Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 6:1
On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
1. could not the king sleep ] better literally, as marg., the king’s sleep fled from him. The LXX. paraphrases, ‘The Lord withheld sleep from the king’; and so the Targums. But in the present Heb. text the name of God never occurs; see Introd. p. xv.
Suetonius (cap. 50) says that the Roman emperor Caligula so suffered from sleeplessness that he used to rise and stand or roam about the palace. Procopius ( Hist. Arcana, ed. Bonn, pp. 81 f.) relates the same of the emperor Justinian. The Turkish sultan, Selim I (died 1520), is said to have passed most nights in reading books; while sometimes he would have others read to him, or talk to him about State matters (Diez, Denkwrdigkeiten von Asien, i. 266).
the book of records of the chronicles ] lit. the book of memorials, even the chronicles. Cp. Mal 3:16, ‘book of remembrance.’ In Est 2:23 (where see note) we have the shorter expression ‘the book of the chronicles.’
and they were read before the king ] The original resembles in its sense a Greek imperfect, implying that the reading lasted for a considerable time. The object doubtless was that the continuous sound of another’s voice might induce slumber. There is no suggestion in the passage that the king could not himself read, although such may very well have been the case. See Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies (2nd ed.), iv. 228 f.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Chap. Est 6:1-11. Mordecai’s elevation
In this section we are shewn the strange concatenation of apparently trivial circumstances which collectively have the effect of bestowing the highest reward and most signal disgrace upon the humble and virtuous Israelite and the highly placed enemy of that people. It seems but a series of chances that the king was sleepless, that he adopted a particular method of alleviating his discomfort, that a certain section of the chronicles of the kingdom was read to him, that Haman was an early arrival at the palace on this occasion, and thus, through his haste to bring about Mordecai’s destruction, was himself of all persons the one chosen to do him honour. Nevertheless it was from the combination of all these occurrences that there arose the most mighty issues, and this fact plainly looms large in the mind of the narrator, though he does not in so many words attribute the ordering of the events to the hand of God. Here then we have the turning point of the narrative. Pride begins to approach its fall, and the humble to be exalted.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Est 6:1
On that night could not the king sleep.
The power of a sleepless night
A trifling circumstance to record. Ah! how important are little things: the unnoticed things are the life-blood of the world. In a great palace we think of the marble and the stone, the cedar and the iron, but who thinks of the mortar and the nails? And yet, in the architecture, mortar and nails are as important as pillars and columns and beams. Thus in the architecture of the world, and in the conduct of its moral affairs, trifles are the mortar and the nails.
I. The first thing I see here is a wonderful lesson in the illimitable plan of providence. How events ripen to the close! How crime matures itself to its doom! Amazing is the work of providence. You see two distinct sets of actions progressing at the same moment. The election of Esther, the choice of a merely capricious king; the elevation to dignity: the integrity of Mordecai; the ambition of Haman: the desire to crush the Jews; the yearning desire to save them. All these things are working together. You remember My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. And all things work together for good to them that love God. Calmly and surely proceeds the Divine plan, and, unaware of the Divine idea, proceeds the infernal plan. See how triumphantly Haman looks at the letters of persecution signed with the signet of the king: and see how he gloats as the morning sun shines over the black gallows-tree, and never for a moment suspects it to be his own. The poor blind fool checkmated by himself! ingeniously rearing his own scaffold, and twisting the rope for his own neck. You will perhaps say to me, And the answer perhaps only pushes the inquiry farther back. Why did He allow Haman to be near the court at all? The answer must be, that God and providence are not the capricious and intermeddling agencies you have sometimes supposed: they prosecute their own path, and Satan and sin prosecute their path too. On they hasten, every step hastens to judgment; every movement winds the entangling coil of circumstances more irretrievably around them.
II. How, from the wide sweep of immense providences we descend to trifles! How the scheme of providence includes and encloses the small details of human affairs! I will extract three other lessons–
1. How remote, and yet how distinct and minute, are the operations of Gods providence! Here was a circumstance connected with the history of the Church, with the preservation of Gods people, and with the conservation of Divine truth, and the advent of the Messiah. How small a place is Shushan and the whole of Media and Ahasuerus!
2. See the perfect compatibility, nay, unity, of prayer with the plans of providence. The prayers of Mordecai, the mournings of the Jews, they are the operating causes round the sleepless couch. The prayer so troubled the couch, that the king could not sleep.
3. May I not apply it yet once more, and ask you the meaning of some sleepless nights, some troubled days? (E. P. Hood.)
Ahasuerus sleepless night-the Divine government
1. Who is the sleepless monarch on this night?
2. What was the book he read that night?
3. What was the discovery he made that night?
4. What was the result of the discovery that night?
Two things, at least, came out from the kings sleeplessness this night.
(1) The preservation and exaltation of Mordecai.
(2) The frustration of enormous wickedness, and the salvation of the whole Jewish people.
Truly, this was a memorable night, From this subject we may learn a few lessons in connection with Gods government of the world.
I. He often works out his purpose through the free workings of depraved minds, unconscious of his influence. The brethren of Joseph, prompted by evil passions, sell him to the Ishmaelites, and he is borne a slave into Egypt. They are free in their wicked counsels and deed; but, unconsciously to themselves, all the while they are carrying out the purposes of Heaven. The same with Vespasian and Titus in their destruction of Jerusalem. Though a spirit most fiendish moved and directed these bloodthirsty and ambitious pagans, yet they wrought out almost with letter minuteness the long-threatened judgment of Heaven. As nature moves on to the magnificence of summer, as well through cloudy skies and thunderstorms as sunshine and serenity, so providence advances its purposes, as well through such a mind as that of Ahasuerus as that of Peter, or of Paul.
II. He always overrules the conduct of sinners foe the overthrow of their own plans. The very destruction which Haman and his accomplices plotted for Mordecai and the whole Jewish people came upon themselves. On the lofty gallows that Haman had raised for another, he was hanged himself. Thus it ever is. The men of Babel build a tower in order to be kept in close social combination; but that structure leads to their confusion and separation. The Egyptians rush into the Red Sea in order to wreak vengeance on the fleeing Israelites; but the channel in which they sought to bury their enemies became their own grave. It is the very nature of sin to confound itself. Its struggles for pleasure will lead to misery; for honour, will lead to degradation. Sin always conducts the sinner to a result never sought, never intended. What sinner aims, as an intelligent purpose, at the blasting of all his hopes, the loss of all his friendships, the everlasting ruin of his soul? Yet to these every sin he commits is conducting him. Like Haman, every sinner is building his own gallows. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
III. He sometimes works out his purposes by means apparently most insignificant. (Homilist.)
The sleepless night
I. How God operates to mighty ends through inconsiderable agencies. We are apt to measure God by standards established between man and man. The Divine greatness is regarded as that of some very eminent king: what would be inconsistent with the dignity of the potentate is regarded as inconsistent with the dignity of God; and what seems to us to contribute to that dignity is carried up to the heavenly courts, or supposed exist there in the highest perfection. But we should gain a grander and juster idea of our Maker by considering in what He differs from men, than by ascribing to Him, only in an infinite degree, what is found amongst ourselves. It is not by putting unbounded resources at the disposal of God and representing Him as working through stupendous instrumentality that we frame the highest notions of Him as a sovereign and ruler. There is something sublimer and more over-whelming in those sayings of Scripture, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength, God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty, than in the most magnificent and gorgeous descriptions of dominion and strength. Christianity, for example, diffused through the instrumentality of twelve legions of angels would have been immeasurably inferior, as a trophy of Omnipotence, to Christianity diffused through the instrumentality of twelve fishermen. When I survey the heavens, with their glorious troop of stars, and am told that the Almighty employs them to His own majestic ends, I seem to feel as though they were worthy of being employed by the Creator. But show me a tiny insect, just floating in the breeze, and tell me that, by and through that insect, God will carry forward the largest and most stupendous of His purposes, and I am indeed filled with amazement. And is there anything strained or incorrect in associating with an insect the redemption of the world? Nay, not so. In saving the race whence Messiah was to spring, God worked through the disturbed sleep of the Persian monarch, and the buzz of an inconsiderable insect might have sufficed to break that monarchs repose. When God interfered on behalf of His people groaning under the bondage of Pharaoh, it was with miracle and prodigy, with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm; but I fall before Him as yet more amazing in wisdom and power, when I find the bloody purpose of Haman defeated through such instrumentality as this: The king could not sleep, etc.
II. The setting under a right point of view of the utility of prayer. It is often objected against prayer that it seeks for miracles and expects God to interrupt at our call the established course of things. It may be that when the Jews betook themselves to prayer, that they looked for visible and miraculous interference, as in other emergencies when God bared His arm in defence of His people. Although I thoroughly believe that were a case to arise in which nothing short of a miracle would meet the circumstances of a servant of God, the miracle would not be withheld; yet I am satisfied that it is not required that there should be miracles in order to our prayers being granted, neither does the granting them suppose that God is variable or changes in His purposes. There was no miracle in His causing Ahasuerus to pass a sleepless night: a little heat in the atmosphere, or the buzzing of an insect, might have produced the result; and philosophy, with all its sagacity, could not have detected any interruption of the known laws of nature. Neither were Gods purposes variable, though it may have actually depended on the importunity of prayer, whether or not the people should be delivered. Gods purpose may have been that He would break the kings sleep if prayer reached a certain intenseness; that He would not break it if it came below that intenseness; and surely this would accord equally with two propositions–
1. That the Divine purposes are fixed and immutable.
2. That notwithstanding this fixedness and immutability, they may be affected by human petitions, and therefore leave room for importunate prayer. Comparatively I should not be encouraged, were I told that what disquieted the monarch was the standing of a spectre by his bedside in an unearthly form, which in unearthly accents upbraided him for leaving Mordecai unrequited. But when I observe that the kings rest was disturbed without anything supernatural; that all which God had to do in order to arrange a great deliverance for His people was to cause a sleepless night, but so to cause it, that no one could discern His interference, then indeed I learn that I may not be asking what the world counts miracle, though I ask what transcends all power but Divine. There is something encouraging in this to all who feel their insignificance. If the registered deliverances, vouchsafed to the Church, were all deliverances which had been effected through miracles, we might question whether they formed any precedent on which creatures like ourselves could justly rest hope. We dare not think that for us armed squadrons will be seen in the heavens, or the earth be convulsed, or the waters turned into blood. But look from Israel delivered from Pharaoh to Israel delivered from Haman, and we are encouraged to believe that God will not fail even us in our extremity, seeing that He could save the people through such a simple and unsuspected process as this: On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of the records of the chronicles. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The sleepless night
There may have been three or four reasons for this restlessness.
1. The care of his kingdom.
2. The revolving of ambitious schemes.
3. His raging passions. His passions often showed themselves in a ridiculous way. When he came back from his Grecian expedition he was so mad at the river Hellespont for breaking up his bridge of boats, that he ordered his servants to whip that river with three hundred lashes.
4. A troubled conscience. There is nothing like an aroused conscience to keep a man awake when he wants to sleep. There was a ruler who one morning was found with his sword cutting a nest of swallows to pieces. Somebody came up and said, Why do you cut that nest of swallows to pieces? Why, he replied, those swallows keep saying that I murdered my father. The fact was, that the man had committed the crime, and his conscience, by Divine ventriloquism, was speaking out of that birds nest. No, Ahasuerus could not sleep. The more he tried to sleep, the wider he got awake. All around about his pillow the past came. There, in the darkness, stood Vashti, wan and wasted in banishment. There stood the princes whom he had despoiled by his evil example. There were the representatives of the homes he had blasted by his infamous demand that the brightest be sent to his palace; broken-hearted parents crying, Give me back my child, thou vulturous soul! The outrages of the past flitting along the wall, swinging from the tassels, crouching in the corner, groaning under the pillow, setting their heels on his consuming brain, and crying, Get up! This is the verge of hell! No sleep! No sleep! (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The sleepless night
How many different causes or occasions there may be of the sleepless night! Some cannot sleep in the remembrance of recent sin. Some are kept waking by great sorrow. Some by brain excitement. Some in very weariness of overwork. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
Sleep a necessity
Without it human life would soon come to an end. It would burn rapidly away. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
Men sleep or wake as God wills
Kings have no specific to secure healthful rest; rather they are apt to miss the best specific, hard work and a good conscience. (A. M. Symington, B. A.)
Resource in sleeplessness-
A good book is a better resource in sleeplessness than drugs. (A. M. Symington, B. A.)
Divine providence
I. Note the minute universality of Gods supervision and control. The notion of many is that providence is concerned only with great matters. But those who so believe forget that perfection in anything cannot be secured without attention to details, and that great issues often hinge on apparently very trifling affairs. A sleepless night is in itself no very important thing. Again, it is a matter of little moment what a man shall do to fill in the hours of sleepless ness and keep himself from ennui; but if Xerxes had adopted any other plan than that which he followed, or if the attendant had chosen to read from any other section of the chronicles of the kingdom than that which he selected, there would have been nothing to recall Mordecais services to the kings remembrance. Once more: if Haman had not come to the court at the time he did, and been introduced into the presence at the precise moment when the mind of the king was pondering the question what honour should be conferred on Mordecai, then the first word might have been his, and so the fiat might have gone out for the consigning of Mordecai to the gallows, even at the moment when the monarch was thinking about doing him honour. Now, this history is not exceptional in any respect. It certainly is not exceptional in this particular. You see the same supervision of the most apparently trifling things by God in the biography of Joseph, and there are many striking illustrations of it in secular history. A change of wind from west to east is not s great matter, and yet on such a change as that, at a particular hour of a particular day, the history of Great Britain turned; for thereby the fleet of William of Orange was wafted to Torbay, while that of James II. was by the same means prevented from putting out to sea to intercept its progress.
II. But note that we have here no interference with the operation of the laws of nature, and no infringement of the liberty of moral agents. We have no record of any miracle in this case. There is nothing supernatural in a mans having a sleepless night, or in his fixing on a certain part of his chronicles to read, or in the coming in of another person upon him at a particular juncture; and no single one of the actors in the case was working under compulsion–each one knew at the moment that he was following his own bent. But it was not less the work of God, or less glorifying to God. Now this non-miraculous providence, if I may so call it, is a greater and grander and more glorious achievement of Gods than it would have been if the same results had been accomplished through the direct forth putting of His own omnipotence. Now, if what I have advanced on this important matter be true, it may cast some light on the way in which God answers His peoples prayers. There are those who affirm that to ask God to confer on us a physical blessing is to ask Him to work a miracle in our behalf. Even if I believed that, I would still ask Him for what I need, because He has commanded me to do so, and I would trustfully leave the method of His answer in His own hands. But I do not believe that to ask a physical blessing from God is to ask Him to work a miracle in our behalf, and such a history as this of Esther confirms me in that non-belief. Then, finally, here, if what I have advanced in this connection be correct, it may tend to reconcile us to the minor inconveniences that come upon us in life. What an amount of fretting we do over little things! We go off our sleep, or we miss a train, or we have to wait for some tedious hours at a railroad station, or we approach the harbour in a fog and have to lie outside for a long while, so near our homes and yet so far from them, or a friend disappoints us and our plans are deranged. Yet why should we be impatient if it be true that even these little things are taken cognisance of by God, and woven by Him for His glory and our good into the fabric of our lives? If we could but pause a moment and say within ourselves, This is all in the plan of God concerning us, we should at once have self-control. Lessons–
1. Think how valuable Gods commonest gifts are. Keep your conscience clean, that nothing of guilt may put thorns into your pillow. Take no ambitious schemes with you to your couch, lest you should be constrained to lie awake in the attempt to work them out. Finish each days business in its own day, that there may be no nervous anxiety in your mind about the morrow. Watch over your table, and take nothing there that will make you restless. Think more of this common blessing of sleep, and see in that one of the richest tokens of the Divine goodness which is not to be trifled with, but to be valued and enjoyed.
2. And this leads me, by a very natural transition, to ask whether you have ever reviewed your obligations to God for all that He has done for you? Xerxes utilised his sleepless hours in discovering wherein he had failed to meet his obligations to his benefactors. But what a benefactor you have had in God! He gave His only Son for your salvation. Xerxes indebtedness to Mordecai was nothing in comparison to your obligation to Jehovah. Now let me ask, What have you done to Him for that? (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Sleeplessness providentially used
There is no reason assigned for this. The king was not afflicted with illness, he was not suddenly seized with any disease to cause this wakefulness, nor was it occasioned by any intelligence of a distressing character, such as that formidable enemies had made their appearance before Shushan, or that grievous misfortunes had happened to any one dear to him. No; but the matter was entirely of the Lord. God has employed sleep for weighty purposes, in various ages of the world. It was while Adam was in deep sleep that one of his ribs was taken, and made a living being and an help meet for him. It was while Jacob was asleep that he was favoured with that wonderful vision, in which he beheld a ladder set upon the earth, whose top reached to heaven–a striking representation of Gods providential care for His people, and likewise of that Redeemer who is the way to the Father–a way in which whosoever walketh the angels of glory continually afford him their friendly ministrations. It was when Joseph was asleep that he was directed from heaven to take Mary for his wife, because that which had been conceived in her was of the Holy Ghost. But here God carries His purposes into execution by means of the absence of sleep. He is never at a loss to bring His designs to pass. (J. Hughes.)
Watches of the night
Had Ahasuerus been a pious man, and acquainted with the Word of God, he would have filled up She watches of the night with religious meditations, or called for the book of the law of the Lord, in which he would have found both instruction and entertainment. (T. McCrie, D. D.)
Historical records
Nor was the custom wholly confined to the East. The Chronicles of the Cid, William of Malmesburys Chronicles of the Kings of England, the six old English Chronicles, viz., Assers Life of Alfred, and Chronicles of Eldred, Ethelred, Nennius, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and of Richard, and The Chronicles of the Crusaders, of Robert of Gloucester, and Ossian, and the famous Spanish and English ballads, are a part and parcel of the history and literature of our own day. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
A sleepless king
In one of the dungeons of the fortress of Glatz lay a Prussian nobleman. King Frederick William III. had confined him there for treason. He had been long a prisoner, and there was no hope that he would ever be released. His only company was a Bible–the book he hated, and never read. But suffering and solitude wore upon his spirit, and he did read at last–till there rose in his soul some sense of a just God, who punishes those that forsake Him. He had forsaken Him–and now he repented of it. One night, by the dim light of his dungeon lamp, he was turning the leaves of the Bible for consolation, when his eyes fell on Psa 50:15, Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me. Then, for the first time since childhood, the proud man knelt and prayed, and the peace of God came into his heart and dwelt there. That same night King Frederick in his palace, like King Ahasuerus, could not sleep. Worn out, he begged the Lord to give him one hour of rest from pain; and his prayer was granted. He awoke refreshed and grateful, and said to his wife, Who in all my kingdom has wronged me most? I will forgive him. Said Queen Louise, It is the Count M–in the prison of Glatz. Send orders to release him at once, commanded the king. And in a few days the prisoner was a free man, glorifying God for both spiritual and temporal deliverance.
All records before Gods eye continually
When Ahasuerus read in the book of the records of the chronicles, and there found how Mordecai had discovered a plot of treason against his person, he did not lay the book aside, and slightly pass by such a piece of service, but inquires what honour and what dignity had been done to Mordecai. It seems if the king had thought on, or read of him sooner, he had rewarded him sooner: but God hath ever in His eye all the records and chronicles of His peoples actions; He reads their journals every day. (J.Spencer.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER VI
That night the king, not being able to sleep, orders the
chronicles of the kingdom to be read to him; and finds there
the record concerning the discovery of the treason of the two
eunuchs, made by Mordecai, 1, 2.
He inquires whether Mordecai had been rewarded, and was answered
in the negative, 3.
At this time Haman arrives, in order to request the king’s
permission to hang Mordecai; and being suddenly asked what
should be done to the man whom the king delighted to honour,
supposing that himself must be meant, presented the ceremonial,
4-9.
The king orders him to give Mordecai those honours; which he
performs, to his extreme mortification, 10, 11.
He informs his wife Zeresh of these transactions, who predicts
his downfall, 12-13.
He is hurried by the eunuchs to the queen’s banquet, 14.
NOTES ON CHAP. VI
Verse 1. On that night could not the king sleep] The Targum says the king had a dream, which was as follows:-“And the king sat one in the similitude of a man who spoke these words to him: Haman desireth to slay thee, and to make himself king in thy stead. Behold, he will come unto thee early in the morning, to ask from thee the man who rescued thee from death, that he may slay him: but say thou unto Haman, What shall be done for the man whose honour the king studieth? And thou wilt find that he will ask nothing less from thee than the royal vestments, the regal crown, and the horse on which the king is wont to ride.”
The records of the chronicles] It may be well asked, Why should the king, in such a perturbed state of mind, wish such a dry detail, as chronicles afford, to be read to him? But the truth is, as chronicles were composed among the Persians, he could not have brought before him any work more instructive, and more entertaining; because they were all written in verse, and were generally the work of the most eminent poets in the empire. They are written in this way to the present time; and the famous epic poem of the finest Persian poet, Ferdusi, the Homer of India, is nothing else than a collection of chronicles brought down from the creation to the reign of Mohammed Ghezny, in the beginning of the tenth century. After thirty years’ labour, he finished this poem, which contained one hundred and twenty thousand lines, and presented it to the Sultan Mahmoud, who had promised to give him a dinar (eight shillings and sixpence) for every line. The poem was finished A.D. 984; and was formed out of compositions of a similar nature made by former poets. This chronological poem is written in all the harmony, strength, and elegance of the most beautiful and harmonious language in the universe; and what adds greatly to its worth is, that it has few Arabic words, with which the beautiful Persian tongue was loaded, and in my opinion corrupted, after the conquest of the major part of Asia by the Mohammedans. The pedants of Hindoostan, whether they speak or write, in prose or in verse, affect this commixture of Arabic words; which, though they subjugate them to Persian rules, are producing a ruggedness in a language, which in Ferdusi, flows deep and strong like a river of oil over every kind of channel. Such, I suppose, was the chronicle that was read to Ahasuerus, when his distractions prevented his sleep, and his troubled mind required that soothing repose which the gentle though powerful hand of poetry is alone, in such circumstances, capable of affording. Even our rough English ancestors had their poetic chronicles; and, among many, the chronicle of Robert of Gloucester is proof in point. I need not add, that all that is real in Ossian is of the same complexion.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
How vain are all the contrivances and endeavours of this foolish, impotent man against the wise and omnipotent God, who hath the hearts and hands of kings and all men perfectly at his dispose, and can by such trivial accidents (as they are accounted) change their minds, and produce such momentous and terrible effects! The kings mind being troubled, He knew not how, nor why,
he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; he chooseth this for a divertisement, God putting this thought and inclination to him, for otherwise he might have diverted himself, as he used to do at other times, with his wives or concubines, or voices and instruments of music, which was far more agreeable to his temper.
And they were read before the king until the morning, when he intended to rise out of his bed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. the king . . . commanded to bringthe book of records of the chroniclesIn Eastern courts, thereare scribes or officers whose duty it is to keep a journal of everyoccurrence worthy of notice. A book of this kind, abounding withanecdotes, is full of interest. It has been a custom with Easternkings, in all ages, frequently to cause the annals of the kingdom tobe read to them. It is resorted to, not merely as a pastime to whileaway the tedium of an hour, but as a source of instruction to themonarch, by reviewing the important incidents of his own life, aswell as those of his ancestors. There was, therefore, nothinguncommon in this Persian monarch calling for the court journal. But,in his being unable to sleep at that particular juncture, in hisordering the book then to be read to him, and in his attention havingbeen specially directed to the important and as yet unrewardedservices of Mordecai, the immediate interposition of Providence isdistinctly visible.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
On that night could not the king sleep,…. The night after he had been at Esther’s banquet, which it might be thought would rather have caused sleep; and therefore Jarchi calls it a miracle; and no doubt it was owing to the overruling providence of God, and not to anxious thoughts about his neglect of Esther so long, nor what should be her request to him, nor jealousy of any amorous intrigue with Haman, nor of any conspiracy of theirs against his life:
and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; the diaries or journal, in which memorable facts were recorded; this he did to divert himself, and pass away time; though here also the providence of God was specially concerned; for otherwise he might have sent for any of his wives and concubines, or singing men and women, to have diverted him:
and they were read before the king; until the morning, until it was time to rise, as appears by what follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
An unexpected turn of affairs. Est 6:1. On that night between Esther’s first and second banquet, the king’s sleep fled, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles and to read therefrom. On , comp. Ezr 4:15. The title is here more particularly stated than in Est 2:23, where the book is briefly called: The book of the chronicles. , and they (the chronicles) were read before the king. The participle denotes the long continuance of this reading.
Est 6:2 And it was found written therein among other matters, that Mordochai had given information concerning the two courtiers who were plotting against the king’s life. This is the conspiracy related Est 2:21-23. The name Bigthana is in Est 2:21 written Bigthan.
Est 6:3 On this occasion the king asked: What honour and greatness hath been done to Mordochai for this? , for giving this information. And the king’s servants answered: Nothing has been shown him. , to show any one something, e.g., favour; comp. 2Sa 2:6; 2Sa 3:8, and elsewhere. , greatness, i.e., promotion to honour.
Est 6:4 To repair this deficiency, and to do honour to the man who had done good service to the king – as the Persian monarchs were accustomed, comp. Brisson, de reg. Pers. princ. i. c. 135 – he asked, “who is in the court?” i.e., whether some minister or state functionary were there with whom he might consult concerning the honour due to Mordochai. Those who desired an audience with the king were accustomed to appear and wait in the outer court, until they were summoned into the inner court to present themselves before the monarch. From this question of the king it appears that it was already morning. And Haman, it is parenthetically remarked, was come into the outer court to speak to the king, to hang Mordochai on the tree which he had prepared.
Est 6:5 The attendants inform the king that Haman is in the court; whereupon the king commands: , let him come in.
