Esther 7:9-10  – “Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, ‘A gallows seventy-five feet [50 cubits] high stands by Haman’s house.  He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.’  The king said, ‘Hang him on it!’ So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.  Then the king’s fury subsided…”

Haman, the enemy of God’s people, had planned to have Mordecai killed (impaled or crucified) on a tall execution stake.  The word “gallows” in the original was actually a pole or cross to which they would impale the victim.  In an unexpected turn of events, Haman himself dies on the very execution stake that he planned to use to kill God’s servant.

The book of Esther is unique for its use of duplicates (two banquets of Ahasuerus, two lunches with Esther, two letters from Mordecai, two days of Purim, etc.).  This pattern is supposed to highlight the two realities – a visible physical world (visible), and the spiritual reality (which is often invisible to the physical eye).   It is also the reason that the book never mentions God himself, even though God works and answers prayers throughout the story.  People who are far from God do not understand what is really happening around them, they do not understand that God is working all around them.

In this chapter, Haman did not imagine that his attempt have Mordecai impaled on the 50-cubit execution stake would result instead in his own death on it.  God intervened and brought about an unforeseen result.  This also gives a prophetic picture of one aspect of the cross of Christ.  Jesus’ work on the cross was multi-faceted, and many Old Testament passages foreshadow one or two aspects of it.  Abraham’s incident with Isaac (Genesis 22), where God provided a ram at the last minute, illustrated the concept of substitution (Jesus took our place).  The Passover Lamb (Exodus 12) illustrated Jesus’ blood as spiritual protection.  The “life in the blood” in Leviticus 17 illustrates the life from the Holy Spirit that we receive through Christ’s sacrifice.   The use of the blood in Leviticus 8 to ordain Aaron the priest illustrated consecration through Jesus’ blood.  This passage in Esther illustrates the sin transfer of the curse of sin on the cross, similar to the point illustrated by the scapegoat in Leviticus 16 (taking the sin out of the camp into the wilderness).

Haman, the source of the problems for God’s people, ended up on the execution stake himself.  Similarly, God put all our sin, uncleanness, and judgment on the cross with Jesus.  Jesus rose again, but our sin remained there, removed forever. As it says in the New Testament, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The Bible says that the forces of human sin and spiritual darkness sought to kill the Lord Jesus (have him crucified or nailed to an execution stake), because they did not understand that sin itself would be put on the cross in the process.  “None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”  (1 Corinthians 2:8).

The cross removed the curse of the law (sin and judgment) and defeated the forces of darkness: “He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”  (Colossians 2:13-15).  Just as Haman ended up on the execution stake, our sin and judgment ended up nailed to the cross.    The Enemy planned to kill Jesus, but Jesus rose again, so the Enemy’s plan failed.

The religious leaders wanted Jesus crucified, rather than stoned to death (the more normal means of execution their own law said they should use), because crucifixion would make Jesus die in a state of ceremonial uncleanness according to Deuteronomy 21:23.  They thought this would make him die permanently separated from God.  They did not understand that God’s plan was to remove our curse and uncleanness, leaving it on the cross, and that Jesus would rise again in glory.  Paul states this explicitly: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’ (Galatians 3:13).

Then the king’s fury subsided – the wrath of God against man’s sin subsided with Jesus’ sacrifice.