9 And Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, saith before the king, `Also lo, the tree that Haman made for Mordecai, who spake good for the king, is standing in the house of Haman, in height fifty cubits;' and the king saith, `Hang him upon it.'
A pit he hath prepared, and he diggeth it, And he falleth into a ditch he maketh. Return doth his perverseness on his head, And on his crown his violence cometh down.
The righteousness of the perfect maketh right his way, And by his wickedness doth the wicked fall. The righteousness of the upright delivereth them, And in mischief the treacherous are captured.
And Zeresh his wife saith to him, and all his friends, `Let them prepare a tree, in height fifty cubits, and in the morning speak to the king, and they hang Mordecai on it, and go thou in with the king unto the banquet rejoicing;' and the thing is good before Haman, and he prepareth the tree.
Meet him doth desolation -- he knoweth not, And his net that he hid catcheth him, For desolation he falleth into it.
On the seventh day, as the heart of the king is glad with wine, he hath said to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who are ministering in the presence of the king Ahasuerus,
How have they become a desolation as in a moment, They have been ended -- consumed from terrors.
And the king hath said, and they have brought those men who had accused Daniel, and to the den of lions they have cast them, they, their sons, and their wives; and they have not come to the lower part of the den till that the lions have power over them, and all their bones they have broken small.
Taken counsel have all the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects, and the satraps, the counsellors, and the governors, to establish a royal statute, and to strengthen an interdict, that any who seeketh a petition from any god and man until thirty days, save of thee, O king, is cast into a den of lions.
and David runneth and standeth over the Philistine, and taketh his sword, and draweth it out of its sheath, and putteth him to death, and cutteth off with it his head; and the Philistines see that their hero `is' dead, and flee.
I have seen the wicked terrible, And spreading as a green native plant, And he passeth away, and lo, he is not, And I seek him, and he is not found!
Overtake him as waters do terrors, By night stolen him away hath a whirlwind. Take him up doth an east wind, and he goeth, And it frighteneth him from his place, And it casteth at him, and doth not spare, From its hand he diligently fleeth. It clappeth at him its hands, And it hisseth at him from his place.
and in her coming in before the king, he said with the letter, `Let his evil device that he devised against the Jews turn back upon his own head,' and they have hanged him and his sons on the tree,
and it is found written that Mordecai had declared concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs of the king, of the keepers of the threshold, who sought to put forth a hand on king Ahasuerus.
In those days, when Mordecai is sitting in the gate of the king, hath Bigthan been wroth, and Teresh, (two of the eunuchs of the king, the keepers of the threshold,) and they seek to put forth a hand on king Ahasuerus, and the thing is known to Mordecai, and he declareth `it' to Esther the queen, and Esther speaketh to the king in the name of Mordecai, and the thing is sought out, and found, and they are hanged both of them on a tree, and it is written in the book of the Chronicles before the king.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Esther 7
Commentary on Esther 7 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Haman's Downfall and Ruin - Esther 7:1-10
At this second banquet the king again inquired of the queen what was her petition, when she entreated that her life and that of her people might be spared, for that she and her people were sold to destruction (Esther 7:1-4). The king, evidently shocked at such a petition, asked who was the originator of so evil a deed, and Esther named the wicked Haman as the enemy (Esther 7:5, Esther 7:6). Full of indignation at such a crime, the king rose from the banquet and went into the garden; Haman then fell down before the queen to entreat for his life. When the king returned to the house, he saw Haman lying on the couch on which Esther was sitting, and thinking that he was offering violence to the queen, he passed sentence of death upon him, and caused him to be hanged on the tree he had erected for Mordochai (Esther 7:7-10).
The king and Haman came to drink ( לשׁתּות ), i.e., to partake of the משׁתּה , in the queen's apartment.
