12 And Mordecai H4782 came again H7725 to the king's H4428 gate. H8179 But Haman H2001 hasted H1765 to his house H1004 mourning, H57 and having his head H7218 covered. H2645
And David H1732 went up H5927 by the ascent H4608 of mount Olivet, H2132 and wept H1058 as he went up, H5927 and had his head H7218 covered, H2645 and he went H1980 barefoot: H3182 and all the people H5971 that was with him covered H2645 every man H376 his head, H7218 and they went up, H5927 weeping H1058 as they went up. H5927
And their nobles H117 have sent H7971 their little ones H6810 to the waters: H4325 they came H935 to the pits, H1356 H1360 and found H4672 no water; H4325 they returned H7725 with their vessels H3627 empty; H7387 they were ashamed H954 and confounded, H3637 and covered H2645 their heads. H7218 Because the ground H127 is chapt, H2865 for there was no rain H1653 in the earth, H776 the plowmen H406 were ashamed, H954 they covered H2645 their heads. H7218
And Ahab H256 came H935 into his house H1004 heavy H5620 and displeased H2198 because of the word H1697 which Naboth H5022 the Jezreelite H3158 had spoken H1696 to him: for he had said, H559 I will not give H5414 thee the inheritance H5159 of my fathers. H1 And he laid him down H7901 upon his bed, H4296 and turned away H5437 his face, H6440 and would eat H398 no bread. H3899
And Samuel H8050 lay H7901 until the morning, H1242 and opened H6605 the doors H1817 of the house H1004 of the LORD. H3068 And Samuel H8050 feared H3372 to shew H5046 Eli H5941 the vision. H4759
And when Ahithophel H302 saw H7200 that his counsel H6098 was not followed, H6213 he saddled H2280 his ass, H2543 and arose, H6965 and gat him home H3212 to his house, H1004 to his city, H5892 and put his household H1004 in order, H6680 and hanged H2614 himself, and died, H4191 and was buried H6912 in the sepulchre H6913 of his father. H1
And Azariah H5838 the chief H7218 priest, H3548 and all the priests, H3548 looked H6437 upon him, and, behold, he was leprous H6879 in his forehead, H4696 and they thrust him out H926 from thence; yea, himself hasted H1765 also to go out, H3318 because the LORD H3068 had smitten H5060 him.
And when the virgins H1330 were gathered together H6908 the second time, H8145 then Mordecai H4782 sat H3427 in the king's H4428 gate. H8179
Then the king H4428 returned H7725 out of the palace H1055 garden H1594 into the place H1004 of the banquet H4960 of wine; H3196 and Haman H2001 was fallen H5307 upon the bed H4296 whereon Esther H635 was. Then said H559 the king, H4428 Will he force H3533 the queen H4436 also before me in the house? H1004 As the word H1697 went out H3318 of the king's H4428 mouth, H6310 they covered H2645 Haman's H2001 face. H6440
The earth H776 is given H5414 into the hand H3027 of the wicked: H7563 he covereth H3680 the faces H6440 of the judges H8199 thereof; if not, where, H645 and who is he?
That the triumphing H7445 of the wicked H7563 is short, H7138 and the joy H8057 of the hypocrite H2611 but for a moment? H7281
[[A Song H7892 of degrees H4609 of David.]] H1732 LORD, H3068 my heart H3820 is not haughty, H1361 nor mine eyes H5869 lofty: H7311 neither do I exercise H1980 myself in great matters, H1419 or in things too high H6381 for me. Surely I have behaved H7737 and quieted H1826 myself, H5315 as a child that is weaned H1580 of his mother: H517 my soul H5315 is even as a weaned child. H1580
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Esther 6
Commentary on Esther 6 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Elevation of Mordochai and Disgrace of Haman - Esther 6:1-14
The next night the king, being unable to sleep, caused the chronicles of the kingdom to be read to him. The account of the conspiracy discovered by Mordochai, which was written therein, was thus brought before him, and he inquired of his servants whether this man had been rewarded ( Esther 6:1-3 ). On receiving a negative answer, the king sent to inquire who was in the court; and Haman being found there thus early, he had him summoned, and asked him: what should be done to the man in whose honour the king delighteth. Haman, supposing that the king could intend to honour no one but himself, voted for the very highest public mark of respect ( Esther 6:3-9), and was then obliged at the king's command to pay the proposed honour to Mordochai (Esther 6:10, Esther 6:11). From this humiliation his wife and friends prognosticated his speedy downfall (Esther 6:12-14).
