So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.
KJV
So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.
Commentary
Commentary
We are now to attend the second banquet to which the king and Haman
were invited: and there,
I. Esther presents her petition to the king for her life and the life
of her people, ver. 1-4 .
II. She plainly tells the king that Haman is the man who designed her
ruin and the ruin of all her friends, ver. 5, 6 .
III. The king thereupon gave orders for the hanging of Haman upon the
gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai, which was done accordingly, ver. 7-10 .
And thus, by the destruction of the plotter, a good step was taken
towards the defeating of the plot.
1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.
2 And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the
banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it
shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be
performed, even to the half of the kingdom.
3 Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found
favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my
life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:
4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be
slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and
bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not
countervail the king's damage.
5 Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the
queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his
heart to do so?
6 And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked
Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
The king in humour, and Haman out of humour, meet at Esther's table.
Now,
I. The king urged Esther, a third time, to tell him what her request
was, for he longed to know, and repeated his promise that it should be
granted, v. 2 .
If the king had now forgotten that Esther had an errand to him, and had
not again asked what it was, she could scarcely have known how to renew
it herself; but he was mindful of it, and now was bound with the
threefold cord of a promise thrice made to favour her.
II. Esther, at length, surprises the king with a petition, not for
wealth or honour, or the preferment of some of her friends to some high
post, which the king expected, but for the preservation of herself and
her countrymen from death and destruction, v. 3, 4 .
1. Even a stranger, a criminal, shall be permitted to petition for his
life; but that a friend, a wife, should have occasion to present such a
petition was very affecting: Let my life be given me at my petition,
and my people at my request. Two things bespeak lives to be very
precious, and fit to be saved, if innocent, at any expense:--
(1.) Majesty. If it be a crowned head that is struck at, it is time to
stir. Esther's was such: " Let my life be given me. If thou hast
any affection for the wife of thy bosom, now is the time to show it;
for that is the life that lies at stake."
(2.) Multitude. If they be many lives, very many, and those no way
forfeited, that are aimed at, no time should be lost nor pains spared
to prevent the mischief. "It is not a friend or two, but my
people, a whole nation, and a nation dear to me, for the saving of
which I now intercede."
2. To move the king the more she suggests,
(1.) That she and her people were bought and sold. They had not sold
themselves by any offence against the government, but were sold to
gratify the pride and revenge of one man.
(2.) That it was not their liberty only, but their lives that were
sold. "Had we been sold" (she says) "into slavery, I would not have
complained; for in time we might have recovered our liberty, thought eh
king would have made but a bad bargain of it, and not have increased
his wealth by our price. Whatever had been paid for us, the loss of so
many industrious hands out of his kingdom would have been more damage
to the treasury than the price would countervail." To persecute good
people is as impolitic as it is impious, and a manifest wrong to the
interests of princes and states; they are weakened and impoverished by
it. But this was not the case. We are sold (says she) to be
destroyed, to be slain, and to perish; and then it is time to
speak. She refers to the words of the decree
( ch. iii. 13 ),
which aimed at nothing short of their destruction; this would touch in
a tender part if there were any such in the king's heart, and would
bring him to relent.
III. The king stands amazed at the remonstrance, and asks
( v. 5 )
" Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do
so? What! contrive the murder of the queen and all her friends? Is
there such a man, such a monster rather, in nature? Who is he, and
where is he, whose heart has filled him to do so? " Or, Who hath filled his heart. He wonders,
1. That any one should be so bad as to think such a thing; Satan
certainly filled his heart.
2. That any one should be so bold as to do such a thing, should have
his heart so fully set in him to do wickedly, should be so very daring.
Note,
(1.) It is hard to imagine that there should be such horrid wickedness
committed in the world as really there is. Who, where is he, that
dares, presumes, to question the being of God and his providence, to
banter his oracles, profane his name, persecute his people, and yet bid
defiance to his wrath? Such there are, to think of whom is enough to
make horror take hold of us, Ps. cxix. 53 .
(2.) We sometimes startle at the mention of that evil which yet we
ourselves are chargeable with. Ahasuerus is amazed at that wickedness
which he himself is guilty of; for he consented to that bloody edict
against the Jews. Thou art the man, might Esther too truly have
said.
