Introduction
As we have noted, Esther is displaying a high level of courage, coupled with a shrewd understanding of the two men she is dealing with. One of them is her husband, the king, and the other is the vizier, the number two man in the kingdom. The king is now somewhat unsettled, and Haman is lulled into a false confidence—he is too settled.
The Text
“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. And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. 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 . . .” (Esther 6:1–14).
Summary of the Text
The king was sleepless that night and so he ordered that chronicles of the court be brought, and read to him (v. 1). He reads over the account of the attempted assassination (why that story?), and he was reminded that two of the keepers of the door were the culprits, and that Mordecai had saved the king’s life (v. 2). So the king asked what honor had been bestowed on Mordecai for his loyalty, and the answer was “nothing” (v. 3). The king asked who was present in the court, and Haman was already there, bright and early, to talk to the king about hanging Mordecai (v. 4). The answer was that Haman was in the court, and so the king said to bring him in (v. 5). When Haman came in, the king asked how to honor a nameless someone. Haman thought he was the one the king was talking about (v. 6). Haman answered that the king’s royal apparel should be placed on such a one, and he should ride the royal horse, and the royal crown should be placed on his head (vv. 7-8). On top of everything else, such a man should be paraded on horseback throughout the city, with one of the great princes leading the way, crying out, “This is how the king honors a man” (v. 9). Then Ahasuerus drops the bomb . . . great idea—you go and do all this for Mordecai the Jew (v. 10). And so Haman, utterly mortified, did as he was told (v. 11). When that ordeal was over, Mordecai returned to the king’s gate and Haman covered his head and went hastily to his house, mourning (v. 12). As he had boasted the day before, so now he related the awful news to Zeresh and his friends (v. 13). The counsel of his wise men and his wife amounted to uh oh (v. 13). They recognized a fatal turn in the narrative when they saw one. And while they were still all talking, the king’s chamberlains arrived to bustle Haman off to the second banquet (v. 14).
The Hand of Providence
Remember that we made the point earlier that God is nowhere mentioned by name in this book, but that His hand is everywhere in evidence. It is so much in evidence that even Zeresh and Haman’s wise men can read it. Haman can read it. If you have begun to fall before Mordecai, then you will in fact complete that fall.
“Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”James 4:6 (KJV)
Haman was the vizier, and the gallows had Mordecai’s name on it. This turn of affairs, this pivot, clearly stated that they were going to switch places. This is the great momentum shift. Mordecai was going to become the vizier, and Haman would be hanged on that same gallows. How did he rush home? With his head covered. What happened in the next chapter when the king accused him of assaulting the queen (Est. 7:8)? They covered his face. There was enough foreshadowing here that even the characters in the story could see it.
The Heart of Haman
Remember that the king may have phrased the question about honoring someone in the way that he did because Esther had unsettled him enough to wonder if Haman would refer it to himself (v. 7). If so, the reply of Haman would have told the king plainly that he was covetous for the throne, and why not covet the queen as well?
Zeresh had advised Haman to go to the king about Mordecai “in the morning.” But it appears that he couldn’t wait—he was there first thing in the morning, and perhaps earlier. The king told him to honor Mordecai according to his proposal, and it is very early. Susa is very big, and Haman gets back to his house very briefly before the chamberlains have to hustle him off to the banquet. He had likely spent the better part of the day honoring Mordecai. Not only so, but he was in no emotional shape to go to any banquets—but especially not this one.
The banquet was an awkward and angular one. The king was unsettled, and Haman was badly rattled. Esther was the one in complete control.
Read the Story You Are In
Stories affect us the way they do because of their structure. The information they contain is part of it, sure, but the thing that makes them so satisfying is the way the whole thing hangs together. If you are reading a great novel for the third time, you find yourself yearning to get through the next two chapters. That is because you want to get to your very favorite “surprise twist.”
The biblical patterns for story are varied, but there is a limited number of them. There is “death and resurrection,” there is “exile and return,” there is “rags to riches,” and so on.
Trusting God in your complicated circumstances is a matter of remembering that God is a master storyteller. He does not haul in an arbitrary “happy ending” by the ears. He is a better writer than that. He does not throw His stories together willy-nilly. He does not determine what’s next for your life by means of a roulette wheel. There is a narrative structure to what He is doing in your life, and it is not esoteric. It can be read.
Following Christ means following Christ in the story. This is what it means to “take up your cross daily” (Luke 9:23). We are following a living Christ, and not a static and stationary Christ. He is not a divine abstraction. We follow Him in time and in history. God has done marvelous things with and through His saints down through biblical history. He has done the marvelous thing in the death and resurrection of Christ. We have the privilege of living out the echoes of His narratival goodness. Esther and Mordecai had the privilege of being a foreshadowing, and we have the privilege of being part of the structured aftermath. But it all points to the central story.