Esther 6 Study Notes
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6:1-3 Verses 1-11 serve as the turning point of Esther’s plot. No reason is given for the king’s insomnia. Some ancient Jewish writers suggested that Ahasuerus was worried about what Esther was going to ask for the next day at her second banquet. The LXX emphasizes the divine cause of his sleeplessness: “The Lord withdrew (Gk aphistemi) sleep (Gk hupnos) from the king.” Apparently the king believed reading the tedious royal journal of daily events might lull him to sleep. Instead, it exposed a glaring royal oversight as mention was made of Mordecai’s unrewarded heroism.
chaphets
| Hebrew pronunciation | [khah FAYTZ] |
| CSB translation | delight, desire, please |
| Uses in Esther | 7 |
| Uses in the OT | 73 |
| Focus passage | Esther 6:6-7,9,11 |
Chaphets implies being delighted (Gn 34:19), pleased (Nm 14:8), satisfied (Dt 21:14), or impressed (Ps 147:10). People want (Dt 25:7), like (1Sm 19:1), desire (Hs 6:6), or favor (2Sm 20:11) others or things. They choose (Pr 21:1), prefer (Jb 13:3), or intend (Jdg 13:23). Chaphets can take another verb (Is 53:10). Someone finds/takes pleasure (Ezk 18:23) or delights in something (2Sm 22:20). Actions are appropriate (Sg 2:7). Chephets (38x) indicates pleasure (Is 58:13b), will (Is 46:10), care (Jb 21:21), wish (Jb 31:16), want (1Kg 5:8), longing (Ps 107:30), desire (Pr 3:15), or delight (Ec 12:1). Stones are precious (Is 54:12). Che-phets, like the root in Arabic, denotes activity or situation (Ec 3:1; 5:8). The name Hephzibah (2Kg 21:1) means “My Delight Is in Her” (Is 62:4). The adjective chaphets (13x), usually translated verbally, similarly involves desiring, wishing, wanting, willing, and delighting (Mc 7:18).
6:4-6 Read canonically, it is clear that we are to understand that God is behind the “chance” that Haman is the one whom the king asked how to honor Mordecai.
6:7-9 Haman did not covet money or power, because he already had both. What he desired was the glory and splendor of royalty, including royal robes and a public parade.
6:10-11 For Haman, events began to spin out of control. The greatest honor Haman could imagine receiving was bestowed on Mordecai the Jew, his enemy whom he had planned to hang that day.
6:12-13 To cover one’s head was a sign of mourning (Jr 14:4). While no one had died, Haman was mourning his humiliation. The previous advice of Haman’s wife and friends (5:14), who were presumably his advisers (lit “his wise ones,” Hb chakamim), had been given as they offered a solution to Haman’s problem with Mordecai. But now their counsel was ominous: once a person stumbles before a Jew, there is no hope. Why so? The text does not say. Some suggest that Haman’s advisers were aware of Cyrus’s decree (Ezr 1:1-11) that had allowed the exiles to return home and reestablish themselves in Jerusalem. Or maybe the Jews had told their Persian friends about Balaam’s oracle that prophesied blessings on the Jews in place of the curses sought by their enemies (Nm 24:1-10) or about how God had intervened for his people against genocidal Egyptian oppressors (Nm 24:8-9). This is how the Aramaic Targums understood it. On “Targums,” see note at 1:10-12.
6:14 Haman had no time to react to their counsel because he was rushed to the banquet Esther had prepared. It is significant that this is the fourth mention of Haman “rushing” or “hurrying” in the last two chapters (see vv. 10,12,14; 5:5). Previously he was in charge; at this point he was caught up in the rapid events of the moment.