Who could not sleep that night? Haman because of his excitement about tomorrow? Esther plucking up courage to make her plea to the king; Mordecai, who may have known about his impending execution? We are only told of one – the king. We can see the hand of God in this (v1-3). People, who cannot sleep, often pick up something to read and the king was no exception, but this was not any ordinary book. He commanded his servants to bring the history, the diaries, the records, the chronicles, to be read to him. Often these things bring comfort and reminders of something we should do and have omitted to do. There they found the record of Mordecai having thwarted the assassination attempt on the king by Bigthana and Teresh. God is at work, they could have brought any book, and turned to any page, but this one. This was undoubtedly the work of God. We could say that God kept him awake because He had a message for him.
We must remember that God has a book of remembrance (see Malachi 3:16). And other books (see Revelation 20:12)) particularly The Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 21:27) and those whose names are not in that book are lost for eternity. Make sure that your name is in that one by coming to Christ in repentance and faith in His finished work on Calvary for sin.
The king asked what honour had been bestowed upon Mordecai for his loyal actions and was told “None.” All this and particularly what follows, was no accident, it was the plan of God. The king asked who was in his court, and, surprise, surprise, it was Haman! Well, it was really no surprise, God’s plans are perfect and precisely on time. He had just arrived, probably early, evidently to request that Mordecai be hanged upon his gallows (v4,5). Ahasuerus called for Haman to be brought in. There are no coincidences where God is concerned.
Haman, clearly having heard that the king wanted to honour someone, and no doubt thinking that it must be himself, came in and asked the king, what was going to be done for that man (v6). Haman was full of pride, but God had other ideas. Proverbs 26:24-27 says, He who hates, disguises it with his lips, and lays up deceit within himself; When he speaks kindly, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart; Though his hatred is covered by deceit, His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.”
The king invited Haman to suggest what should be done to the man to be honoured. Haman answered the king and said that a royal robe should be brought for the man who the king wants to honour, a robe which had already been worn by the king himself, and one of the king’s horses with a royal crest on its head and they should be given to the man. He should then be paraded on horseback in the city square and honour and praise be given to him (v7-9). His pride was certainly running riot. It was just what he would have wanted. What a pathetic individual. Worldly people seeking praise, praise which is temporary is worth very little. Jesus told us that we should not seek treasure on earth where moth and rust and thieves spoil it, but that we should lay up treasure in heaven, where it is permanent and lasts for eternity. We should look for our reward in heaven not on earth, because if it is purely on earth, that is all we will get.
Then we have the bombshell for Haman (v10,11) – the king told him to quickly take the robe and the horse, both Haman’s ideas, and leave nothing out, and give them to Mordecai and lead him on horseback through the city square and proclaim before him. What? Who? I wonder if the king had forgotten his edict about killing the Jews. He refers to Mordecai as ’the Jew.’ I would love to have seen Haman’s reaction. He must have done this through gritted teeth, and to honour the man who had come to ask for his execution, was humiliation of the highest order, and in public view of all the people.
It mattered very little to Mordecai, the honour and praise, for after it he went straight back to the job he had been doing in the king’s gate (v12-14). He was truly a humble man. On the other hand, Haman went home, he was ‘in pieces,’ mourning with his head covered. He told his wife and his friends what had happened to him. It would have been surprising if they had not seen the parade. His humiliation was complete, but not quite yet. His wife and his wise men advised him that he was on a pointless mission to destroy Mordecai. Haman could have repented and maybe saved his life, but he did not.
Maybe he had forgotten that he was supposed to be at a banquet and the king’s eunuchs came to take him back to it. All this had happened when he had arrived, probably early, to see the king before the banquet, but things had gone horribly wrong for him. I guess he was not all that enthusiastic about the banquet now, and he reluctantly attended.
