Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 6:12
And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.
Chaps. Est 6:12 to Est 8:2. Haman’s overthrow
12. having his head covered ] in token of grief. Cp. Est 7:8; 2Sa 15:30; 2Sa 19:4; Jer 14:4; Eze 24:17.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
It is quite consonant with Oriental notions that Mordecai, after receiving the extraordinary honors assigned him, should return to the palace and resume his former humble employment.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Est 6:12
And Mordecai came again to the kings gate
Humility
A proud, ambitious man would have said to himself, No more of the kings gate for me! I shall direct my steps now to the kings palace, and hold myself ready for honour, office, emolument, which surely must now be at hand.
Mordecai seems to have said within himself, If these things are designed for me in Gods good providence, they will find me. But they must seek me, for I shall not seek them. Those who confer them know my address. Mordecai, at the kings gate, will still find me. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
Honours modestly borne
Few can bear honours and dignities with equanimity, even when they come upon them gradually; but such sudden and high advancement was enough to make any ordinary person giddy, to cause him to forget himself, and behave unseemly. What fatal effects upon the head and heart do we often witness in persons who have all at once been raised from poverty to riches and rank. Even good men are not always proof against the intoxicating influence of such transitions. But Mordecai kept his place; like a gallant ship, firmly moored in a bay, which during a flood-tide heaves and seems for a time borne along with the lighter craft, but, obeying its anchor, comes round and resumes its former position. The pageantry of an hour could not unsettle his mind; he regarded it in its true light–a vain show. (T. McCrie, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. Mordecai came again to the king’s gate] He resumed his former humble state; while Haman, ashamed to look up, covered his face, and ran home to hide himself in his own house. Covering the head and face was a sign of shame and confusion, as well as of grief, among most people of the earth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To the kings gate; to his former place and office; showing that as he was not overwhelmed by Hamans threats and malicious design, as appears by Est 5:9; so now he was not puffed up with all this honour. Besides, he came thither to attend the issue of the main business, and to be at hand to assist or encourage the queen, if need were; which now he was more capable of doing than hitherto he had been.
Having his head covered, in token of his shame and grief for his unexpected and great disappointment of his hope and desire, and for the great honour done to his most despised and abhorred adversary, and this by his own hands, and with his own public disgrace; and for such further inconveniences as this unlucky omen seemed to presage to him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate,…. To attend his post and office at court; which confirms what has been already hinted, that he was in some office in the court, which this phrase is expressive of, and not a porter at the gate; for it is not probable he should return to such a station, after so much honour had been done him; and much less that he returned to his sackcloth and fasting, as Jarchi and the former Targum; since he might reasonably conclude things were taking a turn in his favour, and that of his people; though as yet he knew not what success Esther had had, to wait for which he returned to court:
but Haman hasted to his house; pushed forward as fast as he could:
mourning; at his sad disappointment:
and having his head covered; through grief and sorrow, confusion and shame; so Demosthenes, being hissed, went home with his head covered c, as confounded and ashamed to be seen d.
c Plutarch in Demosthene. d See more instances in Lively’s Chronology of the Persian monarchy, p. 18, 19.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
After this honour had been paid him, Mordochai returned to the king’s gate; but Haman hasted to his house, “sad and with his head covered,” to relate to his wife and friends all that had befallen him. A deeper mortification he could not have experienced than that of being obliged, by the king’s command, publicly to show the highest honour to the very individual whose execution he was just about to propose to him. The covering of the head is a token of deep confusion and mourning; comp. Jer 14:4; 2Sa 15:30. Then his wise men, and Zeresh his wife, said to him: ”If Mordochai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou wilt not prevail against him, but wholly fall before him.” , non praevalebis ei , comp. Gen 32:26. with an emphatic infin. absol.: wholly fall. Instead of the are here named, or to speak more correctly the friends of Haman are here called his wise men (magi). Even in Est 5:14 Haman’s friends figure as those with whom he takes counsel concerning Mordochai, i.e., as his counsellors or advisers; hence it is very probable that there were magi among their number, who now “come forward as a genus sapientum et doctorum (Cicero, divin. i. 23)” (Berth.), and predict his overthrow in his contest with Mordochai. The ground of this prediction is stated: “If Mordochai is of the seed of the Jews,” i.e., of Jewish descent, then after this preliminary fall a total fall is inevitable. Previously (Est 5:14) they had not hesitated to advise him to hang the insignificant Jew; but now that the insignificant Jew has become, as by a miracle, a man highly honoured by the king, the fact that the Jews are under the special protection of Providence is pressed upon them. Ex fato populorum, remarks Grotius, de singulorum fatis judicabant. Judaei gravissime oppressi a Cyri temporibus contra spem omnem resurgere caeperant . We cannot, however, regard as well founded the further remark: de Amalecitis audierant oraculum esse, eos Judaeorum manu perituros , which Grotius, with most older expositors, derives from the Amalekite origin of Haman. The revival of the Jewish people since the times of Cyrus was sufficient to induce, in the minds of heathen who were attentive to the signs of the times, the persuasion that this nation enjoyed divine protection.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Haman Cast Down. | B. C. 510. |
12 And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered. 13 And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him. 14 And while they were yet talking with him, came the king’s chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared.
