Queen Esther Speaks to the King Before His CourtBible World
7:6Esther 7:6
And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
The naming in the verse identifies Haman as the wicked adversary and enemy of the Jews, God's people, who had plotted against Esther and her people to destroy them. He was prime minister of Persia under the great Persian king Xerxes, called Ahasuerus, at a time when the Jews were in the king's favor. He stood at the head of the Amalekites, the wicked and sworn enemies of God's children, and as a descendant of King Agag he represents that Amalekite opposition.
The verse belongs to Esther's request at the second feast for her own life and the lives of her people. The second feast was the proper occasion because the events of the preceding night had prepared the king to decide rightly. Had the petition come the day before, a different decision might have been given, and Haman's plan to hang Mordecai on the gallows would very likely have been granted if the king had not first been called to notice Mordecai's faithful service in saving his life.
When Esther exposes him, Haman becomes afraid before the king and the queen, his guilt laid bare and his identity uncovered before them, leading to his downfall. At that naming the king is astonished and angry, and as Haman pleads with Esther for his life his actions deepen the king's suspicion against him. The exposure marks the turning point toward the triumphant vindication of God's people and Haman's utter defeat. By God's providence in bringing a Jewish maiden to the throne of Persia and by God's overruling power and love, God frustrated the plot and delivered the Jews through Esther from Haman's cruel decree and planned massacre, so Haman's malice was defeated and Mordecai overcame Haman.
Haman's plot, pursued through the Medo-Persian government during Medo-Persian rule, was part of Satan's attempt to destroy all God's people, the people through whom the promised Man-child would come. As the devil's agent, Haman's fate illustrates how Satan, the great adversary, will suffer the punishment he sought for God's people, with the shame he tried to heap on them transferred to himself. That punishment is not atonement for their sins, which Christ has fully dealt with.
The naming in the verse identifies Haman as the wicked adversary and enemy of the Jews, God's people, who had plotted against Esther and her people to destroy them. He was prime minister of Persia under the great Persian king Xerxes, called Ahasuerus, at a time when the Jews were in the king's favor. He stood at the head of the Amalekites, the wicked and sworn enemies of God's children, and as a descendant of King Agag he represents that Amalekite opposition.
The verse belongs to Esther's request at the second feast for her own life and the lives of her people. The second feast was the proper occasion because the events of the preceding night had prepared the king to decide rightly. Had the petition come the day before, a different decision might have been given, and Haman's plan to hang Mordecai on the gallows would very likely have been granted if the king had not first been called to notice Mordecai's faithful service in saving his life.
When Esther exposes him, Haman becomes afraid before the king and the queen, his guilt laid bare and his identity uncovered before them, leading to his downfall. At that naming the king is astonished and angry, and as Haman pleads with Esther for his life his actions deepen the king's suspicion against him. The exposure marks the turning point toward the triumphant vindication of God's people and Haman's utter defeat. By God's providence in bringing a Jewish maiden to the throne of Persia and by God's overruling power and love, God frustrated the plot and delivered the Jews through Esther from Haman's cruel decree and planned massacre, so Haman's malice was defeated and Mordecai overcame Haman.
Haman's plot, pursued through the Medo-Persian government during Medo-Persian rule, was part of Satan's attempt to destroy all God's people, the people through whom the promised Man-child would come. As the devil's agent, Haman's fate illustrates how Satan, the great adversary, will suffer the punishment he sought for God's people, with the shame he tried to heap on them transferred to himself. That punishment is not atonement for their sins, which Christ has fully dealt with.