Contemplative Bible Reading

Esther 5:14 (New Living Translation)

So Haman’s wife, Zeresh, and all his friends suggested, “Set up a sharpened pole that stands seventy-five feet tall, and in the morning ask the king to impale Mordecai on it. When this is done, you can go on your merry way to the banquet with the king.” This pleased Haman, and he ordered the pole set up.

I find a little twist to this story in the wording of the New Living Translation. The translation I had always read use the words describing a gallows and hanging a person until they are dead.

This translation, however, describes a tall pole with a sharp(er) point on the end and impaling the person whole on it. This is more gruesome to an American reader as we are somewhat accustomed to hangings (check out any western, just get a long rope and a tree).

We are not accustomed to impaling. Yikes.

And in the book of Esther we have Haman himself dying on the structure that he built for Mordecai. Gruesome.