We may here observe,
I. How little Mordecai was puffed up with his advancement. He came again to the king’s gate (v. 12); he returned to his place and the duty of it immediately, and minded his business as closely as he had done before. Honour is well bestowed on those that are not made proud and idle by it, and will not think themselves above their business.
II. How much Haman was cast down with his disappointment. He could not bear it. To wait upon any man, especially Mordecai, and at this time, when he hoped to have seen him hanged, was enough to break such a proud heart as he had. He hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered, as one that looked upon himself as sunk and in a manner condemned. What harm had it done him to stoop thus to Mordecai? Was he ever the worse for it? Was it not what he himself proposed to be done by one of the king’s most noble princes? Why then should he grudge to do it himself? But that will break a proud man’s heart which would not break a humble man’s sleep.
III. How his doom was, out of this event, read to him by his wife and his friends: “If Mordecai be, as they say he is, of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, though but in a point of honour, never expect to prevail against him; for thou shalt surely fall before him,” v. 13. Miserable comforters were they all; they did not advise him to repent, and ask Mordecai’s pardon for his bad design against him, but foretold his destiny as fatal and unavoidable. Two things they foresaw:– 1. That Haman would be disappointed in his enterprise against the Jews: “Thou shalt not prevail to root out that people. Heaven plainly fights against thee.” 2. That he himself would be destroyed: Thou shalt surely fall before him. The contest between Michael and the dragon will not be a drawn battle; no, Haman must fall before Mordecai. Two things they grounded their prognostications upon:– (1.) This Mordecai was of the seed of the Jews; feeble Jews their enemies sometimes called them, but formidable Jews they sometimes found them. They are a holy seed, a praying seed, in covenant with God, and a seed that the Lord hath all along blessed, and therefore let not their enemies expect to triumph over them. (2.) Haman had begun to fall, and therefore he was certainly a gone man. It has been observed of great court-favourites that when once they have been frowned upon they have fallen utterly, as fast as they rose; it is true of the church’s enemies that when God begins with them he will make an end. As for God his work is perfect.
IV. How seasonably he was now sent for to the banquet that Esther had prepared, v. 14. He thought it seasonable, in hopes it would revive his drooping spirits and save his sinking honour. But really it was seasonable because, his spirits being broken by this sore disappointment, he might the more easily be run down by Esther’s complaint against him. The wisdom of God is seen in timing the means of his church’s deliverance so as to manifest his own glory.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Est. 6:12-14.] It is quite consonant with Oriental notions that Mordecai, after receiving the extraordinary honours assigned him, should return to the palace and resume his former humble employment, Ahasuerus regarding him as sufficiently rewarded, and not yet intending to do anything more for him.Rawlinson. Haman, with covered head and sorrowful heart, hastens home to his friends and wife only to hear the discouraging prophecy that the unfortunate occurrence will be the beginning of his end. To cover the head was a sign of deep shame and distress. His friends are now called wise men] at least some of them, because they undertook to forecast his future.Lange. His diviners now hesitate not to predict his fall. If his enemy is of the seed of the Jews] a new and startling fact that seems suddenly to have impressed these wise men; then it is certain that the providence which has ever been such a wondrous power in the Jewish nation, and which has now so strangely elevated Mordecai at the very moment when Haman thought to have slain him, will cause the Jew to triumph. Hasted to bring Haman] The avenging Fates seem to hurry him to his doom.Whedons Com.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. Est. 6:12-14
A SMALL MAN IN ADVERSITY
MEN are to be judged so as to form an estimate of their greatness or their littleness, not by their surroundings, but by the manner in which they conduct themselves in the trying changes, in the ups and downs, of life. We must consider their conduct. By their fruits shall ye know them. Does a man carry himself with calmness in prosperity and with fortitude in adversity, then we may pronounce him great. Is a man unduly elated by prosperity and brokenhearted by adversity, then we pronounce him a small man. Tried thus the despised Mordecai is the truly great man, and the haughty Haman is the little man. In one sense we are the creatures of circumstances. We cannot help being more or less affected by them. In another sense we ought to be the masters of circumstances. They must not be permitted to unman our natures. In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider. Adversity so acts upon some people that all power of consideration is removed. Oh, to be masters of ourselves! This can only be done by the help of Divine grace. I can do all things through Christ strengthening me.
