Esther 6:8

Haman had no thought of anyone but himself. So he was caught in his own snare. He asked with no restraint. He suggested to the king the highest honours — honours higher than had ever been given to a subject before.

He wanted the applause of all the people, so he made this suggestion. The man the king wants to honour should wear a royal robe the king himself had worn. He should ride a horse the king had ridden, one with a royal crest on its forehead. One of the king's most noble princes should lead him through the city square, proclaiming that this is done for the man whom the king delights to honour.

So it is: the pride of the wicked blinds them to their own destruction just as much as it makes them hate the righteous they despise. He whose eyes are over all is slow to act, so that men may show what they are. In the end He accomplishes His purpose openly, to His own glory. Haman had received honours beyond example. He was sure that he alone could be the man whom the king delighted to honour, and the king had invited him to name the fullest measure of it. So his suggestions knew no limit. And so he fell into the pit he had made himself — the pit that waits for all who ignore and defy Him, and for all who hate His own and would harm them. He never forgets His own, however faulty they are.

This is very instructive, because this has been God's way, and still is. The builders of the tower of Babel were allowed to go on with their work until they made it a wonder. Nebuchadnezzar was given time to finish his great city. The beast of Revelation will prosper until the whole world wonders after him. So here Haman is put up with, until he sits on the pinnacle. Then, in the moment of his proudest elevation, the judgment of God visits all of these.

The gallows is set up for Mordecai. Haman's plan, cleverly put together, seems headed for certain success. Why, on this very same night, should sleep escape the king? Why should he think of having his annals read aloud to ease his sleeplessness? Why did the reader land on the passage about Mordecai?… Why should the king phrase his question so that his favourite fell into the trap? Why is Haman himself forced to become the herald of the man he hates with all his soul?

Mordecai, the man whom the king delighted to honour, was first of all the man for whom a gallows was made fifty cubits high. But the Agagite was hanged on it, and the king's anger was pacified. Mordecai's rise to honour brought rest, blessing and gladness to God's people, and in the end 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.

To save the people, Mordecai must first be saved… One man must become the liberator of the people. For that, he first humbled himself to the lowest degree, in sackcloth and ashes, and then he had to be lifted to supreme dignity.