Esther 7:9

9 Then Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Haman has set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall in his own courtyard. He intended to use it to impale Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination.” “Then impale Haman on it!” the king ordered.

Esther 7:9 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 7:9

And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king,
&c.] One of the seven chamberlains, see ( Esther 1:10 ) , his name, with Josephus ^F25, is Sabouchadas.

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.
This man, perhaps, had seen it there, when he went with others to fetch Haman to the banquet, ( Esther 6:14 ) . The sin of Haman is aggravated by preparing a gallows for a man before he was accused to the king, or condemned, or had a grant for his execution, and for a man that had well deserved of the king for discovering a conspiracy against him, and whom now the king had delighted to honour:

then the king said, hang him thereon;
immediately, being ready prepared, the king's word was enough, being a sovereign and tyrannical prince.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F25 Antiqu. l. 11. c. 6. sect. 11.

Esther 7:9 In-Context

7 Then the king jumped to his feet in a rage and went out into the palace garden. Haman, however, stayed behind to plead for his life with Queen Esther, for he knew that the king intended to kill him.

8 In despair he fell on the couch where Queen Esther was reclining, just as the king was returning from the palace garden. The king exclaimed, “Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes?” And as soon as the king spoke, his attendants covered Haman’s face, signaling his doom.

9 Then Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Haman has set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall in his own courtyard. He intended to use it to impale Mordecai, the man who saved the king from assassination.” “Then impale Haman on it!” the king ordered.

10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew 50 cubits [23 meters].