Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 7:8
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.
8. the word ] This seems to refer to the speech just preceding. It was clear to the attendants, without any more specific utterance on the king’s part, that Haman was doomed to death.
they covered Haman’s face ] Curtius in his history of Alexander the Great (vi. 8) speaks of this as done to Philotas, who had served with distinction under that monarch, when, on a confession of treason having been wrung from him by torture, he was about to be stoned to death. Livy also (i. 26) mentions it as a Roman custom. We have no authority beyond this passage for its practice among the Persians, and it is possible that, with a slight change in the Heb. word rendered ‘they covered,’ we should translate, his face became flushed (with dismay and shame). Cp. LXX. ‘he was utterly perturbed (confounded) in countenance.’ [77]
[77] .
9 Harbonah ] mentioned in the list of Est 1:10.
Behold also ] by a fortunate coincidence. Harbonah’s words indicate a malicious joy at the downfall of the favourite.
Est 8:1. the house of Haman ] his goods. See on Est 3:11. For the confiscation of the property of a condemned criminal in Persia see Herod. iii. 129, where, after a description of the death sentence carried out in the case of Oroetes, a Persian, for murder and other misdeeds, the historian mentions as a matter of course that ‘the treasures of Oroetes’ were conveyed to Sardis.
Esther had told what he was unto her ] There was no longer any motive for concealing the relationship, Mordecai being now secure in the king’s favour. Her own Jewish origin she had been obliged to disclose already (Est 7:4).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Like the Greeks and Romans, the Persians reclined at their meals on sofas or couches. Haman, in the intensity of his supplication, had thrown himself upon the couch at Esthers feet.
They covered Hamans face – The Macedonians and the Romans are known to have commonly muffled the heads of prisoners before executing them. It may have also been a Persian custom.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Will he force the queen] On the king’s return he found him at the queen’s knees; and, professing to think that he intended to do violence to her honour, used the above expressions; though he must have known that, in such circumstances, the thought of perpetrating an act of this kind could not possibly exist.
They covered Haman’s face.] This was a sign of his being devoted to death: for the attendants saw that the king was determined on his destruction. When a criminal was condemned by a Roman judge, he was delivered into the hands of the serjeant with these words: I, lictor; caput obnubito, arbori infelici suspendito. “Go, serjeant; cover his head, and hang him on the accursed tree.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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, Est 8:3.
Will he force the queen also? will he now attempt my queens chastity, as he hath 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 actions.
Before me in the house; in my own presence and palace.
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.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. Haman was fallen upon the bedwhereon Esther wasWe do not know the precise form of thecouches on which the Persians reclined at table. But it is probablethat they were not very different from those used by the Greeks andRomans. Haman, perhaps, at first stood up to beg pardon of Esther;but driven in his extremity to resort to an attitude of the mostearnest supplication, he fell prostrate on the couch where the queenwas recumbent. The king returning that instant was fired at whatseemed an outrage on female modesty.
they covered Haman’s faceTheimport of this striking action is, that a criminal is unworthy anylonger to look on the face of the king, and hence, when malefactorsare consigned to their doom in Persia, the first thing is to coverthe face with a veil or napkin.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine,…. Being a little cooler, and more composed in his mind, see [See comments on Es 1:5]
and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was; not the bed she lay on to sleep in the night, (for it cannot be thought that it was a bedchamber in which the banquet was,) but on the bed or couch on which she sat or reclined at the banquet, as was the custom in the eastern countries; now, “by”, or “near” this, as the word may be rendered, Haman fell down, even at the feet of the queen, begging for mercy; and some think he might embrace her feet or knees, as was the custom of the Greeks and Romans as they were supplicating k; and so it seems to have been with the Jews, see 2Ki 4:27, and being in this posture, it might appear the more indecent, and give the king an opportunity to say as follows:
then said the king, will he force the queen also before me in the house?, that is, ravish her; not that he really thought so; it was not a time nor place for such an action; nor can it be thought that Haman, in such terror and confusion he was in, could be so disposed; and besides there were others present, as the next clause shows: but this he said, putting the worst construction on his actions, and plainly declaring his opinion of him, that he thought him a man capable of committing the vilest of crimes, and that his supplications were not to be regarded:
as the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face; the servants present, as a man unworthy to see the light; and they took what the king said to amount to a sentence of condemnation, and that it was his will he should die; and they covered his face, as condemned malefactors used to be; which was a custom among the Greeks and Romans, of which many instances may be given l; though Aben Ezra says it was the custom of the kings of Persia, that their servants covered the face of him the king was angry with, that he might not see his face any more, which was well known in the Persian writings.
