Commentary on Ezra Nehemiah Ester Job and Psalms

CHAP. XI. Verse 1. And the Rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem.

THis City, being before repaired, beginneth now to be repeopled. See chap. 7.4. The Rulers there took up their seat, (as was fit, and as in all chief Cities is usual) so that thither the Tribes went up, the Tribes of the Lord, &c. And there were set the Thrones of Judgment, Psal. 122.5.

The rest of the people also cast lots ] The dispose whereof is wholly of the Lord: and therefore none could reasonably repine.

To bring one of ten ] This shadowed out the paucity of those that shall inhabit the heavenly Jerusalem; according to Isai. 6.13. Jer. 3.14. Christ at last day will do as Joshua did (saith a Divine) to find out who had stolen the Babylonish garment: there were many brought together, and all to find out one, Josh. 7. So all shall then appear: out of them a final number seducted, that have heard of Christ: out of them those that have professed him: and out of them, those that have professed in sincerity: and these.

How many, think you, shall be saved in this City, (said Chrysostom to the people of Antioch, where he had long preached, and was much admired,) It will be a hard speech to you, but I will speak it; though there be so many thousands of you, yet there cannot be found an hundred, that shall be saved: and I doubt of them too; for what villainy is there in youth? What sloth, in old age? and so he goes on.

The holy City ] Jerusalem is so called, because God had chosen it to set his name there. The Heathen God-haters had always an edge against it, and this made people so unwilling to inhabit it. Our Edward the First had too high a conceit of it, when he charged his Son upon his death-bed to carry his heart thither, and left 32000. pounds for that purpose.

Verse 2. And the people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves ] All the Volunteers, those Liberi & libentes, that moved with a zeal of God, and his service, seated themselves at Jerusalem; though it were little for their safety or profit. Sincerity is an enemy to Sinisterity; it streines out self-respects, and procures a man great respect in the hearts of good people, who are ready to commend them and pray for them, as here.

Verse 3. Now these are the chief of the province ] So Judea is called, because now subject and tributary to the King of Babylon; as afterwards it was to the Romans (and is therefore called a province, Act. 25.1.) and is now to the Turk. How then could those Jews in the Gospel say, We are Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man, but that they cared not what they said in abravado? Spaniards are said to be impudent braggers: and extremely proud in the lowest ebb of fortune. These Jews were so certainly; and so they continue.

Ver. 4. Certain of the children of Judah, &c. ] Yea and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh too, 1 Chron. 9.3. Where the same is set down as here, but the number is greater. And why? here only those are reckoned who inhabited Jerusalem by lot: but there, the Volunteers also. See verse 2.

Verse 5. And Maaseiah the Son of Baruch ] See the Note on Ezra 2.3.

Ver. 6. Valiant men ] Heb. Men of ability and activity. It comprehendeth all the four Cardinal virtues.

Vers. 7.8.] Little Benjamin, the smallest of the Tribes of Israel, 1 Sam. 9.23. yields more by half, then Judah. Jerusalem stood in both these Tribes.

Vers. 9. Their overseer ] Or Commissary.

Vers. 11. Ruler of the house of God ] One of the High-Priests great Deputies, See Num. 3.32. 1 Chron. 9.11. 2 Chron. 19.11.

Vers. 12, 13, 14.] In all 1192. The total of Priests and Levites 1476. and of Judah and Benjamin 1396. So that there were more Priests and Levites then of the Lay-people; which argues their zeal to be greatest. There were also 172. Porters, who were all Levites.

Vers. 17. To begin the thanksgiving in prayer ] To set tunes to Psalms of praise, and to begin those tunes as Precentor chief-chaunter.

Vers. 18.19.] See verse. 12.13.

Vers. 20. Were in all the Cities ] Dispersed abroad to instruct the people, and to be as the salt of the Earth, to keep it from putrifying.

Vers. 21. Dwelt in Ophel ] See chap. 3.26. Some will have it to be not a Tower, but a Village, near to Jerusalem.

Vers. 22. The Over-seer ] The Vulgar hath it, the Bishop.

Vers. 23. The Kings ] Viz. of Persia. Ezra 6.8, 9. and 7.2, 24.

Vers. 24. At the Kings hand ] Was his Plenipotentiary.

Vers. 25. In the villages thereof ] Heb. In the daughters; for villages seem to be so to the greater Cities.

CHAP. XII. Verse 1. Now these are the Priests and the Levites.]

ANCESTOURS to those that dedicated the walls: and here registered, as for honors sake to themselves, so to show that their successors, now employed in this work, were true Priests and Levites of a right descent and alloy.

That went up with Zerubbabel ] Together with those that came afterwards with Ezra. Ezr. 8.2, 3, 18, 19.

Vers. 2. Amariah, Malluch, ] See the Note on Ezr. 2.3.

Verse 8. Which was over the thanksgiving ] Praefectus Musicus. See Chap. 11.17.

Vers. 9. In their Watches ] In the order of their functions, taking their turns.

Vers. 10. Joiakim begat Eliashib ] Who proved a very wicked Priest, Chap. 13.4, 5. and his Son Joiada was little better, being allied to Sanballat, Chap. 13.28.

Vers. 11. And Jonathan begat Jadduah, ] Who was High Priest in Alexander the Greats time; and meeting him, in his formalities, prevailed with him to spare the City Jerusalem, and to confirm the privileges thereof, as Josephus reporteth.

Vers. 22. To the reign of Darius the Persian ] Viz. Darius Godomannus, the last Persian King.

Vers. 23. In the book of the Chronicles ] Sc. 1 Chron. 9.10, &c.

Johanan the Son of Eliashib ] That is Jonathan the Grandchild of Eliashib, and the Son of Joiada.

Vers. 27. And at the dedication of the Wall ] To set down which is the main scope of this whole Chapter.

Vers. 30. Purified themselves, and purified the people ] But first themselves: because who so would reform others, must begin with himself, as Lyra here noteth.

Vers. 34. Judah and Benjamin ] i. e. Men so called.

Vers. 36. And Ezra before them ] Before the first company, as Nehemiah came after the second, verse 3. As the first went round from the West Southward till they came to the East: so the second company went from the West Northward, till they came to the East, where they both met at length in the Temple, verse 41. Praising God with all sorts of music vocal and instrumental. This was a most solemn and sacred procession, far different from those of the Papists. The French Historian • elleth us of their Henry, that going in procession together with his Cardinal, they had in the middle betwixt them Morionem, nugas & ineptias agentem, a jester to make them sport: here was good devotion therewhile. The Philosopher told the Fiddlers, he could be merry without them. And Aristotle being asked what he thought of music? answered, Jovem nec canere, neque cytharam pulsare, Jupiter neither sings nor plays on an instrument. But though God needeth it not, careth not for it: yet so far as it might excite and further devotion, these holy Priests and Levites made use of the musical instruments of David (called musical instruments of God, 1 Chron. 16.42) and Ezra before them, as a guide: they also sang aloud, and so generally rejoiced, That their joy was heard even afar off. Vers. 42.43. This was right.

Vers. 39. And from above the gate of Ephraim ] Much mention is here made of the several gates and Towers; because God was much seen in helping them so soon to build such: and, by the sight of them, they were much excited to praise the Lord.

Vers. 43. For God had made them rejoice with great joy ] By giving them both matter of joy, and hearts to do it aright. Crede mihi res severa est verum gaudium, saith Seneca, true joy is a severe business. Quid nobis cum fabulis, cum risu? saith Bernard. What have we to do with jesting and pastime, &c? we have meat to eat, pleasure to take that the world wots not of; we can let out our souls into God the fountain of all good; and rejoice in his Word, as one that findeth great spoil, wherein the pleasure is as much as the profit, Psal. 119.162.

Verse 44. For Judah rejoiced ] Heb. For the joy of Judah, the oil of spiritual gladness had so dilatated their hearts, that they were most ready and willing to provide for the sacred Ministers; and to pay them that which was appointed, as they had also newly covenanted to do.

For the Priests and the Levites that waited ] Heb. That stood, sc. before the Lord, and served in their courses. These they not only applauded, but liberally maintained. Nowadayes Ministers shall have hard work and good words, but slight wages. Men deal by them as Carriers do by their horses, lay heavy burdens upon them, and then hang bells about their necks, &c.

CHAP. XIII. Verse 1. On that day]

THat great Fast-day, chap. 9.1, 2, &c. Or, after Nehemiah 's return from the Court of Persia, verse 6. so the most expound it.

They read in the book of Moses ] Viz. In Deuteronomy, (chap. 23.3.) called by the Rabbin's Sepher tochechoth, the book of Rebukes, or of Instructions, upon conviction.

And therein was found written ] Perquàm durum est, (so it might seem to Ammonites and Moabites) sed ita lex scripta est, The Law was perpetual and indispensable: a sign of great wrath.

That the Ammonite and the Moabite ] Lots by-blows, and the Churches constant enemies.

Into the Congregation of God ] i. e. Assemblies of God's people, whether sacred or civil, unless proselyted.

Ver. 2. Because they met not the children of Israel ] A bare omission of observance, subjected them to divine vengeance. As God requiteth the least courtesy done to his people, be it but a cup of cold water: so he repayeth the least discourtesy, or but neglect of them, to whom the glorious Angels are ministering spirits, and may not think themselves too good to serve them, Heb. 1. ult.

But hired Balaam against them ] With the rewards of divination, Num. 22.7. the wages of wickedness, Jude 11.2 Pet. 2.15. which he greedily ran after; and not so much as roving at God, made the world his standing-mark, till he had got a sword in his guts.

Howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing ] So he did the Popes curse to Queen Elizabeth; and, before her, to Luther. Quo magis illi furunt, eo ampliùs procedo, saith He in a certain Epistle; the more they rage and ban me, the more I proceed, and prosper. The Pope excommunicated him, the Emperor proscribed him, &c. Omnium animi tum erant arrecti, quid illa Caesaris & pontificis fulmina essent effectura. All men's minds were then set an end, and stood on tip-toes, as it were, to see what would be the issue, saith mine Author. A wonderful work of our God surely, and worthy to be chronicled! Luther is conveyed out of the way by the Elector of Saxony for ten months, till he would be hid no longer. Mean-while Pope Leo dieth, the Emperor Charles the fifth is first called into Spain to suppress seditions there, and afterwards is so busied in his wars with the French King, that he hath no leisure to look after Luther. After this, when the French King was beaten by the Emperor, and carried prisoner into Spain, he was released and sent home again, upon condition, that the Emperor and He should root out the Lutheran Heresy, as they called it. But our God broke their designs, and turned this curse also into a blessing. For the French King returning home, and conceiving that the conditions (that he had yielded unto, to get off) were unequal, entereth into a League with the Pope and the State of Venice against the Emperor. The Pope (that he might cover his false dealing with the Emperor) sends abroad his Bull, and therein calleth knave first. The Emperor on the other side complaineth of the Popes malice, and double-dealing, exhorteth him to peace, and concludeth, that it were fitter for them to unite against the Lutherans. And when he could prevail nothing by writing, he abolisheth his authority throughout all Spain, sends his armies against him under the Duke of Bourbon, claps him up prisoner in Saint Angelo, proclaims open war against the French, &c. So that Religion got ground, and all things fell out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel, Phil. 1.12. Let them curse thy Church Lord, but do thou bless: when they arise, let them ever be ashamed; but let thy servants rejoice, and speed the better for their ill wishes. So be it.

Verse 3. Now it came to pass when they had heard the Law ] And were transformed into the same image therewith, by the Spirit of grace, who had made their flinty hearts to become fleshy, &c. We use to say, As hard-hearted as a Jew. But they that relent not; repent not at the hearing of the Word, are worse then these Jews; and it may be feared that the Lord hath a purpose to destroy them. The Law of the Lord, when but read only, is perfect, converting the soul, Psal. 19.7. but woe to the irreformable; 2 Corinth. 4.4.

And they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude ] Vulgus promiscuum. the rabble of strangers, wherewith this people were haunted and pestered from the very first; Exod. 12.38. Num. 11.4. These, moved with miracles, removed with them out of Egypt, but for a mischief to them, for they drew them into sin then, as those here did also; and were therefore worthily put away, as the Law required.

Verse 4. And before this ] Before the Commandment came as a Lamp, and the Law a Light (as Prov. 6.23.) causing a Reformation. As Toads and Serpents grow in dark and dirty sellars: so do sinful disorders in ignorant places and persons.

Eliashib the Priest ] The High Priest; but such an one, as from whom profaneness went forth into all the land, Jer. 23.15. The sins of Teachers, are Teachers of sins.

Having the oversight of the chamber ] i. e. Of all the chambers of the Temple, by virtue of his office; and therefore thought belike, he might do what he listed with them (now in Nehemiah 's absence) without control.

Was allied unto Tobiah ] A bitter enemy to God's people, but sly and subtle, seeking to insinuate by alliances, and letters of persuasion; such as Cardinal Sadolet wrote to the Genevenses in Calvin's absence, and Cardinal Lorraine to the Protestant Princes of Germany, that he and his brethren the Guises (those sworn swordmen of the Devil) would embrace the reformed Religion.

Verse 5. And he had prepared for him a great chamber ] Called chambers, verse 9. for he had laid many chambers into one, saith Junius, by taking down the partitions, and furnishing the same for his friend and ally Tobiah.

Verse 6. But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem ] And thence it was that things grew so far out of order. So when Moses was gone into the Mount, the people set up the golden Calf: they turned aside quickly, saith God, Exod. 32.8. So were the Corinthians and Galatians so so •• , as Saint Paul's back was but turned upon them, Gal. 1.6. Levitate prorsus desultoriâ. And so were these Jews, notwithstanding their better purposes, promises, Covenants; yea, and beginnings of Reformation. See chap. 10.30.

And after certain days ) Heb. At the end of days; that is, at a years end, as Vatablus and Genebrard expound it. No longer then a year was Nehemiah away from his Government, (to show his dutiful respect to his Master the King of Persia, and to negotiate for his Nation) but all things were out of frame, so well had the Devil and his instruments bestirred them. But Junius rendereth the text, exactis aliquot annis, certain years being past: and Lyra thus, at the end of his days, or of his life, when he now waxed old he had a desire to go and reform things amiss at Jerusalem, and to die, and lay his bones there. So likewise Funccius, the eighth year after his return to Artaxerxes, which was also the last year of his reign. And indeed one would wonder how in less then one years space things so well settled, should be so far disjointed; but that the Devil is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the great Troubler, and had by sin hurled (at first) confusion over the whole creation, in an instant.

Verse 7. And I came to Jerusalem ] There was his heart before; Animus est ubi amat, non ubi animat: No sooner therefore had he got his congedelere at Court, but he hies to Jerusalem, as the Doves do to their windows. Fugiendum est ad clarissimam patriam: ibi pater, ibi omnia, saith Plotinus the Philosopher; hasten we all to our heavenly home, there's all that heart can wish, &c. Nehemiah lacketh nothing with Artaxerxes, Hadad with Pharaoh; Yet in any case, will go into his own Country, 1 Kings 11.22. Rivers run into the Sea, whence they came: the Dove resteth not but upon the Ark. Nescio quâ natale solum dulcedine cunctos Ducit —

And understood of the evil that Eliashib did ] As Joseph brought his brethren's evil report to their father, Gen. 37.2. as the household of Chloe declared unto Saint Paul the contentions at Corinth, 1 Cor. 1.11. so did some good souls this High-Priests miscarriages to Nehemiah, and that in an Ordinance; not to disgrace him, but to reclaim him, and to free themselves from the guilt of a sinful silence.

Verse 8. And it grieved me sore ] Such was his zeal for God, that he could not bear it; no more could Phineas those two naughty packs, nor Paul the Idolatry of Athens, Acts 17.16. his spirit was moved, he was in a fit, yea almost besides himself, as the word signifieth. This the mad world counteth madness, 2 Cor. 5.13. but madness in tis case is better then mopishnesse, and the true Zealot may answer his adversaries as David did Michal, 2 Sam. 6.21. or as Basil did the threatening Prefect, who told him that he was mad, Opto me in aeternum sic delirare, I wish I may be so mad to my lives end.

