jews, to be saved from destruction, slaughter and annihilation.
Ahasuerus states “Who is he? Where is the man who has dared to do such a
thing”(Esther 7:5)? Esther tells Ahasuerus that it is man sitting beside you,
the evil Haman. Ahasuerus is terribly angered by Haman’s plot. Haman jumps up
and starts begging Esther for his forgiveness. Haman knows this will be his
death. Haman is hung on the same gallows that he built for Mordecai (NIV Esther
7:1-7:10). Mordecai takes Haman’s position as the king’s favorite and wishes to
celebrate the triumph of the Jewish people. He sends letters out to all Jews in
the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the Persian Empire.
He invites all the Jews to come out and celebrate the day the Jews rid
themselves of their enemies. Thus, the day came to be known as “The Feast of
Purim”(NIV Esther 9:18-22). Unquestionably, the book of Esther illustrates a
parable. The parable is that, it is God who chooses his people, the Jews,
courses of affairs (Kelly et al. 43). God does this by allowing a Jewish virgin,
Esther, to become Queen, using her influence to destroy their enemies in order
to save the Jews and allowing the Jewish people to rejoice in their glory (NJB
1:one-one0:3).
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