King Ahasuerus of Susa, who ruled all the lands stretching from India to Ethiopia, prepared to hold a banquet in his own honor. Furious at his wife Vashti’s refusal to attend, he sought a new queen, ultimately choosing the Israelite girl Esther, younger cousin of Mordecai of the tribe of Benjamin. She was told that if she ever entered the king’s court uninvited, she would be killed unless he reached out his staff to her. With Mordecai’s advice, though, she gained favor with Ahasuerus, even foiling an assassination attempt against him. However, the king’s chief official Haman, enraged by Mordecai’s rejection of his authority, conspired to kill all the Israelites in the realm. When Mordecai told Esther of Haman’s plot, she had her people pray for her for three days while she prepared to visit the king. On the third day Esther went to the king, who accepted her. Once she revealed the plot, Ahasuerus ordered Haman to be executed on the same platform he’d built to hang Mordecai. The conspiracy was ended, and Israel was saved.
