For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Esther 6:1-5

1 That night the king could not sleep; so he ordered the book of the chronicles, the record of his reign, to be brought in and read to him. 2 It was found recorded there that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, who had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

3 ‘What honour and recognition has Mordecai received for this?’ the king asked.

‘Nothing has been done for him,’ his attendants answered.

4 The king said, ‘Who is in the court?’ Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole he had set up for him.

5 His attendants answered, ‘Haman is standing in the court.’

‘Bring him in,’ the king ordered.

A. Find Out

1. What happened to the king and what did he do? v.1
2. What did he find there? v.2
3. What did he ask and what answer did he get? v.3
4. What did he then ask? v.4a
5. Who was there, and why? v.4b
6. So what happened? v.5

B. Think:

1. What prompted the king to look up the records?
2. What, perhaps, is unusual about his question about Mordecai?
3. How is ‘fate’ working here?

C. Comment:

     Recap what’s been happening: Haman is planning to kill Mordecai the next morning. Time is rapidly running out for the Jew. There are still a number of months before the main extermination of the Jews is due, but Mordecai is under immediate threat. Now read on.

     That very night the king couldn’t sleep. What a coincidence! So he decides to read and what does he read, the records of what has happened in the kingdom. What a chance! And what does his eye fall upon? The record of Mordecai saving his life from an assassination plot! What a chance. What does he do? Pauses and wonders more about that.

Look, this is really going beyond mere coincidence! He could have just read past and nothing happen, but he doesn’t. He stops and enquires of his servants what had been done to honour Mordecai. They tell him that nothing had been done. He immediately wants to remedy this situation. He needs one of his officials. Who is around? Haman, coming to talk about killing Mordecai! This is pure irony. The king wants to honour Mordecai and Haman wants to kill him. There must be laughter in heaven over this! I know God is not mentioned in all of this story but perhaps that was because it was written down in an alien environment where the writer didn’t want to upset the authorities of Susa, but for anyone with eyes to see, this is obvious!

D. Application:

1. Do coincidences happen? It makes you wonder.
2. When they keep happening you should really wonder.

Passage: Esther 6:6-11

6 When Haman entered, the king asked him, ‘What should be done for the man the king delights to honour?’

Now Haman thought to himself, ‘Who is there that the king would rather honour than me?’ 7 So he answered the king, ‘For the man the king delights to honour, 8 let them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head. 9 Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honour, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man the king delights to honour!”’

10 ‘Go at once,’ the king commanded Haman. ‘Get the robe and the horse and do just as you have suggested for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything you have recommended.’

11 So Haman got the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honour!’

A. Find Out

1. What did the king ask Haman? v.6a
2. Who did Haman think the king was referring to? v.6b
3. What did Haman suggest? v.7-9
4. So what did the king reply? v.10
5. So what did Haman have to do? v.11

B. Think:

1. If Haman had known it was Mordecai being referred to, how might he have replied to the king?
2. How did Haman’s pride bounce back on him?

C. Comment:

     The king is eager to put right this failure in court etiquette and have Mordecai rewarded for having saved his life. He looks for someone to take action and do this straight away. Just ‘by chance’ (!) Haman is in the outer court waiting to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai. The king calls him in and without asking Haman why he was there, he ploughs in with the thing that is uppermost on his mind: how can I honour the man who delights me?

Haman’s pride assumes this has got to refer to him. He acts all coy and pretends it must be someone else and so gives his advice. Let such a person be truly identified with the king, by giving him the king’s royal robe, the king’s horse with a royal crest upon. Make sure this man is truly honoured by having one of the top princes parade him in the streets so there is no mistaking the king’s intent to honour this man.

    Excellent, replies the king, let it be so. Go and do just what you’ve suggested for Mordecai the Jew who sits among the officials and wise men in the king’s gate. At this point the bottom must have fallen out of Haman’s life! The man who he has come to destroy with the king’s approval is receiving the king’s blessing, and he, Haman, has got to do it. There is no going back on this; it is clear that this is the king’s will and when the king set his mind on something, woe and betide the man who tries to counter that will. Mordecai is saved!

D. Application:

1. Beware lest your pride leads you into bad circumstances.
2. Keep a good heart towards all people, less God deal with you!

Passage: Esther 6:12-14

12 Afterwards Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief, 13 and told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him.

His advisors and his wife Zeresh said to him, ‘Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has started, is of Jewish origin, you cannot stand against him – you will surely come to ruin!’ 14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.

A. Find Out

1. Where did Haman go? v.12
2. What did he do? v.13a
3. What did they predict? v.13b
4. What then happened? v.14

B. Think:

1. Why is Haman feeling so bad?
2. What does he NOT have time to do?
3. What is his state of mind?

C. Comment:

     This story is full of tiny details that are so easy to miss, and when we do miss them we miss the significance of what is happening. Haman has just had to process Mordecai round the city acclaiming him at the king’s instructions. In doing this, his mind must have been in complete turmoil. He is doing the very opposite to what he had planned, and for a man of pride (as we’ve seen), this must have been doubly hard.

     Having done what the king orders he rushes home. Note the haste in what is taking place. He can’t wait to get off the streets and back to his home – probably a palace-like building somewhere in Susa or just outside it. He is in a state of utter grief – all his plans for Mordecai have come to nothing, yet he still feels hatred for Mordecai. He gets home to find his wife and friends there who, being friends, think as he does, so he pours out what has happened. He is perhaps looking for some consolation but is given the opposite.

His wife realises that Mordecai is a Jew and if this Jew is being honoured it will be impossible to execute the edict against him. It has, as we say, gone pear shaped! This must surely add to the turmoil in Haman’s mind, adding to the already total upset. While they are still debating this, the servants from the palace arrive to speed up Haman, reminding him that he is due at the royal palace for the second banquet with the queen, and it is well not to keep royalty waiting. There is a sense of rush. He has no time to compose himself, no time to take down the gallows outside. It is rush!

D. Application:

1. When proud men fall it is doubly bad!
2. When God brings His enemies down, He does it properly!