GALLOWS . This word occurs eight times in EV [Note: English Version.] in the Book of Esther only ( Esther 5:14 etc.) as the rendering of the ordinary Heb. word for ‘tree’ (see margins). It is very doubtful if death by strangulation is intended ‘tree’ in all probability having here its frequent sense of ‘pole,’ on which, as was customary in Persia, the criminal was impaled (see Crimes and Punishments, § 10 ).
A. R. S. Kennedy.