LESSON XIV.
THE WALL REBUILT.
"They that be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shall raise
up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the
repairer of the breach."--_Isaiah_, lviii. 12.
There is great difficulty as to what the Persian kings were called;
their real names were very hard to pronounce, and they are commonly
known by words that mean a king, instead of by their real names. This
makes people uncertain whether the king who is called Ahasuerus in the
Book of Esther be the same with him whom the Greeks call Xerxes, or with
Artaxerxes the Long-armed, his son. It was one or other of these kings
who made a great banquet at his palace at Shuahan or Susa, where the
remains of the pillars that supported the many-coloured hangings of his
palace are still to be seen. After seven days' feasting, he sent in his
pride for Vashti, his queen, to show her beauty to his companions. It
was, as it is still in Persia and most eastern countries, a shame and
disgrace for a woman's face to be seen by any man save her husband; and
Vashti refused this insulting command of the king.
Pages:
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105