THE BOOK OF ESTHER
Lesson 4: Chapters 6:1-8:12
Haman's Disgrace and Execution and
Vindication and the Salvation of the Jews
Lord God,
Help us to recognize Your interventions in our lives: when You
intervene to help us see our wrongdoings and call us to turn away from sin, and
when You intervene to guide us in making a difference in someone's life. We
cannot know the impact of our simple actions, like praying before a meal in a
public place, but we trust that You are in control of the destinies of all men
and women in our time as You were in the lives of Mordecai and Esther. Send Your
Holy Spirit to guide us in our lesson, Lord, as we pray in the name of God the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
+ + +
May they be
like chaff before the wind, with the angel of Yahweh to chase them. May their
way be dark and slippery, with the angel of Yahweh to hound them. Unprovoked
they laid their snare for me, unprovoked dug a trap to kill me. Ruin comes
upon them unawares; the snare they have laid will catch them, and into their own
trap they will fall.
Psalm 35:5-8
Commit your destiny to Yahweh, be confident in him, and
he will act, making your uprightness clear as daylight, and the justice of your
cause as the noon.
Psalm 37:5-6
In her prayer (Chapter 4), Esther made three petitions to God:
God heard Esther's humble prayer, and He will answer every one of her petitions. In the last lesson, we began to see God's intervention when he changed the king's anger to concern for Esther when she came unsummoned into his presence. In Chapter 6, God intervenes a second time by bringing insomnia to the king and by sending Haman to the palace in his eagerness to be rid of Mordecai. God is going to continue honor Esther's first petition that He began to fulfill when He gave her the courage she needed to approach the king unsummoned (LXX 5:1a-5:3) by giving her the courage to confront and denounce Haman, her people's evil enemy (7:6-7), and the courage to plead to the king for her people's salvation (8:3-6). He will also fulfill her second petition by bringing Haman to justice for his hatred and evil intentions concerning God's covenant people living in exile (7:9-10).
The year is 474 BC in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus' reign:
*The new Persian year began on the spring equinox that is March 21st in our calendar.
Chapter 6: God Begins to Fulfill Esther's Second Petition
Esther 6:1-6 ~ God Intervenes Again, and the King Asks Haman's Advice
1 That
night the king could not sleep; he called for the Record Book, or annals to be
brought and read to him. 2 They
contained an account of how Mordecai had denounced Bigthan and Teresh, two of
the king's eunuchs serving as Guards of the Threshold, who had plotted to
assassinate King Ahasuerus. 3 "And
what honor and dignity," the king asked, "was conferred on Mordecai for this?"
"Nothing had been done for him," the gentlemen-in-waiting replied. 4 The king then said, "Who is outside in the
antechamber?" Haman had, that very moment, entered the outer antechamber of
the private apartments, to ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on the gallows
which he had just put up for the purpose. 5
So the king's gentlemen-in-waiting replied, "It is Haman out in the antechamber."
"Bring him in," the king said, 6 and,
as soon as Haman came in, went on to ask, "What is the right way to treat a man
whom the king wishes to honor?" "Whom," thought Haman, "would the king wish to
honor, if no me?"
After Haman's invitation to the feast Esther planned for him and the king, Haman returned to his house where he told his wife and friends of his great joy in being honored by the queen. But he also admitted to them that his happiness was quenched by this rage at the way Mordecai the Jew refused to show him the respect due to this high status as the king's most powerful minister. His wife suggests for him to rid himself of this annoyance before the feast by having Mordecai executed. Haman is so pleased with her suggestion that he decided to have the stake for Mordecai's impalement erected at once (Esther 5:9-14).
1 That night the
king could not sleep; he called for the Record Book, or annals to be brought
and read to him. 2 They contained
an account of how Mordecai had denounced Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's
eunuchs serving as Guards of the Threshold, who had plotted to assassinate King
Ahasuerus.
"That night," God intervened again. He caused the king
to be unable to sleep. It is the same night Haman put up the stake for
Mordecai's execution and then went to the palace to see the king. As a remedy
for his sleeplessness, the king asks his servant to read aloud to him from the
book of memorable deeds of his reign. It was not a coincidence that the
attendant read the report of how the Jew, Mordecai saved the king's life; it
was a God-incident (see Esth 2:22-23).
