Esther 6 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
474 BC, the night between Esther's two banquets and the following morning
Location
The king's bedchamber and the outer court of the palace at Susa, then the public streets of the city
Audience
Jews in the Persian empire, reading a story in which God is never named yet events keep turning
Situation
Unable to sleep, Xerxes has the royal records read aloud and learns Mordecai was never rewarded for exposing the assassination plot. Haman arrives intending to ask for Mordecai's execution and is instead ordered to lead him through the city in royal honour.
Key Background
Persian kings kept detailed written annals, and Greek writers describe an official register of royal benefactors, so an unpaid debt of honour recorded and later discovered is exactly the kind of administrative detail the court produced. Dressing a man in a robe the king has worn and mounting him on the king's own horse conferred borrowed royal status, and Persian art shows the horse's head ornament mentioned here. The book of Esther never mentions God directly, and moments like a sleepless night leading to a chance reading are how it points at providence without naming it.
That night, the king So he ordered the — the record of daily events — to be brought and read to him.
They found the account of how Mordecai had reported the plot of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the entrance, who had conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus.
The king asked, "What or was given to Mordecai for this?" The king's attendants answered, "Nothing was done for him."
The king said, "Who's in the court?" Now, Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king about impaling Mordecai on the stake he had set up.
The king's attendants told him, "Haman is standing in the court." The king said, "Bring him in."
When Haman came in, the asked him, "What should be done for a man the to Haman thought to himself, "Who would the want to more than me?"
So Haman said to the king, "For a man the king wants to honor —
have them bring a that the has and a horse the has ridden, with a crown placed on its head.
Then hand the robe and horse to one of the king's most noble officials. Let them dress the man the king wants to honor, lead him on horseback through the city square, and announce before him: 'This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor!'"
The king said to Haman, "Hurry! Take the robe and the horse just as you described, and do all of this for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Don't leave out a single detail of what you've suggested."
So Haman took the robe and the horse, dressed Mordecai, led him on horseback through the city square, and announced before him, "This is what is done for the man the king wants to honor!"
Afterward, Mordecai returned to the king's gate. But Haman rushed home, mourning, with in
Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisors and his wife Zeresh said to "If Mordecai — the man you've started to — is Jewish, you won't defeat You will
While they were still talking, the king's eunuchs arrived and rushed Haman off to the banquet Esther had prepared.