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A long low table laid for three in a lamplit Persian hall, three empty chairs

The Book of

Esther 7

Second banquet. The king asks again. This time she answers.

10 verses≈ 3 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–2A new queenVashti out, Esther crowned
  2. 3The plotHaman buys a decree
  3. 4–5The riskEsther goes to the king
  4. 6–7The turnA sleepless night, a gallowsChapter 7
  5. 8–9OverturnedA second decree, and Purim
  6. 10MordecaiSecond to the king

Esther Pleads for Her People

So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen,

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King Xerxes

and as they drank their wine on that second day, the king asked once more, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”

Esther

Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request.

grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request

Esther 7:3

Esther

For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”

King Xerxes

Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?”

Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!”

Esther 7:6

And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen.

Question

Quick question

The king offered “up to half the kingdom,” and Esther let the offer go by.

What did Esther ask for at the second banquet?

The Hanging of Haman

King Xerxes alone in the dark palace garden, seen from behind, the lit hall far off

In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king was planning a terrible fate for him.

0:11

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

An old court eunuch points out over the dark city from the palace to a thin pole far off

Harbonah

Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.”

King Xerxes

“Hang him on it!” declared the king.

So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.

Then the fury of the king subsided.

Reflect

My people and I

Esther said “my people and I” before the man who could kill her. She could have asked only for herself. Who are the people you are willing to be counted with, whatever it costs? Where do you need to say so out loud?

You’ve experienced

Esther 7

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A verse to carry with you

If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request.

Esther 7:3

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