Therefore I cast forth all the household-stuff of Tobiah ] As a profane thing, not fit to be in so holy a place. True zeal, as fire, is active, and saith, shall I budge, stop, or step back, because hoc Ithacus velit? remit of my diligence for fear of a frown, loss, mischief? Out of doors with this bondwoman and her son; down with this piece of grass, Let Adonijah die, though Bathsheba intercede for him, &c.

Verse 5 Then I commanded ] This was Governor-like; and blessed be He that hath a stomach for God, and will do his utmost for him, as occasion requireth. Of Nehemiah it might well be said, as Chrysostom doth of Peter, that he was like a man made all of fire, walking among stubble; or, like Basil, who was said to be a pillar of fire; he was of such a masculine, disengaged, courageous disposition.

And they cleansed the chamber ] The Levites did, with their legal rites and purifications, according to their office, which Nehemiah would not invade.

And thither brought I again ] And so set things to rights, as our late Reformers began happily to do; but Satan hath hitherto hindered them.

Verse 10. And I perceived ] Heb. I took knowledge, and was soon sensible of it, as a great public mischief: for ad tenuitatem beneficiorum necessario sequitur socordia sacerdetum, lean benefices make leaden Ministers. This, the Magistrate must look to, and provide that they may have the double honor that is due to them, of countenance and maintenance; or else Religion will soon go to wreck.

That the portions of the Levites had not been given them ] And why? because the High Priest was so bad, and the Levites therefore thought to be little better. How apt are men to dispute God out of his own? How witty to save their purses? How ready to say with William Rufus, The Church-bread is sweet-bread? and with Julian the Apostate, to take away the Ministers maintenance, pretending conscience; for that too much Living would be a burden to them: and who knows how Eliashib and his •• ites may misimploy it?

For the Levites and singers that did the work ] And are therefore worthy of their wages, must have their honorary stipends, or cannot subsist; are not of the Chamaeleon-kind, to live by air: but, as harvest-laborers, must have that which is good; as Oxen that tread out the corn, must have more then straw allowed them.

Were fled everyone to his field ] For stark need, in the fail of Temple-maintenance; they were glad to do as they might, and let their charge lie. Though Tythes were not paid, yet they had some glebe-land to live upon.

Verse 11. Then contended I with the Rulers ] Who had let loose the golden reins of authority, and, by a passive Ministry at least, suffered this sacrilege, whilst they bare the sword in vain, if they were not chief actours in it: as Luther complaineth of the Rulers of his time; Nisi superesset spolium Aegypti quod rapuimus Papae, &c. If we had not some of the spoils of Egypt, pulled from the Pope; all we Ministers of the Gospel might be famished: and this little that is left us, is violently taken from us by the civil Magistrate. Parishes and Schools are polled and spoiled by them, as if they meant to starve us all. Thus Luther, and more to this purpose.

Why is the house of God forsaken ] By your slackness and covetoursnesse, contrary to your Covenant, chap. 10.39?

And I gathered them together ] i. e. The scattered Levites, that God's service might be no longer intermitted, and his wrath thereby provoked. Thus Nehemiah, whatever his hand found to do, did it with all his might; as David danced, as Baruch built, &c. he went through-stitch with his work.

And set them in their place ] Heb. Made them stand in their standing, as if absque stationibus istis non staret mundus, without those standings, the world could not stand.

Verse 12. Then brought all Judah ] Then, when there was no other remedy. There must be a compulsory means, or Ministers shall be poorly maintained. Quod si sustentandi essent de contributione populi, misere profecto & duriter viverent, faith Luther. If once they be brought to live upon the people's benevolence, they shall have a poor life of it. Once (in times of Popery) there was need of a Statute of Mortmain, providing that they should give no more to the Church. But now 'tis otherwise: these last and worst times have seen the springs of bounty, like Jordan turned back; which heretofore did run so fresh and fast into the Church. Our Statesmen have Ministers maintenance now under debate; and much lifting there is by a levelling-party (not without a Jesuit to help them) at Tythes, and College-lands. The Lord direct our Rulers; and preserve us out of the hands of those hateful Harpyes.

Verse 13. And I made treasurers ] Nehemiah left nothing undone that might befit a vigilant and valiant Governor. He was omnibus numeris absolutus, every way complete.

For they were counted faithful ] A singular praise in persons entrusted, 1 Cor. 4.2. See Nehem. 7.2. Num. 12.7. Such men as these are now gone in pilgrimage (as one saith) and their return is altogether uncertain. When one desired to see Alexanders treasures, he shown him not his wealth, but his friends. Nehemiah might have done the like by these faithful treasures, precious pieces surely, rare and rich jewels.

And their office was ] Heb. It was upon them. Duty is a debt; which till it be discharged, a good heart cannot rest.

To distribute unto their brethren ] To a treasure are required, 1. A laying in: 2. A lying his: 3. A drawing out: So to a Treasurer, that he receive readily, keep carefully, distribute prudently.

Verse 14. Remember me, O my God ] See chap. 5.19.

And wipe not out my good deeds ] Forget not my labor of love: God requireth us to be his remembrancers, who yet needeth it not, Heb. 6.10. there is a book of remembrance written before him, Mal. 3.16. and good Nehemiah would not be wiped out of that book, nor blotted out of the book of life, Rev. 3.5. That wretched Monk died blasphemously, who said, Redde mihi aeternam vitam quam debes, Give me heaven which thou owest me.

That I have done ] Sure it is, saith Austin, that we do what good we do: but it is God alone, who causeth us so to do. Say therefore, Not unto us Lord, not to us, but to thy Name be the praise.

Verse 15. In those days saw I in Judah ] He was centoculus, and had his eye in every corner, to find out and redress abuses: wherein he was incessant and indefatigable. He chose rather to be counted a busy Justice, then a quiet Gentleman.

Some treading wine-presses on the Sabbath-day ] These Jews were not so loose, but their posterity at this day are (in some respects) as much over-strict, as is elsewhere noted.

And bringing in sheaves ] As a work of necessity.

As also wine, grapes and figs ] As a work of mercy. So they would plead likely. Sin and shifting came into the world together, no evil wants its excuse: but the covering is too shot, and God will wash off that varnish, with rivers of brimstone.

And all manner of burdens ] They did not so much as keep Sabbatum Asinorum, a rest from servile employments. See Jer. 17.21.

And I testified against them ] i. e. I challenged them as impious for so doing, and provokers of God's wrath, traitors to the State, Verse 18. This should every man do in his place. A certain Indian coming by, and seeing one of the New-English profaning the Lord's day by felling of a tree, said to him, Thou much mached man, that is, Thou very wicked man, What, break you God's day? knowest thou not that this is the Lord's-day in Massaqusets? that is, in one of the English plantations so called?

In the day wherein they sold victuals ] A practice too much in use in this Nation, till keeping of Markets and Fairs on the Christian Sabbath was put down by authority; and especially by that late good Act for the sanctification of the Lord's-day, grossly broken in this kind, under many of the Bishops noses; yea, made a voyder and dunghill, for all refuse business.

Verse 16. There dwelt men of Tyre also ] Phaenician Merchants had their Factors in Jerusalem.

And all manner of ware ] Merchandise; for Tyre was a great Mart-town, and famous for fishing, Ezek. 27.

And sold on the Sabbath ] Which they ought not to have done: for that was God's market-day, and not mars.

Unto the children of Judah ] Who were therefore worse then the Tyrians, because they ought to have been better: therefore wrath shall be upon the Jew first, and then upon the Gentile, Rom. 2.

And in Jerusalem ] This holy City was become an harlot. Filthiness in a Stews is nothing so odious as in a Virgin: a nettle in a Wilderness, is not so unsightly as in a Garden. In a land of uprightness to do wickedly, is an aggravating circumstance, Isa. 26.10.

Verse 17. Then contended I with the Nobles ] Heb. With the white ones; that had white-clothes, but black souls. The snow-drift covers many a muck-hill See ver. 11.

What evil thing is this that ye do? ] Or suffer, others to do at least, and are therefore worthily shent; as Moses also was for like cause, Exod. 16.28.

And profane the Sabbath day ] As if it were a common day, and not God's enclosure, holy and honorable. Should men thus rob God of his right, unmound his Several, make false entry upon his free-hold? Hath He not singled out this day for his own, as He did Israel out of all Nations, the tree of knowledge out of all the trees of the garden, and out of all the world, (which is his) the tenth? This is the day which the Lord hath made, &c. 'tis a day like that night, Exod. 12.42. to be kept holy unto the Lord; that day of the Lord which all his people must keep throughout their generations. To profane it or wound it, is here called an evil thing with an accent, a wickedness with a witness.

Verse 18. Did not your fathers thus? ] And will ye abet, and add to their wicked practices? Will ye needs espouse their sins, as a seed of Serpents?

And did not our God bring all this evil upon us? ] And that justly, because Belshazzar -like, though we knew all this, yet we lifted up ourselves against the Lord of heaven, as the horse that casteth his rider, and riseth up against him. Hath ever any waxed fierce against God, and prospered? Was not he that but gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day paid home with stones? Was there not for this very sin a fire kindled in the gates of Jerusalem, that devoured the Palaces thereof, Jer. 17.27? Justly is he made an example, that will not take example by others: and it is a sure both presage and desert of ruin, not to be warned.

Yet ye bring more wrath ] As if ye had a mind to wrestle a fall with the Almighty, and to try for mastery. But do ye provoke the Lord to anger? are ye stronger then he?

Verse 19. When the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark ] As they did betimes; because the mountains were round about Jerusalem, Psal. 125.2.

Before the Sabbath ] That there might be a due preparation, without interruption. At this day in many Cities where the Jews reside, there is one goes about and proclaims the approaching of the Sabbath, about half an hour before Sun-set the day before; that they may set all aside to sanctify it.

I commanded that the gates should be shut ] And thereby all such occasions of profaning shut out.

And charged that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath ] So King Edgar ordained that Sunday should be solemnized from Saturday nine of the clock, till Monday morning here in this Land, that God might surely have his due. The Jews of Tiberias began the Sabbath sooner then others. Those at Tsepphore continued it longer, adding de profano ad sacrum. Hence R. Jose wished that his portion might be with those of Tiberias, and ended it with those of Tsepphore.

And some of my servants set I at the gates ] To keep them carefully, and to prevent profanations. How the Athenians amerced those that came not to the Assemblies on holy-days, hurdling up all the streets, except them that led to the Ecclesia, taking away all their saleable wares, &c. See Rous his Archaeolog. Attic. pag. 103.

Verse 20. So the Merchants — lodged without Jerusalem ] They would not easily be said, or take an answer, so desirous they were of some takings from the Jews. There is nothing in the world that is more pertinacious, and that cleaveth closer to a man then a strong lust; say it be covetousness, wantonness, passionatenesse, or any the like, entreat it to be gone, as Naomi did Ruth, threaten it as Abner did Asael, or as Nehemiah did these Merchants, you prevail nothing, till God comes and strikes a parting-blow, &c.

Verse 21. Why lodge ye about the wall? ] His care was also, lest God should be dishonored in the Suburbs. A little fire warms but a little way off: when a great one casteth about its heat far and near. He feared also lest those within the walls, seeing them, might be tempted to wish themselves with them; as when Sylla the Roman lay before the walls of Athens, the Citizens minds were with him, though their bodies were kept from him.

I will lay hands on you ] I will lay you fast enough: be packing therefore. The best way to be rid of sin, is to threaten it, punish it, by the practice of mortification, to handle it roughly. We are not debtors to the flesh, Rom. 8.12. We owe it nothing but stripes, nothing but the blue eye Saint Paul gave it, 1 Cor. 9.27.

Verse 22. And I commanded the Levites ] He might do it, as their Governor. How then can Popish Priests exempt themselves from the power of the civil Magistrate? and say, as those shavelings did to our Henry the second, when they lashed him on the bare till the blood followed, Domine, noli minari; nos enim de tali curia sumus, quae consuevit imperare regibus, & Imperatoribus; that is, Sir, spare your threats; for we are of that high Court of Rome which is wont to Lord it over Kings and Emperors? Might he not have well replied, Ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi; or rather, ye limbs of Antichrist?

Come and keep the gates ] The Temple-gates, with — Procul hinc, procul este profani. In Greece the Priest, at their solemn sacrifices, was wont to ask 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Who's there? and the people were to answer, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Here are many, and those also good men.

To sanctify the Sabbath day ] By severing the precious from the vile: and seeing that all things were rightly carried by themselves and the rest.

Remember me, &c. ] See verse 14.

And spare me ] Meritum meum est misericordia Domini. Horreo quicquid de meo est, ut sim meus. Thomas Aquinas lying on his death-bed, and being about to receive the Lord's Supper, besought the Lord with tears that he would spare him according to his abundant goodness: and snatching up the Bible, he hug'd it, and said, I believe all the contents of this blessed Book. The like is reported of William Wickam, Founder of New-College Oxford, and of Charles the fifth Emperor, and some other wiser Papists.

Verse 23. In those days saw I Jews ] Outwardly, at least, (as the Apostle distinguisheth, Rom. 2.28.) and that also was then a prerogative, Rom. 3.1. and shall appear to be so again, when their long-looked for conversion-day is come, Romans 11.

That had married wives of Ashdod ] Outlandish-wives, and of another Religion: and with these they cohabited, as the Hebrew word here importeth.

Verse 24. And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod ] They had a mixture of their mothers both speech and spirit; the birth followed the belly, the Conclusion followed the weaker Proposition.

And could not speak in the Jews language ] Though it were that of their fathers. Mothers are most about children, and have the greater advantage to perfume them, or poison them. But what mad fellows were those old Britain's or Welsh-men, who driven out of their own Country by the Saxons, came into little Britain in France: where, when they had married wives, they are said to have cut out their tongues, left they should corrupt the language of their children? Hence the British or Welsh language remaineth still in that Country.

Verse 25. And cursed them ] i. e. I denounced God's heavy curse and vengeance upon them (according to that themselves had wished and entered into, chap. 10.30.) in case they repented not. This is nothing then, in favor of our cursing men, who are cursed men, &c.

And smote certain of them ] So far was his heart enraged with an holy hatred of their sin, that he could not forbear them. So when Charles the fifth had heard that Farnesius, (General of the Popes forces) had ravished certain Ladies, he brake out into this speech (and was never in all his life observed to be more angry at anything) Si adesset impurus ill Farnesius, manu meâ confoderem. O if I had here that filthy fellow, I would slay him with mine own hand.

And mads them swear by God ] So they had done before, chap. 10.29, 30. But now alas they were all gone aside, they were altogether become filthy, they stank above ground. He takes therefore another oath of them, &c.

Verse 26. Did not Solomon King of Israel, &c. ] Did not he deviate and prevaricate in his old age, shamefully turning from the Lord who had appeared unto him twice? Did not his strange wives draw him to strange practices; insomuch as some have doubted of his salvation, and Bellarmine reckoneth him (but wrongfully) amongst reprobates?

Yet among many Nations was there no King like him ] For honor, pleasure, wisdom, and wealth, &c. the abundance he had of these drew out his spirits, and dissolved him. See Mark 10.23, 25. 1 Tim. 6.9. Isa. 39.1, 2.

Who was beloved of his God ] His corculum, his darling, his Jedidiah, 2 Sam. 12.25. but he did not reciprocate: his heart was dis-jointed and hung loose from the Lord, whom he grievously provoked by his sensuality, and apostasy.

And God made him King over all Israel ] Not by right of inheritance (for he was a younger brother) but by special designation. Yet he defiled that Throne whereunto God had so graciously advanced him: this was a great aggravation of his sin: 2 Sam. 12.7, 8. Deut. 32.12, 19. Amos 2.9.

Nevertheless, even him did outlandish women cause to sin ] And that most shamefully: Never was there a wiser man than Solomon; and never any Saint fell into more foolish lusts. Job, who had the greatest adversity that ever man felt, fell much: but Solomon, who had the greatest prosperity that ever man saw, fell more.

Verse 27. To do all this great evil ] Here are three articles in the Hebrew, importing the heinousness of this sin. See the like Gen. 39.9.

To transgress against our God ] No sin can be little, because a disloyalty (so the word signifieth) against so great a God, and his most holy Law; a sacrilegious trespass.

Verse 28. And one of the sons of Jehoiada ] His grand-son Manasseh, brother to Jaddua the High Priest, a vile Apostate, and first author of that famous schism, and deadly feud betwixt the Samaritans and Jews.

