Shame

"Afterward Mordecai returned to the palace gate, but Haman hurried home dejected and completely humiliated.

When Haman told his wife, Zeresh, and all his friends what had happened, his wise advisers and his wife said, “Since Mordecai—this man who has humiliated you—is of Jewish birth, you will never succeed in your plans against him. It will be fatal to continue opposing him.”

While they were still talking, the king’s eunuchs arrived and quickly took Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared." Esther 6:12 - 14

So Mordecai, who had been honoured in the highest way imaginable, just returned to his normal duties at the palace gate. He did not assume that he was now elevated to position of court favourite or that other honours would come his way. Indeed, he must have been surprised to have had his deeds recognised after such a long gap.

And Haman is hugely embarrassed. He doesn't even get much consolation from his family and friends, apart from advice to recognize the inevitable: that he won't win against Mordecai. They now recognise the power of God, Yahweh, the God of the Jews. This is confirmed by the 'wise advisers' - the Magi.  (And I wonder: the wise men from 'the East', were they also from Persia, and had they also studied and learned about the God of the captured Jews? Did they know the lineage of the king they were seeking?)

And now, events start to happen at speed: Haman has not had time to even reconcile events in his mind, let alone get over his disappointment, before he is summoned 'quickly' to Esther's second banquet...

Perhaps, even now, he is plotting a way to elevate himself and get Mordecai ignored and safely relegated to obscurity before the edict to annihilate the Jews comes into force. Or is he afraid that the king will realise Mordecai is a Jew and have the order cancelled because Mordecai's service has been recognised and honoured? Perhaps he thinks the king won't even care. 

Or is there dread in Haman's heart on hearing the words of his 'wise advisers' that his plans are doomed to fail: that the God whom Mordecai worships is bent on saving the Jews, his people? Yahweh has said: "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt." Is Haman's pride still carrying him, or have cracks begun to appear in the flimsy foundations on which he has built his life?

Conceit

Oh, the effrontery of it! Haman, thinking the king is talking about HIM as the man to be honoured, asks to wear a royal robe previously worn by the king, riding a royal horse with the royal crest, and all this to be delivered to him by one of the royal princes! The prince himself is to ceremonially put the robes on 'this man'.  Then he is to be paraded through the streets for all to admire, telling everyone that this is because the king has honoured him.

When I was younger, occasionally when an outsider in a group, I mistakenly thought I was being included in a joke, a conversation...I presumed that I was part of the inner circle, responding to a remark that was NOT addressed to me. I felt embarrassed and conceited, having mistakenly thought I was 'being honoured' by being included.  I wouldn't have considered that I was conceited, but it felt like it: how could I, a relative stranger, think that I was worthy of inclusion?

This says more about me than the people I was with, but it taught me a lesson: not to think of myself as more worthy than others, to turn Philippians 2:3 on its head: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,"

Pride goes before a fall...

"The king said, ‘Who is in the court?’ Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole he had set up for him.

His attendants answered, ‘Haman is standing in the court.’

‘Bring him in,’ the king ordered.

When Haman entered, the king asked him, ‘What should be done for the man the king delights to honour?’

Now Haman thought to himself, ‘Who is there that the king would rather honour than me?’ "  Esther 6:4 - 6

So... the king has been awake for hours and now wants to take action to reward Mordecai, but Haman knows nothing of this. (Had Haman also been awake for hours, stewing over Mordecai and anxious to get rid of him? Was Haman at the palace unusually early?)

And so Haman assumes the king means him. Pride has once again claimed a victory, as it does every time we think too much of ourselves. When I feel slighted or overlooked, it is one-nil to Pride. When I feel jealous of another's achievements, it is because I think too highly of myself. When I assume I should be respected or appreciated...pride is ruling my thoughts and emotions.

It is the ugliest of sins. 

Pride pushes the idea of myself forward, shouting, "Look at me! Look at ME!" 

Pride drives me to selfish ambition.

Pride refuses to let me react humbly.

Pride stops me from serving.

Ugly.

Proverbs 16:18 reminds: 

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall; Too much pride will destroy you; First pride, then the crash—the bigger the ego, the harder the fall." (NIV, CEV, The Message)

"Pride is evil in all its forms. It is self-serving and believes that it is self-sufficient. Pride relies on its own wisdom and tends to chose which parts of the Bible it wants to obey. Pride ultimately pushes God aside thinking it knows better and for this reason it will be brought down. Pride requires justice and will be destroyed either through repentance or through ruin.
We should fear pride in our lives and work at rooting it out because it will end in our dishonour whereas humility will end in honour." (Love God Greatly reading plan notes)

Words to live by from Philippians 2:3: "Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand."  or "Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble thinking of others as better than yourselves."

God's providence...

So - the same day (THE SAME DAY! What a coincidence!) as Haman has organised to have Mordecai executed, the king can't sleep. Sleepless, he doesn't send for food and drink, or music, or for one of his concubines to entertain him: instead, he asks for the royal records to be read aloud to him, presumably hoping that it would help him get back to sleep. Or, perhaps, as he was wide awake, he thought it a good time to catch up on some work.

Whatever the reason, it was no coincidence. We KNOW that God ordains our steps and organises events for our good.

"“God won’t withhold a single good thing from his children. If a thing is good for us, God will give it to us. If it’s not good, he’ll withhold it. And in God’s kindness, he doesn’t allow us to pick and choose what we would like in our lives.
The promises of God are our weapons in the battle against discontentment. For every temptation to be discontent there’s a promise of God that meets that temptation. The abundant grace of God promised in the Scriptures far exceeds any circumstance we encounter.”
- Stephen Altrogge, The Greener Grass Conspiracy" quoted by Lisa Burgess, Grace Exceeds Circumstances.

Mordecai and Esther face more than discontentment: they face death.

It was, apparently, not unusual for kings to review the court records. go over important incidents, considering what had happened as a result and, no doubt, using history to inform the present and the future. What WAS unusual is that the scribe should come to the very part which recounted the assassination attempt and Mordecai's part in it.

The king had been betrayed by the very men whose job it was to serve and guard him. Yet Mordecai, just a slave, with no particular loyalty derived from any honours the king might have given him, had saved him from assassination.  How the kings would maintain their power and influence is a whole other story, but rewarding service was - and is - one of the methods which rulers use.

Not only that, but he realises that Mordecai had not been given any reward for saving his life.

Proverbs 16:13 says: "Good leaders cultivate honest speech; they love advisors who tell them the truth."

So too with King Ahaseurus.

Esther 6:1 - 3