Commentary on Ezra Nehemiah Ester Job and Psalms

CHAP. IV. Verse. 1. When Mordecai perceived all that was done]

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith Josephus, when he had learned or fully informed himself, so that he knew it to be so, as the Hebrew text hath it. Solicitous he was of the Churches welfare, and sat listening, as Eli did once, what would become of the Ark. Now therefore (as ill news is swift of foot, saith Sophocles, and comes like ill weather, before it be sent for) Mordecai taketh knowledge of that bloody decree, though Esther and those about her had not heard of it, ver. 4, 5. Neither sitteth he still at home, as desponding and despairing, or seeketh by sinister practices to help himself and his people, but applieth himself, First, to God by hearty humiliation and prayer; And then to the King, by the intercession of Esther. A carnal heart would have taken other shifting courses; like as a dog that hath lost his Master, will follow after any other for relief.

Mordecai rent his clothes ] To show that his very heart was rent with sorrow for Zion. This custom of renting their clothes in time, and in token of greatest grief, was in use not among the Jews only, but Persians also, and other Nations, as is noted by Herodotus and Curtius.

And put on sackcloth ] The courseft clothing he could get: as holding any clothes too good for so vile a caiti •• and showing, that but for shame he would have worn none. So the Ninevites sat in sackcloth and ashes, for more humiliation. See Exod. 33.4. &c.

And 〈◊〉 ] He put on ashes or dust, that is a dusty garment sprinkled with ashes, saith 〈…〉 his mouth in the dust, as L •• . 3.20 acknowledging himself to be of the earth earthy, and fit fuel for hell fire.

And went out into the midst of the City ] That he might be a pattern to others. Si vis me flere, &c.

And cried with a loud and bitter cry ] More • ar • arico, after the manner of that country; but there was more in it then so. It was not his own danger that so much affected him, (how gladly could he have wished with Ambrose, that God would please to turn all the adversaries from the Church upon himself, and let them satisfy their thirst with his blood?) as that so many innocent people should perish. This made him lift up his voice unto God on High.

Verse 2. And 〈◊〉 even before the Kings gate ] Which should have been always open to poor Petitioners, (as the gate of the Roman Aedilis was) but was now shut against such Mourners as Mordecai. A night-cap was an ill sight at Court: Jolly spirits cannot endure sadness: so great enemies they are to it, that they banish all seriousness, like as the Nicopolites so hated the braying of an Ass, that for that cause they would not abide to hear the sound of a trumpet.

For none might enter into the Kings gate clothed with sackcloth ] Behold, they that wear softs are in Kings houses, Mat. 11.8. and those that are altogether set upon the merry pin. Jannes and Jambres (those Jugglers) are gracious with Pharaoh, when Moses and Aaron are frowned upon. Baals Prophets are fed at Jezebel's Table, when Elias is almost pined in the desert. The dancing Damosel trippeth on the toe, and triumpheth in Herod's Hall, when the rough-coated Baptist lieth in cold irons: and Christ's company there is neither cared for, nor called for, unless it be to show tricks, and do miracles for a pastime, Luke 23.8. The Kings and Courtiers of Persia must see no sad sight, lest their mirth should be marred, and themselves surprised with heaviness and horror. But if Mourners might not be suffered to come to Court, why did those proud Princes so sty up themselves, and not appear abroad for the relief of the poor oppressed? How much better the moderne Kings of Persia; whom I have seen (saith a certain Traveler) to alight from their horses; to do justice to a poor body? How much better the great Turk, who whensoever he goeth forth by land, doth always ride on horseback, upon the Friday especially, (which is their Sabbath) when he goeth to the Temple. At which times they that go along by his Stirrup, have charge to take all Petitions that are preferred to his Majesty, and many poor men, who dare not presume by reason of their ragged apparel to approach near, stand afar off with fire upon their heads, holding up their Petitions in their hands; the which the grand Signior seeing, (who never despiseth, but rather encourageth the poor) sends immediately to take the Petitions, and being returned home into his Seraglio, reads them all, and then gives order for redress, as he thinks fit. By reason of which complaints, the King ofttimes taketh occasion suddenly to punish his greatest officers, either with death or loss of place. Which maketh the Bashaws and other great Officers, that they care not how seldom the grand Signior stirs abroad in public, for fear lest in that manner their bribery and injustice should come to his ears. 'It is probable that Haman had got this also to be decreed, that none should enter into the Kings gate clothed in sackcloth; lest passion might be moved thereby in any of the Courtiers, or that be a means to make a complaint to the King of his cruelty.

Verse 3. And in every Province ] Heb. In every Province, and Province, &c. not only in Susan (which (say the Hebrews) was called Elam Hammedina ) but throughout the Kings dominions.

Whither soever the Kings Commandment and his Decree ] The latter was irrevocable, and therefore more dreadful.

There was great mourning among the Jews ] Not murmuring or mutinying, or meditating revenge against the King and Haman, Not casting away their confidence in God, or committing all to fate and blind fortune. Not crying out of Religion as unhappy to the Professors ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , said he in the story. O miserable virtue! O practice of no profit, &c.) Not taking up arms or betaking themselves to flight (how should poor gally slaves at this day fly out of the middle of (Turkey?) prayers and tears were the weapons of these condemned captives caitives. It troubled them exceedingly, (as well it might) that through fearfulness and negligence they had not, ere this, gone back to their own country, with Zerubabel or some other, when they had good leave to have gone with their brethren, and God himself cried out unto them, Hoc, hoe, come forth, &c. Arise, 〈…〉 your rest, because it is polluted▪ it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. This was now a 〈◊〉 their hearts: like as it shall be one day to those in hell, to think we might have been delivered.

And fasting ] The word signifieth an abstinence from food and sustenance, either à toto, as 2 Sam. 12.16. Or at least à tanto & à tali, as Dan. 10.2, 3. Hence it is called a day of restraint, Joel 2.15. Hence Zech. 8.19. they separated themselves, viz. from work, meat and delights, for the furtherance of their repentance, and the enforcing of their prayers. Preces nobis jejunits alendum, & quasi saginandum, saith one, our prayers must be pampered and corn-fed with fasting. A practice in use, not among Jews and Christians only, but among Egyptian Priests, Persian Magi, and Indian wizards of old, and Turks to this day when they are in any great fear or pressure.

And weeping and wailing ] This was the way to get in with God, though they might not come crying to the Court. Oh the divine Rhetoric and omnipotent efficacy of penitent tears! Psal. 6.8. Weeping hath a voice. Christ turned to the weeping women, when going to his Cross, and comforted them. He shown great respects to Mary Magdalene, that weeping Vine; she had the first sight of the revived Phoenix. (though so bleared that she could scarce discern him) and held him fast by those feet which she had once washed with her tears, and wherewith he had lately trod upon the lion and adder, Psal. 91.13.

And many lay in sackcloth and ashes ] As many as were more deeply affected with their sins, and the sad consequents thereof. David lay on the bare ground, 2 Sam. 12.16. these and those, Joel 1.13. lodged in sackcloth and ashes, that they might watch as well as fast: see how they go linked together, Mark. 13.33. See verse 17.

Verse 4. So Esther's maids came and told it her ] She herself (say Interpreters) was kept in a closer place then they, not having the liberty of going abroad, as others had: because the Persians that were of highest quality, used so to keep in their wives; and if they went forth at any time, they were carried in a close chariot, so as that none could see them.

Then was the Queen exceedingly grieved ] Dolens exhorruit. So Tremellius. The Hebrew is, She grieved her self, scil. for Mordecai 's heaviness, as our Savior when he heard of the death of his friend Lazarus, groaned in spirit, and troubled himself, Joh. 11.33. And here we see that of Plautus disproved.

And she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai ] That he might be fit to come unto her, and make known the cause of his grief, for she yet knew nothing of the public calamity. And although she were so highly advanced above Mordecai, yet she condoleth with him, and honoreth him as much as ever. This was true friendship. Ego aliter amare non didici, said Basil, to one that disliked him for stooping so low to an old friend.

And to take away the sackcloth, &c. ] To change his saccum in sericum, sackcloth into sattin, &c. See verse 2.

But he received it not ] Such was the greatness of his grief which he could not dissemble: such was his care of community, that he could not mind his own private concernments, whiles it went ill with the public. Such also was his patient continuance in well-doing, that he would not give over asking of God till he had received, seeking till he had found, knocking till the gate of grace was opened. His clothes were good enough, unless his condition were more comfortable.

Verse 5. Then called Esther for Hatach ] She snuffeth not at Mordecai's refusal of her courtesy. She saith not, Let him choose, the next offer shall be worse, Rerum suarum satagat, si velit, & valeat, &c. Solomon reckoneth among those four things that the earth cannot bear, an handmaid advanced to the state and place of a Mistress. But Esther was none such. In her you might have seen magnitudinem cum mansuetudine, as Seneca hath it, singular humility in height of honors. She calleth here for Hatach a faithful servant, and perhaps a Jew, a Jew inwardly. Honesty flows from piety.

One of the Kings Chamberlaines ] Heb. Eunuchs or gelded men; such as used to keep their women in Kings Courts. The Chaldees call them Rabrebanim, that is, Grandees. The Persians call them Spadones, saith Stephanus. The Greeks, Eunuchs; either because they were Princes Chamberlaines, and had the custody of their beds: or because they were egregie cordati homines, well-minded men: for they generally proved (as likewise now they do among the Turks) subjects, though not of great courage, yet of the greatest judgment and fidelity, their minds being set on business, rather then on pleasure.

Whom he had appointed to attend upon her. ] Heb. Whom he had set before her, in obsequium & servitium, to be at her beck and obedience: probably, he was happy in such a service, for goodness is communicative, and of a spreading nature. Plutarch saith of the neighbor-villages of Rome in Numa 's time, that sucking in the air of that City, they breathed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , righteousness and devotion: so it might very well be here. It was so with Abraham's servants, and Solomon's, and Cornelius 's, Acts 10.7. Nero complained (and no wonder) that he could never find a faithful servant. What could they learn from him, but villainy and cruelty?

And gave him a commandment to Mordecai ] i.e. She commanded him to deliver her mind to Mordecai. A servant is not to be inquisitive, ( John 15.15. he knoweth not what his Lord doth but executive, ready to do what is required of him. He is the Masters instrument, and wholly his, saith Aristotle. The hands must take counsel of the head, and be stir them.

To know what it was, and why it was ] Some great matter she well knew it must needs be, that put him to those loud laments. Wise men cry not till they are sorely hurt. Jobs stroke was heavier then his groaning, Job 23.2. He was not of those that are ever whining: like some men's flesh, if their skin be but razed with a pin, it presently rankleth and festereth; or like rotten boughs, if a light weight be but hung on them, they presently creak and break. Mordecai she knew was none such. She therefore sendeth to see what was the matter, that she might help him, if possible. The tears and moans of men in misery are not to be slighted, as if they were nothing to us. Who is afflicted, and I burn not, saith Paul? Weep with those that weep, else you add to their grief; as the Priest and Levite did, by passing by the wounded man: Is it nothing to you, O ye that pass by the way, Lam. 1.12? Are not ye also in the body, Heb. 13.3. that is, in the body of flesh and frailty, subject to like afflictions? And may not your sins procure their sufferings, as a vein is opened in the arm, to ease the pain of the head?

Verse 6. So Hatach went forth to Mordecai ] He was obedient to his Queen-mistriss, pleasing her in all things, not answering again, Tit. 2.10. unless it were, I will, or the like. Servus sit monosyllabus Domino. Apelles painted a servant with Hinds feet, to run on his Masters errands: with Asses ears, and with his mouth made fast with two locks, to signify that he should be swift to hear, slow to speak.

Unto the street of the City ] The Broad-street, as the word signifieth: there Mordecai kept him, and might not come nearer the Court, because a Mourner. See verse 2. Tiberius the Emperor, counterfeiting grief at the Funeral of Drusus, there was a v • ile laid betwixt the dead and him because being High Priest forsooth, he might not see any mournful object. The Statues of the gods were transported or covered (for like cause) in those places where any punishment was inflicted. But what saith the wise man? The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, (whereby we must understand any place or object, which occasioneth mourning) but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth, Eccles. 7.4.

Verse 7. And Mordecai told him all that had happened unto him ] Not by fate or blind fortune, (and yet time and chance happeneth to all, Eccles. 9.11. and it was by chance to the wounded man, that the Priest and the Levite came down that way, Luke 10.31.) but by the Providence of God, which hath an hand in ordering the most casual and fortuitous events, to the execution of his righteous counsels: neither is there ever a Providence, but we shall once see a wonder, or a mercy wrapped up in it.

And of the sum of money ] See chap. 3.9. Money is the Monarch of this present world. Money is to many dearer then their heart-blood, yet to gratify their lusts, they lavish silver out of the bag, and care not to purchase revenge or sensual delights, with misery, beggary, discredit, damnation.

Verse 8. Also he gave him the copy of the writing ] That she might see it, and rest assured, that it was even so, and no otherwise: and that therefore now or never she must bestir herself for the laboring Church.

That was given at Shushan ] Which if ever it were full of judgment, and white as a lily, (according to the name) is now stained with blood of innocents. if ever righteousness did lodge in it, yet now murderers, as Isaiah. 1.21.

To show it unto Esther ] That her eye might affect her heart, and her heart set all awork for her people, that is, herself, according to that Physician heal thyself; that is thine own Countrymen.

And to declare it unto her ] In the cause, viz. his refusing to bow to Haman against his conscience, (whereof it no whit repented him) and in the several circumstances laid forth in the liveliest colors, for her thorough-information.

And to charge her that she should go in unto the King] Hoc perquam durum est, sedita lex scripta est, saith the Civilian. This Mordecai knew would hardly be done: he therefore makes use of his ancient authority, and sets it on with greatest earnestness. So Saint Paul, I charge you by the Lord, 1 Thes. 5.27. And again, I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, &c. 2 Tim. 4.1. So Saint Austin to his hearers, Per tremendum Dei judicium vos adjuro, I require and charge you by that dreadful day of judgment, when that dooms-day book shall be opened, &c. It is a weakness to be hot in a cold matter, but it is a wickedness to be cold in a hot matter. He that is earnest in good, though he may carry some things indiscreetly, yet is he far better then a time-server, and a cold friend to the truth: like as in falling forward is nothing so much danger, as in falling backward. Eli was too blame with his Do no more so my sons. And so was Jehoshaphat with his Let not the King say so. And the people in Ahab's time, who when they were pressed to express whom they were for, God or Baal? they answered not a word, 1 Kings 18.21. And yet how many such cold friends hath the truth nowadays? Luke-warm Laodiceans, Neuter-passive Christians, &c? When Callidus once declared against Gallus with a faint and languishing voice; Oh (saith Tully) Tu nisi fingeres, sic ageres? Would'st thou plead on that manner, if thou wert in good earnest? Men's faint appearing for God's cause shows they do but fain: their coldness probably concludeth they do but counterfeit. Mordecai plays the man, and chargeth Esther to improve her interest in the King her husband, for the Churches deliverance. See here how he turneth every stone, tradeth every talent, leaveth no means unused, no course unattempted for the Saints safety. And this the Spirit of God hath purposely recorded, that all may learn to lay out themselves to the utmost for the public; to be most zealous for the conservation and defense of the Church, when it is afflicted and opposed by Persecutours; seeing they cannot be saved, unless she be in safety; neither can they have God for their Father, unless they love and observe this their dear mother. Utinam, iterùm autem utinam diligentiùs à cunctis ordinibus haec hodie considerarentur, saith one. Oh that these things were duly considered by all sorts nowadays.

To make supplication unto him ] Heb. to deprecate displeasure and mischief, as 1 Kings 8.28. Zech. 12.10.

And to make request before him ] Ad quaerendum à facie ejus; so Pagnine from the Hebrew, to seek for good from his face, an effectual smile, a gracious aspect, that they may live in his sight. For in the light of the Kings countenance is life, and his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain, Prov. 16.15. The ancient Persian Kings were most fond of their wives, doing them all the honor possible in Court, as Partakers of all their fortunes, and carried them and their children into their farthest wars: by the presence of so dear pledges, the more to encourage their minds in time of battle. Now therefore Esther (whom Herodotus also witnesseth to have been Xerxes his best beloved) is to try what she can do with him for her people, who were haply grown too secure upon Esther's preferment: as the French Churches also were upon the Queen of Navarres greatness, and the promise of peace by that match. God therefore shortly after shook them up, (not by shaking his rod only at them, as here at these Jews, but) by permitting that bloody Massacre.

Verse 9. And Hatach came, and told Esther ] He acted the part of a faithful messenger: so must Ministers those servants of the Churches, declare unto the people all the mind of God, Acts 20.27. and not steal God's word everyone from his neighbor, Jer. 23.30. not deal deceitfully with it, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, let them speak in Christ; and let them speak out, not fearing any colors. He that hath my Word, let him speak my Word faithfully, saith God, Jer. 23.28. Aaron's Bells were all of gold, the Trumpets of the Sanctuary were of pure silver: they did not (as those inverse Trumpets of Furius Fulvius sound a retreat, when they should have sounded an alarm: No more must God's Messengers. Whatsoever the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak, saith Michaiah. Paul; as he received what he delivered, so he delivered whatsoever he received. Moses was faithful in all God's house, &c.

Verse 10. Again, Esther spake unto Hatach ] Having before found him a fit and faithful messenger she further employeth him: so those that minister well, do purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus, 1 Tim. 3.13. when others shall be laid by as broken vessels, whereof there is not left a sheard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal from the pit, as the Prophet hath it, Isaiah 30.14.

Verse 11. All the Kings servants ] His Courtiers and Counselors, who haply were as very slaves to him, as now the greatest Lord's of the Court are to the great Turk; no man having any power over himself, much less is he Master of the house wherein he dwelleth, or of the land which he tilleth, but is in danger of being whipped upon the least displeasure of the Tyrant: especially if he be not a natural Turk borne.

And the people of the Kings Provinces do know ] i.e. All, both far and near, this shows, that the Law here mentioned was no new Law procured by Haman, to prevent Jewish Suppliants, as Lyra would have it, but long since made and known to all the Kings subjects.

That whosoever, whether man or woman ] Yea, though she be his dearest Consort, who should cohabit with him, and not be sundered for a season, but by consent, 1 Cor. 7.5.

Shall come unto the King ] The Persians usually hid their King, tanquam aliquod sacrum mysterium, as some precious business, and that for two reasons; First, for State and Authority, lest familiarity with their subjects should breed contempt, and make them over-cheap. Philip the second King of Spain, was of the same mind and practice. For after that he had gotten into his hands the Kingdom of Portugal, and therewith the wealth of the Indies, inclusit se in Curiale, he shut up and immured himself in his Court, and was seldom seen of any, though never so great a man, but upon long suit, and as a singular favor. This made him to be adored as a demi-god. Secondly for security and safety, lest if all should be suffered to come that would, the King should be assassinated and made away, as Eglon was by Ehud, Ishbosheth. by Baanah and Rechab, Gedaliah by Ishmael, and many Kings of Israel and Emperors of Rome were by their own servants. The Turks at this day suffer no stranger to come into the Presence of their Emperor, but first they search him that he have no weapon: and so clasping him by the arms, under color of doing him honor, dissemblingly they bereave him of the use of his hands, lest he should offer him any violence: yet hath he always as he sitteth in his throne, lying at hand ready by him, a target, a scimiter, an iron mace, with bow and arrows.

How much better Agesilaus King of Spartans, who walked daily among his subjects, doing justice, and is therefore by Xenophon worthily preferred before this stately King of Persia? how much better Queen Elizabeth, who often shown her self to her people, and cheerfully received nosegayes, flowers, rosemary from mean persons. She got the hearts of her subjects (which Philip of Spain, her stately Contemporary never could do) by coupling mildness with Majesty, and stooping, yet in a stately manner, to those of low condition. So reserved she was, that all about her stood in a reverent awe of her very presence and aspect, but much more of her least frown or check; wherewith some of them, who thought they might best presume of her favor, have been so suddenly daunted and planet-stricken, that they could not lay down the grief thereof, but in their graves.

There is one Law of his ] A wretched Law it was, written not with black, but with blood, and condemned by very heathens for barbarous and pernicious to the public. For if the King may not be come at, but upon pain of death, what shall become of the poor oppressed? and how shall he ever hear of the rapines and other miscarriages of his Favorites and under Officers, by whom he shall be even bought and sold, and himself never the wiser, as Aurelian the Emperor complained Orpheus, that ancientest of Poets feigneth, that Lite (or Petitions) are Joves daughters, and ever conversant about his Throne. David heard the woman of Tecoa. Solomon the two harlots, and King Joram the affamished woman that called to him for justice, with Help O King. Philip of M • cedon • ighted the old wife that checkit him for his neglect of her; and Trajan, the widow that would not be put off till another time. This was King-like; His office is to judge the people with righteousness, and the poor with judgment. He shall judge the poor of the people, — and break in pieces the oppressor, Psal. 72.2, 4.

To put him to death ] 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Athenaeus. No such danger in approaching God's Presence, he soliciteth suitours, and seeketh such as may come before him John 4.23. This was anciently figured by the door of the Tabernacle, not made of any hard or debarring matter, but of a veil easily penetrable: which also now is rent, to show our easy access to Him, who heareth prayers, and willeth that all flesh come unto him, lifting up in all places pure hands, without warth, and without doubting.

Except such to whom the King shall hold out the golden Scepter ] In token that he called for them. Thus whom he would be slew, and whom he would he kept alive; as Dan 5.19. But Esther should (as afterwards she did) have trusted God with her life; and with a Roman resolution have said, Necasse est ut eam, non ut vivam. It is necessary, that I venture, not that I live. That she was fearful when her life lay upon it, we may impute to the weakness of her sex, or rather of her faith; against which sense fights sore, when 'tis upon its own dunghill; I mean, in a sensible danger. Natures retraction of itself from a visible fear, may cause the pulse of a Christian, that beats truly and strongly in the main point (the state of the soul) to intermit and faulter at such a time. Abraham shown some, trepidation, and Peter much more.

But I have not been called to come in to the King these thirty days ] There was hot love the while, his concubines, perhaps, had engrossed him. Doves are said to draw the charet of Venus: and those neither change their mates, not forsake their company. Haman was all the doer, now about the King, as our King Richard the second his Favorites, Knights of Venus rather then Bellona, saith the Chronicler, conversing with the King, not without suspicion of foul familiarity, as Walsingham writeth, Sodomiticâ labe infecti, fere emnes, saith another.

Verse 12. And they told to Mordecai Esther's words ] See the Note on verse. 9. She would have been her own Messenger, but might not. The greatest are not always the happiest. The Lady Elizabeth once wished her self a merry milkmaid.

Verse 13. Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther ] He would not take her excuse, but seems to say unto her, as one once did to a Philosopher, that in a great tempest at sea asked many trifling questions. Are we perishing, and doest thou trifle? So, Doest thou cast off the tare of community, and provide for no more then thine own safety?

Think not with thyself, that thou shalt escape in the Kings house ] Any more then Serena that Christian Empresse, wife to Dioclesian did, or Eliz. Queen of Denmark, glad to fly for her life, because a Lutheran; or Queen Katharine Parre, who hardly escaped the fire by the favor of her husband Henry the eighth: Sure it is, that the fear of man bringeth a snare (as fearful birds and beasts fall into the Hunters toile) but he that trusteth in the Lord, (as good Mordecai did, and as he would have Esther to do) shall be safe, or shall be set on high, out of harms way, his place of defense shall be munitions of rocks, Isaiah 38.15. Like as the coney, that weak, but wise creature, Prov. 30.24, 26. ) flieth to the holes in the r • cks; and doth easily avoid the dogs that pursue her; when the Hare that trusteth to the swiftness of her legs, is at length overtaken, and torn in pieces.

More then all the Jews ] The Law was general and irreversible▪ Darius sought to deliver Daniel, and could not, And 〈◊〉 (at once Medina 's 〈◊〉 in eighty eight) sword knew no difference, nor would make any in that general Massacre; like as in that at Paris, they poisoned the Queen of 〈◊〉 , murdered the most part of the Peerlesse Nobility in France, their wives and children, with a great sort of the common people.

Verse 14. But if thou altogether holdest thy peace ] And so make thyself guilty of a sinful silence, nay, of the death of so many innocents! for not to do good, when it is in the power of a man's hand, is to do evil, and not to save is to destroy, as our Savior showeth, Mark 3.14. Passive wickedness is deeply taxed in some of those seven Churches, Rev. 2. and 3. In a storm at sea, it is a shame to fit still, or to be asleep with Jonas in the sides of the ship, when it is in danger of drowning. Every man cannot fit at the Sterne; but then he may handle the ropes, or manage the oars, &c. The self-seeker, the private-spirited man, may he be but warm in his own feathers, regards not the danger of the house; he is totus inse, like the snail, still within doors and at home, like the Squirrel, he ever digs his hole towards the Sun-rising: his care is to keep on the warm side of the hedge, to sleep in a whole skin, to save one, whatever become of the many. From doing thus, Mordecai deterreth Esther by an heap of holy arguments: discovering an heroical faith, and a well-knit resolution.

At this time ] There is indeed a time to keep silence, and a time to speak, Eccl. 3.7. But if ever a man will speak, let him do it when the enemies are ready to devour the Church: as Croesus his dumb son burst out into, Kill not King Croesus. For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, &c. Isaiah 62.1. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, &c. Psal. 137.5, 6. That noble Terentius, (General to Valens the Emperor) being bidden to ask what he would, asked nothing, but that the Church might be freed from Arians; And when the Emperor, upon a defeat by the Goths, upbraided him with cowardice and sloth as the causes of the overthrow, He boldly replied, Your self have lost the day, by your warring against God, and persecuting his people.

Then shall their enlargement ] Heb. Respiration, a day of refreshing should come from the Presence of the Lord. Confer Job 9.18. At present they could hardly breath, for bitterness of spirit.

And deliverance arise ] Heb. stand up, as on its basis or bottom, so as none shall be able to withstand. This, Mordecai speaketh, not by a spirit of Prophecy, but by the force of his faith, grounded upon the Promises of God's defending his Church, hearing the cries of his afflicted, arising to their relief and succor, &c. Mira profecto at omnibus linguis, saeculis, •• cisque commendabilis fides, saith one. A notable faith indeed, and worthy of highest commendation. Thorough the Perspective of the Promises (those pabulum fidei, food of faith) a believer may see deliverance at a great distance; see it and salute it, as those did. Heb. 11.13. What though Sense saith, It will not be; Reason, It cannot be: yet Faith gets above, and says, It shall be, I descryland.

But thou and thy fathers house shall be destroyed ] Here he thundereth and threateneth her, if to save herself she shall desert the Church. Mordecai's message, like David's ditty, is composed of discords. Soure and sweet make the best-sauce: Promises and menaces mixed will soonest work. God told Abraham, that for the love he bare him, he would bless those that blessed him, and curse such as cursed him. Their sin should find them out, and they should rue it in their posterity. As one fire, so one fear should drive out another.

And who knoweth whether thou art come to the Kingdom ] There is often a wheel within a wheel, Ezek. 1. God may have an end and an aim in businesses that we wot not of, nor can see into, till event hath explained it. Let us lay forth ourselves for him, and labor to be public-spirited, such as fully satisfied him. No man labor can be in vain in the Lord. to see which way we may most glorify God, and gratify our brethren.

Verse 16. Thus Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer ] A sweet answer, and such as fully satisfied him. No man's labor can be in 〈◊〉 in the Lord. Good therefore and worthy of all acceptation is the wise man's counsel. In the morning sow thy seed, 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 thy 〈◊〉 , for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this 〈◊〉 that, or whither they • ath shall be alike good, Eccles. 11.6 Mordecai had filled his mouth with Argument, and now God filled his heart with comfort. Esther yields, and resolves to obey him, whatever come of it; only she will go the wisest way to work, first seeking God, and then casting herself upon the King. Ora & labora, God hath all hearts in his hand, and will grant good success to his suppliants.

Verse 16. Go gather together all the Jews ] Great is the power of joint prayer, it stirs heaven, and works wonders. Oh when a Church-full of good people shall set sides and shoulders to work, when they shall rouse up themselves, and wrestle with God, when their pillars of incense shall come up into his Presence, and their voices be heard as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, Rev. 14. What may not such thundering legions have at God's hands? Have it? they will have it: Coelum tundimus, preces fundimus, misericordiam extorquemus, said those primitive Prayer-makers. Rev. 9.13. the prayers of the Saints from the four corners of the earth sound, and do great things in the world, they make it ring. It was the speech of a learned man, if there be but one sigh come from a gracious heart (how much more then, a volley of sighs from many good hearts together?) it filleth the ears of God, so that God heareth nothing else.

And fast ye for me ] Who am now upon my life, and for ought I know, am shortly to appear before the Lord; (who requireth to be sanctified in all them that draw near unto him ) and wherein I may not look to have leave to err twice. Point therefore your prayers for me with holy fasting, that they may pierce heaven and prevail. Abstinence meriteth not, saith a grave Divine, for Religion consisteth not in the belly, either full or empty. (What are meats or drinks to the Kingdom of God, which is, like himself, spiritual?) but it prepareth best for good duties. Full bellies are fitter for rest. Not the body so much as the soul is more active with emptiness: Hence solemn prayer taketh ever fasting to attend it; and so much the rather speedeth in heaven; when it is so accompanied. It is good so to diet the body, that the soul may be fattened.

And neither eat nor drink three days, &c. ] That is, saith Drusius, two whole nights, one whole day, and part of two other days. See the like expression, Mat. 12, 40. Others lay, that in those hot countries they might fast three days, as well as we two in these cold climates. Tully in one of his Epistles telleth us, that he fasted two days together, without so much as tasting a little water. For the Romans also and Grecians had their Fasts private and public, whether it were by a secret instinct of Nature, or by an imitation of the Hebrews, Faciunt & vespae favos. The Turks likewise at this day precisely observe their Fasts, and will not so much as taste a cup of water, or wash their mouths with water all the day long, before the stars appear in the sky, be the days never so long and hot. The Hollanders and French fast, but had need, saith one, to send for those mourning women, Jer. 19.17. by their cunning to teach them to mourn. The English are not sick soon enough, saith another, and they are well too soon: this is true of their minds as well as of their bodies. Currat ergo poenitentia, ne praecurrat sententia: and let our Fasts be either from morning till evening, Judge. 20.26. 2 Sam. 3.35. Or from evening till evening, Levite. 23.32. or longer, as here. And Acts 9.9. As the hand and wrath of God doth more or less threaten us, or lie upon us. There is an old Canon that defineth their continuance, Till stars appear in the sky.

I also and my maids will fast ] She herself would be in the head of them, as Queen Elizabeth also told her soldiers at Tilbury Camp for their comfort: and as Caesar used to say to his soldiers, Go we, and not Go ye; and as Joshua said, I and my house will serve Jehovah. Esther's maids must fast and pray, or they are no maids for her.

And so will I go unto the King ] It is said of Achilles, that he was Styge armatus: But he that fasteth, prayeth, believeth, Est coelo, Christo, Deo armatus, armed with an undaunted resolution to obey God whatever come of it.

Which is not according to the Law ] She slights not the Law, but waves it, to obey God's Law, and save her people.

And if I perish, I perish ] This she speaketh not rashly or desperately, as prodigal of her life, but as sacrificing the same to God and his cause, thorough the obedience of faith, and saying, as that Martyr. Can I die but once for Christ? See the like phrase, Gen. 43.14. with the Note there.

Verse 17. So Mardecai went his way, and did according, &c. ] As he had put her upon a dangerous, but, as the cause stood, necessary exploit, (Nature will venture its own particular good for the general, as heavy things will ascend to keep out vacuity, and preserve the Universe,) so he is ruled by her, (though a woman, and once his pupil) when he perceived her counsel was good. Abraham must hear Sarah, and David Abigail, and Apollos Priscilla, when they speak reason. It is foretold of a man in Christ, that a little child shall lead him, Esa. 11.6.

CHAP. V. Verse 1. Now it came to pass on the third day]

THat is, on the fifteenth day of the month Nissan, as the Hebrew Annals say. Cum adhuc ferverent popularium suorum preces, (whiles the prayers of her Countrymen, like those of Cornelius, Acts 10.4.) were come up for a memorial before God: she takes her opportunity and speeds accordingly: she knew that sweet passage, Psalm 145.18. The Lord is nigh to all that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him, he will also hear their cry and will save them, &c. This she could afterwards seal to and say, This poor soul cried, and the Lord heard her, and saved her out of all her troubles, Psal. 34.6, Luther's widow confessed, that she never understood many of David's Psalms, till she was in deep affliction.

That Esther put on her royal apparel ] She knew that

And stood in the inner Court of the Kings house ] A bold adventure questionless, but the fruit of the prayer of faith, this was it that put spirit and metal into her. What if she were Queen? so had Vashti been, and yet discarded for her disobedience. Besides, how could she tell, either what the Kings mind toward her was (he had not seen her of a month, and if Haman knew her to be a Jewesse, what would not he suggest against her? Or, what was the mind of God, till he had signified it by the event? It was therefore an heroical courage in Esther, proceeding from her saith, which when it is driven to work alone without sense, then God thinks it lieth upon his credit to show mercy.

Over against the Kings house ] Where she might see him, and be seen by him. This she did, Nec temere, nec timide, which, saith one, is the Christians Motto.

And the King sat upon his Royal Throne ] Royal indeed, as Athenaeus describeth it. But yet short of Solomon's, much more of the Lord Christ's, supported and surrounded with an innumerable company of Angels. It should be our earnest desire to see this King of glory upon his Throne: to see him and enjoy him. Austin wished that he might have seen three things, 1. Romam in flour. 2. Paulum in ore. 3. Christum in corpore. Rome in the flourish, Paul in the Pulpit, Christ in the flesh. Venerable Bede cometh after, and correcting this last wish, saith, Imo vero Christum in solio sedentem. Let me see Christ upon his Throne-royal rather. Isaiah saw him so ch. 6.1. and took far more delight therein, then the merry Greeks did or could do at their Olympic games, celebrated at the same time, in the one thousand five hundred and fortieth year after the Flood, as the divine Chronologer computeth it.

Verse 2. And it was so ] God the great Heart-disposer so ordered it.

That when the King saw Esther the Queen, &c. ] Beautified by God in a special manner, as was Moses, Acts 7.20. Stephen, Acts 6.15, &c. And some faces we know do appear most orientally fair, when they are most instampit with sorrow.

That she obtained favor in his sight ] Josephus saith, that at first the King frowned upon her, so that she fell into a swoon before him. Rex autem voluntate, arbitror Dei, mentem mutavit, i. e. But the King as God would have it, changed his mind, and cheered her up. How true this is, I know not; But this I know, that the wrath of a King is as the roaring of a lion, which is so terrible, that it astonieth all that hear it, and that Omne trahit secum Caesaris ira malum. Sir Christopher Hatton, being checkit and threatened by Queen Elizabeth, died soon after: Neither could the Queen, having once cast him down with her word only, raise him up again, though she visited him, and comforted him. Esther here was soon raised and relieved.

And the King held out to Esther the golden Scepter ] He did not kick her out of his Presence, as some Cambyses would have done, neither did he command her to the block, as Henry the eighth did his Anne Boleyn, upon a mere misprision of disloyalty: neither yet did he cashiere her, as he had done Vashti for a less offense: but, by holding out his Scepter shows his gracious respects unto her. This was the Lord's own work, as was likewise that of old, that Laban should leave Jacob with a kiss, Esau meet him with a kiss, Gen. 33.4. where the word kissed hath a prick over each letter in the Original, to show the wonder of God's work in changing Esau's heart from his former hatred. Let a man's ways please the Lord, and men shall quickly befriend him. This is compendiosissima hominum gratiam consequendis via, saith Lavater here, the readiest way to win favor with all others. When David was once a man after God's heart, whatsoever he did, pleased the people.

So Esther drew near, and touched the top of his Scepter ] With her hand, saith the Chaldee: with her mouth, saith the Vulgar Translation. This she did either in token of submission, or for the avoiding of danger; for, as Josephus saith, He that touched the Kings Scepter, was out of the reach of evil. Wives should submit themselves to their own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Submission includeth Reverence, (in heart, speeches, gestures) and obedience to all their husbands lawful commands and restraints. This is no more then is meet, saith the Apostle.

Verse 3. Then said the King unto her. ] He perceived both by this her bold adventure, and also by her countenance and habit, that she had some very great suit to him. He therefore accosteth her (as the Lord did the Angel, Zech. 1.13.) with good words, and comfortable words. And this way one man may be an Angel, nay, a God to another, Gen. 33.10. Indeed it is God that comforteth by the creature as by a conduit-pipe. The air yieldeth light as an instrument, the water may heart, but not of it self. The Lord put it into the heart of Ahasuerus, to cheer up Esther in this sort: wherein also he did but his duty, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church; so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies; He that loveth his wife loveth himself, Eph. 6.28, 29.

What wilt thou Queen Esther? ] That he called her by her name, and with such an honorable attribution, was a sign of no small favor. The hearts of Josephs brethren were so big swollen with spite and spleen, that they could not call him by his name, but said, Behold, this dreamer, Gen. 37.19. So the Pharisees called our Savior, This fellow. And the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he? they could not find in their hearts to say, Where is Jesus? So Saul asked not for David, much less for his son-in-law David, but for the son of Jesse, by way of contempt. Christ tells his disciples that their enemies shall cast out their names for naught, Luke 6.22. and chargeth them, courteously to salute their enemies, calling them friendly by their names, Mat. 5.47.

And what is thy request? ] q. d. Fear not to utter it, I am very earnest to know it, and fully resolved to grant it. It was more troublesome to Severus the Emperor to be asked nothing, then to give much. When any of his Courtiers had not made bold with him, he would call him and say, Quid est cur nihil petes? What meanest thou to ask me nothing? Hitherto ye have asked me nothing (saith the King of Saints to his beloved Esther ) Ask that your joy may be full, John 16.24. he is worthily miserable, that will not make himself happy by asking.

