Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Esther 6:6
So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself?
6. said in his heart ] i.e. thought.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Est 6:6-11
What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour?
Pride associated with folly
1. In Haman honouring Mordecai we have a remarkable verification of the fable of the dog and the shadow. He gaped after the shadow and lost the substance. Folly generally rides after pride. Haman grew more and more insolent and arrogant as he advanced in wealth and power, until he reached the highest point allowed to him by providence. He did not consider that he who does not climb gets no fall, and that he that climbs too high is sure, at last, to come down with s terrible crash. His temerity is remarkable. Thinking, however, that he was ordered to cut out his own honour, it is natural he should have made the measure large.
2. How completely wretched are the envious and the proud. Pride is the canker-worm of the soul. It always renders us unhappy. It is ever so with those who have not a new heart. The most wealthy and highly honoured are not content. There is something still wanting. There is something they still complain about. They make themselves miserable when they ought to be happy. Oh, how little a thing is earthly grandeur! How little a thing may embitter all human honour and affluence! There can be no happiness on earth till there is self-denial and trust. There is no happiness till we begin to crucify selfishness, and to trust in God as the portion of our souls.
3. We see here how great a misfortune it is to have friends and counsellors who are ignorant, wicked, or evil-disposed. There is a great deal of truth in the proverb, Save me from my friends, and I will take care of my enemies. It is sad when a mans bosom counsellor is not true and faithful. And there is always danger to be apprehended when the advice of a professed friend is pleasing to our own angry or revengeful feelings. If Hamans wife had been a meek, quiet, prudent, intelligent, God-fearing woman, her advice, at first, had been altogether of a different sort, and her bearing toward her husband, when he hastened home from court, almost heartbroken with disappointment and rage, would have been altogether different from what it was. Instead of adding fuel to his malignant passions, she should have endeavoured to moderate and restrain them. And instead of bruising a heart already broken, by adding taunt and reproach to grief, she should have sought to calm him and make him feel that, with her, in his own home, he was still with friends, respected and beloved, however much he had suffered at court. The husbands fortune is more fully in the hands of his wife than anywhere else. It is hers to make his home happy, and to gird him with strength by sympathy and counsel. When his spirits are almost overwhelmed, she alone, of all human beings, is the one to minister to him. Her nursing is as sovereign to his sick soul as it is for his ailing body. It is her gentle tones only that can steal over his morbid senses with more power than Davids harp. And when his courage is almost gone, her patience and fortitude will rekindle his heart again to dare and do, and meet anew the toils and troubles of life. What a misfortune it was that Haman had not a sweet Christian home to retire to after the terrible disappointments and bitter experiences of that day! Yes, a sweet, quiet home. But you tell me I forget that he was a man of large estates, great honours, and the owner of a princely palace. True, but a palace is not always a home. What is a home? It is something for which many of earths babbling tongues have no term. A home is not a mere residence for the body, but a place where the heart rests and the affections nestle and dwell and multiply. Just in the proportion that a good woman is a blessing, in the same proportion is a bad woman a curse. Womans mission is a high and grand one. She is connected with everything that belongs to our race that is noble, refining, and hopeful. Great is the calamity, then, for a community to be under the influence of such opinions or sentiments as are degrading to its women. One bad woman can do more harm in society than a dozen bad men. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
The Nemesis of providence
Had he been planning for Mordecai all the time he had been thinking of himself? Yea, verily, that was the Nemesis of providence; and yet, bad as it was, that was only one-half of the matter, for before long he would find that he had also been planning for himself when he had been thinking of Mordecai. The honour which he had designed for himself went to Mordecai, and the destruction which he had devised for Mordecai fell upon him self. The royal apparel was worn by the Jew, and the Agagite was hanged upon the gallows. His head had not been turned by the brief honour, nor his heart up lifted by the short-lived glory, for he was well ballasted, and his people were not yet delivered. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Great changes
What a marvellous change! what an unlooked-for revolution! The side of the wheel that was lately the lowest is now the highest. That which was a short time ago shrouded in dark ness is now radiant with light! This is the Lords doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. (J. Hughes.)
The vain man
We see here the working and the punishment of vanity and pride. Whom can the king think worthy of special honour but myself? thought Haman. The vain man is always occupied about himself. He thinks about himself; he speaks about himself; he is all in all to himself. The idea never crossed Hamans mind that there could possibly be any one besides himself whom the king could desire to distinguish by any particular mark of favour. But then how crushing was the order: Go and do as thou hast said to Mordecai the Jew. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
The Church honoured by her enemies
In this manner does God sometimes make the enemies of His Church and servants to honour them. He not only makes the sinners hands to forge the snares in which they themselves are caught, but He compels them to weave the crown and impose it on the head of the righteous. (T. McCrie, D. D.)
