Estherchapter 6
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The Triumph of Mordecai, Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Key verse
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.
It stands in scene A of the chapter, verses 1 to 5.
The chapter
Chapter summary
'On that night could not the king sleep.' The book of records is read before him, and there stands the unrewarded service of Mordecai. At the very hour Haman arrives in the outer court to ask for his hanging. The king asks what should be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor; Haman, certain it means himself, prescribes royal apparel, the horse the king rides, the crown royal, and a noble prince to proclaim before him. 'Make haste,' says the king, 'and do even so to Mordecai the Jew.' Haman leads the horse, then hurries home mourning with his head covered, where his wise men tell him he shall surely fall before this man of the seed of the Jews.
Context
History · Mordecai · Esther overview
Where the chapter sits
Esther 6 falls in The reversal (chapters 5–7). Esther's two banquets; Haman's gallows and the night the king cannot sleep; Mordecai honoured; Haman hanged on his own gallows.
The king's sleepless night. The chronicle read; Mordecai honoured; Haman sees the reversal beginning.
Before it: The queen and the plot, chapters 1–4. After it: The deliverance and Purim, chapters 8–10.
The whole shape of Esther→The world behind this chapter
Esther 6The history
Persian kings kept a daily written record of court business, and reading from it aloud was a normal way to pass a sleepless night, dry official prose, read by a servant, in a room where the lamps were still lit. The record also served a specific purpose: the Persians made a formal practice of registering men who had done the king a service, so the debt could be paid later. Mordecai's name was in the book, and the payment had never been made.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The honour the king proposes is Persian to the core. The gift of a robe the king himself had worn was one of the highest marks of favour in that court, and Herodotus describes Xerxes handing out royal garments as a reward. Adding the king's own horse with a royal ornament on its head, and a nobleman to lead it through the city square proclaiming the reason, turned a private thank-you into a public event.
The staging depends on the layout of the palace. Haman arrives at dawn in the outer court, waiting for the doors to open so he can be first with his request; the king, awake all night, asks who is outside and summons him before he can speak. Two men are in the same room asking about the same person, each certain he knows who is meant.
Zeresh's reaction at the end is worth noticing. She and Haman's advisers read the reversal as an omen, once he has begun to fall before a Jew, he will not stand. Reading events for signs was ordinary in that world, and even Haman's own household could see which way the wind had turned.
What it meant to them
The whole book turns on a king who cannot sleep. No angel appears, no prophet speaks, nothing happens that a court chronicler would have called miraculous, and by breakfast the man building a stake for Mordecai is leading Mordecai's horse through the street.
For Jews living far from the temple, with no prophet and no king of their own, that was the encouragement: the God who is never named in this book is not absent from it. He works through insomnia and filing systems.
Sources cited
- Herodotus, The Histories
- Edwin M. Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
A. The king cannot sleep, and the chronicles are read to him
1. (v. 1)
a.could not the king sleep: On that night could not the king sleep: the exact middle of the book's hundred and sixty seven verses, and the one place the narrator lets an ordinary insomnia carry the whole plot forward. No reason is given and no hand is named. The chronicles are simply sent for, and the story's entire reversal opens from a sleepless night the text never explains.
Esther 6:1, 4 voicesWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Esther 6:1
“Sleep was removed from the eyes of Ahasuerus, whom the Seventy call Artaxerxes, that he might turn over the memoirs of his faithful ministers and come on Mordecai, by whose evidence he was delivered from a conspiracy; and that thus Esther might be more acceptable and the whole people of the Jews escape imminent death.”
Jerome· written before 420· Against the Pelagians 3.10patristic
Esther 6:1
“On that night could not the king sleep - The Targum says the king had a dream, which was as follows: - “And the king saw one in the similitude of a man who spoke these words to him: Haman desireth to slay thee, and to make himself king in thy stead. Behold, he will come unto thee early in the morning, to ask from thee the man who rescued thee from death, that he may slay him: but say thou unto Haman, What shall be done for the man whose honor the king studieth?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 6:1
“Commentary on Chapter VI 1. Sleep - How vain are all the contrivances of foolish man against the wise and omnipotent God, who hath the hearts and hands of kings and all men perfectly at his disposal, and can by such trivial accidents (as they are accounted) change their minds, and produce such terrible effects.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Esther 6:1
“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 ( Dan. vi. 18 ) 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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 2-3)
a.Bigthana and Teresh: The reading turns up the deed of 2:21-23, Mordecai's warning against the plot of Bigthana and Teresh, filed away five years earlier and never repaid. There is nothing done for him: an act of loyalty sat unrewarded in the record the whole time, waiting for the one night someone would ask the record to speak.
Esther 6:2, 1 voice
Esther 6:2
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Esther 6:3, 1 voice
Esther 6:3
“It was a settled principle of the Persian government that “Royal Benefactors” were to receive an adequate reward. The names of such persons were placed on a special roll, and care was taken that they should be properly recompensed, though they sometimes waited for months or years before they were rewarded.”
3. (vv. 4-5)
a.to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him: Haman is already in the outward court at dawn, come to ask the king's leave to hang Mordecai on the very gallows built the night before. The king's question, who is in the court, meets him before he can open his mouth. The chapter's whole irony sits in the timing: the man come to destroy Mordecai walks in just as the king is deciding how to reward him.
