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Matthew Henry |
E S T H E R
CHAP. V.
The last news we had of Haman left him in his cups,
Our last news of queen Esther left her in tears, fasting and praying.
Now this chapter brings in,
I. Esther in her joys, smiled upon by the king and honoured with his
company at her banquet of wine,
II. Haman upon the fret, because he had not Mordecai’s cap and knee,
and with great indignation setting up a gallows for him,
Thus those that sow in tears shall reap in joy, but the triumphing of
the wicked is short.
| Esther’s Approach to the King. | B. C. 510. |
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1 Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on
her royal apparel, and stood in 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.
2 And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in
the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and 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.
3 Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, queen Esther?
and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the
half of the kingdom.
4 And 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.
5 Then 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.
6 And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, 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.
7 Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request
is;
8 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 to morrow as the king hath said.
Here is,
I. Esther’s bold approach to the king,
v. 1.
When the time appointed for their fast was finished she lost no time,
but on the third day, when the impression of her devotions were fresh
upon her spirit, she addressed the king. When the heart is enlarged in
communion with God it will be emboldened in doing and suffering for
him. Some think that the three days’ fast was only one whole day and
two whole nights, in all which time they did not take any food at all,
and that this is called three days, as Christ’s lying in the
grave so long is. This exposition is favoured by the consideration that
on the third day the queen made her appearance at court. Resolutions
which have difficulties and dangers to break though should be pursued
without delay, lest they cool and slacken. What thou doest,
which must be done boldly, do it quickly. Now she put on her
royal apparel, that she might the better recommend herself to the
king, and laid aside her fast-day clothes. She put on her fine clothes,
not to please herself, but her husband; in her prayer, as we find in
the Apocrypha
(Esther xiv. 16),
she thus appeals to God: Thou knowest, Lord, I abhor the sign of my
high estate which is upon my head, in the days wherein I show myself,
&c. Let hose whose rank obliges them to wear rich clothes learn
hence to be dead to them, and not make them their adorning. She stood
in the inner court over against the king, expecting her doom,
between hope and fear.
II. The favourable reception which the king gave her. When he saw
her she obtained favour in his sight. The apocryphal author
and Josephus say that she took two maids with her, on one of whom she
leaned, while the other bore up her train,–that her countenance was
cheerful and very amiable, but her heart was in anguish,–that the king,
lifting up his countenance that shone with majesty, at first looked
very fiercely upon here, whereupon she grew pale, and fainted, and
bowed herself on the head of the maid that went by her; but then God
changed the spirit of the king, and, in a fear, he leaped from his
throne, took her in his arms till she came to herself, and comforted
her with loving words. Here we are only told,
1. That he protected her from the law, and assured her of safety, by
holding out to her the golden sceptre
(v. 2),
which she thankfully touched the top of, thereby presenting
herself to him as a humble petitioner. Thus having had power with God
and prevailed, like Jacob, she had power with men too. He that will
lose his life for God shall save it, or find it in a better
life.
2. That he encouraged her address
(v. 3):
What wilt thou, queen Esther, and what is thy request? So far
was he from counting her an offender that he seemed glad to see her,
and desirous to oblige her. He that had divorced one wife for not
coming when she was sent for would not be severe to another for coming
when she was not sent for. God can turn the hearts of men, of great
men, of those that act most arbitrarily, which way he pleases towards
us. Esther feared that she should perish, but was promised that she
should have what she might ask for, though it were the half of the
kingdom. Note, God in his providence often prevents the fears, and
outdoes the hopes, of his people, especially when they venture in his
cause. Let us from this story infer, as our Saviour does from the
parable of the unjust judge, an encouragement to pray always to
our God, and not faint,
Luke xviii. 6-8.
Hear what this haughty king says (What is thy petition, and what is
thy request? It shall be granted thee), and say shall not
God hear and answer the prayers of his own elect, that cry day
and night to him? Esther came to a proud imperious man; we come to
the God of love and grace. She was not called; we are: the Spirit says,
Come, and the bride says, Come. She had a law against
her; we have a promise, many a promise, in favour of us: Ask, and it
shall be given you. She had no friend to introduce her, or
intercede for her, while on the contrary he that was then the king’s
favourite was her enemy; but we have an advocate with the Father, in
whom he is well pleased. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne
of grace.
