Ver. 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, εν τω καιρω, in the nick and opportunity of time, 1 Peter 5:6. He will be seen in the mount, he will come as out of an engine. Could not the king sleep] Heb. the king’s 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 hour’s sleep: how should he when as sleep is God’s gift? Psalms 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 VIII, 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. (Life and death of Card. Wolsey, 65). If it were his surfeiting and drunkenness the day before that hindered Ahasuerus from sleeping, habent enim hoc ebrii, ut neque dormiant, neque vigilent (Plin.), They have this from drinking so that they are neither asleep nor awake. 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 poisonous viper a wholesome treacle; and by an almighty alchemy draw good out of evil. And he commanded to bring the book of records] Perhaps some special notes or commentaries, written for the king’s own use, as M. Aurelius had his τα εις εμαυτον. Julius Caesar had his commentaries written with his own hand, and for the help of his own memory, υπομνηματα. Tamerlane had the like book, wherein he read a great part of the night before the mortal battle between him and Bajazet (Turk. Hist.). 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 Vulgate and Tygurine make them different 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 be too for a better purpose, viz. to better his knowledge, and to stir up his memory, that dignity might wait upon desert; as it did in Tamerlane’s 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, Omnia sunt ingrata nihil fecisse benigne est. But God was not unrighteous to forget his work and labour of love, Hebrews 6:10, though men were unthankful. Vetus gratia dormit. (Pindar). Per raro grati reperiuntur (Cicero).
Ver. 2. And it 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 Romans 13:14, which was the main means of his conversion. That Mordecai had told of Bigthana, &c.] See Esther 2:21-23.
Ver. 3. And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this?] Lyra saith that he had waited six years for reward and had none. In princes’ courts men are sure to meet with two evils, Αναβολη and Μεταβολη, not so in heaven. The butler forgat Joseph. Solomon speaketh of a poor wise man, who by his wisdom delivered the city, yet no man remembered that same poor man, Ecclesiastes 9:15. This is merces mundi, the world’s wages. Mordecai had saved the king’s life, and yet is unrewarded. The kings of Persia used to be very bountiful to those that had well deserved them, or of the commonwealth; calling such Orosangae, and setting down both their names and their acts in the Chronicles, as Herodotus testifieth. Among the rest he mentioned one Phylacus, Qui inter bene de rege meritos ascriptus est, et 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, armlets, bridles embossed with gold, Persian stools, 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 over two hundred talents, and three cities besides, viz. Magnesia, Lampsacus, and Myuntis, 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 a 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, Galatians 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 tbe Lord for all them that fear him, and that think upon his name, Malachi 3:16. See my treatise on that text, called, The Righteous Man’s Recompense, annexed to my Comment upon the Small Prophets. Then said the king’s servants] The eunuchs or gentlemen of the bedchamber: ingenuous men they were, and not disaffected to Mordecai, whom yet they could not but know to be a great eyesore to Prince Haman. Si iuvenes isti vulgari invidentiae morbo laborasscnt, 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, Quicquid non acquiritur damnum est. Whatever he did not own, was consumed. We know how it was in the courts of Pharaoh, Saul, Herod. That is a rare commendation that is given by Xenophon of Cyrus’s courtiers, that though a man should seek or choose blindfold, he could not miss of a good man, Ενθα καν μυων βαλη τις ουκ αν αμαρτοι ανδρος αγαθου (Xen. Cyrop. 1. 8). David’s court might very well be such, Psalms 101, and Queen Elizabeth’s, and George’s, prince of Anhalt, of whom Melancthon writeth, that his chamber was Ecclesia, Academia, Curia, a church, a university, and a court; Palaestra pietatis et 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, /RApc Es 12:5,6, say otherwise.