Insatiable vanity
Hamans answer reveals the insatiableness of vanity. No sooner was honour mentioned than his heart cried, Let me have it I Make me a king, though it be only for an hour; if without the power, yet with all the pomp and trappings. Will this man never have enough? Never; the food is so light and the appetite so strong that there must be a constant supply. Give him this, and to-morrow he will seek something more. The craving is a disease, an atrophy, a cancer. To enjoy honour and to be satisfied with it, a man must be healthy–that is, humble. Mark the strong delusion: Now Haman thought in his heart. A man cannot have a worse guide than the thought of his heart, unless God has broken and newmade it. Twice within this single minute Haman was cheated by the thought of his heart. He thought others must esteem him as highly as he esteemed himself; but it is never the case that when a man has a lofty opinion of himself other men have an opinion equally flattering. And he thought that all was going well with him, that this sudden honour would only postpone his revenge for an hour, that by the time he returned from the queens banquet he would be the happiest man in Persia; but he was just on the brink of perdition. The water is always smooth above a cataract. (A. M. Symington, B. A.)
Self-flattery leading to self-humiliation,
I. An artless question addressed to conceit.
II. The reasoning of concert.
III. The answer of conceit.
IV. The fearful blow to conceit.
V. The humiliating condition of conceit. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. The king said unto him] He did not give him time to make his request; and put a question to him which, at the first view, promised him all that his heart could wish.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The king names none, because he would have the more impartial answer. And probably he knew nothing of the difference between Haman and Mordecai.
Haman thought in his heart; as indeed he had great reason to presume, because he had not yet forfeited that favour which the king had showed to him above all others.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. What shall be done unto the manwhom the king delighteth to honour?In bestowing tokens oftheir favor, the kings of Persia do not at once, and as it were bytheir own will, determine the kind of honor that shall be awarded;but they turn to the courtier standing next in rank to themselves,and ask him what shall be done to the individual who has rendered theservice specified; and according to the answer received, the royalmandate is issued.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So Haman came in,…. But was prevented speaking to the king about the business he came upon by the following speech of the king:
what shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? he mentions not the name of any man, that he might the more freely, and unbiasedly, and disinterestedly give his advice; nor might the king know of any resentment of Haman to Mordecai:
(now Haman thought in his heart, to whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?) who had been advanced above all the princes and nobles of the realm, and was now in such high honour both with the king and queen, with whom he was to be at a banquet that day; and he might conclude, that by putting this question to him, he could have in view none but himself: Aben Ezra observes, that some from hence gather, that this book was written by the spirit of prophecy, because none could know the thoughts of the heart but God; but though he believes it to be written by the Holy Ghost, yet, as he observes, Haman might disclose this thought of his heart to his friends afterwards.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Haman Humiliated, Verses 6-14
When Haman came into the king’s presence the king put the question to him as to what should be done for the man the king desired to honor. The proud heart of Haman, greedy for prestige, could think of no one the king would want to honor more than himself. In his own mind he could have imagined the king had called him for that very purpose. Momentarily his mind left his enemy, Mordecai, and the evil plan he had come to propose. How vividly Haman demonstrated the truth of Solomon’s proverb, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall!” (Pro 16:18).
It is surely not possible that the laudatory proposal of Haman, for the man the king desired to honor, came from his mind spontaneously. In his proposition he seems to reveal a secret desire to be a king. It is his opportunity, he thinks, to fulfill a longing he privately nourished to rule others. For this honor he would regale himself as the king of Persia in the king’s own robes, ride on the king’s horse, even wear the royal crown atop the king’s head. He would have one of the most noble princes walk around the city leading the king’s horse with himself in the saddle, and the nobleman proclaiming, “Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.”
It is possible, perhaps probable, that king Ahasuerus could see through the veneer of Haman’s, pride, even to suspect his secret ambition. It would help to explain in swift judgment meted out to him before the day ended. But Ashasuerus accepted his proposal and gave a shocked and chagrined Haman the commission to carry out his purpose. He should hastily go and take all the things he had proposed, omitting not a thing, and do this honor for Mordecai the Jew who sat in the king’s gate.
Sometime the king had found out Mordecai was a Jew, perhaps that very night. Did the king give thought to the cursed law he had allowed Haman to concoct against this hero and his people? There is no indication of it here, though the swift justice which befell Haman shortly again indicates that likelihood. However the king was still unaware of his beloved Esther’s nationality, as was Haman as well.
What a scene! The proud Haman spending a tiresome day leading the king’s horse around the city with Mordecai astride! Everywhere he was to inform the people, “Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king desires to honor!” How shamefully deplorable it was for Haman! For the people knew the animosity between Haman and Mordecai. Sweet vengeance it must have been for Mordecai. Comically entertaining it must have been to the people. But Haman had sown to the wind in his opposition to God, now he is reaping the awful whirlwind (Hos 8:7).
