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THE TALE OF QUEEN ESTHER

so to Mordecai the Jew that sitteth at the king's gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken. Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and caused him to ride through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor. And Mordecai came again to the king's gate. But Haman hasted to his house, mourning and having his head covered. And Haman recounted to his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and his wife, If Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou shalt not prevail against him. While they were yet talking with him, came the king's chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared. Esther 6: 10-14.

(r) So the king and Haman came to the banquet with Esther the queen. And the king said again on the second day of the banquet, What is thy petition, Queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee; and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed. Then Esther the queen said, If I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request; for we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. Then said Ahasuerus to Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he that durst presume in his heart to do this? And Esther said, An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. And the king arose in his wrath from the banquet. And Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. Then said one of the king's chamberlains that were before the king, Behold the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spake good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. And the king said, Hang him thereon. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's wrath was pacified. Esther 7.

(s) On the same day with the fall of Haman, the king Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the Jews' enemy, to Esther the queen. In the meantime Esther had told the king what Mordecai was to her, and that she had been brought up in his house. And Mordecai was brought in to the presence of the king. And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and he gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman, which now belonged to her. Esther 8: 1, 2.

(t) And Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears. Then the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre. So Esther arose, and stood before the king. And she said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the king's provinces; for how can I endure to see the evil that shall come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? Then the king Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid hands upon the Jews. Write ye also concerning the Jews, as it pleaseth you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring; for writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse. Esther 8:3-8.

(u) Then were the king's scribes called in the third month and the twenty-third day. And it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews and to the governors and princes of the hundred and twentyseven provinces in their own languages. And he wrote in the name of Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by postmen on horseback riding on swift steeds used in the king's service.

In these letters the king granted the Jews in every city the right to gather themselves together, and to stand for

THE TALE OF QUEEN ESTHER

their life, to destroy, to slay and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and the province that would assault them, their little ones and their women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey, upon one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month. And this decree was published in all the provinces by postmen riding on swift steeds pressed on by the king's command. And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple. And the city shouted and was glad. And the Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor in every province and city where the king's decree came. And many among the peoples of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them. Esther 8:9–17.

(v) The day drew near when the king's decree was to be put in execution; and the Jews' enemies had hoped to rule over them. But on the contrary, the Jews had rule over them that hated them. The Jews gathered in the cities to lay hands on such as sought their hurt. And no man could withstand them; for the fear of them was fallen upon all the peoples. And the king's governors and princes helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai was fallen upon them. For Mordecai was great in the king's house; and his fame went throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai waxed greater and greater. And the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword; and they did what they would to them that hated them. And the ten sons of Haman, the Jews' enemy, they slew; but on the spoil they laid not hands. Esther 9:1-10.

(w) So on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month the Jews in all the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew them that hated them; but on the spoil they laid not their hands. And the fourteenth day they rested, and made a day of feasting and gladness, a good day, and a day of sending of gifts one to another. Esther 9:11-19.

(x) And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus, both near and far, bidding them keep the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the twelfth month, yearly, as the days wherein the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them.

As Haman had cast the lot (called Pur) against them to consume them, and by the king's command it had fallen on his own head, they called these days Purim. The Jews ordained, and took upon them and upon their children, that they should keep these two days every year; and that these days should be remembered and kept through every generation, and in every family, province and city; and that the feast of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the remembrance of them perish from their seed. Esther 9:20-32.

The only interpretation or generalizing the story needs is the clear presentation of its dramatic movement. It will make its own impresion, and will give a good insight into some aspects of the life of the Jews in Babylon.

Pictures may be shown at the points which they illustrate. The best pictures are Tissot's Triumph of Mordecai (O., 99), and Wilde's, numbers 622, 623, 630, 529, 530. The notebooks should contain the analysis of the story in titles and subtitles, together with the chapter and verse reference for each, and the pictures.

Home work during these eight lessons on Esther may consist in the reading of the Book of Esther, the telling of the stories, reading Psalm 137, Daniel or some of the stories of Daniel in Babylon, reading the history and description of ancient Babylon, and accounts of other ancient and modern persecutions of the Jews.

SIXTH GRADE

GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE

It is not sufficient to locate places as they come in the course of study. There must be a time when the main facts of the geography are brought together as a system, and mastered. It can be done in a few days of vigorous drill. Occasional reviews will keep it as a permanent and very valuable acquisition.

Each pupil learns by a little practice to draw a simple map of Palestine, and to locate all the details mentioned below. It is better to draw a separate map for each of the four groups; but if the map is large, the fifty points can all be indicated on it by number. A pupil goes to the map and points to the numbers, at the same time naming the place. Or one points out the number, while another names the place, and a third repeats a passage of scripture referring to it. The references here given are only suggestions. Others should be chosen to correspond somewhat with the former instruction of the class. With the help of the Bible Encyclopedia or the Historical Geography a similar instruction should be prepared on the places outside of Palestine, mentioned in the parts of the Bible studied. This work should be taken up at some convenient time in the Sixth or Seventh grade. There is of course no pretense of completeness here. But it is a concrete task, easily mastered and retained. It will be done by many who would never do it if it were left indefinite, or if a more complete geography were required.

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