Imagine seeming to have it all—a powerful husband and huge family, wealth, respect, celebrity. People move out of your way as you walk by. Everyone is out to please you. You get the best tables at restaurants while others are turned away. You sport the latest fashions. Your name is on everyone’s lips.

But somehow it’s not enough. It’s never enough. You push for more and more until somehow it all slips away. Then you realize you’ve lost everything.

This is the story of Zeresh, whose lust for power and prestige helped bring about her family’s epic fall.

The Woman Behind That Man

Zeresh was the wife of Haman, second in command under Persia’s king and Queen Esther’s husband, Ahasuerus. Haman commanded and received respect from everyone—with the notable exception of Esther’s cousin and guardian, Mordecai.

And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, he was filled with fury.—Esther 3:5 (ESV)

Mordecai’s disregard led Haman to persuade the king to issue a decree. The Persians would slaughter the Jews in a daylong bloodbath. When Mordecai learned of the decree, he sent a message to his cousin urging her to intercede with the king and reveal Haman’s wickedness.

But Esther knew protocol. The king was the one who initiated contact. Approaching him on her own could cost her life. But she dared to approach Ahasuerus after she and her people fasted for three days. 

The king received her graciously, and she invited him and Haman to the first of two banquets—the first to win confidence, the second to reveal truth. After the first banquet, Haman was further puffed up with self-importance. He was all that.

A Plan Gone Awry

Haman went home from the banquet and told Zeresh and his friends about his great life—”the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the  king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king” (Esther 5:11b ESV).

Despite all that, Haman still didn’t have one thing: Mordecai’s respect. 

Then his wife, Zeresh, and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows 50 cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows built.—Esther 5:14 (ESV)

Zeresh did not realize that her very future, and that of her family, would hang upon those gallows.

During the night, the sleepless king would read an account of how Mordecai was the one to foil a plot to kill him. Yet somehow Mordecai had never been honored.

The next morning, Ahasuerus sought Haman’s advice on how to recognize someone worthy of honor. In his self-centeredness, Haman called for all the glam and pageantry, certain it would be bestowed on himself. Instead, the king appointed him to honor Mordecai in exactly the way Haman had prescribed.

A fearful Zeresh began to foresee the consequences of her husband’s actions.

“If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him.”—Esther 6:13b (ESV)

Sure enough, Haman’s day got worse at Esther’s second banquet, where she revealed Haman’s plan to extinguish her people. Ahasuerus was incensed.

Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, 50 cubits high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.”—Esther 7:9 (ESV)

Haman died, and the king promoted Mordecai to his court. The Jews were saved, but the same couldn’t be said for Zeresh’s family. All 10 of her sons perished.

With her family, Zeresh lost her social standing, her wealth and other perks of her privileged lifestyle. What became of her from there? We don’t know. And what would have Haman done if she had advised him to look the other way instead of seeking vengeance for Mordecai’s disrespect? We don’t know that either. What we do know is that she lost an important opportunity, and that choice cost her dearly.

Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.—Psalm 34:14

________________________

This is Part 7 in a series about biblical women—some named, some not, some honorable, some less so. But all have earned a place in scripture, and all have important lessons to teach us.