IV. Esther plainly charged Haman with it before his face: "Here he is,
let him speak for himself, for therefore he is invited: The
adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman ( v. 6 );
it is he that has designed our murder, and, which is worse, has basely
drawn the king in to be particeps criminis--a partaker of his
crime, ignorantly agreeing to it."
V. Haman is soon apprehensive of his danger: He was afraid before
the king and queen; and it was time for him to fear when the queen
was his prosecutor, the king his judge, and his own conscience a
witness against him; and the surprising operations of Providence
against him that same morning could not but increase his fear. Now he
has little joy of his being invited to the banquet of wine, but finds
himself in straits when he thought himself in the fulness of his
sufficiency. He is cast into a net by his own feet.
7 And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request
for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil
determined against him by the king.
8 Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the
place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed
whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen
also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's
mouth, they covered Haman's face.
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, standeth in the
house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon.
10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for
Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
Here,
I. The king retires in anger. He rose from table in a great passion,
and went into the palace garden to cool himself and to consider
what was to be done, v. 7 .
He sent not for his seven wise counsellors who knew the times, being ashamed to consult them about the undoing of that which he had
rashly done without their knowledge or advice; but he went to walk in
the garden awhile, to compare in his thoughts what Esther had now
informed him of with what had formerly passed between him and Haman.
And we may suppose him,
1. Vexed at himself, that he should be such a fool as to doom a
guiltless nation to destruction, and his own queen among the rest, upon
the base suggestions of a self-seeking man, without examining the truth
of his allegations. Those that do things with self-will reflect upon
them afterwards with self-reproach.
2. Vexed at Haman whom he had laid in his bosom, that he should be such
a villain as to abuse his interest in him to draw him to consent to so
wicked a measure. When he saw himself betrayed by one he had caressed
he was full of indignation at him; yet he would say nothing till he had
taken time for second thoughts, to see whether they would make the
matter better or worse than it first appeared, that he might proceed
accordingly. When we are angry we should pause awhile before we come to
any resolution, as those that have a rule over our own spirits and are governed by reason.
II. Haman becomes a humble petitioner to the queen for his life. He
might easily perceived by the king's hastily flying out of the room
that there was evil determined against him. For the wrath of
a king, such a king, is as the roaring of a lion and as messengers of death; and now see,
1. How mean Haman looks, when he stands up first and then falls down at
Esther's feet, to beg she would save his life and take all he had.
Those that are most haughty, insolent, and imperious, when they are in
power and prosperity, are commonly the most abject and poor-spirited
when the wheel turns upon them. Cowards, they say, are most cruel, and
then consciousness of their cruelty makes them the more cowardly.
2. How great Esther looks, who of late had been neglected and doomed
to the slaughter tanquam ovis--as a sheep; now her sworn enemy
owns that he lies at her mercy, a d begs his life at her hand. Thus did
God regard the low estate of his handmaiden and scatter the
proud in the imagination of their hearts, Luke i. 48, 51 .
Compare with this that promise made to the Philadelphian church
( Rev. iii. 9 ), I will make those of the synagogue of Satan to come and to worship
before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. The day is
coming when those that hate and persecute God's chosen ones would
gladly be beholden to them. Give us of your oil. Father Abraham,
send Lazarus. The upright shall have dominion in the morning.
III. The king returns yet more exasperated against Haman. The more he
thinks of him the worse he thinks of him and of what he had done. It
was but lately that every thing Haman said and did, even that which was
most criminal, was taken well and construed to his advantage; now, on
the contrary, what Haman did that was not only innocent, but a sign of
repentance, is ill taken, and, without colour of reason, construed to
his disadvantage. He lay in terror at Esther's feet, to beg for his
life. What! (says the king) will he force the queen also before me
in the house? Not that he thought he had any such intention, but
having been musing on Haman's design to slay the queen, and finding him
in this posture, he takes occasion from it thus to vent his passion
against Haman, as a man that would not scruple at the greatest and most
impudent piece of wickedness. "He designed to slay the queen, and to
slay her wish me in the house; will he in like manner force her?
