Esther 5:14
Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high, and to morrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.
Zeresh his wife and all his friends told Haman to have a gallows made fifty cubits high, about seventy-five feet, and in the morning ask the king to hang Mordecai on it and then go merrily to the banquet, and the advice pleased him so he had the gallows made and went to sleep satisfied that Mordecai would be destroyed. It belonged to his plot under Ahasuerus and Medo-Persian rule to destroy all of God's people, which God frustrated and overruled to save them. Envy made all his wealth, children, promotion and honor seem worthless while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, and he treated his hatred as a reasonable grievance to be ended quickly by killing an innocent man. The God who keeps Israel does not sleep but had other plans for Haman and Mordecai, so before morning the danger reached its worst point and then turned, the towering scaffold became a stepping-stone toward the palace, and Haman himself was put to death on the gallows he had prepared. The demand to hang Mordecai parallels the demand for a Sunday law against those who will not honor Sunday, which is granted for a time but ends in the same reversal upon its instigators.
Plot and Historical Setting
Esther 5:14 belongs to Haman's attempt under Medo-Persian rule to destroy all of God's people, a purpose God frustrated and overruled to save them. The plot occurred in the reign of Ahasuerus, when Medo-Persia was the second head of the Satan-controlled beast system of government. Through Haman Satan perverted Medo-Persia to his own ends and sought to destroy all the people of God, the woman through whom the Man-child should come, but God frustrated his purpose.
Zeresh his wife and all his friends urged him to have a gallows made fifty cubits high, about seventy-five feet, and the next day ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it, and then go merrily with the king to the banquet. Haman approved their advice and had the gallows made. He went to sleep satisfied with his plans, confident he could destroy Mordecai.
Envy left Haman dissatisfied despite wealth, children, promotion, and honor, so that seeing Mordecai at the king's gate made all his advantages seem worthless. His jealousy and hatred of Mordecai was treated by those around him as a reasonable grievance rather than restrained. He sought relief by plotting to end it quickly through the destruction of an innocent man.
Divine Reversal and Deliverance
Haman approved the counsel to build the gallows for Mordecai and went to sleep satisfied with his plans, yet before morning events turned against him. The scaffold for Mordecai's execution was completed and his death seemed imminent. The God who keeps Israel does not sleep, and He had different plans for both Haman and Mordecai. Deliverance came through the king's sleeplessness, which set in motion events that turned the threat against Haman and saved the threatened people.
The threat against Mordecai came before the decree that honored God's people and delivered them from the planned destruction. Danger and affliction therefore preceded blessing. God may allow danger to reach its worst point, yet He remains mindful of His covenant and brings deliverance.
Haman arranged a towering gallows to kill Mordecai, but God turned that scaffold into a stepping-stone toward the king's palace. Mordecai was delivered from the threatened execution. Haman himself was put to death on the fifty-cubit gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, illustrating that the wicked are destroyed by the consequences of their own sin.
Warnings and Present Application
Jealousy of Mordecai moved Zeresh and all the friends to press for his hanging, and approval of that counsel led to the making of the gallows. Their failure to check murderous resentment did not protect but helped bring about ruin. The wife's urging to have Mordecai hanged and then go merrily to enjoy the banquet is destructive counsel, accepted to harm. A wife's counsel ought to be good, and harmful counsel is better left unsaid.
The demand to have Mordecai hanged parallels the demand for a Sunday law against those who would not honor Sunday. As that demand was granted, so the later demand is granted, yet it ends in the same reversal as Haman's plan. Its instigators suffer the outcome they intended for their opponent.