Est 6:6-9 As soon as he enters the king asks: What is to be done to the man in whose honour the king delighteth? i.e., whom he delights to honour. And Haman, thinking ( , to say in one’s heart, i.e., to think) to whom will the king delight to show honour more than to me ( , projecting before me, surpassing me, hence adverbially, beyond me, e.g., Ecc 12:12, comp. Ecc 2:15; Ecc 7:11, Ecc 7:16)? votes immediately for the greatest possible mark of honour, and says, Est 6:7.: “As for the man in whose honour the king delighteth, let them bring the royal apparel with which the king has been clothed, and a horse on which the king has ridden, and the king’s crown upon his head, and let them deliver this apparel and horse to one of the chief princes of the king, and let them array (i.e., with the royal apparel) the man in whose honour the king delighteth, and cause him to ride upon the horse through the streets of the city, and proclaim before him: Thus shall it be done to the man in whose honour the king delighteth.” , Est 6:7, precedes absolutely, and the predicate does not follow till , Est 6:9, where the preceding subject is now by an anacoluthon taken up in the accusative ( ). Several clauses are inserted between, for the purpose of enumerating beforehand all that appertains to such a token of honour: a royal garment, a royal steed, a crown on the head, and one of the chief princes for the carrying out of the honour awarded. The royal garment is not only, as Bertheau justly remarks, such a one as the king is accustomed to wear, but, as is shown by the perf. , one which the king has himself already put on or worn. Hence it is not an ordinary state-robe, the so-called Median apparel which the king himself, the chief princes among the Persians, and those on whom the king bestowed such raiment were wont to appear in (Herod. 3.84, 7.116; Xenoph. Cyrop. 8.3.1, comp. with the note of Baehr on Her. 3.84), but a costly garment, the property of the sovereign himself. This was the highest mark of honour that could be shown to a subject. So too was the riding upon a horse on which the king had ridden, and whose head was adorned with a royal crown. is perf. Niph., not 1st pers. pl. imperf. Kal, as Maurer insists; and refers to the head of the horse, not to the head of the man to be honoured, as Clericus, Rambach, and most ancient expositors explain the words, in opposition to the natural sense of – . We do not indeed find among classical writers any testimony to such an adornment of the royal steed; but the circumstance is not at all improbable, and seems to be corroborated by ancient remains, certain Assyrian and ancient Persian sculptures, representing the horses of the king, and apparently those of princes, with ornaments on their heads terminating in three points, which may be regarded as a kind of crown. The infin. absol. is a continuation of the preceding jussive : and they shall give, let them give the garment – to the hand of a man, i.e., hand or deliver to him. The garment and horse are to be delivered to one of the noblest princes, that he may bring them to the individual to be honoured, may array him in the garment, set him on the horse, and proclaim before him as he rides through the city, etc. On , comp. Est 1:4, and on the matter itself, Gen 41:43. is either an open square, the place of public assemblage, the forum, or a collective signifying the wide streets of the city. as in Deu 25:9 and elsewhere.
Est 6:10-11 This honour, then, the haughty Haman was now compelled to pay to the hated Jew. The king commanded him: “Make haste, take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said,” i.e., in the manner proposed by thee, “and do even so to Mordochai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken,” i.e., carry out your proposal exactly. How the king knew that Mordochai was a Jew, and that he sat in the king’s gate, is not indeed expressly stated, but may easily be supplied from the conversation of the king with his servants concerning Mordochai’s discovery of the conspiracy, Est 6:1-3. On this occasion the servants of the king would certainly give him particulars concerning Mordochai, who by daily frequenting the king’s gate, Est 2:19; Est 5:9, would certainly have attracted the attention of all the king’s suite. Nor can doubt be case upon the historical truth of the fact related in this verse by the question: whether the king had forgotten that all Jews were doomed to destruction, and that he had delivered them up to Haman for that purpose (J. D. Mich.). Such forgetfulness in the case of such a monarch as Xerxes cannot surprise us.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Record of Mordecai’s Loyalty. | B. C. 510. |
1 On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of 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 chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. 3 And the king said, What honour 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.
Now Satan put it into the heart of Haman to contrive Mordecai’s death we read in the foregoing chapter; how God put it into the heart of the king to contrive Mordecai’s honour we are here told. Now, if the king’s word will prevail above Haman’s (for, though Haman be a great man, the king in the throne must be above him), much more will the counsel of God stand, whatever devices there are in men’s hearts. It is to no purpose therefore for Haman to oppose it, when both God and the king will have Mordecai honoured, and in this juncture too, when his preferment, and Haman’s disappointment, would help to ripen the great affair of the Jewish deliverance for the effort that Esther was to make towards it the next day. Sometimes delay may prove to have been good conduct. Stay awhile, and we may have done the sooner. Cunctando restituit rem–He conquered by delay. Let us trace the steps which Providence took towards the advancement of Mordecai.
I. On that night could not the king sleep. His sleep fled away (so the word is); and perhaps, like a shadow, the more carefully he pursued it the further it went from him. Sometimes we cannot sleep because we fain would sleep. Even after a banquet of wine he could not sleep when Providence had a design to serve in keeping him waking. We read of no bodily indisposition he was under, that might break his sleep; but God, whose gift sleep is, withheld it from him. Those that are ever so much resolved to cast away care cannot always do it; they find it in their pillows when they neither expect nor welcome it. He that commanded 127 provinces could not command one hour’s sleep. Perhaps the charms of Esther’s conversation the day before gave occasion to his heart to reproach him for neglecting her, and banishing her from his presence, though she was the wife of his bosom, for above thirty days; and that might keep him waking. An offended conscience can find a time to speak when it will be heard.
II. When he could not sleep he called to have the book of records, the Journals of his reign, read to him, v. 1. Surely he did not design that that should lull him asleep; it would rather fill his head with cares, and drive away sleep. But God put it into his heart to call for it, rather than for music or songs, which the Persian kings used to be attended with (Dan. vi. 18) and which would have been more likely to compose him to rest. When men do that which is unaccountable we know not what God intends by it. Perhaps he would have this book of business read to him that he might improve time and be forming some useful projects. Had it been king David’s case, he would have found some other entertainment for his thoughts; when he could not sleep he would have remembered God and meditated upon him (Ps. lxiv. 6), and, if he would have had any book read to him, it would have been his Bible; for in that law did he meditate day and night.
III. The servant that read to him either lighted first on that article which concerned Mordecai, or, reading long, came to it at length. Among other things it was found written that Mordecai had discovered a plot against the life of the king which prevented the execution of it, v. 2. Mordecai was not in such favour at court that the reader should designedly pitch upon that place; but Providence directed him to it; nay, if we may believe the Jews’ tradition (as bishop Patrick relates it), opening the book at this place he turned over the leaves, and would have read another part of the book, but the leaves flew back again to the same place where he opened it; so that he was forced to read that paragraph. How Mordecai’s good service was recorded we read ch. ii. 23, and here it is found upon record.
IV. The king enquired what honour and dignity had been done to Mordecai for this, suspecting that this good service had gone unrewarded, and, like Pharaoh’s butler, remembering it as his fault this day, Gen. xli. 9. Note, The law of gratitude is a law of nature. We ought particularly to be grateful to our inferiors, and not to think all their services such debts to us but that they make us indebted to them. Two rules of gratitude may be gathered from the king’s enquiry here:– 1. Better honour than nothing. If we cannot, or need not, make recompence to those who have been kind to us, yet let us do them honour by acknowledging their kindnesses and owning our obligations to them. 2. Better late than never. If we have long neglected to make grateful returns for good offices done us, let us at length bethink ourselves of our debts.
V. The servants informed him that nothing had been done to Mordecai for that eminent service; in the king’s gate he sat before, and there he still sat. Note, 1. It is common for great men to take little notice of their inferiors. The king knew not whether Mordecai was preferred or no till his servants informed him. High spirits take a pride in being careless and unconcerned about those that are below them and ignorant of their state. The great God takes cognizance of the meanest of his servants, knows what dignity is done them and what disgrace. 2. Humility, modesty, and self-denial, though in God’s account of great price, yet commonly hinder men’s preferment in the world. Mordecai rises no higher than the king’s gate, while proud ambitious Haman gets the king’s ear and heart; but, though the aspiring rise fast, the humble stand fast. Honour makes proud men giddy, but upholds the humble in spirit, Prov. xxix. 23. 3. Honour and dignity are rated high in the king’s books. He does not ask, What reward has been given Mordecai? what money? what estate? but only, What honour?–a poor thing, and which, if he had not wherewith to support it, would be but a burden. 4. The greatest merits and the best services are often overlooked and go unrewarded among men. Little honour is done to those who best deserve it, and fittest for it, and would do most good with it. See Eccl. ix. 14-16. The acquisition of wealth and honour is usually a perfect lottery, in which those that venture least commonly carry off the best prize. Nay, 5. Good services are sometimes so far from being a man’s preferment that they will not be his protection. Mordecai is at this time, by the king’s edict, doomed to destruction, with all the Jews, though it is owned that he deserved dignity. Those that faithfully serve God need not fear being thus ill paid.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Esther – Chapter 6
King’s Insomnia, Verses 1-5
When God is working on behalf of His people he can interfere with a king’s sleep. On this particular night Ahasuerus had insomnia while Haman’s carpenter’s must have kept the neighbors awake with all the hammering going on as they erected a seventy-five foot gallows in his backyard. The king did an odd thing to fill up has sleepless hours. One might suspect he would send for a musician to play sweet music or sing soft melodies. Maybe he thought the reading of the chronicles would be so boring he would fall asleep. Anyway, it was doubtless of the Lord, that he sent for the records to have them read.
The king must have gone through the night sleepless, for it was toward morning when the servants reading the chronicles came across an item that captured his attention. They read how Bigthan and Teresh, the keepers of the king’s gate, had been convicted of conspiracy against the king’s life through the information of Mordecai, and had been put to death (Ezr 2:21-23). This incident had occurred about five years earlier (cf. Ezr 2:16; Ezr 3:7). There has been no indication to this point that Mordecai had become well known to the king, nor his relationship to the queen.
Ahasuerus stopped the servants and inquired what kind of honor had been accorded Mordecai for his life-saving information. The servants were aware that nothing had been done for him, and so informed the king. Thus it entered his mind, doubtless prompted by the divine will of God, to bestow belated honor on Mordecai for his deed. However the king evidently wished to consult with some of the counselors and inquired who was in the area and available. Again the divine hand of God arranged it so that Haman had come early to the palace to secure Mordecai’s death warrant from the king and was waiting in the outer court for the opportunity. When told that Haman was waiting outside the king had him sent in promptly (Rom 8:28)
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Est. 6:1. On sleep] Heb. the kings sleep fled away, an unusual thing. That night] which succeeded the events of the last chapter, settled with apparently a most ominous cloud upon the future of Mordecai, but it was the harbinger of a most auspicious day for him. God, who works in the darkness as in the light, caused sleep to flee from the king, and disposed him to beguile the wakeful hours, not with music or song, but by having one to read to him from the book of records of the chronicles] His mind was in a mood to ruminate on the events of his own life, and the State annals were called for to assist his memory. Rawlinson thinks that the Persian kings were in most cases unable to read.Whedons Com. They were read before the king] These were in the act of being called over. In the original there is a participle which denotes the long continuance of this reading.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. Est. 6:1
A HUMILIATED KING
IT is not to be presumed that this was the only night on which the king found it impossible to command the recuperating services of that sleep which is natures sweet restorer. Other nights there were, most likely, when the king could not sleep. But on those other nights there might be found satisfactory explanations of the sleeplessness. There may have been physical pain preventing the enjoyment of sweet repose. There were visible or ascertainable causes to account for the unusual restlessness. On this occasion the king could not sleep, and yet he could not account for the restless condition. How is it that I cannot sleep? I have no physical pain. I have no fears. I am not conscious of danger. All appears to be much as it has been on other nights when I have enjoyed repose. The king was now touched by a hand that he could not see. The king was now moved and controlled by a power that he did not acknowledge. An unseen and irresistible force now rendered uneasy the couch on which the mighty monarch in vain sought for sleep. Kings have their master. Sleepy and sleepless kings have their humiliating Conditions. All are in a state of subjection. God can at all times use us for his great purposes, but he has need of wakeful creatures. Even kings must not sleep when the Great King has work to be performed. Here is a lesson for all. We must be willing to sacrifice sleep when Gods Church and Gods world has pressing claims upon our immediate service.
I. A king in need. Eastern monarchs sought by the pomp of circumstances to separate themselves from their subjects, and thus to maintain a condition of superiority. At all times monarchs have been regarded by the vast majority as superior beings. Yet it is plain, and a truism to assert, that kings have their needs as well as subjects. They too are human, and require those helps which are needful to the rest of humanity. Ahasuerus, the monarch ruling over a hundred and seven and twenty provinces, seeks for sleep just as the meanest peasant seeks for sleep in his rude cot. Sleep is said to be the image of death. As the latter, so the former is a great leveller. They know no distinctions of rank. They do not recognize the gorgeous trappings of royalty. A sleeping king is just as helpless as a sleeping beggar. What becomes of our greatness when we are compelled to sleep? The beggar in his sleep may dream himself to be possessed of vast wealth. For a beggar may have his pleasant dreams; while kings may be haunted with the nightmare. Kings must sleep, or kings must die. Kings too must sleep the final sleep; the sleep from which there is only one awakening. We all must sleep the great sleep of death. How often have we laid ourselves down to sleep, and yet it may be, that many of us have never thought of this sleep prefiguring our last sleep? Death is near to us, not only by our liability to accident and to disease, but by its image in our nightly sleep. When death comes will it find us ready? Shall we lie down to sleep with the assured conviction that we shall awake in the resurrection of the just?
II. Thus a king in subjection. A king ruling and yet ruled. He is in subjection to the law that sleep is a necessity of nature. Kings are under law. They even cannot violate the laws of nature, which are the laws of God, with impunity. Philosophers may assume kingly prerogatives. They may patronize nature and natures God. They may talk in grandiloqueut terms about how the universe was framed, and how it ought to be framed. But philosophers must sleep. Philosophers must humbly bow and submit themselves to this humiliating condition. A philosopher snoring is a withering irony on a philosopher talking. Who could believe that the philosopher recumbent, wrapped in the embraces of sleep, is the same being as the philosopher erect, defying with his tongue all the powers in earth and in heaven? If the kings of men own no other kingly power, they must place themselves in subjection to king sleep. This is one of the great sovereigns that rules humanity. It will not be denied. It demands its offering of time. If the offering be not constantly presented, it comes with awful vengeance. Sleep is the messenger that death sends before to tell of his coming. Mighty sleep, but mightier death! Sleep is a king ruling gently and sweetly. Death is a king ruling sternly and dreadfully. God is a king mightier than either sleep or death. They rule only with delegated authority. They too are subject. God can take away sleep, as he did on that night when Ahasuerus could not sleep. God can stay death as he did in the cases of Enoch and of Elijah. If we would sweetly sleep and calmly die, we must sleep resting assured that He is our friend who giveth to his beloved sleep; we must die in Jesus Christ. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. When the day is drawing to a close, when night is throwing the sable curtains about a bright and busy world, when the exhausted system is seeking the help of its restorer, and is wooing the sweet embraces of balmy sleep; how delightful to feel that in seeking the earthly rest we get a type of the heavenly rest, and to say to the body, Return to rest on that pillow which will one day lose its power to soothe; to the soul, Return to rest on that bosom of Divine love which will never fail in its comforting and recruiting influences. When lifes evening is drawing to its close, when earth can no more give rest, when with trembling feet we are treading the darkest valley of all, how great the peace if we can feel that we are going to rest for ever where no adverse forces will disturb the divine repose.
III. A king in defeat. Kings have their defeats as well as common men; not only on the battle-field, not only in the national councils, but in the ordinary circumstances of life. Here a king is defeated. Ahasuerus seeks sleep, and yet it refuses to come at his request. He cannot now secure the boon which is obtained by the meanest subject in his realm. All material appliances are at his command, and yet sleep will not be compelled. Sweet music cannot lull to repose where it is denied. Soft couches and splendid drapery cannot always compel the embraces of sleep. It is coy and fickle; and sometimes when most earnestly sought, it appears to fly the farthest away. At other times when not sought at all it comes readily. On that night could not the king sleep. The king is defeated. Here is a lesson for Ahasuerus if he had only been wise. What a lesson on our limitations! Here is a lesson for all. We may know our weakness, and yet we will not bow in lowly reverence to the Great Supreme. How humble should all men be in the presence of their limitations! How little reason has a proud man to vaunt himself of his greatness!
IV. A king in subjection commands. He commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles. He commands because he is commanded. He was commanded not to sleep. He was also commanded to turn his attention in sleepless hours to the book of records of the chronicles. Here we have doubtless the case of an ungodly man under Divine inspiration. It may be said that it was only a freak on the part of the king. He was restless and did not know what to do with himself, and so he turned to these royal records. Such a freak, however, is unaccountable unless we suppose him unconsciously directed from heaven. It would have been more natural for him to have commanded the presence of a musician to bring forth dulcet strains to soothe the restless nature. Or to have called for some calmly entertaining story. Or to have summoned the doctor to administer, so as to settle the perturbation. Imagine the Queen on some sleepless night calling for the Blue Book to be brought into her presence. Picture yourselves asking for police statistics, for the records of crime, when sleep forsakes in the dark and stilly night; why it would be enough to drive sleep away. It may be supposed that Ahasuerus asked for these chronicles as being dry reading and calculated to induce slumber, just as some people take a volume of old dry divinity to bed to read: just as some people go to church in order to get slumber. Still the case is not altered. However it came about in human working, it was settled in Divine purpose that Ahasuerus must read in these records, and read at the particular part of those records relating to Mordecai. Ungodly men may be under Divine inspiration. God can use the wicked. But God will use the good for their own greater good; for the good of others, and for his own glory. Let us seek to be good, and ready for Divine uses. When we cannot sleep, when an unusual restlessness takes hold of our nature, what should we summon to our aid? Should we not ask for the book of the Divine records? Let us seek ever to Gods word. Let us find in it light in the darkest nights, repose in the most restless periods, and help in our varied weaknesses.
V. A king in defeat listens. A king in defeat is more likely to listen than a king triumphant. The records of the chronicles were read before the king. Dull reading no doubt, but still he listened. When the attention is properly engaged, then the dullest reading becomes interesting. It would require a skilful reader to make these chronicles attractive and lively. This king we may well imagine did not look for the nicely modulated voice. He was Divinely directed to take a special interestan interest he had never felt previously; yea, it is likely he had never heard the records beforein these dull chronicles. Our times of humiliation are mostly our best times of listening. Our times when we are under Divine impulses are our times for receiving with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save our souls. Let us be in earnest as the Divine records are read in our hearing. Let the attention be thoroughly aroused and awake to the subject matter, and then the manner of the speaker will be of comparatively small importance. With some the voice of the messenger is the all-important concern. The message should be that which commands and engages the supreme attention. This defeated king listens with intelligent interest. He notes the very point which is requisite for the working out of Divine purposes; as we shall see more fully in the after-part of this narrative. Let then the whole mind be engaged while the Divine records are being proclaimed. The head as well as the heart must be employed. Listen, for important interests are at stake. Listen for your own benefit, and thus you will become of benefit to others. Ahasuerus listened for himself, and in thus listening he became a true service to Mordecai and all his people. Good listeners help to make good readers and good doers. They benefit both themselves and the community at large.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Est. 6:1
God has employed sleep for weighty purposes, in various ages of the world. It was while Adam was in deep sleep, that one of his ribs was taken, and made a living being, and an help meet for him. It was while Jacob was asleep, that he was favoured with that wonderful vision, in which he beheld a ladder set upon the earth, whose top reached to heavena striking representation of Gods providential care for his people; and likewise of that Redeemer, who is the way to the Fathera way, in which whosoever walketh, the angels of glory continually afford to him their friendly ministrations. It was when Joseph was asleep, that he was directed from heaven to take Mary for his wife; because that which had been conceived in her was of the Holy Ghost. He was in the same condition, when he was warned from above to take the Holy Child with his mother to Egypt, to avoid the death intended him by Herod; and when he was ordered to bring him back to Judea, after death had taken that cruel tyrant from the earth. But here God carries his purposes into execution by means of the absence of sleep. He is never at a loss to bring his designs to pass. All things are in his hand, and he maketh them all, even those most contrary to each other, to work together for the good of his chosen. He hath put all things under the feet of Christ and given him to be the head over all things to the Church, for the benefit of his believing people.
Sleep, my brethren, is the gift of God, and an invaluable mercy. Our feeble frames require it frequently, and the Lord frequently imparts it. It re-animates our drooping spirits, and reinvigorates our wearied limbs: with grateful hearts ought we then to say with David, I laid me down and slept. I awaked: for the Lord sustained me. But precious as is this gift, if we employ the bodies, whose weakness demands these frequent cessations from labour, in the service of him that bought them, they shall be ere long in a condition in which it will not be needed. Our resurrection bodies will be as active as our spirits, and with them will serve God without fatigue, without intermission, throughout eternity. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
When Ahasuerus was thus supernaturally robbed of his sleep, he commanded the records of the empire to be brought before him. He might have fixed upon many other ways of beguiling the slowly passing hours: but this tended to facilitate the object which Esther had in view: therefore her God disposed the king to adopt it. If he had ordered instruments of music to be brought before him (which was customary among the Eastern monarchs, Dan. 6:18), he might have diverted his mind, and possibly rendered his sleepless hours pleasurable; but, in that case, Mordecai would not have come to his mind: the fidelity of that subject, which he had forgotten, and by which his life had been preserved, had remained still in forgetfulness, and nothing would have been done towards the accomplishment of Esthers design. Let our contemplation of Gods wisdom and overruling power herein, constrain us to say, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things: and blessed be his glorious name for ever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.Hughes.
Est. 6:1. On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
The king could not sleep, any more than we, when he pleased. Of what use, some will say, is royal dignity, if it cannot procure sleep to the wearied eyelids? A king, by the wise administration of government, may procure sleep to his people; on the contrary, by his oppression, he may cause many wearisome nights to his subjects, in which their sorrows will not suffer them to sleep. But the regal dignity will not insure sleep to him who enjoys it. It is more likely to debar his eyes from rest by those anxious cares which attend it; or by those uneasy reflections which attend the abuse of power. Labour, and a good conscience, will procure sweeter sleep than all the riches in the world.
On that night could not the king sleep.On what night? The night preceding the decisive day on which Esther was to present her petition, and the morning on which Haman had a petition of an opposite kind to be presented to the king. Observe how Divine Providence kept sleep from the eyes of Ahasuerus, to serve its own gracious purposes. It is said that God giveth his beloved sleep. But he sometimes too withholds sleep from them for good purposes; and he sometimes hath withheld sleep from other persons, or disturbed it with strange dreams, for their benefit. A dream was sent to Pharaoh, that Joseph should be delivered from his prison, and exalted to power. Another dream was sent to Nebuchadnezzar, to procure the exaltation of Daniel and his friends. Ahasuerus was kept from sleep, that he might not suffer Mordecai to be hanged.
It is of great use to know how to improve those moments of the night in which we are debarred from sleep. Ahasuerus, it seems, thought he could not employ his waking moments better than by hearing the chronicles of his reign. Here too we may observe the superintending care of Providence. Why did not a prince, who delighted in pleasure, rather call for the melody of the harp and viol, than for the chronicles of his reign? It was the will of God that he should be put in mind of what Mordecai had done for him, because now the fit time was come that he should receive the reward of his fidelity.
Blessings on him, says Sancho Panza, who invented sleep. This is a sentimnt in which all the world will agree. Sleep is, indeed, as much the true remedy for the troubles and worries of the mind, as it is for the fatigues of the body. In every ones life there are occasions when the gloom of the present is only exceeded by the darkness of the future. If there were no such thing as sleep, a man would succumb either mentally or bodily; he would die of exhausted nervous power, or if it were possible for him to live, would become a maniac.
After some hours of the deepest mental distress, relief is usually brought by sleep, and the sufferer feels his exhausted powers revive. He wakes with the memory of his troubles still present to his mind, but also feeling that he is better prepared to face them. The keenness by which they wound him is somewhat blunted; and this gradual process of blunting is nightly repeated. Thus, by causing intermission in our troubles, it is that tired natures sweet restorer reanimates our drooping spirits. Sleep was supposed to be caused by accumulation of blood in the head; and in support of this view the facts have been advanced, that full-blooded people are usually the best sleepers, and that the recumbent position which promotes the flow of blood to the brain, induces sleep. But it is now the most generally received opinion, that sleep is caused by a withdrawal of blood from the brain. In perfect sleep there is no consciousness. It has been, therefore, called with truth the image of death. It is a temporary death, as far as concerns all action and motion which lie under the power of the will. But although the brain is at rest, the heart and lungs continue their tasks, because they are presided over by a department of the nervous system which acts independently of the brain. The brain is the seat of consciousness, and from it all the nerves which originate and control voluntary motions take their rise more or less directly. The intellectual faculties sometimes continue active during sleep. La Fontaine made admirable verses in his sleep. Alexander is said to have planned battles. In the same way mathematicians have solved problems, and school-boys have accomplished tasks.Physiology far Practical Use.
Earthly crowns often sit heavily on the monarchs head:
O polished perturbation! golden care,
That keeps the ports of slumber open wide
For many a watchful night.
Est. 6:1. This is as it is written in the Psalm: He suffered no man to do them wrong; nay, he rebuked even kings for their sake. For the pious are so great a care to God, that in order to preserve them he does not even spare kings, but brings upon them various calamities.Brenz.
Let every one bear in mind day and night that pious proposition of Augustine concerning the solicitude of God for his saints: so day and night dost thou watch for my safeguard as if, forgetful of thy whole creation in heaven and earth, thou considerest me alone, and hadst no care for others.Feuardent.
O Lord, it is good to trust in thee in the expectation of thy help! Thou dost continually watch over the souls left in thy care, and thou dost even wait until things have come to extremities, in order to cause the greater exercise of faith, so that none may despair of thy assistance, still at the right time thou art ever ready to help. What indeed is more natural than that a king could not sleep, and that he should wish something read to him? It is this altogether natural, yet wonderful, leading, which causes the hearts of those who experience it to rejoice! To all other hearts this is dark. This wise, Divine Providence is still unknown to those who only live in and for themselves.Berl. Bible.
He that keepeth Israel, and neither slumbereth nor sleepeth, causeth sleep that night to depart from him that had decreed to root out Israel. Great Ahasuerus, that commanded a hundred and seven and twenty provinces, cannot command an hours sleep. Poverty is rather blessed with the freedom of rest, than wealth and power. Cares and surfeit withhold that from the great, which passeth upon the spare diet and labour of the meanest. Nothing is more tedious than an eager pursuit of denied sleep, which, like to a shadow, flies away so much faster as it is more followed.Bishop Hall.
