and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
Mordecai stands outside the palace gate in sackcloth. His news can only reach the queen through a court servant who carries words back and forth. He does not send a plea for sympathy. He sends facts, down to the exact sum of silver Haman had pledged for the killing of a nation.
The message and the messenger
Esther first tried to fix the outward problem — she sent clothes. When Mordecai refused them, she sent a man to find out why, and the man himself was in the dark.
Leslie M. GrantShe sent clothing to him to replace the sackcloth, but he refused it (v. 4). Therefore she sent Hatach, a eunuch of the king, to ask Mordecai the reason for his condition (v. 5). Even Hatach had not heard of the evil plot of Haman, and Mordecai told him what had happened and how Haman had promised to pay a large sum of money for the destruction of the Jews (vv. 6-7).
The exact sum
Mordecai names a figure because Haman had named one first. Haman offered silver to answer the one objection a king might raise: what his kingdom would lose if a whole people were wiped out.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHaman, like his dark master, Satan, was cunning enough to anticipate an objection from the side of the king. Would not his kingdom suffer financially if a whole people is wiped out? To remove this financial consideration he offers to pay 10,000 talents of silver for the desired slaughter of the Jews. With it he tempted the king's greed. At the same time he flattered his pride. He implied that it would be a small thing for the king to lose a whole people worth only 10,000 talents.
A price that should have raised questions
A man willing to pay out of his own pocket to destroy strangers is not acting for the state. The king missed what the size of that payment proved.
Leslie M. GrantSurely the king should have realized that Haman had a personal axe to grind. He was ready to pay this huge sum himself to have this people destroyed. But the king clearly had great confidence in this scheming Amalekite. Haman cared far more about his own reputation than about the Persian kingdom.
Why the whole nation
Haman asked for a whole nation, not one man. Writers trace that hatred to a single root, one that does not disappear when God's people fail.
William KellyGod's people are always an offence to the rest of mankind, simply because they are His. This is most true of the proud and boastful. And it stays true even when their own unfaithfulness costs them His open favour, which is what had actually happened.
A death sentence that will be overturned
Persian law could not be undone, and that is what made the report so final.
William KellyTheir doom was sealed, or so it appeared. It seemed all the more certain because the Persian empire always held that a law once passed was never revoked. Nothing, it seemed, could have saved the people.
But the book does not stop there.
Michael HardtHaman accuses the Jewish people before the king, and stands exposed as "the Jews' enemy"… A royal decree then confirms his plan: all Jews must die. This illustrates that there is a divine death sentence on the Jewish nation. How good to know that — as we will see — the king later passes a second decree which overturns the first. The sentence of death is turned into life and peace.
Mourning and confidence together
Mordecai mourns and counts on rescue at the same time. Writers prize that combination.
J. G. BellettWhen the fatal decree goes out, Mordecai fasts and mourns in sackcloth. But all the while he counts on deliverance. Such a combination is full of moral glory… He will not put off his mourning. He refuses to be comforted while the decree stands against his people. Yet he counts on their deliverance, surely counts on it, one way or another.
The unnamed God
Nothing in the chapter names God, and no prayer is written down. One writer says that silence is not the whole story.
William KellyMordecai tears his clothes and puts on sackcloth. He goes into the middle of the city and cries with a loud and bitter cry. God's name is not written there and does not appear, but God's ears heard all the same.
Summary
- Told. Mordecai gives Hatach the full account — even the court messenger had not heard of the plot.
- Priced. Haman's 10,000 talents answered the king's money objection and flattered him: a whole people, worth so little.
- Missed. The size of the offer exposed a personal motive. The king trusted the man instead of weighing the payment.
- Targeted. God's people offend the world because they are His. That stays true even when they are unfaithful.
- Reversed. The decree of death stands as law, but a second decree will follow, turning the sentence into life and peace.