It shall be given thee to the half of the Kingdom ] A proverbial rather then a prodigal speech, and much in this Kings mouth. If some ambitious Semiramis had had such an offer, what ill use might she soon have made of it? The dancing Damosel made no good use of the like from Herod. But a Be can suck honey out of a flower, that a fly cannot skill to do. Esther prudently and modestly improveth the immoderate offer of the King, and conceiveth good hope. How much more may we (upon those exceeding great and precious Promises given us by God) of an exuberancy of love, and a confluence of all comforts for this life and a better? Especially since God doth not pay his Promises with words, as Sertorius is said to have done; neither is he off and on with his people (nec mutatur, nec mentitur) but performeth all with the better, as Naaman pressed the Prophets man, to take two talents, when he asked but one. The widow of Sarepta had more then she could tell what to do with: her cruse never ceased running till she had no room. The Shunamite would ask nothing of the Prophet, nor make use of his offered courtesy. He sends for her again, and makes her a free Promise of that which she most wanted and desired, a son, 2 Kings 4.16. God's kindness is beyond all this. he giveth his servants what they forget or presume to ask: and sends his Spirit to help them, and to form their prayers for them, and thereby to seal them up to the day of Redemption, to assure them of the Kingdom.

Verse 4. And Esther answered ] She did not presently pour forth her whole heart into the Kings bosom, rail against Haman, beg for her people, &c. but prudently reserveth her self till a fitter opportunity. Unadvised open-heartedness is a fruit of fool-hardiness, Prov. 29.11. A fool uttereth all his mind, (ye shall have it presently, so near his mouth doth it lie, that all will out suddenly) but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards, or, in an inner r • m, (in ulteriori animi recessu as the word may be rendered, till he see his time to produce it.

If it seem good to the King ] Princes must have silken words given them, as the mother of Artaxerxes (haply Esther ) told one. The rule of old was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , short or sweet.

Let the King and Haman come this day to the banquet ] She knew that the King loved Haman's company, and especially at a banquet. It was policy in Rebecca to provide such savoury meat as the old man loved: so here. Be wise as Serpents. David is commended for his prudent, (and thereby prosperous) deporting himself in Saul's house, 1 Sam. 18. God gave Solomon politick wisdom exceeding much. Who is a faithful and a wise servant, saith our Savior, &c? And who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge, (saith St. James ) amongst you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works, with meekness of wisdom. But if it were policy in Esther to invite Haman whom she hated, was it likewise Piety? did she not dissemble? R. Solomon saith, She invited Haman alone with the King, that other Courtiers might envy him, and so undermine him. But that's but a sorry excuse, neither doth Lyra 's allegation of her good intention much mend the matter. They answer better, who say, that she invited him, that she might ane •• e him to his face: and some off all matter of his excuse or escape. Hereby also she would show, saith Lavater, that she accursed him, not out of wrath or revenge: but that she was drawn to it, and as it were driven by mere necessity.

Verse 5. Then the King said, Cause Haman to make haste ] Heb. Accelerate or hasten Haman, sc. to an ill bargain, as it proved the very next day. Look how thunder commonly happens, when the sky seemeth most clear: so Haman saw himself inveloped with a storm, in one of the fairest days of his fortune. Philosophers say, that before a snow, the weather will be warmish: when the wind lies; the great rain falls, and the air is most quiet, when suddenly there will be an earthquake.

So the King and Haman 〈…〉 ] Who but the King and Haman? So Tiberius called Sej •• , My Sej •• Partaker of all my cares and counsels, 〈◊〉 and made him his Colleague in the Empire. But he soon cast him from supreme honor, to extreme ignominy; so that the same Senator, who accompanied him to the Senate, conducted him to prison, they which sacrificed unto him as to their god, which kneeled down to him to adore him, scoffed at him, and loaded him with contempt and concumelies. So Caesar Borgia, that restless Ambitionist, who emulating Julius Caesar, would needs be aut Caesar, aut nullus, was shortly after & Caesar, & nullus, being slain in the Kingdom of Navarre.

Verse 6. And the King said unto Esther at the banquet of wine ] Which seemeth to have been after the other banquet of dainties and sweet-meats, during which they drank water. Only the King had aurum potabile, a golden water prepared, which he and his eldest son alone might drink: and none else might taste of it on pain of death. At this latter Banquet they drank wine freely one to another: and, inter poculorum laetitiam, as Josephus hath it, when his heart was now merry within him, after he had drunk wine abundantly, as the Latin hath it, the King said unto Esther,

What is thy Petition, — to the half of the Kingdom The Promise the King reneweth, as supposing that Esther durst not propose her request, because of the greatness of the matter: and assuring her that she should have it, though never so great. And saith not the God of heaven as much to his servants and suppliants, Isaiah 45.11. Jer. 33.3? Why then stand they off in a sinful shamefacednesse, and improve not to the utmost this divine indulgence, this precious privilege? why say they not with Luther, (who well understood the latitude of this royal Charter) Fiat mea voluntas, Let my will be done: my will I say, because the same with thine, Lord? why do they not grow upon God, and work upon his Promise, (which is so exceeding broad, Psal. 119, 96.) as David did, 1 Chro. 17.23, 24, 25? he goes over it again, and yet still encroacheth, verse 26. he presseth and oppresseth it, till he hath expressed the sweetness out of it, and so we have all good leave to do, Isaiah 66.11. even to suck and be satisfied by those full-strutting breasts of divine consolation. But what mean those foul great babies the Papists, to pray the Virgin Mary to exhibit unto them the breasts of her grace, &c? And what frontlesse blasphemers are they to say, that God the Father hath shared his Kingdom with her: keeping his Justice to himself, and giving his Mercy to her to dispose of? And this (say they, that they may not seem to be mad without reason) was prefigured by Ahashnerus his saying to Esther. I will grant thy request to the half of my Kingdom.

Verse 7. My Petition and my request is ] She bespeaketh the King in his own very words: and so must we if we mean to speed in heaven, Take unto you words, and say, Take away all iniquity, and give good, &c. Produce God's own words in prayer, and say (as she did to Judah ) Whose are these? He loves to be set upon in his own words, to be pressed with his Promise, to be sued upon his bond. This David knew, and therefore cries, Psal. 86.11. Unite my heart to fear thy name: it is as if he should say, Thou hast promised, Lord, to give me one heart; behold I find mine heart divided, my thoughts dissipated, and myself disabled for duty, (for Anima dispersa fit minor ) Unite it, I beseech thee, &c. This is the way to make our prayers to be nigh the Lord day and night, as Solomon phraseth it, 1 Kings. 8.59.

Verse 8. If I have found favor in the sight of the King ] As she had, not so much by her beauty and bravery (wherein Vasht perhaps might easily have compared with her) but by the finger of God, who tameth to his Elect the fiercest creatures (as he did the Lions to Daniel, and other savage beasts to the Martyrs, whom they would not meddle with,) and turneth the Kings heart, as the rivers of water, into what channel soever he pleaseth to put it, Prov. 21.1. as the Plowman doth the water-course with his paddle, or the Gardener with his hand.

And if it please the King ] See verse 4. and submit to God, James 4.7.

And I will do tomorrow as the King hath said ] She had learned to prefer opportunity before time. There might be some by, at this first banquet, whose company she liked not: or she might not yet have so clear an answer in her own heart to her former prayers; and therefore desireth some farther time that night to seek God: whatever the reason of not putting it off till dext day was, God's holy hand was in it, that Mordecai might b • first so greatly honored, and Haman's high Gallows prepared. Illum utiquie magi • • eo • rum, R • ge • autem magis benevoli •• magisque fecit attentu • , saith Rupertus. Hereby she made Haman more secure, and the King more kind and attent.

Verse 9. Then went Haman that day forth joyful ] Saeculi laetitia est impunita nequitia, saith an Ancient, He looked upon himself now as no less favored of the Queen, then of the King, and was puffed up with this new honor, as a bubble is with a childes blast in a walnut-shell, with a little sope, but it shortly after falls down again into his eyes, and vexeth him.

And with a glad heart ] But he rejoiced, as many more do, in a thing of naught, Am. 6.13. And the end of this his mirth was heaviness, Prov. 14.13. It was risus Sardonius, like that of those, who being stung with the Tarantula (a viper in Italy ) die laughing and capering. Or as the Dolphin, that sporteth most before a storm. Or as the little fishes, that swimming merrily down the silver stream of Jordan, fall shortly after into the dead sea. Haman doubtless held himself now the happiest man alive. as having the royalty, not of the Kings care only, but of the Queens too, as he foolishly fancied. This wicked on boasted of his hearts desire, and as for all his enemies, he puffed at them. He said in his heart I shall not be moved, I shall never be in adversity. Herodotus saith of Apryes King of Egypt (Pharaoh-Hophrah Jeremy calleth him, chap • 44.) that he conceited and bragged that his Kingdom was better settled to him, then that any, either God or man could remove him: yet was he afterwards taken and hanged by his own subjects. Aelian tells us, that Dionysius the Tyrant, thought it impossible that he should have been cast out of Sicily, but it proved otherwise. How suddenly were Alex • nder the great Conqueror, and Julius Caesar the perpetual Dictator, cut off, and quenched as the fire of thorns? Sic transit gloria mundi. The worlds greatest darlings, are in no better condition, then the Bull that goes to be sacrificed with garlands on his head, and music before him: but suddenly fells the stroke of the murthering axe.

But when Haman saw Mordecai in the Kings gate ] There he sat, and would not stir an inch, for Haman's greatness: as resolute he remained, (not withstanding the bloody Edict now published) as was Rawlins White the Martyr in Queen Mary's days. The Bishop of Landaffe pretended to pray for his Conversion: after which he said, Now Rawlins how is it with thee? Wilt thou revoke thine opinions or no? Surely, (said he) my Lord, Rawlins you left me, and Rawlins you find me, and Rawlins, by God's grace I will continue. The heavens shall as soon fall, said another, as I will recant. This, the mad world stiles stiffness, self-willednesse, fool-hardiness, &c. as was before noted; but the Saints do it out of Christian courage, an invincible saith, and zeal for God's cause and Kingdom.

That he stood not up, nor moved for him ] No, not he, ne minimo quidem obsequiolo, he neither moved nor muted. For he looked upon him first as a vile person, and therefore fit to be slighted, Pal. 15.4. Next, as an utter enemy to God and his people, a sworn sword-man to the devil. Lastly, Mordecai herein shown himself constant to his principles, and to his former practice, which a good man may not easily alter, left all be questioned. Besides, should he but have any whit yielded, Haman would have been thereby hardened, and his pride heightened. He therefore very honestly persisteth in his purpose, and giveth that wretch less respect then ever.

He was full of indignation against Mordecai ] Full, as heart could hold, of hot wrath: so that he gloweth like a fire-coal, Et fere crepat medius. So unsatisfiable is ambition, so restless, and so vindictive.

Verso 10. Nevertheless Haman refrained himself ] Much ado he had to forbear mischieving him: he was fain to force himself thereunto, as the word signifieth; for his fingers even itched to be having him by the ears, or to be bathing in his blood. This he did not, haply because he durst not; because Mordecai was the Kings servant, his door-Keeper, as 'tis thought, and so went under his protection. It would therefore have reflected upon the King himself, if he should lay violent hands on him. Most sure it is, that God held his hands, and preserved Mordecai for further good to his Church Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints: neither will he send them to bed, till they have done their work.

And when he came home, he sent and called for his friends ] This had been a wise man's part, if he had done it for any good purpose. But as he was in an ill case to consult, as being full of rage, so he minded nothing but revenge, and therefore advised with none but such as would say with him, and thereby hasten his downfall.

And zeresh his wife ] Ut consiliariorum primam & praecipuam. That she was wife above her sex. See chap. 6.13. But had she been as wife as Pilate's wife was. She would not have given here such pestilent counsel, but have warned her husband of meddling with just men. Have these workers of iniquity no knowledge, that they eat up God's people, as they eat bread? that they make account to make but a breakfast of them?

Verse. 11. And Haman told them of the glory of his riches ] Favorites (observing their mollissima fandi tempora, ) get many times much wealth under Princes: as did Sejanus under Tiberius, Seneca under Nero, that rich and wretched Cardinal Henry Beauford, Bishop of Winchester, and Chancellor of England, in the reign of Henry the sixth, Cardinal Woolsey, under Henry the eight. That Haman had well-feathered his nest, appears by his large offer to the King of ten thousand talents of silver, &c. Now riches render a man glorious in the worlds eye; hence they go coupled together. Prov. 3.16. and 8.18. Hence that of Laban's grumbling sons, Gen. 31.1. Jacob hath taken away all that was our fathers, (nay, not all, but as avarice made Sejanus think all which he acquired not, to be lost; so did these losels) and of that which was of our fathers hath be gotten all this glory. But what were all this glory of his riches, if, for want of children, Haman should leave it to those, Quos vel nescit, vel nolit, as Austin hath it, to strangers or enemies? He tells them therefore

Of the multitude of his children ] His sons and his successors like to be. I say, likely to be, not sure to be, for

And all the things wherein the King had promoted him ] Wherein, but Wherefore, he showeth not. Dignity should wait upon desert; but many times we see it otherwise, and it was of old complained of, Psal. 12. ult. He telleth what the King had done for him, but not a tittle what God. God was not in all his thoughts. He might justly have been twitted, as once that Pope was pithily, when he had engraven upon the gates of his new-built College. Utrecht (where he was borne) planted me; Lovain (where he was bred) watered me; but Caesar (who had promoted him to the Popedom) gave increase: a merry Passenger under-wrote Hic Deus nihil fecit, here God did nothing. God had done much for him, but for a mischief to him; as he once gave the Israelites quail to choke them, and a King to vex them; as Saul gave Michal to David to be a mare to him; and as our Savior gave Judas the bag, to discover the rottenness of his heart. This Bernard calleth, Misericordiam omni indignatione crudeliorem. God gives outward blessings to wicked persons to furnish their indictment out of them: as Joseph put a cup into his brethren's sack, to pick a quarrel with them, and lay theft to their charge.