Esther 6:4, 2 voices
Esther 6:4
“Mordecai was also persecuted as Jesus was persecuted. Mordecai was persecuted by the wicked Haman; and Jesus was persecuted by the rebellious people. Mordecai by his prayer delivered his people from the hands of Haman; and Jesus by his prayer delivered his people from the hands of Satan. Mordecai was delivered from the hands of his persecutor; and Jesus was rescued from the hands of his persecutors.”
Aphrahat the Persian Sage· written before 345· DEMONSTRATIONS 21.20patristic
Esther 6:4
“Now Haman was come into the outward court--This was early in the morning. It is the invariable custom for kings in Eastern countries to transact business before the sun is hot, often in the open air, and so Haman was in all probability come officially to attend on his master.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Esther 6:5, 1 voice
Esther 6:5
“And the king's servants said unto him, behold, Haman standeth in the court,.... In the outward court; for into the inward court none might enter without being called, for which he was waiting: and the king said, let him come in; into his bedchamber; and it was of God, no doubt, that Haman should be on the spot at this very time, when the king was in the humour to do honour to Mordecai, and by him.”
B. Haman leads the horse he thought would carry himself
1. (v. 6)
a.Now Haman thought in his heart: , to whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself: the question is put to him with no name attached, and his own vanity supplies the only candidate he can imagine. The narrator lets Haman answer for himself before he learns whom he has actually described.
Esther 6:6, 2 voices
Esther 6:6
“The king said unto him - He did not give him time to make his request; and put a question to him which, at the first view, promised him all that his heart could wish.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 6:6
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 7-9)
a.And Haman answered the king: Haman answers with the full ceremony of a Persian triumph: the royal robe, the king's own horse, the crown, led through the city street by one of the king's most noble princes, proclaiming the man's honor before the whole capital. Every detail he names for his own glory is measured out and handed to his enemy within the hour.
Esther 6:8, 1 voice
Esther 6:8
“Let the royal apparel be brought - Pride and folly ever go hand in hand. What he asked would have been in any ordinary case against his own life: but he wished to reach the pinnacle of honor: never reflecting that the higher he rose, the more terrible would be his fall. The royal apparel was never worn but by the king: even when the king had lain them aside, it was death to put them on. The Targum has purple robes.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 6:9, 1 voice
Esther 6:9
“One of the king’s most noble princes - Alas, Poor Haman! Never was the fable of the dog and shadow more literally fulfilled. Thou didst gape at the shadow, and didst lose the substance.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3. (vv. 10-11)
a.Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said: The king names Haman's own enemy and sends him to do even so to Mordecai the Jew, and Haman must lead the horse himself. He performs the ceremony he designed for his own glory as Mordecai's servant, arraying and proclaiming the very man he came that morning to have hanged.
Esther 6:10, 2 voices
Esther 6:10
“Make haste, and take the apparel - and do even so to Mordecai - O mortifying reverse of human fortune! How could Haman bear this? The Targumist might speak according to nature when he said that “Haman besought the king to kill him rather than degrade him so.” How astonishing is the conduct of Divine providence in all this business! From it we plainly see that there is neither counsel nor wisdom against the Lord; and that he who digs a pit for his neighbor, is sure to fall into it himself.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 6:10
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Esther 6:11, 1 voice
Esther 6:11
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
C. Mourning at home while the eunuchs hurry him to the banquet
1. (v. 12)
a.came again to the king’s gate: Mordecai returns to the king's gate exactly where the chapter found him, unmoved by the honor as he was unmoved by the insult that started chapter five. Haman hastens home mourning, his head covered, the sign of a man already in disgrace. The two men end the scene in the postures each began it, reversed.
Esther 6:12, 2 voices
Esther 6:12
“Mordecai came again to the king’s gate - He resumed his former humble state; while Haman, ashamed to look up, covered his face, and ran home to hide himself in his own house. Covering the head and face was a sign of shame and confusion, as well as of grief, among most people of the earth.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 6:12
“Gate - To his former place; shewing that as he was not overwhelmed by Haman's threats, so he was not puffed up with this honour. Cover'd - In token of his shame and grief for his unexpected disappointment, and for the great honour done to his abhorred adversary, by his own hands, and with his own public disgrace.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2. (vv. 13-14)
a.If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews: Zeresh and the wise men read the day's events as an omen rather than an accident: 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. Pagan counselors state the book's hidden doctrine more plainly than the narrator ever does in his own voice. Commentators who trace Haman's line back to Agag read the seed language against the old war with Amalek, a connection the words themselves carry no further than the name.
Esther 6:13, 2 voices
Esther 6:13
“But shalt surely fall before him - The Septuagint adds, ὁτι ὁ Θεος ὁ ζων μετ’ αυτου, for the living God is with him. But this is a sentiment that could scarcely be expected to proceed from the mouth of heathens, such as these were.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 6:13
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Esther 6:14, 2 voices
Esther 6:14
“Hasted to bring Haman - There was a dreadful banquet before him, of which he knew nothing: and he could have little appetite to enjoy that which he knew was prepared at the palace of Esther.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Esther 6:14
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Threads running through this chapter
- Turned to the contraryPattern, v. 1
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Esther 6. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 11 works. Open for the list.
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Aphrahat the Persian Sage, DEMONSTRATIONS 21.20; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); Jerome, Against the Pelagians 3.10; John Gill; John Wesley; Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther; Matthew Henry and W. F. Adeney, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (Expositor's Bible).
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