Esther — Chapter 6

Noctem illam duxit rex insomnem, jussitque

The king passed that night sleepless — God through his angel bringing this about and directing it, so that Assuerus would read his annals and thereby recall the service Mordecai had done him and honor him. At the same time, by the example of Assuerus, it morally teaches kings and princes not to snore all night in their beds, but to be vigilant for the greatest public affairs and to pray to God for them. Homer aptly says: \"It is not fitting for a counseling man to sleep all night.\" Brisonius in his bk. I De Regno Persarum: \"That custom, never sufficiently praised, flourished among the Persians, that every day a chamberlain appointed for this purpose would enter the king's chamber in the morning and cry: 'Rise, O King, and attend to the matters that Mesoromasdes wished you to attend to.'\" Ordering the royal annals and histories to be brought, the king had them read in his presence — a worthy kingly act, that he might review his own deeds and, if anything was omitted (especially in rewarding those who had deserved well), supply the omission.

Aman quippe interius atrium domus regis

Haman had entered the inner court of the king's house to suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for him. He had hastened and anticipated the dawn so as to be first to approach the king in the morning and ask for Mordecai to be hanged before the king was occupied with other business — so as to sate his supreme desire for vengeance for the contempt of himself, through the disgraceful death on the cross of Mordecai his contemner. But God, the just judge and avenger of the proud and of injustice, turned all of Haman's vengeance against himself, doing so in gradual stages until he had him hanged on that very cross which he had built for Mordecai. In Haman it is clear how true it is: \"Guilt follows its originator.\" And: \"The punishment with lame foot has rarely deserted the preceding scoundrel.\"

Homo, quem rex honorare cupit, debet indui

A man whom the king wishes to honor should be clothed in royal robes, placed on the horse that belongs to the king's saddle, and receive the royal diadem on his head. The diadem was a strip of fine linen with which kings bound their heads, of purple distinct with white bands and precious stones. Verisimilitudinously, along with the diadem a royal crown was also placed on Mordecai's head; for this was the proper emblem of royalty which Haman was coveting and seeking for himself, thinking all this was being prepared not for another but for himself. And that Mordecai wore this crown at the king's command is clear from ch. 8 v. 15. All these things Haman ignorantly and against his own will prepared for his enemy Mordecai, whom he had requested for the cross — which greatly tormented him, in that he himself had pronounced the sentence by which the king would honor Mordecai with supreme and royal honor, and ordered that this honor should be conferred by Haman himself as though the latter were his herald.

Festina, et sumpta stola et equo fac

Hurry, and take the robe and the horse and do as you have spoken to Mordecai the Jew. By the \"robe\" is meant the royal vestment, as Haman had said in v. 8, which the Septuagint and Chaldean call a \"byssine robe.\" One may understand that the king also sent Haman a golden neck-chain, a golden sword, and golden bracelets to give to Mordecai — for it was the custom to adorn with these insignia the man whom the king wished to honor, as is clear from 3 Esd. ch. 9 and from Josephus bk. XI Ant. ch. 4, and from Aemilius Probus on Artaxerxes.

Clamabat Aman: Hoc honore condignus

Haman cried: \"This is what is done for the man whom the king wishes to honor.\" See here the sudden and supreme reversal of affairs, whereby Mordecai, destined for death, is raised to royal dignity and becomes an almost-second king — and this by his enemy Haman. Haman's five torments: first, the honor he had hoped for was taken from him; second, it was transferred to his mortal enemy Mordecai; third, he himself had to confer this honor; fourth, he who was formerly worshiped as a god was now the equerry and herald of the lowly Jew Mordecai; fifth, all this fell upon him unexpectedly at once.

Lugens et operto capite — ob pudorem

He returned to his house mourning and with his head covered — for shame, pain, and violent anguish; for he was ashamed to show his open face, who had now served as equerry of Mordecai, when previously he was worshiped as a god.

Si de semine Judaeorum est Mardochaeus

If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you cannot prevail against him, but will surely fall before him. Haman's friends said this either by some divine instinct, like the Sibyls and Caiaphas (John 11), or by human wisdom and shrewd conjecture based on having seen many Jews of inflexible and hard character who did not rest until they had ruined their enemies, and having heard by common fame that the Pharaoh, Canaanites, and other enemies of the Jews had been destroyed by Moses, Joshua, David, etc.