When the day finally ended Mordecai returned to his place in the king’s gate instead of suffering in prolonged death on the great gallows standing at the house of Haman. But Haman covered his head in shame and went mourning to his house. The crowd was still there. No doubt they had come to see the spectacle of Mordecai hanging atop the gallows. But there had been no hanging yet, and they had surely heard the awful report going round the city that Prince Haman was leading the king’s horse around Shushan with Mordecai the Jew honored as the man in whom the king was delighted.
The words of Zeresh and Haman’s friends were no longer encouraging but dire prediction. Since Mordecai was a Jew, Haman had begun to fall before this Jew, and he had proposed the extermination of the Jews he would not be able to prevail in his scheme. All day Haman must have had similar thoughts as he led the horse with Mordecai and gave out the king’s proclamation. His superstitious nature, the curses of his demonic culture, must have created to him a morbib fear of the future already. And these closest to him felt the same way, they could offer him no comfort.
Before Haman’s befuddled brain could seek a way out of his predicament the messengers arrived to convey him to Esther’s banquet. He was emotionally unprepared. He must have spent a sleepless night urging on the building of the gallows for Mordecai. Then he must have been physically worn out from leading the horse all over Shushan and lustily crying out the king’s command. He , was psychologically drained by his humiliating defeat by Mordecai. Read Pro 11:5.
From this chapter learn these lessons: 1) God’s overruling hand is apparent with men the world deems great; 2) God can avert the evil intended against His people; 3) pride blinds the haughty to their own best interest; 4) awful doom awaits the defiant sinner at the end of his life’s day; 5) the lost will realize too late, they can never turn back.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Est. 6:6.] When the king had asked the question, Haman thought within himself, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?] Going beyond me, more than myself.Lange.
Est. 6:7.] Haman was quickly prepared to give answer, and without any difficulty called up one distinction or honour after another.
Est. 6:8-9.] The royal garment is one which the king has already worn. Hence 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, but a costly garment the property of the sovereign himself. The highest mark of honour to the subject. So too was the riding upon a horse on which the king had ridden, and whose head was adorned with a royal crown. We translate literally; and a horse on which the king is wont to ride, and on whose head is set a royal crown. We do not, indeed, find among the 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.Keil (abridged).
Est. 6:10-11.] This honour, then, the haughty Haman was now compelled to pay to the hated Jew. 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.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH. Est. 6:6; Est. 6:11
SELF-FLATTERY LEADING TO SELF-HUMILIATION
OUTWARDLY at least self-flattery does not always lead to self-humiliation. But we cannot see and know all. We cannot perceive the bitter stings which must be endured in silence by the conceited man. In his passage through time, in his contact with his fellows, he receives many a stab which he must conceal. And these hidden sores are often the most difficult to endure. After all the herb of humility is a true hearts-ease. The modest man may not make a great position in the world, but he is most likely to possess the invaluable treasure of contentment. Certainly he is not at all likely to find himself in the humiliating position to which poor Haman was reduced. Sooner or later, in some way or another, in time or in eternity, pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better is it surely to be of a humble spirit with the lowly. Better to sit with calm resignation with Mordecai at the gate than to be the subject of those great inward shocks, and of those outward humiliating changes, which were endured by the conceited Haman.
I. An artless question addressed to conceit. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? If we may so say there was either designed or undesigned artlessness in this question on the part of king Ahasuerus. The form of the question was just that form calculated to bring out Hamans over-weening self-confidence. The question was artlessly vague, and leaves room for Haman to conclude that he himself was the man whom the king delighted to honour. If the form of the question was designed, if he purposely keeps the name of Mordecai in the background, it shews a skill on the part of the king which the history does not prepare us to expect. However, it was a natural form for the question to take; and simple straightforwardness is often the most direct mode of defeating the schemes of the cunning and of the conceited. It was so in this case. The luxurious monarch proved himself more than a match for the wily politician. However, we may well suppose that the monarch was moved by the current of events. The form of the question was not merely of the kings own shaping. There was a higher mind suggesting.
