1) The king has insomnia and orders the book of records to be read to him. It recounts how Mordecai saved the king from an assassination, but had not been rewarded. 2) Haman arrives to get permission to hang Mordecai, not knowing of his past deed. The king decides to honor Mordecai instead. 3) Haman unwittingly recommends the honors for Mordecai, thinking they were for himself. He is forced to parade Mordecai through the city, fulfilling God's plan to exalt the righteous at the perfect time through prayer.

1. Esther 6
Esth 6:1-5
1) On that night could not the king sleep, and he
commanded to bring the book of records of the
chronicles; and they were read before the king.
2) And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of
Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, the
keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king
Ahasuerus.
3) And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been
done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king's servants
that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him.
4) And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman
was come into the outward court of the king's house, to
speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that
he had prepared for him.
5) And the king's servants said unto him, Behold, Haman
standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in.
Verse 1 is the night of the third day of Esther 4:16. That night,
the king couldn’tsleep.
Esth 4:16
16) Go, gather together all the Jews that are
present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and

2. neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I
also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go
in unto the king, which is not according to the law:
and if I perish, I perish.
The king has insomnia because someone has been
praying and fasting for three days.
Usually prayer has the opposite affect on sleep. If you have
trouble getting to sleep, one of the best remedies is to pray. If
you get up and pray, you will get sleepy quicker than by
anything else you could do.
One of the hardest things that any Christian must do is pray.
Jesus said, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?”
(Matt. 26:40).
The king’s solutionis to have the “records of the chronicles”
read to him. He has either made up his mind to get some work
done, since he can’t sleep, or he is havingthe most boring thing
of which he can think read to him in attempt for it to put him to
sleep. Regardless of the reason, it is an answer to prayer. The
Lord is leadinghim in what he is doing. There is something in
the “chronicles” that he missed.

3. Everything in chapter 6 that happensis the providential
working of God.
When the king has the chronicles read, he just happensto get
the chapter that covers the assassination attempt -
Esth 2:21-23
21) In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's
gate, two of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and
Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth,
and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.
22) And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told
it unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the
king thereof in Mordecai's name.
23) And when inquisition was made of the matter, it
was found out; therefore they were both hanged on
a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles
before the king.
That is not an accidentalhappenstance. The Lord guides the
servant who reads the chronicles to cover the exact portion
that will elevate Mordecai’s reputation in the eyes of the
king—before Haman can ask for Mordecai to be hung.
Esth 6:3

4. 3) And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been
done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king's servants
that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him.
1Pet 5:6
6) Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty
hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
Verse 3 is a perfect example of 1 Peter 5:6.
Back in Esther 2, Mordecai’sloyaltywent unrewarded.
Instead, a wicked man like Haman was exalted (Esth. 3:1).
But that is because it was not God’s “due time” to exalt
Mordecai. Now (Esth. 6), it is the right time, and we can see
why.
The Lord’s timing, of course, is impeccable.
Heb 2:2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and
every transgression and disobediencereceived a just
recompence of reward;
Heb 10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which
hath great recompence of reward.

5. Heb 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches
than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the
recompence of the reward.
At the exact moment the king is seeking someone to honor
Mordecai, Haman shows up to have Mordecaihung (vs. 4).
That’s the providential hand ofGod at work, but that hand is
moved by the prayers of God’s people.
There are a bunch of Jews in Shushan fastingand praying,
“Lord, do something.” Those Jews are praying, and it doesn’t
seem like the Lord is doing anything.But God is keeping this
guy awake, and He is guiding this other guy to pullout and read
the right chronicle, and He is taking another guy and bringing
him in right when the chronicle is being read.
Haman had the gallows built. It was just a matter of seconds
before he would ask the king to hang Mordecai.
If Ahasuerus had been able to get a normal night’s sleep, then
he never would have had the chronicles read to him, and
Mordecai’sunrewarded act of loyaltywould never have been
brought to mind. If the Lord had not been working behindthe
scenes, things would have turned out a lot different.
Now let that be an encouragement to you to persevere in
prayer. The Lord might be doing all kinds of things that you
don’t see but are all working to answer your prayer. Unless the

6. Lord gives you a clear no about a thing, just keep on praying.
He hasn’t forgotten that you are there. He is just waiting to
bring everything together at the right time, which isn’t always
our time.
Esth 6:6-12
6) So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What
shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to
honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom
would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?
7) And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the
king delighteth to honour,
8) Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth
to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the
crown royal which is set upon his head:
9) And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand
of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may
array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour,
and bring him on horseback through the street of the city,
and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man
whom the king delighteth to honour.
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.

7. 11) Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, 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
honour.
12) And Mordecai came again to the king's gate. But
Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his
head covered.
Verse 6 shows you how puffed up with his own self-importance
Haman really was. When Ahasuerus asked, “What shall be
done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour,”
Haman naturallyfigured that the king must have been talking
about him.
That streak of self-centeredness is present in all of us. When we
enter a room each of us thinks, “What are these people
thinking aboutme?” But all of those other people are like us;
they are all wondering what you are thinkingabout them.
That’s being egocentric, and everyone is like that.
In one way it is a good thing that peopleare self-centered and
egotistical and stuck on themselves. When they see Christ and
compare themselves with Him, then they see how rotten they
really are, and they get saved.
But at the same time, it is a bad thing as well. You can’t really
appreciate anythingbad that hurts you. If you could look at

8. your troubles as calmly as you look at the troubles of others,
then you would be all right. But you can’t divorce yourself from
you. You’re stuck inside your body;it’s a prison house. You are
trapped.
Buddha saw the problem. The problem was the body. His
solutionwas to “get out of the frame.” The Christiansolution is
to be put into another frame of reference that is not
egocentric, and that “frame” is the Holy Spirit.
Part 2
Esth 6:7-9
7) And Haman answered the king, For the man whom the
king delighteth to honour,
8) Let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth
to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the
crown royal which is set upon his head:
9) And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand
of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may
array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour,
and bring him on horseback through the street of the city,
and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man
whom the king delighteth to honour.
In verses 7–9, Haman is about to “set himself up” as it were.
But what he doesn’t know is that everything he is suggesting
will be done to Mordecai.

