Esther 6:4

_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 HIM._ 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....

4-11 See how men's pride deceives them. The deceitfulness of our own hearts appears in nothing more than in the conceit we have of ourselves and our own performances: against which we should constantly watch and pray. Haman 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, that we may not think too well of ourselves, nor trust too much in others. How Haman is struck, when the king bids him do honour to Mordecai the Jew, the very man whom he hated above all men, whose ruin he was now designing!...

Verse Esther 6:4. _WHO IS IN THE COURT?_] This accords with the _dream_ mentioned by the Targum; and given above. _NOW HAMAN WAS COME_] This must have been very _early_ in the morning. Haman's pride and revenge were both on the tenters to be gratified....

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, WHO IS IN THE COURT?.... Being in haste to confer some honour on Mordecai for what he had done: NOW HAMAN WAS COME INTO THE OUTWARD COURT OF THE KING'S HOUSE; though it was early in the morning, being eager to get to the speech of the king before he was engaged in any business, to obtain a grant from him: TO HANG MORDECAI ON THE GALLOWS THAT HE HAD PREPARED FOR HIM; of which he made no doubt of having, and therefore had prepared for it....

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...

NOW HAMAN WAS COME. This was the next step. The Figure of speech _Parenthesis_ is used to emphasize the importance of it. GALLOWS. tree. See note on Esther 5:14....

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