Esther 7

Chap. VII. Ver. 1—10. The queen now accuses Haman of plotting against her life, and the king, astonished and enraged, orders his immediate execution.—Instead of the welcome of the day before, Haman is received with an accusation that must affect his life. He is no less surprised than on the preceding day. He knew not till now that the queen was a Jewess, or related to Mordecai, and could not be prepared to meet the charge. The king, in his turn, is no less astonished. It is true, he had signed a decree against the Jews; but it was probably in his cups, and he thought no more about it. And how must it now confound him, when he finds that his favourite queen was of that nation, and that he had signed a decree to take away her life, and that of the man who had preserved his own.

His folly, the enormity of Haman’s crime, and the deep criminality of his plot, must rush upon him in the same moment, and it is no wonder that he withdrew into the palace garden. Haman sees the danger of his situation, and immediately falls upon his knees before the Jewish queen, to supplicate forgiveness… The king, however, suddenly returns; and his mind being filled with remorse and rage, it is no wonder that he misinterprets the attitude of Haman, and makes a signal (as is probable) for his being taken back to execution. Tyrants may have suppliants, but they have no friends. None of the chamberlains, we may readily believe, refused to bow to Haman, but they loved him none the more. No sooner is the favourite disgraced than they turn against him, and point to the gallows which he had raised for Mordecai in the court of his own house.

‘Hang him thereon,” is the instant reply of the enraged monarch. No sooner was the sentence given than it was executed, and never has its justice been called in question. The inventor of the brazen bull was the first to suffer death by it. The inventor of the guillotine in Paris was among the first who suffered by it.

Notes on the verses

Chap. VII. Ver. 5. Where is he that durst presume ?—i. e. puffed him up with pride and rage.