Question: What discovery did the king make that
will change the course of the story?
Answer: He discovered that Mordecai had not
received a reward for saving the king's life.
It is then that the king discovered Haman had entered the outer antechamber. Ironically, he came to ask the king for permission to execute Mordecai. A person could enter the outer-court without a summons and request to see the king, but not the inner court (Esth 4:11).
Question: Why didn't Esther just come as far as
the outer-court and send a request to receive permission to enter the king's
presence instead of entering without a summons?
Answer: Probably because Esther didn't want to
take the chance that the king would refuse to grant her a request for an
audience, and so she risked entering the inner court without a royal summons.
If the guards had conveyed her request and the king refused to grant it, they
would never have allowed her access to the inner court. Since she was the
Queen, they probably thought she had received a summons from the King.
"Bring him in," the king said, 6 and, as soon as Haman came in, went on to ask,
"What is the right way to treat a man whom the king wishes to honor?" "Whom,"
thought Haman, "would the king wish to honor, if no me?"
The comic irony is not lost on the reader. The king
wants Haman's advice on how to honor Mordecai, Haman's mortal enemy, but Haman
thinks the king is planning to honor him.
Esther 6:7-10 ~ The King Orders Haman to Honor Mordecai
7 So, he replied,
"If the king wishes to honor someone, 8 royal
robes should be brought from the king's wardrobe, and a horse from the king's
stable, sporting a royal diadem on its head. 9 The robes and horse should be entrusted to one of the noblest
of the king's officers-of-state, who should then array the man whom the king
wishes to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square, proclaiming
before him: This is the way a man shall be treated whom the king wished to
honor.'" 10 "Hurry,"
the king said to Haman, "take the robes and the horse, and do everything you
have just said to Mordecai the Jew, who works at the Chancellery [Gatehouse].
On no account leave anything out that you have mentioned."
In his haste to claim what he believes is an honor
intended for him, Haman fails to notice that the king has not named the individual.
In his inflated self-assurance, he makes a fatal assumption. Thinking the man
the king wishes to honor is himself, Haman lists those public royal honors that
he craves, going beyond the conventional ways of honoring those favored by the
king by suggesting actions calculated to make Haman appear to be the king.
Question: What are the three parts of the plan
Haman suggests for the man the king wants to honor in verses 7-9?
Answer:
8 royal robes should be brought from the king's wardrobe
There was great significance attached to a king's
garments. A royal minister wearing his king's robe was a sign of unique favor
(see Gen 41:42 1 Sam 18:4), representing a sharing of his power or sanctity (
2 Kng 2:13-14;
Is 61:3, 10;
Zec 3;
Mk 5:27). According to the Greek historian,
Plutarch, wearing clothing belonging to a king was tantamount to asking for the
kingship (Artaxerxes, 5) and may suggest Haman's ultimate ambitions.
8b and a horse
from the king's stable, sporting a royal diadem on its head.
Images of kings riding horses with royal crowns appear in
Persian reliefs. It is another sign that Haman desires to replace the king.
When kings wished to designate a royal heir as a successor or co-ruler, the
favored son would ride the king's mount in a procession (cf., 1 Kng 1:32-49).
The nexus between a king's throne and his horse/mount (a portable throne)
appears in Mishnah: Sanhedrim, 2.5, which forbids one to ride on the
king's mount, to sit on his throne, or to use his scepter. Also see Genesis 41:43 and Daniel 5:29 where wearing royal robes and riding or being carried by
the ruler's horse was a sign of very high rank in the kingdom.
Question: What is the only sign that would suggest
a thirst for royal power and the throne that is missing?
(See 2 Sam 15:10; 16:20-22)
Answer: Taking possession of the king's wife/wives
and concubines.
Haman's desire to have all the royal honors that point to kingship suggests that perhaps he was a party to the plan to assassinate the king by the eunuchs that Mordecai thwarted. LXX 1:1r recorded: But Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, who enjoyed high favor with the king, determined to injure Mordecai in revenge for the affair of the king's two eunuchs.
10 "Hurry," the
king said to Haman, "take the robes and the horse, and do everything you have
just said to Mordecai the Jew, who works at the Chancellery [Gatehouse]. On no
account leave anything out that you have mentioned."
