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Haman Hanged
Esther 7.1-10
Good News Translation (GNT)
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1 And so the king and Haman went to eat with
Esther
2 for a second time. Over the wine the king
asked her again, "Now, Queen Esther, what
do you want? Tell me and you shall have it.
I'll even give you half the empire."
3 Queen Esther answered, "If it please Your
Majesty to grant my humble request, my wish
is that I may live and that my people may live.
4 My people and I have been sold for slaughter.
If it were nothing more serious than being sold
into slavery, I would have kept quiet and not
bothered you about it; [a] but we are about to
be destroyed-exterminated!"
5 Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther,
"Who dares to do such a thing?
Where is this man?"
6 Esther answered, "Our enemy, our persecutor,
is this evil man Haman!"
Haman faced the king and queen with terror.
7 The king got up in a fury, left the room, and
went outside to the palace gardens.
Haman could see that the king was
determined to punish him for this, so he
stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
8 He had just thrown himself down on Esther's
couch to beg for mercy, when the king
came back into the room from the gardens.
Seeing this, the king cried out, "Is this man
going to rape the queen right here in front of
me, in my own palace?"
The king had no sooner said this than the
eunuchs covered Haman's head.
9 Then one of them, who was named Harbonah,
said, "Haman even went so far as to build a
gallows at his house so that he could hang
Mordecai, who saved Your Majesty's life.
And it's seventy-five feet tall!"
"Hang Haman on it!" the king commanded.
10 So Haman was hanged on the gallows that he
had built for Mordecai.
Then the king's anger cooled down.
Footnotes
Esther 7:4 Probable text and not ... it;
Hebrew unclear.
Esther 9.20-22
Good News Translation (GNT)
The Festival of Purim
20 Mordecai had these events written down and
sent letters to all the Jews, near and far,
throughout the Persian Empire,
21 telling them to observe the fourteenth
and fifteenth days of Adar as holidays every
year.
22 These were the days on which the Jews
had rid themselves of their enemies; this was
a month that had been turned from a time of
grief and despair into a time of joy and
happiness. They were told to observe these
days with feasts and parties, giving gifts
of food to one another and to the poor.
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Taken from 'word-on-the-web' supplied by the
Scripture Union
Esther 7.1-10
Haman Hanged
Esther had no choice - she would either die at the will of the king, or die as a result of Haman's evil plans for the Jews (v 3).
God had put her in position for this moment, to save his people (4:14).
Boldly she identifies herself ('my people').
The truth gradually sinks in for Xerxes.
Esther and her people had been sold for Haman's profit, then set up for annihilation
(v 4; 3:11).
As a Jewess, Xerxes' beloved queen Esther was also affected by Haman's threat.
The King's anger again works to advance God's story
Persian protocol meant that Haman should have stood away from the queen, or even have left the room when Xerxes did so (v 7).
In his confusion and desperation Haman is the one begging for his life as he falls before Esther - and it makes things even worse for him (v 8).
The unpopular, arrogant Haman is 'hoist with his own petard' (vs 9, 10)!
God has worked his purposes out.
Only Queen Esther knew the true purpose of her second banquet.
She was awaiting the right opportunity to present her case for justice for her people.
It came during pre-dinner drinks!
The king reiterated both his curiosity and continued favour towards her - perhaps in exaggerated terms.
Esther courteously broached her concerns, courageously petitioning that her life be saved and her people spared.
In her short but passionate plea she publicly identified her national allegiance for the first time.
This let the king know that his queen, and not just her people, was in danger.
She labelled the unjust plan not as outright genocide but as an act of bribery with deadly consequences.
This enabled the culpability to be shifted from the king's edict to the plan's perpetrator.
Finally, she rationalised the issue as serious enough to warrant the king's attention and action.
Xerxes took the bait, responding with surprise, anger and a pointed question.
As the queen identified the villain and the king flew into a rage, Haman was terrified.
He must have wished he'd not been so keen to go to dinner with the royal couple!
During the king's brief absence, Haman took the humiliating course of pleading with the queen for his life, unwisely ignoring royal proximity protocols.
On returning, the already angry king discovered Haman in an apparently compromising position with his queen.
We have seen that Xerxes, usually an indecisive and malleable character, rarely took action without advice.
True to form, he rapidly responded to his attendant's convenient hint of a method of resolution.
The swift dispatch of Haman to the fate he intended for Mordecai dealt not only with the perceived impropriety, but also with the heinous plotter.
Poetic justice sometimes coincides with God's justice!
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