Esther 7:7-10--Haman Is Hanged

Esther 7:7-10
English Standard Version

Haman Is Hanged
7 And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king. 8 And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman's face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman's house, fifty cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.

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Recall the Queen Esther has just revealed Haman's plot to the king and revealed that this means that she and her family will be killed by the end of the year according to the law made in the king's name by Haman.  Since the law was written in the king's name and signed with the king's signet ring, the law irrevocable according to the law of the Medes and the Persians.  The king is angry when he hears that Esther's life is in danger (along with her family) and that there is seemingly nothing he can do to save here.  He leaves the party to go out to the royal gardens to think, and Haman spends the whole time the king is gone pleading with Queen Esther for his life, for he realizes now that his life is forfeit.

​The king comes back to see Haman falling on the queen to beg for mercy, but to him, it looks like Haman is trying to sexually assault the queen.  The king was already enraged and in the heat of the moment, he didn't need to see anything else.  He pronounced summary judgment that Haman must die for the way he was acting towards the queen in the king's house and in the king's presence.

One of the king's eunuchs remembers the 50-cubit gallows that Haman had built--likely because he had just seen them when he went to retrieve Haman so he wouldn't be late for Esther's party.  Seventy-five feet tall structures may not seem very impressive to us today, but I'd imagine that Haman meant it to be the tallest thing around so that everyone could see it and watch him hang Mordecai.  Now the king will order Haman to be hung on his own gallows.  While this is the point in the play where the Jewish children usually start cheering because Haman has gotten what's coming to him, the good news is not over yet.  The king's answer has abated, but Esther is not done asking for the king to grant her and her people relief from what Haman plotted.  The date is still set on the calendar for the extermination of the Jewish people and something must be done to save them!  We'll talk about that next time!