Day 576 of 939
EST 6:1-7:10
EST 6:1-7:10 · PSA 102:18-28
Not written yet
The reading for this day is below. The commentary has not been written and reviewed yet — it is added a book at a time, and every day is read by a person before it appears here.
EST 6:1-7:10
1That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him. 2And there it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the king’s entrance, when they had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes. 3The king inquired, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this act?” “Nothing has been done for him,” replied the king’s attendants. 4“Who is in the court?” the king asked. Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him. 5So the king’s attendants answered him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” “Bring him in,” ordered the king. 6Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king be delighted to honor more than me?” 7And Haman told the king, “For the man whom the king is delighted to honor, 8have them bring a royal robe that the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden—one with a royal crest placed on its head. 9Let the robe and the horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them array the man the king wants to honor and parade him on the horse through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!’” 10“Hurry,” said the king to Haman, “and do just as you proposed. Take the robe and the horse to Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything that you have suggested.” 11So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai, and paraded him through the city square, crying out before him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!” 12Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief. 13Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him—for surely you will fall before him.” 14While they were still speaking with Haman, the king’s eunuchs arrived and rushed him to the banquet that Esther had prepared. 1So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen, 2and as they drank their wine on that second day, the king asked once more, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.” 3Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request. 4For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.” 5Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?” 6Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!” And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen. 7In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king was planning a terrible fate for him. 8Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the words had left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king. 10So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.
Secondary reading — PSA 102:18-28
18Let this be written for the generation to come, so that a people not yet created may praise the LORD. 19For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary; the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth 20to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death, 21that they may proclaim the name of the LORD in Zion and praise Him in Jerusalem, 22when peoples and kingdoms assemble to serve the LORD. 23He has broken my strength on the way; He has cut short my days. 24I say: “O my God, do not take me in the midst of my days! Your years go on through all generations. 25In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. 26They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them, and they will be passed on. 27But You remain the same, and Your years will never end. 28The children of Your servants will dwell securely, and their descendants will be established before You.”