I. A great man in prosperity. Are there no great men that meet with no prosperity, as the world accounts prosperity? Has God no hidden heroes in quiet walks? We may believe that he has. Up to this time Mordecai had been a great man in obscurity. Really Mordecai was no greater when riding on the kings horse in triumphal procession through the city than when sitting at the kings gate. We are slow to learn and believe the truth, that not circumstances, but character makes a man great. Mordecais mind was so great that he rose above the state of things and men. He dwelt in a higher sphere than that formed by the pomp of circumstances, by the parade of royalty. We can imagine Mordecai with calm majesty riding through the city Susa. He took the thing naturally; he penetrated to the heart of things. When the little show was over he went calmly to his obscure place at the city gate. In some degree he is a type of him who rode forth amid the hosannas of the multitude, and then listened, as one not astonished, to the cry, Crucify him, crucify him. A great soul had Mordecai. He had food to eat of which Haman had no conception. Seek high conceptions of duty. Sit at thy post, even at the city gate, and wait only for the opening of heavens gate.
II. A small man in adversity. Oh, when adversity really comes are we not all small men? The Bechuanas sit and talk as if they felt nothing when under going a painful surgical operation. But most men wince beneath the sharp knife of adversity. Most are but bruised reeds when the blasts of sorrow blow keenly and sharply, and they give forth dismal wailings. Therefore we must temper our judgment with much mercy as we consider Haman in adversity. Our grief is but our grandeur in disguise; but our grief also tells of our littleness. Most are brothers to Haman in the time of their adversity. The dreaded blow of trouble sends them to their houses mourning. Adversity makes us acquainted with strange bed-fellows. How many despise the guilty Haman, and yet are by trouble reduced to his miserable level. Haman was a small man. He was fretting like a little child because the coveted toy had been grasped out of his hand. For we do not suppose that Haman as yet knew that this honour rendered to Mordecai was but the beginning of his own awful end. So far Hamans troubles were in great measure of an ideal character. A great many of our troubles are of this character. But ideal troubles cause us real misery. If we could only act out the lesson, man wants but little here below, nor wants that little long, we should not have many troubles. Small are most men in the nature of their desires and their disappointments. They strive and fight for childish toys, and when they get them they are not satisfied, and ask for more. When these toys are wrested from them they haste to their houses mourning, and have their heads covered for grief.
III. A small man in adversity seeks for counsellors. He went to his wife and his friends. Where should a man go in the time of trouble if not to his wife and his friends? A good wife should be a help-meet. Like the ivy plant, she should cling the faster the greater the ruin, and be a helping support and a graceful ornament even to that ruin. Where can a man in sorrow go if not to his friends? where Haman little thought of going. Friends are not always glad to see humiliated Hamans. Even the wife may turn round upon the husband and say, Curse God and die. There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.
IV. A man in adversity obtains poor consolation. One thing is certain, Hamans wife and his friends told him the truth now, but they had not told him the truth before. They had not warned him of his danger, nor showed him the way out of his difficulty. Even now they have nothing in the way of really helpful advice to offer. They simply predict his further downfall. Friends too often have the fatal capacity of plunging a drowning man deeper into the water. Very sad sometimes is the errand on which the man goes when he consults his friends as to the best thing to be done in his trial. He comes back a sadder, but not always a wiser, man from the visit. They glibly show him his faults; they tell him where he has made a slip; they too often appear as if they were taking pleasure in making him look contemptible. We compassionate Haman from the bottom of our hearts. He has sown the wind, and is now reaping the whirlwind. He is now deserted by all, left to his own bitter fate. Heavens consolations even then might have been obtained. Rich are the consolations that Jesus brings. He never upbraids on account of our faults. If he does not deliver us from our distresses, he gives us strength that we may bear them manfully.