God gives sleep to the bad, in order that the good may be undisturbed.Sadi.
Oh, sleep, sweet sleep! whatever form thou takest, thou art fair, holding unto our lips thy goblet filld out of oblivions well, a healing draught.Longfellow.
Could not the king sleep.] Heb. the kings sleep fled away, and, like a shadow, it fled away so much the faster as it was more followed. Sleep is best solicited by neglect, and soonest found when we have forgotten to seek it. They are likeliest for it who together with their clothes can put off their cares, and say as Lord Burleigh did when he threw off his gown, Lie there, Lord Treasurer. This great Ahasuerus cannot do at present, for crowns also have their cares, thistles in their arms and thorns in the sides. Lo, he that commanded one hundred and twenty-seven provinces cannot command an hours sleep. How should he when sleep is Gods gift? And it was that at this time kept him awake for excellent ends, and put small thoughts in his heart for great purpose, like as he did into our Henry VIII., when the Bishop of Baion (the French ambassador) coming to consult with him about a marriage between the Lady Mary and the Duke of Orleans, cast a scruple into his mind which rendered him restless, whether Mary were legitimate (Life and Death of Card. Wolsey, 65). If it were his surfeiting and drunkenness the day before that hindered Ahasuerus from sleeping, Gods goodness appeareth the more, in turning his sin to the good of the Church. Venenum aliquando pro remedio fuit, saith Seneca. He can make poisonful viper a wholesome treacle; and by an almighty alchemy draw good out of evil.Trapp.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 6
Est. 6:1. Safe sleeping. When one asked Alexander: how he could sleep so soundly and securely in the midst of danger, he told him that Parmenio watched; he might well sleep when Parmenio watched. Oh how securely may they sleep over whom he watches that never slumbers nor sleeps! I will, said David, lay me down and sleep, for thou, Lord, makest me to dwell in safety.Venning.
A sleepless night. Because God wouldnt let him, was the answer given by a little boy in one of our Sunday Schools of a large city in the West of England to a question asked by the teacher in reference to the Persian monarch not being able to enjoy his accustomed slumbers. It was a simple but sound reply, for Gods providence was watching over his ancient people, and when they appeared to be in imminent danger of falling by the hand or the sword he again proved faithful to his promises, and made transpiring events and circumstances subservient to his purpose. On that night the king could not sleep because
Theres a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.
Biblical Museum.
A sleepless night. A few years ago, a pious man at Gravesend had retired to rest late on the Saturday night, having first secured the doors and windows of his house and shop. Weary, however, as he was with the labours of the week, he found it impossible to sleep; and, having tossed about in his bed for an hour or two without rest, he resolved to rise and spend an hour in the perusal of his Bible, as preparatory to the engagements of the Sabbath. He went downstairs with the Bible under his arm, and advancing towards one of the outer doors, he found several men who had broken into the house, and who but for this singular interruption would probably, in a very short period, have deprived him of the whole of his property.R. T. S. Anec. quoted in Biblical Museum.
Providence of God in withholding sleep.The late Sir Evan Nepean, when Under-Secretary of State, related to a friend of his that one night he had the most unaccountable wakefulness that could be imagined. He was in perfect health, had dined early and moderately, had no carenothing to brood overand was perfectly self-possessed. Still he could not sleep, and from eleven till two in the morning had never closed an eye. It was summer, and twilight had far advanced; and to dissipate the ennui of his wakefulness, he resolved to rise and breathe the morning air in the park. There he saw nothing but sleepy sentinels, whom he rather envied. He passed the Home Office several times, and at last, without any particular object, resolved to let himself in with his pass key. The book of entries of the day before lay open on the table, and in sheer listlessness he began to read. The first thing appalled him!A reprieve to be sent to York for the coiners ordered for execution the next day. It struck him that he had no return to his order to send the reprieve, and he searched the minutes, but could not find it. In alarm, he went to the house of the chief clerk, who lived in Downing Street, knocked him up (it was then long past three), and asked him if he knew anything of the reprieve being sent. In greater alarm, the chief clerk could not remember. You are scarcely awake, said Sir Evan; collect yourself: it must have been sent. The chief clerk said he did now recollect he had sent it to the Clerk of the Crown, whose business it was to forward it. Good! said Sir Evan; but have you his receipt and certificate that it is gone? No! Then come with me to his house. We must find him, though it is so early! It was now four, and the Clerk of the Crown lived in Chancery Lane. There was no hackney coach, and they almost ran. The Clerk of the Crown had a country house, and meaning to have a long holiday, he was at that moment stepping into his gig, to go to his villa. Astonished at the visit of the Under-Secretary at such an hour, he was still more so at his business. With an exclamation of horror, cried the Clerk of the Crown, The reprieve is locked up in my desk! It was brought. Sir Evan sent to the Post Office for the trustiest and fleetest express, and the reprieve reached York at the moment the unhappy people were ascending the cart. Surely this was the finger of God.Leisure Hour.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
VII. Panic of Haman, Est. 6:1-14
A. Appreciation
TEXT: Est. 6:1-5
1
On that night could not the king sleep; and he commanded to bring the book of 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 kings chamberlains, of those that kept the threshold, who had sought to lay hands on the king Ahasurerus.
3
And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been bestowed on Mordecai for this? Then said the kings servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him.
4
And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the kings house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
5
And the kings servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in.
Todays English Version, Est. 6:1-5
That same night the king could not get to sleep, so he had the official records of the empire brought and read to him. The part they read included the account of how Mordecai had uncovered a plot to assassinate the kingthe plot made by Bigthana and Teresh, the two palace eunuchs who had guarded the kings rooms. The king asked, How much have we honored and rewarded Mordecai for this?
His servants answered, Nothing has been done for him.
Are any of my officials in the palace? the king asked.
Now Haman had just entered the courtyard; he had come to ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on the gallows that was now ready. So the servants answered, Haman is here, waiting to see you.
Show him in, said the king.
COMMENTS
Est. 6:1-3 Insomnia: That particular night (the same night Hamans friends advised him to petition the king) is indicated by the demonstrative pronoun hahu in the Hebrew. The demonstrative pronoun also seems to emphasize that this was not mere chance, but the active providence of God. It is among the objects of the writer of Esther to show how the smallest circumstances of life, those most generally regarded as left to chance, work together for good to such as deserve well, and for evil to such as deserve evil. (Pulpit Commentary). The authors of the Septuagint apparently were persuaded of Divine providence here for they translated, But the Lord removed sleep from the king that night . . .A turning-point in the destinies of both Haman and Mordecai pivoted on what might appear to some as a chance circumstance of a kings insomnia. The Hebrew text reads literally. . . . the kings sleep fled away. The Hebrew verb nigeraim is an imperfect participle and should be translated, . . . they kept on reading them before the king. He probably expected the monotonous intonation of the readers voices to lull him to sleep. But his insomnia was providential.
And suddenly they read the official notation that Mordecai had been the informer of a plot to assassinate the king. That startled the king and for the moment he forgot his insomnia. Immediately the king asked what was not only a natural question, inasmuch as it had been his life which had been saved, but one that was also predicated upon Persian law. According to Herodotus (8:85) those who had done great deeds of honor and benefit to the king of Persia had their names written on a special roll of honor and they were esteemed as a special class of people. It would be a serious violation of Persian protocol and law and a great dishonor to the emperor should he not honor someone who had saved his life. So the emperor asks what the record shows about the honor done to Mordecai. The readers reply with a surprising, Nothing! It is difficult to guess why such a gross error was ever allowed to happen. Perhaps the emperor had given the order for Mordecais reward when the event took place and fully expected one of his subordinates to take care of it, but due to some administrative mistake (or perhaps some prejudice against Mordecai) it had never been done.
Est. 6:4-5 Indecision: Xerxes, unable to decide for himself, seeks counsel from any official who might be standing in the court of the palace. Xerxes certainly knew how to reward faithful service and give gifts (cf. Est. 3:1; Est. 3:11; Est. 5:3; Est. 5:6). Why does he now seek counsel on how to reward Mordecai? The only suitable answer is that the circumstances of the night are somehow under the providential guidance of Jehovah. For, who should be standing waiting in the court of the palace but Haman, archenemy of Mordecai. In fact, the very reason for Hamans presence in the court in the wee hours of the morning, before dawn, was to get the emperors permission to impale Mordecai on the tree that he had prepared for the insubordinate Jew. Haman was obsessed with his rage against Mordecai. It drove him to stay awake all night pacing the floor in the court of the palace, hoping he would have the first audience with the king upon his arising. Hamans obsession to destroy Mordecai trapped him in circumstances which led to his own destruction. This is the way God has ordered the moral structure of His creation. Man has the freedom to choose personal salvation or personal damnation (cf. Rom. 1:18-32). Man can give himself to evil, be obsessed with it, and choose to have it eternally; or he may give himself to righteousness and have it eternally (cf. Rom. 6:12-23). Mordecai chose a righteous life and did good in saving the emperors life; Haman chose evil and attempted to destroy Mordecais life. Mordecai was protected and exalted by the hand of Providence; Haman was thwarted and destroyed by the same Hand.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
VI.
(1) Could not the king sleep.Literally, the king’s sleep fled away. Here, in the most striking way in the whole book, the workings of Gods providence on behalf of His people are shown. God Himself is here, though His name be absent. The kings sleepless night falls after the day when Haman has resolved to ask on the morrow for Mordecais execution, a foretaste of the richer vengeance he hopes to wreak on the whole nation of the Jews. It is by a mere chance, one would say, looking at the matter simply in its human aspect, that the king should call for the book of the royal chronicles, and not for music. It was by a mere chance too. it might seem, that the reader should happen to light upon the record of Mordecais services; and yet when all these apparent accidents are wrought up into the coincidence they make, how completely is the providence visible, the power that will use men as the instruments of its work, whether they know it, or know it not, whether they be willing or unwilling, whether the glory of God is to be manifested in and by and through them, or manifested on them only.
They were read before the king.Canon Rawlinson remarks that there is reason to think that the Persian kings were in most cases unable to read.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
MORDECAI HONOURED, Est 6:1-14.
1. That night, which succeeded the events of the last chapter, settled with apparently a most ominous cloud upon the future of Mordecai, but it was the harbinger of a most auspicious day for him. God, who works in the darkness as in the light, caused sleep to flee from the king, and disposed him to beguile the wakeful hours, not with music or song, but by having one read to him from the book of records of the chronicles. His mind was in a mood to ruminate on the events of his own life, and the State annals (see on Est 2:23) were called for to assist his memory. Rawlinson thinks that the Persian kings were, in most cases, unable to read.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Est 6:6 So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?
Est 6:6
Pro 16:18, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
Est 6:10 Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.
Est 6:7-10
Pro 19:12, “The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The King Asks Haman’s Advice
v. 1. On that night could not the king sleep, v. 2. And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, v. 3. And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? v. 4. And the king said, Who is in the court? v. 5. And the king’s servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in, v. 6. So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor? v. 7. And Haman answered the king, v. 8. let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, v. 9. and let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honor,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
AHASUERUS, BEING WAKEFUL DURING THE NIGHT, HAS THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES READ TO HIM, AND FINDS THAT MORDECAI HAS RECEIVED NO REWARD. HE MAKES HAMAN NAME A FITTING REWARD, AND THEN DEPUTES HIM TO CONFER IT ON MORDECAI (Est 6:1-11). It is among the objects of the writer of Esther to show how the smallest circumstances of life, those most generally regarded as left to chance, work together for good to such as deserve well, and for evil to such as deserve evil. He now notes that the turning-point in Haman’s and Mordecai’s fortunes was the apparently trivial circumstance of Ahasuerus on a particular night being troubled with sleeplessness. This led to his having the book of the chronicles read to him (verse 1). Another seeming chance caused the reader to include in what he read the account of Bigthan’s and Teresh’s conspiracy (verse 2). This brought Mordecai’s name before the king, and induced him to ask the question, “What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this?” The question could only be answered in one way”There is nothing done for him” (verse 3). Such neglect being a gross breach of Persian law, and a great dishonour to the king who had allowed it, Ahasuerus naturally takes the matter up with earnestness. Something must be done at once to remedy the neglect, some agent must be found to set it right, and so the king asks, “Who is in the court?” Morning has probably arrived during the reading, and Haman, impatient to get the king’s consent to Mordecai’s execution, has come with the dawn to prefer his request. The king is told that Haman waits without, and sending for him, anticipates the business that his minister had intended to lay before him by the sudden question, asked the moment he has entered, “What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour?” It was natural that Haman, after the favour shown him on the preceding day, should imagine himself the person aimed at, and should therefore fix upon the very highest honour that was within the range of his conceptions (verses 8, 9). He thus became the suggester of honours for Mordecai which might otherwise not have occurred to any one. Ahasuerus, full of the idea of his own neglect, and ready to make any reparation, consents to all that is proposed, and, unaware that there is any unpleasantness between Haman and Mordecai, bids his minister confer the honours which he has suggested (verse 10). The royal command cannot be disputed or evaded, and so Mordecai is escorted through the city by his enemy, who had expected about that very time to be superintending his impalement (verse 11).
Est 6:1
The book of records of the chronicles. Compare Est 2:23, where the title is given more briefly, as “the book of the chronicles.” See also Est 10:2. The character of the book has been already explained (see comment on Est 2:23). They were read. Either because the king could not read himself, or because the sound of a man’s voice might (it was thought) induce drowsiness.
Est 6:2
It was found written. See the last words of Est 2:1-23. Bigthana. “Bigthan” in Est 2:21; “Bigtha” in Est 1:10. The Persian name would be best represented by the fullest form of the three.
Est 6:3
The king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? The discoverer of a conspiracy against the life of the king would in any country have been regarded as entitled to some reward. In Persia, where “royal benefactors” formed a distinct class, and had their names inscribed on a special list (Herod; 8.85), it was especially incumbent on the monarch to see that every such person received a return proportioned to the value of his service. Ahasuerus seems to have supposed that some honour or dignity must have been conferred upon Mordecai, though he could not recollect what it was; and it is difficult to understand how the omission to reward him had occurred, unless there was a prejudice against him among the high court officials, who may have known that he was a Jew, though his fellow-servants did not (Est 3:4).
Est 6:4
The king said, Who is in the court? Probably some high officer of state was required to be always in attendance upon the monarch, to take his orders at any moment. Now Haman was come. Early morning is a common time for the transaction of business at an Eastern court. Haman was so anxious to get the business on which he was bent despatched, that he had come perhaps even before daybreak, and was waiting in the outer court, to get, if possible, the first audience. This haste of his to effect Mordecai’s destruction led to his being the person deputed to do him the highest honour.
Est 6:5
And the king’s servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. The servants looked into the court, and seeing, somewhat to their surprise, Haman there, mentioned him to the king. They would naturally mention the highest official whom they saw in attendance.
Est 6:6
Haman thought in his heart. Literally, “said in his heart” i.e. “thought.”
Est 6:8
Let the royal apparel be brought. To wear a dress previously worn by the king was, under ordinary circumstances, a breach of Persian law (Plut; ‘Vit. Artax.,’ 5); but the king might allow it (Herod; 7.17) or condone it (Plut; 1. s.c.). The horse that the king rideth upon. Rather, “a horse that the king hath ridden.” And the crown royal which is set upon his head. Rather, “and that hath a crown royal set on his head.” Some peculiar ornament by which the royal steed was made conspicuous is intended, not his own crown, which even Xerxes would scarcely have allowed another to wear. See Est 6:9 and Est 6:11, where the dress and the horse are referred to, but the crown, as an adjunct of the horse, not particularised.
Est 6:9
Bring him on horseback through the city, and proclaim before him. Compare the honours given to Joseph in Egypt (Gen 41:43).
Est 6:10
Make haste. The king will have no more delay in a matter which has been delayed far too long. Haman is to “hasten, and confer the honour at once. Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth in the king’s gate. Mordecai’s nationality and his employment were probably mentioned in the book of the chronicles. From these the king has learnt them, and he uses probably the very phrase of the records. Let nothing fail. Observe every particular of honour that you have mentioned; let there be no omission of one jot or tittle.
Est 6:11
Then took Haman the apparel. It was impossible for Haman to excuse himself; there was no ground on which he could decline the office thrust upon him. Reluctantly, without a word, he performed the king’s bidding.
Est 6:12-14
HAMAN RETURNS HOME. DESPONDENCY OF HIMSELF AND HIS FRIENDS (Est 6:12-14). There was as yet no real reason for Haman to feel depressed, or to regard himself as having lost favour with the king. He had been made an instrument in another man’s honour, and had suffered a disappointment; but otherwise he was situated as on the day preceding, when he “went forth” from the palace “joyful and with a glad heart” (Est 5:9). But he seems to have had a presentiment of impending calamity. All had as yet gone so well with him that the first vexation seemed like a turn in the tide, ominous of coming evil. And the fear of his own heart found an echo in the hearts of his wife and friends. Among the last were some who had the reputation of being “wise men”perhaps Magians, acquainted with arts from which it was supposed they could divine the future. These persons ventured on a prediction. “If Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely (or utterly) fall before him.” With this evil presage ringing in his ears, Haman quitted his house, and accompanied the palace eunuchs who had been sent to conduct him to Esther’s second banquet.
Est 6:12
And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. Returned, i.e; to his former condition and employment. The high honour done him was regarded as sufficient reward. Having his head covered. Like David when he fled from Absalom (2Sa 15:30; comp. Psa 44:15).
Est 6:13
His wise men. Magians, perhaps, whom he was in the habit of consulting concerning the future. On the supposed prophetic powers of the Magians see Herod; 1:107, 120; 7:19; Duris, Fr. 7, etc. If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews. It is difficult to understand how this could any longer be regarded as doubtful. His fellow servants knew it (Est 3:4); Haman knew it (ibid. Est 6:6); Ahasuerus knew it (supra, Est 6:10). The “wise men” profess to regard it as uncertain, perhaps to give their words a more oracular character. Thou shalt surely fall. Rather, “thou shalt utterly fall.”
Est 6:14
Came the king’s chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman. This is a custom not elsewhere mentioned as Persian, but quite in accordance with Oriental ideas. The polite host sends his servants to escort guests of importance from their own homes to the place of entertainment.
HOMILETICS
Est 6:1
A wakeful and eventful night.
There is something dramatic in this remarkable story. The movement is so regular and orderly, the plot unfolds itself so effectively, the crisis is reached so opportunely, that the story might be taken for a consummate work of art. In reality it is a work in which nature, or rather Providence, is signally conspicuous. This verse introduces the second part of the narrative. Hitherto Mordecai has been depressed, and Haman has been exalted. But the tide has now turned. From this point pride is to fall, and humility is to be raised.
I. A KING CANNOT COMPEL SLEEP. Sleep is one of the best, most precious gifts of God to man. “He giveth his beloved sleep.” The cares of business, of state, of pastoral life, may sometimes banish slumber, of which it is well said
“The wretched he forsakes,
Swift upon downy pinions flies from grief,
And lights on lids unsullied with a tear.”
It is not every statesman who, like Lord Burleigh, can take off his gown and say, Lie there, Lord Treasurer; or who, like Lord Liverpool, can draw off the cares of a kingdom with his stockings. Ruminating upon the affairs of his empire, his ambitious projects, Ahasuerus could not sleep.
II. A SEEMINGLY SLIGHT INCIDENT MAY INVOLVE GREAT, MOMENTOUS ISSUES. Often may sleep have gone from the king’s eyes and nothing of consequence have followed. But that night was memorable, for that night’s sleeplessness was the occasion of the salvation of Mordecai, and perhaps of Israel. In the providence of God, as though to rebuke men’s self-confidence, little things are sent on high errands. Solomon speaks of small things which are yet exceeding great.
III. RECORDS PROVE SERVICEABLE TO KINGS AND TO KINGDOMS. Books record what men forget. We know, not only from sacred, but also from profane history, that the Persian kings kept chronicles of all the important transactions of their reigns. It is believed that these great kings were unable to read themselves, and that there were educated attendants whose business it was to read aloud, in the hearing of the monarch, frog, the state records preserved in manuscript. Thus, on this occasion, the services of Mordecai were, so to speak, disinterred and brought to light.
IV. AN AROUSED CONSCIENCE REPROACHES FOR FORGETFULNESS AND INGRATITUDE. How easy it is for the great to overlook benefits they have received, to take them as matters of course! But the inquiry Ahasuerus made shows that he was not altogether insensible to the claims which the Jew had upon his memory and his gratitude. It was late, but not too late, to make some recompense for a neglected and forgotten service.
V. Thus SELF–INDULGENCE IS AROUSED TO ACT WITH JUSTICE AND GENEROSITY. The king had slept long enough; it was time to awake and to act. And this night’s vigil prompted him to a day’s justice.
Lessons:
1. Let waking hours of night be spent in profitable thoughts.
2. Let us be convinced of the overruling providence of God.
3. Let us remember that “man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.”
Est 6:3
Royal ingratitude.
The awakening conscience of Ahasuerus deserves our attention.
I. HE IS SENSIBLE THAT HIS PRESERVER DESERVED “HONOUR AND DIGNITY.” The king had rewarded a worthless favourite with wealth and power; but, as he now learned, a man who had preserved his life had been passed over unnoticed and unrewarded. It was discreditable in the sight of the nation and before his own judgment that it should have been so.
II. HE IS SURPRISED AT HIMSELF UPON LEARNING THAT NOTHING HAS BEEN DONE FOR HIM. How this could have happened we do not know. It was customary for “royal benefactors” to be lavishly rewarded with riches, jewels, offices, or favour. But Mordecai had been left at the gate of the palace, as though he had done nothing but porter’s work, as though the king had not been indebted to him for his life.
III. HE AWAKES TO SELF–REPROACH AND TO A PURPOSE OF RECOMPENSING THE NEGLECTED. It is tOO customary for the great to take all services as a matter of course. Well is it when such a mood gives place to a juster view and endeavour
“Sweet music’s melting fall, but sweeter far
The still, small voice of gratitude.”
Practical lessons:
1. Gratitude is a duty and a virtue. Nothing is baser than ingratitude. Those who have served us should never be forgotten by us, and when opportunity occurs we should testify our gratitude by deeds.
2. As we owe more to God than to our fellow-men, to be ungrateful towards him is to be insensible of the highest benefits, is to incur the sharpest condemnation. “Forget not all his benefits.” And show forth his praise not only by your lips, but by your lives.
Est 6:6-9
Whom the king delighteth to honour.
It does not seem that Ahasuerus had any intention at this time to humiliate Haman. His whole mind was set upon restitution and compensation to Mordecai, whom he had so long neglected. As he had no knowledge of his favourite’s dislike to the Jew, his only motive in requiring Haman to lead Mordecai through the city was to show his gratitude to his humble friend and benefactor. The honour which Mordecai received was indeed, in its circumstances, very unusual, yet perhaps not unparalleled. Doubtless the minister thought he was preparing honour for himself when he was really unconsciously arranging a triumph for the man whom he hated, and whose death he was compassing. The magnificence, the royal splendour of the Jew’s progress through the city afforded satisfaction to the king’s heart, whilst they were as gall and wormwood to Haman. For Mordecai was “the man whom the king delighted to honour.” God, having reconciled and pardoned the penitent sinner through Jesus Christ, the Mediator, takes pleasure in putting upon the accepted and beloved all the honour he can bestow and we can receive.
I. THE HONOUR GOD PUTS UPON HIS PEOPLE IS HEIGHTENED BY THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THEIR FORMER AND THEIR PRESENT STATE. The change between Mordecai in sackcloth and ashes, uttering a loud and bitter cry, and Mordecai upon the king’s horse, and arrayed in royal robes, is as nothing compared with the contrast between the impenitent and unforgiven sinner and the justified and rejoicing believer in Christ.
II. CHRISTIANS ARE HONOURED IN BEING MADE “KINGS AND PRIESTS UNTO GOD.” The Jewish exile clad in regal attire may be a figure of the Christian whom God crowns and honours, whom he exalts to his favour and unites to his Son.
III. CHRISTIANS ARE ADOPTED INTO THE FAMILY OF GODARE MADE HIS SONS. IV. CHRISTIANS ENJOY THE ATTENDANCE AND MINISTRY OF GLORIOUS ANGELS. Mordecai was led through Shushan by “the first minister of the crown.” For the children of God are provided the ministrations of the angels, who “are sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.”
V. CHRISTIANS SHALL BE BROUGHT, SHARING THE NATURE OF GOD, TO SHARE ALSO HIS ETERNAL HOME. As Mordecai came to take his place in the palace, at the door of which he had sat, and to wield power over the empire, so those whom the heavenly King delighteth to honour shall enter his presence, share his joy, and sit with his Son upon the throne of dominion.
Est 6:12
Glory exchanged for woe. “Boast not thyself of to-morrow,” says the wise man, “for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Yesterday Haman was full of exultation and of boasting; his place was by the throne; his enemy was at his feet. This morning that enemy is in favour; his own position is imperilled; his vaunting seems vain; his prospects gloomy. As Haman goes to his house, after executing the king’s behest, his heart is filled with apprehensions.
I. HIS MALICE IS DISAPPOINTED AND DEFEATED.
II. HIS JOY IS EXCHANGED FOR MOURNING.
III. HIS GLORYING IS SUCCEEDED BY SHAME.
He covers his head, as not daring to look any one in the face, as fearing that disgrace and disaster are at hand.
Practical lessons:
1. Remember the vicissitudes of human affairs.
2. “Put not your trust in princess” or “in the son of man, in whom is no help.”
3. “Humble yourselves before the mighty hand of God.” It is better to come before him in lowliness and contrition now than to appear before him in shame hereafter.
Est 6:13
Forebodings of ruin.
Bad counsellors are poor comforters. Haman had recourse to his wife, the wise men, and his friends, only yesterday; and they advised that a gallows should be reared, and that the king should be petitioned that Mordecai might there be hanged. To-day Haman comes to the same circle of his intimates, tells what has befallen, and unfolds his fears. They do but predict his speedy ruin. He might well have used the language of Job”Miserable comforters are ye all!” They foretell
I. THE GOOD FORTUNE OF MORDECAI, CONTRASTING WITH HAMAN‘S ILL FORTUNE. “Thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.” The rise and fall of favourites at court was a familiar spectacle. That Mordecai should displace Haman in royal favour seemed, after the events of the day, probable enough.