Imagine Haman's shock! And to make it worse, not only is
the honored man to be his enemy, the Jew, Mordecai, but Haman is to be the
minister to parade Mordecai through the city square. Haman must escort Mordecai
in front of the very building where Mordecai had publicly refused to show
respect for Haman (5:9, 13), all the while proclaiming to the people that this
is the man the king wants to honor above Haman!
Esther 6:11-13 ~ Mordecai's Honor and Haman's Shame
11 So taking the
robes and the horse, Haman arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through
the city square, proclaiming before him: "This is the way a man shall be
treated whom the king wishes to honor." 12 After this Mordecai returned to the
Chancellery [Gatehouse], while Haman went hurrying home in dejection and
covering his face. 13 He
told his wife Zeresh and all his friends what had just happened. His wife
Zeresh and his friends said, "You are beginning to fall, and Mordecai to rise;
if he is Jewish, you will never get the better of him. With him against you,
your fall is certain." While they were still talking, the king's eunuchs
arrived in a hurry to escort Haman to the banquet that Esther was giving.
What a reversal! You will remember that the last time Mordecai was in the city square was when he was wearing sackcloth and ashes (4:6), and now he appears dressed in royal robes. The Persian crowd witnesses Mordecai's honor and Haman's chagrin in the city's public square where Haman must proclaim the reward for Mordecai that he thought was his.
12 After this
Mordecai returned to the Chancellery [Gatehouse], while Haman went hurrying
home in dejection and covering his face.
Mordecai enters the offices of the Gatehouse wearing the
king's robes while Haman goes home in despair and humiliation. His covered
head represents his grief for the indignities he has suffered, but it also signals
the misery that awaits him which his wife and friends foresee.
In verse 13, Haman's wife and friends realize he is doomed, but the complete fulfillment of Esther's second petition to God takes place at the seventh and last feast. The next day, the king's eunuchs arrived at Haman's house to accompany him to his final banquet. The royal escort the king sends is a sign of honor.
Chapter 7: Esther's Request and Haman's Destruction
Esther's second feast with Haman and the king is the seventh in the Book of Esther:
Esther 7:1-7 ~ Haman's Final Banquet
1 The king and
Haman went to Queen Esther's banquet, 2 and
this second day during the banquet, the king again said to Esther, "Tell me you
request, Queen Esther. I grant it to you. Whatever you want; even if it is
half my kingdom, it is yours for the asking." 3 "If I have found favor in your eyes, O king," Queen Esther
replied, "and if it please your majesty, grant me my life; that is my request,
and the lives of my people, that is what I want. 4 For we have been handed over [sold], my people
and I, to destruction, slaughter and annihilation; had we merely been sold as
slaves and servant-girls, I should not have said anything; but in the present
case, it will be beyond the persecutor's means to make good the loss that the
king is about to sustain." 5 King
Ahasuerus interrupted Queen Esther, "Who is this, man?" he exclaimed, "Where is
the man who had thought of doing such a thing?" 6 Esther replied, "The persecutor, the enemy? Why, this wretch
Haman!" Haman quaked with terror in the presence of the king and queen. 7 In a rage, the king got up from the banquet
and went into the palace garden; while Haman, realizing that the king was
determined on his ruin, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
You may recall that a banquet opened the story of Queen Vashti's fall from royal favor, and now a banquet will end with Haman's fall. In Esther's prayer, she petitioned God: Turn these plots against their authors, and make an example of the man who leads the attack on us (Esth 4:LXX 17q). The author of the massacre against Esther's people is about to become an example of God's justice against the wicked as the king urges Esther to make her request that he promised to honor.
Esther's phrases her request in formal court language. She builds her case on her personal relationship to the king and her people (verse 3). Using the pronoun "we" she equates her life with her people but does not name them as the Jews, saying, 4 For we have been handed over [sold], my people and I, to destruction, slaughter, and annihilation... When she says, "we have been sold," she may be referring to what Mordecai told her about Haman's bribe (4:7), or perhaps she is expressing a sense of betrayal as in Judges 2:14 and 3:8. The three terms she uses, destruction, slaughter, and annihilation are the same words used by Haman in Esther 3:13.