k “Genibusque suas”, &c. Claudian. de Raptu Proserpin l. 1. ver. 50. & Barthius in ib. Vid. Homer. Iliad. 21. l. 75. Plin. l. 1. Ep. 18. l “Caput obnubito”, &c. Ciceron. Orat. 18. “pro Rabirio”, Liv. Hist. l. 1. p. 15. Curt. Hist. l. 6. c. 11. Vid. Solerium de Pileo, sect. 2. p. 20. & Lipsii not. in lib. 1. c. 1. de Cruce, p. 203, 204.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(8) The bedi.e., the couch on which she had been reclining at the banquet. This was the customary posture at meals, not only of the Persians, but also of the Greeks and Romans, and of the later Jews. The Last Supper was thus eaten. Haman had obviously thrown himself at the queens feet to ask for mercy. The king on his return was evidently full of wrath against Haman, and though he was for the time Gods instrument in averting Hamans wicked design, his own base and worthless character is none the less conspicuous. The attempted massacre had been authorised with the full knowledge and consent of the king, who yet ignores utterly his own share of the responsibility. Great and noble ends are at times brought about by the instrumentality of unholy men, blind instruments in a purpose whose end they understand not. What greater blessing, for example, did God vouchsafe to England than the Reformation, whose foremost agent was a bloody and unholy king?
Will he force. . . .Ahasuerus must have known perfectly well that Hamans position was that of a suppliant; his words do but indicate his utter anger, as the attendants clearly perceive, for they immediately covered Hamans facehe must not see the kings face again. (See above, Est. 1:13.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Haman was fallen upon the bed In the wild emotion and alarm of the moment, he had thrown himself upon the couch or divan on which Esther reclined at the banquet, and was supplicating for his life.
Will he force the queen The enraged monarch quickly construes the attitude of Haman into the worst possible offence.
As the word went Not the words of the question just stated, but the word of judgment against Haman the sentence to have him away at once to execution.
Covered Haman’s face Muffled his head with a cloth or vail, preliminary to his execution. When the death warrant went out of the king’s mouth, all was virtually over with Haman. The attendant chamberlains hurry him away to the more public executioners.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Est 7:8. Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was It was a custom among the Persians, as well as other nations, to sit, or rather lie, upon beds when they ate or drank; and therefore, when Haman fell down as a suppliant at the feet of Esther, and, as the manner was among the Greeks and Romans, and not improbably among the Persians, embraced her knees, the king might pretend that he was offering violence to the queen’s chastity; not that he believed that this was his intention; but in his furious passion he turned every thing to the worst sense, and made use of it to aggravate his crime. The king’s design was evident enough from his words; and therefore they immediately covered Haman’s face. As the dignity of a prince made the being arrayed in his clothes a mighty honour, so it should seem it did not allow of a malefactor’s setting eyes upon him. The majesty, at least, of the kings of Persia did not allow of this, as appears in the case of Haman, whose face was covered as soon as the courtiers perceived Ahasuerus looked upon him in that light. Some curious correspondent examples have been produced from antiquity, and may be met with in Poole’s Synopsis; but, perhaps, it may be amusing to find that this custom still continues; as well as useful to ascertain more clearly the meaning of covering the face, which has been differently understood by learned men. I shall therefore set down, from Bishop Pococke’s Travels, the account that he gives of an artifice by which an Egyptian bey was taken off. It was this: a man, being brought before him like a malefactor just taken, with his hands behind as if tied, and a napkin put over his head, as malefactors commonly have, when he was brought before the bey, suddenly shot him dead. The covering of Haman’s face, then, was the placing him before Ahasuerus as a malefactor to hear his doom, who had just before been considered as the king’s confident. See Observations, p. 282 and Explication des Textes Difficiles, p. 261.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Est 7:8 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.