II. THE FAILURE OF HAMAN‘S PROJECT, CONTRASTING WITH THE ADVANCEMENT AND SECURITY OF THE JEWS. The plot and decree against the captive Hebrews were well known; and it was well known that Haman was the origin of these nefarious designs. Now those who had aided and abetted the unprincipled favourite foresee that he will be disgraced, and that his devices will all be brought to nothing. Application:
1. Let persecutors tremble. All things are not in their power. When they rage and imagine a vain thing, he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The day of their downfall and defeat is near at hand.
2. Let the persecuted take heart. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation.” The enemies of the righteous man shall “surely fall before him.”
“God on his saints looks watchful down,
His ear attends their cry.
The wicked sink beneath his frown,
Their very name shall die;
But he, at length, the just will crown
With victory and joy!”
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Est 6:1
The sleepless.
We are not surprised to read that “on that night could not the king sleep.” Not, indeed, that there was anything in Ahasuerus (Xerxes) to make us expect a restless night; he appears to us here, as elsewhere, as a painful illustration of human heartlessness. That many thousands of his subjects were about to be butchered in order that his coffers might be filled should have caused the monarch many a troubled day and many a sleepless night; but such was the character of the man that no one suggests the impending massacre as the explanation of the king’s restlessness. He had reached that fearful spiritual condition in which human life was of no account to him so that his power might be continued and his pleasures multiplied or secured. It is a striking instance of Divine providence. He who “holds the king’s heart in his hand,” who can touch with the finger of his power the secret springs of our thought and feeling, now sent troubled thoughts to this Persian king. That Lord of heaven, Keeper of Israel who slumbers not nor sleeps (Psa 121:4), now gave a wakeful night to this earthly monarch. He was interposing on behalf of his chosen people. God willed that the sovereign should not slumber in order that he might thus be led to have “the book of records of the chronicles brought and read before the king,” and Mordecai’s services be thus brought to his royal notice. Little did Ahasuerus, as he tossed his restless head on the pillow, imagine that a Divine hand was laid on his troubled brain. As little do we know when the finger of God is working on us, with us, for us, or mercifully against us. Thinking of the sleepless sons and daughters of men, we may have in view
I. THE SLEEPLESS WHOM WE PITY. We do well to pity with heartfelt compassion those who tell us that they ‘: cannot sleep at night.” Scarcely a sentence comes more plaintively from human lips. Well does one of our own poets write
“Pity! oh, pity the wretches who weep,
For they must be wretched who cannot sleep
When God himself draws the curtain.”
Whether it be pain, or trouble, or sorrow that causes the sleepless hours, we may pity sincerely and pray earnestly for these.
II. THE SLEEPLESS WHOM WE ADMIRE. Those who
(1) tenderly nurse the sick through the livelong night, or
(2) sympathetically attend the sorrowful in their sleepless hours, or
(3) are “about the Father’s business,” seeking the salvation of others.
It is the women who “watch” the best. There were, humanly speaking, at least three women who could have watched that “one hour” (Mat 26:40), and would not have been found asleep by the agonising Master. Few of the children of men are more worthy of our admiring affection than those self-denying sisters who watch so patiently lest there should be need of the ministering hand or the comforting word.
III. THE SLEEPLESS WHOM WE ARE OBLIGED TO BLAME. There are those in every city who cannot sleep because they cannot forget. They shut their book at night; but have soon to sigh
“Oh God! could I so close my mind
And clasp it with a clasp.”
They pay in restless hours the dark penalty of vice or crime; they are pursued and punished by dread of the wrath of God or of the justice of man, or by the rebukings of their own conscience. For such there is no remedy or escape but confession, reparation, forgiveness, human and Divine. “Return on thy way” at once.
IV. THE SLEEPLESS WHOM WE MUCH WISH TO SERVE. Those who cannot sleep because of “great searchings of heart;” who are asking that old new question, “How shall mortal man be just with God?” who will give themselves no rest till the way of peace is found, till they have “peace with God through Jesus Christ.” There are none anywhere so deserving and demanding, so certain to receive, the tender sympathy and delicate help of those who minister in the gospel of the Saviour.
V. THE SLEEPLESS WHOM WE HOPE TO JOIN. On the other side of the river of death is a land where that which has been will not be, where we shall change this “body of our humiliation,” and shall be clothed upon with the “body of his glory.” There will be no sleeplessness like that of which we have spoken; no weary tossing, no heart-ache, no distress, no agitation. But there will be sleeplessness of another kind, for there will be no more need of long periods of unconsciousness and inactivity there. There will be “no more fatigue, no more distress,” no more exhaustion; and therefore “there will be no night there,” and no sleep, but ceaseless, tireless, unexausting energy; there they serve him “day without night.” These we hope one day to join. Let us live “in Christ;” then shall we “fall asleep in him,” and then shall we awake in the morning of an everlasting day where the shadows never fall, a land full of light because full of the near presence and the glory of the Lord.C.
Est 6:2-14
The honour that cometh from man.
Unable to sleep, the king calls for something to beguile the weary hours; he has the chronicles of his reign read to him; he is struck with the fact of his own life having been saved by Mordecai, inquires what has been the reward given to this dutiful subject, discovers that nothing whatever has been done for him, and calls for Haman to ask his counsel. Haman is at hand, full of his murderous design against Mordecai. We picture to ourselves his impatience as the king broaches another subject; his secret exultation as Ahasuerus proposes to do honour to some favourite, and as he himself suggests that which would feed his own vanity. We see his astonishment and chagrin as he finds that it is none other than the hated Jew himself who is to be honoured. We mark his prolonged and intolerable vexation as he acts as the agent in carrying out the king’s commandment. Concerning the honour that comes from man, we learn here
I. THE RIGHTNESS OF PAYING THAT WHICH IS DUE AND OF ACCEPTING THAT WHICH IS EARNED (Est 6:10, Est 6:11). Mordecai, who evidently and commendably made much of self-respect, did not think it wrong to accept the honour the king now laid upon him. He suffered himself to be arrayed in the “royal apparel,” he mounted the “horse that the king rode upon,” and was led with acclamation through the streets (Est 6:8-11). He may have enjoyed it; it was in accordance with Eastern tastes and habits, and he had fairly earned it. It is lawful in God’s sight to enter upon and enjoy the fruits of our own exertions; “the labourer is worthy of his hire.” Among the rewards that men give their fellows is that of honour. And rightly so. Adulation or flattery is, on the part of those who pay it, simply contemptible, and on the part of those who receive it both childish and injurious; it is a thing to be unsparingly condemned in others, and religiously avoided in ourselves. But to congratulate on hard-won success, to praise the meritorious product of toil and skill, to pay honour to those who have lavished their energies or risked their lives to serve their fellows, this is right and good. And to receive such honours from the lips or the hands of menif they be meekly and gratefully takenthis tea is right. “If there be any praise,” we are to “think on” and to practise it. We should praise the praiseworthy as well as condemn the faulty. The approval of the wise and good has had much to do with building up fine characters, and bringing forth the best actions of noble lives.
II. THE VANITY OF RECKONING ON THE HONOUR OF THE GREAT (Est 6:6, Est 6:10, Est 6:13). Haman had risen to high dignity; he enjoyed much of royal favour; he now felt that he might certainly reckon on being the chief recipient of the most signal honour the sovereign could pay. But God has said, “Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, that maketh flesh his arm;” “Put not your trust in man, nor in the son of man;” “Put not your trust in princes.” Their favour is fickle; their countenance is changeful; their hand may caress to-day and crush to-morrow. To his unspeakable chagrin, Haman found that the royal hand was about to distribute favour to his bitterest foe, and thus pierce his soul by kindness to another. Covetousness of human honour is a sin and a mistake; it ends in disappointment, sooner or later, as the records of every kingdom, ancient or modern, Eastern or Western, will prove abundantly. It injures the soul also, for it begets a selfishness which finds a horrible satisfaction in others’ humiliation, and keeps from a generous joy in others’ preferment. Honour “from man only” is good in a low degree. It must not be eagerly coveted as the chief prize, or heavily leant upon as the chief staff of life. “Seek it not, nor shun it.”
III. THE WISDOM OF SEEKING THE HONOUR THAT IS OF GOD (Est 6:3). “What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this?” “There is nothing done for him.” Five years had passed, and Mordecai had found his reward in his own sense of doing his duty, and in the approval of the God be served. Apart from the praise and recompense of man, it is worth while to do right, to act faithfully; for there is one Sovereign that does not overlook, and is sure to bless in his own time and way. “Them that honour me I will honour,” he says. This honouring of God may be either
(1) that which he causes men to give us, or
(2) his own Divine approval.
This latter is the better of the two, for it
(a) is intrinsically the more worth having;
(b) loads to no disappointment;
(c) “sanctifies and satisfies” the heart; and
(d) is consistent with the enjoyment of the same thing by every one else, and even prompts us to strive to make others possessors of it.
It is not the seed of selfishness, but the germ of generosity.C.
HOMILIES BY W. DINWIDDLE
Est 6:1-4
A forgotten service brought to mind.
I. GRANDEUR OF OUTWARD CONDITION DOES NOT PROTECT MIND OR BODY AGAINST ORDINARY INFIRMITIES. The king of Persia could not at will command sleep. The loss of the power to sleep is not confined to any position, though it is perhaps more common amongst the rich than the poor. The humble labourer may find sounder and sweeter sleep on his hard couch than a mighty and luxurious king on his bed of down.
II. How TO SPEND SLEEPLESS HOURS BECOMES AN IMPORTANT QUESTION TO MANY. The nervous, the heart-burdened, and the invalided often sigh in vain for sleep, and many are the devices contrived to relieve the monotony of wakefulness. Some resort to anodynes which enforce sleep, but at the same time destroy vitality, and subject their victims to a terrible bondage. Others seek help from the reading of sensational or impure books, which defiles the heart and weakens the conscience. The king might have done worse than call for the chronicles of his reign. It is good to review the past. Nor could there be a better time for looking back at what is gone and done than in the still solemnity of the night watches. A man is unjust to himself, and incurs great loss, who cannot devote occasional hours to retrospection. Many a godly man has found sweet profit in following David’s method of occupying a sleepless mind (Psa 4:4; Psa 63:5, Psa 63:6).
III. A REVIEW OF THE PAST WILL IN EVERY CASE RECALL THE MEMORY OF MERCIES RECEIVED AND OF DUTIES UNDONE. The king had not listened long to the reading before he heard the record of the conspiracy of the two chamberlains against his life, and of his deliverance from it through the faithfulness of Mordecai. Arrested by this, there rose in his mind, in connection with it, not the thought of the suitable reward which had been bestowed on his deliverer, but the question whether any reward had been bestowed at all. He soon found that the great service of Mordecai had been unacknowledged. In the record of every man’s life there are notes of thoughtlessness, ingratitude, and wrong-doing. None of us can look back without being convicted of many sins and neglects. This thought should keep us humble, and lead us to seek the Divine mercy and help. Past failures should be as “stepping-stones to higher things.”
IV. REPARABLE OMISSIONS OR INJURIES DONE IN THE PAST SHOULD BE REPAIRED. Here the king sets us a lesson. If we can now pay in full creditors whose bygone claims we failed to meet, it is our duty to do so. It is not enough to express sorrow for any evil we have done if we can in any measure make amends for it. Deeds in such a case are better than words. Zaccheus (Luk 19:8).
V. A WORK OF REPARATION SHOULD BE DONE AT ONCE. There is no time unfit to begin it. The king, while still in bed, in the early morning, bestirred himself without a moment’s delay to discharge his neglected duty. He remembered his former good intentions, and the forgetfulness that followed delay. Unfulfilled obligations are often the result of a disposition to put off. Happy the man who has the will to obey at once every clear sense of duty. He will save himself and others from much suffering. How many lose themselves by putting off decision for Christ (Psa 90:12; 2Co 6:2).D.
Est 6:4, Est 6:14
Exaltation and humiliation.
I. HASTE. Having seen the gallows prepared for Mordecai over-night, Haman was early astir next morning. He was in the court of the palace while the king was yet having the chronicles read to him, resolved to seize the first moment to get permission to hang the Jew. His plan of revenge was to be executed and done with long before the hour of the queen’s banquet (Pro 1:16). “The children of this world are wiser,” because more diligent, “in their generation than the children of light.” If the self-denial and earnestness with which men pursue evil and worldly things were equally exhibited by all the righteous in pursuit of the things of Christ, the world itself would soon be brought to the feet of God.
II. COINCIDENCE. When the king wanted an adviser at that early hour, Haman happened to be in the court. The thoughts of both the king and his favourite happened to be occupied and excited by the same man. The haste of Haman to get Mordecai hanged happened to meet the haste of the king to get him rewarded. Faith can often discern the marks of a Divine providence in what men call accidents or coincidences. Belief in a living God is inconsistent with belief in any “fortuitous concourse.”
III. ERROR. The question put by the king to Haman at once led him astray. Whose honour would the king delight to promote if not that of the man on whom he had already bestowed such unusual distinction? His vain heart betrayed him. How greedy is vanity. How selfish are the slaves of sin. The answer of Haman was shaped by his own desires. The honour he suggested would have been foolish and worthless as given to any other person than himself. But the only thing left for his ambition to aspire to was such a public and resplendent exhibition of the royal delight in him as that which he described. A man of evil does not easily suspect good feeling or good purpose in any associate. He projects himself into his judgment of others. Thus he is very liable to make mistakes. His whole life is a mistakean error from beginning to end.
IV. DISAPPOINTMENT. When the king commanded Haman to do unto Mordecai every whit of what he had recommended, the blow that fell on the astonished favourite must have been heavy. That the man for whom he had made a gallows should receive the honour which he had proposed for himself! what a reversing of things. There are many disappointments and reverses which attract our entire sympathy, but we can only rejoice when the expectation of the wicked is cut short. It was a fit measure of justice that Haman should have proposed the honour which Mordecai was to wear. Judgment pursues the evil-doer. In the end all his hopes will be disappointed.
V. HUMILIATION. Haman had not only to see done, but to do, what the king commanded. He was the “one of the king’s most noble princes” who had to array Mordecai in royal apparel, and place him on a horse, and lead him through the city, and proclaim before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour.” And all this he did to the man whom he most hated, and for whom he had erected a gallows. It was a bitter humiliation, but there was no escape from it. Those who climb to worldly greatness by wrong ways have to eat much dirt. They sharpen the knife that will sooner or later enter their soul.
VI. EXALTATION. Mordecai yielded himself up to the king’s mode of honouring him. He put himself in the hands of Haman, and went quietly through the whole process. It was a triumph that might be justly enjoyed, and one too that promised greater things. God was manifestly with his servant. Unseen influences were at work. The attempt to deliver Israel was prospering. This public honour would strengthen Esther, and have some effect on the king. The bad man who led the Jew’s horse and proclaimed his favour with the king was declining in power, and the desired redemption of a devoted people was drawing near. Thus God encourages those who trust him. He makes their enemies serve them. Amidst much darkness and fear he causes his light to shine, and gives his servants bright indications of a coming victory.
VII. HUMILITY. A Haman would have been intoxicated by such an honour as was conferred on his enemy. To Mordecai the parade through the city was but an empty pageant, except in so far as it might contribute to his purpose of saving Israel. Hence we find him, after putting Off the royal robes, returning to his post at the king’s gate. The passing honours of the world make no change in those who are weighted with the pursuit of honours which the world cannot give. Their chief desire is to be at their post and do the work given them by a higher than an earthly master”to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God” (Mic 6:8). It required no effort for Mordecai to descend from his momentary exaltation to his humble position as a palace servitor. His duty was in the king’s gate. How blessed to be able to subordinate all merely personal or earthly things to the service of God.
VIII. OMENS. The result of that morning’s proceedings was depressing to Haman. He retired to his home again to consult his wife and friends. How different his tale now from that which had inspired him and them the night before. The tall gallows in the courtyard was a gaunt mockery. The shame that had so unaccountably overtaken its lord laid a cold hand on the hearts of all his household. The fear of Israel, that strange people who trusted in a God of gods, entered strongly into their thoughts, and made their words ominous. The conviction was felt and expressed by them that if Mordecai were a Jew, Haman had already begun to fall, and that a disastrous end was inevitable. History affords many instances of the power of omens to destroy the happiness and hope of bad men. The silent workings of Divine providence have their effect on the wicked as well as on the good. In the one they inspire a fear which saps energy and skill; in the other they work a faith which gives strength and light. King Saul is not the only one whose heart and hand have been paralysed by superstitious fears arising from a rebellion against Divine rule. In the path of the wicked speetres of a holy and avenging power are ever rising up to throw blight on their aims and hopes. There is judgment even in this world. God reigns.D.
HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER
Est 6:1
A sleepless monarch and a wakeful Providence.
The place of this verse fully vindicated by its contents. When its position is observed in the original it is found to be very nearly the bisection of the book. Certainly it is the critical point, the hinge on which the deep moral and religious interest of the history turns. There is a sense in which it might seem that up to this point the reader has but groped his way. He has asked for a little more distinctly religious light and speech. He craves to see a Divine presence, and to hear the accents of a Diviner voice than have been hitherto vouchsafed. Perhaps these are still withheld in their fullest manifestation, but it can no longer be felt that any vital element of evidence is absent. The night in question was the night between the two banquets of Esther, the night before the almost certainly foregone conclusion of permission to hang Mordecai on the new-made gallows of Haman. Everybody was not in the secret. Neither Esther, nor Mordecai, nor the king himself knew of the project. Yet from a merely human point of view it was all but certain. How the night passed for Esther and for Mordecai we know not. Both had to acknowledge distinguishing mercies which the preceding day bad brought. But they both knew that one crisis happily passed did but usher in another, and if this should not issue as favourably, vain were the promise of the day before. Likely enough, then, the solemn hours of that night were counted by them with wakeful anxiousness. For what issues of life or death hung upon the next day. Haman’s night invites not a solitary sympathy. This much we may surmise about it, that it was disturbed by the noise of those who “made the gallows” (Est 5:14; Est 6:4; Est 7:9), and that its length was not prolonged over-far into the morning. But the storm-centre travels toward the night of Ahasuerus, and there very soon it threateningly hangs. Ahasuerus was not a good man; he was not a good king. How otherwise could he have permitted an insufferably vain, self-seeking minion like Haman to be such a we]come and close companion? How could he have committed to such a subject an authority so dangerously approaching his own? Yet, as we have before seen (Est 1:4), there was a certain large lavish way about Ahasuerusthe outside of a certain kindliness, impulsiveness, unthinking trustingness within, which proved a heart not callous. These qualities did indeed harmonise well with what we read elsewhere of Xerxes, and how his feelings so overcame him when, from his throne of marble, he reviewed his innumerable troops crossing the Hellespont, and reflected upon human mortality. Ahasuerus was thoughtless and rashthe very things that cannot be defended in either king or manbut he was not yet abandoned of every higher presence; he was not yet “let alone.” As the word of God here detains us to make special remark on the sleepless night of this king, and exhibits it as the very crisis of the providential history under relation, let us note
I. SOME OF THE SIGNIFICANT FACTS GATHERING ROUND IT AS THE EXPERIENCE OF THE KING.
1. We observe, and with some surprise, that there seems not the slightest disposition on the part of the king, or of any one else, to attribute it to a physical cause, nor to minister to it any physical antidote. Neither the soporific of a drug or of drinking, nor the soothing of music, nor any diversion are offered to it. Nor is it possible to supposeas will hereafter appearthat “the book of records of the chronicles” was sent for under the expectation that it would serve simply to amuse, or to dissipate thought and kill time.
2. However harassing it may have been, it seems to have been endured till morning. The brief description which follows the statement, that “the king’s sleep fled that night,” argues that what ensued happened all in close connection, and so as to end with an hour that found men gathered in their usual way in the gate, and Haman arrived (doubtless not late) in the court. This would give time for thought’s growth into determination.
3. Whether the sleeplessness of the night was occasioned by any moral thoughtfulness or not, it was in this direction that the mind of Ahasuerus ran. Sleepless hours are often enough weary hours, yet perhaps more than we think they open opportunity and offer choice to us. They ripen the thought of iniquity, as they were at this very time doing for Haman; or they are precipitating thought of good quality and beneficent result, as they were now doing for Ahasuerus. Either, then, the sleeplessness of Ahasuerus was occasioned by a moral movement of things within, or it turned to that use. In either alternative there was a moral strangeness and significance about it. The dark and imperfect religiousness, which was all that can be claimed for it in and of itself, does in some senses add to its interest.
4. The thoughts of that sleepless night did not die away. Generally, how soon they do pass away, like the dreams of deep sleep. They are “like the morning cloud and the early dew; as the chaff that is driven of the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.” Nature’s darkness, human stillness, even the body’s attitude of repose, all favour highly-stimulated forms of thought. The sleepless night is often memory’s field-day. Regrets and new resolutions meet together; repentance and remorse alternate; the thoughts of happier days and the projects of more innocent ones crowd the mental rendezvousbut with dawn they have trooped away. But now not so with the. thoughts of the sleepless night of the King Ahasuerus. They last, and they lead on to action. Purpose and determination do not die away. They live, and to good purpose. In his own way, and for once true to his light, though a light that burned lurid and low, he will hearken to his “law and testimony,” if haply they have anything to say to him.
II. SOME OF THE SIGNIFICANT SUGGESTIONS ARISING OUT OF IT IN EVIDENCE OF AN EVER–WAKEFUL PROVIDENCE.
1. The evidence of the simple facts of this night is in favour of the interference of some external cause. It is not straining facts to take this view of them, it would be restraining their legitimate force not to do so. There is no known cause for the restlessness, but it is decided. The two things that might have been expected to constitute a cause evidently exert no influence. The proximate effect, for all that, nevertheless looks in that direction.
2. The kind of use to which the sleeplessness is turned argues not only external interference, but the external interference of One above. This man, a most extremely unpromising subject on whom to work, is wrought upon practically to religious purpose. Thought, and reading, and listening, and question, and action follow one another in quick, orderly, Divine kind of succession.
3. The means employed are like those of Divine operation, very simple, awhile mistakable for most natural events.
4. The beneficent nature of the results of that nightopportune, to the exact moment of timeand the exceeding greatness of them evidence together a merciful wakeful Providence. That Providence is ever wakeful when men are most deep asleep, but is not then least wakeful when sometimes it bids us wake and keeps us sleepless.B.
HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER
Est 6:6
Vanity.
“Now Haman thought in,” etc. It sometimes seems as though the satire of circumstance and human event could go no further. But the fact in such case is, that nothing can surpass the exactness of the Divine aim for the mark which it is intended to reach, and for the moment at which it reaches it. The present point of the history shows a conjunction of four events, which, so far as all human design went, might certainly have been the last to meet together. But they produce a brilliant effect. Four moments meet, and their work is the work of years of preparation, and of consequences never to be forgotten. A humble and good man, but one dishonoured, is in supreme danger. The very acme of the iniquitous purpose of a revengeful heart, surfeited with self and vanity, is touched. An arbitrary despot suddenly remembers an omission on his part, and resolves upon making a profuse compensation for it. And lastly arrives on the scene the form of Divine retribution. Of these four there can be no doubt which was the dominant fact. The rest were accurately timed to it. One led the way; the rest were irresistibly, if unconsciously, attracted to it. This verse gives us what purports to be a statement or description of a “thought in the heart.” It may be called the natural history of a “thought in the heart;” not, indeed, of any or every such thought, but of one that once literally was, and which may have had many like it. We may notice
I. ON WHAT AUTHORITY THIS DESCRIPTION RESTS. For the history is not of a flattering kind. In all its brevity it is of an exceedingly cutting nature. It is of the nature of a stricture, and a severe one. It is a keen incisive thrust into an individual character. In every such case it behoves us to be more than ever careful “not to judge, lest we be judged,” and to scrutinise narrowly the authority on which they speak when others pronounce judgment in our heating. For if the judgment of what is in the depth of another’s heart be not absolutely true, it is essentially unjust and uncharitable. Our own superficial criticisms often err. They carry on their face their condemnation, and but for this would be more reprehensible and more disastrous than they are. But what we have before us is no superficial critique, it is the pronouncement of the authoritative Spirit of all truth himself. The scalpel of the inspired anatomist cuts deep, and as trenchantly as deep. We are glad to recollect whose is the responsibility; and when we recollect we think with firmer thought and tread with surer step.
II. WHAT WAS THE NATURE OF THE THOUGHT IT REVEALED. It was a thought of self, and of what was supposed to be self’s glory and advancement. There are times for all when it is tight and needful to think of self, and to act for what shall seem, on the whole, the best for self. There are other times when it is the greatest mistake to think of self. The occasion in question was one of this kind. It is an occasion in itself far from destitute of its own proper honour.
1. Haman is called in as a counsellor, and a counsellor of his king.
2. He is appealed to for something beyond advice. With him lies the determining of a certain case laid before him. To be the dispenser of dignities and rewards is to sit upon a throne very near royalty itself.
3. The occasion is not a mere formality, to be guided only by precedents, and requiring a musty search to find them.
4. The recipient of the distinction, whoever he might be, would also be ever beholden in some sort to the word that should drop from Haman’s lip. The occasion, therefore, was one which especially begged for a single eye, a clear judgment, transparency of motive. But, in fact, self blocks up the whole prospect. The thought in the heart of the king’s counsellor at that moment was this: “To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?“ Among all unjust and partial judges, was there ever any more unjust?
III. WHAT WERE SOME OF THE MORE CONDEMNING OR AGGRAVATING SYMPTOMS OF THE THOUGHT ITSELF.
1. It was not only self, but self in the shape of insufferable vanity. It mounted to the pitch of morbid vanity. Some are hurried on by selfishness headlong. But it is a sleek, a smiling, a self-garlanded victim we have here. To the dignity of position already belonging to him fuller gratification (as has been seen) is offered; but it is not honour that his eye can see, that his mind can appreciate. The grace and the force of his honoured position weigh nothing with him. But the most egotistic vanity shuts out, and at a most critical moment, the very idea of the barest possibility of a worthy competitor with himself! He cannot credit the notion of a fellow-creature to compare with himself. Alas, from “flattering lips and double tongue” he had neither prayed nor striven to be saved; but least of all from those flattering lips, above all measure the worst, which first belong to self and then flatter the vanity of self.