V. A man in adversity receives an ominous summons. And while they were yet talking with him came the kings chamberlains. Trouble upon trouble; but Haman did not understand the worst. He did not foresee the future. He little dreamt that Esthers banquet was but the way to the gallows. We sometimes say, If I had only known! Well, we all know, or might know, that wrong-doing will lead to trouble, and yet we go on doing wrong things. Had Haman known, perhaps, like too many, he would simply have done another wrong thing to prevent the mischief likely to come from past wrong-doing. No need for prophetic sight. We know that sin worketh death; let us then forsake all evil. From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness, Good Lord, deliver us.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Est. 6:12-14
In prosperity he is highly insolent and cruel, but in adversity he is so broken and dejected that he knows not which way to turn. But his counsellors are no better off than himself. His friends do not console him, nor show him any plan for escaping his danger, which nevertheless was then the most needful help for Haman; but they throw him, just hesitating between hope and fear, into despair. Thou wilt surely fall in his sight, say they. Had they admonished him indeed of his many and heinous sins toward God and his servants, of his duty of recognizing the inevitable judgment of God, of repentance, of reconciliation, then perchance it may have turned out better with him. The power and efficacy of truth is so great that even its enemies and all the ungodly bear testimony to it. So the magicians of Pharaoh are compelled to explain, This is the finger of God; and the Egyptians cry, Let us flee before Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them.Feuardent.
Men find no difference in themselves. The face of a Jew looks so like other mens that Esther and Mordecai were not, for long, taken for what they were. He that made them makes the distinction betwixt them; so as a Jew may fall before a Persian and get up and prevail; but if a Persian, or whosoever of the Gentiles, begin to fall before a Jew he can neither stay nor rise. There is an invisible hand of omnipotency that strikes in from his own and confounds their opposites. O God, neither is thy hand shortened, nor thy bowels straitened in thee: thou art still and ever thyself. If we be thy true spiritual Israel, neither earth nor hell shall prevail against us; we shall either stand sure or surely rise, while our enemies shall lick the dust.Bishop Hall.
The chief reason why the enemies of the Church gnash their teeth at the sight of Gods gracious dealings is, that they take the rising of the Church to be a presage of their ruin: a lesson which Hamans wife had learned.
Hamans wife had learned this, that if her husband began once to fall before the Jews he should surely fall. Wicked men have an hour, and they will be sure to take it; and God hath his hour too, and will be as sure to take that. The judgments of the wicked are mercies to the Church. So saith David, He slew mighty kings, Og, king of Bashan, for his mercy endureth for ever.Sibbes.
In the narrative which follows we have an example of that decency and propriety with respect to circumstances which is always observed in Scripture, and which may be traced in what is omitted as well as what is introduced. Nothing is said of what passed between Mordecai and Haman, either at the beginning or close of the ceremony. The inspired writer gives us no account of the acclamations of the multitude whom the spectacle drew together. They would no doubt act, poor souls, as they are always accustomed to do, hail the favourite of the day, and echo back the voice of the herald. Let them alonethey would have done the same for Haman. We are even left to conjecture what were the thoughts of the judicious few, both Jews and natives, who might be led by this strange event to augur the approaching fall of the arrogant prime minister, and the rising fortunes of the object of his hatred. The sacred narrative passes over these things, and hastens to the crisis.
The pageant is now over, and we see, issuing from the dispersing crowd, the two principal persons, moving in different directions, and in opposite moods of mind.
Mordecai came again to the kings gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered. There is a double portrait drawn with one stroke, but it is by the hand of a master! We see the hearts of the two men depicted in their looks and gait;the composure and humility of the one, and the confusion and bitter mortification of the other. These two lines give us a deeper insight into the characters of the men than a would-be painter could have conveyed by the most elaborate representation.
Mordecai came again to the kings gate. He did not remain to prolong his triumph, and to drink in the incense offered by the crowd. He did not go to his own house, and gather together his friends and countrymen to tell them of his high honours, and to receive their congratulations. He did not hurry back to the palace in expectation of receiving some more substantial mark of the royal favour. He did not seek an audience of the king to bring an accusation against his mortal enemy. But he came again to the kings gate from which he had been taken, and resumed his former place as a servant. He was not elatedhe was not even discomposed by his honours. He stood not up, nor moved, for all that Haman had done to him.
If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee (saith the wise man), leave not thy place. But it is still more difficult to keep our place when we are visited with the favour of the ruler. Few can bear honours and dignities with equanimity, even when they come upon them gradually; but such sudden and high advancement was enough to make any ordinary person giddy, to cause him to forget himself, and behave unseemly. What fatal effects upon the head and heart do we often witness in persons who have all at once been raised from poverty to riches and rank. Even good men are not always proof against the intoxicating influence of such transitions. How incoherently did the disciples talk on the Mount of Transfiguration! That vessel needs to be well ballasted, which, after being long becalmed, has all its sails at once filled with a favourable gust of wind.
