The king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? The discoverer of a conspiracy against the life of the king would in any country have been regarded as entitled to some reward.
In Persia, where "royal benefactors" formed a distinct class, and had their names inscribed on a special list (Herod; 8.85), it was especially incumbent on the monarch to see that every such person received a return proportioned to the value of his service.
Ahasuerus seems to have supposed that some honour or dignity must have been conferred upon Mordecai, though he could not recollect what it was; and it is difficult to understand how the omission to reward him had occurred, unless there was a prejudice against him among the high court officials, who may have known that he was a Jew, though his fellow-servants did not (Esther 3:4).