John Trapp on Esther 1:19

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

Let it be written, ſaith he, among the Lawes of the Perſians] Which the King himſelf could not repeal, Dan. 6.8, 15. but, once paſſed and regiſtred, they remained binding for ever. I have read of a people among whom the Lawes they had laſted in force but for three dayes at utmoſt.Legem dicimus [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Plato. This was a fault in the other extreme. Lawes are to be made with due deliberation, and then to be eſtabliſhed, and not altered without very great reaſon, as ſometimes there is, ſith Tempora mutentur, nos & mutemur in illis.

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

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