And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him.
The king's servants that ministered unto him. In some places of the East, particularly Persia and Hindustan, watchmen are included among the officers who compose the household establishment of the grandees, and one of them (the number being generally four, corresponding to the watches of the night) is stationed near the bed of his master to guard it, and be ready, whenever he requires it, to tell him how far the night is advanced. Such officers, we are told by Josephus ('Antiquities,' b. 11:, ch. 6:, sec. 10), were in the court of Abasuerus. For on that night on which the king could not sleep, and on which he called for the records of his kingdom, there was read over to him the conspiracy which Mordecai had discovered; the Jewish historian adds, 'the king bade the scribe who was reading stop, and having inquired of those who were appointed for the purpose, "what hour of the night it was," and having been informed it was already day, he ordered that, if they found any of his friends were already come, and standing before the court, they should tell him, that he might instantly bestow some reward upon Mordecai.'