Esther 6:7

6:4-11 See how men's pride deceives them. The deceitfulness of our own hearts appears in nothing more than in the conceit we have of ourselves and our own performances: against which we should constantly watch and pray. Haman thought the king loved and valued no one but himself, but he was deceived. We should suspect that the esteem which others profess for us, is not so great as it seems to be, that we may not think too well of ourselves, nor trust too much in others. How Haman is struck, when the king bids him do honour to Mordecai the Jew, the very man whom he hated above all men, whose ruin he was now designing!

Esther 6:7-8 . Haman answered, Let the royal apparel, &c. — Concluding he himself was the favourite intended, he prescribes the highest instances of honour that could for once be bestowed upon a subject; nay, he names honours too great to be conferred on any subject. Which the king useth to wear, &c. — Namely, the king’s outward garment, which was made of purple, interwoven with gold, as Justin and Curtius relate. To form a notion of that height of pride and arrogance at which Haman, who thought all the honours he specified were designed for himself, was arrived, we may observe, that for any one to put on the royal robe without the privity and consent of the king was among the Persians accounted a capital crime. And the horse that the king rideth upon — Namely, usually; which was well known, both by his excellence, and especially by his peculiar trappings and ornaments. And the crown royal which is set upon his head — Upon the king’s head. Thus he wished him to appear in all the pomp and grandeur of the king himself, only not to carry the sceptre, the emblem of power.

It was a settled principle of the Persian government that "Royal Benefactors" were to receive an adequate reward. The names of such persons were placed on a special roll, and care was taken that they should be properly recompensed, though they sometimes waited for months or years before they were rewarded.

6. What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour?—In bestowing tokens of their favor, the kings of Persia do not at once, and as it were by their own will, determine the kind of honor that shall be awarded; but they turn to the courtier standing next in rank to themselves, and ask him what shall be done to the individual who has rendered the service specified; and according to the answer received, the royal mandate is issued.

CHAPTER 7 Es 7:1-6. Esther Pleads for Her Own Life and the Life of Her People.Esther maketh a petition for her own and her people’s life, Esther 7:1-4. She accuseth Haman, who had determined to destroy the Jews, Esther 7:5,6. Haman is afraid, Esther 7:6. The king in his anger, Esther 7:7,8, being informed of the gallows which Haman had built for Mordecai, causeth him to be hanged thereon, Esther 7:9,10. No text from Poole on this verse.

As soon as he enters the king asks: What is to be done to the man in whose honour the king delighteth? i.e., whom he delights to honour. And Haman, thinking (בּלבּו אמר, to say in one's heart, i.e., to think) to whom will the king delight to show honour more than to me (ממּבּי יותר, projecting before me, surpassing me, hence adverbially, beyond me, e.g., Ecclesiastes 12:12 , comp. Ecclesiastes 2:15 ; Ecclesiastes 7:11 , Ecclesiastes 7:16 )? votes immediately for the greatest possible mark of honour, and says, Esther 6:7 .: "As for the man in whose honour the king delighteth, let them bring the royal apparel with which the king has been clothed, and a horse on which the king has ridden, and the king's crown upon his head, and let them deliver this apparel and horse to one of the chief princes of the king, and let them array (i.e., with the royal apparel) the man in whose honour the king delighteth, and cause him to ride upon the horse through the streets of the city, and proclaim before him: Thus shall it be done to the man in whose honour the king delighteth." וגו אשׁר אישׁ, Esther 6:7 , precedes absolutely, and the predicate does not follow till והלבּישׁוּ, Esther 6:9 , where the preceding subject is now by an anacoluthon taken up in the accusative (את־האישׁ).

Several clauses are inserted between, for the purpose of enumerating beforehand all that appertains to such a token of honour: a royal garment, a royal steed, a crown on the head, and one of the chief princes for the carrying out of the honour awarded. The royal garment is not only, as Bertheau justly remarks, such a one as the king is accustomed to wear, but, as is shown by the perf. לבשׁ, one which the king has himself already put on or worn. Hence it is not an ordinary state-robe, the so-called Median apparel which the king himself, the chief princes among the Persians, and those on whom the king bestowed such raiment were wont to appear in (Herod. 3.84, 7.116; Xenoph. Cyrop. 8.3.1, comp. with the note of Baehr on Her. 3.84), but a costly garment, the property of the sovereign himself. This was the highest mark of honour that could be shown to a subject. So too was the riding upon a horse on which the king had ridden, and whose head was adorned with a royal crown. נתּן is perf. Niph., not 1st pers. pl. imperf. Kal, as Maurer insists; and בּראשׁו אשׁר refers to the head of the horse, not to the head of the man to be honoured, as Clericus, Rambach, and most ancient expositors explain the words, in opposition to the natural sense of - בּראשׁו נתּן אשׁר.