Star of Persia: Esther's Story

by Jill Eileen Smith

  How many other friends of Haman were enemies of the Jews?

  He reached the garden, then did an about-face, returned to his office, and summoned an attendant, who bent on one knee at his approach. “Yes, my lord.”

  “Find out what has become of Artabanus. I want his every move traced, and when he is found, bring him into custody by order of the king.” He sat at his table, quickly pressed instructions in clay, and sealed it with the king’s ring.

  His attendant took the tablet, bowed again, and hurried to do his bidding. The list of Jewish enemies could be far greater than Mordecai once thought. He stood, left his office again, and took the long walk to Esther’s chambers.

  “I have never heard of Artabanus,” Esther said as she walked with Mordecai in the palace gardens that afternoon. “That is, I do not know many of the nobles’ names, especially those who were close to Haman. I fear a queen is only told what her servants tell her or the king decides to divulge. Xerxes and I never talk about the kingdom or the problems he is facing with anyone in it. We do not talk about war either. Only building projects and intimate things.” She felt her cheeks heat and looked away. “Even then, it is only when he calls for me that we speak. I still do not have the freedoms I had the first few days after Haman’s death. It is as though he has returned to the way things have always been.”

  They stopped near an almond tree, and Mordecai glanced around. Esther drew in a breath, the fragrance giving her a sense of peace. But peace could be misleading, and she knew they could not let the atmosphere lull them into thinking all was now well.

  “What else do you know, Abba?” She briefly touched his arm.

  “Artabanus could be as big a threat to us as Haman was, with the exception that he does not hold the power,” he said. “But he has been conspiring with someone, probably Amestris. Though I’ve wondered if even Vashti could be meeting with him. One of them wants to see their son named Xerxes’ crown prince and heir. In either woman’s case, once Xerxes is gone from the earth, it would allow one of them to take your place.” He looked at her, his brows knit in a frown. To lose her place before she could save her people would have dire consequences for all of them.

  “But Xerxes is well. And is guarded to the point of obsession.” She smoothed her robe and briefly wondered what to do with her hands.

  “Assassination plots can come from anywhere, my daughter. You know even the king’s own eunuchs conspired against him not so long ago.” Mordecai rested one hand on her shoulder. “I have sent men to find this foe Artabanus, but this also means we cannot wait to approach the king again. You must go to him, Esther.” He took her hand and held it. “I know it is not easy for you, and I do not wish to risk your life, but surely Xerxes will look on you with favor if you but ask.”

  Esther placed her hand over her father’s. “You want me to appeal to him again to beg for the people.”

  “Yes.”

  She lowered her hand and turned away, walking along the garden paths. She glanced to the side, but Mordecai did not follow. Oh Adonai, why must I do this again? Why could not the first time have been the end of it? Must relief from evil come in stages?

  She lifted her gaze to the cloudless sky and felt the slight warmth of the breeze, a sign that summer would soon be upon them. In less than a year, her people would be condemned to slaughter if she did not act. Her people. Her family. How could she bear it?

  A deep sigh escaped as she turned back and walked toward her father. “I will go,” she said, feeling the weight of anxiety in her middle. “I will do my best to plead with him, even if it costs me his favor.”

  When had his favor mattered so much to her? Were her feelings for him so strong? But the very idea of love caused her to fear that he did not return the feeling. While he was attracted to her, he was also attracted to many women. She had always wanted her husband to be hers alone. But queens should not hope for such a thing.

  “We shall pray as we did before,” Mordecai said, interrupting her thoughts. “We shall pray and fast for three days. Then you can approach the king once more.”

  Esther nodded, though she wondered if her maids would be as willing to fast as they had the first time. “Very well. We shall ask our God to intervene. Then we will see what He will do.”

  On the third day, Esther again entered the inner court near the king’s throne. He saw her and summoned her at once. She fell at his feet, weeping.

  “What can I give you, dear Esther? Ask me anything, up to half of my kingdom.”

  “Please, my lord, do something to stop the evil plot devised by Haman against the Jews. Otherwise, I and my people will soon perish from the earth.”

  The king held out the scepter to her, and she stood. “Speak,” he said, clearly expecting her to say more.

  Esther recalled the words she had crafted with Mordecai. “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor with him, and if he thinks it is right, and if I am pleasing to him, let there be a decree that reverses the orders of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, who ordered that Jews throughout all the king’s provinces should be destroyed. For how can I endure to see my people and my family slaughtered and destroyed?” She watched him as she spoke, forcing her emotions in check. The very thought of her nieces and nephews, her cousins, their wives, her friends. . . she could not bear it.

  “Call Mordecai the Jew,” the king said to a waiting attendant, startling her. Esther moved to the side as the king indicated. Moments later, Mordecai appeared before them both.

  Xerxes looked from one to the other. “I have given Esther the property of Haman, and he has been impaled on a pole because he tried to destroy the Jews. Now go ahead and send a message to the Jews in the king’s name, telling them whatever you want, and seal it with the king’s signet ring. But remember that whatever has already been written in the king’s name and sealed with his signet ring can never be revoked.”