And how he had advanced him above the Princes ] What an impudent Thraso was this Haman? this odious bragging of his, Gregory referreth to that third kind of pride, such as God's soul abhorreth, and surely punisheth; as he did in the Prince of Tyre, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, Herod, whose hearts were listed up with their estates, as a boat, that riseth with the rising of the water, whose bloods and goods rose together.

But as the Peacock so delighteth to be seen, and to behold his own tail, that he discovereth his filthy parts behind, so do vain glorious Bragadochio's. It is therefore very good counsel, that a grave Divine giveth to such, as are advanced above others. Carry humble hearts, and add grace and virtue to your places, else they shall prove but as an high gibbet to bring you to more disgrace in this world, and torment in the next. That of the Poet also is very savoury and sovereign.

Verse 12. Haman said moreover ] He makes no end of vaunting and vapouring; and all to aggravate the indignity done him by Mordecai, in not stooping to so great a personage.

Now Esther the Queen did let no man come in, — but myself ] This he mistaketh for a special favor, when as Esther's banquet proved no better to him, then Semiramis her tomb did to them that rifled it; they expected to find treasure, but met with a deadly poison.

And tomorrow am I invited, &c. ] Where thou shalt (as hypocrites do at the Lord's Table) eat thy bane, and drink thy poison; yet art thou over-joyed as if highly favored. A temporary may receive both the word audible and the word visible, (the Sacrament) with much seeming joy: which yet is but only as the commotion of the affections in a dream: It fareth with such in the end, as with one that sleeping on the top of a steep rock, dreameth of great matters befallen him, but starting suddenly through joy thereof, tumbleth headlong into the sea, and breaketh his neck at the bottom.

Verse 13. Yet all this availeth me nothing ] It is seldom seen, (saith a Right Reverend Interpreter here) that God allows unto the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment. Something they must have to complain of, that shall give an unsavory verdure to their sweetest morsels, and make their felicity miserable. Totum hoc non est utile mihi, I enjoy nothing of all this. No more did Ahah, when sick of Naboth's vineyard, 1 Kings 21.4. His heart did more afflict and vex itself with greedy longing for that bit of earth, then the vast and spacious compass of a Kingdom could counter-comfort.

So long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the Kings gate ] So tormentful is envy, if it cannot come at another man's hurt, it will feed upon its own. Who would ever set by the profits, pleasures and preferments of this present life, that yield so little sound and sincere contentment to those that have most of them? In the very pursuit of them is much anguish, many grievances, fears, jealousies, disgraces, interruptions, &c. and after the unsanctified enjoyment of them (if any such thing there be, for even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, Prov. 14.13. and there is a snare, (or a cord) in the sin of the wicked, Prov. 29.6. to strangle their joy with) followeth the sting of conscience, that will inexpressibly torment the soul throughout all eternity: besides the vexation of it, to see such as Mordecai the Jew, whom they once would not have set with the dogs of their flocks, sitting not at the Kings gate, but on Christ's own Throne, Rev. 3.21. as Partakers of all his glory.

Verse 14. Then said Zeresh his wife ] Thra • o 's shall never want for Gnatho 's. Such as have first flattered themselves, shall have enow others to sooth them, and to say with them. Zeresh sets the motion of revenge on foot, she was a fit helve for such an hatcher, wittily wicked. The wit of women hath wont to be noted, for more sudden and more shrewd.

And all his friends unto him ] Indeed no friends, because flatterers and furtherers in evil. Sed divitibus ideo amicus deest, quia nihil deest. The rich hath many friends, saith Solomon, seeming friends, but true enemies, parasites, brokers, cole-carriers. good to scour an hot Oven withal. Such a one was that Adullamite to Judah, Gen. 38.20. Jonadab to Amnon, 2 Sam. 13.2, 3. those green-headed counselors to Rehoboam, &c. Haman should have made a better choice, and have come more calm to counsel. It is not good sowing in a tempest, nor taking physic in a fit. These friends of Haman deserved to speed as ill as those of Sejanus did, who were executed with him, because they served his lust, and added • ewel to his flame.

Let a Gallows be made of fifty cubits high ] A cubit was half a yard at least. In those parts they had trees very tall, or they might piece one to another. But why so high a Gallows, but for the greater disgrace to Mordecai, and terror to all that should slight the Kings Favorite? So Knute. the first Danique King of England, caused the false Edricks head to be set upon the highest part of the Tower of London. And our Gun-powder Traitours were served in like manner.

And tomorrow ] But why so soon, since in case of life, Nulla cunctatio satis diuturna esse possit? were it not fit that he were tried first? Haman's malice will bear no delays, he is in pain till the business be dispatched: he cannot sleep till he have caused this innocent man to fall, Prov. 4.16. though he fall with him; as the dragon doth with the Elephant, whose blood he sucketh out, and perisheth by his falling weight.

Speak thou unto the King ] It will be but dictum, factum, he will lightly say as Zedekiah did to his Princes, requiring Jeremiah to the stocks. The King is not he that can deny you anything. How much better that Roman Emperor, who being to subscribe a warrant for execution of a certain Malefactour, cried out, Non nisi coactus, full sore against my will? and another, Utinam literas nescirem, I would I could not write my name. So when one Jone Butcher was to be burned for her deserts, all the Council could not prevail with our Edward the sixth, of a long time to set to his hand. But these wicked friends of Haman, question not the Kings readiness to gratify him, though they could not but know, that Mordecai had once at least saved the Kings life, chap. 2. and what could they tell, but the King might now remember it? Sed Deus quem destruit dementat, when God has a mind to undo a man, he first infatuateth him.

That Mordecai may be hanged thereon ] And that before Haman; door, that he may feed his eyes on that sweet spectacle, and say as that bloody Prince Charles the ninth of France did, when he saw the noble Admirals carcass hanging and stinking upon the Gallows, Quam suaviter olet cadaver inimici! How sweetly smelleth the dead body of an enemy!

Then go thou in merrily with the King, &c. ] They knew that he could not be heartily merry till then, and forced smiles are but as counterfeit complexion, the hypocrisy of mirth. So Richard the third would not sit down to dinner till the Lord Hastings were beheaded: nor Stephen Gardener, till he had the news brought him that the Bishops were burnt at Oxford. Oh that we could be as restless, till the hindrances of our true spiritual joy were removed; I mean those stubborn corruptions that will not stoop to the power of grace.

And the thing pleased Haman ] As being agreeable to his malicious humor, and that which he doubted not to be able to effect. Man purposeth, but God disposeth.

And he caused the Gallows to be made ] Little thought he for whom. Aequnm est ut faber quas fecit compedes ipse gestet. So let thine enemies perish, O Lord.

CHAP. VI. Verse 1. On that night]

THat very night before Mordecai should have been hanged on the morrow morning, and so early that Esther could not have begged his life, would she never so fain. God will appear for his poor people. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , in the nick and opportunity of time, 1 Pet. 5.6. He will be seen in the Mount, he will come as out of an Engine.

Could not the King sleep ] Heb. the Kings sleep fled away, and, like a shadow, it fled away so much the faster, as it was more followed. Sleep is best solicited by neglect, and soonest found, when we have forgotten to seek it. They are likeliest for it, who together with their clothes can put off their cares: and say as Lord Burleigh did when he threw off his gown, Lie there Lord Treasurer. This, great Ahasuerus cannot do at present, (for Crowns also have their cares, thistles in their arms, and thorns in their sides) Lo, he that commanded one hundred and twenty seven Provinces cannot command an hours sleep; how should he when as sleep is God's gift, Psal. 127.2? And it was he that at this time kept him awake for excellent ends; and put small thoughts into his heart for great purpose, like as he did into our Henry the eighth, when the Bishop of Baion (the French Ambassador) coming to consult with him about a marriage between the Lady Mary and the Duke of Orleans, cast a scruple into his mind, which rendered him restless. Whether Mary were legitimate, &c. If it were his surfeiting and drunkenness the day before that hindered Ahasuerus from sleeping, (habent enim hoc ebrii, ut neque dormiant, neque vigilent) God's goodness appeareth the more, in turning his sin to the good of the Church. Venenum aliquando pro remedio fuit, saith Seneca, He can make of a poisonful viper an wholesome treacle: and by an Almighty Alchymy draw good out of evil.

And he commanded to bring the book of records ] Perhaps some special Notes or Commentaries, written for the Kings own use; as M. Aurelius had his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Julius Caesar had his Commentaries written with his own hand, and for the help of his own memory. Tamerlane had the like book, wherein he read a great part of the night, before the mortal battle between him and Bajazet.

Of the Chronicles ] Perhaps, besides the former book of remembrances, or else the same; Librum Commentariorum, Chronica, as Tremellius rendereth it, the book of Commentaries, even the Chronicles; but the Vulgar and Tygurine make them several books.

And they were read before the King ] Perhaps as a Recipe, to bring on sleep, or at least to deceive the time; and yet it may he too for a better purpose, viz. to better his knowledge, and to rub up his memory, that dignity might wait upon desert: as it did in Tamerlanes time, who kept a catalogue of their names who had best deserved of him, which he daily perused, oftentimes saying, that day to be lost, wherein he had not done something for them. This Ahasuerus had not yet done for Mordecai, who therefore haply held with the Poet.

Verse 2. And is was found written ] It was God who directed the Reader to that very place: like as he did the Eunuch to Isaiah 53.7, 8. where reading of the meekness of Jesus Christ, he was transformed into the same image; as was likewise Johannes Isaac a Jew, converted by reading the same chapter. Hoc ego ingenue profiteor, saith he, Caput illud ad fidem Christi me adduxisse. This I confess ingenuously, that lighting upon that chapter, I was brought thereby to the faith of Christ. Austin thought he heard a voice, saying, Tolle, lege, take up the Bible and read: accordingly he took it up, and opening it, fell upon that text in the Romans, chap. 13.14. which was the main means of his Conversion.

That Mordecai had told of Bigthana, &c. ] See chap. 2.21.

Verse 3. And the King said, What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? ] Lyra saith that he had waited six years for a reward, and had none. In Princes Courts men are sure to meet with two evils, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , not so in heaven. The Butler forgot Joseph. Solomon speaketh of a poor wise man, who by his wisdom delivered the City, yet no man remembered that same poor man, Eccl. 9.15. This is merces mundi, the worlds wages. Mordecai had saved the Kings life, and yet is unrewarded. The Kings of Persia used to be very bountiful to those that had well deserved of them, or of the Common-wealth: calling such Orosangae, and setting down both their names and their acts in the Chronicles, as Herodotus testifieth. Among the rest he mentioneth one Phylacus, Qui inter been de rege meritos ascriptus est, & multo tractu soli donatus, who was put upon record for his good service to the King, and rewarded with a great deal of land given him. Others had great store of gold and silver, and a gallant house, as Democedes Crotoniates the Physician, who cured Darius, had at Susis. It is well known out of Xenophon, what rich gifts Cyrus gave to his friends and followers, chains of gold, armelets, bridles bossed with gold, Persian Stoles, called Dorophoricae, &c. Herodotus telleth us, that this Ahasuerus (alias Xerxes) gave Megabyzus for his good service at Babylon, a golden Mill weighing six talents. Plutarch writeth, that he gave Themistocles above two hundred talents, and three Cities besides, ( viz. Magnesia, Lampsacus and M • untis ) to find him food, and for clothing and furniture two more, viz. Percos and Palaescepsis. How came it then to pass that good Mordecai was so forgotten? Surely it was a great fault in this ungrateful King, but God's holy hand was in it, that Mordecai should not have no present recompense, but that it should be deferred till a fitter opportunity, when God might be more glorified in the preservation of his people, and destruction of their enemies. Let us not therefore be weary of well-doing: for (however men deal by us) we shall be sure to reap in due season if we faint not, Gal. 6.9. God best seeth when a mercy will be most sweet and seasonable. When his people are low enough, and the enemy high enough, then usually it appeareth, that there is a God that judgeth in the earth, and a rich reward for the righteous. Men may neither remunerate nor remember the good turns we have done them: but there is a book of remembrance written before the Lord for all them that fear him, and that think upon his name, Mal. 3.16. See my Treatise on that text, called, The Righteous man's Recompence, annexed to my Comment upon the Small Ptophets.

