Esther 6
AHASUERUS, BEING
WAKEFUL DURING THE NIGHT, HAS THE
BOOK OF THE
CHRONICLES READ TO HIM, AND FINDS THAT
MORDECAI HAS
RECEIVED NO REWARD. HE MAKES HAMAN
NAME A FITTING
REWARD, AND THEN DEPUTES HIM TO
CONFER IT ON
MORDECAI (vs. 1-11). It is among the
objects
of the writer of Esther to
show how the smallest circumstances of life,
those most generally regarded as left to chance, work
together for good to
such as deserve well, and for evil to
such as deserve evil. He now notes
that the turning-point in Haman’s and Mordecai’s fortunes
was the
apparently trivial circumstance of Ahasuerus on a
particular night being
troubled with sleeplessness. This led to his having the
book of the
chronicles read to him (v. 1). Another seeming chance
caused the reader
to include in what he read the account of Bigthan’s and
Teresh’s
conspiracy (v. 2). This brought Mordecai’s name before the
king, and
induced him to ask the question, “What honor and dignity hath been
done
to Mordecai for this?” The question could only be answered in one way —
“There is nothing done for him” (v. 3). Such neglect being a gross breach
of Persian law, and a great dishonor to the king who had
allowed it,
Ahasuerus naturally takes the matter up with earnestness.
Something must
be done at once to remedy the neglect, some agent must be
found to set it
right, and so the king asks, “Who is in the court?”
Morning has probably
arrived during the reading, and Haman, impatient to get the
king’s consent
to Mordecai’s execution, has come with the dawn to prefer
his request.
The king is told that Haman waits without, and sending for
him, anticipates
the business that his minister had intended to lay before
him by the sudden
question, asked the moment he has entered, “What
shall be done unto the
man whom the king delighteth to honour?” It was natural that Haman,
after the favor shown him on the preceding day, should
imagine himself
the person aimed at, and should therefore fix upon the very
highest honor
that was within the range of his conceptions (vs. 8-9). He
thus became
the suggester of honors for Mordecai which might otherwise
not have
occurred to any one. Ahasuerus, full of the idea of his own
neglect, and
ready to make any reparation, consents to all that is
proposed, and,
unaware that there is any unpleasantness between Haman and
Mordecai,
bids his minister confer the honors which he has suggested
(v. 10). The
royal command cannot be disputed or evaded, and so Mordecai
is escorted
through the city by his enemy, who had expected about that
very time to be
superintending his impalement (v. 11).
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.” The book of records of the
chronicles. Compare ch.2:23,
where the
title is given more briefly, as “the book of the chronicles.” See
also ch.10:2.
The character of the book has been already explained
(see comment on
ch.2:23). They were read. Either because the king could not read himself
(‘Ancient Monarchies,’ vol. 4. p. 184), or
because the sound of a man’s voice
might (it was thought) induce drowsiness.
The Sleepless (v. 1)
We are not surprised to read that “on that night could not the king
sleep.”
Not, indeed, that there was anything in Ahasuerus (Xerxes)
to make us
expect a restless night; he appears to us here, as
elsewhere, as a painful
illustration of human heartlessness. That many thousands of his subjects
were about to be butchered in order that his coffers might
be filled should
have caused the monarch many a troubled day and many a
sleepless night;
but such was the character of the man that no one suggests
the impending
massacre as the explanation of the king’s restlessness. He had reached that
fearful spiritual condition in which human life was of no
account to him so
that his power might be continued and his pleasures
multiplied or secured.
It is a striking instance of Divine providence. He
who “holds
the king’s
heart in His hand” (Proverbs
21:1), who can touch with the finger of His
power the secret springs of our thought and feeling, now
sent troubled thoughts
to this Persian king. That Lord of heaven, Keeper of Israel
who slumbers not
nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4), now gave a wakeful night to this
earthly
monarch. He was interposing on behalf of His chosen people.
