The thing pleased Haman, and he caused the gallows to be made— This gallows was to be fifty feet high, that men might at a greater distance see the object of Haman's indignation, to the increase of Mordecai's disgrace no doubt, as Haman and his friends thought, and that, struck with greater terror by the spectacle, none might dare for the future to despise or offend him. It may seem strange, that so proud a man as Haman was, should not be prompted immediately to revenge himself on Mordecai for his contemptuous usage of him; since, doubtless, he must have had people enough about him, who, upon the least intimation of his pleasure, would have done it; and since he, who had interest enough with his prince to procure a decree for the destruction of a whole nation, might have easily obtained a pardon for having killed one obscure member of it. But herein did the wise and powerful providence of God appear, in that he disposed Haman's heart, contrary to his own inclination and interest, to put fetters as it were upon his own hands, instead of employing his power against his enemy. There cannot be a more striking instance of the vanity of all human greatness, and its utter incapacity to procure a depraved mind repose, than this of Haman. Those who are in the most exalted stations are not always so happy as they seem, or as those beneath them are ready to suppose: they have generally some latent trouble which gnaws and devours them; indeed, a very little matter is sufficient to embitter all their prosperity: this is more particularly the case with the proud and ambitious. Their pride is their punishment; and the mortification of seeing themselves not honoured as they expect plunges them into the bitterness of malice and revenge. But let such consider, that when they seem to be most firmly rooted, and oppress good men without controul, their ruin may be nearest at hand; and they may fall, by the over-ruling direction of Providence, into the very mischiefs which they had prepared for others. They who would see this subject amply enlarged upon may consult Balguy's Sermons, vol. 1: and Wharton's, vol. 2:
Related Commentaries of Esther 5:14
Esther 5:14
14 Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let a gallowsc be made of fifty cubits high, and to morrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.