Then said the Kings servants ] The Eunuchs or Gentlemen of the bed-chamber: ingenuous men they were, and not disaffected to Mordecai, whom yet they could not but know to be a great eye-sore to Prince Haman. Si juvenes isti vulgari invident •• morbo laborâssent, saith Lavater. If these young men had been sick of that common disease of envy, they would have extenuated his good service, and have said, Mordecai is a despised Jew, a stranger, a captive. If he revealed the conspiracy, he did but his duty, and provided thereby well for his own safety. Is it not reward enough that he lives, and at Court, where he hath a place, an office, &c? Courtiers, we know, love not to have others come over their heads, but think all lost which themselves acquire not, as Seneca saith Sejanus did. We know how it was in the Courts of Pharaoh, Saul, Herod. That's a rare commendation that is given by Xenephon of Cyrus his Courtiers, that though a man should seek or choose blindfold, he could not miss of a good man. David's Court might very well be such, Psal. 101. and Queen Elizabeth's, and George Prince of Anhalts, of whom Melancthon writeth, that his chamber was Ecclesia, Academia, Curia, a Church, an University, and a Court, Palaestra pietatis & literarum, as Tremellius saith of Cranmer's family, a School of Piety and Learning.

There is nothing done for him ] And yet the Apocryphal Additions, chap. 12. ver. 5.6. say otherwise.

Verse 4. And the King said, Who is in the Court ] Josephus saith, that he first asked, What a clock it was, and understanding that it was morn-light, (for so long he had heard his servants read, and till then it was not that Mordecai 's matter was mentioned, Haman being now ready to get a warrant for his execution) he asked, Who's there without? as desirous to proceed by counsel in a business of that consequence.

Now Haman was come, &c. ] He was early up, (and at Court for a mischief) but never the nearer, save only to his own utter ruin.

To speak to the King to hang Mordecai ] Which till it were done, he could neither sleep in quiet, nor eat with comfort. Little considered he how the Gallows groaned for himself. The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead, Prov. 11.8.

Verse 5. Behold Haman standeth in the Court ] For into the Presence he might not come uncalled. And to be thus called in he held it no small happiness; but was soon confuted. He came into the room (as men come to a Lottery) with his head full of hopes, but he went thence with his heart full of blanks.

And the King said, let him come in ] See here, saith Merlin, a sweet and special Providence of God in this, that Ahasuerus should take advice about honoring Mordecai, and not of his servants that attended upon his person, but of Haman then present, (though for another purpose) and, concealing the man he meant, should make Haman say what was fit to be done, and then do it accordingly. Neither the King nor his servants likely, would ever have thought of doing Mordecai so great honor as Haman prescribed. See here, as in a mirror, how the Lord by a secret Providence bringeth about, and overruleth the wiles of men, their affairs, times, counsels, words and speeches, to the fulfilling of his own Will and Decree; and this, when they think least of doing God's Will, or serving his Providence.

Verse 6 So Haman came in ] Merry and jocund, but went out sad and heavy-hearted. These hosts (profit, pleasure and preferment) though they welcome us into our Inn with smiling countenances, yet if we watch them not, they will cut our throats in our beds. It is observed of Edward the third, that he had always fair weather at his passage into France, and foul upon his return. Pharaoh had fair weather till he was in the heart of the red sea. The Sun shone-fair upon the earth that morning that Lot came out of Sodom, but ere night there was a dismal change. He that lives in the height of the worlds blandishments, is not far from destruction.

And the King said unto him, What shall be done, &c. ] Though the King knew of no difference betwixt Haman and Mordecai (saith a grave Interpreter) yet he suppresseth Mordecai 's name: and thus the Lord by his Providence brought it about, that even Haman himself should, to his greater vexation, appoint the honors that should be done to Mordecai, and that at a time when he was come to desire of the King that he might be hanged, and with full assurance that he should have obtained his desire.

Now Haman thought in his heart ] Heb. said in his heart; the language whereof God very well understood: and here uttereth, to the perpetual shame of this monstrous Ambitionist.

To whom would the King delight to do honor more then to myself? ] Ambition (as they say of the Crocodile) groweth as long as it liveth; and self-love, like to a good stomach, draws to itself what nourishment it liketh, and casts off that which offends it. It maketh men unreasonable, and teacheth them to turn the glass to see themselves bigger, others lesser then they are. Herodotus reporteth, that after the Greeks had got the better of this Xerxes and his Persians, and came together to divide the spoil, when it was put to the question, who of all the Commanders had deserved the best and chief reward? none would yield to other, but every man thought himself best deserving, and second to none. In the battle at Belgrade, where Mahomet the great Turk was beaten and driven out of the field, Capistranus and Hunniades were the Chieftaines there. And whereas both of them wrote the relation of that days work, neither of them so much as once mentioned the other, (though both of them had done their parts gallantly,) but each one took the whole praise of it to himself. Haman, though altogether unworthy of the least respect, yet holds himself best worthy of the greatest honors, and therefore will be sure to be no niggard in advising those ceremonies of honor, which he presumes meant to his own person.

Verse 7. And Haman answered the King ] After a short pause, he had his answer ready; but making a bridge of his own shadow, he soon fell into the brook. Ambition rideth without reins, and like those horses, Amos 6.11. runneth upon the rocks, where first she breaks her hoofs, and then her neck. It seemeth by that which followeth, that Haman aspired to the Kingdom: why else did he ask the Crown-royal, and the Kings horse, &c? When David would declare Solomon his successor in the Kingdom, he set him upon his own mule, 1 Kings 1.33. But Haman little thought that those his high hopes should end in a rope. So did Hanno 's the Carthaginian, and Roger Mortimers in King Edward the second his time, and the false Edrick in King Knute 's days: and lastly Hadrian de Cast • llo, an Italian Legate, made by King Henry the seventh, Bishop of Hereford, who conspired with Alphonso Petruccio, and other sacred Cardinals, to murder Pope Leo the tenth, induced thereunto by the suggestion of a witch, who foretold him, that one Hadrian an old man, of mean Parentage, of great learning and wisdom, should succeed in the Papacy; the man ( Haman -like) thought it must needs be himself: but another Hadrian Schoolmaster to Charles the fifth proved to be the man: and this our Hadrian lost by deprivation all his promotions whatsoever, (for his life could not be come at) for his nefarious attempt.

For the man whom the King delighteth to honor ] Heb. In whose honor the King delighteth. And what will not delight do whether in good or evil? See the Note on Micah 7.18.

Verse 8. Let the royal apparel be brought, &c. ] This was very glorious and gorgeous; as is to be seen in Xenophon, Plutarch, Lucian, Dion, Chrysostom, and other good Authors. The Persian Kings wore on their heads an upright Tiare or Turbant very sumptuous; a Diademe also made of white and purple color. On their bodies a rich purple Stole, or robe of State, reac •• down to the heels: this Curtius calleth pallam Persicam, a Persian Pall, beset with gold and precious stones, great store, and the pictures of wild creatures and souls of the air. Curtius describing Xerxes his royal apparel, saith, that golden hawks encountering one another with their beaks adorned his robe made of cloth of gold. Besides, they wore a rich Cassock (called Candy ) bound to them with a golden girdle, breeches also of scarlet, reaching to their knees; called therefore by the Greeks, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Jerome testifieth.

And the horse that the King rideth upon ] The King of Persia did always ride, either on horseback, or in a charet, and had one special horse proper to himself, as had also David, 1 Kings 1.33. Alexander, Julius Caesar, &c. At this day the better sort in Persia fight, buy, sell, confer, and do all on horseback. The difference between the Gentleman and the Peasant is, that the Peasant never rides, the Gentleman never goes on foot.

And the Crown-royal that is set upon his head ] This was monstrous ambition: appoint him the Kingdom also, might Ahasuerus have said. Lyra noteth here, that Haman aspired to the Kingdom, because none but the King could have the Crown-royal set upon his head: wherefore the King also in answering to the things propounded by him, saith, Take the robe and the horse as thou hast said, but of the Crown he maketh no mention. Some of the Hebrews by head here understand the horses head; Nam apud Persas solebat equus defer diadema regni, the Kings horse was wont to carry the royal Crown. Vatablus thinks this sense not unlikely, because the Crown is not mentioned, verse 11. and this might also peradventure be the custom and fashion of Persia, saith Diodate. Merlin noteth here, that Haman maketh no mention of rewards or gifts to be conferred upon him, because he had wealth enough already, and desired only more honors, instancing the utmost that could be done to any subject, in seeking whereof he miserably failed.

Verse 9. And let this apparel and horse be delivered, &c. ] All must be done in amplest manner: and if it had been done to himself as he desired, what had all that been but a magnum nihil, as one saith, a great nothing, a glorious fancy, a rattle to still his ambition for a while? He, simple man, had wrought himself into the fools paradise of a sublime dotage, like as the Spaniards have in their dream of a Catholic Monarchy, divinitus debita, saith one, sed in Utopia. They were laughed at a good by Captain Drake, and his company, when they took Sancta Domingo. Anno 1585. and in the Town-Hall found the King of Spain's arms, and under them a Globe of the world, out of which arose a horse with his fore-feet cast forth with this Inscription, Non sufficit orbis. Pyrrhus, that ambitious King of Epirotes, had the like thought; but was slain at last with a tilestone thrown upon his head by a woman. And a like evil end befell Caesar Borgia, who in imitation of Julius Caesar, would needs be, aut Caesar, aut nullus, and soon after proved to be Et Caesar, & nullus. Had Haman but contented himself with his present condition (too good for such a Caitiffe) he might have lived in the worlds account happily, and have called himself as that French King did Tresheureuse, thrice blessed, but that insatiable thirst after honor, that gluttonous excessive desire after more and more greatness undid him. So true is that Proverb of the Ancients, Turdus ipse sibi malum cacat, Of the black birds dung is made the lime wherewith he is taken, so out of the dung of men's sins doth God make his lime-twigs of judgment to take them withal.

To one of the Kings most noble Princes ] Principibus majoribus paratimis. This would be no small addition to the honor of the man, and splendor of the day, like as it was here in England, when Henry the second, at the Coronation of his eldest son, renounced the name of a King for that day, and, as Sewer, served at the Table.

That they may array the man withal ] Setting him forth to the greatest advantage: as our Henry the sixth did, when he crowned the Lord Beauch • mp King of the Isle of Wight, and as Xerxes did Demaratus, when for honors sake he granted him to enter into Sardis, the chief City of Asia, arrayed like himself, with a straight Tiare upon his head, which none might wear but Kings only.

Through the street of the City ] Of Susa, that he might be seen and cried up by mamy, for Honor est in honorante. As the Meteor liveth in the air, so doth honor in the breath of other men. Plato reckoneth it among those dei ludibria quae sursum ac deorsum sub coelo feruntur, like tennis-balls bandied up and down from one to another.

Verse 10. Then the King said to Haman ] The King had no intent herein to ensnare Haman, or cross his humor, but God had a hand in it for the effecting of his own ends, which cannot but be ever exceeding good, since his will is not only recta but regula.

Make haste, and take the aparel, and the horse, &c. ] Here was no time left him of deliberation, or liberty of contradiction, dispute he must not, but dispatch what was given him in charge. Had he had but the least breathing-while, that stepping out of the presence he might have considered with himself, or consulted with his friends, he would either have feigned himself sick, or found some other excuse, that he might not have done his enemy this honor. But God had so ordered it, and the King commanded it to be done forthwith; it was not therefore for Haman, vel responsare, velrepugnare, to chat or chafe, unless he would run the hazard of all; for, Where the word of a King is, there is power; and who may say unto him, What dost thou?

And do even so to Mordecai the Jew ] This word stabbed Haman to the heart, who had run many great hazards doubtless to domineer in his undeserved dignities; and now must perforce honor him whom he had hoped to have hanged; clothe him whom he hoped to have stripped; help him up to his horse, upon whose grave he hoped to have danced; prepare a triumph for him, for whom he had prepared a tree; make Proclamation before him as a Crier lead his horse as a Lacquey, do all offices for him as a slave or underling: Oh what a cut, what a Cordolium was this to a man of his metal and making! It was wonder his heart burst not, as did Ahithophel's, for pride so swelleth the soul many times, that it breaketh the case, the body I mean, and endeth the life: but this had been here to have saved the Hangman a labor. But base spirits will buckle, and fall down to rise, crouch and creep to mount, &c.

That sitteth at the Kings gate ] There you shall have him, and see that you mistake him not. Haman knew him well enough by his stiffness and stoutness, and wished him of all the men in the world out of the world.

Let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken ] Perquàm hoc durum est, sed ita lex scripta est, saith the Civil Lawyer, this was an hard saying, and as hard meat to Haman's stomach that would ill go down, but there was no help for it, himself had advised it, and must therefore speedily execute it. Lata negligentia dolus est, says the Lawyer: remisseness is a kind of perfidiousness. Excuses would have been construed for refusals, delays for denials, &c.