God willed
that the sovereign should not slumber in order that he
might thus be led to
have “the book of records of the chronicles
brought and read before the
king,” and
Mordecai’s services be thus brought to his royal notice. Little
did Ahasuerus, as he tossed his restless head on the
pillow, imagine that a
Divine hand was laid on his troubled brain. As little do we
know when the
finger of God is working on us, with us, for us, or
mercifully against us.
Thinking of the sleepless sons and daughters of men, we may
have in view:
compassion those who tell us
that they cannot sleep at night. Scarcely a
sentence comes more plaintively
from human lips. Well does one of our
own poets write —
“Pity! oh,
pity the wretches who weep,
For they
must be wretched who cannot sleep
When God Himself
draws the curtain.”
Whether it be pain, or trouble,
or sorrow that causes the sleepless hours,
we may pity sincerely and pray
earnestly for these.
Ø
tenderly nurse the
sick through the livelong night, or
Ø
sympathetically attend
the sorrowful in their sleepless hours, or
Ø
are “about the Father’s business,” seeking the salvation of
others.
It is the women who “watch”
the best. There were, humanly speaking, at
least three women who could have
watched that “one hour” (Matthew
26:40), and would not have been
found asleep by the agonizing Master.
Few of the children of men are
more worthy of our admiring affection than
those self-denying sisters who
watch so patiently lest there should be need
of the ministering hand or the
comforting word.
are those in every city who
cannot sleep because they cannot forget. They
shut their book at night; but
have soon to sigh:
“Oh God!
could I so close my mind
And clasp
it with a clasp.”
They pay in restless hours the
dark penalty of vice or crime; they are
pursued and punished by dread of
the wrath of God or of the justice of
man, or by the rebuking of their
own conscience. For such there is no
remedy or escape but confession,
reparation, forgiveness, human and
Divine. “Return on thy way” at
once.
Ø
THE SLEEPLESS WHOM WE MUCH WISH TO SERVE. Those
who cannot sleep because of “great searchings of heart;” who are asking
that old new question, “How
shall mortal man be just with God?” who will
give themselves no rest till the
way of peace is found, till they have “peace
with God through
Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:1)
There are none anywhere
so deserving and demanding, so
certain to receive, the tender sympathy and
delicate help of those who
minister in the gospel of the Saviour.
Ø
THE SLEEPLESS WHOM WE HOPE TO JOIN. On the other side of
the river of death is a land
where that which has been will not be, where we
shall change this “body
of our humiliation,” and shall be clothed upon with
the “body of
His glory.” (Philippians 3:21) There will be no sleeplessness like
that of which we have spoken; no
weary tossing, no heartache, no distress,
no agitation. But there will be
sleeplessness of another kind, for there will
be
no more need of long periods of
unconsciousness and inactivity there. There
will be “no more fatigue, no more
distress,” no more exhaustion; and therefore
“there will be no
night there” (Revelation 21:25; 22:5), and no sleep, but
ceaseless, tireless, unexhausting
energy; there they serve Him “day without
night.” These we hope one day to join. Let us
live “in Christ;” then shall we
“fall asleep in Him” (I Thessalonians 4:14), and then
shall we awake in the
morning of an
everlasting day where the
shadows never fall, a land full of
light because FULL
OF THE NEAR PRESCENCE AND GLORY OF
THE LORD!
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.” It was found
written.
See the last words of ch. 2. Bigthana. “Bigthan” in Ibid. v.21; “Bigtha”
in ch.1:10. The Persian name would be best represented by the
fullest form
of the three.
3 “And the
king said, What honor 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.” The discoverer
of a conspiracy
against the life of the king would in any country have been
regarded as
entitled to some reward. In
class, and had their names inscribed on a special list
(Herod., 8:85), it was
especially incumbent on the monarch to see that every such
person received a
return proportioned to the value of his service. Ahasuerus seems
to have
supposed that some honor or dignity must have been
conferred upon
Mordecai, though he could not recollect what it was; and it
is difficult to
understand how the omission to reward him had occurred,
unless there was
a prejudice against him among the high court officials, who
may have
known that he was a Jew, though his fellow-servants did not
(ch.3:4).
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.”
The king said, Who
is in the court? Probably some high
officer of state was required to be always in attendance
upon the monarch,
to take his orders at any moment. Now Haman was come.
Early morning
is a common time for the transaction of business at an
Eastern court.
Haman was so anxious to get the business on which he was
bent
dispatched, that he had come perhaps even before daybreak,
and was
waiting in the outer court, to get, if possible, the first
audience. This haste
of his to effect Mordecai’s destruction led to his being
the person deputed
to do him the highest honor.
A Sleepless Monarch and a Wakeful
The place of this verse fully vindicated by its contents.
When its position is
observed in the original it is found to be very nearly the
bisection of the
book. Certainly it is the critical point, the hinge on
which the deep moral
and religious interest of the history turns. There is a
sense in which it might
seem that up to this point the reader has but groped his
way. He has asked
for a little more distinctly religious light and speech. He craves to see a
Divine presence, and to hear the accents of a Diviner
voice than have been
hitherto vouchsafed. Perhaps these are still withheld in their fullest
manifestation, but it can no longer be felt that any vital
element of evidence
is absent. The night in question was the night between the
two banquets of
Esther, the night before the almost certainly foregone
conclusion of
permission to hang Mordecai on the new-made gallows of
Haman.
Everybody was not in on the secret. Neither Esther, nor
Mordecai, nor the
king himself knew of the project. Yet from a merely human
point of view it
was all but certain. How the night passed for Esther and
for Mordecai we
know not. Both had to acknowledge distinguishing mercies
which the
preceding day had brought. But they both knew that one
crisis happily
passed did but usher in another, and if this should not
issue as favorably,
vain were the promise of the day before. Likely enough,
then, the solemn
hours of that night were counted by them with wakeful
anxiousness. For
what issues of life or death hung upon the next day.
Haman’s night invites
not a solitary sympathy. This much we may surmise about it,
that it was
disturbed by the noise
of those who “made the gallows” (ch.5:14;
here, v.4; 7:9), and that its length was not prolonged
over-far into the morning.
But the storm-center travels toward the night of Ahasuerus,
and there very
soon it threateningly hangs. Ahasuerus was not a good man;
he was not a
good king. How otherwise could he have permitted an
insufferably vain,
self-seeking minion like Haman to be such a welcome and
close
companion? How could he have committed to such a subject an
authority
so dangerously approaching his own? Yet, as we have before
seen
(ch. 1:4), there was a certain large lavish way about
Ahasuerus —
the outside of a certain kindliness, impulsiveness, unthinking
trustingness
within, which proved a heart not callous. These qualities
did indeed
harmonize well with what we read elsewhere of Xerxes, and
how his
feelings so overcame him when, from his throne of marble,
he reviewed his
innumerable troops crossing the
mortality. Ahasuerus was thoughtless and rash — the very
things that
cannot be defended in either king or man — but he was not
yet abandoned
of every higher presence; he was not yet “let alone.” As
the word of God
here detains us to make special remark on the sleepless
night of this king,
and exhibits it as the very crisis of the providential
history under relation,
let us note:
AS THE EXPERIENCE OF THE KING.
Ø
We observe, and with
some surprise, that there seems not the slightest
disposition on the part of the
king, or of any one else, to attribute it to a
physical cause, nor to minister
to it any physical antidote. Neither the
soporific of a drug or of
drinking, nor the soothing of music, nor any
diversion are offered to it. Nor
is it possible to suppose — as will hereafter
appear — that “the
book of records of the chronicles” was sent for under
the expectation that it would
serve simply to amuse, or to dissipate thought
and kill time.