Was son in Law to Sanballat ] Who, to keep him to his wife, built a fair Temple on Mount Gerizim, hard by the City Shechem, and made Manasseh chief Priest thereof.

Therefore I chased him from me ] I caused him to be excommunicated, and banished from amongst us.

Remember them, O my God ] For evil, as me for good, verse 31. and in both remember the relation that is betwixt thee and my soul. Woe be to those whom God's people do thus turn over to Him to be punished.

Because they have defiled the Priesthood ] Corruptio optimi pessima: as sweetest wine makes the sourest vinegar, A wicked Priest is the worst creature upon earth.

And the Covenant, &c. ] See the Note on Mal. 2.4.

Verse 30. Thus cleansed I them from all strangers ] As from so much filth and rubbish. I made them either put away their strange wives, or quit their places. He did not raise a dust only, but not remove it, as Luther wittily saith of the Cardinals and Prelates, that met at Rome about Reformation of the Church. These he compared to Foxes that came to sweep an house full of dust with their tails; and instead of sweeping it out, swept it all about the house, and made a great smoke for the while; but when they were gone, the dust all fell down again. Nehemiah made clean work, and so purged the Priesthood, that he made it shine again, as the word here signifieth: the Priests were (as Chrysostom saith all Ministers should be) puroires coelo, clearer then the azured sky; and as those Nazarites, Lum. 4.7. purer then snow, whiter then milk, &c.

Verse 31. And for the wood-offering ] See chap. 10.34, 35.

Remember me, O my God, for good ] See chap. 5.19. and 13.15, 22. He brags not, but prays, producing his good deeds as testimonies of his sincerity, whereof he begs acceptance. And this is a sweet close of the Old Testament, (say our last and largest Annotations upon the Bible) for this was the last history and book thereof, though the book of Esther be set after it. Malachi propliesied anon after the Temple was built, as we see, (saith Master Pemble, ) by his reproving of that sin, in corrupting the holy seed by marrying strangers. Sixtus Senensis placeth him as low as about five hundred years before Christ. Many of the ancients make him to be the same with Ezra. Nehemiah then, as it may seem, hath the honor of putting a perclose to the Old Testament: and he doth it with this short, but pithy prayer, which he uttereth (as Luther used to pray) tantâ reverentià, ut si Deo; & tantâ fiduciâ, ut si amico: with so great reverence, as to God; and yet with so great confidence, as to his God, a God in Covenant with him. Remember me, O my god, for good. Fiat, Fiat.

CHAP. I. Verse 1. Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus]

T His Book is in the Hebrew called Esther: because she is a chief party therein mentioned and memorized. The Rabbin's call it Megillath Esther, that is, the volume of Esther; and further tell us that there be five such volume of Scripture-books; viz. Solomon's Song, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and this of Esther: which they use to read all over in their Synagogues, at five several times of the year. 1. Solomon's Song, at the Passover; in remembrance of their once-deliverance out of Egypt, and their future salvation by the Messiah. 2. Ruth at Pentecost; because therein is set down the Genealogy of David their first King. 3. The Lamentations of Jeremy on the ninth day of the fifth month (that is, of July; ) in regard of the Babylonish captivity, and ruin of the Temple. 4. Ecclesiastes, at the feast of Tabernacles; in a thankful remembrance of the Divine Providence asserted in that Book; and exercised over them in a special manner, when they wandered in the wilderness. 5. Lastly, this of Esther, on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar or February: and as oft as they hear mention of Haman, they do, even to this day, with their fists and hammers beat upon the benches and boards, as if they did beat upon Haman's head. They tell us that this Book was written by Mordecai himself, and eye-witness and a main party, according to chap. 9.20. and have ever reckoned it among the Chetubin or Hagiographa, that is, the Books of holy Scripture. Indeed, because they find not the name of God or Lord in this whole Book, they have a custom to cast it to the ground before they read it. But they need not: for as the Ancient Heathens used to write upon their books 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , God, God, so might the Jews upon this; there being nowhere in Scripture found more remarkable passages and acts of God's immediate providence for his calamitous people, then in this. Surely (saith a great Divine) like as a man by a chain made up of several links, some of Gold, others of Silver, some of Brasse, Iron, or Tin, may be drawn out of a pit: so (it may here be seen that) the Lord by the concurrence of several subordinate things which have no manner of dependence or natural coincidence among themselves, hath wonderfully wrought the deliverance of his Church; that it might appear to be the work of his own hand.

In the days of Ahasuerus ] That is of Xerxes, the terror of Greece, called Ahasuerus, that is, an hereditary Prince, begotten by King Darius, and borne of a Kings daughter, viz. Atossa, daughter to Cyrus, and heir of the Kingdom by lineal descent. Such an hereditary Prince was our Henry the eighth. Greek Authors also call Xerxes, Oxyares, and his wife Amestris, which seemeth to be the same with Esther, who is called Amestris by a like composition, saith an Interpreter, as Haman's father was called Ham-Adata, an honorable addition to a name among the Persians.

This is Ahasuerus which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia ] Viz. Inclusive, ut loquuntur. This must needs be Xerxes; for he subdued Ethiopia, and thereupon made this great feast. He was Lord, we see, of a very great part of the habitable world; s is now the great Turk, not inferior in greatness and strength, to the mightiest Monarchs that ever yet were upon the face of the earth. No part of the world is left untouched by him but America only; not more fortunate, saith one, with her rich mines, then in that she is so far from so great and dangerous an enemy. Nevertheless of all this greatness ( belluine rather then genuine ) what saith Luther? Turcicum imperium quantum quantum est, &c. The Turkish Empire in its utmost extent, is but a crust cast to his dogs, by the great house-keeper of the world. The inheritance he reserves for his children: who though held here to strait allowance, yet are far dearer to him then the worlds greatest darlings; as the poor captive Jews were, then this great Emperor. Those that seek a mystery in this history tell us, that Ahasuerus typically representeth God the Father soveraigning over all Kingdoms and creatures on earth; choosing some to be heirs of heaven, and purifying them for that purpose. Mordecai (signifying bitter, and contrite ) setteth forth Christ, say they, broken for our sins, and suffering the bitter wrath of God. Esther (being the same with Alma, a pure Virgin, secreted and secured from defilement) is a lively image of the Church, unspotted of the world, and provided for by her Mordecai. The disdainful Vashti (taking her name from Shatha, to drink) is a fit effigies of the world, proud and luxurious, and therefore excluded heaven. Haman (signifying a tumultuous and obstreperous person) represents the Devil, restless and rageful, but to his own utter ruin, &c. These are pretty things, but not so proper. The Popish Commentatours are full of them.

Over an hundred and seven and twenty Provinces ] Seven more then were in Darius the Mede his time, Dan. 6.1. Monarchs will be still adding; and although a man were Monarch of the whole world; yea, had the command of Moon, and Stars, yet would he still be peeping beyond them for more, more. Herodotus reckons up sundry satrapies under the King of Persia, out of which he received, yearly, fourteen thousand five hundred and threescore Euboian talents: so that this Monarchy is fitely compared (in Daniel ) to the silver breast and arms in Nebuchadnezzar's image.

Verse 2. When the King Ahasuerus sat on the throne ] Having peace with all men, being quiet and secure; though this lasted not long; for he was shamefully fo • led by the Grecians (against whom he led an Army of two millions of men) and forced to fly back again over Hellespont, in a poor fishers-boat; which being over-burdened, had sunk all, if the Persians by the casting away themselves had not saved the life of their King. Omnia sunt hominum tenui pondentia file, &c.

Which was in Susan the Palace ] See Nehem. 1.1. Ptolemy, Strabe, and Pliny tell us, that in this City (scituate upon the river Choaspes ) was that famous Palace of Cyrus, which was adorned with marble walls, golden pillars, and great store of precious stones; shining as so many stars from the roof and sides of it, to the dazzling of the eyes of the beholders. Here it was, likely, that the Kings of Persia sat to hear causes under a vine of gold, set with smaragds; as with so many clusters of grapes.

Verse 3. In the third year of his reign he made a feast ] Such a feast, as that all other feasts were but hunger to it; whether we regard the number of guests, the largeness of preparation, or the continuance of time: Yet it had an end. But so hath not the feast of a good conscience. Prov. 15.15. See the Note there.

Unto all his Princes and his servants ] To gratify them for their former valor and victory; and to enflame them to a new expedition, viz. against Greece; for the conquest whereof he was now addressing himself: As also that his glory and wealth appearing herein might make them all the more willing to live in subjection to him, so royal and munificent a Prince.

The power of Persia ] Or to the army of Persia and Media.

The Nobles ] Satrapis, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , of which the word Parthemim is made, as some think. Others derive it of Perath, quasi principes Euphrataei, the Princes that were beyond the river Euphrates.

Verse 4. When he shown the riches of his glorious Kingdom ] Or, that he might show, &c. There were other ends of this feast, as was before noted; but this is instanced by the Holy Ghost, to set forth the pride and vanity of this great monarch, abusing God's gifts to his own ambition, and priding himself in that wealth which had been gotten by the hard labor of his poor subjects; from whom haply his Exactours had received no less sums of curses then of coin.

And the honor of his excellent majesty ] Atqui virtute, non vanitate acquirenda est gloria, saith the Orator, glory is to be gotten by virtue, and not by these, like vanities. Hezekiah smarted for his folly in this kind; Nebuchadnezzar much more. This great Potentate was shortly after brought low enough.

Many days, even an hundred and fourscore days ] An hundred fourscore and five days, saith Joseph Ben Gorion. So long lasted the first feast: though Lyra will have it, that so long they were in preparing, but the feasting was not till after these days expired; and that then both Prince and people were feasted together seven days. Of the Sybarites indeed we read, that when they made great feasts, they invited their women a twelve month before, that they might come the more richly and luxuriously attired, and might be the more sumptuously entertained. But the text plainly shows, that Lyra here did delirare, miss the meaning: for after that, the Princes, from sundry parts had been half a year in feasting.

Verse 5. The King made a feast unto all the people ] This was not amiss, so that care were taken that no irregulares gulares were found amongst them; for Kings should carry themselves toward their people as kindly as parents do toward their children, and shepherds toward their sheep. Are they not therefore called patres patriae, Fathers of their Country, and Shepherds of their people? David and Cyrus were taken from the sheepfolds to feed men.

Both unto great and small ] Pell-mell, one with another, to show his liberality; which yet he might better have bestowed in another way, then in belly-cheer, and such openhouse-keeping to all comers without difference: since this is rather prodigality then bounty.

Seven days ] Too long together to be a feasting; since at such times men are so apt to exceed and out-last; eating that on earth that they must digest in hell; and drowning both bodies and souls in wine and strong drink, as Richard the third did his brother Clarence in a Butt of Malmsey.

In the court of the garden ] In the banqueting-house. or sub dio, in the open air in the garden, where they had elbow-room, and all manner of delights, fit to have been seasoned and allayed with the sight of a sepulcher (the Jews built their Tombs a forehand in their gardens) or else of a deaths-head (as was the manner of the Egyptians at their great feasts) to keep them from surfeiting.

Verse 6. Where were white, green and blew hangings ] Rich and royal tapestry, set forth with variety of colors, pleasant to the eye.

Fastened with cords of fine linen ] More precious then silk.

And pillars of marble ] To bear up the hangings, that the guests might the better behold them, and be defended by them from wind, dust, and heat.

The beds ] Whereon they sat at meat (which was the manner of all those Eastern parts) their bodies so composed, as that the upper part thereof being somewhat bent and bowed, the rest lay along.

Were of gold and silver ] The bedsteds were. See Amos 6.4. & 2.8. Jer. 23.41.

Upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble ] Or, porphyry or crystal. All very costly and stately: And these are those things that make us desirous to live longer here, as Charles the fifth told the Duke of Venice; who had shown him his fair Palace richly furnished. But what said Nugas the Scythian Prince to certain Ambassadors who brought him brave and rich presents? Will these save a man from sickness? Will they stave off death? Do not these outward gawdes and gayeties carry away the heart from the love and care of better things? Solomon saith as much in his sacred Retractations: and Charles the fifth (who besides other Territories and Dominions, had twenty eight Kingdoms) voluntarily gave over the Empire as a burden; and cursing his honors in his old age, his trophees, riches, royalties, said to them all, Abite hinc, abite longe, Be gone all of you; get you hence. Abi perdita bestia quae me perdidisti, as Cornelius Agrippa said on his death-bed, to his familiar Devil, Be packing thou wretched beast, that hast undone me forever.

Verse 7. And they gave them drink ] Think the same of meat also: but the whole feast hath its denomination in the original from drinking; because at such times they drank freely, and many times more then did them good. The Persians are infamous for their intemperancy, though they had Laws to the contrary: and Xenophon tells us that of old they were otherwise. Only once a year their King had license to be drunk; viz. when they sacrificed to the Sun.

In vessels of gold ] Beset with precious stones (as Josephus addeth) ad delectationem & spectaculum.

The vessels being diverse one from another ] To show the Kings store of them, that there was not curta supellex, but great plenty and variety of dishes and dainties.

And royal wine ] Choice wine, and fit for a Kings palate. Vinum Cos, as they call it merrily at Lovain and Paris, id est, coloris, oderis, saporis optimi, of the best color, smell and taste.

In abundance ] They swam in wine, and the tables did even sweat with variety of dishes: quicquid avium volitabat, quicquid piscium natabat, quicquid ferarum discurrebat, &c. to use Seneca 's expression.

According to the state of the King ] For whom it was not unlawful to feast, so to show his liberality toward his Peers, and courtesy to his people. But that which was blameworthy in him, was, 1. His vainglory. 2. His prodigality. 3. His mis-spending of time. 4. His neglect of business. 5. His contempt of the true God, not once acknowledged by him or his guests. Lastly, their profane mirth and jollity, without the least note of sanctity or respect to God's glory.

Verse 8. And the drinking was according to the Law ] Prescribed by the King, and it was but needful, lest men should make his house a school of intemperancy: and lest shameful spewing should be on his glory, Habac. 2.16. And, inasmuch as of evil manners come good Laws, it appeareth by this Edict of the King, that the Persians were now degenerated from their ancient sobriety and moderation in meats and drinks. So likewise were the Cretans when Minos made a Law that men should not drink one to another, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , unto drunkenness: And the same we may well think of the inhabitants of this Land, when King Edgar made an ordinance for putting pins in cups, to stint men how far they should drink, and that none should quaffe whole ones.

None did compel ] Domitius the father of Nero slew Liberius an honest Roman, because he refused to drink so much as he commanded him. Tiberius for his drunkenness called Caldius Biberius Mero, instead of Claudius Tiberius Nero ) made Novellus Tricongius Proconsul, for that he could drink three pottles of wine together with one breath. He preferred also L. Piso to the government of the City of Rome, because he could sit drinking with him continually for two whole days and nights together. Lyra upon this text declaimeth against this detestable healthing and carowsing too too common in all parts of Christendom; and saith that it was brought up first by the Barbarians in Normandy, who came and depopulated that Country. And what a lamentable thing is it that at this day, in such a State as ours, the civil, sober, and temperate man shall be urged, and it may be forced to swallow down needless draughts, as a horse doth a drench, by domineering drunkards. The late good Act against drunkenness, if well executed, will be some curb to our Roaring-boys; so they will needs be called by a woeful Prolepsis, Here for hereafter. Oh that we could persuade such, as Mahomet did his followers, that in every grape there dwelt a Devil; or, that fire and brimstone, storm and tempest, this shall be the portion of the Drunkards cup.

For the King had appointed to all the officers of his house ] He had appointed, Heb. he had founded or stablished it for an inviolable Decree; and officers on purpose (Controulers of his house) to see it executed. John 2.8. we read of a governor of the feast. The Jews had such Officers or Moderatours at their merry-meetings (called the Eyes and Overseers of the feast,) that took care that none should over drink himself. The Latins also had such, calling them Dictatours. The Greeks had their Symposiarchs; but among these, their power extended no further then to see that the feasters drank small draughts only at first, which by degrees they increased till they came to the height of intemperancy. But these should have considered that which Anacharsis had told them, that the Vine beareth three grapes: The first, of pleasure, the second of drunkenness, and the third of misery and mischief.

