Page:PracticalCommentaryOnHolyScripture.djvu/395

 this important  service. He was  told  that  the  man  had  never received any  reward. Then the  king  called  for  Aman,  whom  he asked  what  ought  to  be  done  to  honour  the  man  whom  the  king desired to  honour.

Aman, supposing  that  there  was  question  of  himself,  said  that the man  whom  the  king  desired  to  honour  ought  to  be  clothed with the  king’s  apparel,  and  be  set  upon  the  king’s  horse,  and have the  royal  crown  put  upon  his  head,  and  that  the  first  of the  king’s  princes  and  nobles  should  hold  his  horse,  and,  going through the  streets  of  the  city,  they  should  proclaim  before  him: “Thus shall  he  be  honoured,  whom  the  king  hath  a mind  to honour!”

Then the  king  said  to  him: “Make  haste  and  take  the  robe and the  horse,  and  do  as  thou  hast  spoken  to  Mardochai,  the Jew, who  sitteth  before  the  gate  of  the  palace.”

Aman was  surprised  and  enraged  to  hear  these  words,  but he dared  not  disobey  the  word  of  the  king. He went,  therefore, and did  as  he  was  ordered. Meanwhile the  hour  came  for  the queen’s banquet,  and  Aman  went  thither  in  all  haste.

While they  sat  at  the  table  the  king  said  again  to  the  queen : “What is  thy  petition,  Esther,  that  it  may  be  granted  thee? Although thou  ask  the  half  of  my  kingdom  thou  shalt  have  it.” Esther replied: “If  I have  found  favour  in  thy  sight,  O king,  give me my  life,  for  which  I ask,  and  my  people  for  which  I request. For we  are  given  up,  I and  my  people,  to  be  destroyed,  to  be slain,  and  to  perish.”

The king,  in  surprise,  asked: “Who  is  this,  and  of  what power, that  he  should  dare  to  do  these  things?”  Esther  answered: “It is  Aman  that  is  our  most  wicked  enemy.”  But  Aman,  hearing what the  queen  said,  was  seized  with  terror. The king  arose  from the table  in  great  wrath. Being told  by  one  of  the  attendants that Aman  had  prepared  a gibbet  fifty  cubits  high  whereon  to hang  Mardochai,  he  ordered  Aman  himself  to  be  hanged  upon  it.