The Cross and the Gallows (Proverbs 26:27)
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Proverbs 26:27
Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,
and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.
There once was a man named Haman – second only to the king of Persia, with robes of power and a heart swollen with pride. He wanted more than honor; he wanted worship. And nearly all bowed before him. But one man stood tall.
Mordecai, a Jew – exiled, humble, loyal to the true King – would not kneel to Haman. Not because he was defiant, but because he was devoted. The honor Haman demanded belonged to God alone.
Haman was enraged. But rather than duel with Mordecai alone, he set his sights on an entire people. Like a man digging a deep pit with fury in his hands, he crafted a plan to bury the Jews – to erase them with the stroke of the king’s seal. He built a towering gallows, seventy-five feet high, just for Mordecai. A tree of death, planted by hatred – but unwittingly foreshadowing another Tree, on another hill, where the innocent would hang for the guilty.
But what Haman didn’t know was that another Jew stood near the king – Queen Esther. At the risk of her own life, she stepped into the throne room, exposed the plot, and turned the story.
And then – the great reversal.
The pit he dug swallowed him. The gallows he built bore his own weight. The stone he rolled uphill came loose – like a boomerang of evil, circling back through time and striking him from behind.
Now not every story ends this neatly. Often, the wicked prosper and the innocent suffer – for a while. But Proverbs, like Esther, invites us to trust that no injustice escapes the eyes of heaven. We’re not just told to believe in justice; we’re shown glimpses of it breaking through.
Esther chapter 7 concludes, “So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.”
That’s Proverbs 26:27 played out in flesh and wood.
I’m not sure how many times the Bible says that you reap what you sow, and I’m also not sure how many times the Bible shows us that you reap what you sow – because Haman is not the only example; look at Daniel’s accusers in Daniel 6 – but the Lord says and shows it enough to make the point that He really wants us to heed that.
So let me ask you:
Have you dug a pit for someone in your heart – bitterness, gossip, jealousy?
What would it look like to trust God’s justice instead of playing judge?
Maybe as you read this story, a name came to mind. Or a habit. Or a pattern of thought that feels a little too much like digging. Maybe the Spirit whispered, “That stone you’re rolling – it’s not yours to move.”
Bring that to the Lord. He is merciful enough to stop the stone before it breaks you, and mighty enough to lift you from the pit you made.
And if you’ve been the Mordecai – falsely accused, wronged, overlooked – ask for strength to wait on the great reversal. It may not come on your timeline, but it will come. The Judge of all the earth will do what is right, which in many ways He already has.
Let’s not forget the other gallows. The hill on Calvary, where the reversal went deeper – the Innocent was hanged for the guilty.
Jesus didn’t escape the pit; He entered ours.
Took our punishment. And then rose to offer mercy to the ones holding the rope. That’s our God.
Let’s pray to Him now.