3. That all the request she had to make to him, at this time, was that
he would please to come to a banquet which she had prepared for him,
and bring Haman along with him,
Hereby,
(1.) She would intimate to him how much she valued his favour and
company. Whatever she had to ask, she desired his favour above any
thing, and would purchase it at any rate.
(2.) She would try how he stood affected to her; for, if he should
refuse this, it would be to no purpose as yet to present her other
request.
(3.) She would endeavour to bring him into a pleasant humour, and
soften his spirit, that he might with the more tenderness receive the
impressions of the complaint she had to make to him.
(4.) She would please him, by making court to Haman his favourite, and
inviting him to come whose company she knew he loved and whom she
desired to have present when she made her complaint; for she would say
nothing of him but what she durst say to his face.
(5.) She hoped at the banquet of wine to have a fairer and more
favourable opportunity of presenting her petition. Wisdom is profitable
to direct how to manage some men that are hard to deal with, and to
take them by the right handle.
4. That he readily came, and ordered Haman to come along with him
(v. 5),
which was an indication of the kindness he still retained for her; if
he really designed the destruction of her and her people, he would not
have accepted her banquet. There he renewed his kind enquiry (What
is thy petition?) and his generous promise, that it should be
granted, even to the half of the kingdom
(v. 6),
a proverbial expression, by which he assured her that he would deny her
nothing in reason. Herod used it,
5. That then Esther thought fit to ask no more than a promise that he
would please to accept of another treat, the next day, in her
apartment, and Haman with him
(v. 7, 8),
intimating to him that then she would let him know what her business
was. This adjourning of the main petition may be attributed,
(1.) To Esther’s prudence; thus she hoped yet further to win upon him
and ingratiate herself with him. Perhaps her heart failed her now when
she was going to make her request, and she desired to take some further
time for prayer, that God would give her a mouth and wisdom. The
putting of it off thus, it is likely, she knew would be well taken as
an expression of the great reverence she had for the king, and her
unwillingness to be too pressing upon him. What is hastily asked is
often as hastily denied; but what is asked with a pause deserves to be
considered.
(2.) To God’s providence putting it into Esther’s heart to delay her
petition a day longer, she knew not why, but God did, that what was to
happen in the night intervening between this and to-morrow might
further her design and make way for her success, that Haman might
arrive at the highest pitch of malice against Mordecai and might begin
to fall before him. The Jews perhaps blamed Ester as dilatory,
and some of them began to suspect her sincerity, or at least her zeal;
but the event disproved their jealousy, and all was for the best.
| Haman’s Joy and Chagrin; Haman’s Mediated Revenge. | B. C. 510. |
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9 Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart:
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.
10 Nevertheless Haman refrained himself: and when he came home,
he sent and called for his friends, and Zeresh his wife.
11 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.
12 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 to morrow am I invited unto her also with the king.
13 Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai
the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.
14 Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let
a gallows be made of fifty cubits high, and to morrow speak thou
unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go thou
in merrily with the king unto the banquet. And the thing pleased
Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.
This account here given of Haman is a comment upon that of Solomon,
Proud and haughty scorner is his name that deals in proud wrath.
Never did any man more answer that name than Haman, in whom pride and
wrath had so much the ascendant. See him,
I. Puffed up with the honour of being invited to Esther’s feast. He was
joyful and glad of heart at it,
v. 9.
Observe with what a high gust he speaks of it
(v. 12),
how he values himself upon it, and how near he thinks it brings him to
the perfection of felicity, that Esther the queen did let no man come
with the king to the banquet but his mighty self, and he thought it was
because she was exceedingly charmed with his conversation that the next
day she had invited him also to come with the king; none so fit as he
to bear the king company. Note, Self-admirers and self-flatterers are
really self-deceivers. Haman pleased himself with the fancy that the
queen, by this repeated invitation, designed to honour him, whereas
really she designed to accuse him, and, in calling him to the banquet,
did but call him to the bar. What magnifying glasses do proud men look
at their faces in! And how does the pride of their heart deceive
them!