II. The reasoning of conceit. A conceited heart is a bad guide in critical junctures. This was a crisis in Hamans history, and, unfortunately for himself, he listened to the hollow reasoning of a conceited heart. Hamans conceit hindered him drawing a correct conclusion. Some of the premises were hidden from Haman, and therefore he was not in a position to construct a perfect syllogism. He should have asked himself, are the premises that I have occupied a high place at court, that I have secured an edict against the Jews, that Mordecai is still sitting at the kings gate neglected, sufficient to warrant me in concluding that I am the man whom the king will most delight to honour? A conceited nature may study all the books on logic that has ever been written, but its reasonings for all that are sure to be faulty. Logicians sometimes speak of vicious reasoning; of this kind of reasoning a conceited nature will be guilty. To be a correct reasoner there must be a clear head, and also, and perhaps much more, a clear heart. Errors of the head most frequently spring from faults of the heart. Take heed to thyself, and then to the doctrineas a man thinketh in his heart so is he. Ham in thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself? Of course not. At this moment self was with Haman the sum-total of the universe. Is poor Haman the only one who raises self to a false position, from which it falls with hideous ruin? Alas, to too many men self is the world. There is too much conceit in all. Let there be proper self-love, but let it not degenerate into selfishness.
III. The answer of conceit. It is an unscrupulous and fool-hardy answer. Haman here seems to aim at royal honours. Practically he was guilty of treason. He now asks to have regal honours assigned to himself. Outwardly this could not be charged against him, for he might have pleaded, I am yet in ignorance as to the man whom the king will delight to honour. And it might not have been as plain to the king, and to the listeners, whom Haman meant as it is to us who now read the whole account with the calmness of unprejudiced investigators. If Haman had thought of another self beside his own self as likely to receive these honours he might not have been so lavish in his description of what should be done. How lavish we are in expenditure when myself, ourselves, is the subject of consideration! How thrifty and parsimonious we become when we have to consider the claims of other selves. Self says, Look every man on his own things. Self asks for itself the royal apparel, the royal horse, the royal crown, the royal procession and proclamation. Self practically says, All this for me and the gallows for Mordecai. Is not this a solemn figure? How difficult would it be for the judge to pass sentence on the criminal if he could make his self take the place of the criminals self? The world would be much altered for the better if each man could consider properly the claims of other selves. How long will it be before the world practically acts out the injunctionLook not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others? Here conceit aims at the subversion of royal supremacy. There is much conceit at the bottom of republicanism. Conceit does not believe in honouring all men and fearing the king. And is there not much conceit in infidelity? Is there not an effort to destroy Divine supremacy? The pride and the daring of conceit are insufferable. It would overturn thrones. It would if possible overtop the throne and monarchy of God himself.
IV. The fearful blow to conceit. We can easily suppose that the command now given by the king to Haman was more galling than the rope placed round his neck when he was hung on the gallows. How galling to have the honours I had intended for myself given to another, and that other the man I most hate, the man whose destruction I have most earnestly plotted! The king told Haman to make haste. What a hard command! To make haste is a hard task when I have to carry on my journey a broken heart, a disappointed nature, blasted hopes, blighted prospects; to make haste when in myself I must carry the hideous ruins of that fair castle which I have just been building with so much skill and labour. Make haste to honour the man I have most hated! Love your enemies is the gospel precept. Where is the Christian that makes haste to heap honours on his enemy? Have pity then on wretched Haman if his heart-strings crack and break as he strives to do the kings bidding. Oh! to be emptied of self-seeking, to lie low at the foot of the cross! it will save us from many a hard knock. Stoop low if thou wouldst not be hurt. Think not too much of thyself.
V. The humiliating condition of conceit. The most humiliating condition in which Haman was placed was, not when he hung on the gallows, but when he marched through the streets of the city by the side of Mordecai, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour. The righteous one is now exalted, the wicked one is debased. The city may well rejoice. The truth, like Mordecai, may lie long neglected; falsehood, like Haman, may ride in triumph. But the condition must be reversed. Truth will be lifted out of its degradation, clothed in its royal apparel, and even falsehood will be compelled to minister to the honour of the truth and proclaim its glories. Also the time must come when Jesus will ride forth in royal apparel, and his enemies will join in the proclamationThis is the man whom the universe delights to honour. Seek to be the friends of King Jesus now, and then in the day of his glorious appearing we shall not be numbered among those humiliated by his triumph.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Est. 6:6; Est. 6:11
Of all troubles the trouble of a proud heart is the greatest. It was a great trouble to Haman to lead Mordecais horse, which another man would not have thought so; the moving of a straw is troublesome to proud flesh. First or last, self-denial and victory over ourselves is absolutely necessary; otherwise faith, which is a grace that requireth self-denial, will never be brought into the soul and bear rule there.Sibbes.
Self-conceit, obstinacy, and selfishness are three shameful and harmful evils that have plunged many into ruin. Worldly persons seek their highest good in external pomp and appearance. Self-love appropriates all things to itself, and concedes nothing to its neighbour. Men seek perishable honour; would that they strove diligently after the imperishable honour 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.Starke.