What! ravish her first and then murder her? He that had a design upon
her life may well be suspected to have a design upon her chastity."
IV. Those about him were ready to be the instruments of his wrath. The
courtiers that adored Haman when he was the rising sun set themselves
as much against him now that he is a falling star, and are even glad of
an occasion to run him down: so little sure can proud men be of the
interest they think they have.
1. As soon as the king spoke an angry word they covered Haman's
face, as a condemned man, not worthy any more either to see the
king or to be seen by him; they marked him for execution. Those that
are hanged commonly have their faces covered. See how ready the
servants were to take the first hint of the king's mind in this matter. Turba Romae sequitur fortunam, et semper et odit damnatos--The Roman
populace change as the aspects of fortune do, and always oppress the
fallen. If Haman be going down, they all cry, "Down with him."
2. One of those that had been lately sent to Haman's house, to fetch
him to the banquet, informed the king of the gallows which Haman had
prepared for Mordecai, v. 9 .
Now that Mordecai is the favourite the chamberlain applauds him--he spoke good for the king; and, Haman being in disgrace, every
thing is taken notice of that might make against him, incense the king
against him, and fill up the measure of his iniquity.
V. The king gave orders that he should be hanged upon his own gallows,
which was done accordingly, nor was he so much as asked what he had to
say why this judgment should not be passed upon him and execution
awarded. The sentence is short-- Hang him thereon; and the
execution speedy-- So they hanged Haman on the gallows, v. 10 .
See here,
1. Pride brought down. He that expected every one to do him homage is
now made an ignominious spectacle to the world, and he himself
sacrificed to his revenge. God resists the proud; and those whom he
resists will find him irresistible.
2. Persecution punished. Haman was upon many accounts a wicked man,
but his enmity to God's church was his most provoking crime, and for that the God to whom vengeance belongs here reckons with him,
and, though his plot was defeated, gives him according to the
wickedness of his endeavours, Ps. xxviii. 4 .
3. Mischief returned upon the person himself that contrived it, the wicked snared in the work of his own hands, Ps. vii. 15, 16; ix. 15, 16 .
Haman was justly hanged on the very gallows he had unjustly prepared
for Mordecai. If he had not set up that gallows, perhaps the king would
not have thought of ordering him to be hanged; but, if he rear a
gallows for the man whom the king delights to honour, the
thought is very natural that he should be ordered to try it himself,
and see how it fits him, see how he likes it. The enemies of God's
church have often been thus taken in their own craftiness. In the
morning Haman was designing himself for the robes and Mordecai for the
gallows; but the tables are turned: Mordecai has the crown, Haman the
cross. The Lord is known by such judgments. See Prov. xi. 8; xxi. 18 .
Lastly, The satisfaction which the king had in this execution. Then was the king's wrath pacified, and not till then. He was as
well pleased in ordering Haman to be hanged as in ordering Mordecai to
be honoured. Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to
take vengeance on. God saith of wicked men
( Ezek. v. 13 ), I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be
comforted.
INTRODUCTION TO ESTHER 7
Esther, being solicited by the king to tell him her petition, asks for her life and the lives of her people, who were sold to be destroyed, Es 7:1, the king, amazed at her request, inquires who was the person that dared to do so vile a thing; and was told by her it was Haman there present, Es 7:5 on which the king went out into the garden in wrath, and, returning, found Haman on Esther's bed, which still more incensed him; and being told that Haman had prepared a gallows for Mordecai, the king ordered that he himself should be hanged upon it, which was done accordingly, Es 7:7.
Ver. 1. So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. Or, "to drink with her" {e}, that is, wine; for in the next verse it is called a banquet of wine; so they did according to the invitation the queen had given them, Es 5:8.
{e} twtvl "ut biberent", V. L. Tigurine version; "ad bibendum", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, Vatablus.
Esther 7:2
Ver. 2. And the king said again to Esther on the second day, at the banquet of wine,.... This was the third time he put the following question to her, being very desirous of knowing what she had to ask of him; and it was of God that this was kept upon his mind, and he was moved to solicit her petition, or otherwise it would not have been so easy for her to have introduced it:
what is thy petition, Queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of my kingdom; see Es 5:3.
