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Esther 6 · a question people ask

Why hadn't Mordecai been rewarded already?

In the text

The book doesn't say. When Mordecai's report was looked into, "it was found to be so", and "it was written in the book of the chronicles in the king’s presence" (Esther 2:23). There chapter 2 ends. Chapter 3 begins, "After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite" (Esther 3:1). The book sets the two side by side and gives no reason for either. When the record is read, the king asks, "What honor and dignity has been given to Mordecai for this?" (6:3), and his servants answer plainly: "Nothing has been done for him" (6:3). The chapter doesn't say what the king thought when he heard it, and these notes don't guess.

The verses

“When this matter was investigated, and it was found to be so, they were both hanged on a gallows; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the king’s presence.”
Esther 2:23 · World English Bible
“After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.”
Esther 3:1 · World English Bible
“The king said, “What honor and dignity has been given to Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.””
Esther 6:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Esther 6

Esther 6: The man whom the king delights to honor

On the night "the king couldn’t sleep" (6:1), literally, the night his sleep fled, the chronicles were read, and he heard that for Mordecai "Nothing has been done for him" (6:3). In Hebrew, all seven honors in the chapter are one word. And the king's "Let nothing fail" (6:10) is the verb of "you will surely fall before him" (6:13).

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Last reviewed September 27, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions