Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 6:3

And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him.

3. What honour and dignity etc.? ] We are not obliged to suppose that Xerxes had forgotten the fact of his deliverance or the person who had saved his life; but only that he had no recollection what recompense, if any, had been made. In Persia there was a list kept of those who did the king service (Herod. viii. 85, 90), and thus special stress was laid upon the duty of acknowledging their devotion.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

It was a settled principle of the Persian government that Royal Benefactors were to receive an adequate reward. The names of such persons were placed on a special roll, and care was taken that they should be properly recompensed, though they sometimes waited for months or years before they were rewarded.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Est 6:3

There is nothing done for him.

Merit overlooked

Modest merit is overlooked, while the aspiring, the ambitious, and the time-serving rise to honour and riches. Nor is ingratitude confined to courts. (T. McCrie, D. D.)

Ingratitude to God

But if gratitude to man for his comparatively little kindness (for man cannot do much for his fellow) animate the believers bosom, it glows with still more fervent gratitude to God, for the invaluable and merited blessing of salvation. (T. Hughes.)

A resurrection of good works

Things are done and forgotten, and men never suppose that they will come up again; yet after many days they are vivified, and history begins to take up the thread where it was dropped. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Gods time best

But God is never surprised, and the end of all is to make us think of Him. Nothing entered in His book of remembrance is ever forgotten. His time for bringing the good deeds of His people to light may seldom be the time we would judge best, but it is always the most fit. Look to this ease. Had it been a day, an hour, half an hour sooner, would the effect have been as good for Mordecai or for his people? Would humility, prayer, patience, have been called into strengthening exercise? (A. M. Symington, B. A.)

Unearthed

The loyalty and faithfulness of Mordecai had not been rewarded at the time. On the human side that might have been regarded as a piece of ingratitude, it not a reprehensible oversight; but on the Divine side it was a prepared cause, secreted and hidden for a long period, and yet waiting, and ready for the accomplishment, at the right time of a beneficent result. It was destined to come to the light. It was a seed-corn buried in the earth, which should bear fruit in due season. In an opposite direction there is the same particular providence often manifested in the unveiling of crime, and the bringing home of guilt to the hearts of those who have contracted it, as in the envy and malice of Josephs brethren and the avaricious covetousness of Achan. As shells, deep in the sea, grope their way to the shore, or as hidden springs burst their way through to the surface, and form little rivulets, so is there in providence a great law, constantly in operation, for the disclosure of all that is either good or bad in human character or conduct. If bad, it is as though the avenger was tracking the steps of the transgressor, and at some turning in his path, and by some trivial accident, the evil is unearthed, and the doer of it brought to judgment. Or if good, it is as though the rewarder was following in the way of the righteous, and at the best time, and apparently by the most fortuitous combination of circumstances, the well-doing is made known, and meets with its recompense. Even now it is so. But the lines are drawn out far beyond the present, and converge in the transactions of a distant day. (T. McEwan.)

Reward and retribution

I. It teaches us how well a good man can afford to wait for the due acknowledgment of his uprightness, and for any reward he may need for the good he has done. The conjecture is that six long years had gone by since Mordecai revealed the plot of the chamberlains and saved the kings life, and not even a word of acknowledgment had come to him during all that time. But what we most admire is his behaviour meantime. If he had been a self-seeking man, he could easily have found means to refresh the kings memory as to his services; but he kept silence. If he had been a malignant man, he might have sought what he would, in that case, have called a just revenge for the ungrateful neglect with which he had been treated, by hatching or falling in with some other plot. And then, how well all turns out in the end! How much better than if the reward had been given at the time! He that believeth shall not make haste; Gods time is always the best. Righteousness is its own reward, and we are never righteous as God would have us be until we feel this deeply and act accordingly. He who, in Gods strength, looks every day on the face of duty, and walks with her along whatever paths her sacred feet may tread, has in his own spirit, in his own character, what soon or late will blossom out into all beauty and grandeur; what will in the end become glory, honour, and immortality.

II. The next lesson is just the opposite of this, viz., How certainly a bad man must be overtaken and punished! We say how certainly because there is in his badness the root and element of the retribution, and often, without knowing it, he carefully develops and ripens by his own action the retribution that falls on his head.

III. For there is an increscent power in evil (as indeed there is also in good), in view of which we cannot be too watchful and anxious, lest by any means we should fall under the power of it. The power of it, remember, is very silent and gentle, generally, in its operations. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)

Pacification of conscience

The king was determined to rectify this matter, for he thought that by the pacification of conscience sleep might return. Many men are willing to purchase sleep on high terms. Could the murder but be undone; could the evil deed be but blotted out; could the stolen money be but safely returned; could the cruel word but be recalled; in short, could anything be done that sleep might once more come to the house, and fold all memories and anxieties within its healing robes! (J. Parker, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 3. What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai] It is certain he found nothing in the record; and had any thing been done, that was the most likely place to find it.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

He hath had no recompence for this great and good service; which might happen, either through the kings forgetfulness, or through the envy of the courtiers, or because he was a Jew, and therefore odious and contemptible.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And the king said, what honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this?…. He judged it an action worthy of regard, and what ought to be rewarded, as it was the saving of his life; but had forgot whether any royal favour had been shown to the person for it:

then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him; the lords of his bedchamber then in waiting:

there is nothing done for him; not on that account, nothing more than what he had; he had an office at court before, but was not advanced to anything higher on this account.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(3) What honour and dignity hath been done.The names of those who were thought worthy of being accounted royal benefactors were enrolled on a special list, and they were supposed to be suitably rewarded, though not necessarily at the time. The reward however was. in theory at any rate, a thing to which the benefactor had a distinct claim, and an almost legal right.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. What honour to Mordecai We have a life-picture here. We seem to see the excited monarch start up and raise this question, as if some great duty had been forgotten. “It was a settled principle of the Persian government that ‘royal benefactors’ were to receive adequate reward. The names of such persons were placed on a special roll, ( Herod., 8:85,) and great care was taken that they should be properly recompensed. See Herod., 3:140; 5:11; 8:85; Thucyd., 1:138; Xen., ‘Hel.,’ iii; 1:6. It is a mistake, however, to suppose (Davidson) that they were always rewarded at once. Themistocles was inscribed on the list in B.C. 480, but did not obtain a reward until B.C. 465. Other benefactors waited for months, ( Herod., Est 5:11,) or perhaps years, ( ib., 9:107,) before they were recompensed. Sometimes a benefactor seems to have received no reward at all. ( Ib., 3:138.”) Rawlinson.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments