Esther 7:8 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Then the king returned out of the palace garden Yet more exasperated than when he went into it. The more he thought of Haman's conduct, the more enraged he was against him. Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was Or by, or beside the bed, on which the queen sat at meat, after the manner of those times and countries. For it was then a custom among the Persians, as well as many other nations, to sit, or rather lie, upon beds, when they ate or drank. And Haman, it seems, fell down as a supplicant at the feet of Esther, laying his hands upon her knees, and beseeching her to take pity upon him: for it is not improbable that it was the custom among the Persians, as it was among the Greeks and Romans, to embrace the knees of those whom they petitioned to be favourable to them. Then said the king Finding him in this posture; Will he force the queen also before me in the house? Will he attempt my queen's chastity, as he hath already attempted her life, and that in my own presence and palace? His presumption and impudence, I see, will stick at nothing. He speaks not this out of real jealousy, for which there was no cause in those circumstances; but from an exasperated mind, which takes all occasions to vent itself against the person who gave the provocation, and puts the worst construction on all his words and actions. They covered Haman's face That the king might not be offended or grieved at the sight of a person whom he now detested; and because they looked upon him as a condemned person, for the faces of such used to be covered.