There was no word—­there was no reproach—­but there was a silent defiance, that conveyed to the soul of Haman an assurance of disgrace and defeat, and that told him he was despised, amid all his honours and prosperity.  He hastened to his home.  He gathered his household around him and told them of his riches, his honour, his prosperity, and the assurance his large family afforded him that his riches would descend in his own line, and that his ancient lineage and royal race should thus be perpetuated.  He told them of the high honour that day received at the royal feast, and of a like honour in reserve for the morrow.  But still his pride was mortified by Mordecai’s course.  “All this availeth me nothing,” he said, “so long as I see Mordecai, the Jew, sitting at the king’s gate.”  Wretched, malignant man!  What a picture of the power and force of evil passions—­of that selfishness which could find its happiness in the misery and suffering of others!

His hatred of Mordecai seems the more insane, when we remember that Haman held his fate in his hands, or rather had actually sealed his doom.  He might well forego forms of reverence from the man he had doomed to death.  Yet the desire for the humiliation of Mordecai, for some token of abasement and fear, seems to have absorbed all other feelings; and as this was the only thing withheld, so it was the only thing desired.  To soothe the disgust and allay the indignation of Haman, the family council decreed the immediate death of Mordecai, and they doomed him to the gallows—­a most ignominious death.  While this instrument of his destruction was in preparation upon the grounds of Haman, he sought Ahasuerus, that the sentence might be ratified.  He who had given him the power to murder a nation, would surely assent to forestalling the doom of an individual; and Mordecai’s disobedience to the royal order, his disrespect to the minister who represented the authority of the sovereign and the laws of the realm, seemed to offer a fitting pretext.

While Haman was waiting in the antechamber for audience, Ahasuerus was resolving some mode of requiting Mordecai; and, ever prone to rely on favourites and counsellors, he was unable to decide for himself; so he sought advice from his favourite courtier, who was so near at hand.  To him the question was submitted:  “What shall be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour?” Ever selfish, ever intent upon his own promotion, and constantly loaded with marks of royal favour, Haman very naturally presumed that fresh honours were destined for him, and that he was to be allowed to designate the very marks of favour which he most desired.

“Now Haman thought in his heart, to whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?” And so he answered the king:  “To the man whom the king delighteth to honour, let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the royal crown which is set upon his head.  And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the streets of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour.”