Bible Commentaries

Elevation of Mordochai andDisgrace of Haman - Esther 6:1-14

The next night the king, being unable to sleep, caused the chronicles of thekingdom to be read to him. The account of the conspiracy discovered byMordochai, which was written therein, was thus brought before him, andhe inquired of his servants whether this man had been rewarded (Esther 6:1-3 ). On receiving a negative answer, the king sent to inquire who was in thecourt; and Haman being found there thus early, he had him summoned, andasked him: what should be done to the man in whose honour the kingdelighteth. Haman, supposing that the king could intend to honour no onebut himself, voted for the very highest public mark of respect (Esther 6:3-9),and was then obliged at the king's command to pay the proposed honourto Mordochai (Esther 6:10, Esther 6:11). From this humiliation his wife and friendsprognosticated his speedy downfall (Esther 6:12-14).

An unexpected turn of affairs. Esther 6:1. On that night betweenEsther's first and second banquet, the king's sleep fled, and he commandedto bring the book of records of the chronicles and to read therefrom. Onהזּכרנות ספר, comp. Ezra 4:15. The title is here moreparticularly stated than in Esther 2:23, where the book is briefly called: Thebook of the chronicles. נקראים ויּהיוּ, and they (thechronicles) were read before the king. The participle denotes the longcontinuance of this reading.

Esther 6:2

And it was found written therein among other matters, thatMordochai had given information concerning the two courtiers who wereplotting against the king's life. This is the conspiracy related Esther 2:21-23. The name Bigthana is in Esther 2:21 written Bigthan.

Esther 6:3

On this occasion the king asked: What honour and greatness hathbeen done to Mordochai for this? על־זה, for giving this information. Andthe king's servants answered: Nothing has been shown him. עם עשׂה, to show any one something, e.g., favour; comp. 2 Samuel 2:6; 2 Samuel 3:8, and elsewhere. גּדוּלה, greatness, i.e., promotion to honour.

Esther 6:4

To repair this deficiency, and to do honour to the man who haddone 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 thecourt?” i.e., whether some minister or state functionary were there withwhom he might consult concerning the honour due to Mordochai. Thosewho desired an audience with the king were accustomed to appear andwait in the outer court, until they were summoned into the inner court topresent themselves before the monarch. From this question of the king itappears that it was already morning. And Haman, it is parentheticallyremarked, was come into the outer court to speak to the king, to hangMordochai on the tree which he had prepared.

Esther 6:5

The attendants inform the king that Haman is in the court;whereupon the king commands: יבוא, let him come in.

Esther 6:6-9

As soon as he enters the king asks: What is to be done to theman in whose honour the king delighteth? i.e., whom he delights to honour. And Haman, thinking (בּלבּו אמר, to say in one's heart,i.e., to think) to whom will the king delight to show honour more than tome (ממּבּי יותר, projecting before me, surpassing me,hence adverbially, beyond me, e.g., Ecclesiastes 12:12, comp. Ecclesiastes 2:15; Ecclesiastes 7:11, Ecclesiastes 7:16)?votes immediately for the greatest possible mark of honour, and says, Esther 6:7.: “As for the man in whose honour the king delighteth, let them bringthe royal apparel with which the king has been clothed, and a horse onwhich the king has ridden, and the king's crown upon his head, and letthem 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 honourthe king delighteth, and cause him to ride upon the horse through thestreets of the city, and proclaim before him: Thus shall it be done to theman in whose honour the king delighteth.” וגו אשׁר אישׁ; Esther 6:7, precedes absolutely, and the predicate does not follow tillוהלבּישׁוּ, Esther 6:9, where the preceding subject is now by ananacoluthon taken up in the accusative (את־האישׁ). Several clauses are inserted between, for the purpose of enumeratingbeforehand 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 thecarrying out of the honour awarded. The royal garment is not only, asBertheau justly remarks, such a one as the king is accustomed to wear, but,as is shown by the perf. לבשׁ, one which the king has himselfalready 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 thePersians, and those on whom the king bestowed such raiment were wontto appear in (Herod. 3.84, 7.116; Xenoph. Cyrop. 8.3.1, comp. with thenote of Baehr on Her. 3.84), but a costly garment, the property of thesovereign himself. This was the highest mark of honour that could beshown to a subject. So too was the riding upon a horse on which the kinghad ridden, and whose head was adorned with a royal crown. נתּן is perf. Niph., not 1st pers. pl. imperf. Kal, as Maurer insists; and בּראשׁו אשׁר refers to the head of the horse, not to the head of theman to be honoured, as Clericus, Rambach, and most ancient expositorsexplain the words, in opposition to the natural sense of - בּראשׁו נתּן אשׁר. We do not indeed find among classical writersany testimony to such an adornment of the royal steed; but thecircumstance is not at all improbable, and seems to be corroborated byancient remains, certain Assyrian and ancient Persian sculptures,representing the horses of the king, and apparently those of princes, withornaments on their heads terminating in three points, which may beregarded as a kind of crown. The infin. absol. ונתון is acontinuation of the preceding jussive יביאוּ: and they shallgive, let them give the garment - to the hand of a man, i.e., hand or deliver tohim. The garment and horse are to be delivered to one of the noblestprinces, that he may bring them to the individual to be honoured, mayarray him in the garment, set him on the horse, and proclaim before him ashe rides through the city, etc. On הפּרתּמים, comp. Esther 1:4, andon the matter itself, Genesis 41:43. רחוב is either an open square,the place of public assemblage, the forum, or a collective signifying thewide streets of the city. יעשׂה כּכה as in Deuteronomy 25:9 and elsewhere.