Obad. 3.
II. Vexing and fretting at the slight that Mordecai put upon him, and
thereby made uneasy to himself and to all about him.
1. Mordecai was as determined as ever: He stood not up, nor moved
for him,
v. 9.
What he did was from a principle of conscience, and therefore he
persevered in it, and would not cringe to Haman, no, not when he had
reason to fear him and Esther herself complimented him. He knew God
could and would deliver him and his people from the rage of Haman,
without any such mean and sneaking expedients to mollify him. Those
that walk in holy sincerity may walk in holy security, and go on in
their work, not fearing what man can do unto them. He that walks
uprightly walks surely.
2. Haman can as ill bear it as ever; nay, the higher he is lifted up,
the more impatient is her of contempt and the more enraged at it.
(1.) It made his own spirit restless, and put him into a grievous
agitation. He was full of indignation
(v. 9)
and yet refrained himself,
v. 10.
Gladly would he have drawn his sword and run Mordecai through for
affronting him thus; but he hoped shortly to see him fall with all the
Jews, and therefore with much ado prevailed with himself to forbear
stabbing him. What a struggle had he in his own bosom between his
anger, which required Mordecai’s death immediately (O that I had of
his flesh! I cannot be satisfied!
Job xxxi. 31),
and his malice, which had determined to wait for the general massacre!
Thus thorns and snares are in the way of the froward.
(2.) It made all his enjoyments sapless. This little affront which he
received from Mordecai was the dead fly which spoiled all his pot of
precious ointment; he himself owned in the presence of his wife and
friends, to the everlasting reproach of a proud and discontented mind,
that he had no comfort in his estate, preferment, and family, as long
as Mordecai lived and had a place in the king’s gate,
v. 10-13.
He took notice of his own riches and honours, the numerousness of his
family, and the high posts to which he was advanced, that he was the
darling of the prince and the idol of the court; and yet all this
avails him nothing as long as Mordecai is unhanged. Those that are
disposed to be uneasy will never want something or other to be uneasy
at; and proud men, though they have much to their mind, yet, if
they have not all to their mind, it is as nothing to them. The
thousandth part of what Haman had would serve to make a humble modest
man as much of a happiness as he expects from this world; and yet Haman
complained as passionately as if he had been sunk into the lowest
degree of poverty and disgrace.
III. Meditating revenge, and assisted therein by his wife and his
friends,
They saw how gladly he would dispense with his own resolution of
deferring the slaughter till the time determined by the lot, and
therefore advised him to take an earnest and foretaste of the
satisfaction he then expected in the speedy execution of Mordecai; let
him have that to please him at the moment; and having, as he thought,
made sure the destruction of all the Jews, at the time appointed, he
will not think scorn, for the present, to lay hands on Mordecai alone.
1. For the pleasing of his fancy they advise him to get a gallows
ready, and have it set up before his own door, that, as soon as
ever he could get the warrant signed, there might be no delay of the
execution; he would not need so much as to stay the making of the
gallows. This is very agreeable to Haman, who has the gallows made and
fixed immediately; it must be fifty cubits high, or as near that as
might be, for the greater disgrace of Mordecai and to make him a
spectacle to every one that passed by; and it must be before Haman’s
door, that all men might take notice it was to the idol of his revenge
that Mordecai was sacrificed and that he might feed his eyes with the
sight.
2. For the gaining of his point they advise him to go early in the
morning to the king, and get an order from him for the hanging of
Mordecai, which, they doubted not, would be readily granted to one who
was so much the king’s favourite and who had so easily obtained an
edict for the destruction of the whole nation of the Jews. There needed
no feigned suggestion; it was enough if he let the king know that
Mordecai, in contempt of the king’s command, refused to reverence him.
And now we leave Haman to go to bed, pleased with the thoughts of
seeing Mordecai hanged the next day, and then going merrily to the
banquet, and not dreaming of handselling his own gallows.
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