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Matthew Henry |
E S T H E R
CHAP. VI.
It is a very surprising scene that opens in this chapter. Haman, when
he hoped to be Mordecai’s judge, was made his page, to his great
confusion and mortification; and thus way was made for the defeat of
Haman’s plot and the deliverance of the Jews.
I. The providence of God recommends Mordecai in the night to the king’s
favour,
II. Haman, who came to incense the king against him, is employed as an
instrument of the king’s favour to him,
III. From this his friends read him his doom, which is executed in the
next chapter,
And now it appears that Esther’s intercession for her people was
happily adjourned, De die in diem–from day to day.
| The Record of Mordecai’s Loyalty. | B. C. 510. |
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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.
Now Satan put it into the heart of Haman to contrive Mordecai’s death
we read in the foregoing chapter; how God put it into the heart of the
king to contrive Mordecai’s honour we are here told. Now, if the king’s
word will prevail above Haman’s (for, though Haman be a great man, the
king in the throne must be above him), much more will the counsel of
God stand, whatever devices there are in men’s hearts. It is
to no purpose therefore for Haman to oppose it, when both God and the
king will have Mordecai honoured, and in this juncture too, when his
preferment, and Haman’s disappointment, would help to ripen the great
affair of the Jewish deliverance for the effort that Esther was to make
towards it the next day. Sometimes delay may prove to have been good
conduct. Stay awhile, and we may have done the sooner. Cunctando
restituit rem–He conquered by delay. Let us trace the steps which
Providence took towards the advancement of Mordecai.
I. On that night could not the king sleep. His sleep fled
away (so the word is); and perhaps, like a shadow, the more
carefully he pursued it the further it went from him. Sometimes we
cannot sleep because we fain would sleep. Even after a banquet of wine
he could not sleep when Providence had a design to serve in keeping him
waking. We read of no bodily indisposition he was under, that might
break his sleep; but God, whose gift sleep is, withheld it from
him. Those that are ever so much resolved to cast away care cannot
always do it; they find it in their pillows when they neither expect
nor welcome it. He that commanded 127 provinces could not command one
hour’s sleep. Perhaps the charms of Esther’s conversation the day
before gave occasion to his heart to reproach him for neglecting her,
and banishing her from his presence, though she was the wife of his
bosom, for above thirty days; and that might keep him waking. An
offended conscience can find a time to speak when it will be heard.
II. When he could not sleep he called to have the book of records, the
Journals of his reign, read to him,
v. 1.
Surely he did not design that that should lull him asleep; it would
rather fill his head with cares, and drive away sleep. But God put it
into his heart to call for it, rather than for music or songs, which
the Persian kings used to be attended with
and which would have been more likely to compose him to rest. When men
do that which is unaccountable we know not what God intends by it.
Perhaps he would have this book of business read to him that he might
improve time and be forming some useful projects. Had it been king
David’s case, he would have found some other entertainment for his
thoughts; when he could not sleep he would have remembered God and
meditated upon him
(Ps. lxiv. 6),
and, if he would have had any book read to him, it would have been his
Bible; for in that law did he meditate day and night.
III. The servant that read to him either lighted first on that article
which concerned Mordecai, or, reading long, came to it at length. Among
other things it was found written that Mordecai had discovered a plot
against the life of the king which prevented the execution of it,
v. 2.
Mordecai was not in such favour at court that the reader should
designedly pitch upon that place; but Providence directed him to it;
nay, if we may believe the Jews’ tradition (as bishop Patrick relates
it), opening the book at this place he turned over the leaves, and
would have read another part of the book, but the leaves flew back
again to the same place where he opened it; so that he was forced to
read that paragraph. How Mordecai’s good service was recorded we read
and here it is found upon record.
IV. The king enquired what honour and dignity had been done to
Mordecai for this, suspecting that this good service had gone
unrewarded, and, like Pharaoh’s butler, remembering it as his fault
this day,
Gen. xli. 9.
Note, The law of gratitude is a law of nature. We ought particularly
to be grateful to our inferiors, and not to think all their services
such debts to us but that they make us indebted to them. Two rules of
gratitude may be gathered from the king’s enquiry here:–
1. Better honour than nothing. If we cannot, or need not, make
recompence to those who have been kind to us, yet let us do them honour
by acknowledging their kindnesses and owning our obligations to them.
2. Better late than never. If we have long neglected to make grateful
returns for good offices done us, let us at length bethink ourselves of
our debts.
