经文研读
Esther 7:10 — Haman Hanged on His Own Gallows
Haman is executed on the very gallows he had built for Mordecai, and the king's wrath is pacified.
经文
- 10.於 是 人 將 哈 曼 掛 在 他 為 末 底 改 所 預 備 的 木 架 上 。 王 的 忿 怒 這 才 止 息 。So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.
这段经文的意思
Verse 10 reports the execution: Haman is hanged on the fifty-cubit gallows described in verse 9, the same structure he had prepared for Mordecai. The Hebrew phrasing for the wooden pole is commonly translated "gallows," but the passage itself does not specify the type of device—only that it stood in Haman's house and was fifty cubits high (v. 9). The text presents the execution as a direct consequence of the king's command in verse 9 ("Hang him thereon"), so Haman dies by the very instrument of his own plot.
The closing line, "Then was the king's wrath pacified," ties the execution to the resolution of Ahasuerus's anger that began when he rose from the banquet in verse 7. The king's wrath, Esther's accusation (v. 6), the fall on the couch (v. 8), and Harbonah's reminder about the gallows (v. 9) form a rapid sequence; verse 10's pacification marks the end of that chain. The earlier banquet-offer of "up to half the kingdom" (v. 2) is now answered with capital punishment rather than a royal favor.
The narrative framing makes the reversal explicit: the device aimed at Mordecai takes Haman himself. The verse does not editorialize—it simply states the hanging and the calming of the king—but the juxtaposition of "the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai" with "they hanged Haman" carries the weight of ironic justice within the passage itself.
背景
Chapter 7 is the climax of the Haman plot. Esther, at the second banquet, identifies Haman as "an adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman" (v. 6). The king leaves in wrath (v. 7), returns to find Haman fallen on Esther's couch (v. 8), and Harbonah points to the gallows already standing in Haman's own house (v. 9). Verse 10 closes this scene by reporting the execution and the calming of the king.
Within the broader book, this verse completes the reversal pattern that runs through Esther: the one who schemed to destroy the Jews is destroyed by his own device. The gallows built in Haman's house (v. 9) is now used against him, and the king's wrath is pacified, allowing the following chapters to address the fate of the Jews Haman had sought to annihilate.
常见问题
What exactly was the "gallows" Haman was hanged on?
The passage calls it a wooden structure fifty cubits high that Haman had set up in his own house (v. 9). The text does not specify the technical type of device; "gallows" is a conventional translation of the Hebrew term, and the chapter itself only says Haman was hanged on it (v. 10).
Why does verse 10 add "Then was the king's wrath pacified"?
The line connects the execution back to the anger the king showed from verse 7 onward. After Harbonah's reminder about the gallows (v. 9) and the royal command to hang Haman, the verse concludes the chain of wrath—Esther's accusation, the fallen scene on the couch, the order—by noting that the king's anger is now resolved.
Does the verse itself call this "poetic justice"?
No. Verse 10 simply reports that Haman was hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai and that the king's wrath was pacified. The sense of ironic reversal comes from the juxtaposition of "the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai" with "they hanged Haman" within the passage itself; the text does not label or explain it.