That they should do according to every man's pleasure ] Drink what they thought good without stint, or force. It is reported of Romulus, that being once invited to supper, he drank not much, because he had weighty business to do on the morrow after. And when one said unto him, Sir, If all men should drink as you do, wine would be far cheaper: Nay, it would be dearer, said he, if every man should drink as I have done; that is, as much as he pleaseth to drink.

Verse 9. Also Vashti the Queen made a feast for the women ] Heb. A feast, or a compotation of women. This was better yet, then Heliogabalus his Senate of women, with their ordinances correspondent; as what attire each woman should use, how they should take place, when salute, &c. The Romans decreed in Senate that no women should drink wine. What Vashti 's practice was I know not; but, by her name she should be a Meribibula, a wine-bibber, as was noted, verse 1.

Josephus, and after him Lyra, give her the commendation of a modest woman. 'It is probable she had the Kings consent to feast the women, because it was in the royal house: and it added much to the Kings munificence. But then she should have subdued her husband by obeying of him, as Livia (as great an Empresse) did Augustus. Dio reporteth of her, that being asked how she got such a power over her husband? she answered, Multa modestiâ, by my much modesty. It is remarkable in this third feast, that, first, the women feasted within doors, not in the open Court, as their husbands did, and next, apart from the men. Which whether it were of pride, because Vashti would keep state by herself; or, of necessity, because either the custom of the Country, or the Kings jealousy would not allow her presence among so many of the other sex, yet surely this may condemn (as one well saith) our most lascivious mingling of both sexes together in dancing, and such like meetings; where nothing is more usual then lustful looks, filthy speeches, unclean touches. Apage omnem hanc impudentiam, shun all occasions of sin that doth so easily beset us. Lot feasting and drinking wine with his own daughters, fell into the sin of incest. The Israelites doing the like with the daughters of Moab, were ensnared, and subverted. The dancing damosel so enflamed that old Goat Herod, that like a mad man he sweareth to give her her desire to the half of his Kingdom. In all mixed meetings of both sexes, let the husbands eyes be eyes of Adamant, which will turn only to one point; lest some Circe enchant him, having faculty attractive with the Jeat, and retentive with the Adamant. Let the wives also be like that Persian Lady, who being at the marriage of Cyrus, and asked how she liked the Bridegroom? How? saith she: I know not; I saw nobody but my husband.

Verse 10. On the seventh day ] Here we have Luxuriosi convivii luctuosum exitum, a sad end of a luxurious feast. Sin usually endeth tragically. On the six former days of the feast having farced his body with good cheer like a wool-sack, and inflamed it with wine wherein was excess, he bethinks himself of other pleasures: Vina parant animos Veneri. Aristophanes calleth wine the milk of Venus, and fuel of lust. Ambrose saith that lust is fed with feasts, nourished with delicacies, kindled with wine, set on flame with drunkenness. A belly filled with wine foameth out filthiness, saith Jerome.

When the heart of the King was merry with wine ] The property whereof is to exhilarate the heart of man, as the Scripture speaketh. Pluto calleth wine the mitigater of man's misery. Euripides saith, Qui non hilarescit bibendo, nihil sapit. But Ahasuerus his heart was over-merry; the wine was so in that the wit was out: drunkenness had bereft this Polyphemus of his eye of right reason. This is a vice hateful in all, but in a Ruler most of all. See Prov. 31.4. with the Note. What mad work made Alexander the Great many times in his drunkenness, killing those then whom he would afterwards have revived, if he could, with his own heart-blood? Therefore it was that the Carthaginians forbade their Magistrates all use of wine: Solon punished drunkenness in a Ruler with death. And Ferdinand the first Emperor of Germany, sharply reproved the Ambassadors of the Electors and Princes sent to an Imperial Diet, for their quaffing and careless performance of their trust, saying, Abstinete à maledictâ ebrietate, &c. Abstain, for shame, from this cursed drunkenness, (which is neither good for body nor soul) and look better to your offices.

He commanded Mehuman ] These should have advised him better (for now drunkenness had robbed him of himself, and laid a fool in his room, wine had over-shadowed his wisdom, as Pliny phraseth it) and not have been so ready to execute his unreasonable and illegal commands. For the Persians had a Law ( Josephus saith) that Matrons should not be seen at feasts among men; though Harlots might. But Kings are never without their Court-Parasites, who will humor them in anything, and whose song is, Mihi placet quicquid Regi placet, That which pleaseth the King, pleaseth me, howsoever.

Verse 11. To bring Vashti the Queen before the King ] This was their errand, and they went readily about it, (though it beseemed not their state, as being chief about the King) whether they envied the Queen, and so sought occasion against her (as the Bishops did against Queen Katharine Parr ) or were in the Kings predicament, and therefore desired fuel to their fire.

With the crown royal ] In all her best, that nest of pride, as one calleth it, and incentive of lust.

To show the Princes and the people her beauty ] And thereby to show them all his own imprudence, and impudence: this he would not have done, if sober, for any good. Quid non ebriet as designat? Wine is a mocker, and strong drink is raging. Could he not consider what he had oft read befell Candaules King of the Sardians for showing his fair wife to Gyges in a vain-glorious humor? Knew he not that those wellwhittled Courtiers would easily be enflamed with the sight of such a peerless beauty, and that her gay attire would not make her more comely, then common?

For she was fair to look on ] Xenophon testifieth of the Persian and Median women, that they are proper and beautiful beyond all other Nations. Vashti, we must needs think then, was a choice beauty: and if she were (as Aspasia Milesia wife to King Cyrus ) fair and wise, it was no small commendation. But if (as Aurelia Orestilla in Sallust ) she had nothing in her praiseworthy but her beauty; it was ill bestowed on her. The Jews give a very ill character of her. They say she was daughter to Belshazzar (that notable quaffer, who might therefore call her Vashti, that is, a drinker) that she hated the Jews extremely, and abused divers of their daughters (her slaves) making them work on the Sabbath day, and putting them every day to the basest offices, not affording them rags to hide their nakedness, &c. This perhap • is but a Jewish fable.

Verse 12. But the Queen Vashti refused to come at the Kings commandment ] She peremptorily and contumaciously refused, though sent for again and again (as Josephus hath it) by her Lord and husband, who had in his cups boasted of his wives beauty, courtesy and obedience, whereof he would now make proof to the company, sending for her by such an honorable convoy: yet, she would not, that she would not, as the Hebrew word signifieth, but carried herself, as if she had been his Mistress, and not his wife, to his great grief, and the marring of all their mirth. What if the King were not so well advised? what if he were in his cups? what though she had the Law on her side, and a pretence of modesty, and lest she could by coming, occasion the Kings jealousy, &c? Yet Vashti was to have submitted herself unto her own husband (such an husband especially) as it was fit in the Lord, Col. 3.18. to yield obedience to all his lawful commands and restraints, seem they never so unreasonable. If woman were given to man for a comforter, and in some cases for a Counselor, yet in no case for a Controuler, as they are apt to be that are fair (fastus inest formae) rich ( argentum accepi, dote imperium vendidi, saith he in Plantus ) better descended, &c. si vis nubere, nube pari: an insolent wife is an unsufferable evil: and he hath lost half the comfort of his life, who is married to such an one.

Therefore was the King very wroth ] He even foamed at mouth like a wild-bore, and froathed as the raging Sea, as the word importeth. The Persian Kings were noted by some for uxorious; such, as though they commanded the whole world, yet were commanded by their wives and concubines: But here it proved otherwise. This mighty Monarch could not bear such a public affront and scorn as he construed it; but rageth beyond reason (whereof his wine for the time had bereft him) and resolveth upon revenge. How much better our William the Conqueror, who though he knew that Maud his wife maintained her son Robert Curtuoise in his quarrel for Normandy, and out of her own coffers paid the charge of that war against his father, and her own husband, yet because it proceeded but from a motherly indulgence for advancing her son, he took for a cause rather of displeasure then of hatred. He loved her whilst alive, often lamented her death with tears, and most honourably interred her.

And his anger burned in him ] As Nebuchadnezzar also did upon a like occasion, hotter then his seven times-heated oven, or then the mountain Aetna doth: Moses his anger waxed hot in him, Exodus 32.19. so that he knew not well what he did in it; it raised such a smoke. Jonah was ready to burst with anger, Chapter 4.9. his blood boiled at his heart, as brimstone doth at the match: therefore is the heart set so near the lungs, that when it is heated with anger, it may be allayed and cooled by the blast and moisture thereof. Josephus saith that he brake off the feast upon this occasion.

Verse 13. Then the King said to the wise-men ] What a sudden change is here? Ex conviviis fiunt comitia, imo & convitia, saith an Interpreter: The enraged King forgets all his old love to Vashti, and breaths nothing else but reparation of his own lost honor, and revenge upon his peerless paragon. Howbeit herein He is to be commended, that he sent not for her forthwith by force, that he might dispatch her with his own hands; as Alexander did his friend Clitus and others in his cups and choler: neither ran he raging into her chamber, and kicked her out of the world, as Nero did his wife Octavia, for a less matter. He knew that anger is an evil counselor:

He that reineth not in his anger shall do that in his haste, whereof it shall repent him by leisure, and could eat his nails to have it undone again. Ahasuerus therefore calleth for his Judges and Counselors, skillful in statematters.

Which knew the times ] And what was best to be done in them. This skill they had gotten by much reading of Politicks, and Histories, and long observation. The men of Issachar were such, 1 Chronicles 12.32. Such a one was Croesus to Cyrus, Polybius to Scipio, Agrippa to Augustus, Anaxagoras to Themistocles, &c. Xerxes here had seven such to advise with as his Privy-Counselors, Judices Regios; the Kings Judges Herodotus calleth them, and further saith, that they held their places for their lives, unless they very much misbehaved themselves.

For so was the manner ] Sc. to advise with them in matters of moment, but not always to take their advise. The manner was, and the fundamental Laws of the Land took order, for prevention of tyranny, that the Kings of Persia should be ruled by this grave Senate of the Kingdom, and not bring in an arbitrary government. But Xerxes, (who is this Ahasuerus ) once at lest, (if not oftener) viz. in his expedition against Greece, which was not long after this great feast, called his seven Princes together, and spake to them after this manner: Lest, said he, I should seem to follow mine own counsel, I have assembled you and now do you remember, that it becomes you rather to obey then advise.

Towards all that knew law and judgment ] Of these Persian Privy-Counselors it is said, 1. That they were wise-men: now those only are wise quibus res sapiunt prout sunt. 2. They were skillful in the times, that is, well versed in histories, and well furnished with experiences. 3. That they knew the Laws, which they had ready, and at their fingers ends, as we say. They knew also judgment, that is, equity and moderation, without which utmost right might be utmost wrong; as indeed it proved in the case in hand. Memucan not only accuseth the Queen, but aggravateth her offense, and instead of healing the wound, maketh it far wider. This might become a mercenary Orator, but not a grave Counselor. The business was this: The King was angry, and he meant to set him going: the Queen was an eye-sore, and she must be removed. Such slaves are ambitious statists to their own, and their Princes lusts, but especially when their own plough is driven forward withal.

Verse 14. And the next unto him was Carshena, &c.] These were his trusty and well-beloved Cousins, and Counselors, primi & proximi, first in the Kingdom, and next unto the King, without whom he was to have done no business of importance. But it is recorded in story that they had no freedom nor liberty of Council. For everyone of them had a plate or tile of gold to stand upon in the Council-house: And if he gave counsel that the King thought well of, the plate of gold was given him for a reward: but if he delivered anything contrary to the Kings mind, flagris caedebatur, he was beaten with stripes. Lo this was the manner of the Persian Monarchs.

The seven Princes ] See Ezra 7.14.

Which saw the Kings face ] That came at pleasure into the presence, as they call it. It was a piece of the silly glory of these Kings of Persia to secret themselves from their subjects. No man might see the King (uncalled for) on pain of death, cùm ejus persona sub specie majestatis occuleretur, saith Justin. Only these seven might ordinarily take the boldness to see his face: which lest Haman should do, they covered his face.

And which sat the first in the Kingdom ] Xenophon telleth us that Cyrus the first Persian Monarch ordained that the Nobles should sit before the King every man according to his degree, and dignity. Ibn Ezra upon this text saith the same.

Verse 15. What shall we do ] Saith the King; who changeth the scene suddenly, the banqueting-house into a Council-chamber, the merry-meeting into a most difficult consultation, what to do with the Queen, and how to repair the Kings honor so much impaired by her. How easily can the Lord stain the pride of all glory, cross the worlds greatest darlings, give an unsavory verdure to their sweetest morsels, and make their very felicity miserable!

Unto the Queen Vashti ] You should determine nothing rashly against her, but accept of her lawful excuse, hear her plea, remember that she is your companion, and the wife of your Covenant, Mal. 2.14. your fellow, and not your footstool; a yoke-fellow standing on even ground with you, though drawing on the left side, &c. This you should do to the Queen Vashti. But Plutarch noteth of the Persians, that they were none of the kindest husbands, but harsh, and jealous. And Athenaeus saith, that the Kings of Persia lord it over their wives, as if they were their handmaids.

According to Law ] This you should do; retain the decency and gravity of the Law which is never angry with any man ( Lex non irascitur, sed constituit, saith Seneca ) no more must those that administer it. The angry man cannot easily keep a mean. This Archytas the Tarentine knew, and therefore being displeased with his servants for their sloth, he flang from them, saying, Farewell, I have nothing to say to you, because I am angry at you.

Because she hath not performed the Commandment, &c.] This was a fault no doubt: but not so heinous as was made of it. The faults of his wife a man must either tollere or tolerare, cure or cover, and not go about to kill a fly upon her forehead with a beetle, as they say. But God had a provident hand in it for the good of his Church.

Verse 16. And Memucan answered before the King ] Heb. Mumchan, The Junior likely, and therefore spake first the rest concurred, verse 21. A bold man he was surely (whatever else he was) that durst deliver his mind so freely of such a business, and in such a presence, &c. What if the King and Queen should have grown friends again, where had Memucan been? If his cause and his conscience had been as good as his courage was great, all had been as it ought to be.

And the Princes ] Inter pocula de rebus arduis consultabant, saith Herodotus concerning the Persian Princes. In the midst of their cups they use to consult of the greatest affairs. Here they accuse and uncondemne the Queen heard, and unconvicted, which was against all Law divine and human. King Henry the eighth, though a boisterous man, dealt more civily with his first wife Katharine of Spain, when he had a mind to rid his hands of her; Her cause was heard before the two Cardinals, Wolsey and Campaine, ere the Divorce was pronounced, and she sent out of the Kingdom.

Vashti the Queen hath not done wrong to the King only ] That she had done wrong or dealt perversely against the King. He taketh for granted: because the Kings commandment was not obeyed. But was that a sufficient reason? Was the Kings bare word a Law, or rule of right? and is not a wife in case of sin commanded by her husband, rather to obey God then men? Or say she had done wrong, must it needs be out of perverseness? might it not be out of fear, modesty, or for some other civil reason which she might allege for herself, if called to her trial? But here you may see (saith one) when flattery and malice gives information, shadows are made substances, and improbabilities necessities; so deceitful is flattery, malice so unreasonable. And yet herein also the Lord is exceeding righteous, who meets hereby with other sins of this insolent Queen: that whereas (no doubt) she was an example of pride and vanity more generally to other women then she was likely to be in this point, therefore is she hereby found out in her sin, and by this unlikely accusation, condemned of a true fault.

But also to all the Princes and to all the people ] Against the King she had offended by her disobedience, against all others by her example. And indeed the sins of great ones fly far upon those two wing, Scandal and Example; they prove both patterns and privileges to their inferiors, for the like. Howbeit we must necessarily distinguish between scandal given, and scandal taken only: neither may we judge of a thing by the ill consequences that biassed and disaffected persons can draw from it; there being nothing so well carried, but that it may be liable to some men's exceptions.

Verse 17. For this deed of the Queen shall come abroad ] The least aberration in a star is soon observed: so the miscarriages of great ones are quickly both noted and noticed. Public persons are by Plutarch compared to looking-glasses, according to which others dress themselves: to pictures in a glass-window, wherein every blemish is soon seen: to common Wells, which if they be poisoned, many are destroyed. The common people commonly are like a flock of Cranes: as the first flies, all follow.

