Crawford avalanche., 1899-10-12


The lesson for Oct. Is is found in Esth.
8: 3-S, 1917, and has for its subject
ESTHER Pleading for Her People"
Esther's previous history Is to be found
in the first and second chapters. 1t is a
strange history, this elevation of He
brew girl to the chief place In the favor
Of a Persian monarch. The caprice Of
Ahasuerus, however, was capable of any
thing, and It Is quite possible that Es-
TIERS very simplicity and purity may
have given her strange power over the
cruel and sensual king. There Is no evil
dence In the narrative that the influence
lay In the direction Of lessening his cru
city or awakening any latent tenderness,
but IT appears to have been rather the
attraction which virtue sometimes has
for vice-the charm of novelty. The
character of Vashti, so far as we have
means to judge Of 1t, was at least modest
and brave.
The plot of Haman, which formed the
study for the last lesson, soon came to
the knowledge of Mordecai a: u. He
abandoned himself to grief for q time.
but soon began vigorously to persuade
Esther to intercede in behalf Of her ma
tAOns DeIWeeu tHtiu
to be carried on through Hathach, one Of
the officers of the harem. Through him
the Queen learned Of the cruel designs Of
Hathah. She sent back word that she
dared not 60 into the kings presence un-
bidden, since the penalty for 80 doing
was death, unless the king should see fit
to remit the punishment. Mordecai's
answer Is immortal-a challenge to all
weak souls, rebuke to timid disciples. q
summons to lofty self-sacrifce: Think
not with thyself that thou shalt escape in
the kings house, more than all the Jews.
For IL thou altogether holdest thy peace
ut this time, then shall relief and deliv-
erance arise to the Jews from another
place, but thou and thy fathers house
shall perish; and who knoweth whether
thou art not come to the kingdom for
such time as this?" Esther A: 1919.
And the queens reply, stirred by her
cousins earnestness, was equally noble:
she proposed a universal fast and added
$50 will go in unto the king, which is
not according to the law. and il perish,
l perish"
The fifth chapter relates the appear
ance of Esther before the king. She
found favor in his sight," the golden
seepter was extended to her, and she was
heard. Her first request was that Ha-
man might be invited to banquet. At
that banquet she caused him to be again
hidden for the following day. Haman,
puffed up with pride, was more than ever
enraged at the refusal of Mordecai to do
Kim reverence, and planned a truly orien-
tai revenge. He caused a gallows to be
hnilf fifty anlifc biOh-fha hninhf in
tended to give special publicity and igno-
miny to the execution.
The story moves along with rapid sue
cession of incidents, every one Of which
has its place in the dramatic plot. On
the night following these events the
kings attention was accidentally drawn
TO Mordecai in the following manner:
The king could not sleep, and to pass
away the time he had read to him some
of the official records Of his reign. Among
the chronicles was found an incident
which had been forgotten-a plot against
the kings life some years before, which
Mordecai had discovered and thwarted
Ahasuerus asked what reward had been
given to Mordecai for this service, and
when informed that nothing had been
done for him, Immediately began to de-
wise some method Of repairing the neg
lect. 1t happened that Haman came inst
then prepared to ask the kings perrnis-
sion to execute Mordecai. There was
situation for the dramatists! 1t may be
compared with many analogous instances
in Greek tragedy, particularly in the
"Oedipus Tyrannus" Of Sophocles, where
in repeated cases the tragic element. ter
ible in its intensity, consists solely in
the speeches made by persons ignorant of
the impending catastrophe, which had
one meaning to them and an opposite
meaning to the chorus and to the audi
ence, who knew the outcome. The king
asked Haman what should be done unto
"the man whom the king delighted to
honor" Haman. supposing that he him
self was meant, named several unprece-
dented honors, such as the loan of royal
robe, horse and crown, and a triumphal
procession through the streets OF the cap
ital. The scheming malicious courtier
was thunderstruck when commanded to
bcstow upon Mordecai al the honors
which he had asked for himself. These
are the incidents Of chapter @.
The following chapter covers the ban
quet on the next day, when Esther ac-
cused Haman before the king, and Aha
suerus was greatly cnraged. At the royal
command the guilty p!otter was hanged
on his own gallows.
In the eighth chapter. containing this
lesson, we have the beginning OF the re-
venge taken by Esther, Mordecai and the
Jews upon their enemies. Esther was
given authority to take charge of Ha-
mans possessions, and she made Morde-
cal administrator of the estate. Then
Esther petitoned the king to give fur
ther orders insuring the safety Of her
people. Absolute authority was given to
the queen and Mordecai to do as they
saw fit, and the kings signet ring was
delivered to them to sign the necessary
orders. The plan which Mordecai devils
ed and which was carried out was to au-
thorize the Jews to take up arms In self
defense. A comparison of S: IL with
o: 20 seems to show that the Jews in
their anger exceeded somewhat this au-
thority and slew Persians not in self-de-
tense but in revenge. For o: 2-3 shows
that by the time the appointed time came
the Jews had so powerful allies on their
side that they had little to fear from the
partisans of the disgraced and deceased
Haman. Yet they rose and slaughtered
their enemies and 'did what they would
unto them that hated them" 1t is hard
to believe that king would actually al
low civil war to be waged against his
own native born subjects by foreigners,
even to please queen.
We might perhaps acquit Esther OF
completely in Mordecai's sanguinary de-