(11) Then took Haman . . .--It would be a grim and curious study to analyse Hainan's feelings at this juncture. Various thoughts were mingled there. Self-reproach, perhaps, that he had so thoughtlessly been the cause of the present display, bitter hatred of his rival now multiplied a thousandfold, and the evident knowledge that the game was played out, and that he was ruined. The more subtle the brain, the more truly must he have known this.

Verse 11. - Then took Haman the apparel. It was impossible for Haman to excuse himself; there was no ground on which he could decline the office thrust upon him. Reluctantly, without a word, he performed the king's bidding. HAMAN RETURNS HOME. DESPONDENCY OF HIMSELF AND HIS FRIENDS (Esther 6:12-14). There was as yet no real reason for Haman to feel depressed, or to regard himself as having lost favour with the king. He had been made an instrument in another man's honour, and had suffered a disappointment; but otherwise he was situated as on the day preceding, when he "went forth" from the palace "joyful and with a glad heart" (Esther 5:9). But he seems to have had a presentiment of impending calamity. All had as yet gone so well with him that the first vexation seemed like a turn in the tide, ominous of coming evil. And the fear of his own heart found an echo in the hearts of his wife and friends. Among the last were some who had the reputation of being "wise men" - perhaps Magians, acquainted with arts from which it was supposed they could divine the future. These persons ventured on a prediction. "If Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely (or utterly) fall before him." With this evil presage ringing in his ears, Haman quitted his house, and accompanied the palace eunuchs who had been sent to conduct him to Esther's second banquet.

6:4-11 See how men's pride deceives them. The deceitfulness of our own hearts appears in nothing more than in the conceit we have of ourselves and our own performances: against which we should constantly watch and pray. Haman thought the king loved and valued no one but himself, but he was deceived. We should suspect that the esteem which others profess for us, is not so great as it seems to be, that we may not think too well of ourselves, nor trust too much in others. How Haman is struck, when the king bids him do honour to Mordecai the Jew, the very man whom he hated above all men, whose ruin he was now designing!Then took Haman the apparel, and the horse,.... The one out of the wardrobe, the other out of the stable, and the crown also no doubt, though no mention is made of it, since the king made no objection to it, yea, commanded that nothing fail of what had been spoken; but this was included in the pomp and state of the led horse: and brought him on horseback through the street of the city; the most grand and public part of it, thus arrayed, and in this state: and proclaimed before him, thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour; See Gill on Esther 6:9.