2. It was not only self, but self in the shape of an un-chastised, unmortified haughtiness of heart. How exquisitely beautiful the reverse of this. How plaintive the honest and deeply-felt disowning, of it: “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child” (Psa 131:1, Psa 131:2). Turn from David in this psalm to Haman, and how is one revolted! The thoughts of yesterday afternoon and last night, which saw such an amazing fitness in a “gallows fifty cubits high” for the obscure and sorrowful and stung man Mordecai, who did not so much as turn round upon him like the trodden worm, but who only could not bring himself “to rise nor move to him”these were the “imaginations and the high things” which, because he had not mortified them nor cast them down, were now going to mortify him to the quick, and to cast him down for ever. He had schooled himself to “refrain himself”no, not to refrain himself, but only for a short while, for policy’s sake (Est 5:10), the manifestations of self.
IV. TO WHAT THIS “THOUGHT IN THE HEART” LED. It is to be remarked, and with the seriousness that belongs to a moral phenomenon and fact in our life, with what unerring certainty, with what unpitying pace, the moment travels on which shall prove the fatal, because unguarded, moment for those who knowingly and continuously “regard iniquity in their heart.” It may linger, but it is on the move. It may not be seen, yet it is only just out of sight. Till that which is snatched at, as the crowning moment of choicest opportunity of all the life, proves that which peremptorily seals the man’s fate. Never with surer conviction, never with more intuitive perception, never with more ill-concealed self-gratulation, never with glibber tongue, had moment come to Haman than that which sounded for him the knell of death itself, and left him to the company of stricken amazement for ever. And though as yet no one uttered a whisper of this to Haman, and he bowed his neck to the yoke and did the day’s dread task to the minutest point, “letting nothing fail,” Haman knew it all. Then wife and friends confirmed it. And for the first time this many a day he saw himself and his position when “he hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.” How strange the contrast to the Haman who the morning of that day “thought in his heart,” etc.B.
HOMILIES BY F. HASTINGS
Est 6:13
Conjugal confidences.
“And Haman told Zeresh his wife.” The first indication of Haman’s falling from power was when he was commanded by the king to array Mordecai in the royal robes and lead him through the city. His mortification was great. Directly he could escape from his hateful duty he hastened home and told his wife.
I. THERE SHOULD BE NO SECRETS BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE. Where there are secrets there is always a danger of an outbreak of passion or jealousy. Happiness is endangered.
II. HAMAN TOLD OF HIS CHECKS AS WELL AS HIS ADVANCES; HIS DISAPPOINTMENTS AS WELL AS HONOURS. Sometimes men tell their good fortune and hide the bad; and, on the other hand, some husbands make their wives miserable from fear of approaching disaster.
III. HUMAN HAD A FAITHFUL WARNING, BUT LITTLE CONSOLATION, IN HIS CONJUGAL CONFIDENCE. Zeresh told him that “if Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him,” etc. She was a candid friend and a true prophet. Wives should, however, seek to comfort the bread-winner under his trials.
IV. HAMAN HAD TO INVOLVE HIS WIFE IN HIS OVERTHROW, AND RIGHTLY LETS HER KNOW ALL THAT BEFALLS HIM. No man can suffer alone. As Achan “perished not alone in his iniquity,” so Haman. His bitterest regrets must have been that he had to involve wife and family in ruin.H.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Est 6:1. The book of records of the chronicles In these diaries, which we now call journals, wherein was set down what passed every day, the manner of the Persians was, to record the names of those who had done the king any signal services. Accordingly, Josephus informs us, that, upon the secretary’s reading these journals, he took notice of such a person who had great honours and possessions given him as a reward for a glorious and remarkable action, and of such another who made his fortune by the bounties of his prince for his fidelity; but that, when he came to the particular history of the conspiracy of the two eunuchs against the person of the king, and of the discovery of this treason by Mordecai, the secretary read it over, and was passing forward to the next; when the king stopped him, and asked whether that person had any reward given him for his service: which shews, indeed, a singular providence of God, that the secretary should read in that very part of the book wherein the service of Mor-decai was recorded. Why Mordecai was not rewarded before, it is in vain to enquire. We see daily, even among us, that great men are frequently unmindful of the highest services which are done them, and take no care to reward them, especially if the person be in himself obscure, and not supported by a proper recommendation; and therefore we are not to wonder, if a prince who buried himself in indolence, and made it a part of his grandeur to live unacquainted and unconcerned with what passed in his dominions, (which was the custom of most eastern kings,) should overlook the service that Mordecai had done him; or, that if he ordered him a reward, yet by the artifice of those at court, who were no well-wishers to the Jews, Mordecai might be disappointed of it. There seems, however, to have been a particular direction of Providence in having his reward delayed till this time, when he and all his nation were appointed to destruction, when the remembrance of his services might be a means to recommend them to the king’s mercy, and the honours conferred on him be a poignant mortification to his proud adversary.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
PART SECOND
THE DANGER REMOVED
Esther 6-10
FIRST SECTION
The Fall of Haman
Esther 6, 7
A.HAMAN, EXPECTING THE HIGHEST HONOR, IS BROUGHT LOW. HE MUST GIVE THE HIGHEST HONOR TO MORDECAI
6:114
I. Ahasuerus is reminded of Mordecais former meritorious act and desires to know what reward has been given him. Est 6:1-5
1On that night could not the king sleep [the sleep of the king fled]; and he commanded [said] to bring the book of records [memorials] of the Chronicles [words of the days]: and they were read1 before the king. 2And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of [upon] Bigthana and Teresh, two of the kings chamberlains [eunuchs], the keepers of the door [threshold], who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. 3And the king said, What honour and dignity [greatness] hath been done to Mordecai for [upon] this? Then [And] said the kings servants [young men] that ministered unto him [his attendants], There is nothing [has not a word been] done for [with] him. 4And the king said, Who is in the court? (Now [And] Haman was [had] come into the outward court of the kings house, to speak [say] unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows [tree] that he had prepared for him). 5And the kings servants [young men] said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth [is standing] in the court. And the king said, Let him come in.
II. Human describes the mode of honoring a deserving man, and Ahasuerus commands him to bestow such on Mordecai. Est 6:6-11
6So [And] Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done [is there to do] unto [in the case of] the man whom the king delighteth to honour [in whose honour the king delighteth]? (Now [And] Haman thought [said] in his heart, to whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?). 7And Haman answered [said to] the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour [in whose honour the king delighteth], 8Let the royal apparel be brought [let them bring, etc.] which the king useth to wear [with which the king has clothed himself], and the horse that the king rideth [has ridden] upon, and the crown-royal which is set upon his head: 9And let this [the] apparel and [the] horse be delivered to [given upon] the hand of one [a man] of the kings most noble princes,2 that they may array [and let them apparel] the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour [in whose honour the king delighteth], and bring him on horseback [cause him to ride on the horses] through [in] the street [wide place] of the city, and proclaim [let them call] before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king 10delighteth to honour [in whose honour the king delighteth]. Then [And] the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said [spoken], and do even so to Mordecai the Jew that sitteth [the one sitting] at [in] the kings gate: let nothing fail [not a word fall] of all that thou hast spoken. 11Then [And] took Haman the apparel, and the horse, and arrayed [apparelled] Mordecai, and brought him on horseback [caused him to ride] through [in] the street [wide place] of the city, and proclaimed [called] before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour [in whose honour the king delighteth].
III. The vexation of Haman is only increased through the evil prophecy of his friends. Est 6:12-14
12And Mordecai came again [returned] to the kings gate: but [and] Haman hasted [urged himself] to his house mourning, and having his head covered [veiled as to the head]. 13And Haman told [recounted to] Zeresh his wife and all his friends [lovers] every thing that had befallen him. Then [And] 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 [be able to] him, but [for thou] 14shalt surely fall before him. And while they were yet talking with him [and, i.e., then] the kings chamberlains [eunuchs] came [approached], and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared [made].
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
1 [The original is very explicit, , and these were in the act of being called over.Tr.]
2 [The princes, the Parthemim, a term apparently of special distinction.Tr.]
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Est 6:1-5. As in the former chapter the danger for Mordecai rose to the highest point, and we may expect nothing more than that both opponents, if left to themselves, should destroy each other on the following morning, even before the careful Esther has as yet accomplished her mission, we now perceive how timely is the occurrence of an event in the intervening night, which not only prevents Esthers intercession for Mordecai from being too late, but also brings about the beginning of the downfall of Haman. The author ascribes this occurrence to the troubled sleep of Ahasuerus. Thus any who merely take a superficial view of things might ascribe it to chance. But to judge from what we have already seen, it is certainly not opposed to his view, that the second Targum in all things transpiring takes God into account, and represents things as if the angel of Gods mercy were well informed of the lamentations of the daughters of Israel, and at Gods command had disturbed the sleep of Ahasuerus.
Est 6:1. On that night could not the king sleepbut not because the issued edict against the Jews had caused him unrest. In consequence he commanded to bring the book of records of the Chronicles, in which, according to Est 2:23, Mordecais deed was inscribed. He caused it to be read, not in order to find out whether the Jews had really deserved their extermination. This would have been worthy of a better king, but it is opposed by the facts in Est 6:10 and Est 3:15, and also Est 7:5. His object was simply to entertain himself with the records of the past. Still it is remarkable that just that point, treating of Mordecais act, should have been read. On any other than a providential view, one would be inclined to think that he had commanded first of all to read those passages referring to the Jews.3 The use of the participle signifies that the reading lasted for some time, perhaps extended through the night. Hence we may not be astonished that when the passage referred to came to be read, Haman already waited in the outer court.
Est 6:2-3. The name Bigthana reads Bigthan in Est 2:21. The question of the king: what honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? means, What honor and reward has been assigned him? , because of this report. with means: to apportion, to requite, (comp. 2Sa 2:6; 2Sa 3:8 et al.).4
Est 6:4. The question: who is in the court? means, what officer is now present? The king desired to consult with him as to what distinction would be appropriate to Mordecai. It seems that those desiring to be admitted to the kings presence had to wait in the outer court. With reference to the kings intention to distinguish Mordecai, comp. Brisson De reg. Pres. princ. I., c. 135.
Est 6:5. Even though other officers were there already, still Haman stood first in choice 5Doubtless he was the most acceptable to the king. is a short order: Let him come in, namely into the house of the king.
Est 6:6-11. Convinced that he only could be the man whom the king delighted to honor, Haman at once designates the very highest honor, and is immediately commanded to award it to Mordecai. Our author very strikingly portrays how Haman, in the very moment in which he expected to receive the highest distinction for himself, was most effectually and painfully brought low; and that his opponent, whom he hoped to destroy, was elevated to the highest place of honor. Both of these things, tooand this adds an additional charm to the whole were brought about by Haman himself, by his own expressed judgment, indeed by his own hand.
Est 6:6. When the king had asked the question, Haman thought within himself ( ), to whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself? , going beyond me, more than myself. occurs in this form only in a later period (comp. Ecc 12:12; Ecc 12:9; also Ecc 2:15; Ecc 7:11; Ecc 7:16).
Est 6:7. Haman was quickly prepared to give answer, and without any difficulty called up one distinction of honor after another. The sentence: For the man whom the king delighteth to honor, is placed in advance as being a theme brought up by the king and pleasant for his own ears to hear. We can replace it with the Nomin. Abs. in this way: As regards the man, etc. Thereafter he adds honor upon honor that should be bestowed on such a one, and seems hardly to know where to stop. But his aim is that the king should thereby designate this man to be thus honored as his second or other self, which in view of the divine dignity of the Persian kings, implied a great deal.
Est 6:8. Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear.The constr. of with occurs only here and in the Arabic; in other places is followed by the accus., or by with a distinct part of the body. The garment is not to be one such as the king is accustomed to wear, but as the perfect tense fully shows, one which he has worn. Hence it is not to be a common apparel for a special occasion, or the so-called Median dress, which the king himself wore, as also those distinguished by him, especially his princes (comp. Herod. III. 84; VII. 116; Xenophons Cyrop. VIII. 3, 1 as also Bhrs annotation on Herod. III. 84); but it was a costly garment, whose value was much enhanced by the fact that the king had worn it. It is not expressly related that, the king gave as a present his own garments as a mark of honor, at least not by the Grecian authors. Plutarch, however, relates (in his Artax. 24), that Tiribazus had asked of the king that he put off his royal apparel and present it to him (Tiribazus, and doubtless as a mark of honor); but that the king had presented him with it, yet forbade him to wear it. 6 It is therefore to be remarked that those things which were used by the king, and which he had directly touched, especially his garments, were through him sanctified. A courtier even called the table sacred, from which Darius Codomannus had eaten, and wept when he saw Alexander the Great place his feet upon it. The steed upon which the king had ridden wore a crown, and was thereby designated as royal and sacred. can only be tertia prt. Niph., not prima Plur. Imperf. Kal, as in Jdg 16:5. does not have reference to the head of a man, as if one could with Le Clerc, Rambach and others translate: that the royal crown was placed on his head (to this is opposed the prter , instead of which the Imperf. should have been chosen); but it rather means: upon the head of the horse. That the royal riding horse was thus crowned is also not expressly stated, still it is not improbable, since, according to Xenoph., Cyrop. I. 3, 3; 8:3, 16, to him belonged a golden harness. Besides all this there is seen on Assyrian and Old Persian monuments, not so distinct on the latter, horses of the king, and perhaps also of princes, that wear an ornament on their heads terminating in three points, which can easily be taken for a crown.7
Est 6:9. And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the kings most noble princes,etc., the infinitive, is the supplement of the optative (comp. Est 2:3). Delivered to the hand of, i.e., given over to, given up to. As regards , comp. Est 1:3. The place , upon which the man to be honored should ride up and down, must, according to Est 4:6, have been before the kings gate and palace, and therefore a public thoroughfare. According to Gen 41:43, a similar honor was bestowed upon Joseph.
Est 6:10-11. The king perfectly agreed to the proposition of Haman at onceand this must no doubt surprise the reader; he orders this designated honor to be shown to Mordecai. That Mordecai was a Jew and accustomed to sit in the kings gate could be well known to him from the records of the chronicle of the empire, or from the courtiers, who read the history to him, and who had doubtless also given him still other information respecting Mordecai.8 It is very remarkable that the king did not here remember, or at least overlooked the fact that he had decreed the destruction of the Jews, and had even given them over to Haman; but this is not entirely inexplicable, as may be seen from his usual mode of doing things.Let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken,i.e., omit nothing of all these things (comp. Jos 21:45; Jdg 2:19).
Est 6:12-14. While Mordecai returns, loaded with honors, to his usual place of station, the gate of the king,9 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 (comp. 2Sa 15:30; Jer 14:4).10His friends are now called wise men, at least some of them, because they undertook to forecast his future. Perhaps there were among them some magicians, who, according to Cicero, Divin. I. 23, were a nation of wise and learned men. They very wisely concluded: If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, then , thou shalt not prevail against him; then shalt not thou be the conqueror, but he (comp. Gen 32:26, ), either thou wilt entirely, or at least surely fall. It may be asked, how did they arrive at such a conclusion? If they only attributed enmity on the part of Mordecai, then they needed only to recall the edict against the Jews and published by Haman. But they also attribute a superior power to him, because he is a Jew. Hence they must base themselves on something else. Most interpreters, among them also Bertheau and Keil, think that although these friends had before counselled Haman to have Mordecai, the unfortunate Jew, hung, yet now when he had become a highly honored person on the part of the king, and this too, as it were, through a miracle, the truth impresses itself upon them that the Jews must be under the especial divine protection. And indeed we find far more indicated here than a fear of the shrewdness and energy of the Jews. The fact that the Jews still existed in spite of all afflictions which they had endured must have impressed many with the conviction that there was a higher power assisting and caring for them. But these persons are more concerned now to appear very wise. Hence they act as if they had not known that Mordecai was a Jew, although Haman, in 5:15, had expressly so stated.
Est 6:14. In order that the narrative may make a very strong impression, there must now follow blow upon blow in quick succession. Hardly had the prophecy been uttered before its fulfillment begins. Accordingly the eunuchs of the king arrive, who press Haman to come to the banquet of the king.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
Est 6:1 sq. 1. Mordecai, according to Est 4:14, was convinced that if Esther would not undertake the rescue of her people, there would be found other means and ways. He had placed his trust less in her than in the general providence which watched over him. Now it is seen that though Esther had become willing to intercede, he was correct in his position. Even before Esther had ventured to express her request for her people, Mordecai himself was threatened with destruction; and before he could do anything to avert, or was even acquainted with his danger, it was already removed. It seems to have been a very insignificant means of which Providence availed itself for his protection. But it was one which, because it clearly lay above human co-operation, very definitely revealed the higher activity in his behalf: it was the sleeplessness of Ahasuerus. When the Lord is desirous of protecting or saving His people, something must serve Him of which men least thought before. Nothing is either too great or too small for Him.
Brenz: This is as it is written in the Psalm: He suffered no man to do them wrong; nay, He rebuked even kings for their sake. For the pious are so great a care to God, that in order to preserve them He does not even spare kings, but brings upon them various calamities.
Feuardent: Let every one bear in mind day and night that pious proposition of Augustine concerning the solicitude of God for His saints (Conf. iii. 11): So day and night dost Thou watch for my safe-guard as if, forgetful of Thy whole creation in heaven and earth, Thou consideredst me alone, and hadst no care for others.
Berl. Bible: O Lord, it is good to trust in Thee in the expectation of Thy help! Thou dost continually watch over the souls left in Thy care. And though Thou dost even wait until things have come to extremities, in order to cause the greater exercise of faith, so that none may despair of Thy assistance, still at the right time Thou art ever ready to help.What indeed is more natural than that a king cannot sleep, and that he should wish something read to him? It is this altogether natural, yet wonderful leading, which causes the hearts of those who experience it to rejoice! To all other hearts this is dark. This wise, divine Providence is still unknown to those who only live in and for themselves.
2. It does not appear that Ahasuerus had a restless night because he had grievous thoughts regarding the edict of destruction against the entire Jewish peeple. We find that he is far too careless, much too indifferent and superficial, for such a state of mind (comp. Est 3:15; Est 7:5). Still we would have naturally expected it, and it would have been well for him if it had been so. Had he been concerned about the great number of subjects that would thus be murdered, it would not have been necessary for him first to be reminded of the fact, through the reading of the history of his reign, that he had once been in danger of being murdered himself. He would have spontaneously remembered that only a Mordecai saved him from his fate of destruction. It would have been quite just that he, while robbing so many of their rest and sleep, whom he had destined to a doom of death, should be sleepless not one, but many nights. Would that every one whose eyes cannot find sleep at night might ask whether he had at any time or in any manner done wrong, which he should be in haste to set right; or whether he does not still owe thanks for some benefit received! Would that all those who must be awake at night were clearly conscious of the fact that there is Another who is also awake, and that He it is who imposes upon us this sleeplessness! Only when we look up to Him can we find true rest (comp. Psa 119:55).
3. It was soon after the marriage of Ahasuerus with Esther that Mordecai discovered and reported the conspiracy. Hence it was now over five years that this meritorious deed had been recorded, but not yet rewarded. Instead of reward, he was threatened with destruction. Those who are diligent for the welfare of others must often give up the hope of receiving their well-merited reward, even at the present day. What is more sorrowful still is the fact that one is often inclined to impugn both their motives and their work, as if they had not designed it or exerted themselves to effect it. Mordecais history may be very instructive and comforting to such. Ahasuerus too may here again as elsewhere remind us of a faithful watchman, who, however it may go with him, never sleeps nor slumbers. The works of the good are not only recorded on earth, where they are often and easily forgotten, but they are above all recorded in heaven. It is because God saves men by His grace that He will render unto all according to their workto those not obedient to the truth, but obeying unrighteousness, displeasure and wrath; and to the others according to their patience in good works, glory and honor (Rom 2:7). The seed that they have scattered, if it was good, is indestructible, and cannot be lost; and when the time comes, God will bring it to maturity, so that it may bear abundant fruit either to the sowers or to others (comp. Gal 6:9).
Brenz: Although men are unmindful of benefits received, and, as Pindar says, old thanks sleep, still our Lord God is never forgetful. When Gods time for reward has come, then even the zeal of enemies must assist Him, as we have seen in our history of Haman. However watchful and diligent our enemies may be in order to utterly destroy the pious, yet all their acts and labor form only the ground of the scene, which by the help of God is made to serve in perfecting the web of His leadings.Brenz: This is the right hand of the Most High which brings it to pass that those good things occur to the pious which the wicked hope for; and to the ungodly there come those evils which they have prepared for the godly. For the wicked are only the bearers of that power which is ever desirous of evil, and yet ever produces good.
Feuardent: In Haman thou perceivest how blind and erring is the temper of every ambitious man. He admires and regards only himself; he fancies himself worthy of all honor and reverence, and thinks that all things are due to him. He despises all others as obscure, abject and vile. It is well, however, that there is a God in heaven who laughs to scorn, contemns, judges and hurls down the proud from their seats, but glorifies the humble: so that all may learn to be wise concerning themselves, and to be content with moderate fortune. Let all the pious therefore take courage, nor ever fail or despair of divine help on account of the rage and greatest power or violence of tyrants. For Christ still lives; He reigns, and will forever reign; and He puts all His enemies under His feet.
Starke: Princes should have diligent care that none who have deserved well of the State or of themselves are left to go unrewarded (Gen 41:42; Dan 2:48). God knows our acts of kindness; and though we may regard them as lost or ignored, yet He can bring them to the light at the proper time to receive even a greater reward than if they had been immediately rewarded (Gen 41:12 sq., 39sqq.).
Est 6:6 sq. Feuardent: Diligently weigh the change of the right hand of the Most High. Haman had come into the court in order that by authority of the king he might destroy Mordecai by an ignominious death. Him, however, he is compelled to exhibit and proclaim to all in royal magnificence. He had come for the purpose of raising him aloft fastened upon a very high cross with the utmost shame. But on the contrary he is compelled to adorn this very man with regal splendors, to set him on the kings horse, and to herald him publicly as the monarchs most dear and honored friend. He had come with the design of bringing a capital charge against him; and he has the task of decorating his head with the royal diadem.
It seems to us to be like a divine irony in the destiny of Haman that he is himself compelled to assign the highest distinction to his mortal enemy, and that the king instructs him to impart this honor with his own hands, thus making his downfall the more striking and lamentable. But in fact this same truth is plainly shown daily over the entire ungodly world. The world must ever concede honor and glory to those who have deserved well respecting the welfare of mankind; but it is by no means its heroes and divinities who can claim this merit, though they have been regarded as the men of glory from antiquity (Gen 11:4).11 What the latter have accomplished has been deception, wars and vain labors. It is those whom the world regards least of all fit for their work that have done most for it. And whose will be all that the world has brought forth and fostered, and which it regards as great and beautiful? When the judgments of God shall have been consummated upon the world, lambs will pasture upon it as if upon their own pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat (Isa 5:17).
Est 6:12-14. 1. When Haman had bestowed the highest dignity on Mordecai, he hastened home, sad and with covered countenance. It is a bad sign that he knew nothing better to do in such an hour. Those are upon difficult paths who feel themselves humbled when they have been obliged to show deserved honor to others. Even in the estimation of the world it would have been far better if he had endeavored to change his enemy into a friend. And had he but reflected and correctly apprehended his present position, he would have recognized the warning voice of God, which endeavored in a firm, but yet kind tone to lead him in the way of his salvation. The final judgments of God are ever preceded by other heralds. They are indeed the announcement of the beginning of the revelations of the wrath of God; but they are also proofs of the long-suffering and love of God, which would, even in the eleventh hour lead to salvation. But it is a remarkable fact that when the worldly need their wisdom most, especially they who have usually been regarded as wise, just then they are utterly bereft of counsel; and hence their proud and stubborn hearts all at once become faint.
Feuardent: 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. Feuardent: 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.When our author permits these advisers to give expression of the superiority of the people of God, their words are much more to the point and weighty, as Feuardent says: 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 (Exo 8:19; Exo 19:25).
2. What Haman fears, and what is hinted at by his advisers, is the great truth that the Lord had laid a stone in Zion, upon which those falling upon it shall be broken. But it is just those that have placed themselves upon this stone, who are secure against all assaults by the world. And what the world daily and clearly demonstrates is the fact that it is not enough to recognize or apprehend the truth; but it is necessary also to give the heart a proper position with respect to it. Happy are they who need not fear, but who can console their hearts when the Lord says: I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm (Psa 105:15); He who toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye (Zec 2:8).
Starke: Self-conceit, obstinacy and selfishness are three shameful and harmful evils that have plunged many into ruin (1Ti 6:9). Wordly persons seek their highest good in external pomp and appearance (Psa 49:12). Self-love appropriates all things to itself, and concedes nothing to its neighbor.Men seek perishable honor; would that they strove diligently after the imperishable honor and glory of heaven!The manner of wicked advisers is, when the haughty fare too well, to goad them on to vindictiveness; but if something unforeseen checks them, they drive them to despair.God is the same always; He can bring it about that neither earth nor hell can prevail against us.The wicked are nearest destruction when they deem themselves farthest from it (Psa 73:7; Psa 73:18-19).
Footnotes:
[1][The original is very explicit, , and these were in the act of being called over.Tr.]
[2][The princes, the Parthemim, a term apparently of special distinction.Tr.]
[3][There is reason to think that the Persian kings were, in most cases, unable to read. (Rawlinsons Ancient Monarchies. Vol. IV., p. 18). Hence documents, which they wanted to consult, were read to them. Rawlinson.Tr.]
[4][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 (Herod. VIII. 5), and great care was taken that they should be properly recommended. (See Herod. III. 140; V. 11; VIII. 85; Thucyd. I. 138; Xenoph. Hel. III. 1 and 6, etc.). 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 till B. C. 465. Other benefactors waited for months (Herod. V. 11), or perhaps years (ib. IX. 107) before they were recompensed. Sometimes a benefactor seems to have received no reward at all (ib. III. 138). Rawlinson.Tr.]
[5][ He was waiting in the outer court, till it should be announced that the king was ready to grant audiences. Rawlinson.Tr.]
[6][The honors here proposed have been thought excessive, and certainly they are such as Persian monarch rarely allowed to subjects. Each act would have been a capital offence if done without permission. Still there is nothing contrary to Oriental notions in their being done under sufferance. Rawlinson.Tr.]