Ambition (as they say of the crocodile) groweth as long as it liveth; and self-love, like to a good stomach, draws to itself what nourishment it liketh, and casts off that which offends it. It maketh men unreasonable, and teacheth them to turn the glass to see themselves bigger, others lesser, than they are. Herodotus reporteth, that after the Greeks had got the better of Xerxes and his Persians, and came together to divide the spoil, when it was put to the question who of all the commanders had deserved the best reward, none would yield to other, but every man thought himself best deserving and second to none. In the battle of Belgrade, where Mahomet, the great Turk, was beaten and driven out of the field, Capistranus and Huniades were the chieftains there, and whereas both of them wrote the relation of that days work, neither of them so much as once mentioned the other, but each one took the whole praise of it to himself. Haman, though altogether unworthy of the least respect, yet holds himself best worthy of the greatest honours, and therefore will be sure to be no niggard in advising those ceremonies of honour which he presumes meant to his own person.Trapp.
Ambition may rear turrets in emulation of heaven, and vainglory build castles in the air, but they should have no roof, as the latter should have no foundation. Philip threatened the Lacedemonians, that as he entered their country he would utterly extinguish them. They wrote him no other answer but si (if); meaning, it was a condition well put in, for he was never like to come there.Adams.
Four distinct services did Haman render Mordecai. First, he was his hair-dresser, for he shaved and anointed him; secondly, he was his valet, for he attended him in the bath; thirdly, he was his footman, for he led the horse Mordecai rode; fourthly, he was his trumpeter, for he proclaimed before him: Thus shall be done to the man whom the king desireth to honour.Talmud.
To thyself be it, Haman! Albeit what may please thyself may hardly be so agreeable to another. Pity for the most noble prince and Haman may have had some one in view whom he wished to have laid at his feetwho should be appointed to execute what thou shouldst prescribe as the kings commandment! There was no honour and distinction high enough for himself, and no service too menial which he would not have done to him by another. The royal apparel, by which was meant the gorgeous outward garment of the king, which, according to Persian law, it was a capital crime to wear without his consentthe horse which the king was accustomed to ride upon, well known both by its excellency and its peculiar trappings and ornaments,the crown royal, probably such a lofty tiara as an Oriental writer has described, entirely composed of thickly set diamonds, pearls, rubies, and emeralds, so exquisitely disposed as to form a mixture of the most beautiful colours in the brilliant light reflected from its surface,were to be brought, and one of the kings most noble princes was to act the part of his servant, arraying him in his robe, setting the crown upon his head, and when he was mounted, to goreins in handthrough the city proclaiming before himThus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour.
The intense vanity and parade of Hamans advice to the king may move our contempt, but we must remember that he was choosing for himself. There are many others who, if they were only to put their wishes into words, would ask for things quite as foolish and absurd. In every case they would reveal the ruling passion of their hearts, and if it proved to be worldly or sensual, what was desired in large measure would only, if granted, mature it and injure the receiver. Sometimes there are secret murmurings that God does not leave every man to choose his own portion, but if we only knew our own dispositions better, and the evil principles within us which require to be checked and overcome, we should have much greater reason for gratitude that God retains our earthly portion in his own care and allotment. Especially when we take into account our discipline and preparation for eternity, would we be the very worst to advise regarding what would be best for us. A Haman would choose what would minister to his pride, a Demas to his worldliness, another and another to even baser lusts, and the soul would be left, like a temple in ruins, more and more desolate, and infested, in an ever-increasing degree, with what was vile and loathsome. For the sake of our present peace and future hope, we should rejoice rather in the choice of GodCommit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.
When a scheming self-seeking worldling is brought to poverty and punishment, sympathy for him is apt to spring up in some breasts. They put the man in the foreground, and by his miserable plight are moved to commiseration and pity. But what of those whom it was in his heart to have ruined? The widows and children whose gains he would have greedily grasped and used for his own selfish ends? The bed which he would make for others is surely good enough for him to lie upon. Simply to change places with his intended victims is a merciful dealing in providence, in so far as it is calculated to convince of personal wrong-doing, and to bring to repentance if the man has not placed himself beyond it Haman had this justice meted out to him. He would have demeaned one of the kings most noble princes, by making him his valet and public proclaimer of his own praise through the streets of Shushan. His selfishness blinded him to the suffering and mortification which the procedure would inflict upon another. But ah! what a revulsion of feeling must he have experienced when he was commanded by the king to change places with that other; to become himself the menial slave, putting on him the royal robe and crown; and whilst he rides on the kings horse, compelled himself to walk at its head and sound the others praise. The greatest grief was that the man who was declared worthy to take the place which he had pourtrayed for himself was Mordecai the Jew,the man who had refused him homage at the kings gate was to receive homage from himself in the public thoroughfares; and the same for whom he had provided a gallows was to have a crown put upon his head by his own hands. It was pitiful. And as we now see him executing the kings order, which he knew it would be in vain to oppose, commiseration and pity for him are liable to bias our judgment. How downcast and forlorn he must have looked. How the words of the proclamation must have gulped in his throat. How he must have hung down his head and averted the astonished looks of the people. Still, he had only changed places with the most noble prince, whom he would have callously subjected to the same ordeal. For selfishness to reap what it had sown for another is not by any means an unequal punishment. It may be severe, but not more so than this intense selfishness would have accounted nothing if prescribed for an equal. Oh, no, we cannot even compassionate thee, Haman! If it had been thyself who had been robed and crowned, and royally conducted through the streets riding on the kings horse, thou wouldest have made sure that Mordecai had been hanged on the gallows, and one of the kings most noble princes would have been degraded to minister to thy pride and selfishness.McEwan.
