Sleep foils the king’s plan
1 Then the king, completely stubborn and filled with extreme rage and bitterness, called for Hermon the elephant keeper.
2
He ordered him to drug all the elephants—five hundred in number—with heaping handfuls of frankincense and much unmixed wine on the following day. When the abundant quantity of drink had driven them wild, Hermon was to bring them in so that the Jews might meet their doom.
3
When Ptolemy had given these commands, he went back to his partying, having gathered those of his friends and of the army who were especially hostile toward the Jews.
4
But Hermon the elephant keeper promptly began to carry out the orders.
5
The servants in charge of the Jews went out in the evening, bound the hands of those enduring this distress, and arranged for their continued custody through the night. They expected that the entire race would come to a ruinous end.
6
To the Gentiles it seemed that the Jews were entirely without refuge, since in their chains, distress surrounded them on every side.
7
But with persistent cries and tears they all called upon their almighty Lord and merciful God and father, who rules over every power. They continued to pray
8
that he would turn away the evil plot against them and rescue them with a glorious display of power from their impending fate.
9
So their prayer rose earnestly to heaven.
10
Now when Hermon had made the savage elephants drunk so that they were full of a great quantity of wine and drugged with frankincense, he came to the palace courtyard early in the morning to report to the king.
11
But God sent to the king a portion of sleep, the precious creation from before recorded time, granted night and day by the one who gives it generously to whomever he wishes.
12
By the Lord's doing, the king was overcome by a most pleasant and deep sleep, such that he utterly failed in his unlawful purpose and was completely cheated out of his stubborn plan.
13
And the Jews, having escaped the announced hour, praised their holy God and again prayed that the one who is quickly reconciled to his people would show the might of his exceedingly strong hand to the arrogant Gentiles.
14
When it was almost the middle of the tenth hour, the person in charge of the invitations, seeing that the guests were gathered, approached the king and nudged him
15
After waking him with some difficulty, he informed him that the time of the banquet was already slipping by, and gave him an account concerning the matter.
16
The king, after considering this, returned to his drinking and commanded those who were present at the banquet to recline across from him.
17
When this had been done, he urged the guests to give themselves over to feasting and to make up for the lost time by celebrating all the more now.
18
After the party had been going on for some time, the king called Hermon in and asked him, with angry threats, why the Jews had been permitted to remain alive through the present day.
19
But Hermon pointed out that he had fully carried out the orders at night, and his friends confirmed his story.
20
So the king, with a savagery worse than the tyrant Phalaris, said that the Jews could be grateful for today's sleep, but "Tomorrow," he said, "without delay, prepare the elephants in the same way for the destruction of the unseemly Jews."
21
So the king spoke, and when all those present gave their unanimous approval readily and joyfully, they all departed for their own homes.
22
But they didn't spend their night sleeping so much as devising all kinds of insults for those who seemed to be doomed.