Est 6:9 | KingComments | STEP | When Haman has entered, the king asks him what is to be done with the man whom the king desires to honor ( ). It is striking that the king does not mention the name of the person whom it concerns. Haman has done the same with his proposal to annihilate a people. He then also did not mention the name of that people ( ). This concealing speech gives the story a tension that remains until the moment of denouncement. It also means that Haman has to honor the Mordecai he hates and that at the same time he works out his own humiliation. Before we hear the answer from Haman’s mouth, the Spirit of God, the actual Author of this book, gives us a glimpse into Haman’s inner being. Before God, all things are naked and open ( ). Haman only thinks of his own greatness. It does not occur to him to ask the king who that man is. He is so full of himself, that he can think of no other possibility than that the king means him. He uses exactly the same words as the king in his hidden consideration. In this way Haman becomes the instrument both of Mordecai’s exaltation and of his own downfall. God, in His righteous reign, causes everyone to receive what they have done or wanted to do themselves ( ). Those who admire and flatter themselves deceive themselves. It is extremely foolish for any of us to think that we are the only deserving persons or that we are more deserving than anyone else. The deceitfulness of our hearts is nowhere more evident than in the high opinion we have of ourselves. It is important that we are aware of this and constantly watch and pray over it. Completely ignorant of the king’s plan, Haman seeks out the means by which his greatest enemy will be honored. In his imagination, he is “the man whom the king desires to honor”. This is how he begins his answer ( ). Then he fills in what is to be done with that man – with himself, he thinks. In what he enumerates, there is no modesty whatsoever. He is not satisfied with royal honor, but his desire is for the king’s place. This is the archetypal sin of the devil who at a certain point in his heart said: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High” ( ). In the first place that man is to be brought “the royal robe”, which is the robe “which the king has worn” ( ). It is not a robe from the royal wardrobe, a robe that gives him royal dignity, but the robe of the king himself. The horse on which that man is to ride is not a horse from the royal stables, but the horse on which the king himself has ridden. To rule out any misunderstanding that it really is the king’s own horse, “a royal crown” must be placed on the horse’s head. Next, that robe and that horse must be placed in the hands of one of the king’s most noble princes – not some insignificant lackey of the king ( ). That noble person must dress that man “whom the king desires to honor” with the king’s robe. Then that distinguished person must “lead him on horseback” of the king’s horse “through the city square”. It must become a public homage. In order not to escape anyone’s attention, it must also be proclaimed before him: “‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor”!