Esther 6 · a question people ask
Was it God who kept the king awake?
The verse says only, "On that night, the king couldn’t sleep" (6:1). It gives no reason and names no one behind it, and the book of Esther never names God (see the introduction). What the chapter does tell is what came next: the king "commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be brought" (6:1); "It was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh" (6:2); and Haman had already come "into the outer court of the king’s house" (6:4) when the king asked who was there. Christians read the turns of this book in more than one way. Chapter 4's honest question, on Mordecai's words "relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place" (Esther 4:14), sets out the main readings, each resting on its verses, and chooses none. These notes don't repeat them here, and don't supply a reason the verse doesn't give.
The verses
“On that night, the king couldn’t sleep. He commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be brought, and they were read to the king. It was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who were doorkeepers, who had tried to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus.”
“The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king’s house, to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.”
“For if you remain silent now, then relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?””