  “Thank you, my lord,” Esther said, bowing once again at his feet.

  Mordecai knelt as well. “May my lord King Xerxes live forever.”

  The king extended the scepter to both of them, and they rose. “You have my blessing.”

  Esther and Mordecai walked away from the king’s audience hall and stopped in a private alcove. “See what our God has done?” Mordecai asked, searching her gaze. He cupped her face and smiled on her with fatherly affection.

  She nodded, feeling like a child again under his tutelage. “Our God is mighty. And His ways are beyond understanding.”

  “Now we will trust Him to help us write the decree to undo the damage our enemy has done.” Mordecai kissed her cheek and left her with her guards to return to her chambers, while he sent word to the king’s secretaries to meet with him the next day. They had much work to do.

  CHAPTER

  Forty-two

  Two months had passed since Haman’s decree had sent the Jewish people into a tormented frenzy. Mordecai pondered all that had happened as he moved from Haman’s smaller offices to the king’s royal receiving chamber. Esther’s servant Hathach approached as Mordecai looked about the room, silently thanking Adonai for bringing them to this place.

  “The queen has asked if you need anything, my lord.” Hathach bowed low, then rose. “I am here to serve you for as long as you need me.”

  Never mind that he had his own attendants. It was like Esther to want to help him. And he suspected that she wanted to be kept informed by one she trusted. Hadn’t Hathach been her go-between with Mordecai since the start of this mess?

  “I am grateful for your help,” Mordecai said. “I have summoned the king’s secretaries to appear here on the twenty-third day of Sivan to begin the work on a new decree. Please make sure the lighting is arranged well, and plenty of clay tablets, triangular rods, tables, and anything else the secretaries need for writing are ready and waiting for them. They will bring their own tools as well, but I want more than enough.”

  “It will be as you say, my lord.”

  “And send s
omeone to the stables. The groomsmen need to ready every fast horse bred for the king’s service and summon every courier to be ready to ride. As the decrees are written and sealed, they will go out.” Mordecai longed to run a hand through his hair, but the headdress stopped him. He twisted the ring on his index finger instead, his mind whirling. Had he covered everything? He wouldn’t know until the scribes began.

  “I will go there myself, my lord,” Hathach said. “I will make sure all of your attendants have followed your orders, and you will have everything as you have requested.”

  “Thank you, Hathach.” Mordecai dismissed the eunuch, then walked with his guards to his own offices to begin a list of things the decree must include. He would write it himself, then go over it with his advisors, then dictate it to the secretaries, all in two days. The king’s edict would give the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves, the right to destroy, kill, and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and the right to plunder the property of their enemies.

  It was good. This would give his people the edge they needed to defeat those who hated them. He released a sigh. Once this was done, he would search for Artabanus. Both issues weighed on his heart and mind, but the decree pulled the hardest.

  The Jews must be allowed to do to their enemies everything their enemies were allowed to do to them. On the same day. If he let the Jews kill their enemies a day early, they would be guilty of a greater evil. If he forced them to wait a day, they could all be dead. He must give them the chance to defend themselves, to fight back against evil, not create it or be destroyed by it.

  Two days later, the king’s receiving area was filled with secretaries writing the king’s words, which were actually Mordecai’s words. As soon as they were written, a servant handed them to Mordecai, who sealed them and gave them to another servant, who rushed them to a waiting courier.

  The thundering sound of racing horses came from the open windows as they hit the stone pavement and ran through Susa’s city gates. Cries of joy rose in the city as copies of the decree were fastened to the walls of the king’s gate and at prominent places throughout the capital.

  Esther stood near, watching the frantic work. Awe that God had used her for this moment caused joy to rise up within her. When she heard the singing and laughter of the people outside, she wanted to weep and dance at the same time.

  Was this why You placed me here, Adonai? She had always wondered what possible reason there could have been for her to be so chosen. Surely other women were more beautiful than she. Surely other women had captured Xerxes’ heart. With a Persian wife in Amestris who had given him sons, there had been no need for him to seek another wife. Even if he missed Vashti, it wasn’t like he needed more.

  And yet here she stood, watching her father, second in command to the throne, write letters to every satrap, governor, high officer, and noble in all 127 provinces of her husband’s kingdom. All because God saw fit to use her.

  Her. Hadassah.

  Her face heated with the humbling thought. How unworthy she felt, yet how blessed.

  She glanced to the side at the sound of marching feet. Guards appeared, leading the king. He approached Mordecai, said something she could not hear, then turned and walked toward her.

  She bowed low when he stopped near her. “My lord king.”

  He took her hand and raised her to her feet. “Queen Esther, my star.” He smiled into her eyes. The guards stood at a distance, and she felt her heart pick up its pace at the way he regarded her. “You have done what no other woman has done in saving your people. You are brave and strong, my love.”

  She searched his face, reading sincerity in his eyes. “Thank you, my lord. I am honored to think that I have found favor with you.”

  He shifted to stand beside her, and they both watched Mordecai and his team work in a system that moved without a hitch. “Your father is well organized.”

