And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor,
Haman walked into the king's inner court with one thing to ask: permission to hang Mordecai. Before he could speak, the king asked him what should be done for a man the king wanted to honour. Everything that follows turns on the silent sentence Haman spoke to himself.
A question shaped by providence
Haman entered the room. He did not know what had happened during the king's sleepless night, and he did not choose the moment.
William KellyHaman is brought into the king's presence at his own request. God's providence led the king, full of what was in his own heart, to ask what he should do for someone he wished to honour.
The whole chapter is a chain of small events that no one planned.
H. L. RossierWhy, on this very same night, should sleep escape the king? Why should the idea come to him of having the book of his annals read to him to soothe his sleeplessness? Why did the reader land on the passage about Mordecai? ... Why should the king word his question to Haman in such a way that it made his favourite fall into the trap? Why is Haman himself forced to become the herald of the man he hates with all his soul?
The heart that answered before the mouth
Scripture reports what Haman said inside himself, where no one else could hear.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinIn his blind self-love, his deluded pride, Haman thought he was the man to whom the king would do still more honour. A writer in the Talmud puts it well: "The writer of the book of Esther knew what was in Haman's heart. So he must have been inspired when he wrote this account."
Asking without limits
Haman had already decided who the man was.
William KellyHaman had no thought of anyone but himself. So he was caught in his own snare. He asked without restraint. He suggested to the king the highest honours — honours higher than had ever been given to a subject before.
His answer describes a scene with himself at the centre.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAnd pride fills his lips with an extraordinary demand. As his wicked lips spoke the words, he must have pictured himself dressed in royal clothing, riding the king's horse and wearing his crown. He saw himself led through the city, with the town-crier announcing that he is the man whom the king delights to honour.
The plan turned inside out
Haman designed the ceremony for himself. Then he had to carry it out for the one man he wanted dead.
C. H. MackintoshHe had come to make sure Mordecai died, but the providence of God forces him to plan Mordecai's triumph and dignity. He had come to get him hanged on a gallows, but he is made to clothe him with the king's robe.
Haman's pride hid two things from him at once.
William KellySo it is: the pride of the wicked blinds them to their own ruin, just as it blinds them in their hatred of the righteous they despise. He whose eyes are over all is slow to act. He lets men show what they are, and in the end He carries out His purpose openly, to His own glory. Haman ... fell into the pit he had made himself.
The Man God delights to honour
The words Haman repeated belong, in the end, to someone greater. Mordecai's own story runs from a gallows to a place of honour.
H J VineMordecai, the man whom the king delighted to honour (Est. 6:6-7, 11), was first of all the man for whom a gallows was made fifty cubits high (5:14) ... Mordecai's rise to honour brought rest, blessing and gladness to God's people (9:18), and in time peace and prosperity for all. Then what shall be said of the One greater than Joseph and greater than Mordecai? He passed through the time of His sorrows. He left the prison-tomb of death behind for ever. He rose from among the dead and ascended to God's right hand. There He is crowned with glory and honour upon the throne.
The order matters. A whole people were rescued through one man, and that man was brought low before he was lifted up.
H. L. RossierOne man must become the liberator of the people ... for this to happen, he first had to humble himself to the lowest place, in sackcloth and ashes, and then be raised to supreme dignity.
Summary
- The question. The king asked about honour at the very moment Haman came to ask for a death. Only God could arrange that timing.
- The heart. Haman answered his own silent question first: no one deserved honour more than himself. That blind self-love decided everything he said next.
- The ask. Sure the honour was his, he asked without limit: robe, horse, crown, a public parade. No subject had ever received honours like these.
- The reversal. Mordecai received every honour Haman had described, and Haman walked in front as the herald. He fell into the pit he had dug himself.
- The true Man. The phrase he kept repeating has a real owner. It belongs to the One who was humbled to the lowest place and is now crowned with glory and honour at God's right hand.