4b "...had we
merely been sold as slaves and servant-girls, I should not have said anything;
but in the present case, it will be beyond the persecutor's means to make good
the loss that the king is about to sustain."
Her mention of the hypothetical threat of slavery is
ironic and part of the rhetorical strategy of her request. Building her case she
says, if the Jews were only sold into slavery, she would have kept quiet and
not bothered the king with so minor a problem. Esther is subtly recasting
Haman's offer of the bribe in 3:9 as a treasonous act against the empire. An
entire people usually became enslaved if a political entity defeated their
government and conquered them. The implication is that Haman wants to replace
Ahasuerus as king. It is ironic because in 3:8, Haman portrayed the Jews as
traitors. Her subtle suggestion of treason is not lost on the king.
King Ahasuerus interrupted Queen Esther, "Who is this,
man?" he exclaimed, "Where is the man who had thought of doing such a thing?" 6 Esther replied, "The persecutor, the enemy?
Why, this wretch Haman!"
God gives Esther the courage to name her enemy who is
reclining in front of her! In the Hebrew text, 7:5 contains another hidden
allusion to God: "is he where is he" is a notarikon in which the first letter
of each Hebrew word renders the letters EHYHE, which is the same backward and
forward and reads in Hebrew, "I AM", the meaning of God's Divine Name YHWH as
God explained to Moses in Exodus 2:23-25; 3:14-15. Some copies of the
Masoretic text make each first letter larger or in red type. In three other
places in the Book of Esther, God's Divine Name is hidden in acrostic sentences
(see 1:20; 5:4 and 13).1
7 In a rage the
king got up from the banquet and went into the palace garden; while Haman,
realizing that the king was determined on his ruin, stayed behind to beg Queen
Esther for his life.
Esther's request for the king to intervene to save her
people and to accuse Haman, the king's favorite of being a treasonous villain
was almost too much for the king to take in. He probably left the banquet and
withdrew to the garden to think about everything Esther said and to process the
implications of her accusation. The eunuchs attending the feast, probably
accompanied the king into the garden, leaving the queen and the minister
alone. Haman takes advantage of the king's absence to beg Esther to spare his
life.
Esther 7:8-10 ~ The Fulfillment of Esther's Second Petition to God
8 When the king
came back from the palace garden into the banqueting hall, he found Haman
sprawled across the couch where Esther was reclining. "What!" the king
exclaimed. "Is he going to rape the queen in my own palace?" The words were
scarcely out of his mouth than a veil was thrown over Haman's face. 9 In the royal presence, Harbona, one of the
eunuchs, said, "There is that fifty-cubit gallows [wood], too, which Haman ran
up for Mordecai, who spoke up to the king's great advantage. It is all ready
at his house." "Hang him on it [Let him be crucified (straurotheto)
on it]," said the king. 10 So
Haman was hanged [ekmasthe] on the gallows [wood] which he had erected for
Mordecai, and the king's wrath subsided.
[...] = IBHE, vol. II, page 1316.
Another irony is the queen Haman begs to save him is the
Jewess he unknowingly planned to destroy. However, Haman's attempt to save his
life seals his fate.
Question: What terrible miscalculation does Haman
make and how does the king misinterpret his action? Consider that the king had
probably realized that Haman's suggestions for royal honors were because he
thought Haman wanted to receive the honors that pointed to kingship.
Answer: When the king returned to the banquet
hall, he saw Haman on the couch reclining with Queen Esther who was probably
horrified. He misinterprets Haman's intent and accuses Haman of trying to rape
the queen probably because that was the next step if Haman had planned to usurp
the king's throne.
Royal protocol dictated that no man but the king could touch a king's woman. For Haman to take a place next to Esther on her couch and touch her person was unthinkable. The king would naturally be enraged if he suspected something of the sort. An attempt to have sexual relations with a king's wife or concubine had the political connotation of attempting to take the kingship (see Gen 35:22; 2 Sam 3:7; 16:21-22; 1 Kng 2:15-17, 22; Plutarch, Artaxerxes 26.2).
What!" the king exclaimed. "Is he going to rape the
queen in my own palace?" The words were scarcely out of his mouth than a veil was
thrown over Haman's face.