So that they shall despise their husbands ] Which indeed ought not to be, no not in their hearts. Let the wife see that she reverence her husband. God hath a barren womb for mocking Michal: when Sarah is crowned and chronicled for this, that she obeyed her husband, calling him Lord. It is here taken for confessed, that Vashti despised her husband; and that others would thereby take heart to do the like, is therehence inferred. But doth that necessarily follow? and must the Queen therefore be presently deposed, yea put to death, as the Jew-Doctors tell us she was? King Asa deposed his grandmother Maacha; but that was for Idolatry. Our Henry the eighth beheaded his wife Anne Boleyn, but that was for (supposed, and but supposed) adultery. Queen Elizabeth narrowly escaped with her life, because she was accused (but falsely) of conspiracy against the Queen her sister. But what had Vashti done? Condemned she is without reprival; and the Country must come in (but was never called) to give in evidence against her, that haply never saw her, nor heard of her offense. Is this fair-dealing?

Verse 18. Likewise shall the Ladies of media and Persia say ] Say what? We will not do as our Lord's command us. Like enough all this: for their tongues were their own, and their wills no less. That free-will (about which there is so much ado made) when men once lost, the women caught it up; and hence they are so wedded to their own will, saith one merrily. Quicquid volunt, valde volunt, what they will do, they will do contra gentes, saith another. And for talking and telling their minds; The Rabbin's have a proverb, that ten Kabs (measures) of speech descended into the world, and the women took away nine of them. These Ladies of Media and Persia were feasting with the Queen when the King sent for her, ubi quid factum est? garritur, potitatur, saltitatur, saith an Interpreter, at which time they were chatting, and bibbing, and dancing, and (when their mirth was marred) they would not spare to speak their minds, and ease their stomachs, what ever came of it. We read in our own Chronicles of the Lady de Breuse, that by her railing and intemperate tongue, she had so exasperated King John (whom she reviled as a tyrant and a murderer) that he would not be pacified by her strange present (four hundred kine, and one bull, all milk-white, except only the ears, which were red) sent unto the Queen.

Then shall there arise too much contempt and wrath ] Contempt on the wives part, and wrath on the husbands: wives shall slight their husbands, and they again shall fall foul upon their wives: so that conjugium shall become conjurgium; and the house they dwell together in, shall be no better then a fencing-school, wherein the two sexes seem to have met together for nothing but to play their prizes, and to try masteries. This made Sylla say, I had been happy, if I had never been married.

Verse 19. If it please the King ] Courtier-like; lest he should seem to prescribe to the King, or to prejudice the rest of the royal Counselors, he thus modestly prefaceth to his ensuing harsh and hard sentence. He knew well enough it would please the King at present, in the mind he now was in: and to prevent any alteration, he moves to have it made sure by an irrevocable Law, that he might not hereafter be censured for this his immoderate and unmerciful censure, but be sure to save one howsoever.

Let it be written, saith he, among the Laws of the Persians ] Which the King himself could not repeal, Dan. 6.8, 15. but, once passed and registered, they remained binding forever. I have read of a people among whom the Laws they had lasted in force but for three days at utmost. This was a fault in the other extreme. Laws are to be made with due deliberation, and then to be established, and not altered without very great reason, as sometimes there is, since

That Vashti come no more before King Ahasuerus ] But be absolutely deposed and divorced. Here was no proportion betwixt the offense and the sentence. This judgment was like the Laws of Draco: of which Aristotle saith, that they were not worth remembrance, but only for their great severity; as being written not with black, but with blood.

And let the King give her royal estate unto another The more to vex her. Surely such an exauthoration of so great a personage, with so great disgrace and ignominy, could not but be very grievous, yea worse then death. High seats as they are never but uneasy; so the fall from them must needs be dangerous and dismal. How well might holy Esther sing with the Virgin Mary, God putteth down the mighty from their thrones, and exalteth them of Low degree, Luke 1.52.

Verse 20. And when the Kings Decree that he shall make shall be published ] But why should any such thing be published at all, unless the King be ambitious of his own utter dishonor? Is there none wiser then other, but that the King must beray his own nest, tell all the Empire that he was drunk or little better, and did in his drink determine that against his fair Queen, that he so soon after repented? He should have done in this case as a man doth, that having a secret sore, clappeth on a plaster, and then covereth it with his hand, that it may stick the faster, work the better. Had Ahasuerus been wise, the world had been never the wiser for anything that Vashti had done, &c. But Memucan hath some color for his bad counsel, a goodly veil to cast over it.

All the wives shall give to their husbands honor ] They shall not dare to do otherwise, unless they mean to be likewise divorced. But will terror breed true honor? is soothing right submission? Quem metuunt oderunt, fear makes hatred; and people honor none (to speak properly) but whom they love sincerely. Those lordly husbands that domineer over their wives as if they were their slaves, and carry themselves like lions in their houses, must not look for any great respect there. This man promised himself great matters when he thus said, The wives shall give iittenu in the masculine gender, to signify the wives voluntary subjection and obedience: but that he never had; nor any other that took the like course. Those husbands that will be honored indeed by their wives, must give honor to them as to the weaker vessels, as being heirs together of the grace of life, 1 Pet. 3.7.

Verse 21. And the saying pleased the King ] Pity but itching ears should have clawing Counselors. Memucan was a fit helve for such an hatchet; and his advise fit lettice for such lips. What marvel that such a smooth Counselor pleased the King, when as he had before given place to two such bad Counselors, Wine and Anger?

And the Princes ] Who perceived (very likely) by the Kings looks and gestures, that he was much taken and tickled with Memucans counsel: which they therefore second and subscribe to. How rare a jewel in a Princes care is a faithful counselor, that will deliver himself freely, non ad gratiam, sed ad veritatem; not to please, but to profit. Such a one was Agrippa to Augustus, Polybius to Scipio, Latimer to Edward the sixth, &c. There is safety in the multitude of Counselors, modo andeant quae sentiant (as the Orator saith) so they dare speak out, and will not spare to do it.

And the King did according to the word of Memucan ] Dicto citiùs, it was forthwith done. Vashti is all on the sudden divorced, and the foolish King publicly shamed. But all this was of the Lord, that Esther might be advanced, and the Church relieved. So there was a wheel within a wheel, which the wicked discern not, nor the Saints consider of. God oft wraps himself in a cloud, and will not be seen till afterwards. All God's dealings will appear beautiful in their seasons; though for the present we see not the contiguity and concatenation of one thing with an •• her.

Verse 22. That every man should bear rule in his own house ] Aequum sane edictum, modo moderatum, A righteous Decree, had it been but rightly made use of, and not abused to tyranny and rough-dealing. Aristotle saith, that the husband ought to have a civil power over his wife, as being her better in honor, speech, gravity and dignity. Menander and Euripides say the same; holding it unfit that the hen should crow, that the woman should usurp authority over the man: this, Nature and Scripture do both condemn. But why should these Persian Princes at this time send forth such an Edict as this? was it because this good Law of Nature began to be depraved and obliterated among them; as it was among the Egyptians, where the Queen is more honored then the King, and in private houses the wife then the husband, as Diodorus Siculus reporteth? Or had they a mind to divulge their own shame, and to tell the world that they were least masters at home, and must therefore have a law made to force obedience? Or was it not (lastly) to countenance the Kings rash and unlawful putting away of his wife, for so light a cause: like as Cambyses their late King having a mind to marry his own sister, made a Law, that any man should have liberty to do the like? Whatever it was that moved them to send forth this Decree, surely there was little need to excite men to use their authority over their wives; since they are apt enough to do so without bidding. Therefore Saint Paul after, wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, doth not say, and subjoin, husbands rule over your wivess, but husbands love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

And that it should be published according to the language of every people ] That so being particularly understood, it might appear more authentical and weighty; and so take away the hatred from the Law-givers for the wrong they had done the Queen. Some render it thus, that he should speak according to the language of his own people, that is, say they, that each man should keep and observe the liberty of his own Nation, by commanding his people, and governing his own family, without any contradiction.

CHAP. II Verse 1. After these things.]

AFter the wine was out, the fuel of his anger spent, and the lust thereof satisfied. When the wrath of King Ahasuerus was appeased ] There is nothing that a man is more ready to keep then his wrath: therefore the Hebrews put servare for servare iram, to keep, for, to keep his anger, as Jer. 3.5. Psal. 103.9. Levite. 19.18. Ahasuerus, by invading Greece, had so incensed them, that their wrath 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , unappeasable, for they thenceforth hated all Barbarians for the Persians sake, and forbade them their sacrifices, as they used to do murtheres. But Ahasuerus his wrath against Vashti was, after a time, asswaged.

He remembered Vashti ] Not without some remorse, but without all true repentance. He forsook not his rash anger as a sin; but regrated it for a time, and laid it asleep, to be raked up again upon as slight an occasion. In graceless perso ns vitia raduntur, non eradicantur: absconduntur saepius, non exscinduntur, vices may be barbed or benumbed, not mastered and mortified. A Merchant may part with his goods, and yet not hate them. A man may part with his sins for self-respects, and yet retain his affection to them as Phaltiel did to Michal, when he went weeping after her afar off. He may remember his Vashti, his bosom-sins from which he seemeth divorced; and by such a sinful remembering of them, recommit them. See Ezek. 23.21. compared with verse 8.

And what was decreed against her ] But whose fault was that? Wine and anger are the worst of all counselors, say the Ancients? and Ahasuerus found it so: as did also Alexander the great, and many others, but all too late. Hence they came in afterwards with their Non putâram, Had I wist; which Scipio said should never be heard out of a great man's mouth. Augustus also was wont to say, that nothing doth so ill become a Commander, as hastiness and rashness. Tully taxeth him for a fool, qui cundem & laedit & laudat, who first wrongeth a man, and then commendeth him.

Verse 2. Then said the Kings serva •• s ] His friends, saith Josephus, to whom he had opened his mind: the young Courtiers, say others (green wood is ever shrinking and warping) but most probably those seven chief Counselors, chap. 1.14. who had persuaded him to cast off Vashti, and now feared, left if not some way diverted, he should fall as foul upon them, as his predecessor Darius did upon those claw-backs, Dan. 6.24. or as the Athenians did upon Timagoras, Densagoras, and Euagoras, whom they condemned to die, for flattering Darius Hystaspes, the father of this Ahasuerus.

Let there be fair young Virgins sought for the King ] They knew him to be a sensualist and effeminate: they therefore agree to feed his humor, to drown him again in pleasure, so to drive away his melancholy. Such miserable comforts are carnal Physicians: so wretched is our nature, to endure no other Physic: so justly doth God fit the Physician to the Patient, the helve to the hatchet: so do the wicked help each other forward to their deserved destruction. Ahasuorus his Courtiers and Counselors become Brokers to his lusts: neither is this anything unusual with such. Lenocinantur, produnt, blasphemant, pejerant, toxica miscent, &c. saith an Expositor here. What is it that such Parasites and Sycophants will not do to ingratiate with great ones? It was not therefore without good cause, that the Primitive Christians prayed hard for the Emperor (as Tertullian testineth) that God would send him Senatum fid • lem, a faithful Council, and free him from flatterers.

Verse 3. And let the King appoint officers ] Praeficiat praefectos. Costly counsel: this could not be done without much trouble and charge to the King. Two or three years are spent in gathering, purifying, and preparing these choice Virgins for the impure bed of this Heathen Prince, while he is following the chace of his ambition, in the wars of Greece.

In all the Provinces of his Kingdom ] A large Commission they must have, the whole Kingdom is their circuit: and note that they went not to foreigners: which those Princes that do, while thereby they seek for greatness, they many times miss of goodness: while they labor to be strong abroad (and so to have a stake in store, as they say, however the dice chance to turn) they weaken themselves at home; and while by foreign matcher they intend unity, it proves an occasion both of intestine and foreign dissensions. We of this Nation have had sad experience of these mischiefs.

That they may gather together ] This could not be done without the great grief and general discontent of the Kings best subjects ( nimiùm serviliter huic hirco subjectorum, as one hath it) thus bereft and despoyled of their dearest daughters, the staves of their age.

All the fair young Virgins ] Beauty (the best pearl in a carnal eye) is all that's here looked after, que plerunqut virtute & pudicitiâ caret, which is oft without virtue, and common honesty; as, where they meet, it is a rare mixture. The Heathen man saith, Non est formosa mulier cujus crus laudatur aut brachium, sed illa cujus universa facies admir ationem sing ulis partibus abstulit. Now if this be true, long enough might these commissionated officers look for fair young Virgins, truly so called; there being very few that are not peccant in some minnum, some tittle of beauty, or other. It is a praise peculiar to the Vingin daughter of Zion to be all fair, Cant. 4.7. to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Ephes. 5.26. such as in whom even Momus himself could find no error.

Utno Shushan the palace ] In which one place there might have been found choice enough, without speaking further: but that lust is unsatisfiable. The eye is not satisfied with seeing; and in such a multitude, how could it be but that the Kings mind must needs be distracted, which one to make choice of?

To the house of the women ] Such as is now the Turks Serag •• . See the description of the Grand Signiors Seraglio by Master John Grennes, chap 4.

Unto the custody of Hege ] Who was their keeper, or rather their Gaoler. For what was this house of women, but a perpetual prison to them, clapt under hatches, as it were, and, haply, held in as great servitude, as those in Barbary are at this day; where it is death for any man to see one of the Xeriffes concubines; and for them too, if when they see a man, though but through a casement, they do not suddenly screek out.

And let their things for purification ] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Their Abstersories, to dry up the filth of the flesh, and to cleanse natures infirmities, that they might be six months purified with oil of myrre, and six other months perfumed with sweet odors, as verse 12. Here the maids were first purified before the King chose one. But Christ first chooseth his Spouse, and then purifieth her, Eph. 5.26.

Verse 4. And let the maiden ] Herein unhappy that the got her honor with the loss of her honesty: and that so many maids are made miserable for her sake.

That pleaseth the King ] Heb. That is good in his eyes. The eye is the lamp and ornament of the whole body: and yet that most lightsome part doth ofttimes draw the soul into utter darkness; whilst by those windows of wickedness, and loop-holes of lust, Satan windeth himself into the heart, and maketh it impudicitiae cloacam (as Venus 's temple on the top of Lebanon is called by Eusebius ) a very sink, and jakes of all lewdness and abomination.

Be Queen instead of Vashti ] This was held a great business, and a sufficient recompense. The bramble held it a goodly thing to reign over the trees; not so the vine and fig-tree.

And the thing pleased the King ] Because it added more fuel to the fire of his lust, and that he may lengthen out his days in dalliance and wantonness: ut libidine libidinem provocante, nihil nisi muliebris fiat, saith an Expositor here, that he might be the right successor of Sardanapalus, who buried himself in the bosoms of his harlots, and left behind him this infamous Epitaph.

An Epitaph sit for an ox, saith Aristotle. The Kings of Persia are noted for effeminate, fitter for a Canopy then a Camp; and affecting such sights, • bi Imperator Apparator, lanx phalanx, acies facies, bella labella, spicula pocula, scutum scortum, &c.

And he did so ] According to the counsel of those Court-parasites (whose word is that of Stratocles, Mihi placet quicquid Regi placet ) he walked in the ways of his heart, and in the sight of his eyes, little thinking that for all these things God would bring him into judgment. But such Governors the wicked world deserveth, as being itself totus in maligno positus, 1 John 5. When Phoc • s, that filthy traitor, reigned at Constantinople, Cedrinus saith, that a certain honest poor man was very earnest with God to know why such a man (or rather monster) was set up; he was answered again by a voice, that there could not be a worse man found; and that the sins of Christians did require it.

Verse 5. Now in Shushan the palace ] Not in Babylon, as Josephus doateth.

There was a certain Jew ] That had not returned to Jerusalem, as he ought to have done; and as another of his name did, Ezra. 2.2.

Whose name was Merdccai ] That is, Pure Myrre, say some; bitter contrition, say others; he is the son of contrition, that must be the son of consolation. This Mordecai was one of those few that both lived and died with glory; being not taxed for any gross sin.

The son of Jair ] Happy father in such a son: much more joy might he well be to his parents, then Epamiuondas was to his: and of him it might be sung,

The son of Shimei, the son of Kish a Benjamite ] He descended then either from some other son of Kish the father of Saul; or esse from Jonathan Saul's son: for he only, of all the sons of Saul, left issue behind him. But the Kish here mentioned, though of his line, lived many years after Saul's father.