This is a great infelicity which attends worldly pursuits, that there is no proportion between the pleasure of success and the pain of disappointment. How unsatisfactory to Haman would the wearing of royal ornaments for a small part of a day have been, and all the other honours which he expected to enjoy only for a few moments! We can scarcely suppose that the pleasure of this feast to his vanity would have lasted longer than a night, or a week. But how dreadful a stroke was given to him, by hearing that the man whom he mortally hated was the man whom the king delighted to honour; that he was to be invested with that royal pomp to which himself looked, as the perfection of felicity, and that he must become the servant of that man for whom he had erected a gallows fifty cubits high! What exquisite misery, if he had lived to endure it, must have been his portion, at the galling remembrance of his own disgrace, when the erection of that lofty gibbet published to the whole city the height of his hopes and the bitterness of his disappointment!
Let nothing fail, said the king, of all that thou hast spoken.He counted no honours too great for his benefactor. He would compensate by his liberality the time which Mordecai had lived unrewarded and unhonoured. If we have neglected to do good when we should have done it, let us use double diligence in doing it, at least whilst time is still left us to repair our omissions.
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 to the man whom the king delighteth to honour. Do you complain that you must deny yourselves, and take up your cross in following Christ? But who is the man that is exempted from trouble, or the man that does not find it necessary to deny himself on many occasions? And is it not better to deny ourselves for Christ than to deny ourselves for the sake of any earthly object? You see that Haman, great as he was in the court of Ahasuerus, must serve Mordecai as his lacquey, and perform to him those services which to Haman himself appeared the most glorious of all others, when he would have given thousands of gold and silver for a warrant to slay him. The greatest earthly princes must often do things displeasing, or omit things pleasing, to themselves for temporary advantage, or even without the prospect of advantage. What could Haman gain from Mordecai, or from Ahasuerus, for doing what he could not do without the most extreme reluctance? But the least instance of self-denial for the sake of Christ shall be attended with a great reward, worthy of the bounty of the Giver.
Mordecai was too wise to value those childish honours which appeared so glorious to Haman. He was, undoubtedly, struck with amazement when Haman brought to him the royal robes and the royal horse. But it was necessary for him to yield obedience to the kings pleasure; and doubtless he saw the gracious hand of God in what was done to him. Mordecai had more sagacity than the friends of Haman, who saw the fall of Haman before Mordecai the Jew, presaged by this instance of his humiliation. Jacob saw the love of God in the face of his reconciled enemy. Mordecai saw the favour of God in the reluctant services performed by an enemy as full of malice as ever, and was cheered by the dawnings of that deliverance to his nation for which he had been praying and looking.Lawson.
As I have said in a former lecture, I am reluctant to offer any conjecture of my own on a subject on which so many learned men have bestowed their labour; but it does seem to me that this proposal of Hamans has a meaning which has not been commonly observed. Acquainted as he was with the dangerous and, slippery tenure of a favourite in an Eastern court, what possible object could he have in wishing to be allowed, for one brief hour, to act the king, arrayed in his masters robes of state, with the crown of Persia on his head, and paraded through the streets of the city upon the royal horse? And this strange fancy becomes stranger still when we remember that these honours were accounted so divine and sacred by the Persians, that to assume an imitation of any one of them, without the kings express command, would have been an offence to be expiated by instant death.
The true explanation of Hamans proposal appears to me to be this: that he really was aspiring to the sovereignty of Persia, and was meditating an attempt on his masters throne. His wealth was incalculable, and his power was already all but boundless and supreme. All, it appears, that was wanting to his happiness was, that he should be decked in the external badges and symbols of royalty:a very unlikely wish for any man to entertain who did not aspire to royalty itself. In those countries the steps from a throne to a dungeon were often but few, and the transfer of the crown from the prince to one of his nobles or favourites was sometimes but the work of a few hours. Nor is it at all improbable, that the incredible presumption and conceit of this vainglorious man may so far have misconstrued the extraordinary favours which Esther was now showering upon him, as to lead him to imagine that the queen herself would not regret the change. Self-admirers are generally self-deceivers. If these suppositions are just they will throw considerable light both on Hamans answer and on what soon after followed.