The eunuch responded to the king's accusation against
Haman by taking him prisoner and covering his face, perhaps signaling he was
condemned to death or even put to death. The shame foreseen in 6:12-13 is now
fulfilled, and God has also answered the second petition in Esther's prayer.
"Hang him on it [Let him be crucified (straurotheto)
on it]," said the king. 10 So
Haman was hanged [ekmasthe] on the gallows [wood] which he had erected for
Mordecai, and the king's wrath subsided.2
The king's eunuch, Harbona (Esth 1:10), informs the king
of the wood pillar Haman had erected for Mordecai's execution which leads to
another ironic reversal as the impalement or crucifixion stake prepared by
Haman for Mordecai will be used to display Haman's dead body.
In Mordecai's dream, "two great dragons came forward" ready to fight (LXX 1:c/11:6). But then, "Light came as the sun rose, and the humble were raised" (LXX 1:1k/11:11). The humble Jews had no choice but to put their trust in the Lord God just as Psalm 37 advises: Commit your destiny to Yahweh, be confident in him, and he will act, making your uprightness clear as daylight, and the justice of your cause as the noon (Ps 37:5-6). For the Jews living in Persia, the divine "Light" is shining as God intervenes on His people's behalf.
Esther 8:1-6 ~ The King Rewards Esther and She Makes a Final Request
1 The same day
King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the persecutor of the
Jews. Mordecai was presented to the king, Esther having revealed their mutual
relationship. 2 The king, who had
recovered his signet ring from Haman, took it off and gave it to Mordecai,
while Esther gave Mordecai charge of Haman's house. 3 Esther again went to speak to the king. She
fell at his feet, weeping and imploring his favor, to frustrate the malice that
Haman the Agagite had been plotting against the Jews. 4 The king held out the golden scepter to her, whereupon
Esther stood up and faced him. 5 "If such is the king's good pleasure," she
said, "and if I have found favor before him, if my petition seems proper to him
and if I myself am pleasing to his eyes, may he be pleased to issue a written
revocation of the letters which Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, has had
written, ordering the destruction of the Jews throughout the royal provinces. 6 For how can I look on, while my people suffer
what is proposed for them? How can I bear to witness the extermination of my
relatives?
The reference to "the Jews" in verse 1 and to Mordecai as "the Jew," in verse 7 is the first time the former citizens of the kingdom of Judah (then a Persian province) are referred to as "Jews." St. Jerome included this phrase in the vulgate as proof that the current use in his day dated back to the Book of Esther.
The king gave Esther Haman's house which also probably included all of his property, and she, in turn, passed it on to Mordecai. Having revealed her relationship to Mordecai, he is formally presented to the king and receives the powers previously held by Haman along with the king's signet ring (see 3:10). The reversal between Haman and Mordecai is now complete.3
Question: What is the final irony concerning the
battle between Haman and Mordecai?
Answer: It is another irony that Mordecai received
the king's signet ring. It is the same ring that had identified Haman as the
king's chief minister, but now Mordecai has taken Haman's place as the chief
minister.
3 Esther again
went to speak to the king. She fell at his feet, weeping and imploring his
favor, to frustrate the malice that Haman the Agagite had been plotting against
the Jews. 4 The king held out the
golden scepter to her, whereupon Esther stood up and faced him.
Esther has the courage to go to the king again,
unsummoned, and he extends his scepter to her as a sign that she is permitted
to speak freely. Now is the time for Esther's final request and the granting
of the third petition to God in her prayer.
5 "If such is the
king's good pleasure," she said, "and if I have found favor before him, if my
petition seems proper to him and if I myself am pleasing to his eyes, may he be
pleased to issue a written revocation of the letters which Haman son of
Hammedatha, the Agagite, has had written, ordering the destruction of the Jews
throughout the royal provinces. 6 For
how can I look on, while my people suffer what is proposed for them? How can I
bear to witness the extermination of my relatives?
Her final request is brief and to the point; it is for
the king to counterman the edict sent out by Haman to exterminate the Jews.
