Esther 7
Est 7:1
Est 7: Tensions must have been high as Esther's second banquet
began -- Esther awaiting the best possible moment to press her cause, and Haman
preoccupied and worried with the day's events. Only the king, content that his
purpose to reward Mordecai had been accomplished, would have been relaxed and in
good humor.
In a political sense, note how this type is seen in Joel
3:1-3,7,11; note esp v 3: the "lots", or "purim" (although not sw in
Heb).
Est 7:4
I AND MY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SOLD: Implying that a bargain
had been struck: Est 3:9; 4:7.
Now, for the first time, Esther takes a stand alongside her
people -- revealing her true identity as a Jews. Esther was in a very dangerous
position. She not only now identified herself with a minority group that Haman
had represented to the king as subversive. She also accused one of his closest
confidential advisers of committing an error in judgment.
DESTRUCTION, SLAUGHTER AND ANNIHILATION: Quoting from
the very edict itself (Est 3:13).
NO SUCH DISTRESS WOULD JUSTIFY DISTURBING THE KING: Or,
as the NIV mg, "the compensation our adversary offers cannot be compared with
the loss the king would suffer." Meaning: 'You have made a bad bargain, and
[perhaps] God will punish you for how you propose to mistreat His
people!'
Est 7:5
Vv 5,6: It seems that, for the first time, Xerxes understands
that this has been done (by Haman) for personal revenge, and not for any prudent
political policy.
Est 7:8
HAMAN WAS FALLING ON THE COUCH: "The irony here is that
Haman, who had demanded that Mordecai bow before him, was at the feet of the Jew
Esther" (Breneman). "One must remember that in antiquity very strong feelings
and strict regulations centered on the harem... Had Haman knelt as much as a
foot away from the queen's couch, the king's reaction could still have been
justified" (Moore).
THE COUCH: A couch built on a raised platform along the
wall (Str Scr 53).
Est 7:9
"Harbonah's suggestion that they hang Haman on the gallows he
had built for Mordecai drove the final nail in Haman's coffin. Certainly
Ahasuerus had not known of Haman's plan to execute the king's savior"
(Const).
Est 7:10
SO THEY HANGED HAMAN ON THE GALLOWS HE HAD PREPARED FOR
MORDECAI: So the very thing which Haman had maliciously plotted for an
innocent man, fell instead upon himself: "The nations have fallen into the pit
they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. The LORD is
known by his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands" (Spa
9:15,16). "He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made.
The trouble he causes recoils on himself; his violence comes down on his own
head" (Spa 7:15,16). "May ruin overtake them by surprise-- may the net they hid
entangle them, may they fall into the pit, to their ruin" (Spa 35:8). "They
spread a net for my feet-- I was bowed down in distress. They dug a pit in my
path-- but they have fallen into it themselves" (Spa 57:6).
Typically, pointing to Christ: the enemy of the Jews is
crucified on the same stake which he had prepared for Mordecai: the death of
Christ became the means of putting to death the "serpent" of sin and the flesh
(John 3:14,15; cp Heb 2:14), and the law or decree that gave it strength (Col
2:14).
Not long after the wealthy contractor had finished building
the Tombs prison in New York, he was found guilty of forgery. When convicted, he
was sentenced to several years in the prison he had built! As he was escorted
into a cell of his own making he said, "I never dreamed when I built this prison
that I would be an inmate one day."