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.
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? Now 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.
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? 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.
12 And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.
13 And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every thing that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.
A person has to be spiritually blind to not see God’s hand at work in spite of negative events in the book of Esther. We need to remember:
II Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
God is in charge. He allows man to flex his foolish muscles but God controls how far those muscles can go. He set the standard in the opening chapters of Genesis. He did not create robots. He created man in His image. Man has the ability to think and reason. Due to the fall of man, his ability to think and reason is flawed. It is only by the grace of God that anyone can begin to think properly. As we have noted, the world is lost in sin. Every mere mortal is born in sin. The only hope is to repent toward God and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
In our text today, we see that the king could not sleep on the night after that first banquet. He had enjoyed himself at that banquet. He had the expectation of another banquet the next day. However, he could not sleep that night. What was troubling him? He had no resistance in his empire. He had found a way to drown out the guilt and pain of getting rid of his wife. There was no nation that was attacking his empire. Yet he could not sleep.
Not only could the king not sleep, but he kept some of his men awake as well. He commanded that the book of records be brought to him. He did not read them for himself. He had them read to him.
The king was not a very wise man, and he did not have any wise men around him, but he had loyal men. They stayed up with him and they read the records to him.
In verse 2 something garnered the attention of the king. His people read to him of the time when Mordecai had overheard of a plot to do harm to the king. He had reported that threat to Esther who took it further up the chain. This report was found to be credible and the two men were hanged. The threat was stopped quickly and permanently.
In verse 3 the king wondered what had been done to reward Mordecai for reporting this threat. His servants noted that nothing had been done for Mordecai. The king had overlooked this matter. His life had been threatened and the threat was averted and yet Mordecai did not receive any recognition for acting on what he had heard. Keep in mind, the king was all about optics. His divorce of Vashti was optics. She had not bowed to his evil plans and he was upset with her and kicked her out of his kingdom. His counsellors told him that was the right thing to do so that other wives would not get the idea that disobeying their husbands’ orders, was acceptable.
We can see from that that divorce was a drastic measure to be feared. Today it is not that way. It is far too common place in our society. The hurt and the emotional turmoil of a broken marriage is powerful. Each couple involved in such an event deals differently, but God tells us that it will impact their lives in a negative way. It is not God’s design. There is a Biblical way to have a successful and blessed marriage.
Now Ahasuerus wanted to make sure that people knew that it was rewarding to report any threat against the king.
We read in verse 4 that this searching had taken all night. It was now daytime and the king is asking who was in the court. Haman was there. Haman had an evil plot that he wanted the king’s approval for. Haman never anticipated what was about to unfold.
In verse 5 the king was informed of Haman’s presence in the court. The king commanded that he be brought into the king’s presence. Haman, of course, thought this was special. He did not yet know what was happening. He would not get the opportunity to make his request. The king’s needs took priority to all others.
In verse 6 we read of the king’s question to Haman. Remember Ahasuerus had promoted Haman to a high position in his kingdom. Haman was an important man in the kingdom. Haman could not think of anyone beside himself that would be worthy of honour from the king. As we have noted before, Haman was a vain man. He viewed everyone other than the king as inferior to himself. He had not accomplished anything of value. He had schmoozed his way into favour with the king. Vain people generally have vain people around them.
In verses 7-9 Haman laid out his thoughts on how the king should honour a worthy person. His counsel was quite elaborate.
In verse 10, Haman was no doubt quite shocked when he heard the king say he should do all that he recommended to Mordecai, the man that he hated. Haman needed to give Mordecai the king’s royal apparel and the horse the king rode upon. He needed to bring Mordecai on horseback through the street of the city and he needed to proclaim to all who were watching that this is how the king would honour a good deed.
The king knew that Haman had sent out letters to destroy the Jews. Yet, at this moment that did not register. He knew that Mordecai was a Jew and he ordered Haman to make haste and set in motion the things he had stated should be done to the person the king delighted to honour.
Haman was not to skip over anything of all that he had suggested should be done. That must have been a very difficult task for Haman to fulfil. However, his pride and his lust for power caused him to go through with this. He did not want to get on the bad side of the king.
In verse 11 we read that Haman did all that he had suggested to the king. That must have been somewhat confusing for the people as well. They had received those letters telling them to be ready to take vengeance against the Jews on a set day. Yet here Haman was parading a Jew through the street of the city and honouring him.
Mordecai was not one to get puffed up with pride easily. He was not like the king or like Haman. He knew this death threat was still hanging over his head as well as all the Jews in the Persian Empire.
We read that Haman could not get away from that scene fast enough. He left for his house mourning. He was ashamed and frustrated with what he had just been subjected to do. Pride has a way of causing shame and frustration.
In verse 13, we read that Haman’s wife and friends reasoned that this was the beginning of the downfall of Haman. They could see this was not going to finish well. They had counselled Haman to build a gallows to hang Mordecai on. They had counselled him to go talk to the king about this. Yet now, this had all backfired. The man he hated was now seen as a great man in the city of Shushan. How could he ever get the king’s approval to hang this man?
Haman’s wife and friends knew there was trouble ahead for Haman, but they did not realize that the trouble would fall on them as well.
There are people who can see there is trouble ahead today as well. The problem is they do not want to turn to the only place of hope and that is to God and Jesus Christ. There is no value in choosing a person or party that might be a little less corrupt. Unless a person is building upon the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be corrupted by the “mob”. Too many of our churches are built upon numbers, rather than truth. Truth is not popular, but Truth is still right and necessary. There are a few people who are saved and want Truth. Too many are content with different shades of lies.
I for one, want the Truth. I know that God is Truth and His Word is Truth. I am not perfect, but my God is perfect. By God’s grace I will grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. How about you?
Pastor Bartel