In Esther 7:8 it reads, “As the word went out of king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.”\u00a0 Does this mean that his face was covered because he laying on her bed and was much too close to Esther, or that he was now marked for death?\u00a0 Was\u00a0the covering of someone’s face a custom then? Was it done to anyone else in the Bible?<\/p>\n\t
It appears that covering the face of a person condemned to die was a widespread custom. Adam Clarke quoted a statement by Livy ascribed to Tullus Hostilius, a Roman judge, when he condemned a man to death as saying, “Go, sergeant; cover his head, and hang him on the accursed tree.” The British Family Bible also mentions that it was a practice in Egypt. And Barnes mentions that it was a custom to do so in Macedonia. The\u00a0International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia<\/em>\u00a0states, the “covering of the (head and) face of a criminal condemned to death (with a large black cap) (Esther 7:8-9) occurs in the\u00a0Shahnamah<\/em>\u00a0also.”<\/p>\n A number of symbolisms are ascribed to the act, though it appears mostly guesswork. It could mean that the man condemned to death is no longer worthy to be seen, that he no longer exists in the eyes of society, that a condemned man is not worthy to see the king’s face, or that there can be no appeals for mercy. John Walton in IVP Bible Background Commentary\u00a0<\/em>notes that “In Assyrian elegy covering the face was seen as a treatment of the dead.” In other words, Haman was seen as a dead man so he was immediately treated as one.<\/p>\n It has been noted that if a single letter was dropped from the Hebrew word for \u201cthey covered,\u201d it would become the word for \u201cand his face blushed.\u201d Whether this is the case is impossible at this point to tell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: In Esther 7:8 it reads, “As the word went out of king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.”\u00a0 Does this mean that his face was covered because he laying on her bed and was much too close to Esther, or that he was now marked for death?\u00a0 Was\u00a0the covering of someone’s face a custom then?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1219,1236,279],"class_list":["post-25041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-esther","tag-haman","tag-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25522,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-esther-request-that-hamans-sons-be-hanged-when-they-were-already-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":25041,"position":0},"title":"Why did Esther request that Haman’s sons be hanged when they were already dead?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did Esther request that Haman's sons be hanged when they were already dead? Answer: Haman, because he felt he was insulted by Mordecai, decided to gain revenge by destroying not just Mordecai but all the Jews. This was because Mordecai would not bow to Haman as he passed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12764,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-covering-in-i-corinthians-11-an-article-of-clothing\/","url_meta":{"origin":25041,"position":1},"title":"Is the covering in I Corinthians 11 an article of clothing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Someone related to me that the covering here is not an article of clothing according to the original language. He explained that the veil that Moses used to cover his face was clearly seen as such in the original language, but we don't see it for the covering in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90723,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/esther-such-a-time-as-this\/","url_meta":{"origin":25041,"position":2},"title":"Esther: “Such a Time as This”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Keith Greer A great king, after subduing Egypt and Babylon, determined to have a feast. He invited all the princes of his empire. From the text, we learn that \"wine flowed in abundance.\" The king's wife, Queen Vashti, was a very beautiful woman. After the feast, he commanded that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70877,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-was-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":25041,"position":3},"title":"Where Was God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 5, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer The Book of Esther stands out as unique among the Old Testament books because it is the only book that does not mention God at all. Compared to other Old Testament stories, God's absence in the story of Esther can seem rather profound. To this end, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83013,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/two-coverings-under-consideration\/","url_meta":{"origin":25041,"position":4},"title":"Two Coverings Under Consideration","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Elvis Smith Some contend that I Corinthians 11:2-16 only requires long hair as a covering on a woman. But I suggest that if that were so, the three phrases like \"praying or prophesying\" found in I Corinthians 11:4, 5, and 13 would have no real significance. The three \"praying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":605,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/command-or-custom\/","url_meta":{"origin":25041,"position":5},"title":"Command or Custom?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 1, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"An Exposition Of I Corinthians 11:1-16 by Hiram O. Hutto The first sixteen verses of the eleventh chapter of Paul's letter to the church at Corinth has been the subject of much controversy. The verses themselves are not difficult to understand, and the controversy has not been so much over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}