[7][The meaning of this clause is doubtful. Either it may be translated, and on whose head a royal crown is set, the reference being to the horse, which conceivably might bear an ornament like a crown on its crest; or and that a royal crown be set upon his head, the reference being to the man, and the suggestion being not to deprive the king of his own diadem, but to place on the head of the person about to be honored a crown similar in general character to the royal one. (Compare Est 1:11). The grammatical construction is in favor of the former rendering; but we have in evidence that Persian horses even wore crowns on their heads. Rawlinson. We may add that the latter idea is too fantastic for even Oriental taste.Tr.]
[8][There is nothing strange in the kings knowing the nationality and position of Mordecai. His nationality would probably have been noted in the book of the chronicles; and, when told that nothing had been done for him (Est 6:3), the king would naturally have asked his position. Rawlinson.Tr.]
[9][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. Ahasuerus regarding him as sufficiently rewarded, and not yet intending to do any thing more for him. Rawlinson.Tr.]
[10][It was also through shame probably; not wishing any of his acquaintance to accost him. Rawlinson. Tr.]
[11]According to Thiersch (Ueber den christliehen Staat, p. 209), Napoleon maintained that a prince who followed his conscience would be a good and noble governor, but not a great man.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The black cloud with which the church was covered, in the preceding chapter, begins in this to brighten up. Ahasuerus, unable to sleep, causeth the records of his kingdom to be read to him. This leads to Mordecai’s advancement. Haman begins to meet with mortification. Esther’s petition is presented.
Est 6:1
(1) On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
I beg the Reader to mark the opening of this chapter. The king could not sleep. We need not stay to ask wherefore he could not: but rather behold the cause in the LORD. Scripture tells us, it is the LORD that giveth his beloved sleep. But when the LORD hath any providences to be accomplished, he never can want the means to bring them about; even his enemies shall be restless, if such a state can better minister to his glory. In this sleepless state; the king commands the chronicles of his kingdom to be read to him. Reader! if you or I lay sleepless, let us read the book of GOD, or meditate in the night watches upon JESUS, and his great salvation. I beg the Reader to mark yet further, the particularity of the king’s choice, in having the Chronicles of his kingdom read to him. In those eastern courts soft music was made use of, to lull the monarchs to sleep. Reading the events of his kingdom, was more likely to induce thought than to cause forgetfulness. Dan 6:18 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
An Ever-watchful Providence
Est 6:1
‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,’ and it is small wonder that the master of one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, stretching from Ethiopia to India, should have often been distracted by the cares of his mighty empire and so have his sleep driven from him.
I. But we may read these words in another way, and then the simple statement will convey a pregnant and marvellous truth. Read it in the light of its far-reaching results and it utters the great truth of Divine Providence. On that sleepless night hung the very existence of that people ‘of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came’. That sleepless night was the cause of their preservation from decimation. Mordecai and Esther derived their moral strength and heroic patriotism from faith in and devotion to God. In a very real sense the atmosphere of the book breathes of God.
II. Some write over events like these the word ‘chance’ or ‘accident,’ and think that term covers the whole. What is chance? It is a word we use to hide our ignorance. There can be no such thing as chance from the standpoint of our religion. Our Master has taught us, in words we cannot forget, ‘that even the very hairs of our head are numbered. So minute is the Divine care and interest in His children. The teaching of science points to the elimination of chance as a factor in life. We Christians believe in a Divine and sleepless Providence watching over our world, our lives, and so we cry with triumphant joy, ‘All things work together for good to them that love God’. If the choice lies between inexorable, unconscious force and a supreme, personal, directing God, I, for my part, elect to believe in God, supreme, all-wise, all-watchful, all-loving.
III. Now, consider how this Divine Providence is seen working. It is seen working by ordinary, everyday means in which there is no trace of the miraculous, and this meets the great objection brought in the name of science against our teaching of Providence. It shows us Providence working by the means and methods of the everyday occurrences of life. We are apt to look for the working of Divine Providence in the catastrophes of history, not in its progress: this book shows the working of the ordinary affairs of life. This is what we mean, therefore, by Divine Providence the affairs of men and nations overruled and ordered for a definite, wise, and benevolent purpose.
H. Foster Pegg, Church Family, Newspaper, vol. xv., 1908, p. 414.
References. VI. 1. H. Melvill, Sermons, vol. i. p. 116. VI. 1-14. A. D. Davidson, Lectures on Esther, p. 213. VI. A. Raleigh, The Book of Esther, p. 134. VII. 1-10. A. D. Davidson, Lectures on Esther, p. 236. VII. 2, 3. J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Blessed Sacrament, p. 92. VII. A. Raleigh, The Book of Esther, p. 155. VIII. 1-7. Ibid. p. 180. VIII. 1-14. A. D. Davidson, Lectures on Esther, p. 257. VIII. 6. A. P. Stanley, Sermons on Special Occasions, p. 98. VIII. 7; IX. A. Raleigh, The Book of Esther, p. 205. VIII. 15-17; IX. 1-19. A. D. Davidson, Lectures on Esther, p. 278. IX. 1. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx. No. 1201. IX. 20-32; XL 3. A. D. Davidson, Lectures on Esther, p. 299. IX.-XI. A. Raleigh, The Book of Esther, p. 231. X. 3. C. Parsons Reichel, Sermons, p. 46.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Est 6
1. On that night could not the king sleep [the king’s sleep fled away], and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king [the Persian kings were unable to read].
2. And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.
3. And the king said, What honour 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.
4 And the king said, Who is in the court? [what high officer of state attends to-day?] Now Haman was come [early, according to Eastern custom] into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
5. And the king’s servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in.
6. So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour [in whose honour the king delighteth]? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?
7. And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour,
8. Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear [to wear it without royal permission would have been a mortal offence], and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head [the head of the horse]:
9. And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him. Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour.
10. Then the king said to Haman, Make haste [the honour has been too long delayed], and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew [stated to be such in the chronicles], that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.
11. Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour.
12. And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate [after honour he returned to service]. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.
13. And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If [oracular vanity] Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely [utterly] 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.
The Request of Esther
“NOW it came to pass on the third day,” that is, on the third day of the fast. Always observe the significance which is attached to the “third day” in the Bible. The phrase occurs again and again, and is always associated with some event of peculiar interest or solemnity. High above all other incidents of this kind stands the resurrection of our Lord from the dead which occurred on the third day. The Lord works to-day and tomorrow, and on the third day he sets the crown of perfection upon his labour. We cannot hasten the coming of the third day; our whole business is with a good use of the two preceding days. Granted that they are used conscientiously and devoutly, and the third day may be regarded as an assured harvest of honour and gladness.
The fasting referred to was of a distinctively religious kind. There was no element of mere health or bodily discipline in it; the purpose was to chasten the soul before God, and to invest the spirit with a sense of helplessness and submission, so that it might come before heaven in earnest and importunate prayer with every hope of prevalence. If one may so say, the fasting was not only personal but co-operative; the command of Esther being:
“Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise” ( Est 4:16 ).
Here is fasting by consent of parties. Those who were outside the palace were required to fast as if instead of, or along with, Esther, so as to make her own fasting a still deeper and more significant abstinence from food. The phrase is altogether peculiar, “Fast ye for me.” Not that Esther was to be exempt from fasting herself, but that the fasting of others was to enlarge her own religious ceremony. Thus men help one another: we pray for one another; we are thus transfused into one another; and so the spirit of selfishness is driven out of us, and we are filled with godly and noble concern for others, that they may be sanctified in all thought, passion, and service. Sooner or later we thus come to the religious line which underlies everything in human life. For many a day we have not a religious thought; we suppose we can manage our own concerns, and that shrewdness is the only religion we require; but life gathers itself up into agonies, crises, and moments of infinite peril, and only when we come to such points in life do we really feel our need of religious inspiration and spiritual sustenance; all externals are torn away, all secondary props are thrown down, all trust to self-inventiveness is discarded, and the soul stands as it were naked before God, pleading with him for mercy and for deliverance in time of need. Not until men are brought to this condition ought they to say anything about religion. Apart from all such experience their conversation can only be controversial, and indeed it may be but merely flippant. The man who has stood face to face with death, who has seen horror in its ghastliest form, who has had demands laid upon him as from the very tyrant of perdition; the man who has felt the intolerable burden of sin, the racking of an angry and tormenting conscience, is alone qualified to speak of the deep things which affect the religious aspirations and necessities of the soul. It is indeed a sacred experience, and may be a happy one, when we are driven beyond the usual lines of life, and are brought face to face with destiny, with eternity, with God. In such circumstances flippancy is blasphemy. We return from the interview blanched and withered, and bent down as if with a burden of years, but the soul is chastened and sweetened, and made more eager for divine fellowship. This is what we rejoice in as sanctified discipline or trial turned to its highest uses. Esther was in very deed in earnest; her soul burned; her spirit was aglow with one overmastering determination; she wrought with the energy of despair, and yet not altogether despair; for in the innermost recesses of the black cloud there were lines of light. The heart still hopes that God will appear even at the eleventh hour, and mightily deliver those who have thrown themselves upon him with all the resoluteness of trust and love.
Esther proved her earnestness by saying that she would “Go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.” This is heroism at its supreme point. Verily there are causes worth dying for. Many a Christian missionary has used the same expression in substance if not in terms. The Christian evangelist has felt that he must under all circumstances go forward to proclaim the gospel, to offer salvation, to magnify his Lord and Saviour; he has been told that if he go forward he will certainly be devoured; he has strengthened himself in God, and has said, I will go: if I perish, I perish. But who can perish if he go in the spirit of God, in the fear of God, and in the love of God? Will God disappoint such trust? Is it not his delight to come forth in a revelation of deliverance in the last extremity, and to magnify himself before his people? “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” The history of personal religion often indeed deepens into the gloom of despair, yet suddenly it emerges from that black night, and glows like a dawn upon the delivered and inspired soul. Better die a noble death than live an ignoble life. What is there in us of what we may call philanthropic venture or enterprise? Who has ever undertaken any great and thrilling task for God or for man? Have we not been content with commonplace duties? Have we not fallen back in the hour of supreme testing? Every man must answer these questions for himself. Blessed is the soul that can recall times of consecration, that could not hesitate as to duty, and of courage that went forward when there seemed to be nothing before it but inevitable and overwhelming danger.
Esther ventured into “the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house.” It was a critical moment. Humanly speaking, everything depended upon the mood of the king: if he were complacent all would be well, but if anything had ruffled his spirit, then indeed he would wreak his vengeance upon the nearest object. “When the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favour in his sight.” How eagerly she watched for the first token of the king’s feeling; how quick she would be in the interpretation of facial signs; how keen her ear in the detection of explanatory tones; happily, “The king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.” The king was in a right royal mood; he was indeed generous to excess, saying, with Oriental magniloquence, “What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.” All these were mere words, not meant to be taken in their grammatical import; yet they revealed the existence of a spirit or disposition upon which Esther might hopefully work. Esther answered, “If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.” Esther did not hasten the delivery of her request. She hastened slowly. Her determination is to secure a favourable opportunity that she may place her request before the king under the best circumstances. It is not only enough to have a good cause, we must watch for the right time for promoting it. Many a philanthropic endeavour or noble enterprise may be thwarted because of the unseasonableness of its introduction. It is hardly too much to regard the offer of the king as in a sense typical of the offer of God to all earnest souls. Here there is nothing of the nature of hyperbole ” God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think:” “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.” Let us come boldly to the throne of grace, as men who have great petitions to breathe in the hearing of a great king: the greater the king the greater the prayer that may be addressed to him: when God is the King who is approached, who can ask too much, provided it be asked with humility, submissiveness, and a grateful spirit? “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” The first banquet was thus held under favourable circumstances. The king said, “Cause Haman to make haste, that he may do as Esther hath said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.” We may be going to our death by way of the banqueting-table. Truly, “Things are not what they seem.” The festival may be the feast of death. The figure sitting nearest to us when the wine giveth its colour in the cup may be a concealed image of ruin. “At the banquet of wine,” that is, at the dessert, to use a modern expression the king said unto Esther, “What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.” Still Esther was in no undue haste. She was not quite sure that the ground under her feet was solid. In the cautiousness of her movement there was a religious restraint. How deeply she is pondering the king’s face all the while: she knows that if she has miscalculated her opportunity by one moment she will unquestionably perish. She is handling two-edged instruments, and she may at any instant inflict upon herself deadly injury. Let us learn from the caution of Esther. In many cases we might have made more progress if we had been less energetic. There is a time for waiting, for silence, for standing still, in the discipline of this mysterious human life. She went no further meanwhile than to propose a second banquet
“If I have found favour in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king hath said” ( Est 5:8 ).
This charioteer must keep her team well in hand. God may visit her in the night visions, and show her somewhat of her purpose: who can tell whether God will not also visit the king in the night season and commune with him from heaven?
The one man who was pleased with the arrangements which were proposed was Haman “Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart” Everything was now bright before him; not a cloud hung upon the horizon; not a moan of wind could be heard in the tranquil air. Haman had simply to walk along a path of roses to a throne of gold. Everything seemed to be delivered over to his hand. He was as one standing in the harvest-field, who had only to thrust in his sickle that he might carry away sheaves of joy. It was indeed a thrilling moment in the experience of Haman. Surely it is something to have the whole world given into one’s arms, to wear it as a jewel, play with it as a toy, use it as an investment, sit upon it as a throne, and in short do what one pleases with so huge a treasure. This was the spirit in which Hainan went forth that day. Yet even in this history there occurs the suggestive word “but”; so we read:
“But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai” ( Est 5:9 ).
Probably Mordecai was himself wrong in this instance; he might have stood up, or in some way he might have moved, in recognition of one so officially great. There is no need to excuse rudeness on the part of any man. Mordecai was probably rude, and by so much is to be condemned. Who could have thought that so slight an incident would have troubled so vast an enjoyment? Yet it did so. We have all had experience of this same emotion in human life. Little things that are awkward spoil great things that are pleasant. “Haman refrained himself,” for after all the advantages preponderated over the disadvantages, and arrangements had been made for bringing vengeance upon the head of Mordecai and his people. To this height of magnanimity did Haman rise! Then came Haman’s interview with his wife.
“Haman… called for his friends, and Zeresh his wife. And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king. Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow am I invited unto her also with the king” ( Est 5:10-12 ).
This is the speech of a selfish man. Everything turns upon what had been done to himself, and upon what he proposed himself to do. At this moment Haman may be regarded as the very incarnation of selfishness. Let us look steadily at the picture, and see whether we should like to exchange places with this man. The temptation would indeed be great were the offer made to us; at the same time it may be possible to see far enough into this hateful selfishness to make us hesitate whether we should accept his position were the opportunity convenient. Haman’s subjects were all little ones “the glory of his riches the multitude of his children, the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king;” not a single great thought, not one dream of human love, not one purpose of human deliverance; the man counts his wealth like a miser; numbers his jewels one by one, takes each up, looks at it in the light of the sun, and sets it down again with a murmur of self-gratulation. It was a poor mean life. Haman the miser is Haman the misanthropist. A man who can thus content himself with external treasures and passing honours is perfectly qualified to drive away from his path every enemy, even though he be called upon to commit murder itself. Nothing will stand in the way of the selfish man when his will is once set upon the accomplishment of a base purpose. Even at this point Mordecai was a shadow upon Haman’s glory.
“Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate” ( Est 5:13 ).
Now the disadvantages preponderated over the advantages. A living enemy may one day become an almighty foe. Mordecai is powerless enough to-day, but so long as his root is in the earth there is a possibility that he may grow and become strong. Something therefore must be done to rid the earth of this plague. Zeresh came to the rescue, saying:
“Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high, and tomorrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet” ( Est 5:14 ).
“Use thy high privileges for the sake of getting rid of thine enemies, and walk over the body of a dead foe like a hero who has conquered, and go into the feast and make thyself glad with wine.” The idea was pleasant to Haman; having an abundance of resources, he commanded the gallows to be made instantly. Is there not a gnawing worm in the heart of every joy? Is there not a Mordecai in the way of every ambitious man? We cannot have all things exactly our own way; there is one nail we cannot extract, one lock we cannot undo, one gate we cannot open, one claim we cannot pacify. In every path there would seem to be a deep gaping grave which even mountains cannot fill up; we throw great hills into that grave, and behold the hills sink in the abyss, and the grave remains wide open still. How near are some men to perfect bliss! If but one thorn could be extracted, then the men themselves would be safe in heaven; but that one thorn abides to remind them of their limitations, and to sting them with a useful sense of disappointment. But there is another woman now engaged in the drama. Esther is working at one end, and Zeresh is working at the other. Yet the battle of life is not conducted by human agents only: all hearts are in the hands of God, and all events are elements which he works into the web of his providence. Where the duel is between two human creatures, its issue might be death; but there is no clash of arms, no moral conflict, in which God himself does not take part. We must wait, therefore, to see how events come to explain the mystery of processes.
Now we come to what may be termed a mysterious spiritual action. We read of that action in the sixth chapter, which thus opens:
“On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.” ( Est 6:1 ).
Why could not the king sleep? Why did the king’s sleep flee away? We may attempt to trace this to physical causes, and satisfy ourselves with secondary explanations: the religious mind is not content with such suggestions: the spiritual man has no difficulty whatever in recognising the action of God in all the events of life, even in so trivial an instance as the sleeplessness of the king. Did not the king sleep well the night before? For many a night indeed he may have been sleeping well, but we now come to a point of time, “that night,” that particular, special, memorable night, that night sleep seemed to have fled from the earth, and the darkness was turned into the light of day. Is God working? Is some great visit about to be paid to a human mind? These are questions which bring with them mystery, whether we look upon them from a physical or from a spiritual point of view. The exceptional circumstances of life should always be regarded as having a possibly religious significance. To speak of them as if they were but part of a great commonplace is to degrade them, and to lose all the advantage which might accrue from a right recognition of their import. That night! We have already had occasion to remark upon the wonders which God accomplishes in the nighttime. God could come by day; he could come in the early morning; he could hold the sun in the heavens until he had fought out the battle with man; but it pleases him to come forth under the cover of the clouds, and to walk as if stealthily in the silence of night, that he may commune with men with the greatest advantage. The king “could not” sleep. The words “could not” occur rather significantly in such a connection as this. Remember the power of the king; the man who could not sleep was “Ahasuerus which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces.” Yet this Ahasuerus could not sleep! This is the man who “made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him: when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days.” Yet this man, with all his might and pomp, could not sleep, could not charm his eyelids to slumber, could not lull his brain into tranquillity. There is a “could not” in the history of all human power. Truly the king might have slept, for he lived in Shushan the palace; “the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble;” yet even in such beds no sleep was to be found. How was this? Everything that could be done to give the king rest was easily within command, and yet on this memorable night the spirit of sleep could not be wooed. Surely there is something of mystery in all human life. The kings of Persia were in most cases unable to read, and therefore readers were employed to read before the king. The records opened at a curious place. Why did they not open a page before, or a page later, if we may speak in modern phrase? or why did not the eye alight upon another scroll, instead of this particular writing? Strange indeed that those who read the records turned to the place where
“It was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus” ( Est 6:2 ).
Thus there is 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. The plot of the chamberlains “was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai’s name. And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.” Now the king’s conscience was touched, or his sense of justice; so said he, “What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? “The result showed that nothing had been done for him. The king was determined to rectify this matter, for he thought that by the pacification of conscience sleep might return. When Mordecai was honoured, Ahasuerus might fall into slumber. 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! It happened that Haman was at hand at that very moment.
“Haman was come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.” ( Est 6:4 ).
Thus there are two men as well as two women engaged in this plot the king and Esther, Haman and Zeresh. At that particular moment they were all thinking about Mordecai. The king was about to honour him, and Haman was about to murder him. What a problem is our life! What strange forces contend over the body of every man! The contention as between the angel and the demoniac spirit over the body of Moses is no mere image, or if an image it expresses the tragical reality. God would save us, the devil would destroy us; angels are our ministering servants, yet we have to fight against principalities, powers, and rulers of darkness: all life is a tremendous controversy, and the question often arises, On which side will the issue turn?
Now we shall discover what a man would do for himself were a suitable opportunity created for the indication of his desires. The king said unto Haman, “What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour?” What could Haman imagine but that he himself was the object of the king’s complacency? Yet Haman could answer the question without appearing to associate it with his own fortunes. He could be magnificently generous, and yet be all the while offering incense to his own vanity without appearing to be doing so. Had the king said, “What shall I do unto thee, O Haman?” so modest a person as Haman might have been troubled by the inquiry; but seeing that the inquiry is anonymous Haman is enabled to speak out of his own inflamed imagination:
“And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: and let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour” ( Est 6:7-9 ).
That is all that Haman would have done! He meant himself to be the hero of the hour, and this was the little and modest programme which he drew up! He must have been speaking generously for a rival or a friend, for surely there could be no taint of selfishness in so large a scheme! Fix upon Haman’s answer as showing what man would do for himself if he could. We may study ourselves by studying others. Every human heart should be a looking-glass in which we see ourselves. Haman’s answer did not displease the king; on the contrary, the king was ready to fall in with the generous suggestion. But did ever thunderbolt fall more suddenly from heaven than fell this answer upon the ears of Haman?
“Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken” ( Est 6:10 ).
Is not life a series of surprises? Is not the moment of highest ambition often next the moment of saddest humiliation? “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Haman had been lifted up to heaven by his own vanity: how awful to drop then into the abyss of shame! But the word of Ahasuerus did not admit of contention. Eastern kings were not accustomed to be argued with: they knew nothing of the eloquence of remonstrance. It was as much as Haman’s head was worth to offer one single word of opposition to the will of the king.
“Then took Hainan the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour” ( Est 6:11 ).
Truly it would be curious to analyse Hainan’s feelings at this moment! Could he believe that what he was doing was a reality: was it not rather a hideous nightmare to be shaken off by some violent effort? Had Haman been doing all this unconsciously, leading up almost to the coronation of the man whom he hated most? Again and again we see that we cannot tell what we are doing. Haman went home a sad-hearted man, and “told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him.” How he stumbled in the story, how he cried and whimpered, how his face interpreted his tones, and his whole attitude indicated his shame! The people understood the whole perfectly; they said:
“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. 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” ( Est 6:13-14 ).
A banquet without a blessing, a feast without satisfaction, glaring pomp and circumstances that mocked the eyes that had looked upon their own humiliation. These are the ironies of life, which plague and perplex the heart and vex the imagination. Haman would rather have been in the wilderness, crying aloud in solitude to relieve himself of pain of heart It is cruel to be forced to go to a feast when the heart is in a mood of sadness. “He that seeketh his life shall lose it.” Let all ambitious men read the story of Haman, and take warning. His story may not be repeated in its Oriental details, all the flash and colour may be wanting; yet, even when they have vanished, there remains enough in the tale to remind us that we too are ambitious, that we too may have ignoble thoughts towards our fellow-men, and that even we are not above resorting to the foulest practices to get rid of the Mordecai who stands in our way as a stumbling-block. Will it be regarded as commonplace or as trite, if here we venture once more to say, Beware of jealousy: it is cruel as the grave; it poisons every feast, it turns every goblet of wine into a fountain of poison: check it at its very beginning; better die to live than live to die.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XXV
THE STORY OF ESTHER
Esther
Our subject for this discussion is “The Story of Esther.” First, a few words by way of general introduction to the book. The book of Esther belongs to what is called The Haggiographa, that is, the writings. The books of the Old Testament are divided into three groups: The Law, The Prophets, and The Writings. This book belongs to the third group. The time of this book is during the sixty years of silence between the dedication of the Temple and Ezra’s return. It should be located right between the sixth and seventh chapters of Ezra) perhaps about thirty-eight or thirty-nine years after the dedication, or 478 B.C.
The author is unknown, but unquestionably he was a Jew, possibly Ezra or Mordecai, but probably neither of them. The style is against Ezra as author, while the high praise of Mordecai is against Mordecai as author and, besides there are no first personal pronouns in the book referring to the author. It was evidently written by a Jew contemporary with Mordecai. Some say Joakim, the high priest, wrote it, but this is hardly probable, since he does not seem to have had a knowledge of the Persian court sufficient for such a task. The date is about 450 B.C.
There is a great deal of difference in the way the book of Esther is regarded by scholars and others. Many Gentiles have but little use for it, because it is such a Jewish book. Ewald, a great German critic, says that it is like coming down from heaven to earth to read Esther. Luther said he wished the book had never been written it is so Judaizing. So you see this book is variously estimated. The Jews value it highly. They maintain that the book of Esther will last when the prophets have perished. They always read it with great joy and say its place in the canon of the Holy Scriptures is unquestioned. But in many editions of the Bible it was not included; it was not considered worthy of a place. But by a large majority of the scholars it is included in the canon, as rightfully belonging to the Holy Scriptures.
The book was undoubtedly written to give a historical basis or ground for the Feast of Purim. This feast was observed for centuries before Christ in the month of March. The book was written by a Jewish patriot to give the occasion of this feast. This book has some peculiarities. The name of God is not once mentioned. There is no mention of prayer in it. There is not even a reference to Jerusalem nor the Temple. But it must be remembered that it is a national book; written for national purposes and from a national motive. It is intensely Jewish, referring to a tragic incident in their history, recounting the marvelous way in which they escaped from a great crisis. There are two allusions in the book to facts in previous Jewish history, viz: Mordecai’s captivity (Est 2:6 ) and the dispersion of the Jews in all the provinces (Est 3:8 ).
The book is real history. The arguments against the historicity of book are as follows:
1. According to the history of Herodotus, and that is our chief authority for the history of this period, especially Persian history, the queen of Ahasuerus at this time was Amastris, whom he married many years before the events found in the book of Esther could have happened, and she never was put away, but maintained a great influence over him and largely shaped the course of his life. She was a Persian woman of very bad personal traits: unscrupulous and crafty, controlling the king in many matters. She was entirely different from what Esther is pictured as being. Our reply to that argument will come up in a later reply to it.
2. The law of the land compelled the Persian monarchy to marry in the families of his own relatives, or five of the noblest Persian favorites. Thus it would have been impossible for a Jewish woman to have been made the queen.
3. Esther is regarded as the queen in this book. But she could only have been the chief favorite in the royal harem. This is probably the only position in which we can place her and be in harmony with the facts.
4. It is argued that the book clearly indicates that Haman knew the race of Mordecai, but not that of Esther. How could he be ignorant of the race?
