Ester 7:3 Kommentar

We are now to attend the second banquet to which the king and Haman were invited: and there, I. Esther presents her petition to the king for her life and the life of her people (Est 7:1-4). II. She plainly tells the king that Haman is the man who designed her ruin and the ruin of all her friends (Est 7:5, Est 7:6). III. The king thereupon gave orders for the hanging of Haman upon the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai, which was done accordingly (Est 7:7-10). And thus, by the destruction of the plotter, a good step was taken towards the defeating of the plot.

INTRODUCTION TO ESTHER 7 Esther, being solicited by the king to tell him her petition, asks for her life and the lives of her people, who were sold to be destroyed, Est 7:1, the king, amazed at her request, inquires who was the person that dared to do so vile a thing; and was told by her it was Haman there present, Est 7:5 on which the king went out into the garden in wrath, and, returning, found Haman on Esther's bed, which still more incensed him; and being told that Haman had prepared a gallows for Mordecai, the king ordered that he himself should be hanged upon it, which was done accordingly, Est 7:7.

Then Esther the queen answered and said,.... Not rolling herself at the king's knees, as Severus (f) writes; but rather, as the former Targum, lifting up her eyes to heaven, and perhaps putting up a secret ejaculation for direction and success: if I have found favour in thy sight, O king; as she certainly had heretofore, and even now: and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition; not riches, nor honour, nor any place or post at court, or in any of the king's dominions for any friend of her's, was her petition; but for her own life, that that might not be taken away, which was included in the grant the king had made to Haman, though ignorantly, to slay all the Jews, she being one of them: and my people at my request; that is, the lives of her people also, that was her request; her own life and her people's were all she had to ask. (f) Hist. Sacr. l. 2.

The king at the banquet urges Esther to prefer her petition, with the positive assurance that it shall be granted, Est 7:1, Est 7:2. She petitions for her own life, and the life of her people, who were sold to be destroyed, Est 7:3, Est 7:4. The king inquires the author of this project, and Haman is accused by the queen, Est 7:5, Est 7:6. The king is enraged: Haman supplicates for his life; but the king orders him to be hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, Est 7:7-10.

Let my life be given me - This was very artfully, as well as very honestly, managed; and was highly calculated to work on the feelings of the king. What! is the life of the queen, whom I most tenderly love, in any kind of danger?

ESTHER PLEADS FOR HER OWN LIFE AND THE LIFE OF HER PEOPLE. (Est 7:1-6) we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed--that is, by the cruel and perfidious scheme of that man, who offered an immense sum of money to purchase our extermination. Esther dwelt on his contemplated atrocity, in a variety of expressions, which both evinced the depth of her own emotions, and were intended to awaken similar feelings in the king's breast. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue--Though a great calamity to the Jews, the enslavement of that people might have enriched the national treasury; and, at all events, the policy, if found from experience to be bad, could be altered. But the destruction of such a body of people would be an irreparable evil, and all the talents Haman might pour into the treasury could not compensate for the loss of their services.

Haman's Downfall and Ruin - Est 7:1-10 At this second banquet the king again inquired of the queen what was her petition, when she entreated that her life and that of her people might be spared, for that she and her people were sold to destruction (Est 7:1-4). The king, evidently shocked at such a petition, asked who was the originator of so evil a deed, and Esther named the wicked Haman as the enemy (Est 7:5, Est 7:6). Full of indignation at such a crime, the king rose from the banquet and went into the garden; Haman then fell down before the queen to entreat for his life. When the king returned to the house, he saw Haman lying on the couch on which Esther was sitting, and thinking that he was offering violence to the queen, he passed sentence of death upon him, and caused him to be hanged on the tree he had erected for Mordochai (Est 7:7-10).