For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Esther 7:1-7a

1 So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet, 2 and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, ‘Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.’

3 Then Queen Esther answered, ‘If I have found favour with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life – this is my petition. And spare my people – this is my request. 4 For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.’

5 King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, ‘Who is he? Where is he – the man who has dared to do such a thing?’

6 Esther said, ‘An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!’ Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7 The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden.

A. Find Out

1. So what next takes place? v.1
2. What does the king ask of Esther? v.2
3. What 2 things does Esther ask for? v.3
4. Why was she not keeping quiet? v.4
5. What does the king ask and is told? v.5,6
6. How did the king respond? v.7a

B. Think:

1. How many times has the king promised her up to half his kingdom?
2. What do you think he is expecting her to ask?
3. Why do you think the king leaves the room?

C. Comment:

      The time has come for Esther to speak out at the second banquet. She feels that this is the right time. They have prayed and fasted, she has prepared the way, so now is the time to speak, yet she waits for the right signal. It comes in the form of the king declaring for the third time (also 5:3 & 6) that she can have whatever she likes, even up to half the kingdom. This is the king being magnanimous, clearly expecting her to ask for some gift. This makes her actual request even more terrible and shocking. She simply asks that her life be spared. No doubt at this moment the king’s smile vanishes and his brow is furrowed. Life spared? Whatever does she mean?

     She explains that she and her people have been sold, not merely as slaves, but to extermination. Destruction, slaughter and annihilation. Those are the words she uses to pile on the awfulness of what is about to happen. Note also the word, ‘sold’. Money has been offered to achieve this. The king is aghast at the thought of HIS queen being murdered. How can this be, he demands? It’s Haman’s plan, she pours out. The king is in turmoil because he realises his folly in handing Haman such authority. What can he do to cover his folly? He rushes out to consider the matter alone. Haman is terrified. Remember he has been in a state of shock and turmoil already. There is no opportunity for defence. He feels helpless, doomed!

D. Application:

1. Needing to ask for something difficult? Pray about it first.
2. Needing to ask something difficult? Watch for the sign to speak.

Passage: Esther 7:7b-10

But Haman, realising that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.

8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banqueting hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.

The king exclaimed, ‘Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?’

As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, ‘A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.’

The king said, ‘Impale him on it!’ 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.

A. Find Out

1. Why did Haman remain? v.7b
2. What happened as he went to do this? v.8a
3. What did the king think he was doing? v.8b
4. What was the king then told? v.9
5. What did the king command to happen? v.9c,10

B. Think:

1. How did Haman put himself in a wrong position?
2. Why do you think the servant spoke up?
3. How did this ensure Haman’s doom?

C. Comment:

       Everything happens with such speed now that there is little time to think or rationalise what should be. The king has gone outside to consider what his response should be. Haman, as we’ve seen previously, is in a state of anguish already over Mordecai and his mind was already in a state of confusion. As soon as the king leaves the room he dashes over to the queen and falls before the couch where she reclined to beg for his life. He is in abject terror and his gibbering pleading appears to the king who re-enters, more as fawning over the queen. There is not a moment lost. Things have happened too quickly and so the king without a moment’s thought condemns the man before the servant onlookers.

      The custom was to cover the face of a condemned man and as they do this, one of the servants realising that Haman is no longer the man of power and authority, blurts out what Haman has been doing; he tells of the gallows outside Haman’s house, ready and waiting for Mordecai – yes, this Mordecai who had saved the king’s life. This on top of what the king believes he has just witnessed, and what he knows he has just heard, simply confirms him in his resolve. The command is given, and Haman is taken out and hanged on his own gallows. The ‘great man’ is not longer great, but a condemned and hanged felon. How quickly the situation has been changed. How quickly the various things have come together to bring about his downfall, instead of Mordecai’s!

D. Application:

1. When downfall comes, it so often comes so swiftly.
2. One minute power, the next the judgement of God!