Ester 6: 1 – 14
When Will We Ever Learn
1 That night the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. 2 And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3 Then the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” 4 So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. 5 The king’s servants said to him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” 6 So Haman came in, and the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” 7 And Haman answered the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, 8 let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal crest placed on its head. 9 Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’ ” 10 Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.” 11 So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!” 12 Afterward Mordecai went back to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. 13 When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him.” 14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came, and hastened to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.
Let me ask you this, ‘have you ever on the way to work had an inner voice say to you to go on another route?’ If you are like me then you most likely just ignored the warning and proceeded to drive into a back up that winds up delaying your arrival and starts your day off lousy.
If you have been studying the book of Ester with us we have learned so far that this evil man by the name of Haman who was so into himself that he had wanted to kill off all the Jews because one Jew would not give him the respect he thought he deserved.
We will learn today of our Great Master’s humor in turning things around. For Haman who sought out praise and adoration and did not receive it from Mordecai and wanted to kill him because of it will have to honor him before the whole city. Upon his arrival at his home in total humiliation his wife and friends told him to back off or worse things would happen to him. Do you think he listened to the warnings?
This chapter is the pivotal point in the book. Prior to this chapter Haman was continually on the ascendancy and took the opportunity in order to seek to destroy Mordecai and the Jews. Due to the king’s sleeplessness, Haman aims at greater glory for himself, but then has to grant it to Mordecai at the king’s command. What Haman has sought goes to Mordecai. From this point on Haman and his house will slide ever downwards, whilst Mordecai will be in the ascendancy, and the Jews will be delivered. It is made clear that all this began due to an unseen hand at work behind the scenes which caused the king’s sleeplessness and the reading to him of the loyal act of Mordecai. To the Jew it would be clear that it was God Who was at work.
6.1 ‘On that night the king could not sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records (or memorials) of the chronicles (events of the days), and they were read before the king.’
On the very night that Haman was erecting a stake on which to impale Mordecai the king was unable to sleep. ‘The king’s sleep fled.’ And in order to fill in the time he commanded that the record of special court events be read before him. Nothing will help you fall asleep faster than to listen to work related items. This may have been a book in which was written a memorial of all who had especially served the king. Ahasuerus was always eager to reward those who had done some singular service for him. He knew that these records would help to occupy his mind, and would be an encouragement to him, and might even send him to sleep. It may well have been that he had not heard them read for a while.
6.2 ‘And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s palace officials, of those who kept the threshold, who had sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus.’
During the course of the reading he learned how Mordecai had reported the plot of Bigthana (Bigthan) and Teresh (see chapter 2.21), the palace officials with charge over the entry into the king’s apartments, in which they had planned to assassinate the king. Given the fact that Haman was planning Mordecai’s execution with the hoped for agreement of the king this would clearly be seen by the Jews as pointing to the hand of God at work. They would have no doubt that God was acting in order to deliver Mordecai from Haman’s plot. But as usual the author leaves it to be inferred.
6.3 ‘And the king said, “What honor and dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who ministered to him, said “There is nothing done for him.”
When the king heard what Mordecai had done, he asked what honor and dignity had been bestowed on Mordecai for it. His close servants informed him that nothing had been done for Mordecai.
6.4 ‘And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak to the king to impale Mordecai on the stake that he had prepared for him.’
Having learned of the failure to reward Mordecai the king was shocked, and it was his policy always to reward loyal service
Now stop and think. It is late at night so why would the king then ask about who might be in the royal palace? Could he had this mental thought just come to him? Thus he immediately asked who was ‘in the court’, that is, what high official with palace access was available to act in the matter. So look at how this coincidence just came about.
Haman just so happened to be present there. He had come in order to obtain authority for the lifting up of Mordecai on an impalement stake, and he had no doubt concocted some story, or manufactured some kind of evidence, to justify his request. Possibly he considered that to expose Mordecai as the leader of the disreputable people whom he had previously described to the king back in chapter 3.8 would do the trick. He clearly had no doubt that the king would accede to his request. His purpose in being there is explicitly stated so as to bring out the situation.
