Esther Reveals Haman's Plot
Study note
This is the dramatic turning point of the entire book. Esther finally reveals both her identity and the threat against her people. By identifying herself as one of those condemned to die, she made Haman's abstract decree deeply personal to the king.
1 So the king and Haman arrived for dinner with Queen Esther. So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.
2 During the second day's feast, while they were drinking wine, the king asked Esther again, "Queen Esther, what is your request? Name it and it is yours. What do you want? Even half the kingdom -- say the word." And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.
3 Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you -- I am asking for my life. That is my request. And I am asking for the lives of my people. That is my deepest wish." Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:
4 "My people and I have been marked for destruction, slaughter, and total annihilation. If we had merely been sold into slavery, I would have kept quiet and not bothered the king with it. But this is outright extermination." For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage.
5 King Xerxes exploded, "Who is responsible? Where is the person who dared to plan such a thing?" Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?
6 Esther pointed directly at Haman and declared, "The enemy, the attacker, is this evil man -- Haman!" Haman went white with terror before the king and queen. And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
The Fall of Haman
Study note
When the king stormed out in anger, Haman begged Esther for his life by falling on her couch -- which the king saw as an assault on the queen. Covering a condemned person's face was a Persian custom marking someone for execution. In a powerful reversal, Haman was hanged on the very gallows he had built for Mordecai.
7 The king leaped up in a fury, abandoned his wine, and stormed out to the palace garden. Haman stayed behind and threw himself at Esther's mercy, begging for his life. He could see clearly that the king had already sealed his fate. And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.
8 When the king came back from the garden into the banquet hall, he found Haman collapsed on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king roared, "Is he going to assault the queen right here in my own palace?" The instant those words left the king's mouth, the servants covered Haman's face -- a sign that his doom was sealed. Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.
9 One of the king's attendants, Harbonah, spoke up: "Your Majesty, there is a set of gallows seventy-five feet tall standing at Haman's house. He had it built for Mordecai -- the very man who saved your life." The king said, "Hang Haman on it." And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon.
10 So they hanged Haman on the very gallows he had constructed for Mordecai. After that, the king's fury subsided. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.