Esther 7:3
Ver. 3. Then Esther the queen answered and said,.... Not rolling herself at the king's knees, as Severus {f} writes; but rather, as the former Targum, lifting up her eyes to heaven, and perhaps putting up a secret ejaculation for direction and success:
if I have found favour in thy sight, O king; as she certainly had heretofore, and even now:
and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition; not riches, nor honour, nor any place or post at court, or in any of the king's dominions for any friend of her's, was her petition; but for her own life, that that might not be taken away, which was included in the grant the king had made to Haman, though ignorantly, to slay all the Jews, she being one of them:
and my people at my request; that is, the lives of her people also, that was her request; her own life and her people's were all she had to ask.
{f} Hist. Sacr. l. 2.
Esther 7:4
Ver. 4. For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish,.... She makes use of these several words, to express the utter destruction of her and her people, without any exception; not only the more to impress the king's mind with it, but she has respect to the precise words of the decree, Es 3:13 as she has also to the 10,000 talents of silver Haman offered to pay the king for the grant of it, when she says, "we are sold", or delivered to be destroyed:
but if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue: should never have asked for deliverance from bondage, but have patiently submitted to it, however unreasonable, unjust, and afflictive it would have been; because it might have been borne, and there might be hope of deliverance from it at one time or another; though it is said, slaves with the Persians were never made free {g}; but that being the case would not have been so great a loss to the king, who would have reaped some advantage by their servitude; whereas, by the death of them, he must sustain a loss which the enemy was not equal to, and which he could not compensate with all his riches; which, according to Ben Melech, is the sense of the next clause:
although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage; or, "for the enemy cannot", &c. the 10,000 talents offered by him, and all the riches that he has, are not an equivalent to the loss the king would sustain by the death of such a multitude of people, from whom he received so large a tribute; but this the enemy regarded not; and so Jarchi interprets it, the enemy took no care of, or was concerned about the king's damage; but there is another sense, which Aben Ezra mentions, and is followed by some learned men, who take the word for "enemy" to signify "distress", trouble, and anguish, as in Ps 4:1 and read the words, "for this distress would not be reckoned the king's damage" {h}, or loss; though it would have been a distress to the Jews to have been sold for slaves, yet the loss to the king would not be so great as their death, since he would receive benefit by their service.
{g} Alex. ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 20. {h} ruh "adversitas", Drusius, De Dieu; "angustia", Cocc. Lexic. in rad. hwv.
Esther 7:5
Ver. 5. Then the King Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen,.... The words in the original text lie thus, "and the King Ahasuerus said, and he said to Esther the queen"; which doubling of the word does not signify, as Jarchi suggests, that before he spoke to her by a messenger, or middle person, but, now he knew she was of a royal family, he spoke to her himself; but it is expressive of the ruffle of his mind, and the wrath and fury he was in, that he said it again and again, with a stern countenance and great vehemence of speech:
who is he? and where is he? who is the man? and where does he live?
that durst presume in his heart to do so; that has boldness, impudence, and courage enough to perpetrate so vile an action: or "that has filled his heart" {i}; the devil no doubt filled his heart to do it, see Ac 5:3, but the king had either forgot the decree he had granted, and the countenance he had given him to execute it; or, if he remembered it, he was now enraged that he should be drawn in to such an action by him; and perhaps till now was ignorant of Esther's descent, and knew not that she would be involved in the decree.
{i} wbl walm rva "qui replevit cor suum", Drusius; "implevit", De Dieu.
Esther 7:6
Ver. 6. And Esther said, the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman,.... Who was not only an enemy to her and her people, but an adversary to the king, by advising and persuading him to that which was to the loss of his revenues, as well as of his reputation; also, she pointed at him, and gave him his just character; her charge of wickedness upon him, as it was true, it was honourably made to his face before the king, of which, if he could, he had the opportunity of exculpating himself:
then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen; gave visible signs of his confusion, consternation, and trouble of mind, by the fall of his countenance, his pale looks, his trembling limbs, and quivering lips, being struck dumb, and not able to speak one word for himself.
