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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Esther 7:7 - 7:7
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The king in his wrath arose from the banquet of wine, and went into the garden of the house (קָם is here a pregnant expression, and is also combined with אֶל־גִּנַּת); but Haman remained standing to beg for his life to Queen Esther (עַל בִּקֵּשׁ as in Est 4:8), “for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king” (כָּלָה, completed, i.e., determined; comp. 1Sa 20:7, 1Sa 20:9; 1Sa 25:17, and elsewhere); and hence that he had no mercy to expect from him, unless the queen should intercede for him.
Est 7:8
The king returned to the house, and found Haman falling (נֹפֵל as in Jos 8:10; Deu 21:1, and elsewhere) at or on the couch on which Esther was (sitting), i.e., falling as a suppliant at her feet; and crediting Haman in the heat of his anger with the worst designs, he cried out: “Shall also violence be done to the queen before me in the house?” The infin. לִכְבֹּושׁ after the interrogatory particle signifies: Is violence to be done, i.e., shall violence be done? as in 1Ch 15:2 and elsewhere; comp. Ewald, §237, c. כָּבַשׁ, to tread under foot, to subdue, used here in the more general sense, to offer violence. Without waiting for an explanation, the king, still more infuriated, passes sentence of death upon Haman. This is not given in so many words by the historian, but we are told immediately that: “as the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.” הַדָּבָר is not the speech of the king just reported, but the judicial sentence, the death warrant, i.e., the word to punish Haman with death. This is unmistakeably shown by the further statement: they covered Haman's face. The subject is indefinite: the attendants present. To cover the face was indeed to begin to carry the sentence of death into execution. With respect to this custom, expositors appeal to Curtius, vi. 8. 22: Philetam - capite velato in regiam adducunt; and Cicero, pro C. Rabirio iv. 13: I lictor, colliga manus, caput obnubito, arbori infelici suspendito.
Est 7:9-10
Then said Harbonah (already mentioned Est 1:10), one of the eunuchs before the king, i.e., who held office before the king: “Behold also the tree which Haman made (comp. Est 5:14) stands in the house of Haman.” גַּם points to the fact that the other eunuchs had already brought forward various particulars concerning Haman's crime. Mordochai, who had spoken good for the king, viz., when he gave information of the conspiracy, Est 2:22; Est 6:2. On this tree the king ordered that Haman should be hanged, and this sentence was executed without delay. - “And the king's wrath was pacified.” With this remark the narrative of this occurrence is closed, and the history pursues its further course as follows.