Ver. 8. Then the king returned out of the palace garden ] Where he had either increased his choler, and cast on more fuel by plodding, or, as some think, strove to digest it, as horses do by biting on the bit.
Ut fragilis glacies occidit ira mora.
Unto the house of the banquet of wine ] Called also by the Hebrew, Bethmittoth, the house of beds, triclinium; because at beds they used to sit, as we do at tables, to eat and drink. See Est 1:6 .
And Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was
Then said the king, Will he force the queen also
Impedit ira animum, ne possit cernere verum.
But though the king were unjust in judging thus amiss of Haman, yet God was righteous in measuring to him as he had meted to others, by belying and slandering so many innocents as he had designed to destruction. The devil was, and still is, first a liar, and then a murderer, he cannot murder without slandering first. But God loves to retaliate and proportion device to device, Mic 2:1 ; Mic 2:3 , frowardness to frowardness, Psa 18:26 , spoiling to spoiling, Isa 33:1 , tribulation to them that trouble his people, 2Th 1:6 .
As the word went out of the king’s mouth] Either the former words, or else some words of command not here related, such as are Corripite, velate vultum, Take him away, cover his face. And this word was to Haman the messenger of death, driving him from the light into darkness, and chasing him out of the world, Job 18:18 . Nay, worse. That Book of Job elegantly sets forth the misery of a wicked man dying, under the notion of one not only driven out of the light by devils, where he shall see nothing but his tormentors, but also made to stand upon snares or gins with iron teeth, ready to strike up and grind him to pieces, having gall poured down to his belly, with an instrument raking in his bowels, and the pains of a travailing woman upon him, and a hideous noise of horror in his ears, and a great giant with a spear running upon his neck, and a flame burning upon him round about, &c., and yet all this to hell itself is but as a prick with a pin, or a flea biting, Job 18:18 ; Job 20:15 ; Job 20:24 ; Job 15:20-21 ; Job 15:26 ; Job 15:30 .
They covered Haman’s face] In token of his irrevocable condition. See Job 9:24 Isa 22:17 . The Turks cast a black gown upon such, as they sit at supper with the Great Turk, and presently strangle them. Many of their viziers or greatest favourites die in this sort, which makes them use this proverb, He that is greatest in office is but a statue of glass. Plutarch wittily compareth great men to counters, which now stand for a thousand pounds, and anon for a farthing. – Sic transit gloria mundi. so passes the glory of the world.
Quem dies veniens vidit superbum,
Hunc dies abiens vidit iacentem.
Haman, for instance, and so Sejanus; the same senators who accompanied him to the senate, conducted him to prison; they which sacrificed unto him as to their god, which kneeled down to adore him, scoffed at him, seeing him dragged from the temple to the jail, from supreme honour to extreme ignominy, Ludit in humanis divina potentia rebus (Pertinax Imp. fortunae pila dictus est).
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
bed = couch.
Will he force . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Est 7:8-10
Est 7:8-10
THE KING RETURNED AND ORDERED HAMAN’S EXECUTION
“Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine, and Haman was fallen upon the couch where Esther was. Then said the king, Will he even force the queen before me in this house? As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. Then said Harbonah, one of the king’s chamberlains that went before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman hath made for Mordecai, who spake good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. And 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.”
“Will he even force the queen before me” (Est 7:8)? The furious king was placing the worst possible construction upon Haman’s prostrate position before Esther, suggesting by these words that Haman was attempting to rape the queen. That was certainly not the case at all; but it is a matter of history that Xerxes was capable of doing nearly anything, and that he was unstable, unreasonable and capricious. It was the knowledge of all this that had fueled Esther’s fear when she went unbidden into his presence.
“As the word went out of the king’s mouth” (Est 7:8). The singular rendition of WORD in this place is correct; “For it is singular in the Hebrew.” Furthermore, “That Hebrew word may also be rendered JUDGMENT, being therefore a statement that the king immediately pronounced the judgment of death against Haman.” The fact that they immediately, “covered Haman’s face,” supports that understanding of the passage.