Verse 11. Then took Haman the aparel, &c. ] Full sore against stomach be sure, But how could he help it? Thus God compelleth the devil and his limbs sometimes, though against their wills, to serve him and his servants, Canes lingunt ulcera Lazari: Saul pronounceth David more righteous then he; Judas and Pilate give testimony to Christ's innocence. These are the servants of the High God, which show unto us the way of salvation, said the Pythonisse concerning Paul and his companions, Acts 16.17.

And arrayed Mordecai ] Whose heart he could rather have torn out, and eaten it with salt. But Courtiers are usually notable Dissemblers, cunning Politicians, &c. How busy is Haman now about Mordecai to array him, to mount him, and to attend upon him, whom yet he hated and inwardly cursed to the pit of hell? Cavete ab osculo Iscariotico, ab officio Hamanitico. Beware of men, Matth. 10. Josephus telleth us, that when Haman came to do these things to Mordecai, he (thinking that he had mocked him) answered with indignation, Thou most wicked man, doest thou thus insult over the miserable. But when he had told him, that indeed it was the Kings pleasure, he suffered him to do it. But what shall we say to reconcile those cross passions in Ahashucrus? Before he signed that decree of killing all the Jews, he could not but know that a Jew had saved his life: and now after that he had enacted the slaughter of all the Jews as rebels, he giveth order to honor a Jew as his Preserver. It were strange (saith a right Reverend Writer hereupon) if great persons in the multitude of their distractions, should not let fall some incongruities.

And brought him on horseback ] Whom before he could not endure to see sitting at the Court-gate. A great trouble it was to Haman to lead Mordecai 's horse, which another man would not have thought so, the moving of a straw troubleth proud flesh, &c.

Thorough the streets of the City ] Where all men were now in an amazement at that sudden glory of Mordecai, and study how to reconcile this day with the thirteenth of Adar.

And proclaimed before him ] Not without an honorable mention made of his loyalty and fidelity to the King, the cause of that great honor. This Haman was forced to proclaim, and that on foot as a servant: when Mordecai as a Prince in his state was on horseback. It is probable, that Haman thought within himself, that he should shortly have his penniworths of that vile varlet, whom now he thus far honored, and that haply ere night yet, at the feast, he might prevail with the King to do by Mordecai, as once he did by his Steersman, when he came back with shame and loss from his wars with Greece. He was forced, saith the History, to fly back in a poor Fishers boat: which being over-burdened had sunk all, if the Persians by casting away themselves had not saved the life of their King: the loss of which noble spirits so vexed him, that having given the Steersman a golden Coronet for preserving his own life, he commanded him to execution as a Co-Author of the death of his servants.

Verse 12. And Mordecai came again to the Kings gate ] No whit over-joyed of his new honor, or puffed up thereby (as many would have been, a small wind bloweth up a bubble) only he conceiveth hope thereby of a better condition, and taketh every former mercy for a pledge of a future: this experience breedeth confidence. He doth not rush into the Court at his return, and reach after an higher room, but came again to the Kings gate, where his office was, and his business lay: he took up also, as some think, his old habit again: (the Kings apparel and horse being restored to the right owner, he had as little delight in it, as David once had of Saul's armor;) but it is rather probable, saith an Expositor, that he now left that off, being full of hope, that as God had heard his prayers, to bring him out of danger, and to high honor: so he should now, be able to help his brethren the Jews out of theirs also. Mean-while he doth not envy his superiors, insult over his inferiors, trouble his equals, threaten his enemies, &c. but committeth himself and all his affairs to God's good pleasure and Providence and this is the guise of a godly man, Psal. 131.1, 2.

But Haman hasted to his house mourning ] Or, vexed at heart, fretting within himself, that he was so very much disappointed. Merrily he made account to have gone to the Queens feast, when he had first trussed up Mordecai. Of which not only missing, but made to do him public honor in that sort, and that by his own direction, this galled him and grieved him above measure; so bladder-like is the foul of an unregenerate man, that filled with earthly vanities, though but wind, it grows great, and swells in pride: but if prickit with the least pin of piercing grief, it shriveleth to nothing.

And having his head covered ] With his cap pulled over his eyes, as ashamed to look any one in the face. See, 2 Sam. 15.30. Jer. 14.4.

Verse 13. And Haman told Zeresh his wife, and all his friends ] Expecting comfort and counsel from them, but they read him his destiny, and add to his grief and desperation: letting him know, that his state was such, as that there was neither hope of better, nor place of worse: a just hand of God upon such an hard-hearted wretch, that had plotted the ruin of so many innocents. And this his wife and friends, had they done well, should have minded him of, and stirred him up to repent of his wickedness against God, the cause of his present wretchedness, to be reconciled to Mordecai, whom he and they plainly saw to be God's Favorite, and now the Kings also) to take down that ugly Gallows, (that there were no further notice taken of it) the evidence and ensign of his insufferable pride, and their unsavory counsel, to get the decree for the Jews Massacre reversed or countermanded, &c. But not a word find we of anything this way tending. Gracelesse people neither have God in their heads, Psal. 10.4. nor hearts, Psal. 14.1. nor words, Psal. 12.4. nor ways, Tit. 1.16. but stand in a posture of distance, nay defiance: walking contrary to him, and therefore he also to cry quittance, walketh contrary to them, Lev. 26. showing himself as froward as they for the hearts of them, Psal. 18.26.

Every thing that had befallen him ] The sad accidents of that day, nothing now (as once, chap. 5.11.) boasteth he to them of the glory of his riches, and multitude of his children, and how the King had advanced him above all his other Courtiers. Haman's • rowing was now turned into crying, &c.

Then said his wife men ] Wizards haply, such as he made use of when he cast Pur for a lucky day, and into whose mouths the devil might put this answer. It is his use to bring his imps into the briars, and there to leave them, as he did Saul, (whose Funeral Sermon he preached, and Judas, Julian, Valens and others.

And Zeresh his wife said unto him ] She is noted for a prudent woman; but here she proves as cold a comforter, as before she had been an evil counselor.

If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews ] A Nation noted for dear to God, often delivered by him, and that had also the faculty of gaining the good-will of Princes, by their excellent virtues, as it had been seen in Daniel and his companions, in Jeconiah, Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the whole Nation, so graciously licensed by Cyrus to return into their own Country. It is a good Note that one gives here, A Jew may fall before a Persian, and get up and prevail: but if a Persian, or whosoever of the Gentiles begin to fall before a Jew, he can neither stay nor rise, &c.

Thou shalt not prevail against him ] But why did they not tell him this before, since they knew as well as Haman, that Mordecai was of the seed of the Jews, and therefore advised him to prepare such a huge Gallows? Surely, he that had so flattered himself, deserved to be so flattered and undone by others: he that had given so evil counsel to the King against the Jews, deserved by such evil counselors to be cast into straits, and have no hand to help him out; they lead him to his bane, and there leave him: as familiars do their witches, when they have once brought them into fetters.

But shalt surely fall before him ] Thus is Haman judged of all, condemned by all, and this with so great assurance of such an event, as if they had seen it. Utique coram eo concides. Thou shalt surely fall before him, and that irrecoverably: as Eli fell, and as those idolaters are threatened, Amos 8.14. The Hebrew is, falling thou shalt fall, viz. to the lowest and utmost ebb of disgrace and misery, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

Verse 14. And while they were yet talking with him ] But could not yield him one word of comfort. He hoped haply that they would have found out for him some good occasion, some mean of supplanting Mordecai, now his Corival and Counter-factionist, and of incensing the King against him, that he might build upon his ruins. But the hope of unjust men shall perish, Prov. 11.7. ( Etiam spes valentissimo perit, so some render it,) and themselves with it. As Haman had not one to speak for him, when the King frowned upon him: so here he hath not one to speak to his heart, or to shore him up, now that he is upon the fall. Those that before took crafty counsel against God's people, and consulted against his hidden ones, Psal. 83.3. are now at their wits end, as seeing themselves taken (as wild beasts in a snare,) in their own craftiness, yea, they are mad for the sight of their eyes, which that day they should see, Deut. 28.34.

Came the Kings Chamberlaines, and hasted to bring Haman Heb. and hurried and headlonged in a turbulent manner: for it may be the King and Queen tarried for him. Could he have been any way excused, he had no such mind to have gone. For his stomach was full, and what if he should meet Mordecai the new Favorite there, and see him set above him? But now it is no time to consult further with friends, or cast perils by himself. Harbonah hasteneth him, having first taken notice of the lofty Gallows, and (as Josephus saith) asked of one of the servants of the house what it meant, and for whom it was prepared? See chap. 7.9.

Unto the banquet that Esther had prepared ] That fatal feast, Ubi manducaret quod apud inferos digereret, where his meat in his bowels was turned, it became the gall of asps within him, Job 20.14. why then should any Saint envy the wicked man his fed bits, his murthering morsels? is not his meat sawced, his drink spiced with the bitter wrath of God? Adonijah 's feast ended in horror: the ears of his guests were filled, (because their bellies had prepared deceit, Job 15.35.) with the sound of those trumpets, which at once proclaim Solomon's triumph, and their confusion. Ever after the meal is ended, comes the reckoning; but at this banquet of Esther it came before, chap. 7.2. And Haman sped not so well as Caesar Borgia 's Nobles, whom he invited to a feast, and after they had well d • ned, he cut off their heads.

CHAP. VII. Verse 1. So the King and Haman came to the banquet.]

HEb. to drink, for multorum vivere est bibere: and profane persons have a Proverb, Bibere & sudare est vita Cardiaci: Such are your chamber-Champions: whose teeth in a temperate air, do beat in their heads at a cup of cold sack and sugar. Belshazzar's feast-days were called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : because he was quaffing in the bowles of the Sanctuary, to the honor of Shac or Bacchus. Little did either he or Haman think, that in the fullness of their sufficiency, they should be in such straits, and that every hand of the troublesome should come upon him: that when they were about to fill their bellies, God should cast the fury of his wrath upon them, and rain it upon them whiles they were drinking, Job 20.22, 23. But, this is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God, verse 29. Why then should any Saint be sick of the fret, at the prosperity of the ungodly? surely, as fishes are taken in an evil net, and as birds are caught in a snare, so are such snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them; Eccles. 9.12. Of Esther's invitation Haman might have said, as he did of the gifts one sent him,

Verse 2. And the King said again unto Esther ] He was very desirous to know what her suit was; and with thought thereof, as it may seem, could not rest the night before. He pursueth his desires, not a little edged by her delays; neither was he of those lusks, who

Verse 3. Then Esther the Queen, &c. ] See chapter 5.7, 8. As Abigail, her family; and the woman of Abel, the City: so doth Esthe • by her wisdom and humility deliver herself and her people, ducem sequens lucem fidei, as one saith of her.

Let my life be given me at my Petition ] Heb. my soul. See how discreetly she marshalleth her words: setting these two great requests in the head of her petition, which is simplex & non fucata, plain and downright. Truth is like our first Parents, most beautiful when naked. Our words in prayer must be neque lecta, neque neglecta, neither curious nor careless; but as the words of Petitioners, plain and full, and direct to the point. Esther reckoneth her self here among the rest of her poor Countrymen, free among the dead, free of that company, and begs for her life and theirs together; because hers was even bound • p in theirs. Mortis habet vices quae trabitur vitâ genuitibus; to live after their death would be a lifeless life; and hence her importunity for both together▪ since they were in her heart, ad commoriendum & convivendum, if they died she could not live. Good blood will not belie it self. Esther had not shown her kindred and people till now, that she must appear for them. See the like in Moses, Heb. 11.25. in Nicodemus that night-bird, John 7.51. he speaks boldly and silences the whole company, John 19. he boldly beggeth the body of Jesus; neither could he any longer conceal himself. Surely, as Solomon by trial found out the true harlot-mother, so doth God by hard times descry the affections of his people. Then, as Joseph could not refrain tears, so nor they the exercise of their faith and charity.

Verse 4. For we are sold ] i. e. given up wholly into the power of the enemy, as that which a man hath bought with his money, is his own to dispose of. She refers, doubtless to the sum proffered by Haman, chap. 3.9. not fearing the face of so potent an enemy, nor going behind his back to set him out in his colors; yea, though her discourse could not but somewhat reflect upon the King, who had given Haman his consent.

I, and my people ] She makes it a common cause, and saith to her Countrymen, as once David did to Abiathar, 1 Sam. 22.23. or, as Charles the fifth said to Julius Pestugius, who complained that he had been much wronged by the Duke of Saxony. Have a little patience, thy cause shall be my cause, neither will I sit down till I have seen you some way righted. See verse 3.

