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Esther: King
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Esther (named for the goddess, Ashtar) was a Persian Jew who was orphaned at a young age. The Israelites had been exiled to Babylonia in 586 B.C.E. and still remained there. Esther's cousin, Mordecai, was older than she and he raised Esther. Esther was still a young woman when her presence was requested at the palace of King Ahasuerus.
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The events detailed in the Book of Esther took place primarily in Shushan, the capital of King Ahasueraus' empire. Shushan is the Hebrew form of the name Susa. Susa was in the area known as Eilam, in what is now Iran. Back then, it was called Bavel (Babylonia). It was part of the empire ofPersia and Media.Click here for a map of the area as it looked then. Susa is all the way at the bottom right of the map.
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On the third day Esther appeared before the king, who received her graciously and promised to grant her request whatever it might be. She then asked him and Aman to dine with her. At the banquet they accepted her invitation to dine with her again on the following day. Aman, carried away by the joy that this honour gave him, issued orders for the erection of a gallows on which he purposed to hang the hated Mardochai. But that night the king, being sleepless, ordered the chronicles of the nation to be read to him. Learning that Mardochai had never been rewarded for his service in revealing the plot of the eunuchs, he asked Aman, the next day, to suggest a suitable reward for one "whom the king desired to honour". Thinking it was himself that the king had in mind, Aman suggested the use of the king's apparel and insignia.
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Queen Esther was given the house of Haman. Mordecai, earlier in the Book of Esther, had been given a place of power in the kingdom due to his trustworthiness. Another decree was made that Jews were allowed to fight and slay their enemies.
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A 2006 movie about Esther and Ahasuerus, entitled One Night with the King, stars Tiffany Dupont and Luke Goss. It was based on the novel Hadassah: One Night with the King by Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen.
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King Xerxes then called over several guards and told them what Esther had said. The guards were immediately dispatched to find the servant, who fearfully confirmed Esther’s story (he didn’t think it too wise to lie to the King when questioned directly about the plot).
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