Context No. 785 of 4322 · Esther (Greek)

Esther (Greek) 7:6-10: in context

6Esther said, “The enemy is Haman, this wicked man!” Then Haman was terrified in the presence of the king and the queen. 7The king rose up from the banquet to go into the garden. Haman began to beg the queen for mercy, for he saw that he was in serious trouble. 8The king returned from the garden; and Haman had fallen upon the couch, begging the queen for mercy. The king said, “Will you even assault my wife in my house?” And when Haman heard it, he changed countenance. 9And Bugathan, one of the chamberlains, said to the king, “Behold, Haman has also prepared a gallows for Mordecai, who spoke concerning the king, and a fifty cubit high gallows has been set up on Haman’s property.” The king said, “Let him be hanged on it!” 10So Haman was hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was abated.

Esther has waited through two banquets, and now, when the king asks a third time what she wants, she lays it out. There is a plot to destroy her and her people, she says, and when the king demands to know who dared such a thing, she names him: the enemy is this wicked Haman. Haman, the second man in the empire a moment ago, is suddenly terrified in front of the king and queen. The king storms out to the garden, and Haman, desperate, throws himself down on the couch where Esther is reclining to beg her for his life. The king walks back in, sees him sprawled over the queen, and takes it for an assault. That is the end of any mercy.

And then the instrument of Haman's malice is named. A servant mentions that Haman has built a gallows, fifty cubits high, standing ready at his own house, for Mordecai, the very man who had once saved the king's life. Hang him on it, the king says. So Haman is hanged on the gallows he built for someone else. The whole book has been quietly arranging this reversal: the pit dug for another swallowing the one who dug it, the trap set for Mordecai snapping shut on Haman. He spent his rage building a device to destroy an enemy, and it turned out he was building it for himself.

Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built for someone else. What harm have I been carefully preparing for another, without noticing that I may be building it for myself?

Sources

Esther 5:9-14: Haman building the fifty-cubit gallows for Mordecai on his wife's advice
Psalm 7:15-16: he digs a pit and falls into it; his mischief returns on his own head
Proverbs 26:27: whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and the stone rolls back on the one who starts it