5. The appalling massacre of their enemies by the Jews, seventy-five thousand at one time, seems incredible. It looks like the fancy picture of a novelist. The reasonable thing is to deny that seventy-five thousand citizens of the Persian Empire could be killed or butchered in such a way.
6. It is highly improbable that the massacre should have been deferred for eleven months after it was decreed. Lots were cast, and according to the lot Haman fixed the date of the decree which he had secured from the king. It is neither improbable nor by any means impossible, but perfectly true.
7. The story is so well knit together as to resemble a fairy tale. But cannot God arrange his providences as well as a writer could arrange them? Is God’s mind inferior to a novelist’s?
8. The religious element is in the background, and scarcely referred to either directly or indirectly. It is true that God is not directly referred to, nor is prayer mentioned, but God is implied, and there may be a reason for the silence in the matter of religion. The writer may have found it better to conceal the element of the Jewish religion than to reveal the power behind the throne.
9. Its moral tone is unworthy of Scripture. The best characters in the book are represented as ruthlessly demanding this massacre and then demanding its repetition, not satisfied with the butchery of five hundred people in one city alone, only satisfied when three hundred more were put to death. Such is at variance with the Scripture, and seems to be unworthy of a place in the canon, they say.
Now the arguments in favor of the historicity of the book are as follows:
1. It is true to the Persian manners and customs, even down to the minutest details. It is true to the life, times, and customs of the Persian people. No man could have written this book unless he was familiar with the Persian life in all of its details. So at once it is evident that it cannot be fiction.
2. The character of Xerxes, or Ahasuerus, is correctly pictured. Point by point this king can be matched with the picture and record of Herodotus, the great historian. The man who wrote this book must have known this king, or he never could have written the book as we have it.
3. The existence of the Feast of Purim itself must have some historical occasion and is a mighty argument for the historicity of the book. Critics have tried to account for this feast which has existed now for twenty-three or twenty-four hundred years in other ways, but have utterly failed. The only way to account for the feast is to accept the feast as actual history.
4. The great council in the third year in the reign of Ahasuerus mentioned in the first of the book of Esther, that is, the feast actually occurred and was called together to plan an expedition against Greece. That expedition he carried out as secular history plainly records. Then were fought the battles of Thermopylae and Marathon on the land, and the sea contest at Salamis, when the hosts of Persia were scattered like chaff before the Greek patriots. It is a historic fact that this great assembly came together in the third year of the reign of Ahasuerus.
5. There is no historical discrepancy in the book. The most critical of the German critics has failed to point out a single incident which contradicts history.
6. It makes its appeals to the chronicles of the kings of Persia, as found in the last chapter. The writer would not have dared to do that writing as he did in the land of Persia, if his record had not been true and he had not authority for what he wrote.
7. It tacitly, though not openly, recognizes a providence in history, and was written to record the divine providence in relation to God’s chosen people. Much scripture is written for the very purpose of recording God’s dealings with his people in their preservation, and the incidents of their natural existence. Why should not one book then be written with this great event as its real background?
8. The ruthless demand of Mordecai and Esther for the massacre of their enemies must be studied in the light of their age and the circumstances that had been forced upon them.
9. God’s providences may produce as good and as well knit a story as the imagination of a novelist. To deny that is really to deny the workings of divine providence, or to deny that God is as great as man.
The classic name of Ahasuerus is Xerxes, the boundaries of whose empire were India and Ethiopia. The places of the scenes of the book are Shushan, the palace of the Persian king, and the provinces.
We may now pursue our study of the book itself by taking up the story chapter by chapter as follows:
Chapter 1 : In the palace of Artaxerxes there is a great feast, lasting 180 days; his magnificence is displayed. A second great feast is made for the people of Shushan. There are revelling and drinking till the men are all drunken. The king is intoxicated. He commands to bring his wife, Vashti, for his drunken lords to look at, that he might display her beauty. The refusal of the queen to come and be insulted, the anger of the king, the advice of one of his counsellors, the issuing of the decree that all women, throughout the Persian Empire should ever after obey their husbands about as foolish a decree as any man ever made.
Chapter 2 : A new queen is sought. A bevy of beautiful girls is brought one by one before the king. Among them is Esther, a Jewess, brought up by Mordecai. She succeeds in pleasing the king and becomes queen. A great feast is made in honor of her. About that time a plot is discovered by Mordecai in which two of the king’s chamberlains plan to assassinate the king. Mordecai reveals the plot.
Chapter 3 : The promotion of Haman, the Agagite, to be prime minister. Mordecai, the Jew, refuses to bow down to him. Haman is angered and mortified. He will not be content with putting to death one Jew, but asks the king on promise of payment of a large sum of money for permission to put to death the entire Jewish nation, on the condition that he replace his loss out of the money of those he killed. The decree is granted. The lot is cast to decide the day. The edict goes forth that on that day eleven months hence all the Jews are to be put to death.
Chapter 4 : The grief of the Jews. Mordecai commands Esther to intercede on their behalf before the king. She asks him to fast three days on her behalf. The answer to Mordecai, “Do not think that thou thyself shall escape their massacre?”
Chapter 5 : Esther appears before the king, taking her life in her own hands, for it might mean death to appear before the king unbidden. She is accepted. This incident is to Esther like the experience of Nehemiah in the reign of Artaxerxes, the son of this same king. Everything seemed to depend upon the whim of this childish king. She invites him to a banquet. She knows how to get on the best side of him. She asks Haman to be with them also. Haman hears the news that he is to banquet with the king and his queen, and he is very much elated. He tells his wife about it, then complains about this man, Mordecai, who will not bow the knee to him. His wife says, “Get ready a gallows fifty cubits high and hang Mordecai on it.” He follows his wife’s advice and prepares the gallows.
Chapter 6 : Incidents leading up to the honoring of Mordecai. The state records are read. The story is told how the king’s life had been spared by a man named Mordecai. He asks the question, “Has this man been honored? He saved my life.” Answer, “No.” While he is thinking about this, Haman comes in. The king asks him, “What shall I do to the one I desire to highly honor?” Haman, thinking it is himself that the king desires to honor, gives this suggestion: “Put the king’s robe on him and a chain about his neck, and have the chief man in the kingdom lead his beast through the streets of the city.” He said that, thinking that he was to be thus honored himself. “All right,” said the king, “You go and do that to Mordecai,” and he had to do it. There was no escape from the king’s command. Then he went home like a sulky boy because he had been whipped. As soon as he reaches home, word comes that he is to go to the banquet.
Chapter 7 : The banquet passed off without incident. Persians were very fond of drinking and banquets. The king wanted to know what Esther demanded. She wanted time to get him in a good humor, so she asked that he come to another banquet. At this the king declared that he was ready to grant her request even to half of the kingdom. Now the time had come. She began to beg for her life and for the life of her people. We may imagine how the king felt when he learned that his favorite queen was to be killed. See how she works him up. Yes, she was to be killed, for the decree did not exclude even her. “Who is going to kill my very idol, my favorite queen?” “Why, this wicked Haman is going to do it.” This is another psychological moment. Haman begins to beg and to plead with Esther for his life; he even climbed up on the couch where she is reclining. The king thinks that he is even trying to add insult to injury, and so his rage knows no bounds. The servants say that he has made a gallows fifty cubits high on which to hang Mordecai. The king commands them to take the wretch and hang him on it.
Chapter 8 : Mordecai is promoted to Haman’s place and becomes chief minister. Esther begs that the decree against the Jews be revoked, but the law of the Medes and Persians changes not. The only thing that can be done is to issue another decree, so the king asks her what she will have. She and Mordecai have talked it over and she is ready for that request. She asks that the Jews have the privilege of slaying their enemies. There was no other way out of it. This shows Mordecai’s shrewdness and ability. There was great rejoicing among the Jews at this turn of affairs.
Chapter 9 : The day arrives. The Jews are prepared. The nobles help the Jews because a Jew is prime minister. The nobles knew on which side their bread was buttered. So they help the Jews and altogether, seventy-five thousand of the people are slain; five hundred in Shushan the palace alone. Esther and Mordecai make another request. Esther wants the massacre repeated. She wanted another day of butchery. I do not know why. The king grants it. There is great rejoicing among the Jews. This occurred on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, or our month of March. Mordecai and Esther fix this day in which all the Jews shall celebrate this great event. She has the edict issued under the seal of Mordecai the prime minister, and so the feast is established. That is how this feast originated. Every year on the fifteenth of March, all the Jews celebrate it. They do not celebrate it in a very religious fashion now. Still they regard it as a great day.
Chapter 10 : This chapter speaks of the greatness of Mordecai, as the prime minister of the Persian king.
Now let us look at the chief characters of the book, as follows:
1. Ahasuerus : There is no question but that this Ahasuerus is the Xerxes of history, and is an exemplification of despotism. He was an absolute monarch, a despot. In him we see the outworkings of despotism. Caligula of the Roman Empire was a despot, and his despotism drove him mad. It is despotism that made this king, Xerxes, ridiculous in the eyes of the world. He was the slave of his ministers and servants. He knew nothing but what they told him. He was absolutely dependent upon them, for all of his information. He was like a child in his silly notions. His servants and nobles deceived and tricked him, and he was so suspicious of them that he was a very slave to his slaves. He was afraid of them, and they knew that if he suspicioned them, he would kill them, and so he was afraid of them, and they were afraid of him. He was the slave also of his passions. He spent his time drinking, eating, banqueting and satisfying his gluttony and lust. He was not much above the beast. Because the Hellespont wrecked his ships, he ordered it to be flogged. He was the slave of his whims and fancies, the slave of his temper and his feelings. He knew no control but his own will, the tool and the plaything of the favorite of his harem, willing to ruthlessly murder thousands of his own subject to satisfy his favorite queen. We must, however, say for him that he recognized the services of Mordecai in saving his life, and honored him. But he did this because it was called to his attention, and not because he sought it out or remembered it.
2. Vashti : She has been honored above many women in history. She is recognized as one who would forfeit her position and crown rather than to sacrifice her honor and her pride. She refused to obey the king at the risk of her own life. But she maintained her dignity and self-respect. She was valorous and womanly. She was having a feast with the women, and it is thought by some that she may have refused to do the king’s bidding because she had taken a little too much wine, hence was not much disposed to be ordered, but I rather think this is not true. She was a rare gem in the midst of that corrupt Persian Court.
3. Haman : This man’s name is a synonym for vanity and fulsome pride, ruthlessness and savagery, deceit, cruelty, and all that is ignoble. He is the incarnation of insane conceit. Honors made a fool of him. Now pride in itself is not such a bad thing. A man may have pride of the right sort and really be helped by it. But a man with this kind of pride wants everything in the universe to be his slave. Even preachers may have this disease. They sometimes think that everybody and everything ought to bow down to them. Because Mordecai would not bow his knee to Haman his vanity was hurt. When a man thus allows his vanity to rule him, he sees everything out of proportion. Haman could not be satisfied with the murder of Mordecai, but he must do the big thing and kill the nation. Vanity is insatiable, and often causes wars. It was this man’s vanity that led to his downfall.
4. Mordecai : He is one of the great characters of the book. He was a Jew and a poor one, but he was loyal to the king, under whose government he lived. The Jews have become citizens of nearly every nation in the world. Here we have a Jew the prime minister of the empire. One of the greatest prime ministers that Great Britain ever had was a Jew. Mordecai was faithful to his king. He was elevated to be prime minister, but it did not give him the “big head.” When he was led through the streets he did not feel puffed up. He had sense enough to know that that sort of thing would not last long. Here is a man who waited and worked. We do well to learn that lesson working and waiting and doing your best will bring its reward, in due time. God always has a place ready for the man who works and waits and does his best.
5. Esther : She was brought up in the family of Mordecai and trained by him. She was trained well beyond any doubt. She was beautiful but not spoiled by her beauty. She was able to use her beauty in the right way. Though she was the favorite of the king and was successful with him, it did not spoil her. She remained loyal to her uncle and did not forget him. Neither did she lose her religion when she became a queen in the most wicked court of her times. There is no mention that there was prayer connected with the three days fast, but doubtless there was. She takes her life in her own hands for her people. She knew how to manage the king. She outwitted the cunning Haman. She was severe. She was one of the greatest heroines of history, and she has been called by many the saviour of her people. She was beautiful, talented, brave, shrewd, and a womanly woman, yea, one of the greatest of women.
QUESTIONS
1. At what point in the history of Israel does the book of Esther come in?
2. Who wrote the book and when?
3. What of the canonicity of the book?
4. What was the purpose of the book?
5. What are the peculiarities of the book?
6. What two allusions in the book to facts in previous Jewish history?
7. Is the book real history and what arguments prove and confirm?
8. What was the classic name of the Persian king who married Esther and what were the boundaries of his empire.
9. What was the place of the scenes of the book?
10. Give the story of the book, chapter by chapter.
11. Give a character sketch of Ahasuerus, Vashti, Haman, Mordecai, and Esther, respectively.
12. What great lessons of the book and at what points in the story is God’s hand most plainly seen?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Est 6:1 On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
Ver. 1. On that night ] That very night before Mordecai should have been hanged on the morrow morning, and so early that Esther could not have begged his life, would she never so fain. God will appear for his poor people, , in the nick and opportunity of time, 1Pe 5:6 . He will be seen in the mount, he will come as out of an engine.
Could not the king sleep
And he commanded to bring the book of records
Of the chronicles
And they were read before the king
Omnia sunt ingrata nihil fecisse benigne est.
But God was not unrighteous to forget his work and labour of love, Heb 6:10 , though men were unthankful. Vetus gratia dormit. (Pindar). Per raro grati reperiuntur (Cicero).
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Esther Chapter 6
But the unseen God was at work that night. The king could not sleep (Est 6 ), else there had been a bitter feast for Esther before the feast with the king. “On that night the king could not sleep.” He asked for the record of the kingdom. The providence of God was at work. It was found written that Mordecai had told of the treacherous chamberlains, and the king asks, “What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai?” “Nothing,” said the servants. At that very moment Haman comes to the court. He wanted to see the king, to ask for Mordecai’s life. Little did he know what was in the king’s heart. He is ushered into the presence of the king, at his request, and the king, full of what was in his own heart, was providentially led to ask, what he was to do for one that he wished to honour. “What shall be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour?”
Haman had no thought of any one but himself. Thus he was caught in his own snare. He asked with no stint. He suggested to the king the highest honours – honours higher than ever had been given to a subject before. “For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head; and let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour” (vers. 7-9). So the king at once says to Haman, “Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.”
Oh, what a downfall! What horror of horrors must have filled the heart of this wicked man, that he whom he most hated of all men living, was the very one whom he himself as the chief noble of the empire was compelled to pay this honour to, according to his own suggesting! However it was impossible to alter the king’s word. “Then took Haman the apparel, and the horse and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour.” Very differently did Haman return to his wife and friends that day. “Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered. 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.” Such is the secret feeling of the Gentile as to the Jew. It may be all very well for the Gentile, as long as the Jew is driven out of the presence of God, but when the day comes for exalting the Jew, Gentile greatness must then disappear from the face of the earth. The Jew is the intended lord here below. The Jew will be the head, – the Gentile, the tail.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Est 6:1-9
1During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. 2It was found written what Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 3The king said, What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this? Then the king’s servants who attended him said, Nothing has been done for him. 4So the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace in order to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared for him. 5The king’s servants said to him, Behold, Haman is standing in the court. And the king said, Let him come in. 6So Haman came in and the king said to him, What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor? And Haman said to himself, Whom would the king desire to honor more than me? 7Then Haman said to the king, For the man whom the king desires to honor, 8let them bring a royal robe which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed; 9and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble princes and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, ‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.’
Est 6:1 the king could not sleep This not only shows the unseen hand of God (the LXX is specific), but also the results of eating too much the night before at the banquet! This same divine action occurs in Dan 2:1; Dan 6:1; and even in Gen 31:40. There is certainly similarity between the lives of Joseph, Daniel, and Mordecai.
the book of records, the chronicles These would be official court records (cf. Est 2:23; Est 10:2).
Est 6:2-3 The role reversal is beginning. The king has become aware of Mordecai’s service and lack of reward from several years previous. It is amazing that the king was having read such old events!
Est 6:3 The Anchor Bible, vol. 7B, p. 64, mentions that Mordecai’s lack of reward would have reflected badly on the king (cf. Herodotus 3.138,140; 5.11; 8.85; 9.207; Thucydides, Peloponnesian Wars 1.138).
Est 6:4 Who is in the court Haman had apparently come early in the morning to request the impaling of Mordecai. What irony!
Est 6:5 Haman’s early arrival shows his intense and continuing hatred of Mordecai. He is there to get permission to kill him and hang him high!
Est 6:6 ‘What is to be for the man whom the king desires to honor’ The king is referring to Mordecai, but Haman thinks it is himself!
and Haman said to himself Pride is an evil master!
Est 6:8-9 There seems to be a series of three things: (1) a royal robe which had been worn by the king; (2) a royal horse which had been ridden by the king and on whose head was the symbol of the Persian crown; and (3) a royal procession, led by the most notable princes, through the streets on this horse with its bedecked rider and a great proclamation.
Est 6:9 The purpose of honoring Mordecai was to encourage loyalty and service to the king!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
On that night. The time for Divine action had come. See App-23.
could not the king sleep. God uses small things to accomplish His purposes. See note on Jdg 3:21. We know not what He used here. But the time had come for Him to work.
commanded. Hebrew. ‘amar.
they . . . read. The very portion which God ruled for the working out of His plan.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 6
Now that night king Ahasuerus couldn’t go to sleep ( Est 6:1 ),
He’s lying there restless. No doubt God was in the restlessness. And so he said,
bring to me the chronicles [the history]; read to me ( Est 6:1 ).
What’s more boring than history? “Read to me the history books.” Probably figured he’d go to sleep while they were reading. And as they were reading the history, the records, he came to the place where Mordecai had warned him of the assassination plot. And he said, “What was done to reward that man who warned me of the assassination?” And they said, “Nothing.” He said, “Well, surely he should be rewarded.”
And so in the morning, when Haman came whistling in, the king said to Haman,
Haman, what should the king do for the man that he seeks to honor very highly? ( Est 6:6 )
Man, I love the way God turns the tables!
And Haman thought, Who would the king want to honor more than me? ( Est 6:6 )
You know, this time he was really pride, puffed-up, and blind. “Who does the king want to honor more than me?” And so, thinking that the king was referring to him, he sort of expressed what was in his heart, really.
Let the king’s royal robes be put upon him, and the king’s crown upon his head and let him be driven in the king’s chariot through the city, and send the couriers before him crying out, Behold the man whom the king delights to honor ( Est 6:8 , Est 6:9 ).
And so the king said, “Good idea. You make the arrangements,”
and do all that you’ve said for Mordecai: see that nothing is lacking ( Est 6:10 ).
So Mordecai had the king’s robe put on him, the king’s crown, and he went through the streets in the chariot as they cried out, “Behold the man whom the king delights to honor.” And Haman headed for home. He said, “You can’t believe what’s happened to me.” And, of course, his counselors said, “Hey, you know, this is a bad day. Your star is in a bad position, man. You know, this doesn’t look good. Your star is descending”
And so while he was there and just, you know, talking about his problems, they came in and said, “Hey, you’re going to be late for the queen’s banquet. You’d better get going.” “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Est 6:1-3
Introduction
HAMAN GETS THE SHOCK OF HIS LIFE;
THE HIGHER THEY ARE THE FARTHER THEY FALL
There is hardly anything in the literature of mankind that presents a more dramatic contrast of the highest status and the lowest ever attained by a man on one single day than that which is here revealed in the person of Haman the great Prime Minister of the Persian Empire under Xerxes.
On the morning of that crucial day, he was at the very pinnacle of his power and glory, anticipating that within that day he would execute his most hated enemy, enjoy a banquet along with the king himself in the apartment of the queen of Persia, supposing, as his advisers had suggested, that he would hang Mordecai and then “go merrily with the king unto the banquet” (Est 5:14).
However, during the previous night, God had been at work to frustrate the purpose of this evil genius of the devil, whose purpose was to destroy the Israel of God from the face of the earth. Before the sun went down, Haman would be hanged on his own gallows, his hated enemy Mordecai the Jew would be appointed in his place, and his posterity of ten sons would be destroyed. Zeresh would see a crucifixion all right, but not that of Mordecai.
Where in the literature of all nations is there anything else that compares with such a dramatic reversal of one’s status as that which is here recorded? Haman knew that Mordecai was a Jew, of course; but considering it beneath his dignity to gratify his spirit of hatred upon a single individual, he had determined to destroy the whole Jewish race. Several things the fool did not know. He did not know that the foolish edict he had maneuvered Xerxes into sending forth would also result in the murder of the queen. He might have been able to bring that about, however, if he had refrained from his lust to murder Mordecai at once.
He did not know that Mordecai had saved the king’s life, nor that the record was written in the chronicles of the king, nor that the king had encountered a sleepless night, nor that the king would be interested in rewarding Mordecai at the very moment when he would appear for the purpose of asking the king’s permission to hang Mordecai. Speaking of surprises, where was there ever anything that matched the one that confronted Haman on his way to “go merrily with the king unto the banquet”?
Est 6:1-3
THE KING’S DECISION TO REWARD MORDECAI
“On that night could not the king sleep; and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles, and they were read before the king. And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains of those that kept the threshold, who had sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus. And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been bestowed on Mordecai for this? Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him.”
The king was resolved to reward Mordecai; but even before he had time to announce his decision, Haman had arrived for the purpose of asking the king’s permission to hang Mordecai! What an inopportune moment for Haman’s request!
E.M. Zerr:
Est 6:1. Any person is likely to have wakeful nights occasionally. Darius passed such a night (Dan 6:18). But we can understand the cause in his case, for be had just signed a decree that he felt was unjust. In the case of Ahasuerus it was different. It is true he also had authorized a decree that was unjust, but he had not learned of that as yet. There was no apparent reason for his sleeplessness, yet we are sure it was just another item in the wonderful drama being carried on by the Lord. When a person is unable to sleep, and no reason for it is known, he naturally seeks something to “pass the time.” In the case of a king the most natural subject of interest would be the records of his kingdom, so this king called upon his servants to read them to him.
Est 6:2. The servant “happened” to read the account of an attempt upon the life of the king. Now I will request my readers to turn to Est 2:21-23 and note the comments on those verses. In the present paragraph we see the “loose ends” of the story being gathered up. The account showed the plot of the conspirators and their exposure. It told also of the patriotic service of Mordecai in getting the information to the king that saved his life. But no further action was taken as far as the record went. It has always been the custom at least to give a “reward of merit” of some kind to one who has performed an unusual service to another, and especially to as important a person as a king. But the one doing the reading said nothing along that line while pronouncing this chronicle from the official document.
Est 6:3. The king evidently thought the full account had not been read. His question, then, as to what had been done in appreciation of Mordecai’s action, was in the nature of request for the complete story. But he was told that he had heard all of the story, that nothing had been done for Mordecai.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
In the economy of God vast issues follow apparently trivial things. A sleepless night is in itself transient and almost trivial. Yet it has often been a time of revelation and surprise, affecting the after years. In the case of Ahasuerus it was another of the forces by which God moved to preserve His people. To while away its hours, the records were read to the king, and a deed of Mordecai which had passed from his memory led to hasty and strange happenings, which must have filled the heart of Haman with new anger and terror. His enemy was suddenly lifted from obscurity to the most conspicuous position in the kingdom -he had become a man whom the king delighted to honor. In the words of Zeresh, wife of Haman, there was manifest that strange fear of God’s ancient people which had wrought so much in their history.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Gratitude for a Forgotten Service
Est 6:1-14
There was a divine providence in this royal sleeplessness. On the very next night Haman would be hanging on the gallows, and it would be too late for him to render this honor to the hated Jew. Therefore, on this night the king must be reminded of a forgotten incident, must ask if the chivalrous informant had been rewarded, and must, through Haman, decree his splendid reward. When we are suffering indignity at the hand of our enemies, who seem to pass out of our lives without making reparation, let us turn to this story, and remember that as honor came to Mordecai through Haman, so honor and reparation shall accrue through the very circumstances and people that seem most threatening. The wrath of man is made to praise God.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Esther: Chapters 6-10
Chapter 6
A Sleepless Night, And Its Results
It has been well said that although the name of God is not in this book, the hand of God is plainly to be seen throughout. Nowhere is this more clearly manifested than in the present chapter, every verse of which attests His overruling providence and His unfailing love and care for His people, in a wrong place though they were. He is behind the scenes, it is true; but, to use the expression of another, He moves all the scenes that He is behind.
It is not until the last night that He interferes:
God never is before His time,
And never is behind.
To all appearances, Satan was to have everything his own way, at least so far as Mordecai was concerned. In Hamans tessellated courtyard the now completed gallows stands fifty cubits high. The lofty Amalekite is already gloating over the death of the unyielding descendant of Kish, and tosses restlessly upon his couch as he waits for the first glimmer of the morning for the execution of his wrath. He is not, however, the only restless one, for on that night could not the king sleep.
In itself this was apparently a very trifling thing. How many a crowned head before and since has turned uneasily on its pillow and courted slumber in vain! But in this case, how much that sleepless night was to mean to Mordecai, and all his condemned brethren!
In his insomnia, the king, at last despairing of natural rest, called for the strangest soporific ever sought. He commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king (ver. 1). Surely in those bloodstained annals there was enough to have driven away sleep forever. But One is overruling all, and the august Iranian emperor is but as a puppet in His hand to be moved by Him at will.
As the records of his reign are read aloud in his hearing, it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the kings chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hands on Ahasuerus (ver. 2). How well had all been timed! He who knows the end from the beginning had caused this service to be here recorded. He had also so ordered it that, at the time it was rendered, the preoccupied monarch should overlook entirely the one to whose faithfulness he owed his life. To Mordecai this may have seemed at the time like base ingratitude, though we read of no word of complaint. Possibly he had learned to endure as seeing Him who is invisible. At any rate it was now made manifest that there was a divine reason for the kings forgetfulness. God had timed everything well, and He makes everything beautiful in its season.