“Then said Harbonah … Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high in the house of Haman” (Est 7:9). This sheds further light on that gallows. Its being in the house of Haman forbids the notion that it was really that tall. How then was it “fifty cubits high”? The answer appears to be that it had been placed at that altitude on the city wall, where, in all probability Haman’s house was located; and in that position, it could be seen from the place where the banquet of wine was being held. The meaning then would be that the gallows was that high, in the sense of being erected at that elevation. Our analysis of this has some element of speculation in it; but it is difficult to suppose that any kind of structure nearly a hundred feet in height could have been constructed over night. Also, the word behold indicates that it was visible from the palace.
“Then the king’s wrath was pacified” (Est 7:10). Very well, so far, so good! But the danger was far from being averted. That evil decree sent forth in the authority of the “Law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not,” was still out there, in every province of the Empire (Dan 6:9). The great danger of a wholesale slaughter of the Jews still persisted.
E.M. Zerr:
Est 7:8. Having brought the situation to this dramatic climax, Esther was overcome with emotion and lay down upon her bed. Haman was then desperate with fear and threw aside all discretion. In casting himself upon the bed by the side of the queen, we are sure he had no intention but to beg earnestly for his life. Nevertheless, the position was interpreted by the enraged king in the light that such a compromise would logically be taken. With an accusing question he spoke in the hearing of the ones present, calling attention to the threefold offense namely, force the queen, before me, in the house. The witnesses took the view of the case that was expressed by the king and resolved not to let the wicked Haman add one word more in his plea. They shut him off by covering his face, thereby smothering him as with a gag.
Est 7:9. When Harbonah called attention to the gallows that Haman had erected he may not have thought especially of the use the king would make of it. The purpose was to cite another item of evidence, proving how wicked a man Haman was; that he had constructed an instrument for the destruction of the very man who had saved the king’s life. But the suggestion was enough for Ahasuerus. He promptly gave orders that Haman should be hanged thereon.
Est 7:10. The orders were carried out. The inspired writer added emphasis to the occasion by stating that the hanging of Haman took place on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. This pacified the king’s wrath because it struck out the man who was the author of the terrible conspiracy just discovered.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the bed: Est 1:6, Isa 49:23
before me: Heb. with me
they covered Haman’s: When a criminal was condemned by a Roman judge, he was delivered to the serjeant with these words: I, lictor, caput obnubito arbori infelici suspendito, “Go, sergeant, cover his head, and hang him on the accursed tree.” Est 6:12, Job 9:24, Isa 22:17
Reciprocal: 2Sa 13:14 – forced her Job 40:13 – bind Pro 10:6 – violence Pro 14:19 – General Pro 19:12 – king’s Amo 6:7 – and the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Est 7:8. Then the king returned out of the palace garden Yet more exasperated than when he went into it. The more he thought of Hamans conduct, the more enraged he was against him. Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was Or by, or beside the bed, on which the queen sat at meat, after the manner of those times and countries. For it was then a custom among the Persians, as well as many other nations, to sit, or rather lie, upon beds, when they ate or drank. And Haman, it seems, fell down as a supplicant at the feet of Esther, laying his hands upon her knees, and beseeching her to take pity upon him: for it is not improbable that it was the custom among the Persians, as it was among the Greeks and Romans, to embrace the knees of those whom they petitioned to be favourable to them. Then said the king Finding him in this posture; Will he force the queen also before me in the house? Will he attempt my queens chastity, as he hath already attempted her life, and that in my own presence and palace? His presumption and impudence, I see, will stick at nothing. He speaks not this out of 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 puts the worst construction on all his words and actions. They covered Hamans face That the king might not be offended or grieved at the sight of a person whom he now detested; and because they looked upon him as a condemned person, for the faces of such used to be covered.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
7:8 Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was {d} 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 {e} covered Haman’s face.
(d) He fell down at the couch on which she sat and made request for his life.
(e) This was the manner of the Persians, when one was out of favour with the king.