Esther 7

SO the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.

And the king said again to Esther, on the second day, at the banquet of wine So it is called to note that it was not designed for a seast to fill their bellies, but rather for a banquet to delight and please their palates with wine and other delicacies, see on ch. 5. 8., 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.

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 It is my humble and only request that thou wouldst not give me up to the malice of that man that... esigns to take away my life, and will certainly do it, if thou dost not prevent it., and my people And the lives (which is easily supplied out of the foregoing branch) of my people the Jews, of whom I am descended. at my request.

For we are sold By the craft and cruelty of that man who offered a great sum of mony to purchase our destruction., I and my people For we are all given up to his malice and rage, without any exception of my own person., to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish She useth variety of expressions to make the deeper impression upon the Kings mind.: but if we had been sold for bond-men, and bond-women, I had held my tongue Because that calamity had neither been irrecoverable, nor intolerable, nor yet unprofitable to the King for whose honour and service, I should willingly have submitted my self and people to any kind of bondage., although the enemy could not countervail the kings damage His ten thousand talents, if paid into the Kings treasury, would not repair the Kings loss in the customs and tributes which the King receives from the Jews within his dominions..

Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he? and where is he The expressions are short and doubled, as proceeding from a discomposed and enraged mind. that durst presume in his heart to do so i. e. To circumvent me, and by subtilty to procure an irrevocable decree, whereby not only my estate should be so much impaired, and so many of my innocent Subjects be destroyed without mercy, but my Queen also should be involved in the same danger and destruction.?

And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is Of the King, and of my Person and People. this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid, before the king and the queen.

And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath, went into the palace-garden Partly as disdaining the company and sight of so ungrateful and audacious a person: partly to cool and allay his troubled and inflamed spirits, and partly to consider within himself the hainousness of Hamans crime, and the mischief which himself had done by his own rashness. and what punishment was fit to be inflicted upon so great a delinquent.: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen: for he saw By the violent commotion of the Kings mind and passions. that there was evil determined against him by the king.

Then the king returned out of the palace-garden, into the place of the banquet of wine, and Haman was fallen upon the bed Or, by, or beside the bed, on which the Queen sat at meat, after the manner: where he was fallen upon his knees, and upon the ground, at her feet, as humble suppliants used to do, and as the Queen did at the Kings feet, ch. 8. 3. whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also Will he now attempt my Queens Chastity as he has already attempted her life! His presumption and impudence I see will stick at nothing. He speaks not this out of a real jealousy, for which there was no cause in those circumstances, but from an exasperated mind which takes all occasions to vent itself against the person who gave the provocation, and makes the worst construction of all his words and action. before me in the house In my own presence and palace.? As the word went out of the kings mouth they i. e. The Kings and Queens Chamberlains then attending upon them. covered Hamans face Partly that the King might not be offended or grieved with the sight of a Person whom he now loathed: and partly because they looked upon him as a condemned person; for the faces of such used to be covered..

And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains Who knew this either by his own observation, or by the information of some of his brethren, who were lately sent to Hamans house, ch. 6. 14. where they might easily see it, or at least hear of it. And this he said, either out of a distast which he had taken against Haman for his great insolency, and barbarous cruelty: or in compliance with the Kings inclinations, and the Queens desires., said before the king, Behold also the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king Even to the saving of the Kings life, ch. 2. 21, 22, 23. and therefore deserved a better requital than this even from Haman, if he had not basely preferred the satisfaction of his own revenge before the preservation of the Kings life., standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon.

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared Which stood in his own house, as was now said, and made the punishment more grievous and ignominious. for Mordecai. Then was the kings wrath pacified Judgment being now most justly executed upon this abominable criminal..