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Haman Built the Gallows and Hanged on It Himself

Haman arrived at the palace before dawn to ask for Mordechai's death. He left with orders to lead Mordechai through the streets in the king's own robes.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. The Night the Gallows Went Up
  2. The King Who Could Not Sleep
  3. The Footstool
  4. The Second Banquet
  5. The Tree That Was Waiting

Haman went home from the king's gate holding everything a man could hold. The royal ring sat on his finger, a decree against the Jews had gone out sealed to a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, and princes bowed when he passed. One Jew at the gate would not bend his knee, and that single refusal hollowed out all the rest.

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The Night the Gallows Went Up

His wife Zeresh and his friends gave him the cure. Build a gallows fifty cubits high, they said, ask the king at first light for permission to hang Mordechai on it, and go to the queen's banquet with your appetite back. The structure went up that same night in Haman's courtyard, fresh wood, fifty cubits, tall enough to be seen across Shushan. He built the conclusion before the conversation had taken place, so certain of the outcome that the king's permission felt like a formality.

Heaven had been building longer. That same night, in the court above, the patriarchs bowed their heads to the decree of destruction hanging over Israel, and the moment God saw them accept the justice of it, He rose from the throne of justice and sat down on the throne of mercy. Then God asked the trees of creation which of them would carry the wicked man. The fig came forward, remembering that Israel had been compared to it. The vine claimed the honor for the wine of the offerings, and olive, pomegranate, walnut, citron, willow, apple, and cedar each stood on its own verse, each already bound to Israel's service. Then the thorn spoke. "The wicked were compared to me. I will serve." The thorn was chosen, wood with no sacred office to leave, wood whose one distinction in the world would be the man it held.

The King Who Could Not Sleep

Down in the palace, sleep had deserted Ahasuerus. He had his servants read the royal chronicles aloud through the dark hours, and the reading struck the record of an assassination plot once uncovered by a Jew named Mordechai, a man who had saved the king's life and received nothing for it. The king asked what had been done for him. Nothing, his servants said. He asked who was standing in the court.

Haman was standing in the court. He had arrived before dawn to ask for a hanging. The king called him in first and put a question to him: what should be done for the man the king delights to honor? Haman ran the sentence through the only mind he had, decided the man in question was himself, and began to build again, this time out of his own pride. Royal robes the king himself had worn. The king's own horse, with a royal crown on its head. A noble prince to lead the horse through the city square, crying out before it that this is what is done for the man the king delights to honor.

"Do exactly that for Mordechai the Jew who sits at the king's gate," the king said. "Leave out nothing you have said."

The Footstool

Mordechai had been fasting three days over the decree against his people, and he was too weak to climb onto the horse. Haman bent down and offered his back as a step. The man who had raised fifty cubits of gallows for this Jew now knelt in the street as his mounting block, then walked the length of Shushan leading the horse and shouting the king's formula over and over. The angels watched the procession from above, and they laughed.

At home, Zeresh read the morning for what it was. "If Mordechai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the seed of the Jews, you shall not prevail against him." His own house recited his ending to him while the king's chamberlains stood at the door, hurrying him to the queen's second banquet.

The Second Banquet

Esther had refused to strike at the first banquet. She was measuring her moment against an old one, for Moses had taken a full day to prepare before facing Amalek in the wilderness, and Haman was Amalek's seed through Agag its king. A war that old deserved one more day. So she waited, let the wine go around, let the king repeat his offer of anything she desired, up to half the kingdom, anything but the Temple. Then she spoke on two levels at once, to the king on the couch and to the King of the world. "Let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. We have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed."

The king demanded a name. They were the first words he had ever spoken directly to her. She gave him the name. "An adversary and an enemy, this wicked Haman."

Ahasuerus stood up in his fury and went out into the palace garden, and there the angel Michael was cutting down the plants of the garden before his eyes. He came back inside to find Haman fallen across Esther's couch, begging for his life, and Michael made sure the king saw him there. The king read the scene as an assault on the queen in his own house. The servants covered Haman's face, the Persian sign of a man already condemned.

The Tree That Was Waiting

One of the chamberlains chose that moment to mention a piece of architecture. There was a gallows standing in Haman's courtyard, fifty cubits high, built for Mordechai, the man whose word had once saved the king's life.

"Hang him on it," the king said.

