The Pulpit Commentary — Esther — Section 118

Vers. 1-4.-A forgotten service brought to mind. I. GRANDEUR OF OOTWAnD CONDITION DOES NOT PROTECT MIND OR BODY AGAINST ORDINARY INFIRMlTIES, The king of Persia could not at will command sleep. The loss of the power to sleep ie not confined to any position, though it is perhaps more common amongst the rich than the poor. The humble labourer may find sounder and sweeter sleep on hie hard conch than a mighty and luxurious king on hie bed of down. II. How TO SPEND SLEEPLESS HOURS BECOMES AN IMPORTANT QUESTION TO MANY, The nervous, the heart-burdened, and the invalided often sigh in vain for sleep, and many are the devices contrived to relieve the monotony of wakefulness. Some resort to anodynes which enforce sleep, but at the same time destroy vitality, and subject their victims to a terrible bondage. Others seek help from the reading of sensational or impure books, which defiles the heart and weakens the conscience. The king might have done worse than call for the chronicles of his reign. It is good to review the past. Nor could there be a better time for looking back at what is gone and done than in the still solemnity of the night watches. A man is unjust to himself, and incurs great loss, who cannot devote occasional hours to retrospection. Many a godly man has found sweet profit in following D11vid's method of occupying a sleepless mind (Ps. iv. 4 ; !xiii. 5, 6). Ill. A REVIEW OF THE PAST WILL IN EVERY CASE RECALL THE MEMORY OF MERCIES RECEIVED AND OF DUTIES UNDONE. The king had not listened long to the reading before he heard the record of the conspiracy of the two chamberlains against his life, and of his deliverance from it through the faithfulness of Mordecai. Arrested by this, there rose in his mind, in connection with it, not the thought of the ~nitable reward which had been bestowed on his deliverer, but the question whether any reward had been bestowed at all. He soon found that the great service of Mordecai bad been unacknowledged. In the record of every man's life there are notes of thoughtlessness, ingratitude, and wrong-doing. None of us can look back without being convicted of many sins and neglects. This thought, should keep us humble, and lead m to seek the Divine mercy and help. Past failures should be as "stepping-stones to higher things." IV. REPAll.A.BLE OMISSIONS OR INJURIES DONE IN THE PAST SHOULD BE REPAIRED, Here the king sets us a lesson. If we can now pay in full creditors whose bygone claims we failed to meet, it is our duty to do so. It is not enough to express sorrow for any evil we have done if we can in any measure make amends for it. Deeds in such a case are better than words. Zaccheus (Luke xi.x. 8). V. A WORK OF REPARATION SHOULD BE DONE AT ONCE. There is no time unfit to begin it. The king, while still in bed, in the early morning, bestirred himself without a moment's delay to discharge his neglected duty. He remembered his former good intentions, and the forgetfulness that followed delay. Unfulfilled obligations are often the result of a.. disposition to put off. Happy the man who has the will to obey at once every clear sense of duty. He will save himself and others from much suffering. How many lose themselves by putting off decision for Christ (Ps. xe. 12; 2 Cor. vi. 2).-D. Vere. 4 14.-Exal,f,atwn and humiliatwn. I. HASTE. Having seen the gallows prepared 'for Mordecai over-night, Haman was early astir next morning. He was in the court of the palace while the king was yet having the chronicles read ~o him resolved to seize the first moment to get permission to hang the Jew. His pla~ of revenge was to be executed and done with long before the hour of the queen's banquet (Prov. i. 16). "The children of this world are wiser," beeau,;e more diligent, "in their g~neration than the c~ildren of light." . If the self-denial and earnestness with which men pursue evil and worldly thmgs were equally exhibited by all the righteous in pursuit of tlie things of Christ, the world itself would soon be brought to the feet of God. II. COINCIDENCE. When the king wanted an adviser at that early hour, Ifoman en. v1. 1-14.] THE BOOK OF ESTHER. 123