  “He has always been that way, though his wife helped to keep him in balance, peace be upon her.” She laughed lightly.

  He leaned close to her ear. “A woman has a way of giving that balance to a man.”

  A warm feeling filled her. In all of her years at the palace, she had never had a moment like this. Alone with Xerxes in a crowded room was unheard of. Alone with the king in his chambers was entirely different. But this . . . this felt like camaraderie, like what Mordecai had had with Levia. Like what she had dreamed of in a marriage.

  And yet she knew it would not last. This was a moment for now, not forever. Soon he would return to his duties and she to hers. But this day, when the Jews would at last have a chance at liberation from their enemies, was one she was grateful to see with her husband.

  Mordecai did not even glance their way as they looked on the work progressing in relative silence.

  “We must celebrate when this day is over,” Xerxes said, taking her hand. “This time I will hold a small banquet to include your father and your family, but you need not fear. It will not end as your banquet with Haman did.”

  “That is very kind of you, my lord.” Her entire family to meet the king? “Thank you.”

  He nodded, squeezed her hand, and left her side, leaving her feeling somewhat bereft. But she clung to the memory of his presence, even as she watched the precision of the scribes working with the servants and her father pressing the king’s ring into the pliable clay, affixing his seal.

  Whatever happened after this day and on the thirteenth of Adar, she had no choice but to trust that God saw. He would either spare her people or not. But she could not believe that He would abandon them now. He had brought them this far. Surely He could be trusted to carry them through to victory.

  Epilogue

  Esther noted the lines on her husband’s face, deeper than in times past, as she watched him from the couch in his private chambers. He sat near, his brow drawn.

  “What troubles you, my love?” In the ensuing years since the Jews’ victory and the establishment of the festival of Purim to celebrate and remember, she had grown accustomed to using more intimate terms with him. Theirs was a marriage of companionship and intimacy, though to her sorrow she had never been able to bear him a son. Amestris’s son Darius would wear the crown after his father, as she had always suspected.

  “Do I look troubled?” He smiled. “I am sorry. It is the rumors, I suppose. There are always those who are whispering around me, and when I demand to know of what they speak, I suspect they lie to me. There are few I trust.”

  “I hope you know that I am still trustworthy.” She would have added that Mordecai was as well, if not for the fact that he had passed into Sheol the year before. “I do wish my father were still here to help you, though.”

  “He was a man I trusted more than any other.” Xerxes ran his ringed hand through his graying hair. “I cannot say that I even trust my own sons.”

  He did not say that his sons had good reason not to trust him, for rumors abounded that Xerxes had committed adultery with Darius’s wife, his own niece. Esther had never been able to prove the accusation that had come from Amestris’s tongue. Darius, however, appeared less kind to his father, his attitude cooled, their relationship strained. Could the rumors be true?

  “Perhaps you would like me to rub your temples or your feet?” She offered him an alluring smile.

  He returned her look with an ardent one of his own. “Perhaps you can do me a greater favor than that.” He leaned forward and took her hand. “But first there is something I want to tell you.”

  She nodded. “I’m listening.”

  “I am troubled because I fear for you.”

  “Me?” She could not tell him that she, too, had feared for herself in this place with her father gone. Though her cousins now worked in the king’s employ, she did not see them as often as she had her father. And rumors had arisen that Artabanus had returned to somewhere in Persia. That, coupled with Amestris’s lies or half-truth
s or whatever they were, did not give her confidence in her own safety.

  “Yes. If something happens to me and my son sits on the throne, Amestris will not take kindly to you. In that day, if you hear of my death, I want you to flee. I have guards already aware of my decision to whisk you away from Susa. I will not risk your life if mine is taken.”

  She could not pull away from the earnest look in his eyes. “There would be no need to take me from Susa, my lord. I could slip away and return to my cousins. They would hide me in their homes and perhaps take me to Jerusalem, far from anyone in the palace. Even your guards would not need to know.”

  “Your cousins work in my service.” He scratched his head as though pondering her words. “They could get you away.”

  She nodded. “I would trust them with my life.” She paused. “And only them.”

  He looked at her, understanding in his gaze. “It is settled then. Warn them. Tell them to make a plan to get you to safety should the need arise. And tell them to go as well. It will not be safe for anyone related to you once I am gone.” He intertwined their fingers. “I wish this were not needed.”

  “Kings have many enemies. I understand.”

  “You have been my favorite wife, even above Vashti.” He leaned close and kissed her.

  “And you have been my favorite husband.” They both laughed. “But I believe my favorite and only husband has better things to do with his favorite wife than worry about her safety.” She tugged him to his feet and kissed him. “The king and queen need some time to be completely alone,” she whispered.

  He smiled and led her to his sleeping quarters. As he held her in his arms and kissed her the way he had the night of their wedding, she wondered how long she would have him. He was not old, but he was right about the dangers he faced. He had many enemies from many corners of the kingdom. One day they would act, and she would not be able to protect him. She had no idea whether God would deliver him from such threats or not. But she set them aside to enjoy this moment.