{ "schemaVersion": 1, "kind": "event", "id": "esther-exposes-haman", "era": "exile-return", "order": 252, "title": "Esther identifies Haman as the threat to her people", "group": "esther-diaspora", "date": { "kind": "relative", "label": "Xerxes · Esther’s second banquet" }, "pin": [ 48.25778, 32.18922 ], "pinConfidence": "Identified site", "pinPlace": "openbible-a033b84", "summary": "At the second banquet Esther asks for her life and her people’s lives, identifying Haman as their enemy. The king leaves in anger; Haman pleads with Esther, and his position at her couch is interpreted by the returning king as an assault. Haman is executed on the gallows prepared for Mordecai.", "context": "The narration describes Haman begging for his life, while the accusation of assault is the king’s interpretation. His death is not the end of the story: the decree still threatens the Jews in the provinces. The account turns the machinery prepared against Mordecai against Haman.", "question": "Why must Esther continue acting even after Haman has been removed?", "locationNote": "Susa is identified with the site at modern Shush. The marker does not certify a particular surviving room as the setting of the scene.", "passages": [ { "reference": "Esther 7:1–10", "range": [ 17007001, 17007010 ], "translation": "bsb", "url": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther%207%3A1%E2%80%9310&version=BSB", "availability": "bundled", "verses": [ { "book": "Esther", "chapter": 7, "verse": 1, "text": "So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen," }, { "book": "Esther", "chapter": 7, "verse": 2, "text": "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.”" }, { "book": "Esther", "chapter": 7, "verse": 3, "text": "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." }, { "book": "Esther", "chapter": 7, "verse": 4, "text": "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.”" }, { "book": "Esther", "chapter": 7, "verse": 5, "text": "Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?”" }, { "book": "Esther", "chapter": 7, "verse": 6, "text": "Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!” And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen." }, { "book": "Esther", "chapter": 7, "verse": 7, "text": "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." }, { "book": "Esther", "chapter": 7, "verse": 8, "text": "Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the words had left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face." }, { "book": "Esther", "chapter": 7, "verse": 9, "text": "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.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king." }, { "book": "Esther", "chapter": 7, "verse": 10, "text": "So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided." } ] } ], "related": [ { "range": [ 17005009, 17005014 ], "kind": "recollection", "note": "The earlier preparation of the gallows explains the reversal at the banquet.", "reference": "Esther 5:9–14", "translation": "bsb", "url": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther%205%3A9%E2%80%9314&version=BSB" } ], "places": [ { "id": "openbible-a033b84", "name": "Susa", "coordinate": [ 48.25778, 32.18922 ], "kind": "City", "confidence": "Identified site", "confidenceSource": "editorial", "sources": [ { "label": "OpenBible.info: Susa (CC BY 4.0)", "url": "https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/a033b84/susa" } ] } ], "mapPeriod": "persian-world", "further": [ { "label": "OpenBible.info: Susa (CC BY 4.0)", "url": "https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/a033b84/susa" } ], "provenance": { "sources": [ { "name": "editorial", "ref": "content/authored/exile-return.json" } ], "review": "draft" }, "eraName": "Exile & Return", "interactiveUrl": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/?event=esther-exposes-haman", "attribution": [ "Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.", "Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.", "Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm" ], "translation": "bsb", "url": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/esther-exposes-haman/", "markdownUrl": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/esther-exposes-haman/index.md", "jsonUrl": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/esther-exposes-haman/index.json", "cautions": "Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.", "revision": "64f927710d9b8273" }