Esther 6:9

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!

And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes,.... The one: that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour; and the other to be led in state before him: and bring him on horseback through the street of the city; on another horse, that all might see what honour was done him: and proclaim before him; as before Joseph, when advanced next to Pharaoh, Genesis 41:43 this was not to be done by an herald, but by a nobleman, to whom the apparel and horse were to be delivered, and was done by Haman, Esther 6:11, thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour; these were the words said in the proclamation, signifying this was the man the king delighted to honour, and this the manner in which he would have it done.

Esther 6:9 . And let this apparel, &c., be delivered to one of the king’s most noble princes — To be his attendant. And bring him on horseback through the city — That all the people may be made to take notice of him, and do him reverence. And proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done, &c. — For his honour, and the encouragement of all to seek the king’s favour.

9 . most noble ] the same word as that used in Esther 1:3 , where see note. through the street of the city ] rather, as in Esther 4:6 , the broad place of the city , the open space in front of the palace, the most public place in the city. Conversely, in a story of the Thousand and one Nights (ed. König, xi. 19) a local dignitary is led through the city, seated upon a camel backwards, while a crier proclaims in front, ‘Thus are those punished who mix themselves up in affairs without being called to do so.’

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.

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.