The dark palace at deep night seen from the garden, every opening black but one small warm lamp-lit opening high in the long wall, under a starry sky

The Book of

Esther 6

A man sets up a gallows. A king can’t sleep. And somebody opens the wrong book at the right page.

14 verses≈ 3 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–2A new queenVashti out, Esther crowned
3The plotHaman buys a decree
4–5The riskEsther goes to the king
6–7The turnA sleepless night, a gallowsChapter 6
8–9OverturnedA second decree, and Purim
10MordecaiSecond to the king

Mordecai Is Honored

That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him.

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And there it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the king’s entrance, when they had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

Question

Quick question

The book is open, and the reader has reached one old entry.

Whose plot had Mordecai exposed, according to the record?

King Xerxes

The king inquired, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this act?”

The king’s attendants

“Nothing has been done for him,” replied the king’s attendants.

King Xerxes

“Who is in the court?” the king asked.

In gray first light a noble in crimson walks quickly and alone into the palace's outer court, a closed roll in his grip

Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.

The king’s attendants

So the king’s attendants answered him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”

King Xerxes

“Bring him in,” ordered the king.

Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor?”

Now Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king be delighted to honor more than me?”

Haman

And Haman told the king, “For the man whom the king is delighted to honor, have them bring a royal robe that the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden—one with a royal crest placed on its head. Let the robe and the horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them array the man the king wants to honor and parade him on the horse through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!’”

King Xerxes

“Hurry,” said the king to Haman, “and do just as you proposed. Take the robe and the horse to Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything that you have suggested.”

One night, six small things

Whiteboard

No voice from heaven, no miracle: just a sleepless king and a chain of small things falling exactly into place. The Protector of Israel does not sleep, and on this night it shows.

Reflect

Nothing has been done

Mordecai’s good deed had sat unrewarded for about five years, in a book nobody was reading. What faithful thing have you done that no one has noticed? What does this night say about God’s timing?

Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened.

In a lamp-lit courtyard a noble sits with his head bowed as his veiled wife and two friends lean toward him, and two eunuchs arrive in haste at the door

His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him—for surely you will fall before him.”

While they were still speaking with Haman, the king’s eunuchs arrived and rushed him to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

0:24

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

A prayer

Lord, thank You that You neither slumber nor sleep. Give me patience when my service goes unseen. Keep me from the thought “more than me,” and give me a humble heart that leaves its honor in Your hand. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Esther 6

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A verse to carry with you

That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him.

Esther 6:1

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