But Mordecai kept his place; like a gallant ship, firmly moored in a bay, which during a flood-tide heaves, and seems for a time borne along with the lighter craft, but, obeying its anchor, comes round and resumes its former position. The pageantry of an hour could not unsettle his mind; he regarded it in its true lighta vain show. Had he had a choice, he would have declined it; as it was, he suffered rather than enjoyed it. It may be difficult to determine which of the two felt most awkward and constrainedHaman in conferring or Mordecai in receiving the extravagant honours. Not that the latter was insensible or a stranger to feeling on the occasion. But then he viewed it, not as a prelude to his own aggrandizement, but as an earnest of the deliverance of his people; and as his confidence of this event rested on surer grounds than his own advancement or the influence of his daughter, his heart was filled with astonishment and with gratitude at the prospect; he possessed his soul in patiencehe stood still, and waited for the salvation of God.
But let us now turn to Haman. He had not confidence to return to the palace to present the request for which he had visited it in the morning. Nor could he endure the sight of the people, before whom he felt himself dishonoured. But he hasted to his house mourning, and with his head covered. Had Haman been a man of virtue and true dignity of mind, this occurrence could not have disturbed his peace, far less broken his heart. Why? what harm has it done to me? I have been selected as one of the kings most noble princes, to do this temporary honour to a man who saved the royal life. At most he would have regarded it as one of those freaks which fortune delights to play in arbitrary courts, and which break the dull monotony of a palace. He would have said, I have seen servants riding upon horses, and princes, like servants, walking on the earth. But the man who could complain that all his wealth and honours availed him nothing, so long as he saw Mordecai the Jew sitting at the kings gate, could not fail to be stung to the quick by the recent transaction. Hatred, and disappointment, and mortified pride, rankled in his breast, and, to torment him still more, awakened remorse for the past, and fearful forebodings of the future. Surely such a sight is sufficient to cure those who have been smitten with pride or with envy at worldly greatness.McCrie.
Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him. Who were these wise men? Either sages whom Haman patronized, and from whom he expected wise counsel when he required it, or diviners, who were believed to know more than men could know, without some communication with superior beings. Many of the heathens put much confidence in diviners, but we have learned better things from the word of God. By making it our counsellor at all times of perplexity we shall find peace to our souls.*
If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall.If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews. Why do they lay so much stress upon the stock from which Mordecai sprung? If Mordecai had been a native Persian, or a Babylonian, or an Egyptian, would they not have prognosticated equal success to him against Haman? No; it plainly appears that the dispensations of Divine Providence in favour of the Jews were so far known to them as to assure them that Providence watched over their interests in a manner peculiar to their nation. Although most men are disposed to think that their own country is happy above others in the Divine favour, and although the Persians at this time seemed to have good reason to flatter themselves with a special interest in the favour of Heaven, yet these wise Persians plainly confessed, that the Jews scattered through the nations were the special objects of the Divine care. The wonders done in Babylon were known to all the world, and could not fail to impress all confederate princes with high sentiments concerning the God of Israel. Hamans wise men might have read the sacred books of the Jews, in which they would find that their God had wrought as great wonders for them in times past as in the period of the Babylonian captivity. They learned instruction from the works of God. They saw that the same God who had preserved Daniel and his companions watched over the safety and fortune of Mordecai, and they concluded that Haman, his irreconcileable enemy, would fall under the weight of his vengeance.
But it is strange that these wise men, and even the wife of Haman, whatever they thought, expressed to him their mind so fully. If they did not choose to flatter him, might they not at least have concealed their dismal conjectures, especially as he was led by their counsels to that public disgrace in which he had involved himself, by building a gallows for the man who was appointed to be the kings favourite? for although it was built in the court of his own house, yet the news of its erection was soon to spread. It appears from the freedom they used with Haman, that they already considered him as a lost man, whom it was useless to flatter. They were his friends, as long as his friendship could profit them, and now they seem to have cared little whether he accounted them as his friends or his enemies. Their prophecy must have been as unpleasant as the howling of a dog, or even a sentence of death, to his ears. The rich hath many friends; but when poverty is seen coming like an armed man, they vanish away like snow in the days of sunshine.