Ø
However harassing it
may have been, it seems to have been endured till
morning. The brief description
which follows the statement, that the
king’s sleep fled that night,
argues that what ensued happened all in close
connection, and so as to end
with an hour that found men gathered in their
usual way in the gate, and Haman
arrived (doubtless not late) in the court.
This would give time for
thought’s growth into determination.
Ø
Whether the
sleeplessness of the night was occasioned by any moral
thoughtfulness or not, it was in
this direction that the mind of Ahasuerus
ran. Sleepless hours are often
enough weary hours, yet perhaps more than
we think they open opportunity
and offer choice to us. They ripen the
thought of iniquity, as they
were at this very time doing for Haman; or
they are precipitating thought
of good quality and beneficent result, as
they were now doing for
Ahasuerus. Either, then, the sleeplessness of
Ahasuerus was occasioned by a
moral movement of things within, or it
turned to that use. In either
alternative there was a moral strangeness and
significance about it. The dark
and imperfect religiousness, which was all
that can be claimed for it in
and of itself, does in some senses add to its
interest.
Ø
The thoughts of that sleepless
night did not die away. Generally, how
soon they do pass away, like the
dreams of deep sleep. They are “like the
morning cloud and the early dew;
as the chaff that is driven of the
whirlwind out of the floor, and
as the smoke out of the chimney.” Nature’s
darkness, human stillness, even
the body’s attitude of repose, all favor
highly-stimulated forms of
thought. The sleepless night is often memory’s
field-day.
Regrets and new resolutions meet together; repentance and
remorse
alternate; the thoughts of happier days and the projects of more
innocent ones
crowd the mental rendezvous — but with dawn they have
trooped away. But now not so with the. thoughts of the sleepless night
of
the King Ahasuerus. They last,
and they lead on to action. Purpose and
determination do not die away.
They live, and to good purpose. In his own
way, and for once true to his
light, though a light that burned lurid and
low, he will hearken to his “law
and testimony,” if haply they have
anything to say to him.
IT IN EVIDENCE OF AN EVER-WAKEFUL
Ø
The evidence of the
simple facts of this night is in favor of the
interference of some external
cause. It is not straining facts to take this
view of them, it would be restraining
their legitimate force not to do so.
There is no known cause for the
restlessness, but it is decided. The two
things that might have been
expected to constitute a cause evidently exert
no influence. The proximate
effect, for all that, nevertheless looks in that
direction.
Ø
The kind of use
to which the sleeplessness is turned argues not only
external interference, but the
external interference of One above. This
man, a most extremely
unpromising subject on whom to work, is
wrought upon practically to
religious purpose. Thought, and reading,
and listening, and question, and
action follow one another in quick,
orderly, Divine kind of succession.
Ø
The means employed are
like those of Divine operation, very simple,
awhile mistakable for most
natural events.
Ø
The beneficent nature
of the results of that night — opportune, to the
exact moment of time — and the
exceeding greatness of them evidence
together a merciful wakeful
wakeful when men are most deep
asleep, but is not then least
wakeful when sometimes it bids
us wake and keeps us sleepless.
(“Behold, He that keepeth
sleep.” Psalm
121:4)
5 “And the
king’s servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in
the court. And the king said, Let him come
in.” The
servants looked into
the court, and seeing, somewhat to their surprise, Haman there,
mentioned
him to the king. They would naturally mention the highest
official whom
they saw in attendance.
6 “So
Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be
done unto the man whom the king delighteth
to honor? Now
Haman thought in his heart, To whom would
the king delight to do
honor more than to myself? 7 And Haman
answered the king, For the
man whom the king delighteth to honor,” Haman thought in his heart.
Literally, “said in his heart” i.e. “thought.”
