The Book of the Holy Rosary: Part III, Chapter XI. Scripture Types of the Fifth Glorious Mystery: The Raising of Esther to the Royal Throne of Persia; The Intercession of Queen Esther for Her People
1. The elevation of the Virgin Esther from a low estate to be Queen of the Persian Empire.
The especial charm of the beautiful figure with which we bring to a conclusion our series of types, taken from the former Covenant of God, as shadowing the mysteries of the New Christian Covenant, is by no means limited to the singular completeness of the parallel, in which, so far as things terrestrial can be compared with things celestial, the history of Esther appears almost an anticipation of that of Mary. It may much rather be taken to consist in the consoling light which it throws on the great characteristic of the Divine dealings with men, which we cannot understand too clearly—namely, that in every act of the Divine choice, whereby God exalts particular persons to high honour and dignity, there is contained the purpose, that the persons so chosen are to be ministers, in a corresponding degree, of great mercies and benefits to their fellows. The higher the dignity to which God raises any one of His intelligent creatures, the greater the service He requires the person so exalted to render to his or her compeers. And as God could raise no created intelligence, whether human or angelic, to a higher dignity than that which gives to Mary the indescribably marvellous right to say to one of the Divine Persons of the ever-blessed Trinity, Son, so God has intended Mary to become, in consequence of her exaltation, the minister in a corresponding degree of such great and wonderful mercies and benefits to all her fellow creatures, as would not have been otherwise given to them. The higher the dignity and the more signal the honour, the greater the mercies and the more wonderful the benefits which God has designed shall therein accrue to His creation through the person invested with them. To rejoice, therefore, in the glorious exaltation of the ever-blessed Virgin, Mother of God, as the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary teaches us to do, is thus, in another sense, to be taught to praise and bless God for the wonderful depth of the love and mercy which He has shown to us in it; there being, as we must ever be careful to bear in mind, an indefeasible connection between the supreme honour and exaltation which the humble Virgin of Juda has received, and the mercies and benefits which this very honour at once both enables and also pledges her to procure for us.
Thus St Bernard says, “Consider most deeply with what an affection of devotion God has willed that she should be honoured by us, when He has placed the fulness of every good in Mary, so that if there is in us any hope, any grace, anything of salvation, we may know that it flows to us from her, who herself ‘came up flowing with delights,’ a very garden of sweets, over which not only did the Divine south wind blow, but penetrated through and through, so that its sweet perfumes were made to flow and flow over on all sides; that is, her excellent gifts and graces. Take away the orb of the sun which gives light to this world, and where have you the day? Take away Mary, this Star of the sea, the great and mighty sea, and what have we left but clouds and thick darkness and the shadow of death” (Sermon on the Nativity).
It is precisely this beautiful truth, that the exaltation of the Blessed Mary is for us and for our benefit, which shines throughout the type and figure of Queen Esther, and her singular providential exaltation to the imperial throne of the Persian Empire, and forms, as we may say, its pre-eminent charm and instructiveness. “Who knows,” as Mardocheus pleaded with Esther, “that thou art not therefore come to the kingdom, that thou mightest be ready for such a time as this?” (Esther iv. 14). Who that believes will not exult in the inmost depths of his heart, and rejoice with all his might that it has pleased God to make choice of the lowly and humble Virgin of Nazareth, and to place her upon a throne at His own right hand, crowned with the crown of a kingdom of which there is no end, a kingdom that rules supreme and uncontested over angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, and the whole universe of the intelligent creatures of God, on the understanding that she is at all times to be ready to use all her marvellous power and dignity to plead with the better effect on behalf of the wants and sufferings of the exiled children of Eve! The history of Queen Esther, as it may be briefly related from the Sacred Scripture, is as follows:—It happened in the empire of the Medes and Persians, in the reign of Assuerus (Artexerxes Longimanus, of the Greek historians), that Vashti the queen gave such great offence to the king and his princes, that they all with one mind advised that she should be deposed. She accordingly was deposed, and a number of the most beautiful maidens were brought together from various parts of the empire, in order that from among them, the king might select his queen to take the place of Vashti. Among these maidens there was one Esther, a niece of Mardocheus, a Jewess of the captivity of Nabuchodonosor, and she was beautiful beyond all belief, and most gracious and amiable in the eyes of all. She was brought to the chamber of the king, on the tenth month which is called Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. And the king loved her above all the other women, and placed the diadem of the kingdom on her head, and caused her to reign in the place of Vashti. And on the occasion of the coronation of his queen, he gave rest to all the provinces of his kingdom, and distributed gifts with princely profusion.
2. Queen Esther uses her royal power of intercession to save her own people, and to crush the head of their adversary.
The circumstances which called Queen Esther’s power of intercession into play, to save her own people and crush the head of their adversary, were as follows:—About the time of her coronation, one Aman an Amalekite was taken so highly into the king’s favour, that all the princes and servants of the king bent their knees and did homage to Aman, for so the king had commanded them. Mardocheus alone did not bend the knee. Aman was so filled with indignation at this, that he counted it as nothing to lay hands on Mardocheus alone, but hearing that he was of the nation of the Jews, he chose to destroy all the Jews that were in the empire.
For this end he went to the king, and speaking against the Jews as a people that had laws different from all other people, and who were noted for being rebellious against kings, he obtained from the king a decree, authorising that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the people of the empire should everywhere rise up and massacre the Jews, and make a spoil of their goods. Couriers were sent out with letters to this effect, and the decree was hung up in Susa, the king and Aman feasting together, and all the Jews that were in the city weeping.
