Esther 7
DOYLYChap. VIII. ver. 1. — the house of Haman] That is, the whole estate which Haman had possessed; his dwelling, lands, cattle, goods, and treasure. Bp. Patrick.
— what he was unto her.] That is, Esther had made known to the king how Mordecai was related to her. Dean Prideaux.
Esther 7:2
- — took off his ring, — and gave it unto Mordecai.] The king made Mordecai the keeper of his seal, in the same manner as Haman had been before. Dean Prideaux.
The bearing of a seal is a token of an high office, either by succession or deputation. Thus in Gen. xli. 42, Pharaoh, setting Joseph over the whole land of Egypt, gives him his ring; that is, his seal, as Josephus the historian explains it. Antiochus, declaring his son successor in his kingdom, sends him “the crown, and his robe, and his signet,” 1 Mac. vi. 14, 15. Thus in Aristophanes, the taking away of the ring signifies the discharging of a chief magistrate: and a little after, the giving of a ring to another is the making another steward or chief magistrate, by delivering to him the badge of his office. To these instances it may be added, that, in our own nation, the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, and other high officers of state, are appointed by the King delivering to them the seals of their respective offices. Parkhurst.
— Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.] Esther appointed Mordecai to conduct for her the affairs relating to Haman’s estate. Dean Prideaux.
Esther 7:8
- — Haman was fallen upon the bed] It was the custom in those times to sit or lay upon beds, as they ate and drank, and Haman was now in the posture of a person who had fallen as a suppliant at the feet of Esther.
— Then said the king, &c.] The king, finding him in this posture, interpreted his conduct as if he were so impudent as to take liberties with the queen’s person in his own palace. Not that he could believe this was really the case, but, in his furious passion, he turned every thing to the worst sense, and made use of it to aggravate Haman’s crime. Bp. Patrick.
— they covered Haman’s face.] It was the custom so to cover the faces of condemned criminals: a custom also found among the ancient Romans, both in their punishment of a parricide, who, when convicted, was immediately hooded, as unworthy of the common light; and in that form of pronouncing sentence on a criminal ascribed by Livy to Tullus Hostilius: “Go, officer, bind his hands, veil his head, hang him on the fatal tree.” This custom was noticed in Egypt by Dr. Pococke, who speaks of a man brought before the Bey, like a malefactor, with his hands behind him as if tied, and a napkin put over his head, as malefactors commonly have. Parkhurst, Harmer.
Esther 7:9
- — the gallows] In the margin, “the tree.” Crucifixion appears to have been the punishment inflicted by Abasuerus upon Haman. Polycrates of Samos, Cicero tells us, was crucified by order of Oroetes, praetor of Darius. One of the capital punishments in Abyssinia is the cross. Bruce.
— Hang him thereon.] Thus, within the compass of a day, Haman’s fortune was completely reversed: but a few hours after he imagined his success most certain, this sentence of condemnation was pronounced upon him. Thus also we find many instances in holy Scripture in which the security of the wicked is suddenly disturbed by the Divine summons: “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee,” Luke xii. 20. Bp. Andrews.
When iniquitous enterprises, managed by subtility or violence, are suddenly and seasonably defeated, then the ever-vigilant Eye, and the all-powerful Hand, are concerned. God doth ever see the deceitful workers of iniquity, though they devise their wickedness in secret. He often doth suffer it to grow on to a pitch of matu-
the house? As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
- — in the third month, &c.] That is, a little more than two months after the former decree. Bp. Patrick.
Esther 7:10
- — on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.] That same instrument, which he had reared on high for Mordecai’s destruction, is appointed by Providence for his own; and his shame and punishment are rendered as conspicuous as his former honour and prosperity. Dr. J. Balguy, Bp. Hall.
In Abyssinia, when the prisoner is condemned in capital cases, he is not again remitted to prison, but is immediately carried away, and the sentence executed upon him. Among other instances of this, Abba Salama was condemned by the king the morning he entered Gondar, on his return from Tigre, and immediately hanged, in the garment of a priest, on a tree at the door of the king’s palace. The same was the practice in Persia, as we learn from Xenophon, and more plainly from Diodorus. Bruce.
In that deliverance of the Jews from Haman’s conspiracy, there is no extraordinary manifestation of God’s power; no particular cause or agent was in its working advanced above the ordinary pitch of nature; and yet the contrivance or suiting of these ordinary agents appointed by God, is more admirable than if the same end had been effected by means truly miraculous. For a king not to take kindly rest by night, though in a bed
Mordecai is advanced. Ahasuerus granteth to the Jews Before CHRIST about 510. # CHAP. VIII.