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:” To wear a dress previously worn by the king
was, under
ordinary circumstances, a breach of Persian law (Plut.,
‘Vit. Artax.,’ 5); but the
king might allow it (Herod., 7:17) or condone it (Plut., 1.
s.c.). The horse that the
king rideth upon. Rather, “a horse that the king hath ridden.” And the crown
royal which is set upon his head. Rather, “and that hath a crown royal set on his
head.” Some
peculiar ornament by which the royal steed was made conspicuous is
intended, not his own crown, which even Xerxes would
scarcely have
allowed another to wear. See vs. 9 and 11, where the dress
and the horse
are referred to, but the crown, as an adjunct of the horse,
not particularized.
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 honor, 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 honor.”
Compare the honours given to Joseph in
Whom the King Delighteth to Honor (vs. 6-9)
It does not seem that Ahasuerus had any intention at this
time to humiliate
Haman. His whole mind was set upon restitution and
compensation to
Mordecai, whom he had so long neglected. As he had no
knowledge of his
favorite’s dislike to the Jew, his only motive in requiring
Haman to lead
Mordecai through the city was to show his gratitude to his
humble friend
and benefactor. The honor which Mordecai received was
indeed, in its
circumstances, very unusual, yet perhaps not unparalleled.
Doubtless the
minister thought he was preparing honor for himself when he
was really
unconsciously arranging a triumph for the man whom he
hated, and whose
death he was compassing. The magnificence, the royal
splendor of the
Jew’s progress through the city afforded satisfaction to
the king’s heart,
whilst they were as gall and wormwood to Haman. For Mordecai was “the
man whom the king delighted to honour.” God, having
reconciled and
pardoned the penitent sinner through Jesus Christ, the
Mediator, takes
pleasure in putting upon the accepted and beloved all the
honor He can
bestow and we can
receive.
BY THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THEIR FORMER AND THEIR
uttering a loud and bitter
cry, and Mordecai upon the king’s horse, and
arrayed in royal robes, is as nothing
compared with
the contrast between
the impenitent
and unforgiven sinner and THE JUSTIFIED AND
REJOICING
BELIEVER IN CHRIST!
PRIESTS UNTO GOD.” (Revelation
1:6) The Jewish exile clad in regal
attire may be a figure of the Christian whom God crowns and honors,
whom He exalts
to His favor and unites to His Son.
ARE MADE HIS SONS.
GLORIOUS ANGELS. Mordecai was led through Shushan by “the first
minister of the crown.” For
the children of God are provided the
ministrations of the
angels, who “are sent forth to minister for them who
shall be heirs of salvation.” (Hebrews 1:14)
OF GOD, TO SHARE ALSO HIS ETERNAL HOME.
As Mordecai
came to take his place in the
palace, at the door of which he had sat, and
to wield power over the empire,
so those whom the heavenly King
delighteth to
honor:
Ø
shall enter His
presence,
Ø
share His joy, and
Ø
sit with His Son
upon the throne of dominion. (Revelation
3:21)
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.”
Make haste. The
king will have no more delay in a matter
which has been delayed far too long. Haman is to “hasten,
and confer the
honor at once. Mordecai
the Jew, that sitteth in the king’s gate.
Mordecai’s nationality and his employment were probably
mentioned in the
book of the chronicles. From these the king has learned
them, and he uses
probably the very phrase of the records. Let nothing fail. Observe every
particular of honour that you have mentioned; let there be
no omission of
one jot or tittle.
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 honor.” It was
impossible for Haman
to excuse himself; there was no ground on which he could
decline the
office thrust upon him. Reluctantly, without a word, he
performed the
king’s bidding.
HAMAN RETURNS
HOME. DESPONDENCY OF HIMSELF AND HIS
FRIENDS (vs. 12-14). There was as yet no real reason for Haman to
feel depressed,
or to regard himself as having lost favor with the king. He
had been made an
instrument in another man’s honor, and had suffered a
disappointment; but otherwise
he was situated as on the day preceding, when he “went forth” from the palace
“joyful and with a
glad heart” (ch.5:9). But he seems to have
had a presentiment of
impending calamity. All had as yet gone so well with him
that the first
vexation seemed like a turn in the tide, ominous of coming
evil. And the
fear of his own heart found an echo in the hearts of his
wife and friends.
