Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 6:14

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.

14. The dramatic instinct of the writer presents us with a sudden change of scene, and contrasts Haman’s exultant anticipations (Est 5:12) of splendour attaching to the royal banquet with the dark forebodings which now oppressed the apparently so highly honoured guest.

hasted to bring Haman ] We need not suppose that the coming of the attendants implies fear on the part of Esther that through a presentiment of his approaching fall he might fail to arrive. The Eastern custom of fetching guests is well known. Cp. Luk 14:17.

Est 7:3. Haman’s humiliation of the morning doubtless encourages Esther to prefer her petition without further delay. The abruptness perceptible in her speech is itself indicative of the emotion with which its utterance was accompanied.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 14. Hasted to bring Haman] There was a dreadful banquet before him, of which he knew nothing: and he could have little appetite to enjoy that which he knew was prepared at the palace of Esther.

ONE grand design of this history is, to show that he who lays a snare for the life of his neighbour, is most likely to fall into it himself: for, in the course of the Divine providence, men generally meet with those evils in life which they have been the means of inflicting on others: and this is exactly agreeable to the saying of our Lord: “With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you withal.”

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

He was now slack to go thither, by reason of the great dejection of his own mind, and the fear of a worse entertainment from the king and queen than he had formerly received.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

14. came the king’s chamberlains,and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther hadpreparedBesides the invitation given to an entertainment, amessage is always sent to the guests, immediately at the day and hourappointed, to announce that all things are ready.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And while they were yet talking with him,…. About these things, and giving their opinion of the issue of them, upon the present appearance of them:

came the king’s chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared; the time appointed for it being very near, or quite up, and Haman being backward and dilatory, having no stomach to go to it, and perhaps fearing worse things were coming upon him he should hear of there.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

During this conversation certain courtiers had already arrived, who hastily brought Haman to the banquet of the queen, to which he would certainly go in a less happy state of mind than on the preceding day.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

14. Hasted to bring Haman The avenging fates seem to hurry him to his doom.

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

REFLECTIONS

READER! while I pray for grace both for you and myself, that we may derive all suitable instruction from our gracious covenant God, as held forth to us in this chapter, manifesting himself in the deliverance of his people, and the ruin of his enemies, both as the God of providence and of grace, I would beg of you, with greater earnestness, to let what is said of Mordecai, and the honor put upon him, lead your mind to the contemplation of Jesus. Surely in the day, when from the gate, and from the prison, Jesus was exalted at God’s right hand as a Prince and as a Saviour, and all principalities and powers made subject unto him, the exaltation of Jesus, as the glorious Head of his church, was then set forth; and as our adorable Redeemer and Saviour, Jehovah manifested that he delighted to honor him. And think how the Lord Jehovah hath indeed delighted to honor him. He hath not only given him a name which is above every name, but it hath pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell. He hath not only made him the Saviour of poor sinners, but he hath made all the angels of light to worship him. All the employment and service of his church below is, to honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. And all the work of the church above is also to honor Christ: the song of angels, as well as of the redeemed from among men, is addressed to him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb that was slain, forever and ever.

Reader! how shall you and I honor him whom the Father delighteth to honor? There is but one way. Oh! for grace to follow it. I would pray for faith to honor Jesus as the Father honors him. And while Jehovah commits all his glory to Jesus, so would I commit all my salvation: I would honor Jesus as the Sent of God, the sealed of God, the Anointed of God, the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth. Yes! blessed Jesus! I would desire so to honor thee, as everlastingly to love thee, to live to thee, to be no longer my own, but as thine by purchase, by the sovereignty of thy grace upon my heart, and as the gift of the Father to thee, for the blessed purposes of my salvation. Blessed be God for all providences, all promises, all mercies, all dispensations; but above all, blessed be God for Jesus Christ!

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Est 6:14 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.

Ver. 14. And while they were yet talking with him ] But could not yield him one word of comfort. He hoped haply that they would have found out for him some good occasion, some means of supplanting Mordecai, now his co-rival and counterfactionist, and of incensing the king against him, that he might build upon his ruins. But the hope of unjust men shall perish, Pro 11:7 , Etiam spes valentissimo perit, so some render it, and themselves with it. As Haman had not one to speak for him when the king frowned upon him; so here he hath not one to speak to his heart, or to shore him up, now that he is upon the fall. Those that before took crafty counsel against God’s people, and consulted against his hidden ones, Psa 83:3 , are now at their wits’ end, as seeing themselves taken as wild beasts in a snare, , 1Co 3:19 , “in their own craftiness,” yea, they are mad for the sight of their eyes, which that day they should see, Deu 28:34 .

Came the king’s chamberlains, and hasted to brinq Haman] Heb. and hurried and headlonged in a turbulent manner; for it may be the king and queen tarried for him. Could he have been any way excused, he had no such mind to have gone. For his stomach was full, and what if he should meet Mordecai, the new favourite, there, and see him set above him? But now it is no time to consult further with friends, or cast perils by himself. Harbonah hasteneth him, having first taken notice of the lofty gallows, and (as Josephus saith) asked of one of the servants of the house what it meant, and for whom it was prepared? See Est 7:9 .

Unto the banquet that Esther had prepared ] That fatal feast, Ubi manducaret quod apud inferos digereret (August.), where his food in his bowels was turned, it became the gall of asps within him, Job 20:14 . Why then should any saint envy the wicked man his fed bits, his murdering morsels? is not his food sauced, his drink spiced, with the bitter wrath of God? Adonijah’s feast ended in horror; the ears of his guests were filled (because their bellies had prepared deceit, Job 15:35 ) with the sound of those trumpets, which at once proclaim Solomon’s triumph and their confusion. Ever after the meal is ended comes the reckoning, but at this banquet of Esther it came before, Est 7:2 . And Haman sped not so well as Caesar Borgia’s nobles, whom he invited to a feast, and after they had well dined, he cut off their heads.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Est 6:14

14While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hastily brought Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.

Est 6:14 This set the stage for Haman’s ultimate demotion and death.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

while. Everything was hastening to the approaching crisis.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

hasted to bring: Est 5:8, Est 5:14, Deu 32:35, Deu 32:36

Reciprocal: Est 2:2 – king’s servants Est 5:5 – Cause Haman Est 7:9 – one of the chamberlains

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Est 6:14. The kings chamberlains hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet Who was now slack to go thither, by reason of the great dejection of his own mind, and the fear of a worse entertainment from the king and queen than he had formerly received.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments