Esther 6:6-10 – When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?”

So he answered the king, “For the man the king delights to honor, have them bring a royal robe the king has worn and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head.”

We see here a picture of the mentality of many religious leaders – self-promotion and seeking glory, and being oblivious to the Lord’s purposes.  Men seek to be elevated or have control over others.  The Lord carries out his project without glorifying man or yielding control to any human being.

In this story, the king (Xerxes) has just discovered that Mordecai the Jew had rescued him from an assassination plot, without reward.  Mordecai is a prophetic symbol of the Holy Spirit – the one who guides, who reveals dangers and what others should do to prevent harms, and who works for the good of the kingdom.

Haman entered the court right then to ask the king for permission to kill Mordecai, because Mordecai would not bow before him.  Haman had no idea that the king was planning at that moment to honor the very one he planned to eliminate.  This is a picture of the unspiritual man, who cannot discern what God is actually doing.  Their minds are preoccupied with their personal plans and agendas, and they become insensitive to what God is doing.

Even if they do not admit it, they plan to eliminate the Holy Spirit’s sovereign role in the Body of Christ, so that everyone will submit to them and obey them.  They want to be in control and have the position of glory.  The Holy Spirit does not share control with any person.  He does not rule Christ’s Body through men who want to control others.  The Holy Spirit controls God’s servants directly.

“Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” -  The fleshly leader imagines that God would want to elevate him above other men – he flatters himself in his own heart constantly.  He cannot imagine that God is concerned with promoting the Holy Spirit’s control and position among God’s people rather than elevating men.  Religious leaders who feel competitive with each other have this mentality.  In Haman’s answer, he reveals the true desire of his heart.  He thinks he will receive these things.

Royal Robe = Glory – Many people want to feel important, and to seem important to others, garnering admiration.  “They love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted in the marketplaces…” (Matthew 23:6; Mark 12:39; Luke 20:46).  They never feel guilty about this because they feel they deserve it, and they think everyone else would want the same thing.  Yet God does not share his glory with another (Isaiah 42:8).

Horse the King has ridden = Control of the Body – This refers to the godly servants who have already been working for the Lord, bearing him on their shoulders, glorifying and elevating Him above the crowd.  The person with Haman’s syndrome wants to have control over others in the Body of Christ.  Such men feel a thrill when people who wholeheartedly obeyed the Lord Jesus are now obeying them.  It thrills them to have members who have been fervently praising God also praise them.  They relish having people who previously asked God to reveal His will now ask them (the leader) what to do instead.

We see here that the king himself was becoming an object of Haman’s envy.  Haman could have suggested any type of reward, such as financial reward.  Yet he asked for things that would make him equal in glory to the king, at least briefly.  Spiritual self-promotion is a type of idolatry.

Royal Crest – This is the strangest request of all – Haman does not ask for a crown for his own head, but rather a crown for the horse he plans to ride!  Those who seek control within the church naturally want the church to retain all the glory and spiritual authority it has under the headship of Jesus Christ Himself, because this means they are in control of something important and prestigious.  No religious leader wants to admit that his institution or congregation is merely a human organization (which it automatically becomes when men take control of it away from the Holy Spirit).  Instead, they continue to insist that the organization had God’s special favor and God’s spiritual authority.

Of course, the king bestows each of these things on Mordecai instead (see Esther 6:10).  From this, we understand God’s intentions in His project – to give the position of prominence and control to the Holy Spirit, not to any man.  “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’” (Luke 17:10)