The Targum describes how Zeresh and all Haman’s cronies went through Jewish history, eliminating one possible method of genocide after another. They could not put Mordechai to death by the sword, they argued, because his ancestors had already killed their enemies by the sword. They couldn’t stone him to death, because David had killed Golyas with stones, and they couldn’t drown him, because Yisrael had already been saved from drowning when they crossed the Reed Sea. And so the list went on … fire, lions and dogs, exiling into the desert, imprisonment and slitting his throat ….
Everything had been tried and had failed. There was only one method that had not been tried and that was hanging. To Zeresh and Haman’s credit, they were instrumental in making sure that this too became a no-no.
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Never a Time Like the Present
Build the gallows immediately, they advised Haman, so that the following morning, he could hang Mordechai at the crack of dawn, so to speak (‘Z’rizin makdimin … ‘). That way, he would be able to go to Esther’s party, his happiness unimpeded. As far as Haman was concerned, close on the heels of Kavod came happiness and fun.
That, I suppose, is one way of dealing with people who, by virtue of their very existence, interfere with one’s fun and joy. Get rid of them! – as the old saying goes ‘If you can’t join em, beat ‘em’ (in fulfilment of the Pasuk “ve’Nahafoch hu”).
One wonders of course, how one’s conscience still allows one’s happiness to reach a climax. But then, someone whose be all and end all is that extra ounce of happiness, probably doesn’t have a conscience.
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Fun and Games
So Haman wasted not a minute, the Targum informs us. In fact, he ran to find carpenters to build the gallows and metal-smiths to fashion the iron knife (though it is not clear what purpose that knife served, since that’s not quite how a gallows works, and besides, this wasn’t the French Revolution).
So the carpenters built the gallows, the metal-smiths fashioned the knife. Meanwhile, Haman’s sons cheered them on, and Haman’s wife Zeresh and Haman played the harp (and danced a jig).
Haman told himself that when the gallows was complete, he would pay the carpenters and make a party for the metal-smiths on the very platform on which the gallows stood. And when the gallows was completed, Haman stood next to it and tried on the noose (whilst imagining that this was happening to Mordechai). At that moment, a Heavenly Voice announced ‘excellent, evil Haman, it’s made to measure, bar Hamdasa. You did indeed make the gallows for yourself!’ (Somehow, I doubt whether Haman heard the Heavenly Voice, since people do tend to hear only what they want to hear, don’t they?). .
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The Ironical Switch
That was Zeresh’s plan. But that was not quite what happened, as we know. Because, despite the fact that the gallows did go up immediately, as we just explained, Mordechai did not hang on the gallows the next morning, but neither did Haman. In fact, he ended up being hanged on them the morning after.
That being the case, the building of the gallows could really have waited for the next day. Then why did they have to be built that night?
It is of course true that the gallows were Haman’s justification for going to the King in the middle of the night (to ask for Mordechai to be hung on them). But there’s more to it than that.
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For you see, at this point, everything is building up to a climax. The King is doing his thing, Esther her’s, Mordechai his and Haman his, and their actions are going to merge at one specific point in the Megilah. What is interesting is that the King, Esther and Mordechai are all following the same course. Even Achashveirosh now realizes that he has been backing the wrong horse, that Mordechai is his friend and Haman, who is after his wife as well as his throne, his enemy. So he has succumbed somewhat graciously to Mordechai and Esther’s prayers (which has cost him nothing more than a few sleepless hours). Only Haman, devoid of any spark of G-dliness in true Amaleiki style, remains oblivious to every vestige of truth, and continues traveling on a collision course with the other three.
That explains why, when the turning point arrives, it is Haman who is caught by surprise, and whose world collapses in one moment, as he is pulled up with a jolt. And the turning point is when Achashveirosh tells Haman to take the royal regalia and the horse and … to do what he had suggested, with himself in mind, to Mordechai.
At that point, the tables are truly turned. From then on, everything moves in the opposite direction, with Haman, back to the wall, becoming the target of G-d’s (and Achashveirosh‘s) wrath.
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And the gallows had to be standing, for the subtle, sudden switch of roles between villain and hero to achieve its full impact. Because, as Achashveirosh uttered those fateful words, the scene was set for Mordechai to rise and for Haman to fall, and the gallows which Haman had built for Mordechai, and which he had arrived in the palace to organise, now loomed ominously, ready to accept him as a substitute for Mordechai.
And this also explains why Haman followed Zeresh’s advice to the letter, except for one detail. Zeresh told him to go to the king in the morning and ask for permission to hang Mordechai. But Haman (the super Zariz) had to go in the middle of the night. Indeed he did! He had to fit in with the Divine plan. In order to hang Mordechai on the gallows, it would have sufficed to ask the king in the morning. However, G-d’s plan was for Haman, and not Mordechai, to hang. Consequently, it was essential for him to arrive a little earlier, in order to play his role in the proceedings, to be in the right place at the right time when he was needed there. So G-d made sure that he did just that. He put it into Haman’s head to go to the palace, not the following morning as Zeresh had suggested, but in the middle of the night.
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Yisrael in Control
Finally, the question arises, what was it that caused the sudden switch between villain and hero.
The answer is given clearly by the Targum Yonasan, who ascribes this to a change of heart on the part of Yisrael. Following Esther’s second invitation of Haman to her party, K’lal Yisrael expressed disappointment in Esther, who, they had hoped, would intercede on their behalf and request from the King to have him killed. Instead, she persisted in inviting him to party after party. And so they began to duven directly, and to plead with Him for salvation. This was, of course, precisely what Esther (as well as Hashem) had hoped would happen. And it was at that moment that Hashem turned the tables, causing first Achashveirosh’s sleep to be disturbed … and then, putting into Haman’s head to build a gallows, and to make his way to the royal palace in the middle of the night ….
Incidentally, this also explains why Esther needed to arrange a second party, and did not plead with the King at the first one. Because whereas most of the other players were performing their roles, G-d was waiting for Yisrael to perform theirs. The moment they did, G-d forced Haman to play the game too. At the time of the first party, this would have been premature.
That very night, the Targum concludes, G-d answered their prayers, because He always answers our prayers at night-time, as we see with Paroh, with Sancheiriv and on many other occasions.
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Room to Swing
Targum Yonasan explains why, considering that an average man is three amos tall, the gallows needed to reach a height of fifty amos tall. For when all’s said and done, eleven men would only require thirty-three amos to hang comfortably.
Starting from the bottom, he explains, three amos was submerged in the ground. Four and a half amos was left empty, and then –
Parshandasa
was taking up a space of three amos. Then came half an amah space, presumably, because a person, say Chazal, is three amos minus his head – most people do have heads – (so half an amah space was allowed to accommodate each one’s head, [and this time I’m being serious]).
Then came –
Dalfon
Aspasa
Porasa
Adalya
Aridasa
Parmashta
Arisai
Aridai
Vayezasa
and last but not least, yours truly
Haman.
Above him, was left a space of three amos, which remained empty so that the birds would not eat his flesh.
All this adds up to forty-nine and a half amos. I cannot for the life of me, work out what happened to the missing half amah, and am willing to pay a reward for its return.
Please note that we have presented the swinging artists in the order that the Targum presents them, from the bottom upwards. To actually visualize them hanging, you would be best advised to comply with “ve’nehafoch hu” and turn the page upside down.
Interestingly, the Targum Sheini arrives at fifty Amos differently than the Targum Yonasan.