But, whatever were his motives, it is almost impossible to conceive the horror and amazement he must have felt at the kings reply. If the ground had opened under his feet he could scarcely have been more dismayed than when the clear and awful tones of that voice, which few ever heard without trembling, issued from the sanctuary in which the great king sat enshrined, and the wretched man listened to those memorable words which rung out the knell of his ambition. 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. Mordecai the JewThat sitteth at the kings gateAs thou hast said.It was agony. It was madness. Every syllable left a poisoned arrow rankling in his heart. But he heard and obeyed without a murmur: wonderful illustration of the self-command which a man of such passions could assume, as well as of the abject submission by which he had won the favour of his master.
But who can form any conception of the tortures Haman must have endured while executing such an order? With what bitter reproaches must he have loaded himself for having given such advice, without first taking the precaution to ask the name of the person whom the king designed to honour. Never was folly more fitly punished. That he, Haman, should be obliged to single out, from among the crowd of wondering courtiers, the object of his loathing and abhorrence for this unparalleled honour and distinction; that, publicly, and before the eyes of so many who, he well knew, would exult over his humiliation, he should be compelled, with his own hands, to adorn the detested Jew in all the glories of that royal splendour which he coveted for himself; that he should be forced to wait as a lacquey at his horses rein, and amid the sneers of multitudes, who were perfectly aware how much he hated Mordecai, and with what scorn Mordecai had defied him, to proclaim with his own lips that this was the man whom the king delighted to honour; and as he walked along, while thousands bowed down and prostrated themselvesnot to him, but to Mordecaito know that he himself was the contriver, and adviser, and doer of the whole of this odious pageant,this was a punishment so exquisite, so just, so utterly beyond the power of man to have concocted, that it was scarcely possible for any one to avoid seeing in it the hand of Providence and the forewarning of a coming fate.Crosthwaite.
There is an increscent power in evil (as indeed there is also in good), in view of which we cannot be too watchful and anxious, lest by any means we should fall under the power of it. The power of it, remember, is very silent and gentle generally in its operations. The use of strong metaphors to signify the growth of evil is apt to mislead and deceive us; and the contemplation of very strong human instances like this of Haman is apt enough to have the same effect. The growth of evilDo not figure it by the waters of Niagara hurrying down the rapids and plunging over the brink in ocean fulness. Take rather a plant or slender tree in your garden, which has just begun to grow: there it stands in the morning sunlight; there it stands in the evening dew. It never travels, never plunges, never roars. It is growingand that is enough. So do not look at Haman reeling on the giddy eminence he is trying to scale, and falling thence, as Satan did from heaven. But look at a man growing up in perfect quietness, who has no care to grow up in real goodness, no fear of growing up in eviland there you have the picture which would be to us, if we could see things as they are, as alarming as any other. Anything may come out of thatHaman, Ahitophel, Judas Iscariot.
Here is the strength, and here is the fitness of the Gospel, and here its inestimable preciousnessthat it goes to the root of all evil in man. It is a regeneration, a renewing, a quickening, a redemption; when it comes in power it is death to the principle of evil withinconsidered as the reigning power of the life. We are crucified with Christ; and with Christ we attain to the resurrection of the dead. O happy change that puts us for ever on the winning side, that gives us the pledge and assurance of eternal victory by the attainment of eternal goodness. Is it wonderful that we should exhort sinful men to flee to him, and to trust him to the uttermost? In him we are in the undecaying strengthin the perfect purityin the infinite loveand therefore in the eternal blessedness.Dr. Raleigh.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
B. Arrogance
TEXT: Est. 6:6-9
6
So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor? Now Haman said in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself?
7
And Haman said unto the king, For the man whom the king delighteth to honor,
8
let royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and on the head of which a crown royal is set:
9
and let the apparel and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the kings most noble princes, that they may array the man therewith whom the king delighteth to honor, and cause him to ride 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.
Todays English Version, Est. 6:6-9
So Haman came in, and the king said to him, There is someone I wish very much to honor. What should I do for this man?
Haman thought to himself, Now who could the king want to honor so much? Me, of course.
So he answered the king, Have royal robes brought for this manrobes that you yourself wear. Have a royal ornament put on your own horse. Then have one of your highest noblemen dress the man in these robes and lead him, mounted on the horse, through the city square. Have the nobleman announce as they go: See how the king rewards a man he wishes to honor!