Verse 6. Who had been carried away from Jerusalem ] Kish • ad, not Mordeca • : unless it were in the loins of his great grandfather. Kish and his posterity were of those goods figs mentioned in Jeremy: but goodness is no target against affliction.

With the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah ] The good figs were carried away at the same time with the bad; but in several baskets, Jer. 34.1. Kish and others like him, as Daniel, Ezekiel, Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego, &c. were not only good men, but very good, like the figs that are first ripe, Jer. 24.2. such as God's soul desireth, Mic. 7.1. and yet they were carried away with Jeconiah and the rest that were naught, stark naught, Jer. 24.2. The best may have their share in a common calamity: but God will not fail even then to set his eyes upon them for good, Jer. 24.6. The husbandman cutteth down his corn and weeds together, but for different purpose. Excellently Austin, Una eademque vis irruens bonos probat, purificat, eliquat; malos damnat, vastat, exterminat: One and the same common calamity proveth, melteth, purifieth the good; damneth, wasteth, destroyeth the evil: these have an evil, an only evil, Ezek. 7.5. without mixture of mercy; and that because they are naught, very naught, figs that cannot be eaten, they are so naught, Jer. 24.2.

Whom Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon had carried away ] Loe here the rod in God's hand for the chastisement of his children; that being chastened of the Lord, they may not be condemned with the world, 1 Cor. 11.32. This rod when he had worn to the stumps, he cast into the fire.

Verse 7. And he brought up ] He both nourished and nurtured her in the true Religion and admonition of the Lord, Ephes. 6.4. he was her foster-father, and her Instructor.

Hadassah ] Not the same with Atossa, as Tremellius would have it. Hadassah was the name given her by her parents, and it signifieth a Myrtle-tree, which loveth to grow in a bottom; whence the Church is compared to it for her lowly-mindedness, Zech. 1.8. See the Note there.

That is Esther ] This was her Persian name, say some; In Heathen histories, she is called Amestris.

His uncles daughter ] Not his brothers daughter, as the Vulgar rendereth it, after Josephus, and Ibn-Ezra. She was his cousin-german, and this was one reason that moved him to adopt her, viz. the bond of nature.

For she had neither father nor mother ] A poor Orphan she was: but Christ left her not comfortless, John 14.18. He had provided and enabled Mordecai to feed her and breed her: to train her up in the fear of God, and to defend her chastity from the rage of lust; besides that her head was by him destined to a Diadem: Esther the captive shall be Esther the Queen: Esther the fatherless and motherlesse, shall be a nursing mother to the Church; and mean while meet with a merciful Guardian Mordecai. Why then should we not trust God with ourselves and our children?

And the maid was fair and beautiful ] See the Note on verse 3. Gratior est pulchro, &c. For her beauty she was brought to the King; and not without some respect to this it was, that she was bred up by Mordecai. This beauty was a privilege of nature: and because of the forcible battery that would be laid to it, God gives her a Guardian. Esther was now in the flower of her age, and her beauty was the flower of her virtue, as Chrysippus called it.

Whom Mordecai when her father and mother were dead ] And so the might have been put to seek her bread in desolate places, being left to the wide world, as they say; but the Lord was her rearward, Isaiah 58.8. he took her up, Psal. 27.10. as the gathering army, or rear-guard did the lame feeble and sick Israelites, Josh. 6.9. In the Civil Law, provision is made for Orphans, and such as were cast out; some Hospitals to entertain them, some liberties to comfort and compensate their troubles. Amongst us also (besides harbours and Hospitals for such, to the great commendation of the Founders) very good provision is made by the Laws, and many lives thereby preserved. God oft professeth himself the pupil's Patron: gives great charge to all, not to hurt them; and menaceth the Jews for their hardheartednesse toward them. Let therefore the dying parents of such (though they have as little to leave them as Esther's had) cast them by faith into God's everlasting arms, who hath charged his Angels with them, and hath promised heaven to them; commanding his best creatures to cater for them, Hos. 2.21, 22.

Took for his own daughter ] He hid not his eyes from his own flesh, as some unnatural Ostrich, or Sea-monster: he made not, as many do, tuition a broker for private gain; he made not instead of a daughter a slave, or spunge of his pupil: he devoured her not under pretence of devotion; but freely took her for his child, and bred her in the best manner. Now the Jews at this very day account a child's Tutor or Monitour worthy of more respect then his father; for he, say they, hath given him only his being, but the other his well-being.

Verse 8. When the Kings commandment and decree was heard ] Percrebuisset: his officers (herein over-officious) had soon set it abroad, and put it in execution: the Persians also ( homines ad servitut ens paxati, as Tiberius said of the Romans ) those servile souls, deny not to prostitute their daughters, but proffer them rather, and hold them happy if they may be admitted. Not so Mordecai and his Esther Vis major eam abstulit. She was carried away by force, 'tis like or if otherwise, it might be a fault in her and her Guardian; unless we shall say they did it by an extraordinary instinct. Probably there was a sad parting and many prayers put up by them both for divine direction and protection; and they were heard accordingly.

And when many maidens were gathered together ] Four hundred, saith Josephus. Sed quid attinebat tot puellas huic cani constuprandas offerre? saith Feuardentius, why should this dog deflour so many maidens? Proculus Caesar boasted that in fifteen days space he got with child twenty Virgins: a fair commendation.

Unto Shushan the palace ] Answerable to the Seraglio, where those that are kept up for their beauties, are all young Virgins taken and stolen from foreign Nations; where after they have been instructed in good behavior, and can play upon instruments, sing, dance, and sew curiously, they are given to the Grand Signior as presents of great value. They live just as Nuns do in great Nunneries, &c.

That Esther was brought also ] In the general survey, she was taken among the rest and brought to the Court; an ill air for Piety to breath in. But necessity is an hard weapon. As the Turks at this day, so the Persian Kings then, took all their subjects to be their slaves, holding not only their estates, but their lives and all they have, at their dispose, without respect either to the cause or manner.

To the custody of Hegai keeper of the women ] Clapt up as it were, in a glorious prison, being not to come abroad but when the King calls, nor to frequent any society, but such as is appointed her for her necessary attendance and comfort. See the like in the description of the Grand Signiors Seraglio, chap. 4.

Verse 9. And the maiden pleased him ] Hegai cast his favor upon her; not because she was the fairest, noblest, most industrious, most courtly, &c. but because God wrought his heart to it; as he did Potiphar's and Pharaohs to Joseph, Jonathan's to David, Darius 's to Daniel, &c. It is the Lord that gives favor, and fashioneth men's opinions of us. He gave Solomon honor: and Paul prays to him, that his service may be accepted of the Saints, Row. 15.31.

And she obtained kindness of him ] His favor was not empty favor, professional only, as that of Courtiers.

And he speedily gave her, &c.] As resolving shortly to recommend her to the King, who, he knew, would be much ruled by him in his choice. Here were shadows of many excellent virtues in a blind Ethnik; who may in some sort teach true kindness, and doth condemn those that boast of false liberality. He dealt not basely, but bountifully with Esther.

Her things for purification ] See ver. 3.12.

With such things as belonged to her ] Heb. Her portions or allowances of food, raiment, &c. which this faithful officer interverted not for his own private gain, but rather enlarged himself in the true bestowing thereof.

And seven maidens ] When he might have put her off with one: he enlargeth himself, and even stretcheth his authority, that he might by these maid of honor attending her, set her forth as a Queen aforehand.

Which were meet to he given her ] Or, which were very comely, speciosa, vel spectatae.

And he preferred ] Heb. He changed her? sc. for the better, as God doth his people, when he taketh them to heaven, where they change place, but not company (as that good man said upon his death-bed) and are brought from the jaws of death, to the joys of eternal life; from shadows to substances, from misery to majesty, &c. a greater change then that of Queen Elizabeth, from a Prisoner to a Princesse; or that of our Henry the fourth, who was crowned the very same day that the year before he had been banished the Realm. The Latins call prosperous things Res secundas, because they are to be had hereafter; they are not the first things.

Unto the best place of the house of the women ] Or, Unto the best condition. God's best children shall have the best of the best, fat things full of marrow, wines on the lees well refined, Isaiah 25.6, Jacob and his family had the best of the Land of Egypt, that Granary of the world, as one calleth it. His posterity had a land that flowed with milk and honey. What Countries comparable to those that profess the Gospel? Godliness is profitable to all things, having the promises of both lives, &c.

Verse 10. Esther had not shown her people ] Because the Jews were slighted as captives, and forlorn (how dear to the gods that Nation is, faith Cicero, it appeareth, quod est victa, quod elocata, quod servata, in that they are conquered, captivated, and not utterly destroyed by us) they were also generally hated, as different in Religion, and would not so much as drink with Heathens, lest they should drink things sacrificed to Idols. They held it meritorious (in after-times) to kill an idolater, as Tacitus testifieth: and at this day they say, Optimus inter gentes, &c. The very best among the Gentiles is worthy to have his head bruised as a Serpent. A nasty people they are still, and bloodthirsty, odious and sordid. An historian telleth us of an Emperor travelling into Egypt, and there meeting with certain Jews, he was so annoyed with the stench of them, that he cried out, O Marcomanut, ô Quadi, ô Surmaetae, tandem alios vobis deteriores inveni. This is the basest and most contemptible people that ever I light upon. The Romans would not own them (when they had conquered them) as they did other Nations, though they complied never so much, and were their servants. The Turks so hate them for crucifying Christ, that they use to say in detestation of a thing, I would I might die a Jew then: as when they would assure anything, in execrationibus dicunt Judeus sim, si fallo, they curse themselves, and say, Let me be held a Jew, if I deceive thee. This lieth upon them as a punishment for their unexpiable guilt in putting to death the Lord of life. But in Esther's time they were hated chiefly for their Religion. In prudence therefore she concealeth her kindred, as being not called to give an account of her faith; and living private, might well perform her devotions, and yet not thrust herself into observation.

For Mordecai had charged be • that she should not show it ] Lest she should be cashiered the Court for a Jewe • se, which was then held crime enough, as afterwards it was in Nore 's days, to be a Christian; and this hand perinde in crimine, quàm odio humani generis, as Tavitus hath it, not for any great fault so much, as by the hatred of mankind, incensed and set on work by the Devil (doubtless) to root out the true Religion, and to set up himself in the hearts of men as god of this present world. Hence those complaints of Tertullian and Justin Martyr in their Apologies for Christians, that their name (and not their crimes) was hated and hissed out of all companies. Odio publico est confessio nominis, non examinatio criminis. — Solius hominis crimen est, &c. Wisely therefore did Mordecai charge Esther to conceal herself for present; so long as it might be done without prejudice to the truth, and scandal to her profession. Worthily also did holy Esther in obeying Mord • cai her faithful foster-father, in ruling her tongue that unruly member: and in that although she had changed her keeper, yet she had not let go her integrity, but held with that good woman in Jerome, who cried out, Non ideo fateri volo, ne peream: sed ideo me • riri nelo, ne peccem.

Verse 11. And Mordecai walked every day ] What marvel that Esther was so morigerous to Mordecai, when he was so solicitous of her welfare? These mutual respects draw 〈◊〉 one another. The Centurion in the Gospel had dutiful servants (Do this, said he, and they did it) for he was a most hind Master, and minded their good.

Before the court of the women's house ] The Turks wonder to see a man walk to and fro, and use to ask such an one what he meaneth? and whether he be out of his way, or out of his wi • s? But the Persians and Greeks were great walkers. Jesus also walked in Solomon's porch, John 10.23. &c.

To know how Esther di • ] Heb. The peace of Esther. Omnis in Ascanio, &c. He had taken her for his child, and was curious of her welfare, though she were now grown up, and preferred at Court. The Court he knew, was an ill air for godliness to breath in. His care was therefore that she might have Gaius 's prosperity, even mentem s •• am in corpore sano, a sound mind in a sound body. And although he trusted God with his Niece, yet he knew that an honest care of her might well stand with faith in God's providence. God must be trusted, but not tempted, by the neglect of lawful means, Matth. 4.7.

Verse 12. Now when every maids turn was come ] Their turns then they took, and held it their happiness to lose that which was their honor. See 1 Thess. 4.4. with the Note: their bodies were first adulterated, and then vitiated. This was abominable.

After that she had been twelve months ] Time spent without spare, and woefully wasted in making provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof: which the Prophet Amos rightly calleth a thing of naught, Chap. 6.13. with 4, 5, 6. Is time no better worth then to be thus rioted out in vanity? doth not eternity depend upon it, even the heaviest weights upon the weakest wires? It is therefore a good rule that one giveth,

According to the manner of the women ] Who of themselves are apt enough (without an order to do so, as here) to cast away too much time and cost in tricking and trimming their bodies (those painted sheaths) as the Comedians have tartly taxed them; Negotu quantum in muliere unâ est! saith Plautus. What a deal of do is there with one woman in this kind! And Nôsti mores mulierum, saith Terence; du •• moliuntur, dum comuntur, annus est. And as for the Persian women, Aelian saith that they were above all others most addicted to this vanity: and yet the haughty daughters of Zion are deeply censured, and heavily threatened, Isaiah 3.18. where the Prophet gives us an Inventory of those Ladies gallantry, and tells them that their fineness shall be turned into filthiness, their neatness become nastinesse.

For so were the days of their purification accomplished ] What strange preparation was here for the impure bed of an Heathen? Every Virgin must be six months purified, and six months perfumed. O God, saith one, what care and cost is requisite to that soul which should be addressed a fit bride for thy holy and glorious Majesty?

To wit, six months with oil of myrrh ] To cleanse them, and to clear up their countenances.

And six months with sweet odors ] Of these there is a lawful use, (why else were they created?) to please the sense, refresh the spirits, comfort the brain, &c. But the excess and abuse of them is utterly unlawful, and was justly punished in Darius the last Persian Monarch, and Muleasses King of Tunes, who so far affected sweet odors, that he could not be without them whiles he was in the field against his enemy. Hereby it came to pass, that being overcome in battle by his own son Amidas (another Absalom ) and pursued among the rest that fled, he was discovered and known who he was by the perfumes that he had about him, though to prevent it he had besmeared himself with blood and dust. Martial writing to his sweet friend, saith,

And another saith, That woman smelleth best which smelleth of nothing. Spiret autem foemina Christum, saith Clemen Alexandrinus, Let women learn and labor to smell of Christ who is the royal Unction, and let them ever he anointed with chastity, that chiefest ointment.

And with other things for the purifying of women ] Here was no end of excess, and of expense: and all to satisfy the lust of this impure Prince. Silver is lavished out of the bag, and much wealth cast away upon these Minions, who had nothing else to do but to exercise their wits in devising ornaments and artifices, whereby they might get the Kings favor, and artaine to the Queendome. Tully telleth us that it was ordinary with the Kings of Persia to bestow upon their women such a City to buy them bracelets, and such a City for head-tires, &c. This was luxus plane monstrósissi • us & prodigalissi •• , as one saith, most prodigious and prodigal luxury. So eagerly are the wicked bent upon the satisfying of their lusts, that they care not what cost they cast away upon them. Ask me never so much dowry, saith that Amouretto, Gen. 34.11, 12. Judah let go his signet, bracelets, and staff, to the Harlot. Josephus reporteth of one Decius Mundus ( Immundus rather) a Nobleman that to one Paulina, a Lady in Rome, he offered as much as came to six thousand pounds to satisfy his lusts but one night, and yet he could not bring her to his lure by such a large offer: though afterwards (under the mask of Anubis, to which dogs-head she was devoted) he found means to abuse her: which was the destruction both of those bawdy Priests, and their Temple.

Verse 13. Then thus came every maiden to the King ] Tirus prepared, anointed, appointed, &c. rejoicing in that whereof they had reason rather to repent; as too many do nowadays, whilst they go dancing to hell in their bolts.

Whatsoever she desired was given her ] Omne quod dicebat, was but ask and have: so lavish is lust; and so foolish are men to bestow cost upon so hard a reckoning.

Unto the Kings house ] Ad regis cubiculum, saith the old Interpreter to the Kings bed-chamber.

Verse 14. In the evening she went ] As the fittest time for a work of darkness.

And on the morrow she returned ] So short is the pleasure of sin. Laeta venire Venus, tristis abire solet.

Into the second house of the women ] That having made sale of her honesty, she might converse with such as had likewise left their honesties behind them; companions in evil, and miserable comforters, with whom they might make up their measure, and God power on his.