The gallows he had prepared, the sages taught, he had prepared for himself. The wicked man readies deadly weapons and sharpens arrows against his own heart. He digs a pit and deepens it and goes down into the trap he made (Psalms 7:16). Haman had chosen the wood, set the height, and driven the nails by night, and the thorn tree, the one volunteer with nothing sacred to lose, carried him fifty cubits above the city that had watched him lead the horse that morning. The instrument was exact. It had been waiting since before he asked for it.

HamanEstherPurimAngelsDivine JusticeHolidaysHeavenly CourtMordecaiJudgmentWickedMidrash Aggadah
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From the tradition

Sources

7 sources

The texts behind this telling. Some cards carry a translation of the source; others are our own retelling of it, and each card says which. Every card links out to the original.

Legends of the Jews 12:187Legends of the Jews

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909) · Public Domain

That’s where we find Esther in the story, right after that fateful banquet.

King Ahasuerus, still riding high on the wine and the atmosphere, repeats his offer. He's practically begging her: "Ask anything, Esther! Anything at all, and it's yours. Except," he adds, with a hint of stubbornness, "except the Temple. That's off-limits."

Esther, ever the shrewd strategist, isn't ready to play her hand. Not yet. Why? Well, she’s playing the long game. She understands timing. The text mentions her drawing inspiration from Moses himself. Remember when Moses prepared for a whole day before facing Amalek? (Exodus 17:9-13). Amalek, was considered the ancestor of Haman – a connection fraught with meaning. So, Esther needs a day to prepare before her confrontation with Haman. One day can make all the difference.

What about Haman? Oh, he's having a day.

He’s positively giddy! He's been invited to not one, but two private banquets with the King and Queen. He thinks he's the bee's knees, the cat's pajamas, the… well, you get the idea. He’s absolutely convinced that he's the most important person in the entire kingdom.

He's "deceived by the attention and distinction accorded him by Esther." He believes he’s got the king's favor, the queen's respect… What could possibly go wrong? He’s puffed up with pride, completely blind to the trap being set for him. He is blinded by his own ego.

How often do we see what we want to see, rather than what's actually there? Haman’s overconfidence becomes his downfall, a potent reminder of the dangers of unchecked ego. What a setup for tomorrow’s revelation!

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Legends of the Jews 12:230Legends of the Jews

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909) · Public Domain

The scene is set: a lavish banquet, King Ahasuerus at the head of the table, and the villainous Haman anxiously present. According to Legends of the Jews, even as everyone’s eating and drinking, the king's chamberlains are practically dragging Haman to the banquet, worried he and his sons might be plotting something against the king.

Ahasuerus, still clueless, repeats his promise to grant Esther whatever she desires. Now, all this time, he’s secretly hoping she’ll ask for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. But Esther, she has a different plea altogether.

– and says, "If I have found favor in thy sight, O Supreme King, and if it please Thee, O King of the world, let my life be given me, and let my people be rescued out of the hands of its enemy."

She’s speaking on two levels here, addressing both the earthly king and, subtly, the King of the Universe. She’s not just asking for a personal favor; she’s pleading for the survival of an entire people.

Ahasuerus, though, completely misses the divine undertones. Thinking she’s talking only to him, he explodes in irritation: "Who is he, and where is he, this presumptuous conspirator, who thought to do thus?" He demands to know who dares threaten his queen.

Now, here’s a fascinating detail from Ginzberg’s retelling in Legends of the Jews. These were actually the first words the king had ever spoken directly to Esther! Up until this point, he’d always communicated through an interpreter. The king and queen, living in the same palace, yet separated by formality and suspicion. He wasn’t sure she was “worthy” enough to address directly.

But now, everything changes. He's suddenly aware of the fact that she is a Jewess, and, even more, of royal descent! This revelation breaks through the barriers, and he speaks to her directly, without anyone in between.

A moment where prejudice and protocol crumble in the face of truth. The stage is set for Esther to reveal Haman's treachery and change the course of history. But the real question is: what will she say next? And how will Ahasuerus react when he finally understands the full scope of Haman's evil plan?

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Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 50:10Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, trans. Rabbi Gerald Friedlander, London (1916) · CC-BY

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer turns to Esther, Haman and the Angels.

It all starts with Zeresh, Haman's wife, and his astrologers. They recognize a looming threat. "Haven't you heard what happened to Pharaoh?" she asks, according to the Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer. She even quotes the Book of Esther itself (Esther 6:13): "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the seed of the Jews, you shall not prevail against him."