Among the last were some who had the reputation of being
“wise men” —
perhaps Magians, acquainted with arts from which it was
supposed they
could divine the future. These persons ventured on a
prediction. “If
Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the
seed of the Jews,
thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely (or utterly) fall before
him.” With this
evil presage ringing in his ears, Haman quitted his house,
and accompanied the palace eunuchs who had been sent to
conduct him to
Esther’s second banquet.
12 “And
Mordecai came again to the king’s gate. But Haman hasted to
his house mourning, and having his head
covered.” And Mordecai came again
to the king’s gate. Returned, i.e., to his former condition and employment.
The high
honor done him was regarded as sufficient reward. Having his head covered. Like
David when he fled from Absalom (II Samuel 15:30; compare Psalm
44:15).
Glory Exchanged for Woe (v. 12)
“Boast not thyself of to-morrow,” says the wise man, “for thou knowest not what
a day may bring forth.”
(Proverbs 27:1) Yesterday Haman was full of exultation
and of boasting; his place was by the throne; his enemy was
at his feet. This
morning that enemy is in favor; his own position is imperiled;
his vaunting seems
vain; his prospects gloomy. As Haman goes to his house,
after executing the king’s
behest, his heart is filled with apprehensions.
He covers his head, as not daring to look any one in the
face, as fearing
that disgrace and disaster are at hand.
Let us remember the vicissitudes of human affairs and “Put not your trust in
princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” (Psalm
146:3)
Let us remember to humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God, that He
may exalt us in due time.
(I Peter 5:6) It is better to come
before Him in lowliness
and contrition now than to appear before Him in shame
hereafter.
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.” His wise men. Magians, perhaps, whom he was in
the habit of consulting concerning the future. On the supposed prophetic
powers
of the Magians see Herod., 1:107, 120; 7:19; Duris, Fr. 7, etc. If Mordecai be of
the seed of the
Jews. It is difficult to
understand how this could any
longer be regarded as doubtful. His fellow servants knew it
(ch.3:4); Haman
knew it (ibid. v. 6); Ahasuerus knew it (supra, v.
10). The “wise men” profess
to regard it as uncertain, perhaps to give their words a more
oracular character.
Thou shalt surely
fall. Rather, “thou shalt utterly fall.”
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.” This is a
custom not elsewhere mentioned as Persian,
but quite in accordance
with Oriental ideas. The polite host sends his servants
to escort guests of
importance from their own homes to the place of entertainment.
Exaltation and Humiliation (vs. 4,14)
Haman was early astir next
morning. He was in the court of the palace
while the king was yet having
the chronicles read to him, resolved to seize
the first moment to get
permission to hang the Jew. His plan of revenge
was to be executed and done with
long before the hour of the queen’s
banquet (Proverbs 1:16). “The
children of this world are wiser,”
because more diligent, “in
their generation than the children of light.” If the
self-denial and
earnestness with which men pursue evil and worldly things
were equally
exhibited by all the righteous in pursuit of the things of Christ,
THE WORLD ITSELF
WOULD SOON BE BROUGHT TO THE FEET
OF GOD!
Haman happened to be in
the court. The thoughts of both the king and his
favorite happened to be
occupied and excited by the same man. The haste
of Haman to get Mordecai hanged happened
to meet the haste of the king
to get him rewarded. Faith can often
discern the marks of a Divine
providence in what men call
accidents or coincidences. Belief
in a living
God is
inconsistent with belief in any “fortuitous concourse.”
astray. Whose honor would the
king delight to promote if not that of the
man on whom he had already
bestowed such unusual distinction? His vain
heart betrayed
him. How
greedy is vanity. How selfish are the slaves of sin.
