Mordecai daily sat at
the palace gate to hear of his beloved cousin, and there daily saw the
king's new counsellor pass by--Haman, an Agagite, descended from that
hateful Amalekite nation, whom Saul ought to have totally destroyed.
Mordecai would not bow before the man whom his law had taught him to
loathe; and Haman, taking offence, and remembering the old enmity
between the two nations, that had begun at the battle of Rephidim,
promised the king 10,000 talents of silver for permission to let their
enemies loose upon the Jews in their still unwalled city, and destroy
them everywhere by a general slaughter. The king actually granted this
horrible request, though without taking the bribe; and Haman, setting
the royal seal to his decree, made it one of the unalterable Persian
laws. The day was fixed for the massacre, and Haman prepared an enormous
gallows on which to hang Mordecai, or as is supposed, to nail him up
alive. But Mordecai contrived to warn Esther, and order her to persuade
the king to save their lives. She was in a great strait, for it was
death to enter the king's presence unbidden, unless he were in the
mood to show mercy, and should hold out his golden sceptre; but in her
extremity she took courage, arrayed herself royally, and came before
him, fainting with fear.
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