Esther 5

General context

On the third day Esther puts on her royal apparel and stands in the inner court of the king's house while the king sits on his throne facing the gate. When he sees her she obtains favour, he holds out the golden sceptre, and she draws near and touches its top. He asks what she wants and offers up to half the kingdom. Esther asks only that the king and Haman come that day to a banquet she has prepared. The king orders Haman to hurry, and both come. At the banquet of wine the king repeats his question and offer. Esther answers that her petition and request is that the king and Haman come to another banquet the next day, when she will do as the king has said. Haman leaves joyful, but when he sees Mordecai in the king's gate neither standing nor moving for him, he is full of indignation. He restrains himself, goes home, and calls his friends and his wife Zeresh. He recounts the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, and every promotion the king has given him, and adds that Esther invited no one but himself with the king and has invited him again tomorrow. Yet all of it, he says, avails him nothing while he sees Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. Zeresh and the friends tell him to have a gallows made fifty cubits high, to ask the king in the morning that Mordecai be hanged on it, and then to go merrily to the banquet. The idea pleases Haman and he has the gallows made.

Cited passages: Esther 5:1, Esther 5:2, Esther 5:3, Esther 5:4, Esther 5:5, Esther 5:6, Esther 5:7, Esther 5:8, Esther 5:9, Esther 5:10, Esther 5:11, Esther 5:12, Esther 5:13, Esther 5:14

Esther 5 (KJV)

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Historical context

The third day follows the three days of fasting Esther called for in the previous chapter. The scene enacts the rule she had described: an unsummoned approach to the inner court, the danger of death, and the golden sceptre held out as the exception. The king's offer of up to half the kingdom is made twice here and once more at the second banquet; the text does not say whether it is a formula or a literal promise. Esther twice defers her petition, and the narrator gives no reason for the delay. Haman's household is named for the first time: Zeresh his wife and his friends, and he speaks of the multitude of his children; ten sons are named later in the book. Mordecai's posture is described as not standing up nor moving for Haman, matching the earlier statement that he bowed not. Haman's account of his invitation agrees with what the narrator has just reported, and his claim that the queen let no man come in but himself is his own reading of the honour. The advice to build a gallows fifty cubits high comes jointly from Zeresh and all his friends; the same group is called his wise men and Zeresh his wife in the next chapter. The text does not describe the gallows beyond its height, and the plan to hang Mordecai still needs the king's word.

Cited passages: Esther 5:1, Esther 4:16, Esther 4:11, Esther 5:2, Esther 5:3, Esther 5:6, Esther 7:2, Esther 5:8, Esther 5:10, Esther 5:11, Esther 9:10, Esther 5:9, Esther 3:2, Esther 5:12, Esther 5:14, Esther 6:13

Literary context

The chapter moves through three places, the inner court, the king's gate and Haman's house. The king's question and offer are repeated in nearly the same words at the court and at the table, and each time Esther answers with an invitation instead of a petition, so the request that the reader has been waiting for since the fast is held back again. Haman's day is built on a reversal within a single verse: he goes out joyful and with a glad heart and is at once full of indignation at the sight of Mordecai. His speech at home is a catalogue of riches, children, promotions and the queen's invitation that ends in the admission that all of it avails him nothing. The plan of Zeresh and the friends assumes the next day will go merrily, and the gallows built at the chapter's end is the structure on which Haman himself is hanged two chapters later. Esther's opening formula, if I have found favour in the sight of the king, is the form she uses again when she names Haman and when she asks for the decree to be reversed. The narrator reports Haman's self-assessment without comment and withholds Esther's reasons entirely.

Cited passages: Esther 5:1, Esther 5:9, Esther 5:10, Esther 5:3, Esther 5:6, Esther 5:4, Esther 5:8, Esther 5:11, Esther 5:13, Esther 5:14, Esther 7:10, Esther 7:3, Esther 8:5

Key moments

1. The sceptre held out (Esther 5:2). The king sees Esther in the court and holds out the golden sceptre.
2. An invitation instead of a petition (Esther 5:4). Esther asks the king and Haman to come to her banquet that day.
3. The request deferred again (Esther 5:8). At the banquet Esther asks them to come again tomorrow.
4. Haman sees Mordecai (Esther 5:9). Haman's joy turns to indignation when Mordecai does not rise for him.
5. All this availeth me nothing (Esther 5:13). Haman tells his household that his honours mean nothing while Mordecai sits at the gate.
6. The gallows built (Esther 5:14). Zeresh and the friends propose a gallows fifty cubits high, and Haman has it made.

For reflection

Offered anything up to half the kingdom, Esther asks for a dinner, and then for a second one. What might a reader make of the text's silence about why she waits?

People in this chapter

• Esther
• Haman
• Mordecai
• Judah

Also indexed here:

• Zeresh