COMMENTS
Est. 6:6 Immodesty: Haman was a vain man. He was the kind of man who felt insecure unless he was constantly being honored and flattered. He had to have it. But he could not handle flattery. He no doubt thought his promotion (Est. 3:1) and his invitation to the queens banquet (Est. 5:4) were deserved. His pride made him totally unaware of the possibility that anyone else might deserve to be honored by the emperor. The world is still plagued with a few people like Haman. Regretfully, some of them occasionally surface within the Kingdom of God in spite of Pauls admonition, give preference to one another in honor . . . (Rom. 12:10). There is a difference between pride and proper self-worth. It is false humility when we pretend we do not have a capacity that we do have. Proper self-acceptance does not require one to pretend that he has no capabilities; it only requires that he remember that he did not create his capabilities himself. Real humility walks the fine line between self-abnegation and self-acceptance. That is the line Haman could not walk. He could not humble himself and so he could not accept himself unless he was being constantly applauded and honored by others. Immodesty is the result of a twisted vanity. Pride and vanity come from a fundamental insecurity. Immodest behavior and dress are compensations for a vain insecurity.
Haman rationalized that since he had been so deservedly honored in the last day or two, then the emperor must be preparing to honor him further. In Hamans mind there could be no one else whom the emperor would so delight in honoring.
Est. 6:7-9 Imperiousness: Haman suggests the highest honors he can imagine; he suggests honors befitting an emperor. Such honors as Haman suggests were rarely given by Persian monarchs. They are not totally without parallel, however, as the writings of Plutarch and Herodotus testify. For anyone to wear royal apparel previously worn by the emperor was, under ordinary circumstances, a violation of Persian law. But Herodotus (7:17) points out that the emperor might, in certain circumstances, allow it. Apparently Haman was audacious enough to suggest that the one to be honored should even ride upon the kings very own, favorite horse. The horse was adorned with some type of royal ornament to signify it was the mount which belonged specifically to the emperor and was ridden by him only. Ancient has reliefs of the Assyrians show kings horses with tall pointed ornaments like royal turbans on their heads. It is doubtful that the crown royal is the crown the emperor himself wore since Xerxes would scarcely have allowed such a travesty to be made of the imperial symbol of sovereignty. Actually, the relative pronoun asher in the Hebrew text indicates that it is the crown of the horse rather than the crown of the emperor.
Hamans final suggestion was that one of the emperors highest ranking noblemen should be made valet for the one about to be honored. This nobleman-valet will assist the honored one in properly dressing in the royal robes and he will also go in front of the honored one in a procession through the streets of the great capital city proclaiming that the one sitting on the emperors horse has been signally honored by the emperor himself. A similar kind of honor was bestowed upon Joseph by the Pharaoh of Egypt (cf. Gen. 41:41-43).
There was probably some expression on the emperors face indicating that Hamans suggestions were pleasing him. Hamans heart was probably beating rapidly as he anticipated the excitement which would soon be his as he rode through the streets on the emperors horse.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(6) Whom the king delighteth . . .Literally, in whose honour the hing delighteth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Haman thought in his heart The proud and self-conceited heart always thinks, like Haman, that nothing so much deserves honour as itself.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
(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? (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, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head: (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, 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. (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.
Reader! When you have made all due reflections on the history, and beheld in it, with wonder, how the LORD overrules all things to his own glory, his people’s good, and their enemies ruin: and when you have made suitable application of it to your own case and circumstances, and the circumstances of GOD’S church and people in all ages; then turn your thoughts to JESUS, who, as the Glory-man, JEHOVAH delighteth to honor. Oh! who can behold, JESUS in the glories of his most gracious character, as the Head and King of his church and people, and not bend the knee before him, and with the whole soul confess, that JESUS CHRIST is LORD, to the glory of GOD the FATHER! Hail! thou King of kings, and LORD of lords!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (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?
Ver. 6. So Haman came in ] Merry and pleasent, but went out sad and heavy hearted. These hosts (profit, pleasure, and preferment), though they welcome us into our inn with smiling countenances, yet, if we watch them not, they will cut our throats in our beds. It is observed of Edward III, that he had always fair weather at his passage into France, and foul upon his return. Pharaoh had fair weather till he was in the heart of the Red Sea. The sun shone fair upon the earth that morning that Lot came out of Sodom, but ere night there was a dismal change. He that lives in the height of the world’s blandishments is not far from destruction.
And the king said unto him, What shall be done, &c.
Now Haman thought in his heart
To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
came in. See note on Est 6:5.
thought = said.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
whom the king: etc. Heb. in whose honour the king delighteth, Psa 35:27, Isa 42:1, Isa 62:4, Isa 62:5, Jer 32:41, Mat 3:17, Joh 5:23
To whom: Est 3:2, Est 3:3, Est 5:11, Pro 1:32, Pro 16:18, Pro 18:12, Pro 30:13, Oba 1:3
Reciprocal: 1Ki 1:33 – to ride Est 1:15 – What shall we do Psa 94:3 – the wicked Luk 14:9 – and thou Luk 16:3 – said