Then comes the fateful banquet. Esther reveals Haman's plot to the king. When she pleads for her life and the life of her people, explaining that they've been sold to be destroyed, the king is understandably furious. "Who is this man?" he demands. Esther's response is iconic: "An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!" (Esther 7:6).

This is where the Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer adds some real spice. "The king arose in his wrath" (Esther 7:7), and what does the angel Michael do? He starts cutting down the plants in the palace garden! Why? The text doesn't say explicitly, but we can imagine it's a symbolic act of divine fury, clearing the way for justice.

And it gets even more dramatic. When the king returns from the garden, Michael apparently lifts Haman up from Esther. The king, seeing this, cries out, accusing Haman of not just wanting to destroy her people but of assaulting the queen herself! The horror! Hearing this, Haman's face falls – literally. "They covered Haman's face" (Esther 7:8).

But wait, there's more! The Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer credits the prophet Elijah, may his memory be a blessing, with a crucial assist. Disguised as Harbonah, one of the king's chamberlains, Elijah informs the king about a massive tree in Haman's house, a tree originally taken from the Kodesh Hakodashim, the Holy of Holies! The text connects it to the "house of the forest of Lebanon" mentioned in (1 Kings 7:2). Talk about poetic justice!

The king, enraged, orders Haman to be hanged on that very tree, fulfilling the prophecy: "Let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this" (Ezra 6:11). And so, "they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai" (Esther 7:10).

Finally, the king gives all of Haman's possessions to Mordecai and Esther, empowering them to write new decrees in the king's name. These decrees, sent throughout the provinces, authorize the Jews to defend themselves against their enemies on the thirteenth of Adar, a date that falls "on the third day in the constellation of Leo." The text draws a powerful analogy: "Just as the lion is the king over all the beasts, and he turns his gaze towards any place as he wishes; likewise did he think fit, and he turned his face to destroy and to slay all the enemies of Israel." What a vivid image of divine retribution!

So, what does this all mean? The Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer gives us a richer, more textured understanding of the Purim story. And sometimes, a little help from the angel Michael and the prophet Elijah doesn't hurt either.

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Antiquities XI.6Antiquities of the Jews (Josephus)

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.Antiquities of the Jews, trans. William Whiston · Public Domain

The story of Esther begins with a drunken king and a queen who said no. King Artaxerxes of Persia hosted a lavish feast, 180 days of celebration for his court, then seven more days for the public. Golden cups, purple curtains, pillars of silver. At the climax, he summoned Queen Vashti to display her beauty before his guests. She refused. Persian law forbade wives from appearing before strangers, but the king's advisors told him this defiance would inspire every woman in the empire to disobey her husband. Vashti was banished.

The king's servants searched the empire for the most beautiful virgins. They found Esther, a Jewish orphan raised by her uncle Mordecai of the tribe of Benjamin. She was, Josephus writes, "the most beautiful of all the rest." She told no one she was Jewish. The king fell in love immediately and crowned her queen.

Meanwhile, Mordecai uncovered an assassination plot against the king and reported it through Esther. The conspirators were executed, and the incident was recorded in the royal chronicles, then forgotten.

Enter Haman, an Amalekite nobleman whom the king elevated above all other officials. Every courtier bowed to Haman. Mordecai alone refused, not out of pride, but because as a Jew he would bow to no human. Haman was furious. But punishing one man was beneath him. He decided to destroy every Jew in the Persian Empire. He told the king that a dangerous people scattered throughout his provinces kept their own laws and refused to obey the king's commands. Artaxerxes, trusting his chief minister, signed the decree: on the thirteenth of the month of Adar, every Jewish man, woman, and child would be killed, and their property confiscated. Letters went out to all 127 provinces. Mordecai put on sackcloth and wailed at the palace gate.

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Esther Rabbah 10:2Esther Rabbah

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah, 2022 · CC-BY

Esther Rabbah seizes on the precise moment when the plot against Mordekhai begins to collapse. "The king said: Who is in the court? Haman had come into the outer court of the king's palace, to tell the king to hang Mordekhai on the gibbet that he had prepared for him" (Esther 6:4). The rabbis dwell on the phrase "the gibbet that he had prepared for him," because in the unfolding of the story that gallows will hold not Mordekhai but Haman himself. It is taught: he prepared it for himself. What Haman intended as the instrument of another's death became, by divine reversal, the instrument of his own.