Esther 7:7
Ver. 7. And the king, arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath, went into the palace garden,.... Not being able to bear the sight of Haman, who had done such an injury both to himself and to the queen; as also that his wrath might subside, and he become more composed and sedate, and be able coolly to deliberate what was fitting to be done in the present case:
and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; hoping that her tender heart might be wrought upon to show mercy to him, and be prevailed on to entreat the king to spare his life; and this request he made in the most submissive manner:
for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king; he perceived it both by the king's countenance, by the rage he went out in, and by the threatening words which he very probably uttered as he went out.
Esther 7:8
Ver. 8. Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine,.... Being a little cooler, and more composed in his mind, see See Gill on "Es 1:5"
and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was; not the bed she lay on to sleep in the night, (for it cannot be thought that it was a bedchamber in which the banquet was,) but on the bed or couch on which she sat or reclined at the banquet, as was the custom in the eastern countries; now, "by", or "near" this, as the word may be rendered, Haman fell down, even at the feet of the queen, begging for mercy; and some think he might embrace her feet or knees, as was the custom of the Greeks and Romans as they were supplicating {k}; and so it seems to have been with the Jews, see 2Ki 4:27, and being in this posture, it might appear the more indecent, and give the king an opportunity to say as follows:
then said the king, will he force the queen also before me in the house?, that is, ravish her; not that he really thought so; it was not a time nor place for such an action; nor can it be thought that Haman, in such terror and confusion he was in, could be so disposed; and besides there were others present, as the next clause shows: but this he said, putting the worst construction on his actions, and plainly declaring his opinion of him, that he thought him a man capable of committing the vilest of crimes, and that his supplications were not to be regarded:
as the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face; the servants present, as a man unworthy to see the light; and they took what the king said to amount to a sentence of condemnation, and that it was his will he should die; and they covered his face, as condemned malefactors used to be; which was a custom among the Greeks and Romans, of which many instances may be given {l}; though Aben Ezra says it was the custom of the kings of Persia, that their servants covered the face of him the king was angry with, that he might not see his face any more, which was well known in the Persian writings.
{k} "Genibusque suas", &c. Claudian. de Raptu Proserpin l. 1. ver. 50. & Barthius in ib. Vid. Homer. Iliad. 21. l. 75. Plin. l. 1. Ep. 18. {l} "Caput obnubito", &c. Ciceron. Orat. 18. "pro Rabirio", Liv. Hist. l. 1. p. 15. Curt. Hist. l. 6. c. 11. Vid. Solerium de Pileo, sect. 2. p. 20. & Lipsii not. in lib. 1. c. 1. de Cruce, p. 203, 204.
Esther 7:9
Ver. 9. And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king,.... One of the seven chamberlains, see Es 1:10, his name, with Josephus {y}, is Sabouchadas.
Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. This man, perhaps, had seen it there, when he went with others to fetch Haman to the banquet, Es 6:14. The sin of Haman is aggravated by preparing a gallows for a man before he was accused to the king, or condemned, or had a grant for his execution, and for a man that had well deserved of the king for discovering a conspiracy against him, and whom now the king had delighted to honour:
then the king said, hang him thereon; immediately, being ready prepared, the king's word was enough, being a sovereign and tyrannical prince.
{y} Antiqu. l. 11. c. 6. sect. 11.
Esther 7:10
Ver. 10. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai,.... Not within his house, Es 7:9, but more probably in his courtyard, in the sight of his family and friends; or, it may be, the gallows was taken from thence, and set up without the city, where he was hanged: for so it is said in the additions of the book of Esther,
"For he that was the worker of these things, is hanged at the gates of Susa with all his family: God, who ruleth all things, speedily rendering vengeance to him according to his deserts.'' (Esther 16:18)
that he was hanged without the gates of Shushan; see Ps 7:15,
then was the king's wrath pacified; having inflicted punishment on such a wicked counsellor of his, and the contriver of such mischief.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
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.
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!
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.
Sources: Matthew Henry; Gill's Exposition; Matthew Henry Concise
Commentary
Commentary