We may, however, learn useful instruction from a prophecy dictated by reflection on the works of the Lord. Blind heathens have been forced to see that God takes care of his people, that he often interposes wonderfully for their deliverance, and that he leaves not his gracious works in their behalf unfinished. Why do not Gods own people, in the day of their distress, call to remembrance his judgments for their consolation and the support of their faith? When he begins to deliver them, why do they indulge distrusting fears about the accomplishment of that work which he hath taken into his own hand? Why are they not thankful for the day of small things, as the beginnings of months of joy? After Jesus undertook to heal the daughter of Jairus strong temptations met the mourning parent, when Jesus was on the road to complete his work, and fears began to overwhelm his soul. But what said Jesus? Fear not, only believe. He believed, and received his daughter back from death.Lawson.
Still, although we may despise the wife and the friends, we cannot say that by their counsel now they do Haman any injustice. They do not render him the highest service. The highest service would be to tell him the truth, and help him to conform to it by confession, repentance, and amendment. (If they had been even worldly wise they would have told him at once to take down the gallows.) But they do him no injustice. The poor man (for now pity begins to rise) has been sowing diligently, and he is now to reap as he has sown. Black harvest comes in a day. It begins to come in his own house. Therewhere he had plotted the mischief, begins to fall the shadow of doom.
Yet, let us not overdraw the picture; possibly, if we knew all, there are softer lines to put into it, and some lights of human kindness. There is always much untold and unknown in these histories. Did they follow up their confident prediction that he could not succeed against Mordecai and the Jews, by earnest friendly counsel to Haman to conceal himself, or at once to take flight out of the empire, or away to some distant part of it? We know not. We know only that they were still talking with himtalking over the whole matterthe gathering dangers, the possible methods of reliefwhen the conference is interrupted by the entrance of the kings chamberlains, who have come, in haste, to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had again prepared.Dr. Raleigh.
When Hamans wife heard her husband say that Mordecai was against him, because he was an Israelite, she said that her husband should take the foil, and Mordecai should prevail. What if she had heard her husband say that the Lord of Mordecai was against him? If the servant be so terrible, who dare encounter with his master?H. Smiths Sermons.
And Mordecai came again to the kings gate. Was there ever a nobler man than this? You will find ten Christians who bear well the trial of adversity for one who can bear well the sharper trial of prosperity. Mordecai, returned to his place, was wearing fairer robes than the kingsthat vesture of humility wherein the Son of God walked on earth, and which he has ordained as the livery of his redeemed. Go tell him that he has now a splendid opportunity to rise in the world, that his foot is on the ladder, and he needs but to climb; and he will tell of another ladder he is climbing, with angels for his helpers, and that the show this morning had almost cast him down. His duty is at the kings gate, and there he will wait upon God to show him the end of this strange thing.
The dew that never wets the flinty mountain
Falls on the valley free;
Bright verdure fringes the small desert fountain,
But barren sand the sea.
The white-robed saints the throne-steps singing under,
Their state all meekly wear,
Their pauseless praise wells up from hearts that wonder
That ever they came there.
But Haman hastened to his house mourning, and having his head covered. The change was swift and ominous since morning, when he had seen to the gallows being ready, and gone forth hopeful. Not a man in all the city knew that two hours hence others would cover his face and lead him out to death; but Haman felt that God was fighting against him, and anticipated his doom. Is it wrong to mock him now? Why not report yourself to the king as having done his bidding, and ask what you purposed to ask this morning? On the showing of your own words, the king has treated you as one of his most noble princes. Zeresh and your friends are expecting you to bring back your victim with you for the gallows. Why so downcast? But, despicable as Haman is, pity is fitter for us than scornpity, with a prayer for ourselves that we may escape the fatal madness of making self our god. Hamans friends had helped him last night, and roused him to hope; but they failed him now. These were summer friends, and thought it not worth while even to lie to him any longer. Besides, they were superstitious. If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews. Why this emphasis on Mordecais race? The case would not have been so bad if he had been an Ethiopian; but there were strange features about these Jews. They sometimes stood out on ground of high principle, and when they did so they prospered against all probability. The friends of Haman were Amalekites, in all likelihood, and familiar, therefore, with a history of warning. Before whom thou hast begun to fall. His friends see no hope for Haman now that he is started on the swift incline of ruin. When great men of this sort begin to go down their course is quick in proportion to their greatness; and it is a serious aggravation of their misery that the friends of their prosperity hasten their unpitied fall. The tempters, in this world or the next, prove the tormentors.Symington.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 6
Est. 6:12. Fortitude of the Bechuanas. They are excellent patients. There is no wincing; everything prescribed is done instanter. Their only failing is that they become tired of a long course. But in any operation even the women sit unmoved. I have been quite astonished again and again at their calmness. In cutting out a tumour, an inch in diameter, they sit and talk as if they felt nothing. A man like me never cries, they say; they are children that cry. And it is a fact that the men never cry. They stand in striking contrast to Haman, who hasted to his house mourning for what was an imaginary evil in great measure; yea, they reprove a great many who profess to be sustained by higher motives. It may be a want of sensitiveness on the part of the Bechuanas, but with increased sensitiveness there should be an increased power of self-control. It is wonderful what power of self-control is possessed and manifested by the members of the Society of Friends.Dr. Blaikies Personal Life of David Livingstone, LL.D.
