And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.”
It is the second day of the banquet, and the king asks Esther a third time what she wants. Again he offers up to half his kingdom. Behind the polite question sits the real drama. A whole people has been sold for destruction, and the queen must decide whether to speak now.
Timing
The king does not repeat himself because he has forgotten. One writer ties his persistence to a moment God had chosen.
William KellyFor the third time the king renews his desire to know and to grant the queen's petition. The king who was made to remember his forgotten rescuer did not forget that Esther still had a deeply felt request. That moment had now come — the moment appointed by His secret providence, Who alone can order anything rightly.
A Promise Confirmed
Esther's courage here does not come from herself. The king has made the same offer so often that she can rest on it.
H. L. RossierFor the third time Ahasuerus repeats to Esther his offer of half of his kingdom. Whatever may happen, she can be fully confident, because the king's own mouth has confirmed the promise twice. And so she now becomes quite bold.
Half the Kingdom
The size of the offer is the point. One writer sees the king's scepter here as a picture of God's own promises.
J. G. BellettThe scepter, again let us say, was true to itself. What a truth this carries! God's promise, and the work of the Lord Jesus, is like this scepter. These have gone before us — pledges signed by the hand of our God and spoken from His mouth. Eternity will be true to them. Endless ages of glory, bearing witness to salvation, will make them good. Nothing is too great for making such pledges good. Here, for example, the king lays half his dominions at Esther's feet, for her to do with as she wishes.
The Delayed Petition
Esther had held back her request once already. By this second banquet she has seen enough to speak.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinEsther at this second feast knew that the God of her fathers was at work. She knew that all the hatred against her race came not from the heart of the king, but centred in Haman. In the sleepless night and what followed, she must have seen the display of God's hand. And now she utters her delayed petition.
What She Asks
Offered half an empire, she asks only to be allowed to live. That gap is the shock of the chapter.
William KellyNow the king, for the third time, demands from the queen her petition… What! had it come to this? The queen a beggar for her life!
Two men at that table are stunned. The king learns that his queen is under a death sentence. Haman learns something he never suspected.
Leslie M. GrantWhat a surprise for both the king and Haman when she asked him to spare her and her people from total destruction! … Haman, however, would realise — with astonishment too — that Esther must be Jewish, and that he had plotted to destroy her nation.
Her Hidden Origin Revealed
One writer sees more here than palace intrigue. Esther stayed hidden while Haman's power grew. Now she names the doomed people as her own.
H. L. RossierShe is not allowed to make herself known until the power of wickedness, seen in Haman, reaches its full measure… Then Esther reveals herself. She cannot let Haman win. So she declares that she belongs to the people of God, whom she calls "my people". She does this in front of the ruler who could not be more favourable toward her and who holds her dear. She has followed, so to speak, every step Mordecai has passed through. When he was hidden, she was hidden too, while still holding a place of favour in the heart of the ruler, and while no one yet knew she was Jewish.
Summary
- Timed. The third asking comes at "the moment appointed by His secret providence". The hand that kept the king awake keeps the question alive.
- Confirmed. Her boldness rests on a repeated promise. The king has pledged it twice with his own mouth, so Esther can speak without fear.
- Unlimited. The king puts half the kingdom at her disposal. The scepter proves "true to itself", and nothing is too great for making such pledges good.
- Delayed. She waited until she could see God at work. The petition arrives at the second banquet, with the enemy sitting in the room.
- Owned. Offered an empire, she begs for her life. She calls the doomed nation "my people", and the hidden queen stands with the people of God.