They hanged
Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai (NIV 1984, Esther 7:10).
Haman’s plot to wipe
out the Jews had been announced. What Haman didn’t know was that Persia’s new
queen was a Jew, and that the target of his anger, Mordecai, was in fact
Esther’s cousin who had raised her after her parents died.
At the risk of her
life, Esther appeared unbidden before the king. He received her with pleasure
and offered her anything. She asked that the king and Haman come to a private
banquet with her that day. At lunch, the king again offered her anything she
wanted, and Esther simply asked him to bring Haman for another meal the next
day.
In the next 24
hours, Haman, carried away with his own importance, contracted the construction
of a special gallows on which to hang Mordecai. Then to his great distress, the
next morning he was ordered to honor the very man he despised. Upon his return
to Esther’s quarters for lunch later that day, Esther announced to the king
that she was a Jew and that Haman had plotted the genocide of the Jewish people.
In a rage, the king
decreed that Haman be hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. The
edict to kill the Jews was reversed, and a day of mourning turned to
celebration.
If a man digs a put, he will fall into it (Proverbs 26:27).
TODAY’S MEDITATION
Ever have anger or bitter
words come back to haunt you? Does the lust for revenge ever make you lose your
head? What is God speaking to you?
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