Every reader of this record would be aware that in fact Mordecai was now under the king’s protection. They would see the irony of the situation. Haman wanted to expose Mordecai on a stake in order to disgrace him, but instead he would shortly be required to ‘expose’ him to the people in order to honor him. Again every Jew would see the hand of God in it. It was to be the turning point in both of their lives.
6.5 ‘And the king’s servants said to him, “Behold, Haman stands in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”
Then the king’s personal servants informed him that Haman was in the court. At which the king told them to call him in. Haman probably thought that such a quick invitation into the king’s presence was because he was so important and liked. This helped him feel confident that it would give him the opportunity that he was looking for.
6.6 ‘So Haman came in. And the king said to him, “What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” ‘Now Haman said in his heart, “To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself?”
So Haman came in and the king asked him his advice on what should be done to the man whom the king wanted to honor? Haman was an extremely ambitious man, almost megalomaniac, and such favors had already been heaped upon him, including the present one of being invited to the queen’s personal banquet, that he could think only in terms of himself.
Thus he thought to himself, “To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself?” He had continually received such favors that they had taken possession of his mind. It was all he could think of.
6.7-9 And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, let royal apparel be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the head of which a crown royal is set, and let the apparel and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man whom the king delights to honor with them, and cause him to ride on horseback through the open space of the city, and proclaim before him, ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor’.”
For ‘the man whom the king delights to honor’ he proposed a number of things:
• 1). That he be clothed in royal garments which the king himself had actually worn.
• 2). That he ride on the king’s own horse regularly ridden on by the king.
• 3). That the horse have its main tied up in the form of a coronet [crown) or top knot, as it would be when the king rode it, demonstrating that the man was riding on the king’s own horse.
• 4). That the horse and the apparel be put in the hands of one of the king’s most noble princes (he was probably thinking in terms of one of the seven great princes of Media and Persia - 1.14) who would array the man and set him on the king’s horse.
• 5). That he ride on horseback through the open space of the city, in front of the palace, where large numbers of people would be found, while ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor’ was proclaimed before him.
It is a mistake to think that this meant that the man would simply be ‘king for the day’ - Far from it. It would be a life-transforming experience. No man could publicly wear the king’s own royal clothes, and ride publicly on the king’s own horse, and be proclaimed as a king’s favorite by one of the noblest in the land, without being loaded with riches and honors. By it he was being proclaimed as one of the king’s close favorites, under the protection of the king himself, and the people would then look to see what the king would do for such a man. The king would have to follow the proclamation with suitable gifts, for his very honor would be at stake.
Haman was, of course, thinking of himself. But had the king thought that he might well have refused. To have taken the second greatest man in the realm, and clothed him in the king’s own royal clothing, and ridden him on the king’s own horse in public, might well have been seen as proclaiming him as his heir presumptive. Indeed, Haman, in his megalomania, might have had that in mind. We can compare how in Israel Solomon was proclaimed as David’s heir by being ridden on the king’s own mule (1 Kings 1.33). It was otherwise with a lesser dignitary like Mordecai. But he would certainly from then on have been treated as a kind of royalty, and given consonant privileges.
We can similarly compare how when Saul wanted to honor the young David in the sight of the whole army, he granted him the privilege of wearing his own royal apparel and armor (1 Samuel 17.38). There was no danger of him being seen as heir presumptive, although so it turned out to be, but from then on David was appointed as a king’s commander. He could no longer go back to what he was. He was then further honored by being given the personal clothing of the king’s heir (1 Samuel 18.4), an indication in this case of a lifelong bond between him and Jonathan. Jonathan wanted David to be treated as him.
A similar example of such a public display resulting in a position of high honor is found in Genesis 41.42-43. It was a way of demonstrating that Joseph was being given a great position.
