Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.
Haman's day of triumph collapses over one man who will not bow. That evening his wife and friends tell him to build a gallows fifty cubits high. The verse leaves one question open: whose plan is really moving forward while Haman builds?
What the gallows was
The word behind "gallows" is ordinary. The striking detail is the height, and a reference work explains why Haman wanted it so tall.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe word is ets, often translated "tree" and "wood," and gives no idea of the shape of the gallows. It was some framework made or set up on which Mordecai was to be hanged. The gallows stood about 23 yards high. Haman no doubt intended the whole city to see the hanging of his victim. It was seen from the palace, and, under the providence of God, he was himself hanged on it.
The counsel of wife and friends
The advice comes from the people closest to him: build the gallows, then enjoy the banquet. One writer looks at what was driving Haman that evening.
H. L. RossierHaman's satanic hatred is even stronger than his pride. All his glory has no more value to him as long as he has not carried out his revenge. His friends and his wife encourage him: "Go joyfully with the king to the feast." He receives all the congratulations the world can offer him. Yet the same people who flattered his desires will later say to him, "you will surely fall before him" (Esther 6:13).
Another writer watches pride at work in the same scene.
J. G. BellettHis heart is overloaded; gratified pride has filled it to the full. He cannot contain himself... It was natural that he should display all his glories to his wife and his friends. Pride must have as many courtiers and admirers as it can get. And it must have its victims too. Mordecai still refuses to bow, and a gallows fifty cubits high is raised so that he may be hanged on it.
A plan he could not see through
The idea pleases Haman, and he gives the order at once. One writer shows how little he understood about what he was building.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWhy did he not kill him at once? Under Persian law, a man who sat at the king's gate had put himself under the king's protection. As long as he was there he was safe... Then comes the advice from his friends and his wife Zeresh. The gallows they suggest is built to hang Mordecai. Haman waits for the next day, when he would go joyfully to the king and ask for the execution of the Jew. In his delusion and pride he did not know that he was building the gallows for himself.
One writer treats this reversal as a rule, not a surprise.
Leslie M. Grant"Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling." The aim in these cases is of course to harm someone else. But "whatever one sows, that will he also reap." Haman built a gallows for Mordecai, and was himself hanged on it (Esther 5:14; 7:10).
Mordecai under the shadow of the tree
One writer asks what Mordecai gained from a life of quiet faithfulness.
H. L. RossierIn love, he had tenderly cared for and welcomed the daughter of his people, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. What had he gained by it? Nothing. The gallows is prepared for him: fifty cubits high; he can see it rise above the palace of the city of Susa. What does he do to escape it? Nothing. This man walks with integrity and lives a hidden life. He keeps the law, serves others, and suffers and weeps over their sorrows. At the end of his career he meets nothing but a gallows.
The same writer marks where the picture stops.
H. L. RossierMordecai sees the gallows but is never hanged on it; and only in this way, along with so many other typical figures, can Mordecai offer us a picture of Christ. Christ alone was hanged on the cross, to bear our sins, to be made a curse for us, to gather together the scattered children of God.
The man marked for death, honoured instead
One writer follows the gallows through to the end of the story.
H J VineMordecai, the man whom the king delighted to honour (Est. 6:6-7, 11), was first of all the man for whom a gallows was made fifty cubits high (5:14). But Haman the Agagite (a type of sin in the flesh) was hanged on it, and the king's wrath was pacified (7:10). Mordecai's exaltation brought rest and blessing and gladness to God's people (9:18), and in the end peace and prosperity for all.
Summary
- Hatred — all Haman's glory loses its value while one man refuses to bow to him. The hatred runs deeper than the pride.
- Counsel — the plan comes from his own wife and friends, and the same circle will later tell him he is certain to fall.
- Gallows — the word means a wooden frame. Haman chose the great height so the whole city, and the palace, could see the death.
- Reversal — the digger falls into his own pit. Haman built the gallows without knowing it was for himself, and the king honoured the man he had marked for death.
- Cross — Mordecai sees the gallows and does nothing to escape, yet never hangs there. Christ alone was hanged, to bear our sins and gather the scattered children of God.