Earlier, Haman talked the king into setting a date for all the Jews in his kingdom to be killed, Esther 3:3-14, and Mordecai sent word to Esther that she needed to go before the king and ask him to stop this massacre, Esther 4:4-8. She was hesitant, to begin with, but in the end, she decided to go before the king, even though it might cost her, her life, Esther 4:16.
This chapter deals with what happened next and so, Esther, her attendants, and the Jews had been fasting for three days, Esther 4:16, and just as Esther had promised, she went before the king. We can only imagine the courage she must have had and what was going through her mind at this point, will she live or will she die!
After putting on her royal robes, Esther enters in a way that wasn’t threatening, Esther 5:1, so, the guards didn’t take action against her. She stood in a visible place where she could be seen by the king who was sitting on his royal throne, Esther 5:1, and when the king saw her, he held out to her the gold scepter,
The king may have found Esther’s beauty irresistible, and so, he was drawn to him by her presentation. She found favour in his sight, and so the king held out his golden sceptre and invites her into his presence, Esther 5:2. And Esther approaches and touched the tip of the scepter, Esther 5:2.
Clarke, inn his commentary, says the following.
‘The Septuagint represents ‘the king as being at first greatly enraged when he saw Esther, because she had dared to appear before him unveiled, and she, perceiving this, was so terrified that she fainted away; on which the king, touched with tenderness, sprung from his throne, took her up in his arms, laid the golden sceptre on her neck, and spoke to her in the most endearing manner.’ This is more circumstantial than the Hebrew but is not contrary to it.’
It’s now that the prayers and fasting for three days by the people have been answered, as she is now standing before the king, Esther 4:16. The king knew that Esther wanted something, otherwise, she wouldn’t have risked her life to come before him. He wants to know what she wants, and he tells her that he will give her up to half the kingdom, Esther 5:3. I don’t think the king saying ‘he would give her half of the kingdom’, is to be taken literally, rather it was an expression which was used to say that the king was willing to grant someone what they asked for, Mark 6:21-23.
We can see the wisdom of Esther here as she didn’t tell the king what she wanted straight away, rather she waited for the right time, by inviting the king and Haman to attend a banquet later that day, Esther 5:4. Esther didn’t rush in and present the pleas of the people who were to be killed in the plot of Haman, she wanted Haman in the presence of the king when the truth was revealed, Proverbs 21:1.
The king is obviously curious about what Esther was about to say, hence why he asks Haman to come quickly so they can go to the banquet, Esther 5:5. So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared, Esther 5:5. Notice again, while they were drinking wine, the king wants to know what Esther wanted, and he promised her up to half the kingdom again, Esther 5:6 / Esther 5:3, but once again, Esther puts it off for another day, Esther 5:7-8. She tells the king that she will tell him her request tomorrow at the next banquet, Esther 5:8.
We don’t know why she kept putting off presenting her request to the king as the text doesn’t tell us. Some commentators have suggested that she possibly lacked the courage, so she kept putting it off. Some commentators suggest that she wanted to have more time to pray about the matter. Other commentators suggest she was doing this so she would have more time to please the king so that he might be more inclined to grant her request.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Esther seems to have been afraid to make her real request of Xerxes too abruptly. She concluded that the king would understand that she had a real petition in the background, and would recur to it, as in fact he did, Esther 5:6 / Esther 7:2.’
Haman, who was second in command, after receiving the personal invitation to attend a banquet by the king and queen is certainly filled with joy Esther 5:9, and we can only imagine his excitement about what was to come. However, on his way from the palace, he again met Mordecai who once again, wouldn’t bow in his presence, Esther 5:9 / Esther 3:2-5. Haman felt like striking Mordecai dead right there and then, he was raging mad, Esther 5:9, but he restrained himself and went home and invited his friends and wife Zeresh to come to him, Esther 5:10.
Notice how he did nothing but brag about his wealth and his accomplishments, and how he was the only one Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet, Esther 5:11-12 / Daniel 4:28-33. Haman was full of pride and full of himself, James 4:10. It appears that Mordecai’s actions were just too strong for him, and he was allowing this to make him miserable, Esther 5:13.
It’s clear that Zeresh, Haman’s wife, was caught up in all the excitement of her husband because she too, would profit from any exaltation of Haman in the Empire. In order to calm the anxiety of her husband concerning Mordecai, she suggests the means by which Mordecai would be put to death, Esther 5:14 / 1 Kings 21:1-16. Haman’s wife and his friends suggest that gallows be built fifty cubits high, that would be about seventy-five feet high so that Mordecai could be impaled on them, Esther 5:14 / Esther 2:23.
Gallows were a structure built of wood and when it says that Mordecai was to be impaled, it wasn’t talking about hanging him from a rope, but hanging him by crucifying him, which was the common practice among the Persians. The hight of the gallows were so high so that anyone who hung on them would be clearly seen by everyone in Susa.
It appears that Haman wanted a public sign for everyone who would defy him. Haman thought this was a wonderful idea and he was certain that he could convince the king to impale Mordecai, Esther 5:14, which is why he had the gallows built before he had the king’s permission.
Duff, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This stake would have been some ten feet high but set aloft upon a citadel, or the city wall, as in the case of Nicanor, 2 Maccabees 15:35.’
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The gallows mentioned here were not for hanging a victim, but for violently killing and displaying the victim. ‘A pointed stake is set upright in the ground, and the culprit is taken, placed on the sharp point, and then pulled down by his legs till the stake that went in at the fundament passes up through the body and comes out through the neck. A most dreadful species of punishment, in which revenge and cruelty may glut the utmost of their malice. The culprit lives a considerable time in excruciating agonies.’