Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Esther 7:7 - 7:10

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Esther 7:7 - 7:10


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Haman Hanged on his own Gallows

v. 7. And the king, arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath, went into the palace garden,
for he was so filled with agitation that he must needs take a turn in the royal park. And Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther, the queen, for he realized that this was his one chance of salvation; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king, that sentence upon him had virtually been pronounced.

v. 8. Then the king returned out of the palace garden,
where he had gone to recover from the first burst of anger, into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. In his importunate pleading for his life he had kneeled down before Esther and had then fallen forward with the upper part of his body on the sofa on which Esther reclined at the meal. Then said the king, now altogether beside himself with anger, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? The king took this act of Haman's to be an outrage on the modesty of the queen and a serious offense against the respect due to himself. As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face, it being the custom to veil the face of a condemned criminal as no longer worthy of looking at the king.

v. 9. And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king,
in revealing the plot against the king's life, standeth in the house of of Haman. His words suggested, of course, that it was more fit for Haman to be hanged on the high gallows which he had erected than for Mordecai. Then the king said, Hang him thereon.

v. 10. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai,
his feet thus being taken in the net which he had hidden for another, Psa_9:15. Then was the king's wrath pacified. That is the final fate of the enemies of the Church, a dreadful and terrible end, in the depths of shame and disgrace.