Esther 7:2-4
At this banquet of wine the king asked again on the second day, as he had done on the first (Esther 5:6): What is thy petition, Queen Esther, etc.? Esther then took courage to express her petition. After the usual introductory phrases (Esther 7:3 like Esther 5:8), she replied: “Let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.” For, she adds as a justification and reason for such a petition, “we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. And if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had been silent, for the enemy is not worth the king's damage.” In this request עמּי is a short expression for: the life of my people, and the preposition ב , the so-called בּ pretii . The request is conceived of as the price which she offers or presents for her life and that of her people. The expression נמכּרנוּ , we are sold, is used by Esther with reference to the offer of Haman to pay a large sum into the royal treasury for the extermination of the Jews, Esther 3:9; Esther 4:7. אלּוּ , contracted after Aramaean usage from לוּ אם , and occurring also Ecclesiastes 6:6, supposes a case, the realization of which is desired, but not to be expected, the matter being represented as already decided by the use of the perfect. The last clause, וגו הצּר אין כּי , is by most expositors understood as a reference, on the part of Esther, to the financial loss which the king would incur by the extermination of the Jews. Thus Rambach, e.g., following R. Sal. ben Melech, understands the meaning expressed to be : hostis nullo modo aequare, compensare, resarcire potest pecunia sua damnum, quod rex ex nostro excidio patitur . So also Cler. and others. The confirmatory clause would in this case refer not to החרשׁתּי , but to a negative notion needing completion: but I dare not be silent; and such completion is itself open to objection. To this must be added, that שׁוה in Kal constructed with בּ does not signify compensare , to equalize, to make equal, but to be equal; consequently the Piel should be found here to justify the explanation proposed. שׁוה in Kal constructed with בּ signifies to be of equal worth with something, to equal another thing in value. Hence Gesenius translates: the enemy does not equal the damage of the king, i.e., is not in a condition to compensate the damage. But neither when thus viewed does the sentence give any reason for Esther's statement, that she would have been silent, if the Jews had been sold for salves. Hence we are constrained, with Bertheau, to take a different view of the words, and to give up the reference to financial loss. נזק , in the Targums, means not merely financial, but also bodily, personal damage; e.g., Psalms 91:7; Genesis 26:11, to do harm, 1 Chronicles 16:22. Hence the phrase may be understood thus: For the enemy is not equal to, is not worth, the damage of the king, i.e., not worthy that I should annoy the king with my petition. Thus Esther says, Esther 7:4 : The enemy has determined upon the total destruction of my people. If he only intended to bring upon them grievous oppression, even that most grievous oppression of slavery, I would have been silent, for the enemy is not worthy that I should vex or annoy the king by my accusation.
Esther 7:5
The king, whose indignation was excited by what he had just heard, asks with an agitation, shown by the repetition of the ויּאמר : “Who is he, and where is he, whose heart hath filled him (whom his heart hath filled) to do so?” Evil thoughts proceed from the heart, and fill the man, and impel him to evil deeds: Isaiah 44:20; Ecclesiastes 8:11; Matthew 15:19.
Esther 7:6
Esther replies: “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.” Then was Haman afraid before the king and the queen. נבעת as in 1 Chronicles 21:30; Daniel 8:17.
The king in his wrath arose from the banquet of wine, and went into the garden of the house ( קם is here a pregnant expression, and is also combined with אל־גּנּת ); but Haman remained standing to beg for his life to Queen Esther ( על בּקּשׁ as in Esther 4:8), “for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king” ( כּלה , completed, i.e., determined; comp. 1 Samuel 20:7, 1 Samuel 20:9; 1 Samuel 25:17, and elsewhere); and hence that he had no mercy to expect from him, unless the queen should intercede for him.
Esther 7:8
The king returned to the house, and found Haman falling ( נפל as in Joshua 8:10; Deuteronomy 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 . לכבּושׁ after the interrogatory particle signifies: Is violence to be done, i.e., shall violence be done? as in 1 Chronicles 15:2 and elsewhere; comp. Ewald, §237, c . כּבשׁ , 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.” הדּבר 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 .