Esther 8:7-12 ~The Vindication and Salvation of the Jews
7 King Ahasuerus
said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "I for my part have given Esther
Haman's house, and have had him hanged on the gallows [wood] for planning to
destroy the Jews. 8 You, for your
part, write what you please as regards the Jews, in the king's name, and seal
it with the king's signet; for any edict written in the king's name and sealed
with his signet is irrevocable." 9 The
royal scribes were summoned at once; it was the third month, the month of
Sivan, on the twenty-third day, and at Mordecai's dictation an order was
written to the Jews, the satraps, governors, and principal officials of the
provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces,
to each province in its own script, and to each people in its own language, and
to the Jews in their own script and language. 10 These letters, written in the name of King Ahasuerus and
sealed with the king's signet, were carried by couriers mounted on horses from
the king's own stud-farms. 11 In
them the king granted the Jews, in whatever city they lived, the right to
assemble in self-defense, with permission to destroy, slaughter, and annihilate
any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, together with
their women and children, and to plunder their possessions, 11 with effect from the same day throughout the
provinces of King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is
Adar.
8 You, for your
part, write what you please as regards the Jews, in the king's name, and seal
it with the king's signet; for any edict written in the king's name and sealed
with his signet is irrevocable."
According to Persian law, the first edict cannot be
withdrawn, but another edict can be sent to counterman the first, allowing the
Jews to defend themselves. But what made the king so ready to believe Haman
concerning the danger posed by the Jews in the first place? It was probably
because of the series of revolts he encountered the year he succeeded his
father as king of the Persian Empire and all its provinces in 486 BC. Until
the time he left for the Second Greco-Persian War, his armies were busy putting
down one revolt after another, with the Egyptian revolt being the most serious.
In addition, the enemies of the Judah lodged an accusation against the province
that they were threatening to revolt (Ezra 4:6). The king never responded to
their letter, but the accusation must have been on his mind when he agreed to
Haman's plan. The only thing worse that a province that revolted would be a
vassal people within Persian encouraging revolt against the government.
However, Esther managed to undermine Haman's influence with the king, causing
Ahasuerus to lose confidence in everything Haman did and said. He now believed
the only treasonous acts were those intended by Haman.
9 The royal
scribes were summoned at once; it was the third month, the month of Sivan, on
the twenty-third day, and at Mordecai's dictation an order was written to the Jews...
Haman cast the lots to determine the day to exterminate
the Jews in all the province in Persia in the month of Nisan in 3:7, March-April
in our calendars, and the lots selected the thirteenth day of Adar, or February-March
(Esth 3:7 and 13). Silvan, in 8:9, is the month of May-June. Therefore, only
about a month has passed since the issuing of the first edict, and the king has
given Esther and Mordecai his permission to draw up a new royal order that will
also be sent out across the Empire but this time to include all the Jews. God
has done His part, the king has done his, now it is up to Esther and Mordecai to
do the rest!
Questions for discussion or reflection:
When going through trials and suffering, it is a test of
faith that some will fail. Some people fail when they fall into despair and
believe God has abandoned them or He does not exist instead of keeping faith
with God and trusting in His providence. There is probably no better example
of such devastating affliction than what happened to the Jews, God's "firstborn
sons" (Ex 4:22), in the Nazi Holocaust during WW II. How did God redeem His
people, and what great blessing did He give them through the United Nations vote
on November 29, in 1947 that took effect on May 14, 1948? It was a fulfillment
of the prophecy of Isaiah in 66:8 and a giving back what had been lost since
722 BC (2 Kng 17:5-6) when the nation called Israel ceased to exist.
Endnotes:
1. An acrostic is a poem, word puzzle, or other
composition in which certain letters in each line or word spells a hidden a
word or words, or the words in each successive line or verse reveal concealed
words or even the alphabet. For example, in the Old Testament, acrostics occur
in the first four of the five chapters of the Book of Lamentations; in the Book
of Proverbs in the praise of the good wife in Proverbs 31:10-31 and in the Book
of Psalms, there are alphabetic acrostics in Psalm 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119,
and 145. A notarikon is an acronym, anagram or acrostic that employs a method of deriving a word by using each of
its initial or final letters to stand or another, to form a sentence or idea
our of words. Another variation uses the first and last letters or the two
middle letters of a word to create another word.
2. The word straurotheto usually means crucifixion, but it does not rule out impalement as the form of Haman's death and public display.
3. Both the Greek historian, Herodotus, (History, 3.128-129) and Jewish priest/historian, Flavius Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, 11;17), confirm that the property of a traitor reverted to the crown.
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