To be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish ] These were the very words of that bloody decree which she purposely maketh use of, that he might be sensible of what he had consented to: and might see that she complained not without cause. But what a case was Haman in at the hearing of this? and how did he now repent him, but too late, of ever having a hand in so bloody a business? His iniquity was now full, and the bottle of his wickedness filled up to the brim with those bitter waters, was even about to sink to the bottom. His Gallows was finished last night, and now it groaned hard for him, that he might be destroyed, slain and made to perish.

But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen ] Though it had been an hard and sad condition for a Queen, especially (which yet was Hecuba 's case and Zenobia 's) yet it would not be grievous to them to sacrifice their liberty to the service of their life: the Gibeonites were glad they might live upon any terms, Josh. 9.16. Masters might slay their bondservants, but that was counted a cruelty, and when one did it at Rome, he was amerced by the Censor: many times they were manumitted for their good service, and came to great estates.

I had held my tongue ] Silence is in some cases a crying sin. Taciturnity, I confess, is sometimes a virtue, but not at all where it tends to the betraying of a good cause, or the detriment of the laboring Church. For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, &c. Isaiah 62.1. Terentius that noble General told Vatens the Arian Emperor, that he had abandoned the victory and sent it to the enemy, by his persecuting God's people, and favoring heretics. That was an excellent saying of Jerome to Vigilantius, Meam injuriam patienter tuli, &c. whiles the wrong thou didst, reached only to myself, I took it patiently; but thy wickedness against God I cannot bear with: so was that of Occolampadius to Servetus, (blaming him for his sharpness to the self-same purpose. And lastly, that of Luther in a letter to his friend Staupi • ius. Inveniar sane superbus, &c. Let me be accounted proud, peremptory, passionate, or what men please, so that I be not found guilty of a sinful silence, when called to speak for God.

Although the enemy could not countervail the Kings damage ] q.d. It is not his ten thousand talents, ch. 3.9. nor all that he is worth, and ten more such as he is, that can make up the loss, that the King is sure to sustain by the slaughter of the Jews, a people painful and prayerful, (this, Darius made high account of, Ezra 6.16.) useful and profitable, careful to maintain good works in St. Paul's sense, Tit. 3.8. that is, such as were noted to exceed and excel others in witty inventions, to be their Craftsmasters, and faithful to their trust. Besides, if they be taken away, great damage shall redound to the Kings revenue, by non-payment of toll, tribute and custom, as those Malignants could allege, Ezra 4.12. a thing that Princes usually are very sensible of. Or if there should be lucrum in arca, yet there would he damnum in conscientia, the foul blur of blood-guiltiness would lie heavy, both upon the Kings conscience, and his name among all Nations. The Vulgar rendereth this text thus, Nunc autem hostis noster est, cujus crudelitas redundat in reg • m. And now he is our enemy, whose cruelty reflecteth upon the King. Tremellius thus, S • d non est hostis iste utilis, damnosus est regi; but now this enemy is no way profitable, but to the King disadvantageous. This the King considers not, and the enemy cares not, so that he may serve his own turn, and satisfy his murderous mind.

Verse 5. Then the King Ahasuerus answered, &c. ] It seems he did not yet, by all that Esther had said, understand whom she meant: so high an opinion he had of Haman his minion, the only ornament and bulwark of the Empire, the greatest Publicola, and most esteemed Patriot. The King therefore, as not thinking him so near hand, hastily asketh, He said and said, (so the Heb. hath it) to the Queen.

Who is he, and where is he? ] Who is that Sirrah, he, and where is that Sirrah, he? words of utmost indignation and readiness to be revenged: such as were those of Charles the fifth Emperor. If that Villaine were here (speaking of Farnesius the Popes General, who had ravished certain Ladies) I would kill him with mine own hand or those of fiery Friar, who openly in the Pulpit at Antwerp, preaching to the people, wished that Luther were there, that he might tear him with his teeth. But could this King possibly so soon forget what himself had not two months before granted to be done against Esther's people, (which was with his right hand to cut off his left?) or did he not all this while know what Country-woman his beloved Esther was? and might he not expect that the Hamanists should come and take her forcibly from him to execution, by virtue of his own Edict, as Daniel's adversaries had dealt by him, though Darius labored till the going down of the Sun to deliver him, but could not, Dan. 6.14? and as Steven Gardener and his Complices attempted to do by Queen Katherine Parre, had not her husband Henry the eighth rated them away, and graciously rescued her out of their bloody fingers?

That durst presume in his heart to do so ] Heb. Whose heart hath filled him to do so? Cujus cor persuasit ipsi, so Vatablus. Whose heart hath persuaded him thus to do. The devil had filled Haman's heart, sitting a brood thereon, and hatching there this horrid plot, Acts 5.3. But (to do the devil right) Haman had suffered the Sun, (nay many Suns) to go down upon his wrath, and thereby given place to the devil, Eph. 4.26, 27. Nemo sibi de suo palpet (saith an Ancient) quisque sibi Satan est; Let no man deceive his own heart, each man is a Satan to himself; and though men bless themselves from having to do with the devil, and spet at his very name, yet they fetch not up their spettle low enough; they spet him out of their mouths, but not out of their hearts, as being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, Rom 1.29. Haman's heart thus stuffed might well have said to him at the Gallows, as the heart of Apollodorus the Tyrant seemed to say to him, who dreamed one night that he was flayed by the Scythians, and boiled in a Cauldron, and that his heart spake to him out of the kettle. It is I that have drawn thee to all this. Those in hell cry so surely.

Verse 6. And Esther said ] Now she found her time to strike whiles the iron was hot: she therefore layeth hold upon the opportunity that God had even thrust into her hand, and, laying aside all base fear, pointeth out the enemy present, and painteth him out in his proper colors. A well-chosen season, saith one, is the greatest advantage of any action; which as it is seldom found in haste, so it is too often lost in delay. It is not for Queen Esther now to drive off any longer. The negligent spirit cries, Cras Domine, To morrow thou shalt pray for me, said Pharaoh to Moses, Fools are ever futuring, semper victuri, as Seneca hath it, but a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment, Eccles. 8.5. The men of Issachar in David's days were in great account, because they had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, and when to do it, 1 Chron. 12.32.

The adversary ] Heb. The man adversary, the Lycanthropos, the man of might that distresseth us, angustiator, that is, our calamity; as the people of Rome once by an elegant solecism, cried out, Calamitas nostra Magnus est: meaning it of Pompey sir-named Magnus.

And enemy ] That is, the utter enemy, that sworn Swordman of Satan, the old manslayer, from whom Haman hath drawn this ancient enmity, Genesis 3.15.

Is this wicked Haman ] Pessimus iste, this homo hominum quantum est, pessimus, homo post homines natos nequissimus, as wicked a man as goes on two legs, a Merum scelus, a man made up of mischief, a very breathing devil. Cicero telleth of one Tubulus, who was Praetor a little before his time, so wicked a wretch, Ut ejus nomen non hominis sed vitü esse vider • tur, that his name seemed to be not the name of a man, but of vice itself. And Josephus saith of Antipater, that his life was a very mystery of iniquity. Think the same of Haman so portentously, so peerlesly wicked and malicious, that Esther can find no word bad enough for him, unless it be Harang, that naughtiest of all naughts, as Saint Paul could call sin no worse then by its own name sinful sin, exceeding sinful, Rom. 7.13. Tiberius was rightly characterized by his Tutor Theodorus Gadareus, dirt kned with blood; Haman was such another, if not worse, and now he hears of it: for never till now did the man adversary hear his true title. Before, some had styled him Noble, others Great; some magnificent, and some perhaps virtuous: only Esther gives him his own, wicked Haman. Ill-deserving greatness doth in vain promise to itself a perpetuity of applause. There will be those that will deal plainly, and call a spade, a spade. Thus Jeremy dealt with Jehoiakim, and Ezekiel with Zedekiah, whom he calleth naught and polluted. Go tell that fox, saith our Savior, concerning Herod; and God shall smite thee, thou whited wall, saith Paul to Ananias. But what a courage had Esther to speak thus to the King, and of his Favorite, and before his face? This was the work of her faith, and the fruit of her prayer.

The Haman was afraid before the King and the Queen ] He was amazed and amated, troubled and terrified.

Verse 7. And the King arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath ] As not able to abide the sight of such a caitiff, he flings away in a chafe. This wrath of the King was to Haman a messenger of death: and so he apprehended it, as appears by that which followeth. Ashamed the King was, and vexed, that his favor and power had been so much abused, to the hazarding of the Queens life, and the taking away the lives of so many innocents. It troubled him also to consider how he had lost his love upon so unworthy a wretch, and trusted him with his secrets, whom now he findeth treacherous, and all for his own ends. This King should first have fallen out with himself for his rashness, and then have said as Alphonsus, that renowned King, did in a speech to the Popes Ambassador: he professed that he did not so much wonder at his Courtiers ingratitude to him, who had raised sundry of them from mean to great estates, as at his own to God. This one consideration would have cooled him better then the repeating of the Greek Alphabet, or his taking a turn in the Palace Garden, before he passed sentence upon the Delinquent. Rex amici memor, paulisper cunctatur, deliberandíque gratiâ modicum secessit, saith Severus: that is, the King mindful of the friendship that had been betwixt him and Haman, maketh a pause, and retireth for a while, that he may deliberate with himself what to do. If these were the reasons, it was a piece of prudence in the King, for anger is known to be an evil counselour, and as smoke in a man's eyes hindereth his sight, so doth rash anger the use of reason. Hence wise men have refrained the act when angry: Plutarch telleth of one Architas, that displeased with his servants for their sloth, he flung from them, saying, Valete, quoniam vobis irascor: farewell, for I am angry with you, and may not therefore meddle with you. Vapulares, nisi irascerer, I would pay thee, but that I am displeased at thee, said Plato to a servant of his. And of Alphonsus King of Aragon it is reported, that vexed at his Cup-bearers stubbornness, he drew his dagger and ran after him: but before he came at him he threw away his dagger, nejam prehensum iratus feriret, lest he should catch him and kill him in the heat of his anger. This was better then Saul's casting a javelin at Jonathan, Alexanders killing of his friend Clitus and others in his drink, Herod's commanding the Keepers of the prison to execution, Acts 12.19. Whether Ahasuerus went into the garden (as Jonathan took his Artillery and went into the field) to divert and mitigate his anger, is uncertain. Possibly he might do that to edge and increase it. Of Tiberius it is storied, that the more he meditated revenge, the more did time and delay sharpen it: and the farther off he threatened, the heavier the stroke fell. Most certain it is, that Haman gat little by the Kings going into the garden; for upon his return, he was the more enraged: Nempe impiis omnia ad malum cooperantur, saith Lavater, to the wicked all things work together for the worse.

And Haman stood up to make request for his life ] See what a strange turn of things here was all upon the sudden. He that was bowed unto by all men, is now upon his knees before a woman. He that was erst the professed enemy of the Jews, is now suppliant to a Jewesse. He that had contrived the death of that whole people, is now begging for his own life. He that had provided a Gallows for Mordecai, fears nothing more now, then that himself shall be hanged on it.

Haman hoped that Esther would have interceded for him to the King, but there was little reason for it: a drowning man will catch hold on any twig. Esther knew him too well, to befriend him so far. Let him have judgment without mercy (thinks she) who shown no mercy.

For he saw that there was evil determined against him ] Vidit quod completum esset malum, rem ad restim rediisse; He perceived himself to be altogether in as ill a condition, as Judge Belknap in Richard the second his time, who said there wanted but an hurdle, an horse, and a halter, to have him to the place where he might have his due; where he might wear a Tyburne-tippet, as father Latimer afterwards phraseth it.

Verse 8. Then the King returned one of the Palace-Garden ] Where he had either increased his choler, and cast on more fuel by plodding, or (as some think) strove to digest it, as horses do by biting on the bit.

Unto the house of the banquet of wine ] Called also by the Hebrew Beth-mittoth, the house of beds triclinium: because at beds they used to sit, as we do at tables to eat and drink. See chap. 1.6.

And Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was ] he had stood up before, (for he saw the Queen took no felicity in his company) to make request for his life, which now was in suspense; here he falls down, either as swooning, or supplicating at the Queens feet, to beg her favor. But she very well knew, that there is both a cruel mercy, and a pious cruelty, and that although the sword of justice should be furbished with the oil of mercy, yet there are cases (and this was one) wherein severity ought to cast the scale: when there is no hope of curing, men must fall to cutting: Immedicabile vulnus, &c.

Then said the King, will be force the Queen also ] Haman had little mind of any such matter, as being now in the hands of the King of terrors, and ready to be devoured by the first-borne of death, as Bildad hath it, Job 18.13. But the angry King was willing to misinterpret him, and to take all things at the worst. It is an easy matter to find a cudgel for a dog, to pick a quarrel where men intend a mischief Ahasuerus was not, unwilling to misconstrue the posture of Haman's body, whiles prostrate he spread his arms in a vehement imploration up to the Queens bed. How oft might he have done so and more, whilst he was in favor, uncensured? Actions are not the same when the man alters. Men either judge or not judge as their passions and affections carry them. See this