impaled on stakes. The
Hebrew appears to say “were hanged on a tree,” but the historical evidence
points to impalement, not hanging, as the customary form of execution in the
ancient Near East. In many instances, the condemned person was put to death in
some other fashion and his impaled body was then displayed as a form of
humiliation. (Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, 3 vols. [New York: W. W.
Norton & Company, 2019], 3:723)
Gallows are a structure made from
upright posts and a crossbeam from which a person was hanged with a rope, or he
was nailed to the crossbeam. The Hebrew is literally “hanged on a tree [or,
wood],” but the exact meaning of this phrase is not entirely clear. It can
refer to hanging, but alternatively it can mean “impaled on a stake” (see Ezra
6:11), and historical evidence indicates that the Persians did use that form of
punishment. This second interpretation is followed by njv, “the two were
impaled on stakes.”
Also possible is the view that
crucifixion is meant; but because of the height of the structure built by Haman
in 5:14, many interpreters think that the references to hanging in Esther 2:23;
5:14; 6:4; 7:9, 10; 8:7; 9:13, 14, 25 all refer to gallows, that is, to
strangulation by hanging from a rope that is tied around the neck (so tev and
nearly all translations).
Where structures for hanging are
not known, it may be necessary to use a descriptive phrase; for instance, “a
wooden structure for hanging [or, killing].” (Roger L. Omanson and
Philip A. Noss, A Handbook on the Book of Esther: The Hebrew and Greek Texts
[UBS Handbook Series; New York: United Bible Societies, 1997], 85)
The Heb. word typically
translated “gallows” here literally means “tree,” or simply “wooden object.”
There is no evidence in antiquity for execution by hanging someone with a noose
around their neck and allowing them to strangle. More likely, the text refers
to the common practice of impaling victims on wooden stakes. This barbaric
practice could be used either as an actual method of execution, or—more
often—it could be used to display the bodies of people who were executed by
other means. As a method of execution, impalement would have been very painful;
the real purpose of the practice, however, was not so much torture as to make a
public display of the malefactors. Another possibility, though less likely, is
that the text was referring to crucifixion, which the Persians also practiced (Hist. 7.33, 194; see also Clines,
292–93). (Anthony Tomasino, Esther
[Evangelical Exegetical Commentary; Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2016], 206)
Ezra 6:11 may imply that the
Persians continued to use impalement as a method of execution. The references
to “hanging” in Esther (2:23; 5:14) probably refer to either impalement or
crucifixion. The “hangman’s noose” was not commonly used in Persia during the
biblical period. The word translated as “gallows” in the NKJV refers not to a
scaffold for hanging with a rope, but a pole or stake for impaling.
Crucifixion on a stake or cross
was practiced by the Greeks, notably Alexander the Great, who hung 2,000 people
on crosses when the city of Tyre was destroyed. During the period between Greek
and Roman control of Palestine, the Jewish ruler Alexander Jannaeus crucified
800 Pharisees who opposed him at Bethome. But these executions were condemned
as detestable and abnormal by decent-minded people of Jannaeus’s day as well as
by the later Jewish historian, Josephus. (Nelson’s New Illustrated
Bible Dictionary, ed. Ronald
F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, and R. K. Harrison [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc.,
1995], Logos Bible Software edition)