Esther Chapter 7
Haman’s End
A. The second banquet
1. Esther 7:1–4, Esther finally makes her request, please spare my life
“So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. 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? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed. 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, 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.”
Esther finally speaks, but she does so with extraordinary wisdom, restraint, and timing. The setting is deliberate, a private banquet of wine, a context of pleasure, favor, and royal goodwill. For the second time the king repeats his extravagant offer, up to half the kingdom, showing his continued affection and confidence in Esther. This repetition underscores that the moment is ripe, the king is disposed to listen, and Esther’s silence until now has not weakened her position but strengthened it.
When Esther begins her appeal, she does not lead with political accusations or ethnic identity. She begins personally, “let my life be given me at my petition.” This is tactful and strategic. She appeals first as a wife speaking to her husband, not as a Jew speaking to a Persian king. She knows the king’s affection for her, and she anchors her request in that relationship. Only after securing that personal footing does she expand the scope to include her people.
Notably, Esther still does not identify herself explicitly as a Jew at this stage. This mirrors Haman’s earlier deceit in Esther 3:8, where he described the Jews as a troublesome people without naming them. Esther wisely allows the emotional weight of the injustice to land before revealing the full truth. Her phrasing emphasizes the severity of the decree, using three escalating verbs, destroyed, slain, and to perish, which echo the language of the original edict. This makes clear that the threat is total and irreversible if not stopped.
Her final statement shows loyalty to the king. She explains that if the matter were merely enslavement, she would have remained silent, because such a loss could theoretically be compensated. But this plot involves needless bloodshed that would damage the king himself. Esther frames the issue not as rebellion or personal grievance, but as an act that harms the king’s interests. This is wise, respectful, and persuasive.
2. Esther 7:5, the king’s reaction, who is this wicked man
“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?”
The king’s response is immediate and forceful. His words reflect shock and moral outrage. The phrase “durst presume in his heart” conveys not only audacity but inward arrogance. Ahasuerus recognizes that such a plan is not merely administrative, but wicked and presumptuous. Ironically, the king speaks as though he were entirely uninvolved, though he himself authorized the decree earlier.
This reaction highlights one of Ahasuerus’s consistent weaknesses throughout the book, his willingness to delegate authority without discernment. In Esther 3:10–11 he handed his signet ring to Haman and approved the destruction of an unnamed people without investigation. Now, confronted with the personal consequences of that decree, he reacts as though the plot were entirely foreign to him. Scripture does not excuse his responsibility, but it does show how easily rulers can be manipulated when they act without wisdom or accountability.
3. Esther 7:6, Esther identifies the guilty party
“And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.”
This is the moment of full exposure. Esther names Haman directly, without hesitation or qualification. Her words are precise and devastating. She calls him an adversary and an enemy, not merely to herself or her people, but implicitly to the king as well. In doing so, she reframes Haman’s entire public image. He is not a loyal servant of the throne, but a self-serving enemy whose actions threaten the stability and honor of the king’s reign.
Haman’s reaction is immediate fear. The man who demanded honor, built gallows, and manipulated royal authority now stands powerless. His terror before both the king and the queen shows that he understands the full gravity of his position. He is exposed as a would-be murderer of the queen herself, something no Persian law or political maneuvering can excuse.
Only now can the wisdom of Esther’s banquet strategy be fully appreciated. By inviting Haman into this intimate setting, she ensured that the accusation would be inescapable and undeniable. The king cannot distance himself, Haman cannot deflect blame, and the truth lands with maximum force. What Haman intended for Mordecai and the Jews is now turning decisively against him, setting the stage for divine justice to unfold.
B. Haman’s wretched end
1. Esther 7:7–8, Haman’s doom is sealed
“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. 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.”
The king’s reaction is swift and explosive. He rises in wrath and leaves the room, a calculated pause that allows the full weight of Haman’s betrayal to settle in his mind. In this moment, Ahasuerus realizes that he has been manipulated, that his authority has been abused, and that the decree he authorized would have resulted in the death of his own queen. His anger is not merely emotional, it is the anger of a ruler who recognizes he has been made a fool and that his own household was placed in mortal danger.
Haman, meanwhile, is completely undone. The proud man who once demanded honor and reverence now stands begging for his life. He does not appeal to the king but to Esther, knowing instinctively that the king’s decision is already forming. Scripture notes that Haman “saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.” This is the dawning realization that judgment is no longer avoidable, that the matter has passed beyond persuasion or politics.
In his desperation, Haman commits his final fatal error. As the king returns, he finds Haman fallen upon the couch where Esther reclined. Whether through panic, weakness, or clumsy pleading, the scene appears unmistakably compromising. The king interprets it as an assault, or at minimum a gross violation of royal boundaries. For all of Haman’s frantic pleading, he only deepens his guilt. What he intended as a plea for mercy is taken as an act of aggression.
The covering of Haman’s face is a decisive and ominous act. In Persian custom, this signified that the man was condemned and cut off from royal favor, no longer worthy to look upon the king. Judgment has moved from intention to action. At this point, Haman’s fate is sealed.
2. Esther 7:9–10, The execution of Haman
“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. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.”
Providence now moves swiftly and decisively. Harbonah speaks at precisely the right moment, revealing the existence of the massive gallows Haman constructed for Mordecai. This structure, towering fifty cubits high, was meant to publicly humiliate and destroy a righteous man who had acted loyally toward the king. Instead, it becomes the instrument of Haman’s own destruction.
The irony is unmistakable and intentional. Haman dies by the very device he designed for another. Scripture repeatedly shows that God often allows the wicked to fall into the traps they set for others. This is not accidental justice, it is moral justice, a divine reversal that demonstrates the certainty of accountability.
“Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.”
Psalm 7:14–16
Haman’s execution also brings resolution to the king’s wrath. The anger of the throne is satisfied, not by denial or compromise, but by judgment. In this case, the guilty dies in the place of the innocent. Mordecai lives because Haman dies. This principle points forward to a far greater truth in Scripture. In the gospel, the pattern is reversed. There, the innocent dies in the place of the guilty.
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:21
Haman’s end is wretched, deserved, and final. His pride, cruelty, and manipulation bring him to a humiliating death, and the chapter closes with the king’s wrath pacified. Justice has been done, and the stage is now set for deliverance to unfold for Esther’s people.