9. So, he is “setting himself up,” but not in the way he thinks.
Haman advices the king to put the royal crown and robe on the
“lucky man” and then to have “one of the king’s most noble
princes” parade the guy aroundon the king’s horse crying,
“Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delightethto
honour.” The man becomes an honorary “king for a day.”
The situationis very similarto Joseph’s back in Genesis.
(Gen. 41:41–43) “And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I
have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took
off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand,
and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold
chain about his neck; And he made him to ride in the
second chariot which he had; and they cried before him,
Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of
Egypt”.
It’s a picture of the exaltation of Christ in type. Joseph is a type
of Christ. Here, the man about to be exalted is a Jew. Of course,
Jesus Christ will be exalted as the King of the Jews.

10. It is also a partial fulfillmentof Deuteronomy 28:13, which is
about that Jew:
“And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail;
and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be
beneath; if thou hearken unto the commandments of the
LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe
and to do them.”
Of course, the complete fulfillmentof that verse won’t take
place until the Millennium.
Esth 6:10
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.
Verse 10 blowsall of Haman’saspirationsout of the window.
“Make haste...and do even so to Mordecai the Jew...let
nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.”

11. The king thinks Haman’s idea is wonderful. The catch is
Mordecai is the man whom the “king delights to honor,” and
Haman is the “nobleprince” who will lead him around the city.
Now, that’s the hand of the Lord moving where it is
unmistakable.
None of the characters involvedhad any control over the
circumstances, but it is obviousthat the circumstances
were being manipulatedby Someone.
The king calls Mordecai “the Jew.”
The question comes up, then,
“Didn’t Ahasuerusrealize that he had condemned all the Jews
to death?”
Ahasuerus himself never gave any order to kill the Jews. Go
back and read Esther 3:8–9.
Esth 3:8-9
8) And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a
certain people scattered abroad and dispersed
among the people in all the provinces of thy
kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people;

12. neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not
for the king's profit to suffer them.
9) If it please the king, let it be written that they may
be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of
silver to the hands of those that have the charge of
the business, to bring it into the king's treasuries.
Haman never told the king who the people, that were to be
destroyed, were.
Esther’s own ignorance of the decree (in Esth. 4:4–8) shows
clearly that Ahasuerusnever even saw a copy of the decree
himself.
Haman kept everything carefully hiddenfrom the king.
As far as Ahasuerusknew, there was no connection between
Mordecai and the people that Haman wanted killed.
So, Haman had to honorMordecai in the way that he had
prescribed to Ahasuerus.
The New Testament applicationis this:
John 12:26

13. 26) If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where
I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve
me, him will my Father honour.
Always remember:
Rom 14:12
12) So then every one of us shall give account of himself
to God.
If you keep your own account in line with God, you won’t
have much time to mess around with someone else’s
account.
Esth 6:12
12) And Mordecai came again to the king's gate. But
Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his
head covered.
Haman’s world has just been shattered.
He runs home as fast as he can, miserable, dejected, and
humiliated.He covered his head, not only as a sign of
mourning, but also so no one in the streets would recognize
him and mock him.

14. Mordecai, on the other hand, simply takes his post back
at “the king’s gate.” He doesn’t brag to his coworkers or
gloat over Haman’shumiliation.He doesn’t let the king’s
honorgo to his head.
That is something that every Christian should emulate. If you
receive honor from God or man, “take it in stride.”
Don’t take your own “good press” seriously. Men can turn
on you in a heartbeat.
The same crowd that welcomed Christ into Jerusalem as a
conquering king on Palm Sunday was crying for his blood
three days later.
Honor from God is good, but if you become puffed up with your
own self-importance because of it, the Lord will bring you down
a notch or two.
God’s always got someone who can take your place and,
sometimes, even do a better job than you.
Esth 6:13-14

15. 13) And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends
every thing that had befallen him. 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, thou
shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall
before him.
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.
Haman goes to his wife and friends and rehearses his troubles
to them just as he rehearsed his successes back in Esther 5:10–
12.
The man is just as self-centered and egotistical in his trialsand
tribulationsas he was in his prosperity and good fortune.
The topic of conversation and the center of attention has to
be him whether he is doing well or poorly.
Now, Zeresh and his friends recognize something that never
crosses Haman’s mind because of his pride.
They recognize that Someone is workingon Mordecai’s behalf.

16. Haman’s troubles aren’t the result of chance or everyday
circumstances.
Someone is causing Haman to fall before Mordecai, and that
Someone is not going to stop untilthat fall is complete and
absolute.
Verse 14 is the beginning of the end for Haman.
He doesn’t know it yet, but Esther’s banquet will be his last
meal.
Chapter 6 was the beginning of the fall of Haman (vs. 13).
Verse 14 introduces chapter 7 where the Lord finishes bringing
Haman down.