Esther 5:14

9-14 This account of Haman is a comment upon Proverbs 21:24. Self-admirers and self-flatterers are really self-deceivers. Haman, the higher he is lifted up, the more impatient he is of contempt, and the more enraged at it. The affront from Mordecai spoiled all. A slight affront, which a humble man would scarcely notice, will torment a proud man, even to madness, and will mar all his comforts. Those disposed to be uneasy, will never want something to be uneasy at. Such are proud men; though they have much to their mind, if they have not all to their mind, it is as nothing to them. Many call the proud happy, who display pomp and make a show; but this is a mistaken thought. Many poor cottagers feel far less uneasiness than the rich, with all their fancied advantages around them. The man who knows not Christ, is poor though he be rich, because he is utterly destitute of that which alone is...

Verse Esther 5:14. _LET A GALLOWS BE MADE OF FIFTY CUBITS HIGH_] The word עץ _ets_, which we translate _gallows_, signifies simply _wood_, a _tree_, or _pole_; and this was to be _seventy-five_ feet high, that he might suffer the greater ignominy, and be a more public spectacle. I believe _impaling_ is here also meant. Esther 2:23. IN former times the Jews were accustomed to burn Haman in effigy; and with him a _wooden cross_, which they pretended to be in memory of that which he had erected for the suspension of Mordecai; but which was, in fact, to deride the _Christian_ _religion_. The emperors, _Justinian_ and _Theodosius_, abolished it by their edicts; and the practice has ceased from that time, though the principle from which

A gallows, in the ordinary sense, is scarcely intended, since hanging was not a Persian punishment. The intention, no doubt, was to crucify (see the Esther 2:23 note) or impale Mordecai; and the pale or cross was to be 75 feet high, to make the punishment more conspicuous. SPEAK THOU UNTO THE KING ... - Requests for leave to put persons to death were often made to Persian kings by their near relatives, but only rarely by others....

EXPOSITION HAMAN, EXULTING AT THESE SIGNS OF ROYAL FAVOUR, IS THE MORE EXASPERATED AT MORDECAI'S CONTEMPT OF HIM. AT THE BIDDING OF HIS WIFE HE RESOLVES TO IMPALE MORDECAI, AND CAUSES A LOFTY CROSS TO BE ERECTED FOR THE PURPOSE (Esther 5:9). The

THEN SAID ZERESH HIS WIFE, AND ALL HIS FRIENDS, UNTO HIM,.... His wife very probably first moved it, and all his friends present approved of it and united in it: LET A GALLOWS BE MADE, OF FIFTY CUBITS, HIGH; that the person hanged thereon might be seen at a distance, and so be a greater reproach to him, and a terror to others, to take care they were not guilty of the same offence: Cartalo was ordered by his father to be fixed to the highest cross in the sight of the city l; and it was usual for crosses to be erected very high m both for that purpose, and for greater infamy and disgrace n: AND TOMORROW SPEAK THOU UNTO THE KING THAT MORDECAI MAY BE HANGED THEREON; get a grant from him for it; of which they made no doubt, since Haman had such an interest in him, and had already obtained an order to destroy all Jews in his dominions: THEN GO THOU IN MERRILY WITH THE KING UNTO THE BANQUET;...

ESTHER AND THE KING AND HAMAN'S DELUSION CHAPTER 5 _ 1. Esther before the king and her request (Esther 5:1)_ 2. Haman's delusion (Esther 5:9) Esther 5:1. On the third day Esther put on her royal apparel, a significant day in Scripture as we point out in the typical application of this chapter. The days of fasting and agony were passed and she is seen no longer attired in sackcloth but in royal garments. It is of great interest that Rabbinical exposition (Midrash) gives a tradition that in her great anxiety and anguish of soul she uttered the opening sentence of Psalms 22, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” She made use

ESTHER 5. ESTHER OBTAINS THE KING'S FAVOUR AND INVITES HIM WITH HAMAN TO A BANQUET. Haman's Elation is DASHED BY VEXATION AT MORDECAI'S REFUSAL TO HONOUR HIM. In Esther 5:1 to Esther 8:3 we read how these prayers are answered by blessing after blessing. The girl-queen is filled with purpose, courage, and ability. She enters the audience-hall trembling, but is welcomed by the king LXX gives a fine picture of this, saying that the king kissed his wife tenderly, and restored her when she fainted through excitement. The Heb. has excised that. Esther asks simply that Ahasuerus and his vizier, Haman, shall come to a drinking-feast (Esther 5:4). They come, but are only bidden to come again next day ...

GALLOWS. tree: i.e.. stake to which. criminal was fastened till he died. The same word for cross. Compare Esther 2:23; Esther 7:9. and see Acts 5:30; Acts 10:39; Acts 13:29; 1 Peter 2:24. TO MORROW. There was no delay; but, quick as the action was, it was none too soon for its real usefulness....

Haman's proposed vengeance upon Mordecai The greater Haman's excitement and exultation at having reached the highest pinnacle of dignity attainable by a subject, the more did Mordecai's conduct rankle within him and move his rage; so pointed was the contrast with the extreme adulation naturally exhibited by all others connected with the palace towards the king's favourite....

THE THING PLEASED HAMAN, AND HE CAUSED THE GALLOWS TO BE MADE— This gallows was to be fifty feet high, that men might at a greater distance see the object of Haman's indignation, to the increase of Mordecai's disgrace no doubt, as Haman and his friends thought, and that, struck with greater terror by the spectacle, none might dare for the future to despise or offend him. It may seem strange, that so proud a man as Haman was, should not be prompted immediately to revenge himself on Mordecai for his contemptuous usage of him; since, doubtless, he must have had people enough about him, who, upon the least intimation of his pleasure, would have done it; and since he, who had interest enough with his prince to procure a decree for the destruction of a whole nation, might have easily obtained a pardon for having killed one obscure member of it. But herein did the wise and powerful providence o...