Then Esther bade them return answer unto Mordecai, "Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast in like manner; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish." So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him. =§95. Esther's Brave Intercession= (Esther 5:1-5; 7:2-6, 9, 10; 8:1-8, 9, 11, 15-17; 9:1, 2, 5, 20-23, 32) A. THE DANGEROUS INTERVIEW Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the entrance of the house. And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre. Then said the king unto her, "What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be given thee even to the half of the kingdom." [Illustration: _From Price, "The Monuments and the Old Testament"_ ESTHER'S PALACE] And Esther said, "If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him." Then the king said, "Cause Haman to make haste, that it may be done as Esther hath said." So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. And the king said unto Esther, "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 answered and 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 spake the king Ahasuerus and said unto Esther the queen, "Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?" And Esther said, "An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman." Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. Then said one of the chamberlains that were before the king, "Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman hath made for Mordecai 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 was the king's wrath pacified. B. THE DELIVERANCE OF THE JEWS On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews' enemy unto Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was unto her. And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.