Text:<\/strong> Esther 6<\/p>\n By apparent chance, the king had trouble sleeping that night. He had the records of his reign read to him \u2013 what better way to get drowsy? The fact that he had them read, leads some to wonder if Ahasuerus was illiterate.<\/p>\n The reading included a mention of the assassination plot against the king that was foiled by Mordecai\u2019s information (Esther 2:21-23). This had happened about five years ago. Not recalling, Ahasuerus asked what was done for Mordecai to show his appreciation. He learned that nothing was done, so he immediately ordered his nearest councilor to attend him.<\/p>\n Haman must have been up all night as well. He had attended a dinner with the king and queen, talked to his wife and friends at home, and arranged to have a 75-foot tall gallows built.<\/p>\n Thus, it just so happens that Haman was coming in to talk to the king about hanging Mordecai, so he was ushered in. The king asked him what should be done for a man that the king wished to honor. Haman instantly thought the king was planning to honor him because he could think of no one else more deserving of honor. Though Haman had not done anything deserving of honor, he thought he was entitled to it. Therefore, Haman suggested that the man be clothed in one of the king\u2019s robes and crown and then paraded through the city square on one of the king\u2019s horses personally led by one of the chief members of the king\u2019s staff, who would proclaim that this is how Ahasuerus honors men.<\/p>\n The king thought Haman\u2019s suggestion as an excellent idea and ordered Haman to personally manage the task of honoring Mordecai. The king emphasized that nothing was to be left out. Poor Haman. Not only did he not get a chance to arrange for Mordecai\u2019s death, but he is also trapped into personally honoring the very man. His dream of honor became his nightmare. It isn\u2019t as if Haman had a choice. If he objected, he would likely have been executed on the spot.<\/p>\n When they returned to the palace, Haman covered his head in shame and hurried home. He told his wife and friends what had happened. They predicted that since Mordecai was a Jew, if Haman was already beginning to fall then he would completely fall and there would be nothing to prevent it. The phrase \u201cfall before him\u201d in Hebrew usually means to prostrate before someone greater (Genesis 50:18; II Samuel 19:18). It is interesting that this should be mentioned now. They knew that Mordecai was a Jew when they suggested hanging him on a gallows (Esther 5:13-14). The implication is that they knew the God of the Jews was more powerful than their own gods. If God was taking a hand in these matters, they would not be able to stop Him.<\/p>\n Haman didn\u2019t get to think about the matter further because it was time for his dinner with the king and queen. He was rushed off by the king\u2019s eunuchs to attend the private banquet.<\/p>\n \u201cProvidence\u201d refers to God\u2019s foresight in arranging matters to happen at just the right times. So many seemingly small coincidences happen on this day that we realize that God had to have been behind them because they completely ruin Haman\u2019s plans and thoroughly embarrass him in the process. While God is not mentioned in the Book of Esther, clearly He is at work.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA Study of Esther\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mordecai Is Honored Text: Esther 6 Understanding What You Read Why was the king reviewing the chronicles of his reign? What was the king reminded of from the records? Why was Haman sent for? Why had Haman originally come? When asked about how to best honor a man, who did Haman think the king was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":20799,"menu_order":6,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21852","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21793,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/esther-plays-on-hamans-pride\/","url_meta":{"origin":21852,"position":0},"title":"Esther Plays on Haman\u2019s Pride","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Esther Plays on Haman\u2019s Pride Text: Esther 5 Understanding What You Read Did the king behave as Esther had feared? Why did Esther invite the king to dinner instead of directly stating the problem? Why did the king continue to offer Esther up to half his kingdom? What ruined Haman\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21333,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/hamans-plot\/","url_meta":{"origin":21852,"position":1},"title":"Haman\u2019s Plot","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Haman\u2019s Plot Text: Esther 3 Understanding What You Read What order of the king did Mordecai refuse to obey? What reason did Mordecai give? How was Mordecai\u2019s refusal similar to Vashti\u2019s refusal? Why did Haman decide to destroy all the Jews? What did Haman do all year during Ahasuerus\u2019 twelfth\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22198,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/reversal-of-fortune\/","url_meta":{"origin":21852,"position":2},"title":"Reversal of Fortune","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Reversal of Fortune Text: Esther 8 Understanding What You Read How did Mordecai come to replace Haman? What did Esther request of the king? Take note of the language. How did Esther address the king when making her plea? What was allowed to be done about the law to kill\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22506,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/survey-of-the-bible\/survey-of-the-bible-esther\/","url_meta":{"origin":21852,"position":3},"title":"Survey of the Bible – Esther","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Survey of the Bible - Esther Text: Esther 4 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Esther\u2019s story takes place between the first return from captivity, led by Zerubbabel, and the second return lead by Ezra. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It would fall between the 6 and 7 chapters of Ezra. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The author is unknown. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not the same style as\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21965,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/esthers-banquet\/","url_meta":{"origin":21852,"position":4},"title":"Esther’s Banquet","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Esther's Banquet Text: Esther 7 Understanding What You Read What did the king want to know? What did the queen request? How did Ahasuerus react to the request? Why did Haman stay behind when Ahasuerus went to the garden? What did the king see as he came back into the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21561,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-esther\/convincing-esther-to-intervene\/","url_meta":{"origin":21852,"position":5},"title":"Convincing Esther to Intervene","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Convincing Esther to Intervene Text: Esther 4 Understanding What You Read Why didn\u2019t Mordecai go directly to Esther or the king about Haman\u2019s decree? Do a word study and see if you find out why sackcloth and ashes were used at times of great agony (Genesis 18:27; II Samuel 13:19;\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21852\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Understanding What You Read<\/h2>\n
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