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Esther 5 · a question people ask

"Even to the half of the kingdom" (5:3). Did the king mean it?

In the text

The chapter gives the king's words and doesn't say what he meant by them, and these notes don't guess. The words come twice here, "It shall be given you even to the half of the kingdom" (5:3) and "Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed" (5:6), and again at the second banquet (Esther 7:2). What the chapter does show is what Esther asked for: a banquet (5:4), then another (5:8). At the second she asks, "let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request" (Esther 7:3). The New Testament has close words from another king. Herod swore, "Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom" (Mark 6:23). Mark doesn't name Esther, and the two are set side by side for what they say; nothing more is claimed.

The verses

“The king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition, queen Esther? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.” Then Esther the queen answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.”
Esther 7:2-3 · World English Bible
“He swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.””
Mark 6:23 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Esther 5

Esther 5: All this avails me nothing

Offered "even to the half of the kingdom" (5:3), Esther asked for a banquet. Haman left it "joyful and glad of heart" (5:9), counted up his glory, told in the words of his promotion (3:1, 5:11), and said "all this avails me nothing" (5:13) so long as one man sat at the king's gate. The gallows was his wife's and friends' idea (5:14).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions