Chapter seven begins with Haman having just faced the truth of his fall before Mordecai and ends with the reality of it. At Esther’s second banquet, the king asked again what it was she really wanted (Esther 7:1-4). As she had promised, she finally spoke her mind. There was a great evil in the kingdom, unbeknownst to the king, that had threatened her life and her entire people. What was it she wanted? She asked for her life.
The king was shocked (Esther 7:5-7) How could this be? Who in his kingdom could have pulled off this treachery right under his nose? When Esther revealed that it was Haman, he was terrified, and the king was enraged. He stormed out of the room to walk in the garden to think. Meanwhile, Haman had thrown himself at Esther to beg for mercy, but Xerxes came back into the room to see him lying on the couch with her (Esther 7:8-10). Having lost all trust in Haman, the king wondered aloud if he would dare assault her with him right there. What irony that the man who intended to exterminate all Jews was begging this Jewish woman for his own life!
The writer noted that Harbona (one of the king’s trusted eunuchs named in Esther 1:10) covered Haman’s face before leading him out of the palace. To have one’s face covered before the king was a sign that he was no longer welcome. Minutes ago he was the Grand Vizier, second-in-command over the entire empire. Now he was the first most-wanted criminal, not worthy even to be in the king’s presence. As the final nail in his coffin, Haman’s plan to murder Mordecai was also revealed to the king. On the same day that the king had Mordecai rewarded for saving his own life, he discovered that Haman intended to kill Mordecai. How much more insult could he accomplish in one day? Harbona noted that Haman’s plan was to impale Mordecai in Haman’s backyard. The king thought that was a fitting end for Haman’s treachery, and he was executed that very day.