Satan, a hard task-master. There was a man in the town where I was born who used to steal all his firewood. He would get up on cold nights, and go and take it from his neighbours wood-piles. A computation was made, and it was ascertained that he had spent more time, and worked harder, to get his fuel than he would have been obliged to do if he had earned it in an honest way, and at ordinary wages. And this thief was a type of thousands of men who work a great deal harder to please the devil than they would have to work to please God.Beecher.
So Haman worked hard to please the devil of an evil nature, and it ended in mourning. He would have found more satisfaction in the long-run if he could have set himself to serve a good nature.
Circumstances. He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper; but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to his circumstances.Hume.
If you cant turn the wind you must turn the mill-sails. Joseph was a beautiful example. See him, in his changed positions, still the upright saint; and Jesus, his conduct at the marriage and in the temple. William Pitt used to be called the minister of existing circumstances. A Christian shepherd, when a gentleman said, to try him, Suppose your master were to change, or your flock to die; what then? replied, Sir, I look upon it that I do not depend upon circumstances, but upon the great God that directs them. The Rev. H. W. Fox, when dying, had constantly upon his lips the words of Baxter:Lord, when thou wilt; where thou wilt; as thou wilt. Mordecai, riding in the procession, and then returning to sit at the gate, shows his superiority to mere externals.Bowes.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(12) Mordecai came again to the kings gate.He had received his reward, and to the Eastern, who sees continually the Vizier and the poor man exchange places, there would be nothing startling in this resumption of the former humble post.
His head covered.In token of mourning.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Mordecai came again to the king’s gate That is, resumed his position as one of the royal porters. His honour did not so puff him up that he could not cheerfully return again to his humble office. But the mortified Haman covered his head with a vail to hide, as he thought, his shame, and ran home crying, to tell his wife and friends his sorrow.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
(12) And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.
Reader! observe, and closely observe, the different effects wrought upon the minds of those two men. Mordecai was not elated: he, did not hasten to the King after his promotion. He did not seek to get the decree, for the destruction of himself and people, reversed: neither did he seek to be revenged upon Haman. No, his cause was in good hands, the LORD’S hands, He that believeth shall not, for he need not, make haste. On the other hand, Haman, stung to death, feels all that mortified pride can feel: but no grace of repentance, no sorrow, no compunction at the infamy of his conduct, only at his disappointment. And, Reader! can you desire stronger, evidence than this affords, that there is, there must be all this difference between grace and nature: Wherefore was the nature of Mordecai thus directed, but because grace had wrought it in him. And wherefore Haman still hastening to ruin, but from the malignity of his own mind.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Est 6:12 And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.
Ver. 12. And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate] No whit overjoyed by his new honour, or thereby (as many would have been – a small wind bloweth up a bubble), only he conceiveth hope thereby for a better condition, and taketh every former mercy for a pledge of a future: this experience breedeth confidence. He doth not rush into the court at his return, and reach after a higher room, but came again to the king’s gate, where his office was and his business lay; he took up also, as some think, his old habit again (the king’s apparel and horse being restored to the right owner, he had as little delight in it as David once had of Saul’s armour); but it is rather probable, saith an expositor, that he now left that off, being full of hope, that as God had heard his prayers, to bring him out of danger and to high honour; so he should now be able to help his brethren the Jews out of theirs also. Meanwhile, he doth not envy his superiors, insult over his inferiors, trouble his equals, threaten his enemies, &c., but committeth himself and all his affairs to God’s good pleasure and providence; and this is the guise of a godly man, Psa 131:1-2 .
But Haman hasted to his house mourning
And having his head covered
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Est 6:12-13
12Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered. 13Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.
Est 6:12 with his head covered This was an Oriental symbol of dejection, humiliation, and mourning (BDB 341, KB 339, Qal PASSIVE PARTICIPLE, cf. 2Sa 15:30; Psa 44:15; Jer 14:3-4).
