Esther Names Haman at the Second Banquet

The second day of Esther’s banquet arrived, and the king and Haman came again to drink wine with the queen. King Ahasuerus repeated his offer: whatever Esther petitioned, even half the kingdom, would be performed. The queen had waited through the first banquet without pressing her request. Now she spoke.

Esther answered the king directly. If she had found favor in his sight, and if it pleased him, she asked for her life and the life of her people. They had been sold to be destroyed, slain, and wiped out. She added that if they had been sold only as slaves, she would have kept silent, because such an affliction would not have been worth troubling the king.

The king reacted immediately. He demanded to know who had presumed in his heart to do such a thing. Esther did not hesitate. She pointed to the man seated at the banquet. The adversary, the enemy, was this wicked Haman. At those words, Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

King Ahasuerus rose in wrath and left the banquet hall for the palace garden. Haman stayed behind and began pleading for his life to Esther, because he understood that the king had already determined evil against him.

When the king returned from the garden, he found Haman fallen on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king spoke sharply: would Haman even force the queen in the king’s own house? As the words left the king’s mouth, the attendants covered Haman’s face—a sign that his execution was imminent.

One of the chamberlains, Harbonah, spoke up. He pointed out that Haman had built a gallows fifty cubits high at his own house, intended for Mordecai, the man who had spoken good for the king. The king gave the order: hang Haman on that same gallows.

So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. With that, the king’s wrath was pacified. The banquet that began with wine and royal promises ended with the execution of the man who had plotted the destruction of Esther’s people.