Yet all this availeth me nothing ,.... Is not equal or sufficient for me; it gives me no satisfaction and contentment: so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate : not rising up to bow unto him; this single circumstance spoiled all his joy and pleasure. read more
Then said Zeresh his wife, and all his friends, unto him ,.... His wife very probably first moved it, and all his friends present approved of it and united in it: let a gallows be made, of fifty cubits, high ; that the person hanged thereon might be seen at a distance, and so be a greater reproach to him, and a terror to others, to take care they were not guilty of the same offence: Cartalo was ordered by his father to be fixed to the highest cross in the sight of the city F12 Justin... read more
Yet all this availeth me nothing - Pride will ever render its possessor unhappy. He has such a high opinion of his own worth, that he conceives himself defrauded by every one who does not pay him all the respect and homage which he conceives to be his due. The soul was made for God, and nothing but God can fill it and make it happy. Angels could not be happy in glory, when they had cast off their allegiance to their Maker. As soon as his heart had departed from God, Adam would... read more
Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high - The word עץ ets , which we translate gallows, signifies simply wood, a tree, or pole; and this was to be seventy-five feet high, that he might suffer the greater ignominy, and be a more public spectacle. I believe impaling is here also meant. See the note, Esther 2:23 ; (note). In former times the Jews were accustomed to burn Haman in effigy; and with him a wooden cross, which they pretended to be in memory of that which he... read more
Prudence versus Guile. I. EVERYTHING HAS ITS SEASON . Why did not Esther at once lay open her heart to the king? Was she confused by his unexpected kindness, or seized with timidity at the moment of peril? Most likely she was prompted by an intuitive feeling that the time was not fit. She might lose everything by precipitancy. It is wise to study occasion or opportunity. Many failures have resulted solely from want of attention to time and place ( Ecclesiastes 3:1 ). II. ... read more
All this availeth me nothing . The bitter drop in his cup deprived Haman's life of all sweetness. He had not learned the wisdom of setting pleasure against pain, joy against sorrow, satisfaction against annoyance. Much less had he taught himself to look upon the vexations and trials of life as blessings in disguise. His was a coarse and undisciplined nature, little better than that of a savage, albeit he was the chief minister of the first monarch in the world. So little proof is worldly... read more
Happiness marred. A little "screw loose" may spoil the working of a vast and powerful engine. A clot of blood upon the brain may suddenly deprive of life a man seemingly healthy and certainly powerful. A seeming trifle may spoil the content and embitter the life of a prince. And so mean a person as Mordecai, by so insignificant an act of disrespect as is here mentioned, may mar the happiness of a great minister of state like Haman, and may make even his prosperity miserable. I. ... read more
The bathos of confession. After all necessary allowances and substitutions have been made, it may be very justly said that Shakespeare's Wolsey is essentially dwarfed by Scripture's Haman, and that not the finest of Shakespeare's five act plays—wonderful products of human genius as they are—but must yield to the ten briefer chapters, with their five chief characters, of our Book of Esther. The book is indeed a consummate epic of the human heart. Its photographs are vivid and accurate, but... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Esther 5:9-14
This account here given of Haman is a comment upon that of Solomon, Prov. 21:24. Proud and haughty scorner is his name that deals in proud wrath. Never did any man more answer that name than Haman, in whom pride and wrath had so much the ascendant. See him, I. Puffed up with the honour of being invited to Esther's feast. He was joyful and glad of heart at it, Est. 5:9. Observe with what a high gust he speaks of it (Est. 5:12), how he values himself upon it, and how near he thinks it brings him... read more