Est 6:13 his wise men These are the ones who cast the lots before Haman in Est 3:7. The Hebrew word (BDB 314) often is used for a class of diviners (cf. Gen 41:8; Exo 7:11; Isa 19:11; Isa 44:25; Jer 50:35; Jer 51:57).
Zeresh his wife said to him This is an unusual statement. It is somewhat similar to Pilate’s wife speaking to him during the trial of Jesus (cf. Mat 27:19) . We simply do not know why she spoke in this prophetic fashion. It is also similar to Balaam’s prophecies in Numbers (cf. Numbers 22-24). The unseen hand of God is clearly manifesting itself (role reversal). One wonders why these counselors did not tell him this before, as he was planning the destruction of the Jews and, later, Mordecai. In all probability this is a literary device which reflects the author’s theology proclaimed by the mouth of Haman’s wife. Dialogue often carries the theological load!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
hasted. Hebrew. dahaph. See note on Est 6:10.
and. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton in verses: Est 6:12, Est 6:13, emphasizing the excitement which had seized him.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Est 6:12-14
Est 6:12-14
THE REACTION OF THE PEOPLE TO MORDECAI’S HONOR AT THE HANDS OF HAMAN
“And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house, mourning and having his head covered. And Haman recounted unto Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai before whom that hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him. While they were yet talking with him, came the king’s chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared.”
Haman’s mourning and covering his head indicated that he fully understood the horrible demotion he had already received at the hands of the king. We attribute that demotion to the fact of the king’s recognition of Haman’s secret desire to take the crown.
Everyone in Susa knew the providential blessing of the Jews, beginning with Cyrus’ edict for their return to Jerusalem; and the people, including Haman’s `wise men,’ were aware of the hand of God in Jewish history.
Joyce Baldwin’s remark that, “Most commentators, other than Jews, see all of the coincidences in this narrative as more characteristic of fiction than of real life,” should be rejected as incorrect. All Christians see the hand of God in every line of this remarkable history.
The historical proof of everything written here is seen in the influence of Esther which prevailed in the Persian Empire throughout the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, whose work, in both instances was doubtless made possible by the influence of this great queen. In a very real sense, the Book of Esther appears here, following Ezra and Nehemiah as an explanation of how their ministries came to be possible.
The historicity of Esther receives presumptive proof in the very fact of God’s name being omitted. That means that no Jew could possibly have written it. Then who did write it? Someone who had access to Persian court records; and it is impossible to imagine any kind of motivation that could have led to writing a fictitious yarn with the cosmic dimensions of the Book of Esther. It therefore is most certainly history, not fiction.
Est 6:14 here relates that the chamberlains came to take Haman away to the banquet. “Haman went to Esther’s second banquet like a sheep to the slaughter.”
E.M. Zerr:
Est 6:12. When the march through the city was over, the procession ended where it began which was at the king’s gate, since that was where Mordecai had been keeping himself most of the time. What feelings of mingled hate and shame Haman must have been having as he deposited the despised Jew in his accustomed place after this triumphant march through the city; a march of triumph for the Jew who had consistently spurned the haughty Haman. But it was a triumph of honor that he had not sought. And it was no wonder that Haman hastened to his home, with his head covered with sackcloth or some other article that indicated his utter dejection.
Est 6:13. Haman received no comfort from his wife, as he did the first time he appealed to her. She evidently knew about the general history of the Jews, and that in all of their troubles they were successful in the end. But she must have been unaware of the full relationship between Mordecai and them, even though he was called a Jew. She finally suspected the truth about it and concluded that Haman was doomed to be the loser in any conflict with Mordecai. She stated this thought to him, and the same was agreed to by the wise men attending on him.
Est 6:14. The affair of giving Mordecai an honorable conduct through the streets of the city took place between the two banquets given by Esther. Haman likely forgot about the second invitation because of his terrible shock at the exaltation of Mordecai. So he had to be reminded of his “social engagement,” and urged to fulfill it.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
came again: Est 2:19, 1Sa 3:15, Psa 131:1, Psa 131:2
hasted to his house: 2Sa 17:23, 1Ki 20:43, 1Ki 21:4, 2Ch 26:20, Job 20:5
having: Est 7:8, 2Sa 15:30, Job 9:24, Jer 14:3, Jer 14:4
Reciprocal: Lev 21:10 – uncover 1Ki 21:6 – Because 2Ki 8:5 – the woman Psa 112:10 – wicked Act 12:19 – he went