Weekly Bible Commentary by Wes Woodard

Esther 6:1-12 – “The King Cannot Sleep”

“During that night the king could not sleep so he gave an order to bring the book of records … and they were read to him. It was found written what Mordecai had reported a plot to kill the king. So the king said, ‘What honor … has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?’ The king’s servants said, ‘Nothing has been done for him.’ So the king said, ‘Who is in the court?’ Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace… The king’s servants said to the king ‘Haman is standing in the court.’ The king said, ‘Let him be brought in.’

When Haman came into the presence of the king, the king asked him what should be done to someone whom the king wishes to honor? Haman, thinking that it was himself, said that the honored person should have a royal crown placed on his head and a royal robe put on him and he should be placed on the king’s own horse and led around the city square by a nobleman who would proclaim, “This is what is done for a man whom the king desires to honor.” Ahasuerus immediately issues an order for Haman to do this to Mordecai. Of course, Haman is shocked but obeys the king’s command, then rushes home with his head covered in shame. He recounts what has just happened to his friends and wife, Zeresh. It is interesting what his wife tells him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.”