“Impale Him”
So the king and Haman went to Queen
Esther’s banquet, and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king
again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What
is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”
Then
Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it
pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is
my request. For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and
annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have
kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.”
King
Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do
such a thing?”
Esther
said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”
Then
Haman was terrified before the king and queen. The
king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had
already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
Just
as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.
The
king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the
house?”
As
soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s
face. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the
king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up
to help the king.”
The
king said, “Impale him on it!” So they impaled Haman
on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.
Esther 7:1-10
In Esther we see how self-destructive hate can be. Mordecai, a
Jew, refused to bow down before Haman. This angered Haman, who manipulated information to make Mordecai and his
people appear a threat. When his scheming was complete, Haman
called on the Persian king to kill all the Jews. The king proclaimed the edict,
but before it could be carried out, Esther intervened and Haman’s
plot came out. Enraged, the king had Haman executed
on same gallows the schemer had built for Mordecai.
Hatred promotes self-destruction; love
fulfills Christ’s instruction.
Our Daily Bread –