Let's look at Esther 5:2 "So it was, when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, that she found favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter."
What an answer to prayer! Esther finds favor in the king and he extends the golden scepter. You can clearly see the providence of God working here. I am reminded of the verse in Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes." This is so true here, God is definitely in control.
So Esther in the usual custom responds back expressing reverence and submission as she touches the top of the scepter. King Ahasuerus knew that if Queen Esther broke one of the major laws of Persia by approaching him without having been summoned she must have a matter of urgency that needed his attention. So we see in verse three after extending the golden scepter he now asks her "What do you wish, what is your request?" Then notice he says "It shall be given to you, up to half the kingdom". Now, you would think at this point by reading this that Queen Esther would feel confident and state what she wanted immediately because the king is stating he will give her what she wants up to half the kingdom. This sounds pretty generous doesn't it? But Esther knows better, you cannot take this offer literally. It was apparently a custom for kings of that day to show their pleasure in someone by making this statement, which simply meant that the person would be granted what they requested if the request was within reason. So Esther still had to use discretion and follow through accordingly. We will see Esther's response as we continue our study in our next post.
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