Esther 6:10

Est 6:10 Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, [and] take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.

Ver. 10. Then the king said to Haman] The king had no intent herein to ensnare Haman, or cross his humour, but God had a hand in it for the effecting of his own ends, which cannot but be ever exceeding good, since his will is not only recta, right but regula the rule.

Make haste, and take the apparel, and the horse, &c.] Here was no time left him of deliberation or liberty of contradiction; dispute he must not, but despatch what was given him in charge. Had he had but the least time, that, stepping out of the presence, he might have considered with himself or consulted with his friends, he would either have feigned himself sick, or found some other excuse, that he might not have done his enemy this honour. But God had so ordered it, and the king commanded it to be done forthwith; it was not, therefore, for Haman, vel responsare, vel repugnare, to chat or chaff, unless he would run the hazard of all; for, where the word of a king is, there is power; and who may say unto him, What dost thou?

And do even so to Mordecai the Jew] This word stabbed Haman to the heart, who had run many great hazards doubtless to domineer in his undeserved dignities; and now must perforce honour him whom he had hoped to have hanged; clothe him whom he hoped to have stripped; help him up to his horse, upon whose grave he hoped to have danced; prepare a triumph for him for whom he had prepared a tree; make proclamation before him as a crier, lead his horse as a lacquey, do all offices for him as a slave or underling; oh what a cut, what a cordolium was this to a man of his mettle and making! It was a wonder his heart burst not, as did Ahitophel’s, for pride so swelleth the soul many times, that it breaketh the case, the body, I mean, and endeth the life; but this had been here to have saved the hangman a labour. But base spirits will buckle and fall down to rise, crouch and creep to mount, &c.

That sitteth at the king’s gate] There you shall have him, and see that you mistake him not. Haman knew him well enough by his stiffness and stoutness, and wished him, of all the men in the world, out of the world.

Let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken] Perquam hoc durum est, sed ita lex scripta est, This is extremely hard, but so the law was written, saith the civil lawyer. This was a hard saying, and as hard meat to Haman’s stomach, that would ill go down, but there was no help for it, himself had advised it, and must therefore speedily execute it. Lata negligentia dolus est, This ignored is grief. says the lawyer; remissness is a kind of perfidiousness. Excuses would have been construed for refusals, delays for denials, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Est 6:10. The king said, Do even so to Mordecai the Jew — If the king had but said as Haman expected, Thou art the man, what a fair opportunity would be have had to perform the errand he came on, and to have requested, that, to grace the solemnity of his triumph, Mordecai, his sworn enemy, might be hanged at the same time; but how is he thunderstruck when the king bids him, not to order all this to be done, but to do it himself to Mordecai the Jew, the very man he hated above all men, and whose ruin he was seeking, and now came to solicit! He saw it was now to no purpose to think of moving any thing to the king against Mordecai, since he is the man whom the king delights to honour.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:10-12 do just as you have said for Mordecai the Jew: With utter shock at this complete reversal, Haman could do nothing but obey the king’s command, right down to the last detail.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. Make haste, and take the apparel - and do even so to Mordecai] O mortifying reverse of human fortune! How could Haman bear this? The Targumist might speak according to nature when he said that "Haman besought the king to kill him rather than degrade him so." How astonishing is the conduct of Divine providence in all this business! From it we plainly see that there is neither counsel nor wisdom against the Lord; and that he who digs a pit for his neighbour, is sure to fall into it himself.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) The Jew.—Mordecai’s nationality would doubtless be given in the book of records. Thus Esther, in urging her petition by-and-by, has already on her side the king’s good-will to one prominent member of the proscribed race.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. Mordecai the Jew] We may assume that his nationality was stated in the chronicles which had been read to the king. The latter seems to have forgotten that he had delivered over the Jews into Haman’s hands without reserve.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then the king said to Haman, make haste,.... And without delay go into the royal treasury, or wardrobe, as the Targum adds: "and take the apparel"; the royal robe, the purple one, or one of the precious purple robes; and then, as the same Targum, go to the king's stable, and take thence the king's "horse", that stands in the chief place in the stable, whose name is "Shiphregaz"; but how the Targumist came by the name of it, I know not; however it was not unusual for kings to give a name to their favourite horse, as Alexander the great did to his called Bucephalus and even for all kings of Persia, as Darius Hystaspis (b):

as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king's gate; the person he meant this honour for he describes by name, by nation, and by office, that there might be no mistake:

let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken; the king objected not to anything that had been proposed, and insisted on it that every thing be done punctually by Haman as he had advised, and from which he could not with honour recede; though nothing could be more mortifying to him to do, to a man he came to court to get a grant to hang on a gallows he had prepared.

(b) Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 88.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Spoken. The distinction was not for one day only. Mardochai might afterwards wear the tiara, &c. God thus clearly manifested that he would resist the proud, and give grace to the humble. (St. James iv. 6.) The exaltation of Joseph in Egypt, (Calmet) and lately of Daniel at the court at Babylon, (Tirinus) was hardly less wonderful, Genesis xli., and Daniel vi. (Calmet) --- We may easily conceive the astonishment which would fill the breast of Aman, as well as of Mardochai, on this occasion. The Greek published by Usher, has expressed these sentiments; (Haydock) and the Chaldean has added many embellishments, which are of no authority. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

10. Do even so to Mordecai — How must Haman’s countenance have fallen at these words, and with what chagrin must he have gone forth to execute the king’s command! This was the beginning of his fall.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Make haste. The king will have no more delay in a matter which has been delayed far too long. Haman is to "hasten, and confer the honour at once. Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth in the king"s gate. Mordecai"s nationality and his employment were probably mentioned in the book of the chronicles. From these the king has learnt them, and he uses probably the very phrase of the records. Let nothing fail. Observe every particular of honour that you have mentioned; let there be no omission of one jot or tittle.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mordecai Honored

v. 10. Then the king said to Haman, who himself was a prince of the realm, Make haste and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai, the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate, whose nationality was hereby openly stated, in spite of the decree which looked toward the destruction of the Jews, the hand of Providence thus appearing throughout the story. Let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken, not a single point was to be omitted in all the excessive show of honor which Haman had sought for his own person.

v. 11. Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, surely with inexpressible bitterness in his heart, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor. The humiliation was all the greater, so far as Haman was concerned, because he now had to act as servant to the despised and hated Jew.

v. 12. And Mordecai came again to the king’s gate, the entire city knowing of the honor which had been bestowed upon him. But Haman hasted to his house mourning and having his head covered, in token of the deep shame and disgrace which, he felt, was resting upon him.

v. 13. And Haman told Zeresh, his wife, and all his friends, the men who usually hover about a powerful person while he is in the good graces of the sovereign, everything that had befallen him, the report differing materially from that made the day before. Then said his wise men and Zeresh, his wife, unto him, if Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews before whom thou hast begun to fall, namely, by being obliged to act as his servant, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him. This conclusion they drew from the trend of circumstances, for they could not be blind to the fact that the Jews were under special divine protection.

v. 14. And while they were yet talking with him, came the king’s chamberlains and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared, for the Oriental custom required a special message to be sent to the guests just before the hour appointed for a feast to announce that all things were now ready. Cf Mat 22:3-4; Luk 14:17. That is the final reward of the unbelievers, particularly of those who persecute the Church of God: they fall before His might and will finally sink into everlasting destruction.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Do not fail in a single matter of what you have said

The phrase "a single matter" emphasizes that he must do absolutely everything he said. It can be stated positively. AT: "Be sure to do absolutely everything you have said"

translationWords

Mordecai

Jew

gate

preach

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.