And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, What [is] thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what [is] thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.
Ver. 6. And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine] Which seemeth to have been after the other banquet of dainties and sweetmeats, during which they drank water. Only the king had aurum potabile, a golden water prepared, which he and his eldest son alone might drink; and none else might taste of it on pain of death, των δε αλλων εαν τις πιη θανατον η ζημια (Athenaeus). At this latter banquet they drank wine freely one to another; and, inter poculorum laetitiam, as Josephus hath it, Eν τω πατω, Inter pocula, when his heart was now merry within him, after he had drunk wine abundantly, as the Latin hath it, the king said unto Esther,
What is thy petition? to the half of the kingdom] The promise the king reneweth, as supposing that Esther durst not propose her request because of the greatness of the matter; and assuring her that she should have it, though never so great. And saith not the God of heaven as much to his servants and suppliants? Isa 45:11 Jeremiah 33:3. Why, then, stand they off in a sinful shamefacedness, and improve not to the utmost this divine indulgence, this precious privilege? why say they not with Luther (who well understood the latitude of this royal charter), Fiat mea voluntas, Let my will be done: my will, I say, because the same with thine, Lord? why do they not grow upon God, and work upon his promise (which is so exceeding broad, Psa 119:96), as David did? 1 Chronicles 17:23,25; he goes over it again, and yet still encroacheth, 1 Chronicles 17:26; he presseth and oppresseth it, till he hath expressed the sweetness out of it, and so we have all good leave to do, Isaiah 66:11, even to suck and be satisfied by those full-strutting breasts of divine consolation. But what mean those foul great babies, the Papists, to pray the Virgin Mary to exhibit unto them the breasts of her grace? &c. And what frontless blasphemers are they to say, that God the Father hath shared his kingdom with her; keeping his justice to himself, and giving his mercy to her to dispose of? And this, say they, that they may not seem to be mad without reason, was prefigured by Ahasuerus's saying to Esther, I will grant thy request to the half of my kingdom.