#632 The Snare You Set

So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. 2 And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” 3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. 4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared[a] to do this?” 6 And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

Haman Is Hanged

7 And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king.8 And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman's face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows[b] that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman's house, fifty cubits[c] high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated. Esher 7 ESV

They went to the feast, and Esther made sure the one she was going to accuse was there. Haman did not bring Mordecai before the king when he accused this obscure people, who were a danger to the kingdom. He left them without a face, but Esther will provide one, her own, she will claim her people and ask for her own life to be spared with theirs. She, whom the king loves, by her birth is also an object of this murderous decree. It is no longer hidden behind the veil of ignorance, the womb, viability, "sincere concern or moral outrage." This is a real human being that has done no evil against me, and then there is Haman. You do have an enemy, dear king, if you cherish me, those who are good and do good in your kingdom. The one who is against them is also against you, for he has never had your interest at heart, he exist only to serve himself, to elevate himself, to gain power and hold it. You have been deceived, but now your eyes are open.

This has to be quite unexpected; she has concealed her identity as a Jew all this time. The decree is his own, but it was without the wisdom of evidence, of the truth, it was faceless, and as he steps outside into the garden, he must question his own discernment. How did I come to trust the man who would pay me to kill my wife and her people? How did I come to accept his words without question?

If there was any hesitation in the sentencing, any cooling down due to his own negligence in this, the sprawling body of a groveling murderer, is too close to his wife. Will you attack her even in front of me, in my own house, are you that brazen? There is an apocryphal telling of this that says the angel Gabriel pushed him at that moment of the king's return, but I think he is just a coward that has lost his wits and is trying to beg for his head. Those watching knew the edict before the king said it, a life for a life, the guilty for the innocent this time. The very gallows he built as a monument to his own pride, violence and selfishness, would now satiate the anger and justice of the king. You think the end justifies the means, but the means may come back to justify your end. He was a mass murderer, a deceiver, and he did it under the guise of the law, for the good of the kingdom. Hang him on the gallows that were meant for the man whom the king delights to honor, the man who saved your life. 

Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos: 23-24