An unexpected turn of affairs. Esther 6:1. On that night between Esther's first and second banquet, the king's sleep fled, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles and to read therefrom. On הזּכרנות ספר , comp. Ezra 4:15. The title is here more particularly stated than in Esther 2:23, where the book is briefly called: The book of the chronicles. נקראים ויּהיוּ , and they (the chronicles) were read before the king. The participle denotes the long continuance of this reading.
Esther 6:2
And it was found written therein among other matters, that Mordochai had given information concerning the two courtiers who were plotting against the king's life. This is the conspiracy related Esther 2:21-23. The name Bigthana is in Esther 2:21 written Bigthan.
Esther 6:3
On this occasion the king asked: What honour and greatness hath been done to Mordochai for this? על־זה , for giving this information. And the king's servants answered: Nothing has been shown him. עם עשׂה , to show any one something, e.g., favour; comp. 2 Samuel 2:6; 2 Samuel 3:8, and elsewhere. גּדוּלה , greatness, i.e., promotion to honour.
Esther 6:4
To repair this deficiency, and to do honour to the man who had done good service to the king - as the Persian monarchs were accustomed, comp. Brisson, de reg. Pers. princ. i. c. 135 - he asked, “who is in the court?” i.e., whether some minister or state functionary were there with whom he might consult concerning the honour due to Mordochai. Those who desired an audience with the king were accustomed to appear and wait in the outer court, until they were summoned into the inner court to present themselves before the monarch. From this question of the king it appears that it was already morning. And Haman, it is parenthetically remarked, was come into the outer court to speak to the king, to hang Mordochai on the tree which he had prepared.
Esther 6:5
The attendants inform the king that Haman is in the court; whereupon the king commands: יבוא , let him come in.
Esther 6:6-9
As soon as he enters the king asks: What is to be done to the man in whose honour the king delighteth? i.e., whom he delights to honour. And Haman, thinking ( בּלבּו אמר , to say in one's heart, i.e., to think) to whom will the king delight to show honour more than to me ( ממּבּי יותר , projecting before me, surpassing me, hence adverbially, beyond me, e.g., Ecclesiastes 12:12, comp. Ecclesiastes 2:15; Ecclesiastes 7:11, Ecclesiastes 7:16)? votes immediately for the greatest possible mark of honour, and says, Esther 6:7.: “As for the man in whose honour the king delighteth, let them bring the royal apparel with which the king has been clothed, and a horse on which the king has ridden, and the king's crown upon his head, and let them deliver this apparel and horse to one of the chief princes of the king, and let them array (i.e., with the royal apparel) the man in whose honour the king delighteth, and cause him to ride upon the horse through the streets of the city, and proclaim before him: Thus shall it be done to the man in whose honour the king delighteth.” וגו אשׁר אישׁ , Esther 6:7, precedes absolutely, and the predicate does not follow till והלבּישׁוּ , Esther 6:9, where the preceding subject is now by an anacoluthon taken up in the accusative ( את־האישׁ ). Several clauses are inserted between, for the purpose of enumerating beforehand all that appertains to such a token of honour: a royal garment, a royal steed, a crown on the head, and one of the chief princes for the carrying out of the honour awarded. The royal garment is not only, as Bertheau justly remarks, such a one as the king is accustomed to wear, but, as is shown by the perf. לבשׁ , one which the king has himself already put on or worn. Hence it is not an ordinary state-robe, the so-called Median apparel which the king himself, the chief princes among the Persians, and those on whom the king bestowed such raiment were wont to appear in (Herod. 3.84, 7.116; Xenoph. Cyrop . 8.3.1, comp. with the note of Baehr on Her. 3.84), but a costly garment, the property of the sovereign himself. This was the highest mark of honour that could be shown to a subject. So too was the riding upon a horse on which the king had ridden, and whose head was adorned with a royal crown. נתּן is perf. Niph., not 1st pers. pl. imperf. Kal, as Maurer insists; and בּראשׁו אשׁר refers to the head of the horse, not to the head of the man to be honoured, as Clericus, Rambach, and most ancient expositors explain the words, in opposition to the natural sense of - בּראשׁו נתּן אשׁר . We do not indeed find among classical writers any testimony to such an adornment of the royal steed; but the circumstance is not at all improbable, and seems to be corroborated by ancient remains, certain Assyrian and ancient Persian sculptures, representing the horses of the king, and apparently those of princes, with ornaments on their heads terminating in three points, which may be regarded as a kind of crown. The infin. absol. ונתון is a continuation of the preceding jussive יביאוּ : and they shall give, let them give the garment - to the hand of a man, i.e., hand or deliver to him. The garment and horse are to be delivered to one of the noblest princes, that he may bring them to the individual to be honoured, may array him in the garment, set him on the horse, and proclaim before him as he rides through the city, etc. On הפּרתּמים , comp. Esther 1:4, and on the matter itself, Genesis 41:43. רחוב is either an open square, the place of public assemblage, the forum, or a collective signifying the wide streets of the city. יעשׂה כּכה as in Deuteronomy 25:9 and elsewhere.
