Grasp the Gospel — Bible Comprehension Quizzes

Esther 6 Devotional

A Sleepless Night for a King

“That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him.”Esther 6:1 (BSB)

Everything turns on a king who cannot sleep. On the very night Haman's gallows stands ready, Xerxes orders the royal chronicles read to him, and there they find the record of Mordecai exposing a plot against his life (6:1-2). Nothing was ever done to honor him. Then Haman walks into the outer court, coming to ask for Mordecai's death (6:4). The king asks how to honor a man he delights in, and Haman, sure it means himself, describes a royal robe, a royal horse, and a parade. Then he is ordered to do it all for Mordecai (6:6-11).

The book never says God kept the king awake. It does not need to. The timing is too precise to call luck: a forgotten deed, a sleepless night, a page read aloud, a man arriving at the wrong moment. Even Haman's own wife and advisers see that he will fall (6:13). God's providence, his steady rule over all things, often works through sleeplessness and old records. He is never late.

To think about: Where do you need to trust that God's timing is better than your own today?

About Esther 6: The King’s Sleepless Night and Mordecai Honored

Unable to sleep, King Xerxes hears the royal records read and learns that Mordecai was never rewarded for saving his life. Haman, arriving to request Mordecai’s death, must lead Mordecai through the city in royal honor; his wife and advisers foresee his fall, and he is hurried off to Esther’s banquet.

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