Esther Chapter Six
The King Honors Mordecai
1 On that night the king could not sleep. And he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. 2 And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
The king was unable to sleep that night, so he had his servants read the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles of his reign as king, read to him. Perhaps something he regularly employed to lure himself to sleep, the king hears how a plot to murder him was thwarted by Mordecai. The timing provides a powerful witness of God’s presence in this story. The night before Haman planned to ask permission to hang Mordecai, the king is reminded of the time when Mordecai told the queen about two doorkeepers who had plotted to kill the king but was stopped before implementing.
3 And the king said, “What honor or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king’s young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”
The king interrupts the reading and asks how did they honor Mordecai for notifying the officials and ultimately saving his life. They inform the king that no honor was given, nothing was done for Mordecai.
4 And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him. 5 And the king’s young men told him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”
Possibly hearing that someone had just entered the court, or that he wanted to talk to one of his officials about Mordecai, the king asks who is in the court. He is told it was Haman, who just entered the court as he was coming to see the king to ask for permission to execute Mordecai, the king asks for him to come in.
6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?”
Before Haman could ask about executing Mordecai, the king immediately asks Haman a question, “What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” Hearing that the king wanted to honor someone special, Haman immediately thinks it must be him the king wishes to recognize. One could call him selfish, arrogant, egotistical, self-centered, and prideful or a narcissist, or any other word used to describe Haman would probably would not be fully adequate or sufficient to fully describe his attitude regarding himself.
7 And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, 8 let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set.
Undoubtedly caught up in his own desire for grandeur and glory, Haman begins to answer the king likely with how he would like to be honored. Haman begins with royal identity; a royal robe and a royal horse with a royal crest on its head so there would be no confusion as to the importance of the person.
9 And let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials. Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and let them lead him on the horse through the square of the city, proclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.’ ”
Then to emphasize the person’s importance in front of the royal princes, have the king’s noblest prince pay him special honor, that of dressing the person with the royal robes and then lead him around on the king’s horse through the square of the city in full public view.
10 Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry; take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.”
The king liked Haman’s suggestion so much that he ordered Haman to do exactly what he suggested for Mordecai the Jew, and nothing was to be left out. When Haman heard the king mention Mordecai’s name and that Mordecai was the man the king wished to recognize, one can only imagine the shock he must have felt! Here he was only moments away from asking to execute the same man the king desired to honor.
11 So Haman took the robes and the horse, and he dressed Mordecai and led him through the square of the city, proclaiming before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”
Haman did as the king asked him to do. Mordecai was dressed with the royal robes and led around the city square on the king’s horse, all while proclaiming that the king delights in honoring him.
12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. 13 And Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not overcome him but will surely fall before him.” 14 While they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the feast that Esther had prepared.
Mordecai returns back to work at the king’s gate while Haman hurries home in great emotional pain, so discouraged and embarrassed that he even covered his head. When he got home he told his wife and friends what happened. Instead of hearing any words of encouragement, Haman listens to a prediction of his impending doom. His wise men and wife then tell him, “If Mardochaios [Mordecai] is of the race of the Judeans, you have begun to be humiliated before him; you will fall when you fall. You will never be able to ward him off, because a living god is with him.”[1] (Verse 13b, NETS, clarification in brackets added) However, there was no time to talk as he had to get ready to go to Esther’s special banquet.
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[1] Pietersma, A., & Wright, B. G., eds. (2007). Esther. In K. H. Jobes (Trans.), A New English Translation of the Septuagint (Primary Texts) (Es 6:13). Oxford University Press.