Esther 6:10-11
This honour, then, the haughty Haman was now compelled to pay to the hated Jew. The king commanded him: “Make haste, take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said,” i.e., in the manner proposed by thee, “and do even so to Mordochai the Jew, that sitteth at the king's gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken,” i.e., carry out your proposal exactly. How the king knew that Mordochai was a Jew, and that he sat in the king's gate, is not indeed expressly stated, but may easily be supplied from the conversation of the king with his servants concerning Mordochai's discovery of the conspiracy, Esther 6:1-3. On this occasion the servants of the king would certainly give him particulars concerning Mordochai, who by daily frequenting the king's gate, Esther 2:19; Esther 5:9, would certainly have attracted the attention of all the king's suite. Nor can doubt be case upon the historical truth of the fact related in this verse by the question: whether the king had forgotten that all Jews were doomed to destruction, and that he had delivered them up to Haman for that purpose (J. D. Mich.). Such forgetfulness in the case of such a monarch as Xerxes cannot surprise us.
After this honour had been paid him, Mordochai returned to the king's gate; but Haman hasted to his house, “sad and with his head covered,” to relate to his wife and friends all that had befallen him. A deeper mortification he could not have experienced than that of being obliged, by the king's command, publicly to show the highest honour to the very individual whose execution he was just about to propose to him. The covering of the head is a token of deep confusion and mourning; comp. Jeremiah 14:4; 2 Samuel 15:30. Then his wise men, and Zeresh his wife, said to him: ”If Mordochai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou wilt not prevail against him, but wholly fall before him.” לו תוּכל לא , non praevalebis ei , comp. Genesis 32:26. תּפּול נפול with an emphatic infin. absol.: wholly fall. Instead of the חכמיו אהביו are here named, or to speak more correctly the friends of Haman are here called his wise men (magi). Even in Esther 5:14 Haman's friends figure as those with whom he takes counsel concerning Mordochai, i.e., as his counsellors or advisers; hence it is very probable that there were magi among their number, who now “come forward as a genus sapientum et doctorum (Cicero, divin . i. 23)” (Berth.), and predict his overthrow in his contest with Mordochai. The ground of this prediction is stated: “If Mordochai is of the seed of the Jews,” i.e., of Jewish descent, then after this preliminary fall a total fall is inevitable. Previously (Esther 5:14) they had not hesitated to advise him to hang the insignificant Jew; but now that the insignificant Jew has become, as by a miracle, a man highly honoured by the king, the fact that the Jews are under the special protection of Providence is pressed upon them. Ex fato populorum, remarks Grotius, de singulorum fatis judicabant. Judaei gravissime oppressi a Cyri temporibus contra spem omnem resurgere caeperant . We cannot, however, regard as well founded the further remark: de Amalecitis audierant oraculum esse, eos Judaeorum manu perituros , which Grotius, with most older expositors, derives from the Amalekite origin of Haman. The revival of the Jewish people since the times of Cyrus was sufficient to induce, in the minds of heathen who were attentive to the signs of the times, the persuasion that this nation enjoyed divine protection.
During this conversation certain courtiers had already arrived, who hastily brought Haman to the banquet of the queen, to which he would certainly go in a less happy state of mind than on the preceding day.