Do these pages meet the eye of some tried and discouraged saint? Have you been overwhelmed at times by a nameless dread as though God had utterly forgotten you, and you were cast off forever? Have you wearied yourself devising one human expedient after another, in the vain hope of averting threatened disaster by the arm of flesh? Learn, then, from Gods dealings with His servant of old that His heart and hand are for you still. And if God be for us, who can be against us? He has heard every sigh; noted, and stored in His bottle, every tear; taken account of every cry of anguish; heard every confiding prayer. His arm is in no-wise shortened; His ear is in no sense deaf to your cry. At the appointed time He will awake in your behalf, and you shall know that it is the God of all grace with whom you have to do. Only look up: be not cast down, for you are ever on His heart; and if you just leave all with Him, He will make your affairs His care. Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. How sweet the words! He careth. He, the most high God: yea, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ careth. He is no indifferent spectator-no callous, unconcerned looker-on; but, as no one else can, He careth for you. Assured of this, may not the reader and the writer well cry, I will trust, and not be afraid?
The hitherto neglectful king is at once aroused as his memory is refreshed in regard to Mordecais service in days gone by. And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the kings servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him (ver. 3). He had shown himself to be a loyal and faithful subject, despite the fact that he was of the children of the captivity; but though the king had profited by his devotion, he allowed him to go utterly unrewarded, while bestowing favors with lavish hand on so worthless a character as the selfish and despicable Haman. Such is the favor of princes. Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in time of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit (Jer 17:5-8). How sharp the contrast between the time-serving man of the flesh, whose eyes are fixed on man for his reward,-doomed ever to disappointment,-and the God-fearing man of faith, who rises above all creature-help to the Most High Himself! Mordecai has left all in His hands. He is now about to make his way prosperous.
And yet even at the last moment how active is Satan in his efforts to thwart Gods purpose of grace! At this moment a step is heard in the outer court of the royal sleeping apartment. And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the kings house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. And the kings servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in (vers. 4, 5).
If God is at work, so is the great adversary. Haman, still burning with wounded vanity, is early on the scene. He would forestall all further slights from Mordecai by getting the easily-influenced and luxurious despot to sign the order for the Jews execution as soon as he shall rise. Then, the hated object out of the way, he will be in good humor for the festive board. He is, however, but to learn that those who walk in pride, God is able to abase. He has reached the highest pinnacle of earthly glory to which he can lawfully aspire. He is about to be hurled into the lowest depths of shame and ignominy.
The kings first words fairly cause his head to swim with wild exultation, and seem to point so the early fulfilment of his most cherished dreams. What, asks his royal master, shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor? It is hardly to be wondered at that the vain-glorious prince whose only concern was the advancement of his own interests thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself? What a place that same myself had in this conceited, wretched mans mind! And what a snare is self-occupation, in any form, to the saint of God! Pride is distinctly said to be the cause of Satans fall. Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty; thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground (Eze 28:17). And when giving instruction concerning overseers in the house of God, in the New Testament, the Holy Ghost says, Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil (1Ti 3:6).
When we see pride in another, how hateful a thing it is! Haman is the very incarnation of it; and how we loathe so despicable a character! Yet, alas, how readily we tolerate in ourselves what is so detestable in others. The proud He knoweth afar off, but the meek will He guide in judgment; the meek will He teach His way.
Filled with a sense of his own self-importance, Haman replies to the kings question in the boldest manner. He would have the man whom the king delights to honor appear before men as king himself in all but name. That, too, might come later if the populace but grew used to him appearing in royal garb, and the kings most noble princes were made to have a due sense of his power and ability. How plainly the Amalekite shows himself! The hand which of old was upon the throne of Jah is now stretched out to grasp the throne of the world! And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honor, let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: and let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the kings most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honor, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor(vers. 7-9). Could human pretension and ingenuity go farther? Intending all this for himself, can there be any doubt regarding his desire to have the people behold him in all the outward trappings of royalty, in order to accustom their minds to a future usurpation of imperial power?
Did the king begin to see beneath the surface? Did he already commence to mistrust his favorite? Or is it only in our imagination that we see a touch of genuine irony, meant to cut to the very quick, in the brief and pithy command, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew that sitteth at the kings gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken. Did the royal eye detect the way the color came and went in Hamans face? Did it note the downcast countenance and the disappointment too deep for words that marked him as he turned away without reply? We do not know. But the readiness with which the erstwhile favorite is given up to a richly deserved judgment later in the day, would imply a lack of confidence already cherished in his heart.
Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor (ver. 11). A terrible come-down, surely, and a remarkable turn of events! No wonder that we read, And Mordecai came again to the kings gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered (ver. 12). Did Mordecai see in this sudden transition from ignominy to honor the pledge of his deliverance from condemnation? It would seem so, for he made no effort to resist the changing of his attire on this occasion. Haman too reads a lesson in it all, and in shame and confusion of face hurries from the public gaze to the seclusion of his own house. He knows it is in vain now for him to seek permission to hang Mordecai. The gallows stands like a monument to folly and vanity, still towering up to heaven, casting a shadow that speaks of approaching disaster.
And Haman told 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 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 (ver. 13). Little comfort indeed does he find in this, which is all too true, as the sequel shows.
And while they were yet talking with him, came the kings chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared. His enthusiasm is greatly dampened. He would, without question, prefer retirement until he has regained his accustomed poise and self-confidence, but the kings command must be obeyed. Yesterday he would have needed no chamberlains to summon him. To-day all is changed. Already he has been greatly humbled. Ere the remaining hours of light pass, he shall have more crushing experiences still, and shall prove to the full the truth of the ominous prophecy of his wife and friends.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Est 6:1
I. We have here a wonderful lesson in the illimitable plan of Providence. How events ripen to the close. How crime matures itself to its doom. The pathway of God’s providence is a fixed idea; the pathway of Satanic design is a fixed idea; wide apart, they meet at last, only that the ruin of the one and the triumph of the other may be completed.
II. How from the wide sweep of immense providences we descend to trifles. How the insignificant circumstance is the culminating and completing link in the great chapter of causation. “In that night could not the king sleep.”
III. How remote, and yet how distinct and minute, are the operations of God’s providence! Here was a circumstance connected with the history of the Church, with the preservation of God’s people, and with the conservation of Divine truth and the advent of the Messiah. How small a place is Shushan and the whole of Media. Where are they all now but in the words of that little episode?
IV. See the perfect compatibility, nay, unity of prayer with the plans of Providence. The prayers of Mordecai, the mourning of the Jews-they are the operating causes round the sleepless couch of the king.
V. May we not ask ourselves the meaning of some sleepless nights, some troubled days? What spirit has pressed your brow, and given you troubled dreams and sleep? The same that disturbed the king. Is it successful, or has the morning light dispelled all?
E. Paxton Hood, Sermons, p. 357.
I. It is hardly affirming too much to say that on the sleepless night of the Persian king was made to depend our rescue from everlasting death; at least, and undeniably, the restlessness of the king was one of those instruments through which God wrought in carrying on His purpose of redeeming our race through a Descendant of David according to the flesh. Observe, then, how wonderful is God in that He can accomplish great ends by insignificant means.
II. Notice how little there was which could be called supernatural interference, how simply, without any violence, the Divine providence effected its purpose. It was in no way singular that the king should be restless; no miracle was required to explain his choosing to hear the records of his empire; everything was just what might equally have happened had matters been left to themselves, in place of having been disposed and directed by God.
III. We are mightily encouraged in all the business of prayer by the broken rest of the Persian king. Look from Israel delivered from Pharaoh to Israel delivered from Haman, and we are encouraged to believe that God will not fail even us in our extremity, seeing that He could save His people through such a simple and unsuspected process as this.
IV. The agency employed on the king was so natural, so undistinguishable from the workings of his own mind, that he could never have suspected a Divine interference, and must have been perfectly at liberty either to do or not to do, as the secret impulse prescribed. It depends on ourselves, on the exercise of our own will, whether the suggestions of God’s Spirit be cherished or crushed, whether the impulses be withstood or obeyed.
H. Melvill, Sermons, vol. i., p. 116.
References: Est 6:1-G. W. McCree, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 11. Est 6:1-14.-A. D. Davidson, Lectures on Esther, p. 213. 6-A. Raleigh, Book of Esther, p. 134. 6-7-Ibid., p. 155. Est 7:1-10.-A. D. Davidson, Lectures on Esther, p. 236. Est 7:3.-Old Testament Outlines, p. 89. Est 8:1-7.-A. Raleigh, Book of Esther, p. 180. Est 8:1-14.-A. D. Davidson, Lectures on Esther, p. 257. Est 8:6.-J. Edmunds, Sermons in a Village Church, p. 282. Est 8:7 -ix.-A. Raleigh, Book of Esther, p. 205. Est 8:15-17 -ix. 1-19.-A. D. Davidson, Lectures on Esther, p. 278. Est 9:1.-Spurgeon, vol. xx., No. 1201. Est 9:20-32-xi. 3.-A. D. Davidson, Lectures on Esther, p. 299. Est 9:27, Est 9:28.-G. Moberly, Sermons at Winchester College, p. 324. 9-11-A. Raleigh, Book of Esther, p. 231. Est 10:3.-Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 335.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
THE SLEEPLESS NIGHT AND MORDECAIS EXALTATION
CHAPTER 6
1. The sleepless night (Est 6:1-3)
2. The exaltation of Mordecai (Est 6:4-11)
3. Haman anticipates his doom (Est 6:12-14)
Est 6:1-3. A sleepless night is the next event. The king wanted to sleep but sleep refused to come. What was the cause of his insomnia? Some say too much excitement and anxiety in connection with his kingdom; others that he was speculating on the petition the queen would make on the morrow. The ancient Jewish expositors say that God took his sleep away from him. And this is the correct answer. His wakefulness was ordered by God. Next God puts it into his heart to order the book of record of the chronicles to be brought so that they might be read to him, not to produce sleep but to spend the sleepless night in a profitable way. Once more we see the hand of God in directing the reading of the record of Mordecais discovery of the plot against the kings life and how he had saved the king. The deed of Mordecai had been unrewarded through the wise purpose of the Lord; and now it is brought to light by the same providence. In that memorable, sleepless night the machinations of revenge, so finely spun in the dark, are suddenly arrested and their exposure becomes assured. And let us remember that the same providence still works, mysteriously and openly in the lives of Gods people.
The king hears that Mordecai had not been rewarded. His pride and dignity were suddenly stirred up. He felt it was not just that such a deed should go unrewarded. It must also have come to his mind that this Mordecai had not reminded the king of his deed, by sending a petition for a reward or by requesting a favour, so common in oriental life. He had kept silent.
Est 6:4-11. The king must have been indignant that such a matter had been overlooked and he wants to have the matter rectified at once. He asks Who is in the court? Whosoever would be there would have to carry out the kings commission. He did not expect that Haman was waiting outside. Perhaps he also had a sleepless night, nervously excited as he thought that soon Mordecai would dangle from the gallows; and how he would enjoy the banquet of Esther on the same day. He was in a great hurry and desired that the execution of the despised Jew should take place in the early morning. All is working together and Gods majestic hand is seen every step of the way! Never was there exhibited a more frivolous and thoughtless judgment than that shown by many higher critics in their light estimation of the book of Esther. For surely there can be no more beautiful description of the impending dramatic catastrophe than that with which the whole of this book is full. At the moment when the mind of the king has but one thought, to compensate Mordecai with the long-merited honour and dignity, and so much the more because it ought to have been done long ago, at the very moment when he looks for a person to carry out his plans, just then, Haman appears on the scene (Professor Cassel).
And the king asks Haman, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? In his blind self-love, his deluded pride, Haman thought he was the man to whom the king would do still more honour. Well says a writer in the Talmud–inasmuch as the writer of the book of Esther knew what was in Hamans heart, he must have been inspired in writing this account.
And pride fills his lips with an extraordinary demand. When his wicked lips spoke the words, he must have imagined himself clad in royal apparel riding the kings charger, wearing his crown, and thus led forth through the city, announced by the town-crier that he is the man whom the king delighteth to honour.
The king speaks: Make haste and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the kings gate, let nothing fail of all thou hast spoken. What a thunderbolt this must have been for Haman! While he dreamt of his own honour and greatness he is suddenly awakened by the unalterable command of the king, whose word is law, to do all he had spoken to the man whom he hated and despised, whose death warrant he expected to have signed by the king. He could not tarry in the kings presence for the king demanded haste. He could not parley with the king; that would have been an insult. All that was left to Haman was to make haste and take the apparel and the horse to Mordecai. He arrayed him and then led him through the city and proclaimed before him the kings message. And Mordecai? His mouth must have been filled with laughter and with praises to his God, when his deadly enemy came to do him honour. How great was his triumph in the marvellous exaltation brought about by the keeper of Israel, who neither sleeps nor slumbers! The Jews read the entire book of Esther on the Purim feast. When the reader reaches this passage he reads the record with a raised and triumphant voice.
Est 6:12-14. Mordecai is back at the gate; Haman in bitter disappointment, with evil forebodings, his head covered, the sign of grief, returns to his wife and friends. When they hear what happened they told him that his case would be hopeless. In the conflict between the Jew and the offspring of Amalek, victory is on the side of the Jew. (Exo 17:16; Numb. 24:20; Deu 25:17-19) And then the kings chamberlains knocked at the door to hurry Haman to Esthers banquet.
Typical Application
The great lesson of this chapter is the wonderful working of divine providence. Surely God works in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. And how He cares for His people and watcheth over them! He is still the same, for He is the Lord who changeth not.
And Mordecai stands out in this chapter as another type of our Lord. All the men of God in Old Testament history, in their humiliation and exaltation, like Joseph, Moses, David, etc., are types of the humiliation and exaltation of our Lord.
What was done to Mordecai will also be some future day the happy lot of Israel when they will be delivered out of the hand of their enemies.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
that night: Est 5:8, Gen 22:14, 1Sa 23:26, 1Sa 23:27, Isa 41:17, Rom 11:33
could not the king sleep: Heb. the king’s sleep fled away, Dan 2:1, Dan 6:18
the book of records: As chronicles were composed among the Persians, a more instructive and interesting work could not be brought before the king; because they were all written in verse, and were generally the work of the most eminent poets of the empire. Est 2:23, Mal 3:16
Reciprocal: Gen 40:1 – it came Gen 40:5 – General Gen 41:1 – that Pharaoh Rth 2:3 – hap was 1Sa 26:12 – a deep sleep 1Ki 14:19 – book Est 2:22 – and Esther certified Est 10:2 – in the book Psa 77:4 – holdest Ecc 2:23 – his heart
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
WHAT CAME OF A SLEEPLESS NIGHT
On that night could not the king sleep.
Est 6:1
I. It is hardly affirming too much to say that on the sleepless night of the Persian king was made to depend our rescue from everlasting death; at least, and undeniably, the restlessness of the king was one of those instruments through which God wrought in carrying on His purpose of redeeming our race through a Descendant of David according to the flesh. Observe, then, how wonderful is God in that He can accomplish great ends by insignificant means.
II. Notice how little there was which could be called supernatural interference, how simply, without any violence, the Divine Providence effected its purpose.It was in no way singular that the king should be restless; no miracle was required to explain his choosing to hear the records of his empire; everything was just what might equally have happened had matters been left to themselves, in place of having been disposed and directed by God.
III. We are mightily encouraged in all the business of prayer by the broken rest of the Persian king.Look from Israel delivered from Pharaoh to Israel delivered from Haman, and we are encouraged to believe that God will not fail even us in our extremity, seeing that He could save His people through such a simple and unsuspected process as this.
IV. The agency employed on the king was so natural, so undistinguishable from the workings of his own mind, that he could never have suspected a Divine interference, and must have been perfectly at liberty either to do or not to do, as the secret impulse prescribed. It depends on ourselves, on the exercise of our own will, whether the suggestions of Gods Spirit be cherished or crushed, whether the impulses be withstood or obeyed.
Canon Melvill.
Illustration
I think the king is but a man, as I am, says Shakespeare in his great play of Henry V, and the attendants who watched King Xerxes tossing would doubtless be whispering that to one another. They would smile to think that he commanded a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, yet could not command an hours refreshing sleep. Generally, when an Eastern king was wakeful, he called for music. If he was a saint like David, Gods statutes were his songs. But to-night nothing would please this fevered autocrat, but that one of his chamber-boys should read to him. How do you know, a Bedouin was asked, that there is a God? In the same way, he replied, that I know in looking at the sand when a man or beast has crossed the desertby His footprints in the world around me. And so in this story we hear nothing of God, but we feel that He knoweth what is in the darkness. The book that was brought was the Annals of the kingdom. The page that lay open bore Mordecais name. For the first time Xerxes heard of the plot upon his life, and how it had been frustrated by Mordecai. He would reward this Jew in royal fashionand with that good resolve he fell asleep.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Est 6:1. On that night could not the king sleep How vain are all the contrivances of foolish man against the wise and omnipotent God, who hath the hearts and hands of kings and all men perfectly at his disposal, and can by such trivial accidents (as they are accounted) change their minds, and produce such terrible effects. He commanded to bring the book of records His mind being troubled, he knew not how, nor why, he chooses this for a diversion, God putting this thought into him, for otherwise he might have diverted himself, as he used to do, with his wives or concubines, or voices and instruments of music, which were far more agreeable to his temper. In these records of the Chronicles, which we now call journals, (wherein was set down what passed every day,) the manner of the Persians was to record the names of those who had done the king any signal services. Accordingly, Josephus informs us, that upon the secretarys reading these journals, he took notice of such a person who had great honours and possessions given him as a reward for a glorious and remarkable action, and of such another who made his fortune by the bounties of his prince for his fidelity; but, that when he came to the particular story of the conspiracy of the two eunuchs against the person of the king, and of the discovery of this treason by Mordecai, the secretary read it over, and was passing forward to the next; when the king stopped him, and asked him if the person had had any reward given him for his service; which shows indeed a singular providence of God, that the secretary should read in that very part of the book wherein the service of Mordecai was recorded. Why Mordecai was not rewarded before, it is in vain to inquire. To account for the humour of princes, and their management of public affairs, is almost impossible. We see daily, even among us, that men are frequently unmindful of the highest services which are done them, and take no care to reward them, especially if the person be in himself obscure, and not supported by a proper recommendation; and therefore we are not to wonder, if a prince, who buried himself in indolence, and made it a part of his grandeur to live unacquainted and unconcerned with what passed in his dominions, (which was the custom of most of the eastern kings,) should overlook the service Mordecai had done him; or, if he ordered him a reward, that by the artifice of those at court, who were no well-wishers to the Jews, he should be disappointed of it. There seems, however, to have been a particular direction of Providence, in having his reward delayed till this time, when he and all his nation were appointed to destruction; when the remembrance of his services might be a means to recommend them to the kings mercy, and the honours conferred on him a poignant mortification to his proud adversary. Dodd.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Est 6:1. That night could not the king sleep, the reveries of his mind being excited by guardian angels. See on Psa 34:7. The LXX read, But the Lord moved the king that night by dreams.
REFLECTIONS.
A new scene of providence is here presented to our view, full of wonders, and full of grace. While Haman was plotting the destruction of Mordecai; while the carpenters were sweating to erect the stage and lofty gallows, God, with perfect ease and sure counsel, was bringing on Haman the death designed for the afflicted Jew. That night the king dropped sound asleep at his usual hour; but awoke in alarm from strange and impressive dreams. He feared to be alone; and wishing for amusement, required his scribes to read, that he might be edified while awake, or composed to sleep again by the harmonious cadence of a pleasant voice. And among all the literary productions which adorned the library of Shushan, no work was more engaging than the history of his own reign. The tragic subject of Bigthanas treason opened. The historian, more solicitous to draw his characters, than serve poor Mordecai, had however succeeded in his subject. The king felt his heart addressed, and animated with gratitude to heaven, as though he had that moment escaped the poignard; he enquired what had been done for Mordecai. On learning the omission of his duty, he resolved to repair the fault by the greater favours. Learn hence how safe it is to shun all privy conspiracy and rebellion, to revere the person of the king: nor should we abate that loyalty though neglected and oppressed, for the wheels of providence, however miry for the present the path may be, will eventually roll the honest man into a pleasant road. Hence also we should learn to be calm and content when suffering from ingratitude and neglect. Trusting in God, let us make no loud and noisy complaints: he knows how to overrule the ingratitude of men for our greater advantage. The chief butler forgot Joseph, and the seven counsellors did the same with Mordecai. This was their sin and shame, as the butler acknowledged. And how admirable was the conduct of providence in prompting their recollection in a propitious moment. God can never forget: his eye and his hand are always over us for good. From the part which Haman acted in this extraordinary affair, we learn that when providence has favoured the ungrateful with success in their designs, it takes delight in mortifying their pride. This man having entered the palace at the usual hour, was consulted what should be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour; and vainly judging that favourite to be himself, he devised a feast for his ambition; and he was so charmed with the unexpected proposal, that he deferred his request for the hanging of Mordecai. What then must have been his astonishment when told, that not himself, but Mordecai was the favourite; and when he was required to lead his horse while he rode in triumph through the street! What must have been his feelings, what must have been his countenance, to hear the shouts of the populace, while the gallows he had erected was overlooking the city? Surely his heart died within him at their shouts, and at the responses of a guilty conscience. Just so shall all the great, and all the proud who do wickedly, see the righteous sitting on thrones, while they are thrown into the shade, and biting their chains with envy and despair.
We learn farther, that the terrors of a wicked mans conscience, in all desperate cases, are ominous of the humiliations which await him from men, and of the divine judgments suspended over their souls. So the wise and domestic council of this wicked minister augured: If Mordecai, said they, be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail; but shalt surely fall before him. There is no power that can resist his God; for when the princes conspired against Daniel, they all perished in the attempt. At these terrific words fresh billows of desponding terrors went over his soul, and he seemed already descending into hell under the frowns of an offended God. Hence, there is no peace to the wicked, neither in reflection, nor in the bosom of their own families. Oh that they would return to God by repentance, before, like Haman, their day of visitation be past.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Esther 6. Haman is Compelled to Do Public Honour to Mordeeai.Now comes a dramatic scene. Providence is at work, and the clouds are opening. In the night between Esthers two drinking-feasts, the king cannot get sleep (Est 6:1). Evidently the story-writer means to point thus to the care of the ever-watchful Yahweh, and His management of all things. The court annalist is brought with his records, to read the royal soul to slumber. Why did this reader choose the record about the regicides? Did he sympathise with the Jews, for some hidden reason? The king listens: he is startled and cries, What reward did we give to Mordecai? Naught, is the reply. Then do it now! What officer is near? says the king. With that, lo! in the dim hour of dawn the hungry hyena Haman, is prowling at the gates, awaiting admissior to get his death-warrant for Mordecai. Entering, he is commanded to perform the highest possible honour to a man whom the king delights to honour; and, to his consternation, this is not Haman himself, as for a while Haman expects, but of all men it is the Mordecai whom he hates (Est 6:6). Through all the city he conducts his enemy, robed and mounted like a king, while ever and anon he cries out before him the royal decree of praise for the hated one. The tide is turning fast!
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The same night that Haman had had a gallows made on which to hang Mordecai, the Lord intervened in a most amazing way, causing the king to be unable to sleep and moving him to have the book of records of the kingdom brought to him (v.1).When some of the records were read to him, one of these awakened his attention, for it told that Mordecai had virtually saved the king’s life when he informed him of the plot against him by two of his doorkeepers. In asking about this he found that Mordecai had been given no recognition at all for this very real kindness.
God’s working behind the scenes is further evident when the king asked who happened to be in the court.Haman had just entered with the intention of asking permission to hang Mordecai (v. 4), so the king had him brought in, asking him what he thought should be done to the man whom the king delighted to honor (v. 6).Haman’s pride was such that he considered himself the man the king referred to. What a blunder! But he wanted the popular acclaim of all the people, so suggested that the man to be honored should be clothed in a royal robe which the king himself had worn, and placed on a horse that the king had ridden, which had a royal crest on its forehead, then led by one of the king’s most noble princes through the city square with a proclamation to the effect that this was done to the man whom the king delighted to honor (vv. 7-9).
What a shock it must have been to Haman to have the king tell him to take the robe and horse and do all that he had suggested to Mordecai the Jew! (v. 10). It seems that up to this time the king did not realize that the people whose destruction he had approved were Jews. Haman had not told him this, though the letters sent by the couriers throughout all the land had stated it in no uncertain terms (ch. 3:13), for the king had told Haman to do as he pleased about that matter, so there was no need for the king to ever read the proclamation.
What could Haman do?His hands were tied. He could only obey the word of the king in spite of his bitter hatred against Mordecai.In parading Mordecai through the city square, it must have been extremely gallingto Haman to have to proclaim before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor” (v. 11).
After this Haman could hardly ask the king’s permission to hang Mordecai!He returned to his house in grief, utterly humiliated.But he found no consolation from his friends or his wife.They knew that since Mordecai was a Jew and exalted by the king to great honor, this presaged worse trouble yet for Haman, who had plotted the destruction of all Jews.
But this day was that on which Esther had planned a banquet for the king and Haman.He must go immediately to the banquet.Likely he would go with some ray of hope that Esther’s invitation would prove helpful in resolving the matter of his serious problem as regards Mordecai, for he did not know that Esther was a Jewess and also related to Mordecai.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
2. Mordecai’s exaltation ch. 6
Mordecai’s exaltation was a secondary event that prepared for the utter destruction of Haman. There are at least five indications of God’s providence in the first five verses of this chapter: the king’s insomnia (Est 6:1 a), his choice of entertainment (Est 6:1 b), the servant’s choice of books (Est 6:1 c), the king’s delay in rewarding Mordecai (Est 6:2-3), and the timely arrival of Haman (Est 6:4-5). [Note: Wiersbe, pp. 733-35.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Ahasuerus’ insomnia 6:1-3
The reading of the equivalent of the Congressional Record would have put the king to sleep under normal circumstances, as it probably had done on many previous occasions (cf. Mal 3:16).
"Here is a remarkable instance of the veiled providential control of God over circumstances of human history. Upon the king’s insomnia, humanly speaking, were hinged the survival of the chosen nation, the fulfillment of prophecy, the coming of the Redeemer, and therefore the whole work of redemption. Yet the outcome was never in doubt; for God was in control, making the most trivial of events work together for Haman’s defeat and Israel’s preservation." [Note: The New Scofield Reference Bible, p. 566.]
Normally, this king quickly rewarded people who did him special services. Herodotus gave two examples of Xerxes doing this. [Note: Herodotus, 8:85 and 9:107.] Consequently, when he discovered that he had overlooked Mordecai’s favor, the king moved speedily to rectify the oversight.