V. The servants informed him that nothing had been done to Mordecai for
that eminent service; in the king’s gate he sat before, and there he
still sat. Note,
1. It is common for great men to take little notice of their inferiors.
The king knew not whether Mordecai was preferred or no till his
servants informed him. High spirits take a pride in being careless and
unconcerned about those that are below them and ignorant of their
state. The great God takes cognizance of the meanest of his servants,
knows what dignity is done them and what disgrace.
2. Humility, modesty, and self-denial, though in God’s account of
great price, yet commonly hinder men’s preferment in the world.
Mordecai rises no higher than the king’s gate, while proud ambitious
Haman gets the king’s ear and heart; but, though the aspiring rise
fast, the humble stand fast. Honour makes proud men giddy, but
upholds the humble in spirit,
Prov. xxix. 23.
3. Honour and dignity are rated high in the king’s books. He does not
ask, What reward has been given Mordecai? what money? what estate? but
only, What honour?–a poor thing, and which, if he had not wherewith to
support it, would be but a burden.
4. The greatest merits and the best services are often overlooked and
go unrewarded among men. Little honour is done to those who best
deserve it, and fittest for it, and would do most good with it. See
The acquisition of wealth and honour is usually a perfect lottery, in
which those that venture least commonly carry off the best prize. Nay,
5. Good services are sometimes so far from being a man’s preferment
that they will not be his protection. Mordecai is at this time, by the
king’s edict, doomed to destruction, with all the Jews, though it is
owned that he deserved dignity. Those that faithfully serve God need
not fear being thus ill paid.
| The Honour Conferred on Mordecai. | B. C. 510. |
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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.
It is now morning, and people begin to stir.
I. Haman is so impatient to get Mordecai hanged that he comes early to
court, to be ready at the king’s levee, before any other business is
brought before him, to get a warrant for his execution
(v. 4),
which he makes sure that he shall have at the first word. The king
would gratify him in a greater thing than that; and he could tell the
king that he was so confident of the justice of his request, and the
king’s favour to him in it, that he had got the gallows ready: one word
from the king would complete his satisfaction.
II. The king is so impatient to have Mordecai honoured that he sends to
know who is in the court that is fit to be employed in it. Word is
brought him that Haman is in the court,
v. 5.
Let him come in, says the king, the fittest man to be made use
of both in directing and in dispensing the king’s favour; and the king
knew nothing of any quarrel he had with Mordecai. Haman is brought in
immediately, proud of the honour done him in being admitted into the
king’s bed-chamber, as it should seem, before he was up; for let
the king but give orders for the dignifying of Mordecai, and he will be
easy in his mind and try to sleep. Now Haman thinks he has the fairest
opportunity he can wish for to solicit against Mordecai; but the king’s
heart is as full as his, and it is fit he should speak first.
III. The king asks Haman how he should express his favour to one whom
he had marked for a favourite: What shall be done to the man whom
the king delights to honour?
v. 6.
Note, It is a good property in kings, and other superiors, to delight
in bestowing rewards and not to delight in punishing. Parents and
masters should take a pleasure in commending and encouraging that which
is good in those under their charge.
IV. Haman concludes that he himself is the favourite intended, and
therefore prescribes the highest expressions of honour that could, for
once, be bestowed upon a subject. His proud heart presently suggested,
“To whom will the king delight to do honour more than to myself? No one
deserves it so well as I,” thinks Haman, “nor stands so fair for it.”
See how men’s pride deceives them.
1. Haman had a better opinion of his merits than there was cause for:
he thought none so worthy of honour as himself. It is a foolish thing
for us thus to think ourselves the only deserving persons, or more
deserving than any other. The deceitfulness of our own hearts appears
in nothing so much as in the good conceit we have of ourselves and our
own performances, against which we should therefore constantly watch
and pray.
2. He had a better opinion of his interest than there was reason for.
He thought the king loved and valued no one but himself, but he was
deceived. We should suspect that the esteem which others profess for us
is not so great as it seems to be or as we are sometimes willing to
believe it is, that we may not think too well of ourselves nor place
too much confidence in others. Now Haman thinks he is carving out
honour for himself, and therefore does it very liberally,
Nay, he does it presumptuously, prescribing honours too great to be
conferred upon any subject, that he must be dressed in the royal robes,
wear the royal crown, and ride on the king’s own horse; in short, he
must appear in all the pomp and grandeur of the king himself, only he
must not carry the sceptre, the emblem of power. He must be attended by
one of the king’s most noble princes, who must be his lacquey,
and all the people must be made to take notice of him and do him
reverence; for he must ride in state through the streets, and it must
be proclaimed before him, for his honour, and the encouragement
of all to seek the ruler’s favour, Thus shall it be done to the man
whom the king delights to honour, which had the same intention with
that which was proclaimed before Joseph, Bow the knee; for every
good subject will honour those whom the king delights to honour. And
shall not every good Christian then honour those whom the King of kings
delights to honour and call the saints that are on the earth the
excellent ones?