Mardocheus at once bethought himself of their resource in Queen Esther’s intercession, and sent to her intelligence of what had come to pass. Queen Esther answered, that he must know that it would be death to her to go into the inner palace to the king, except the king should hold out the golden sceptre in token of clemency; and that she had not been called to the king for thirty days. But Mardocheus insisted, and said, “Do not think that thou shalt save thine own life only because thou art in the king’s house above all other Jews, for if thou shouldst keep silence, the Jews shall be delivered by some other way, and thou and the house of thy father shall perish. AND WHO KNOWS whether THOU ART NOT THEREFORE COME TO THE KINGDOM THAT THOU MIGHTEST BE READY for such a time as this?” Queen Esther replied, that she would expose herself to danger and death for her people, but that Mardocheus must not fail to gather all the Jews of Susa together to offer up prayers for her for three days. On the third day, Esther having herself fasted and prayed, attired herself, and trembling as she went, presented herself to the king. The king seeing her pale with terror, extended the golden sceptre, saying, “What hast thou, Esther? I am thy brother, be not afraid, thou shalt not die. For not for thee, but for all others has this law been made. Come hither, and touch the sceptre.” And kissing her, he said, “Why dost thou not speak to me?” Esther then asked the king to come with Aman to a banquet which she had prepared, to which he punctually came, bringing Aman with him.
In the meantime, other events were ripening. Aman had at the advice of his friends constructed a gibbet fifty cubits high, intending to obtain an order of the king that Mardocheus should be hanged upon it. But as he went into the king to obtain the order, he was to his dismay commanded to go before Mardoeheus, arrayed in royal robes, leading his horse, and crying out, “Thus shall be honoured the man whom the king delighteth to honour.” Aman did not dare to disobey, and when he had done as the king commanded, he went to his house mourning, and having his head covered. Now the Queen had not thought the time fully come to prefer her request at her first banquet, but had asked the king to come with Aman to a second banquet, and it was now time for Aman to go with the king to it. At this banquet, when the king, warm with wine, had asked the queen what was her petition, Esther said, “If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please thee, give me my life for which I ask, and my people for whom I request. For we are given up, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. And would God that we were sold for bondmen and bondwomen, the evil might be borne with, and I would have mourned in silence; but now we have an enemy whose cruelty redoundeth against the king.” And the king said, “Who is this, and of what power that he should do these things?” And Esther said, “It is this Aman that is our adversary and most wicked enemy!”
In vain, after these words of the queen, did Aman fall on his knees before her to beg for mercy. The servants of the king covered his face and hurried him off to hang him on the gibbet which he had made ready for Mardocheus. Queen Esther, after this again, fell before the king, and implored that letters might be written and sent off, reversing the former letters against the Jews which Aman had obtained. Her intercession prevailed, and when the danger to the Jews was over, Mardocheus and Esther wrote letters to the Jews that the 14th and 15th of the month Ador should be kept with solemn honour, for perpetual remembrance as holy days, for on those days the Lord had turned their sorrow into mirth and joy, through the prayer, that is, of Esther the queen, the type of the Blessed Mary, both in her exaltation and in her powerful intercession.
“O glorious Virgin!” is St Anselm’s prayer, “who didst submit to death, but couldst not be bound by the bands of death, for thou, Virgin though thou art, wast the Mother of Him who was the Death of death and the Conqueror of the grave; aid me by thy death and the joys of thy Assumption into heaven, that I may spend the remainder of my life by thy help in faith unfeigned, and happily accomplish the end of my life, prostrate with tears to the earth in sackcloth and ashes, in the penitent confession of my sins, and, what is of still greater moment, in the confession of the name of Christ, in the receiving of His body and blood, and in the commendation of my spirit into the hands of His mercy. Pray for me, O holy Mother of God! that I who, conscious of a multitude of sins, look forward in fear and trembling to stand before the tribunal of Thy Son, may, through thy venerable intercession, rejoice to be cleansed from all my transgressions by a true compunction of heart, and the grace of a devout confession obtained through thee. May my soul be never again stained with the stain of sin, but through the merits of thy most healing Nativity, Annunciation, thy most holy virgin maternity, most chaste purification, and most glorious Assumption, may I obtain to be presented with a clean heart and a chaste body in the lofty palace of heaven, where thou dost gloriously rejoice, Queen of angels and of men, and Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. Help me in my transgressions, O Mother of mercy! by obtaining through thy Virgin prayers, the pardon of my sins from thy sweet Son Jesus Christ, who, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth, one God, blessed for ever, world without end” (St Anselm’s Prayers, No. lx.)
“O Mother of my God, and my Lady Mary!” is the prayer of another holy saint and Doctor of the Universal Church, “as a beggar all wounded and sore presents himself before a great queen, so do I present myself before thee, who art the Queen of Heaven and Earth. From the lofty throne on which thou sittest, disdain not, I implore thee, to cast thine eyes upon me, a poor sinner. God has made thee so rich that thou mightest assist the poor, and has constituted thee Queen of mercy in order that thou mightest relieve the miserable. Behold, me, then, and pity me! behold me, and abandon me not until thou seest me changed from a sinner into a saint. I know well that I merit nothing; nay, more, that I deserve on account of my ingratitude to be deprived of the graces which through thy means I have already received from God. But thou, who art the Queen of mercy, seekest not merits but miseries, in order to help the needy. Now, who is more needy than I?” (St Alphonsus Liguori, Glories of Mary, ch. i. § 1.)