Esther · chapter 7 of 10
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In Esther 7, during the second banquet, Queen Esther asks the king to spare her life and the life of her people, who have been sold to be destroyed. When the king asks who is responsible, Esther points to Haman. The king storms out in fury, Haman pleads with the queen, and when the king returns he orders Haman hanged on the same fifty-cubit gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.
Esther 7 is the resolution of the rising tension of the earlier chapters. From Haman's decree to Esther's courage and the king's sleepless night, everything leads to this banquet. Here comes the greatest reversal in the story: the enemy of God's people falls into the trap he prepared.
The king and Haman come to Esther's banquet. While they drink wine, the king asks her for the second time what her petition is, offering up to half the kingdom. Esther answers that, if she has found favor and it pleases the king, her life and the life of her people be granted to her, because they have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. She adds that if they had only been sold as slaves, she would have kept silent, since the adversary could not compensate the king for the loss.
King Ahasuerus asks who he is and where he is, the one who dared to do such a thing. Esther answers that the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Haman is terrified before the king and queen. The king rises from the banquet in a rage and goes out into the palace garden. Haman, seeing that the king has determined his doom, stays behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
When the king returns from the garden, he finds Haman fallen on the couch where Esther was and exclaims whether he will even assault the queen in his own house. As soon as the word leaves the king's mouth, they cover Haman's face. Harbona, one of the eunuchs, says there is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman's house, which he built for Mordecai, who spoke up for the king's good. The king orders him hanged on it, and the king's anger subsides.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Esther asks the king to grant her life and the life of her people, and so reveals for the first time that she belongs to the Jews. She speaks humbly and does not accuse at once, trusting in the favor she has won.
Esther explains that they have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated, and that if they had been sold only as slaves she would have kept quiet. She appeals to the king's interests and exposes how grave Haman's plan was.
Esther names Haman as the adversary and enemy of her people. In a single sentence she goes from a silent queen to the accuser who decides the course of the story.
Haman is hanged on the very gallows he prepared for Mordecai, and the king's anger subsides. Evil planned against the righteous falls on the one who planned it, as several psalms also teach.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: That he grant her life and the life of her people. — Esther 7:3
Answer: That they had been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. — Esther 7:4
Answer: Haman, whom she called the adversary and enemy. — Esther 7:6
Answer: He rose from the banquet in a rage and went out into the palace garden. — Esther 7:7
Answer: He stayed to beg Queen Esther for his life, because he saw that the king had determined his ruin. — Esther 7:7-8
Answer: He was hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. — Esther 7:9-10
Esther 7 teaches that sometimes we must speak when staying silent would be safer. Esther risks her position and her life by revealing who she is and accusing the most powerful man after the king. In a study group you can reflect on when God calls us to raise our voice for those who cannot defend themselves, and how to do so with respect, clarity and courage.
It also reminds us that God's justice comes, even if sometimes late. Haman fell into his own plan, as several psalms say about those who dig a pit for others. We should not celebrate anyone's fall, but we can rest in the fact that the Lord is a just judge. Whoever suffers injustice can pray with confidence, waiting for God to act in his time and in his way.
Esther 7 ends with Haman's fall and the king's anger calmed, but the decree against the Jews is still in force. Esther 8 will show how that threat is met: Mordecai is honored and a second decree is written that allows the people to defend themselves.
When the king returns, he sees Haman fallen on the couch where Esther was and exclaims whether he means to assault her in his own house. The text does not say Haman did that; it was the king's accusation at what it looked like, and it serves as the pretext for the sentence.
The text says that as soon as the word left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. Many scholars understand this as a sign that he had been condemned to death.
Because, according to the story, a decree written in the king's name and sealed with his ring could not be revoked. That is why chapter 8 seeks another solution: a second decree that lets the people defend themselves.