The answer of Haman was shaped
by his own desires. The honor he
suggested would have been
foolish and worthless as given to any other
person than himself. But the
only thing left for his ambition to aspire to
was such a public and
resplendent exhibition of the royal delight in him as
that which he described. A man
of evil does not easily suspect good feeling
or good purpose in
any associate. He projects himself into his judgment of
others. Thus he is very liable to
make mistakes. His whole life is a mistake
an error from
beginning to end.
Mordecai every whit of what he
had recommended, the blow that fell on
the astonished favorite must
have been heavy. That the man for whom he
had made a gallows should receive
the honor which he had proposed for
himself! what a reversing of things.
There are many disappointments and
reverses which attract our
entire sympathy, but we can only rejoice when
the expectation of the wicked is
cut short. It was a fit measure of justice
that Haman should have proposed
the honour which Mordecai was to
wear. Judgment pursues the evil-doer. In
the end all his hopes will be
disappointed.
king commanded. He was the “one
of the king’s most noble princes” who
had to array Mordecai in royal
apparel, and place him on a horse, and lead
him through the city, and
proclaim before him, “Thus shall it be done to the
man whom the king
delighteth to honour.” And all this he
did to the man
whom he most hated, and for whom
he had erected a gallows. It was a
bitter humiliation, but there
was no escape from it. Those who climb
to
worldly
greatness by wrong ways HAVE TO EAT MUCH DIRT! They
sharpen the knife that will
sooner or later enter their soul.
honoring him. He put himself in
the hands of Haman, and went quietly
through the whole process. It
was a triumph that might be justly enjoyed,
and one too that promised
greater things. God was
manifestly with His
servant. Unseen influences were at work. The attempt to deliver
prospering. This public honor
would strengthen Esther, and have some
effect on the king. The bad man
who led the Jew’s horse and proclaimed
his favor with the king was
declining in power, and the desired
redemption of a devoted people
was drawing near. Thus GOD
ENCOURAGES THOSE
WHO TRUST IN HIM! He makes their
enemies serve them. Amidst much darkness
and fear He causes His light
to shine, and gives His servants
bright indications of a coming victory.
honor as was conferred on his
enemy. To Mordecai the parade through
the city was but an empty
pageant, except in so far as it might contribute to
his purpose of saving
robes, returning to his post at
the king’s gate. The passing honors of the
world make no change in those
who are weighted with the pursuit of
honors which THE
WORLD CANNOT GIVE! Their chief desire
is to
be at their post and do the work
given them by a higher than an earthly
master — “to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
their God”
(Micah 6:8). It
required no effort for Mordecai to descend from his
momentary exaltation to
his humble position as a palace servitor. His duty
was in the king’s gate. How blessed to be able to subordinate all merely
personal or earthly
things TO THE SERVICE OF GOD!
to Haman. He retired to his home
again to consult his wife and friends.
How different his
tale now from that which had inspired
him and them the
night before. The tall gallows
in the courtyard was a gaunt mockery. The
shame that had so unaccountably
overtaken its lord laid a cold hand on the
hearts of all his household. The
fear of
trusted in a God of gods,
entered strongly into their thoughts, and made
their words ominous. The
conviction was felt and expressed by them that if
Mordecai were a Jew, Haman had
already begun to fall, and that a
disastrous end was inevitable.
History affords many instances of the power
of omens to destroy the
happiness and hope of bad men. The silent
workings of Divine providence
have their effect on the wicked as well as
on the good. In the one they inspire a fear which saps energy and skill; in
the other they
work a faith which gives strength and light. King Saul is not
the only one whose heart and
hand have been paralyzed by superstitious
fears arising from a rebellion against DIVINE
RULE! In the path of the
wicked specters of a holy and
avenging power are ever rising up to throw
blight on their aims and
hopes. THERE IS A JUDGMENT EVEN IN
THIS WORLD! GOD REIGNS!
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