Esth 7:9

“And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king,.... One of the seven chamberlains, see Est 1:10, his name, with Josephus (y), is Sabouchadas. Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. This man, perhaps, had seen it there, when he went with others to fetch Haman to the banquet, Est 6:14. The sin of Haman is aggravated by preparing a gallows for a man before he was accused to the king, or condemned, or had a grant for his execution, and for a man that had well deserved of the king for discovering a conspiracy against him, and whom now the king had delighted to honour: then the king said, hang him thereon; immediately, being ready prepared, the king's word was enough, being a sovereign and tyrannical prince. (y) Antiqu. l. 11. c. 6. sect. 11.”

“Behold also, the gallows - As if he had said, Besides all he has determined to do to the Jews, he has erected a very high gallows, on which he had determined, this very day, to hang Mordecai, who has saved the king's life. Hang him thereon - Let him be instantly impaled on the same post. "Harm watch, harm catch," says the proverb. Perillus was the first person burnt alive in the brazen bull which he had made for the punishment of others; hence the poet said: - - Nec lex est justior ulla, Quam necis artifices arte perire sua. "Nor can there be a juster law than that the artificers of death should perish by their own invention."”

“Harbona. Cr.[Greek?], “Bougathan.” (Haydock) — He had been to call Aman to the feast. (Jos.[Josephus?]) — Little dependance is to be had on false friendship, when a man is disgraced. (Worthington) — Upon it. His body was perhaps afterwards exposed in the street, chap. xvi. 18. It is not clear that he was nailed to the cross, though this custom prevailed in the country, 1 Esdras vi. 11. Alexander crucified many satraps. (Curtius ix.) — The old Vulgate observes that the wife and ten children of Aman suffered with him, chap. ix. 6. (Calmet) Bible Text & Cross-references: Esther’s petition for herself and her people: Aman is hanged upon the gibbet he had prepared for Mardochai. 1 So *the king and Aman went in, to drink with the queen. 2 And the king said to her again the second day, after he was warm with wine: What is thy petition, Esther, that it may be granted thee? and what wilt thou have done? although thou ask the half of my kingdom, thou shalt have it . 3 Then she answered: If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please thee, give me my life for which I ask, and my people for which I request. 4 For we are given up, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. And would God we were sold for bond-men and bond-women: the evil might be borne with, and I would have mourned in silence: but now we have an enemy, whose cruelty redoundeth upon the king. 5 And king Assuerus answered and said: Who is this, and of what power, that he should do these things? 6 And Esther said: It is this Aman that is our adversary and most wicked enemy. Aman hearing this, was forthwith astonished, not being able to bear the countenance of the king and of the queen. 7 But the king being angry rose up, and went from the place of the banquet into the garden set with trees. Aman also rose up, to entreat Esther, the queen, for his life, for he understood that evil was prepared for him by the king. 8 And when the king came back out of the garden set with trees, and entered into the place of the banquet, he found Aman was fallen upon the bed on which Esther lay, and he said: He will force the queen, also, in my presence, in my own house. The word was not yet gone out of the king’s mouth, and immediately they covered his face. 9 And Harbona, one of the eunuchs that stood waiting on the king, said: Behold the gibbet which he hath prepared for Mardochai, who spoke for the king, standeth in Aman’s house, being fifty cubits high. And the king said to him: Hang him upon it. 10 So Aman was hanged on the gibbet, which he had prepared for Mardochai: and the king’s wrath ceased.”

“Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows--This eunuch had probably been the messenger sent with the invitation to Haman, and on that occasion had seen the gallows. The information he now volunteered, as well it may be from abhorrence of Haman's cold-blooded conspiracy as from sympathy with his amiable mistress, involved with her people in imminent peril.”