To frame this turn the midrash brings two verses from Psalm 7, which describe the wicked man undone by his own schemes. "Then against himself he readies deadly weapons, and makes his arrows sharp" (Psalms 7:14) teaches that the plotter's weapons rebound upon the one who forged them. And "He dug a pit and deepened it, and he fell into the trap he made" (Psalms 7:16) gives the principle its sharpest image: the deeper Haman dug, the surer his own fall. The sages read the whole Esther narrative through this lens of measure for measure, in which the towering gibbet built for a righteous Jew becomes the exact height from which its builder hangs. The hidden hand guiding events in Shushan turns every weapon of malice back against the one who raised it.

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Legends of the Jews 12:19Legends of the Jews

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909) · Public Domain

After that, a grand feast for everyone in the capital city of Shushan. Now, according to the Megillah, the Scroll of Esther, the king wasn't trying to antagonize anyone with this party. But tensions were simmering.

When word of the upcoming festivities reached Mordecai, a wise and respected leader, he knew this was more than just a party. The Zohar, that foundational text of Jewish mysticism, often speaks of hidden intentions beneath outward appearances, and Mordecai sensed danger lurking beneath the surface. He urged the Jews of Shushan to stay away.

As Ginzberg tells us in Legends of the Jews, Mordecai’s warning wasn’t universally heeded. Many prominent Jews, along with others from the "lower classes," listened and fled the city. They chose exile over compromising their beliefs.

Not everyone could. Or would, leave. A large segment of the Jewish community remained in Shushan. They yielded to the pressure, participating in the celebrations. And this is where it gets tricky. We learn that King Ahasuerus, surprisingly, had been mindful of Jewish dietary laws, kashrut. He'd ensured there was no need to drink wine poured by idolaters, nor to eat explicitly forbidden foods, treif.

Why? Was he being benevolent? Or was he simply trying to remove any excuse for the Jews to abstain? The text implies the latter.

The really unsettling part? Haman and Mordecai were both in charge of the feast arrangements. This meant that neither Jew nor Gentile could excuse themselves for religious reasons. Talk about a conflict of interest! Haman, the architect of future persecution, and Mordecai, the unwavering defender of his people, were both entangled in this web of royal obligation. tension..the weight of it.

As we find in Midrash Rabbah, these seemingly small compromises can have enormous consequences. What starts as a "harmless" participation can quickly erode one's principles. How far would you go to fit in? What lines would you refuse to cross, even if it meant standing alone? And what happens when the very people you trust are forced to participate in something that feels inherently wrong? It's a question that echoes through the ages, as relevant today as it was in ancient Shushan.

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Chronicles of Jerahmeel LXXXIIIChronicles of Jerahmeel (Gaster, 1899)

Retold in our words. Read the original at the link below.The Chronicles of Jerahmeel, trans. Moses Gaster (1899) · Public Domain

On the night King Ahasuerus could not sleep, something far stranger was happening in heaven. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, God turned to the patriarchs and told them Israel had been condemned to destruction. Their sin? During the time of Nebuchadnezzar, they had failed to sanctify God's name, making it seem as though God lacked the power to save them.

The patriarchs accepted the judgment. But the moment God saw them bow to justice, He rose from His throne of justice and sat upon the throne of mercy. The heavenly host intervened too, reminding God that the entire world was created for the sake of the Torah given to Israel. "If You destroy this nation, what becomes of us?" they asked. God relented.

Then came one of the most unusual scenes in all of Jewish legend. God called out to the trees of creation and asked which among them would serve as a gallows for the wicked Haman. The fig tree volunteered first, claiming Israel had been compared to it in Scripture. The vine stepped forward, then the pomegranate, walnut, citron, willow, olive, apple, and cedar, each citing a biblical verse linking it to Israel. Finally the thorn spoke up: "I will serve, for the wicked were compared to me." God silenced every other tree. The thorn was chosen.

Meanwhile, the angel Michael visited Ahasuerus in the night and knocked him off his bed 366 times. Unable to sleep, the king ordered the royal chronicles brought before him. Gabriel then appeared in a dream disguised as Haman, sword drawn to kill. When Haman arrived at court the next morning, the king, already terrified, asked him how to honor a loyal man. Haman, assuming the king meant him, described a lavish parade. The king's reply stunned him: "Go and do this for Mordecai the Jew." The gallows Haman had built from his own house would soon be used, on himself.

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