She came in unto the King no more ] But must burn in lust, without means of allayment; being scalded, as it were, in her own grease, frying within, and freezing without. Sed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Cyril saith in a like case, We do but rake a dughill in a discourse of this nature. Let us therefore stay here no longer (as an Interpreter hath it) in setting forth the filthiness of this Heathen Prince, who yet hath too many amongst us that imitate his uncleanness, and intemperance.

Verse 15. Now when the turn of Esther, &c. ] Then, and not till then. So when Joseph was sufficiently humbled, the King sent and loosed him; the Ruler of the people let him go free. When David was become weaned from the world, as a child from the breasts; when his heart was not haughty, nor his eyes lofty, &c. then was he advanced to the Kingdom, Psal. 131.1, He that believeth maketh not haste. God's time is best: and as he seldom cometh at our time, so he never faileth at his own.

The daughter of Abigail ] The seed of the righteous, and so an heiresse of that precious promise, His seed shall be mighty upon earth, Psal. 111. She was also a daughter of Israel, and therefore God's first-born, higher then the Kings of the earth, Psalm 84.27.

Who had taken her for his daughter ] This good work was so well pleasing to God, that it is once again recited, and honourably mentioned. What shall the Lord Christ then do at the last day for his people who are full of mercy and good fruits? If now he doth not only make mention of us, but mediation for us at the throne of glory; surely then he will much more make our faith which worketh by love, to be found unto praise, and honor, and glory, 1 Pet. 1.7.

She required nothing ] As other maids had done to set out their beauty; but contenting herself with her native comeliness, and that wisdom that made her face to shine: she humbly taketh what Hegai directed her to, and wholly resteth upon the Divine providence.

And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all ] By her comely countenance and gracious deportment. Plutarch speaks of a Spartan woman, that when her neighbors were showing their apparel and jewels, she brought out her children virtuous and well taught, saying, These are my ornaments and accoustrements. Esther did the like by her virtues, which drew all hearts unto her; like as fair flowers in the spring do the passengers eyes. She had decked herself with the white of simplicity, with the red of modesty, with the silk of piety, with the sattin of sanctity, with the purple of chastity, as Tertullian expresseth it: taliter pigmentatae Deum habebitis amatorem, saith he, and being thus adorned and beautified, women shall have God himself to be their suitor, and all godly men their admirers. Whereas on the other side,

Verse 16. So Esther was taken unto King Ahasuerus ] And so that sweet Promise was fulfilled and exemplified in her, Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a Dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold, Psal. 68.13. God raised up this poor Orphan, this despicable exile out of the dust, and lifted this needy one out of the dunghill, that he may set her with Princes, even with the Princes of the people, Psal. 113.7, 8. Thus he raised Moses and Joseph, David and Daniel, &c.

Into his House-royal ] A place of rest and honor. Thus

In the tenth month ] Not in the twelfth month, as Josephus hath it falsely: and yet the Papists tell us, that the common people may well want the historical part of the Bible, and for it read Josephus his Jewish Antiquities.

In the seventh year of his reign ] Four or five years before Haman's advancement: this was a sweet Providence, that God should set up one to be a deliverer to his Church, so long before the danger grew on. So Joseph was sent down to Egypt before: Moses was skilled in all the learning of the Egyptians, and afterwards sent to Midian that he might be fitted to be King in Jeshurun, &c. Oh how unsearchable are God's judgments, and his ways past finding out! Oh the depth, &c! Latimers three last Petitions were granted.

Verse 17. And the King loved Esther ] This was the Lord's own work, who regarded the low estate of his Handmaid, and framed the Kings heart to affect her. Let all such maids as desire loving husbands, and all such wives as would have their husbands loyal and loving to them, get God's favor, and adorn themselves with humility and modesty, as Esther did. Let Christian husbands also learn (for shame) of this barbarian, to love their wives above all women, with a conjugal, chaste and fast affection; not lusting and hankering after strange flesh. 'It is remarkable, that after Solomon had said, Rejoice in the wife of thy youth, — be thou ravished always with her love; he subjoineth, And why wilt thou my son be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? Prov. 5.19, 20.

She obtained grace and favor in his sight ] Surely as meat pleaseth better in a clean dish, so virtue in comely persons in more amiable, saith Hugo. Beauty of itself is a greater commendation, saith Aristotle, then all letters testimonial.

So that he set the royal Crown upon her head ] For Queens also had their Crowns, and did shine with the beams of their husbands; saying, as once those Roman Ladies, Ubi tu Gaius, ibi ego Caia, wheresoever thou art King, I also am Queen. Severus here saith, that the King clothed Esther with a purple robe, to show, that he shared the Kingdom with her, but the text holdeth forth no such matter: Indeed he made her Queen instead of Vashti, he made also a great wedding feast, and gave a release to the Provinces, and gifts to his Grandees, as it followeth.

Verse 18. Then the King made a great feast ] Feasts are never more in season, then at the recovery of the lost rib. See the note on Gen. 29.22.

Unto all his Princes and his servants ] So did Maurice the Emperor of Greece, when he married Constantina; and Henry the third Emperor of Germany, when he married Agnes, daughter to the Prince of Pictavia, at Ingelheim. Whither when a great sort of Players, Fiddlers, Jesters and Jugglers resorted, he not only sent them away without reward, but also without meat and drink, which he liberally bestowed upon the poor.

Even Esther's feast ] So he called it, to testify his great affection and respect toward his Spouse. This is no warrant for that Popish custom, of dedicating feasts to the honor of Saints; or for that heathenish practice, in some places amongst us, of keeping Wakes.

And he made a release to the Provinces ] That is, he caused it to be kept Holiday, as Josephus hath it. Or rather he granted to his subjects a relaxation, on feeed me from their taxes, tributes and public payments, for a time at least, that thereby the New Queen might get favor and authority amongst them, and all men might wish them much joy and happiness, that the loins of the people might bless their Prince and his marriage for this breathing and intermission; when as formerly his Exactours received from his subjects no less sums of curses then of coin, to maintain his luxury.

And gave gifts ] Such as Xenophon reckoneth up, bracelets, chains of gold, garments, horses with rich trappings, dishes from his own table, &c. This was Kingly, this was god-like, James 1.5. His son Artaxerxes Longimanus was wont to say, that he had therefore one hand longer then another, that he might be readier to give then to receive. Of Cyrus it is said, that he took more content in giving then receiving. Of Steven King of Hungary, and of Oswald King of England, that their right hands rotted not off, a long while after they were dead, because oft stretched out in giving gifts, and dealing alms. Christ received that he might give, Psal. 68.18. Eph. 4.8. And held it more blessed to give then to receive, Acts 20.35. Be wise now therefore, O ye Kings, &c. by your bounty and liberality the people shall be obliged, the State fenced, virtue encouraged, misery relieved, that you have secured. For,

According to the state of the King ] Not pinchingly and sparingly, but bountifully, and as became a King: as Alexander the Great, when he sent his Tutor a ship full of frankincense: and when a poor man asked him for an alms, he gave him a City, which when the poor man started at and made strange of, Alexander said unto him, Non quaero quid te accipere deceat, sed quid me dare, The question is not what thou shouldest receive, but what it beseemeth me to give. And thus is the marriage of Esther solemnized with state and pomp suitable: thus is God's Promise made by Jeremy fulfilled, that if Jeconiah would not stand out against Nebuchadnezzar, but yield up the City, and go into captivity, it should be well with him and the people in the land of their captivity. It was so with him, Jer. 52.31. it was so likewise with Esther, Daniel, and many others by their means. And why? God will not suffer his faithfulness to fail, nor alter the word that is gone out of his month.

Ver. 19. And when the Virgins were gathered together, &c. ] For a new supply of the Kings insatiable lust, say some, this affection soon growing cold to Esther. So unreasonable is lust, so inconstant carnal affection, so lawless are the wicked, so short is any happiness of perfection in this life. The Septuagint leave out this word [the second time] but the Hebrew verity hath it. Others say, the second time, signifieth into the second house of the women. For they went not each to their own homes, because the King was now fully satisfied in his choice, as Tremellius and Junius conceive, but they remained in the custody of Shaazgar Keeper of the Kings Concubines, not suffered to converse with any man ever after, as Ibn-Ezra observeth. Therefore they were twice gathered together. Once, when they were brought to Hegai the Eunuch, and again, when from the Kings house, they met all together in the second house of the women, under the Government of Shaazgar.

Then Morde • ai sat in the Kings gate. ] As Porter or other Officer, saith Severus: and he attended still upon his office, not fawning on Esther, nor prolling for preferment. His ambition was to be quiet and to do his own business, intra pelliculam suam se continere: high feats he knew were never but uneasy, and long robes cannot but contract much soil. In the place he now holdeth, he can hear how it goeth with his Esther, and do the King good service, as verse 21.

Verse 20. Esther had not yet shown her kindred ] Taciturnity is sometimes a virtue, and Tacitus the best Historian. Queen Elizabeth's Motto was, Video, taceo, I see, and say nothing. Sophocles saith, Nothing better becometh a woman then silence. Euripides also saith, that silence, and modesty, and keeping at home, are the greatest commendation to a woman that can be. Curtius telleth us, that the Persians never trust one whom hey find to be talkative. Why Esther concealed her kindred, see the note on v. 11. and know that this is no warrant for popish equivocation; a device of the Jesuits, for the comfort of afflicted Catholics (as Blackwell and Garnet profess) and for the instruction of all the godly.

For Esther di • the commandment of Mordeoai ] Her honors had not altered her manners. She was semper endem, as obsequious and observant of Mordec ••• still as ever. So was Joseph, David, Solomon, Epaminondas, and others, of their old and poorer Parents. Pope Benedict a Lombard, Ani • Dom. 1303. A shepherds son would not acknowledge his poor mother, when she came to him Lady-like, but caused her to put on her shepherdesse apparel, and then did her all the honor that might be. Sir Thomas Moore, would in Westminster Hall beg his fathers blessing on his knees. Mordecas was Esther's foster-father, and had given her (though not her being, yet) her well-being; and hence she so respects him, and is so ruled by him. She had gotten from him that nurture and admonition in the Lord, that was better to her then the Crown of the Kingdom: for what is unsanctified greatness but eminent dishonor? and what is dignitas in indigno, but ornamentum in lute? If any Parents find disobedient children; let them consider whether Eli like, they have not honored (I mean cockered) their sons too much, 1 Sam. 2.29. which is the reason they honor then now so little. Will they keep meat well savoured, yet never salt it? will they have sprigs sprout right, yet never lop them? Our Henry the second so cockered his eldest son Henry, that he crowned him whilst himself was yet alive, which made his ambition quite turn off his obedience, to his fathers great heart-break.

Verse 21. In those days ] Whiles the King is drowning himself in pleasure, and dreadeth no danger: whiles he was ravishing and deflowering of Virgins, and bragging (perhaps) as Proculus the Emperor did, that when he made war upon the S •• matians; in fifteen days he got with child an hundred Virgins of that Country, there taken prisoners. Whiles this voluptuous Prince was in the glut of his carnal delights, in the flagrancy of his sinful lusts his life is sought for, and hell gapes for him; so slippery places are great ones set in: so doth the Lord sauce their greatest prosperity with sudden and unexpected dangers. Thus Artilas King of Huns was hanged up in gibbets, as it were, by God's own hand, in the 〈◊〉 of his Nuptials. Thus King Henry of France, upon the marriage of his sister to 〈◊〉 King of Spain, was so over joyed, that he called himself by a new title, Tres heureuse Roy, the thrice happy King, But (to confute him) in solemnizing that marriage, he was slain at Tilt by Mongomery, Captain of his guard, though against his Will, &c.

While Mor decai sat in the Kings gate ] See ver. 19.

Two of the Kings Chamberlaines ] In trust I have found treason, said Queen Elizabeth. So before her, did David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Joash, Amaziah, Alexander the great, Julius Caesar, and who not, almost? Hence some great Princes have wished never to have meddled with Government as Augustus, Adrian, (foelix si non imperitâsset) Pertinax, who used to say, that he never in all his life committed the like fault, as when he accepted the Empire: and many times he motioned to leave the same, and to return unto his house. Dioclesian and Maximian did so; for they found, that quot servi, tot hosts; quot custodes, tot curnifices: they could not be safe from their own servants; but Damocles -like, they sat at meat with a drawn sword hanging by a twined thread over their necks. Hence Dionysius durst not trust his own daughter to barbe him. And Massinissa, King of Numidia, committed his safe-keeping to a guard of dogs; for men he durst not trust.

Of those which kept the door ] sc. Of the Kings bed-chamber. Some render it, which kept the housbold-stuff •• . Men, they were much entrusted, and therefore the more to be abhorred. Metuendum est esse sine custode, sed multo magis à custode metuendum est, said Augustus concerning his guard, whom he suspected of treachery: All, or must of his successors, till Constantine, died unnatural deaths. Let great ones therefore come ••• themselves to God in well-doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Were wroth ] What the occasion of their discontent was, is uncertain. The Greek and Chaldee say it was, because Mordecai was so promoted. Others, because Vas • ti was deposed, and Esther advanced to her Royal state. Others say that they affected the Kingdom, as the Magi had done not long before. Some again, that they were not well paid their arrears. Sure it is, that ambition, envy, covetousness, all or some of these stirred them up to this treasonable attempt. Whatsoever the Sire was, the bastard is anger: and rage likely is the mother of treason, because as it banisheth reason, and so gives way to all unruliness, so it ends in malice; and malice will have blood.

And sought to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus ] Kings are fair marks for Traitours to shoot at. In which regard

Most of the Caesars got nothing by their adoption or designation to the Empire, Nisi ut citiùs interficerentur, but to be slain so much the sooner. Treasons there were so many plotted and practiced against that incomparable Queen Elizabeth, that she said in Parliament, She rather marvelled that she was then mused that she should not be, were in not that God's holy hand had protected her beyond expectation. Henry the fourth of France, was first stabbed in the mouth, and after that in the heart, by those false Jesuits, whom he had admitted into his very bosom, and used with marvelous respect. But in would not serve his turn to save his life. His Countryman Cominaeus telleth us, that if he should write of all the Princes which he knew in his time, that in the judgment of men seemed to live in great felicity, and yet to those that knew them familiarly, lived in a miserable estate, that matter alone would require a reasoriable Volume.

Verse 22. And the thing was known to Mordecai ] How he came to know it, is uncertain. Josephas saith, that it was revealed to him by one Barnabazus a Jew, who was servant to one of the Conspiratours. R. Solomon saith, that the Eunuchs talked of the plot before Mordecai in the language of Tarsus, •••• ing that he had not understood them; and so it came forth. Others conceive, that 〈◊〉 solicited him, being one of the Keepers of the Kings door also to join with them. Howsoever it was that he got inkling and intelligence of their bloody purpose; God was in it, and good men are of his privy counsel; The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, Psal. 25.11. Their apprehensions of things are deep, and their observations right, their knowledge rare to boult out mischiefs, their experience lead them o • to guess shrewdly at men's purposes by their looks and gestures. I wisdom dwell with prudence (or subtlety) and find out knowledge of witty inventions. Prov. 8.12.

Who told it unto Esther the Queen ] Haply, as holding himself (a mean man) unworthy and unfit to speak to the King. Or, as fearing lest he should not be believed, or should be out-faced by the Traitour, or as conceiving that it would be better taken from Esther, whom the King so dearly loved; and might prove a good means to infeoffe her farther into his favor. Yea M • rdec • i himself (saith an Interpreter) might safely have also a further reach herein namely, to try the sincere affection of Esther towards him, whether she would make this an occasion to his good and preferment, or rather take the glory thereof unto her self.

