The word is ets, frequently translated “tree” and “wood,” and gives no idea of the form of the gallows. It was some frame-work made or erected on which Mordecai was to have been hanged. Haman no doubt intended by the great height of the gallows (about 23 yards) that the hanging of his victim should have been well seen in the city. It was seen from the palace, and, under the providence of God, he was himself hanged thereon (Esther 5-9).