Esther 7:7 - Meaning and Application

Here, the king left in anger. He rose from the table in a rage and went out into the palace garden to cool off and think about what to do (Esther 7:7). He did not call his seven wise advisers, who understood the times, because he was ashamed to ask them to undo what he had rashly done without their advice. Instead, he walked in the garden and compared Esther’s words with what had happened before between him and Haman.

We can imagine that he was angry with himself because he had been so foolish. He had condemned an innocent nation to destruction, including his own queen, because he listened to the selfish claims of one man without checking the truth. People who act on their own will often regret it later and reproach themselves. He was also angry with Haman, the man he had trusted and favored, because Haman had abused that trust to lead him into such a wicked decision.

Haman then became a desperate petitioner to the queen for his life. He could easily see, from the king’s sudden storming out, that danger was now against him. The anger of a king, especially such a king, is like a lion’s roar and like a messenger of death. So Haman, who had been so proud and forceful when he had power, now looked miserable. He stood up, then fell at Esther’s feet, begging her to save his life and take all he had.

This is often how it goes with proud, cruel people. When they are strong and prosperous, they act high and mighty. But when their turn comes and the wheel turns against them, they become weak and desperate. Cowards are often the cruelest, and their own cruelty makes them even more afraid when judgment comes.

Esther, by contrast, looked great in that moment. She had recently been ignored and sentenced to death, like a sheep led to slaughter. Now her sworn enemy was at her mercy and begged for his life from her hand. In this, God was showing regard for his humble servant and scattering the proud in the thoughts of their hearts (Luke 1:48, Luke 1:51). It also recalls the promise to the church in Philadelphia, that those from the synagogue of Satan would come and bow before her feet and know that God had loved her (Revelation 3:9). The day will come when those who hate and persecute God’s people will wish they had treated them differently. The upright will rule in the morning.

The king then returned even more angry against Haman. The more he thought about him, the worse Haman seemed. Earlier, everything Haman said or did was taken kindly and interpreted in his favor, even when it was wrong. Now the opposite happened. Even Haman’s act of begging for mercy was read against him, without good reason. Since Haman was lying in terror at Esther’s feet, the king cried out, “Will he also force the queen before me in the house?” The king did not mean to suggest that Haman was literally trying to assault her. He was speaking out of his growing fury, taking Haman’s posture and his earlier plot against Esther as proof that Haman was capable of any evil.

The people around him were ready to carry out his anger. The court officials who had once honored Haman when he was rising now turned against him as quickly as he was falling. They were even glad to find a reason to bring him down. That is how uncertain the favor of proud people is. As soon as the king spoke angrily, they covered Haman’s face, like a condemned man who was no longer fit to see the king or be seen by him. They marked him for execution. This was the sign used for men under sentence of death.

Then one of the officials who had recently gone to Haman’s house to bring him to the banquet told the king about the gallows Haman had prepared for Mordecai (Esther 7:9). Now that Mordecai was the king’s favorite, the chamberlain spoke well of him. Since Haman was in disgrace, everything that could be used against him was brought up and added to the case against him.

The king ordered that Haman be hanged on his own gallows, and it was done at once. He was not even asked to defend himself before the judgment was carried out. The sentence was brief, “Hang him on it,” and the execution followed quickly, “So they hanged Haman on the gallows” (Esther 7:10).

Here we see pride brought low. The man who expected everyone to honor him became an open shame before the world, and his own plans destroyed him. God opposes the proud, and those he opposes cannot stand before him. We also see persecution punished. Haman was evil in many ways, but his hatred for God’s people was his worst sin. For that, the God to whom revenge belongs dealt with him, and though Haman’s plot failed, he still received the judgment he deserved for his evil intent (Psalm 28:4).

We also see the evil falling back on the man who planned it. The wicked are trapped by the work of their own hands (Psalm 7:15-16; Psalm 9:15-16). Haman was rightly hanged on the very gallows he had wrongly prepared for Mordecai. If he had not built that gallows, the king might never have thought of hanging him there. But when a man builds a gallows for the one the king delights to honor, it is natural that he should be made to try it himself. God’s enemies have often been caught in their own schemes. In the morning, Haman planned for himself the robe and for Mordecai the gallows, but the situation was reversed, Mordecai received honor, and Haman received shame. The Lord is known by such judgments (Proverbs 11:8; Proverbs 21:18).

Finally, the king found satisfaction in this execution. Only then was his anger calmed. He was as pleased with ordering Haman’s death as he had been with ordering Mordecai’s honor.

This is what will be done to the man whom the king chooses to punish. God says of wicked people, “I will pour out my anger on them, and I will be satisfied” (Ezekiel 5:13).