Esther 6:3

_AND THE KING SAID, WHAT HONOUR 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 king's servants that ministered unto him. In some places of the East, particularly Persia and Hindustan, watchmen are included among the officers who compose the household establishment of the grandees, and one of them (the number being generally four, corresponding to the watches of the night) is stationed near the bed of his master to guard it, and be ready, whenever he requires it, to tell him how far the night is advanced. Such officers, we are told by Josephus ('Antiquities,' b. 11:, ch. 6:, sec. 10), were in the court of Abasuerus. For on that night on which the king could not sleep, and on which he called for the records of his kingdom, there was read over to him the conspiracy which Mordecai had discovered; t...

1-3 The providence of God rules over the smallest concerns of men. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without him. Trace the steps which Providence took towards the advancement of Mordecai. The king could not sleep when Providence had a design to serve, in keeping him awake. We read of no illness that broke his sleep, but God, whose gift sleep is, withheld it from him. He who commanded a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, could not command one hour's sleep....

Verse Esther 6:3. _WHAT HONOUR AND DIGNITY HATH BEEN DONE TO MORDECAI_] It is certain he found nothing in the record; and had any thing been done, that was the most likely place to find it....

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....

EXPOSITION 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 (Esther 6:1). I

AND THE KING SAID, WHAT HONOUR AND DIGNITY HATH BEEN DONE TO MORDECAI FOR THIS?.... He judged it an action worthy of regard, and what ought to be rewarded, as it was the saving of his life; but had forgot whether any royal favour had been shown to the person for it: THEN SAID THE KING'S SERVANTS THAT MINISTERED UNTO HIM; the lords of his bedchamber then in waiting: THERE IS NOTHING DONE FOR HIM; not on that account, nothing more than what he had; he had an office at court before, but was not advanced to anything higher on this account....

THE SLEEPLESS NIGHT AND MORDECAI'S EXALTATION CHAPTER 6 _ 1. The sleepless night (Esther 6:1)_ 2. The exaltation of Mordecai (Esther 6:4) 3. Haman anticipates his doom (Esther 6:12) Esther 6:1. A sleepless night is the next event. The king wanted to sleep but sleep refused to come. What was the cause of his insomnia? Some say too much excitement and anxiety in connection with his kingdom; others that he was speculating on the petition the queen would make on the morrow. The ancient Jewish expositors say that God took his sleep away from him. And this is the correct answer. His wakefulness was ordered by God. Next

ESTHER 6. HAMAN IS COMPELLED TO DO PUBLIC HONOUR TO MORDEEAI. Now comes a dramatic scene. Providence is at work, and the clouds are opening. In the night between Esther's two drinking-feasts, the king cannot get sleep (Esther 6:1). Evidently the story-writer means to point thus to the care of the ever-watchful Yahweh, and His management of all things. The court annalist is brought with his records, to read the royal soul to slumber. Why did this reader choose the record about the regicides? Did he sympathise with the Jews, for some hidden reason? The king listens: he is startled and cries, What reward did we give to Mordecai? Naught, is the reply. Then do it now! What officer is near? says the king. With that, lo! in the dim hour of dawn the hungry hyena Haman, is prowling at the gates, awaiting admissior to get his death-warrant for Mordecai. Entering, he is commanded to perform the hig...

Esther 6:1-11. Mordecai's elevation In this section we are shewn the strange concatenation of apparently trivial circumstances which collectively have the effect of bestowing the highest reward and most signal disgrace upon the humble and virtuous Israelite and the highly placed enemy of that people. It seems but a series of chances that the king was sleepless, that he adopted a particular method of alleviating his discomfort, that a certain section of the chronicles of the kingdom was read to him, that Haman was an early arrival at the palace on this occasion, and thus, through his haste to bring about Mordecai's destruction, was himself of all persons the one chosen to do him honour. Nevertheless it was from the combination of all these occurrences that there arose the most mighty issues, and this fact plainly looms large in the mind of the narrator, though he does not in so many word...

VII. Panic of Haman, Esther 6:1-14 A. Appreciation TEXT: Esther 6:1-5 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. 2 And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, of those that kept the threshold, who had sought to lay hands on the king Ahasurerus. 3 And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been bestowed on Mordecai for this? Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him. 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