Esther 6:10-11

This honour, then, the haughty Haman was now compelledto pay to the hated Jew. The king commanded him: “Make haste, take theapparel and the horse, as thou hast said,” i.e., in the manner proposed bythee, “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 proposalexactly. How the king knew that Mordochai was a Jew, and that he sat inthe king's gate, is not indeed expressly stated, but may easily be suppliedfrom the conversation of the king with his servants concerningMordochai's discovery of the conspiracy, Esther 6:1-3. On this occasion theservants of the king would certainly give him particulars concerningMordochai, who by daily frequenting the king's gate, Esther 2:19; Esther 5:9, wouldcertainly have attracted the attention of all the king's suite. Nor can doubtbe case upon the historical truth of the fact related in this verse by thequestion: whether the king had forgotten that all Jews were doomed todestruction, 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 Xerxescannot surprise us.

After this honour had been paid him, Mordochai returned to the king'sgate; but Haman hasted to his house, “sad and with his head covered,” torelate to his wife and friends all that had befallen him. A deepermortification he could not have experienced than that of being obliged, bythe king's command, publicly to show the highest honour to the veryindividual whose execution he was just about to propose to him. Thecovering of the head is a token of deep confusion and mourning; comp. Jeremiah 14:4; 2 Samuel 15:30. Then his wise men, and Zeresh his wife, said to him:”If Mordochai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of theJews, thou wilt not prevail against him, but wholly fall before him.” לו תוּכל לא, non praevalebis ei, comp. Genesis 32:26. תּפּול נפול with an emphatic infin. absol.: wholly fall. Instead of the חכמיו אהביו are here named, orto speak more correctly the friends of Haman are here called his wise men(magi). Even in Esther 5:14 Haman's friends figure as those with whom hetakes counsel concerning Mordochai, i.e., as his counsellors or advisers;hence it is very probable that there were magi among their number, whonow “come forward as a genus sapientum et doctorum (Cicero, divin. i. 23)” (Berth.), and predict his overthrow in his contest with Mordochai. The ground of this prediction is stated: “If Mordochai is of the seed of theJews,” i.e., of Jewish descent, then after this preliminary fall a total fall isinevitable. Previously (Esther 5:14) they had not hesitated to advise him to hangthe insignificant Jew; but now that the insignificant Jew has become, as bya miracle, a man highly honoured by the king, the fact that the Jews areunder the special protection of Providence is pressed upon them. Ex fatopopulorum, remarks Grotius, de singulorum fatis judicabant. Judaeigravissime oppressi a Cyri temporibus contra spem omnem resurgerecaeperant. We cannot, however, regard as well founded the further remark:de Amalecitis audierant oraculum esse, eos Judaeorum manu perituros,which Grotius, with most older expositors, derives from the Amalekiteorigin of Haman. The revival of the Jewish people since the times ofCyrus was sufficient to induce, in the minds of heathen who wereattentive to the signs of the times, the persuasion that this nation enjoyeddivine protection.

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