Honoring Mordecai
Haman was entering the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had built. Instead, the King discovered Mordecai had never been honored for saving his life.
This is a Bible Study. Have your own Bible handy to look up the references mentioned.
If you do not have a Bible, I invite you to go to BibleGateway.com or another online Bible.
1. The king could not sleep, so he requested a book of records to read.
“God is moving. He is overruling. It was no accident that Esther became queen. It was no accident that she presented herself to the king and found favor in his sight. It was no accident that he accepted her invitation to a banquet. Now he is unable to sleep, and it is no accident that the servant began to read at a certain place.” (McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible: Volume II: [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983], 568)
2. This is found in Esther 2:19-23. Also, read about it in “The Plot”.
3. When the king asked if Mordecai had been honored, his servants told him no.
“The king said, ‘The man who saved my life must be rewarded!’” (McGee, 568)
“While all of this was going on in the palace, there is a knock at the outside door.” (McGee, 568)
Mordecai
4. Haman is at the door coming to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
5. Haman is in the court.
Send him in.
6. After the king asked Haman what shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour?
Have you ever thought that it was you who was going to be honored or win the election?
Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?
“Just as the Lord rewards the righteous, He also rewards wickedness with its own fruit in due season.” (MacArthur, John. Daniel & Esther: Israel in Exile: Nashville: Nelson Books, 2016
7-8. “Haman then suggested the highest honors, assuming they were for himself. The narrative is full of irony and the reversal of expected outcomes.” (Breneman, Mervin, The New American Commentary, Volume 10 Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther: [Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993], 345)
“This was an honor in which the recipient was treated as though he were the king himself. History affirms that horses were adorned with the royal crown.” (MacArthur, 126)
9. Haman did not “realize that he would be the prince to lead the horse on which Mordecai was honored.” (Breneman, 345) Proverbs 16:18
10. “The Lord allowed Haman’s perversity to define and engineer his own humiliation.” (MacArthur, 127)
Mordecai Led Through Streets
11. “Instead of leading Mordecai through the streets in honor, Haman had intended to hang him on the gallows. The humiliation of Haman at this point is absolutely unspeakable.” (McGee, 569)
12. Mordecai returned to the king’s gate.
Haman hurried home in humiliation.
13. Haman told his wife and friends all that had happened.
His wife and wise men told him, If Mordecai is a Jew, you thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.
14. The banquet is ready. You must come.
“The banquet would reveal Esther’s true desires.” (Breneman, 346)
In this article Scripture quotations are taken from KJV.
Breneman, Mervin, The New American Commentary, Volume 10 Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993
MacArthur, John. Daniel & Esther: Israel in Exile: Nashville: Nelson Books, 2016
McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible: Volume II: Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983
