Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble. Ezra 6:11

            This was the ultimate act of shame and a final act of destruction.  Not only would the executioners not waste their own wood on the guilty person, but they would have to tear down the house of the criminal just to get the weapon of execution.  The threat here told everyone not only would you die, but your family’s house would be destroyed.  It was a metaphor, also, by saying one’s “house” or “legacy” was being destroyed.