Esther 7:1

ESTHER MAKES HER REQUEST; THE KING GRANTED IT; AND THEN SHE IDENTIFIED HAMAN AS HER ENEMY; WHOM THE KING EXECUTED

This second banquet was the climax of the episode. Esther made her petition for her life and for the life of all her people. She identified Haman as the author of the plot to murder them, and she was rewarded by the king's favorable reception of her plea.

ESTHER'S PETITION FOR HER LIFE

"So the king and Haman came to the banquet with Esther the queen. And the king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, 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. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king's damage."

What an incredible shock that request must have been to Haman! At this point, no doubt, he began to understand that Esther was pleading for the life of all the Jews whom Haman had determined to destroy, and that she herself was among the number. This request was most skillfully presented.

(1) Esther protested that if the Jews had merely been sold as slaves, she would have held her peace.

(2) She protested that Haman had lied about being able to compensate the king for the damage done.

(3) She displayed perfect knowledge of Haman's immense bribe, noting that she and her people had been "sold."

(4) She placed all the blame on Haman, ignoring the king's own responsibility for that evil decree.