Esther7
New Living Translation
1So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet.
2On this second occasion, while they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “Tell me what you want, Queen Esther. What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!”
3Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared.
4For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had merely been sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that would be too trivial a matter to warrant disturbing the king.”
5“Who would do such a thing?” King Xerxes demanded. “Who would be so presumptuous as to touch you?”
6Esther replied, “This wicked Haman is our adversary and our enemy.” Haman grew pale with fright before the king and queen.
7Then the king jumped to his feet in a rage and went out into the palace garden. Haman, however, stayed behind to plead for his life with Queen Esther, for he knew that the king intended to kill him.
8In despair he fell on the couch where Queen Esther was reclining, just as the king was returning from the palace garden. The king exclaimed, “Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes?” And as soon as the king spoke, his attendants covered Haman’s face, signaling his doom.
9Then Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Haman has set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall in his own courtyard. He intended to use it to impale Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination.” “Then impale Haman on it!” the king ordered.
10So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Esther 7.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Esther accuses Haman. (1–6). Haman hanged on his own gallows. (7–10).
vv1-6
If the love of life causes earnest pleadings with those that can only kill the body, how fervent should our prayers be to Him, who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell! How should we pray for the salvation of our relatives, friends, and all around us! When we petition great men, we must be cautious not to give them offence; even just complaints must often be kept back. But when we approach the King of kings with reverence, we cannot ask or expect too much. Though nothing but wrath be our due, God is able and willing to do exceeding abundantly, even beyond all we can ask or think.
vv7-10
The king was angry: those that do things with self-will, reflect upon them afterward with self-reproach. When angry, we should pause before we come to any resolution, and thus rule our own spirits, and show that we are governed by reason. Those that are most haughty and insolent when in power and prosperity, commonly, like Haman, are the most abject and poor-spirited when brought down. The day is coming when those that hate and persecute God's chosen ones, would gladly be beholden to them. The king returns yet more angry against Haman. Those about him were ready to put his wrath into execution. How little can proud men be sure of the interest they think they have! The enemies of God's church have often been thus taken in their own craftiness. The Lord is known by such judgments. Then was the king's wrath pacified, and not till then. And who pities Haman hanged on his own gallows? who does not rather rejoice in the Divine righteousness displayed in the destruction his own art brought upon him? Let the workers of iniquity tremble, turn to the Lord, and seek pardon through the blood of Jesus.
Key Words
מֶלֶךְ: a king
הָמָן: Haman, a Persian vizier
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
שָׁתָה: to imbibe (literally or figuratively)
מַלְכָּה: a queen
אֶסְתֵּר: Ester, the Jewish heroine
שֵׁנִי: properly, double, i.e. second; also adverbially, again
יוֹם: a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)
מִשְׁתֶּה: drink, by implication, drinking (the act); also (by implication) a banquet or (generally) feast
יַיִן: wine (as fermented); by implication, intoxication
Cross References
Esther 7Harbonah notes the gallows fifty cubits high that Haman had previously prepared for Mordecai.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Esther's phrase 'we are sold' directly references Haman's offer of ten thousand talents to destroy them.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Poetic justice of the wicked being caught in the net and pit they prepared for others.
Supported by JFB
The king repeats his banquet offer of petition to Esther, up to half his kingdom.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Harbonah was one of the chamberlains sent to bring Haman to the banquet.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein; Haman is hanged on his own gallows.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Esther contrasts their total destruction with being sold as bondmen and bondwomen.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Refers to Mordecai's loyalty in saving the king, which Harbonah brings to the king's attention.
Supported by Matthew Poole