Page 309 - Bible History

A decree for the massacre of the Jews
282 GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE IN CAPTIVITY
kingdom were preparing to revolt. He advised the king to send out a decree ordering all the Jews to be put to death. Assuerus believed the word of Aman and sent messengers into every part of his kingdom with orders for a general massacre of the Jews.
When Mardochai heard this terrible news, he com­ manded Esther to go before the king and plead for her people. Now, it meant death for a subject to go before the king without having been called, but Esther was not afraid, for the lives of her people were at stake.
Esther told her uncle to call their friends together and have them fast with her for three days and three nights. On the fourth day she entered the throne room and stood before the king. Far from being angered at her boldness, he was pleased with her. He asked her what she wished and promised to give her even half of his kingdom. Esther told him that she had come to invite him and Aman to a banquet which she had prepared for them that day.
The king came to the banquet, and Aman with him, but Esther did not have the courage to tell her wish. She invited them to come again on the following day.
Aman was very proud of the fact that he had been invited to eat with the king and the queen. He told his wife and his friends that now only one thing was
wanting to make him perfectly happy. That one thing was to see Mardochai hanging dead upon a gibbet. They advised him to build a gibbet and then to ask the king to hang Mardochai on it. So on the very day of the banquet Aman built a gibbet and made up
Esther before the king
Aman's plot