6.10 ‘Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, and take the apparel and the horse, as you have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Let nothing fail of all that you have spoken.”
We can imagine Haman’s deep chagrin when the king told him to make all haste and take the king’s own royal apparel and the king’s own horse, and himself honor ‘Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate’ in this fashion. This was no doubt the title by which Mordecai was known in the royal chronicle. And the king urged that Haman fulfill what he had suggested in every detail. Haman was left with no option. But he must have been seething inside. Instead of displaying him on a stake, he would have to display him as a king’s favorite.
6.11 ‘Then Haman took the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and caused him to ride through the open space of the city, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”
As a highly trained courtier Haman would have been expert at covering his feelings before the king. But now he also had to hide them before the people. We can tell how deeply he felt it by what follows when he went back in despair to his friends. It bit deep into his very soul. But he was left with no alternative. So no doubt seething inside, he took the king’s apparel and the king’s horse, clothed Mordecai in the royal apparel, and caused him to ride through the open space of the city. And in the process he proclaimed, and every word would have been forced out, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”
The very proclamation indicates that there was more to what was happening to Mordecai than appeared on the surface. The point was that the man whom the king desired to honor would be covered with royal favor, and would be given a kind of royal status. It indicated that the king was going to show Mordecai high favor. What followed would simply be a carrying out of the privilege now shown to him. He could never go back to what he was. It was only a matter of time before he was duly honored with wealth and position as one who had been in the king’s very stead. And Haman knew it. What now lay ahead for Mordecai were state honors, not stake ‘honors’.
6.12 ‘And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hastened to his house, mourning and having his head covered.’
The book of Esther is full of contrasts, and this is one of them. On the one hand Mordecai came again to the king’s gate taking his place there again ready to serve the king, his future bright before him. Haman returned to his house, grieving over what had happened, and with his head covered, a sign of his extreme unhappiness. It was also symbolic of his future. Mordecai was on the way up. He was on the way down.
6.13 ‘And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, you will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before him.”
Once home Haman told his wife and all his friends all the details of what had happened to him. They had no doubt been waiting eagerly to learn how his case had prospered, no doubt hoping to be rewarded for their advice if things had gone well. Note that his friends are called ‘the wise men’. These may well be the very men who helped determine through the ‘Pur’ or ‘lot’ the date of the downfall of the Jews (3.7). But in the event things had not gone well with Haman’s purpose, and they quickly altered their advice. Let Haman beware. If Mordecai, before whom he was beginning to fall, was a Jew, then he could not hope to prevail against him. They had failed to say that on the previous day, but the turn of events had made them think again. And they had remembered how in the past the Jews had enjoyed remarkable deliverances. Thus anyone who stood against them should be careful. They could only lose out. The implication behind their words, as far as the writer was concerned, was that God was on the side of the Jews.
There is a clear indication here that within the Persian Empire the Jews stood out. They were seen as a people apart, whether for good or ill. And as the centuries have proved, such separateness can often invoke jealousy and hatred, as well as admiration, as indeed it would for the Jews. There were no doubt many in the Persian Empire who had a grudge against the Jews’ although having said that it is evident that, at least in Susa, they were not looked on in the main with animosity. Otherwise the people would not have been ‘perplexed’ at what was threatened against them (3.15).
6.14 ‘ While they were yet talking with him, came the king’s palace officials, and hastened to bring Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.’
Even while they were talking palace officials arrived with the aim of bringing Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared with all speed. This was a regular feature of oriental feasts. Honored guests would be escorted to the feast (compare Luke 14.17). The verb may, however, be seen as containing within it the sense of eagerness as in 2.9. This may suggest that they felt the matter was now urgent and must be fulfilled expeditiously, or that Haman was eager to attend the banquet as a kind of remedy for his hurt pride. But I may be that in the writer’s view it was God’s purposes that were moving on. We will see that the banquet that would spell doom to Haman, because of his behavior towards the Jews. What was being spoken of in verse 13 would become an actuality.
