Esther 6:3, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the account of Haman's plot during the reign of Ahasuerus under Medo-Persian rule to destroy all God's people. That plot was Satan's effort to destroy the people through whom the promised Man-child would come, but God frustrated it and the attempt failed.

When the king asked what honour and dignity had been done to Mordecai for revealing the assassination plot and saving his life, his servants answered that nothing had been done for him. His unrecognized deed had been recorded in the royal chronicles, the kingdom's book of remembrance of the kind kept among human rulers, and it was read before the king on the very night he could not sleep. That reading was not chance but the working of the Spirit of God in providence: the king's sleeplessness led him to hear the overlooked record, showing that Mordecai's faithfulness was remembered and honored through God's providence.

The king therefore resolved to honor Mordecai for saving his life, and the question sets in motion his public exaltation to great honor and Haman's reversal, becoming pivotal in delivering Mordecai and his people and saving the Jews from slaughter. Haman, who supposed the king desired to honor him, was made the means of promoting Mordecai to great honor. The discovery came at a providential moment that helped turn the king from Haman's plan to execute Mordecai and prepared him to grant Esther's later request to save her and her people, opening the way for a counter decree for the Jews to destroy their enemies and for Haman to be hung on the gallows he had erected for Mordecai, and thus God worked for His people and answered the faith of the believing ones. The story teaches that God does not forget His people and that His love, care, and providence remain constant.