V. The king confounds him with a positive order that he should
immediately go himself and put all this honour upon Mordecai the Jew,
If the king had but said, as Haman expected, Thou art the man,
what a fair opportunity would he have had to do the errand he came on,
and to desire that, to grace the solemnity of his triumphs, Mordecai,
his sworn enemy, might be hanged at the same time! But how is he
thunderstruck when the king bids him not to order all this to be done,
but to do it himself to Mordecai the Jew, the very man he hated above
all men and whose ruin he was now designing! Now, it is to no purpose
to think of moving any thing to the king against Mordecai when he is
the man whom the king delights to honour. Solomon says, The
heart of the king is unsearchable
(Prov. xxv. 3),
but it is not unchangeable.
VI. Haman dares not dispute nor so much as seem to dislike the king’s
order, but, with the greatest regret and reluctance imaginable, brings
it to Mordecai, who I suppose did no more cringe to Haman now than he
had done, valuing his counterfeit respect no more than he had valued
his concealed malice. The apparel is brought, Mordecai is dressed up,
and rides in state through the city, recognized as the king’s
favourite,
It is hard to say which of the two put a greater force upon himself,
proud Haman in putting this honour upon Mordecai, or humble Mordecai in
accepting it: the king would have it so, and both must submit. Upon
this account it was agreeable to Mordecai as it was an
indication of the king’s favour, and gave hope that Esther would
prevail for the reversing of the edict against the Jews.
| Haman Cast Down. | B. C. 510. |
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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.
14 And while they were yet talking with him, came the king’s
chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that
Esther had prepared.
We may here observe,
I. How little Mordecai was puffed up with his advancement. He came
again to the king’s gate
(v. 12);
he returned to his place and the duty of it immediately, and minded his
business as closely as he had done before. Honour is well bestowed on
those that are not made proud and idle by it, and will not think
themselves above their business.
II. How much Haman was cast down with his disappointment. He could not
bear it. To wait upon any man, especially Mordecai, and at this time,
when he hoped to have seen him hanged, was enough to break such a proud
heart as he had. He hasted to his house mourning, and having his
head covered, as one that looked upon himself as sunk and in a
manner condemned. What harm had it done him to stoop thus to Mordecai?
Was he ever the worse for it? Was it not what he himself proposed to be
done by one of the king’s most noble princes? Why then should he
grudge to do it himself? But that will break a proud man’s heart which
would not break a humble man’s sleep.
III. How his doom was, out of this event, read to him by his wife and
his friends: “If Mordecai be, as they say he is, of the seed of the
Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, though but in a point of
honour, never expect to prevail against him; for thou shalt
surely fall before him,”
Miserable comforters were they all; they did not advise him to repent,
and ask Mordecai’s pardon for his bad design against him, but foretold
his destiny as fatal and unavoidable. Two things they foresaw:–
1. That Haman would be disappointed in his enterprise against the Jews:
“Thou shalt not prevail to root out that people. Heaven plainly
fights against thee.”
2. That he himself would be destroyed: Thou shalt surely fall before
him. The contest between Michael and the dragon will not be a drawn
battle; no, Haman must fall before Mordecai. Two things they grounded
their prognostications upon:–
(1.) This Mordecai was of the seed of the Jews; feeble Jews
their enemies sometimes called them, but formidable Jews they sometimes
found them. They are a holy seed, a praying seed, in covenant with God,
and a seed that the Lord hath all along blessed, and therefore let not
their enemies expect to triumph over them.
(2.) Haman had begun to fall, and therefore he was certainly a gone
man. It has been observed of great court-favourites that when once they
have been frowned upon they have fallen utterly, as fast as they rose;
it is true of the church’s enemies that when God begins with them he
will make an end. As for God his work is perfect.
IV. How seasonably he was now sent for to the banquet that Esther had
prepared,
He thought it seasonable, in hopes it would revive his drooping spirits
and save his sinking honour. But really it was seasonable because, his
spirits being broken by this sore disappointment, he might the more
easily be run down by Esther’s complaint against him. The wisdom of God
is seen in timing the means of his church’s deliverance so as to
manifest his own glory.
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