And Esther certified the King thereof in Mordecais name ] She doth not conceal the treason, or further it, as some ambitious Semiramis would have done, or adulterous Livia. For although she was wont to boast that she ruled her husband Augustus by obeying him, yet Pliny and Tacitus tell us, that she was over-familiar with Eudemus her Physician. And whereas Augustus his last words to her were, O Livia, remember our marriage, and Adieu. She did so, and 'tis thought had • finger in setting him going. And the like i • reported of Clytemnestra, Olympia • , Queen Isabel, wife to our Edward the second. But holy Esther was none such; She, as a loyal and faithful wife, discovereth to the King the danger he was in, and so saveth his life, so did Michal David's wife, though she hall no great goodness in her. The like is reported of Cleopatra, daughter to Antiochus the great, who gave her in marriage to Ptolem •• Epiphant • , thinking by her to destroy him, but he was deceived, according to Dan. 11.17. Valerius Maximus and Fulgesius speak much in the commendation of Thuria, Sulpitia, Chilonia, Antonia, Egnatia, &c. for loving and faithful wives Val •••• Maximus Christianus also for like cause, celebrateth 〈◊〉 , wife to Philip the Emperor and Mary, wife to Sigism •• d, King of Bohemia and Hungary, &c.

Verse 23. And when Inquisition was made of the matter ] The King neither slighted this accusation, not over-hastily believed it. Not this, lest he should discover a needless fear, or precipitate a wrong sentence. Not that, lest he should betray his own life, and put all into a confusion, as Gedaliah did, Jer. 40. and 41. and as he in the history did, who being forewarned by a letter, of a dangerous plot laid for his life, laid aside the letter with these words, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Tomorrow we will mind these serious businesses, but ere the morrow he was dispatched. The matter was here inquired into, saith the text, lest haply it might be mis-reported, and so the innocent be punished. Or, if not innocent, yet Doth our Law condemn any before his cause be heard? Surely Pilate and Festus were far better Justicers then Caiaphas and Lysias, for they would execute a man in the morning, and then sit upon him in the afternoon. Aeneas Sylvius, in his twentieth chapter of Europe, tells of some places, wherein if any one be suspected of theft, he is forthwith taken and trussed up. Three days after, they judge of the suspicion: and if they find the man guilty, they let his carcass hang till it rot: as if otherwise, they take it down and bury it honourably at the public charge. This is preposterous justice, judgment turned into gall, and righteousness into hemlock.

It was found out ] As treason usually is, and strangely: witness those in Queen Elizabeth's reign, and the powder-plotters. Creighton the Jesuit, a Scot, sailing into Scotland, and being taken by certain Netherland-Pirates, had torn certain papers in pieces. But the torn pieces being thrown out of the ship, were blown back again by the wind and cast by a Providence into the ship, not without a miracle as Creighton said himself. Which being set together by Wade, with much labor and singular cunning, discovered new designs of the Pope and his Agents here against England. Anno 1585. Detexit facinus fatnus & non implevit, saith Tacitus of one about his time. Either the Traitours own tongue shall betray him (as it befell those two sent by Mahomet to kill Skanderbeg ) or the fowls of heaven shall reveal the mischief, and that which hath wing shall tell the matter, Eccles. 10.20. (It was a piece of a wing, a quill that discovered that hellish powder-plot) Or some other way it shall be found out, as here, and the Conspiratours brought to condign punishment.

Therefore they were both hanged on a tree ] Traitours, like bells, will be never well tuned till well hanged, till they have worn a Tyburne-tippet, as father Latimer phrased it. Campian that spider was swept down by the hand of justice, and drew his last thread in the Triangle of Tyburne. His words in his Epistle to the Honorable Counselors of Queen Elizabeth were these, Quamdiu vel unus quispiam e nobis supererit qui Tyburno vestro fruatur, &c. As long as there is any one of us left to enjoy your Tyburne, &c. Much joy may they have of it, since it is their ambition, and may their quarters be set as high, as that false Edricks head once was by King Knute, viz. upon the highest part of the tower of London, therein performing his Promise to a Traitour, of advancing him above any Lord of the Land.

And it was written in the book of the Chronicles ] Heb. in the book of the words of days, in the Diary of the Kings, or in the book of remembrance. As the Jews, so the Persians had their Chronicles or public Commentaries, wherein all memorable acts were recorded, and Scribes or Historiographers for that purpose appointed and maintained; Plutarch writeth that at that great sea- • ight between Themistocles and the Persians, Xerxes sat in a throne of gold, and saw the conflict, having many Scribes about him, whose office was to set down all that was done that day. This was a commendable custom, and might be a motive to their Kings and great ones to take heed of doing ought that they would not have registered and read by succeeding ages Suetonius telleth us, that Augustus upon this account, forbade his Daughter and Neeces to say or do anything that they would not have to be chronicled.

Before the King ] Perhaps in his presence, and for his special use though Mordecai 's good service was soon forgotten, God forget not to recompense Ahasuerus his love to Fisther, and courtesy to her people, by detecting and defeating those Conspiratours that • ought his life. But he soon forgets Mordecai, God's instrument for his deliverance, though the matter were written in a book before him; hence he goes noted with a black coal for his ingratitude. Tamerlane had a catalogue of the names of such as had best deserved of him, which he daily perused, oftentimes saying, that day to be lost wherein he had not given them something. There was a Providence in it, that nothing was yet done for Mordecai. God's time is the best, and we shall one day say so: neither is there anything lost by waiting his leisure. He bottles up our tears, he books up our sighs, he writes down all we say or do in his roll of remembrance, Mal. 3.6, 10. See the Note there, and the Reference.

CHAP. III. Verse 3. After these things did King Ahasuerus promote Haman.]

FOure years after his marriage with Esther, (or near upon) did Ahasuerus magnify and exalt Haman, Hominem profanum & sceleratum, as one saith, a profane wicked person: merely for his mind sake, to show his Sovereignty, and that he would, like some petty god upon earth, set up whom he would, and whom he would, put down, Dan. 4.19. Whether it were also by flattery or sycophancy, or some new projects for establishing his tyranny, and increasing his tributes, that Haman had insinuated himself into this Kings favor, it is uncertain. Sure it is, that Mordecai, a better man, lay yet unlookit upon; like good corn he lay in the bottom of the heap, when this vilest of men was exalted, Psal. 12.8. Thus oft empty vessels swim aloft, rotten posts are gilt with adulterate gold, the worst weeds spring up bravest; and when the twins strive in Rebecca 's womb, profane Esau comes forth first, and hath the primogeniture, Gen. 25.25. But whiles they seek the greatest dignities, they mostly meet with the greatest shame, like Apes, while they be climbing, they the more show their deformities. They are lifted up also, ut lapsu graviore ruant that they may come down again with the greater poise. It was therefore well and wisely spoken by Alvarez de Luna, when he told them who admired his fortune and favor with the King of Castile. You do wrong to commend the building before it be finished, and until you see how it will stand.

The son of Amedatha the Agagite ] i.e. The Amalekite, of the Stock-royal: so that Haman was the natural enemy of the Jews, like as Annibal was of the Romans. An old grudge there was, an inveterate hatred: Amalek was Esau 's grand-child, and the enmity betwixt these two people's was, as we say of runnet, the older the stronger.

And advanced him ] Set him aloft upon the pinnacle of highest preferment, as Tiberius did Sejanus, as Lewis the eleventh of France did his Barber, as our Henry the eighth did Wolsey; and our late Kings, Buckingham. But Princes Favorites should consider with themselves, that honor is but a blast, a magnum nihil, a glorious fancy, a rattle to still men's ambition, and that as the Passenger looketh no longer upon the dial, then the Sun shineth upon it: So it is here.

And set his seat above all the Princes ] This cup of honor his weak head could not bear: this blast so blew up the bubble, that it burst again. Sejanus -like, he now began to sacrifice to himself, little thinking of that utter ruin to the which he was ha • ting. Physicians use to say, that ultimus sanitatis gradus est morbo vicinus. Sure it is, that when the wicked are near unto misery, they have greatest preferment and prosperity. When Tiberius was desirous to rid his hands of Sejanus, he made him his Colleague in the Consulship, and set him above all his Courtiers. Ahasuerus intended not any hurt to Haman, when he raised him to this pitch of preferment; but it puffed him up, and proved his bane. None are in so great danger, as those that walk upon pinnacles: even height it self makes men's brains to swim. Every man is not a Joseph, or a Daniel. They were set above all the Princes, and could not only bear it, but improve it for the glory of God, and the good of his people. Sed ô quàm hoc non est omnium! High seats are not only uneasy, but dangerous, and how few are there that do not (as Is • s her asse) think themselves worshipful for the burden they bear?

Verse 2. And all the Kings servants ] His Courtiers and others; not his menial servants only.

That were in the Kings gate ] Where the Courtiers used to walk, that they night be at a call: and where others attended, that had business at the Court.

Bowed and reverenced Haman ] Not with so much readiness and diligence, as impudence and baseness: for should men bow to a molten calf, because made up of golden ear-rings? Many of these cringing Courtiers could not but hate Haman in their hearts, and were as ready to wish him hanged, and to tell the King shortly after where he might have a fit gallows for him. So Sejanus his greatest friends, who had deified him before, when once he fell out of the Emperors favor, shown themselves most passionate against him, saying, that if Caesar had clemency, he ought to reserve it for men, not use it toward monsters.

For the King had so commanded concerning him ] And if the King had commanded these servile fowls to worship a dog or a cat, as the Egyptians did a golden image, as Nebuchadnezzar's subjects did; to turn the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of a corruptible man, of four-footed beasts or creeping things, as Rom. 1.23. they would have done it. Most people are of King Harry 's religion, as the proverb is, resolving to do as the most do, though thereby they be undone forever. This is to be worse then some Heathens. See the note on Acts 4.10. But why should Ahasuerus be so hasty to heap such honors upon so worthless and wicked a person, but that he had a mind to proclaim his own folly to all his Kingdom?

But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence ] He did not, he durst not, though pressed and urged to it with greatest importunity. And why? not because Haman wore a picture openly in his bosom, as the Chaldee Paraphrast and Ibn Ezra give the reason, Nor merely (if at all, which some doubt of) because he was a cursed Amalekite; But because the Persian Kings required, that themselves and their chief Favorites (such as proud Haman was,) should be reverenced with a kind of divine honor, more then was due to any man. This the Jews were flatly forbidden by their Law to do. The Lacedemonians also were resolute against it, as Herodotus in his seventh book relateth. Pelopidas the Thebane would not be drawn to worship the Persian Monarch in this sort. No more would Conon the Athenian General. And when Timagoras did, the Athenians condemned him to die for it. It was not therefore pride or self-willednesse that made Mordecai so stiff in the hams that he would not bend to Haman; but fear of sin, and conscience of duty. He knew, that he had better offend all the world, then God and his own conscience.

Verse 3. Then the Kings servants, &c. ] See verse 2.

Said unto Mordecai ] Tempting his piety and constancy not once, but often, alleging the Kings commandment, together with his alonenesse in refusing to obey it, Haman's power, displeasure, &c. Thus they presented to Mordecai both Irritamenta and Terriculamenta, i.e. Allurements and Affrightments, according to that of the Apostle, Heb. 11.37. they were tempted on both hands, but all in vain. Sapientis virtus, perea quibus petitur, illustratur. This constancy wicked men call obstinacy, but they speak evil of that they know not, viz. the power of the Spirit, and the privy armor of proof, that the Saints have about their hearts.

Why transgressest thou the Kings Commandment ] Right or wrong, it matters not with many; if the King or State have commanded a thing, done it must be. But what said that Martyr to the Popish Bishop, pressing him with this Argument, and affirming, that the Kings Laws must be obeyed, whether they agree with the Word of God or not, yea, though the King were an infidel? If Shedrach, Meshech and Abednego had been of your mind, my Lord, (said Roger Coo, Martyr) Nebuchadnezzar had not confessed the living God. True it is, that we must give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. But withal, we must see to it, that we give unto God the things that are God's, Matth. 22.21. where the three articles used in the Original are very emphatical. And it is a saying of Chrysostom, If Caesar will take to himself God's part, by commanding that which is sinful, to pay him such a tribute is not tributum Caesaris, but servitium diaboli, an observing of Caesar, but a serving of the devil.

Verse 4. Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him ] This if they did of good-will, (as at first perhaps they did) it was a friendly office, and may shame many of us who are so backward to Christian admonition, (See my common places) that spiritual Alms, that we are bound freely to distribute. Jude 22.23. But if (as is likely, at length at least) they did it to ingratiate with Haman, and out of envy to Mordecai, because he did not comply and comport with them, what did they else but act the devils part; and the rather, because they were importunate and impudent as not to take an answer?

And he hearkened not unto them ] They did but surdo fabulam (as they say) beat upon cold iron; this matter was not malleable, this man not to be prevailed with, to do ought against his conscience. The Heavens shall sooner fall, then I will alter mine opinion, said that Martyr. This the Persecutours called obstinacy: sed pro hac obstinatione fi • ei mor • mar, saith Tertullian, but for this obstinacy of faith we gladly die: and the stronger any are in faith, the more resolute in warrantable purposes. The strength of Israel repenteth not, 1 Sam. 10.29. Unconstancy comes from weakness.

That they told Haman ] Purposely to pick a thank and curry favor. Go not about as a tale-bearer, Levite. 19.16. The word signifieth as a peddler, that first filleth his pack with tales and slanders, and then venteth them to the hurt of others. Such are fitly joined with flatterers. Prov. 20.19. and with murderers, Ezek. 22.9. Such a wretched Pedler was Doeg, and such were these evil instruments in the text, whose tongues were as sharp as the quills of a Porcupine, the poison of asps was under their lips. And although it was truth they told Haman, yet because they did it not for any love to the truth, nor for respect to justice, nor for the bettering of either party, but only to undo the one, and to incense the other, they were no better then flanderers.

To see whether Mordecai's matters would stand ] Whether he would stick to his principles, and not start aside for any terror, Phil. 1.28.

For he had told them that he was a Jew ] That is, by Interpretation, a Confessor: yea more, he was a stout Professor of the truth: and though he had hitherto concealed himself, yet now (since they will needs have it so) he plainly tells them, his country and his conscience, the true cause of his peremptoriousness, which they held and called pr • de and stubbornness.

Verse 5. And when Haman saw ] Stirred up by these pestilent pick-thanks, qui crabronem furiosum magìs irritaverant (as one saith) he took special notice of Haman's irreverence, which with more discretion he might have dissembled. When an inconsiderate fellow had stricken Cato in the Bath, and afterwards cried him mercy, he replied, I remember not that thou didst strike me; It is a sign of weakness to be too soft and sensible of an indignity; I was as a deaf man that heard not, and as one dumb, in whose mouth is no reproof, Psal. 38.13, 14. The best apology to words and carriages of scorn and petulancy, is that of Isaac to Ishmael, viz. patience and silence.

That Mordecai bowed not, &c. ] A great business to mad him so much, but that he was set on by that old man-slayer.

A small wind raiseth a bubble, ambition rideth without reins, and hath inhabitatorem Draconem Apostatam, the devil at inne with it.

Then was Haman full of wrath ] He swelled like a toad, glow'd like a devil; being transformed as it were, into a breathing devil, he seeks the utter extirpation of that people, of whom, as corcerning the flesh; Christ was to come, Rom. 9.5. wishing the same to them which Caligula in a rage did to the people of Rome, I would ye had all but one neck, that I might cut you all off at one blow. Josephus tells us, that he brake out into this blustering speech, Liberi Persae me adorant. Hic autem, servus cùm sit, tamen hoc fa • ere dedignatur. The Persians, though free-men, reverence me, and yet this slave thinks himself too good to do it. This he uttered no doubt with a very harsh and hateful intention of the voice, such as was that of the two brethren in evil, (whose anger was fierce; and their wrath cruel) when Gen. 34.31. they answered their aggrieved father. Should he deal with our sister as an harlot? where the word Z • nab (Harlot) hath a great letter, to note their vehemency, rage and rudeness.

Verse 6. And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone ] He thought it a small matter, saith Josephus, a thing below him, too little for his revenge, which like fire burneth all it can lay hold upon, especially when as here it ariseth from ambition, which like choler a dust, if obstructed and stopped in its course, is a dangerous passion▪ and endeth in burning fevers and madness. Haman thought scorn, ( contempsit in oculis suis, so the Hebrew) to foul his fingers with Mordecai alone, the whole Nation must perish, and all the children of God that were scattered abroad, as he once said, John 11.50, 52. Semblably, nostri temporis Hamanus (saith Merlin upon this text,) the Haman of our time, (meaning the Duke of Guise, as I suppose) when as by the Kings favor he was promoted, and promised himself the Crown, there being but one family only that stood in his way, he desired together with it to overturn all the Reformed Religion, and to root out all the remembrance of the Churches in France. Hence the Parisian Massacre, (wherein