John Trapp on Esther 3:12

Verſe 12. Then were the Kings Scribes called] Then, preſently upon't, ſo ſoon as the word was out of the Kings mouth, licet quod libet: the Scribes were called, and all things diſpatched with all poſſible haſte, art and induſtry. So Judas, what he did, did quickly; he was up and at it, when Peter and the reſt of the Apoſtles were ſound aſleep. The children of this world are wiſer in their generation then the children of light; for why? they have the devil to help them, and to prick them on; and hence their reſtleſneſſe.

On the thirteenth day of the firſt moneth] Soon after they had begun to caſt lots, verſe 7.

and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded] Right or wrong, that was never once queſtioned by theſe over-officious Officers. If the King command it, and Haman will have it ſo, the Secretaries and Rulers, (thoſe ſervile ſoules) are ready to ſay, as Tiberius once did to Juſtinus. Si tu volueris, ego ſum; ſi tu non vis, ego non ſum. Or as he in Lucan did to Caeſar. Juſſa ſequi, tam velle mihi, quàm poſſe, neceſſe. We are wholly at your devotion and diſpoſe. We are only your clay and wax, &c. It is not for us to take upon us as Counſellours, but only to write what is dictated unto us, &c. But this was no ſufficient excuſe for them before God: as neither was it for Doeg, that he was commanded to ſlay all the Lords Prieſts, which Abner and other of Sauls ſervants rightly and ſtoutly refuſed to do, 1 Sam. 22. A warrant once came down under ſeal for Lady Elizabeths execution, whileſt ſhe was priſoner at Woodſtock; Steven Gardiner, like another Haman, being the chief Engineer. But Mr. Bridges her Keeper, miſtruſting falſe play, preſently made haſte to the Queen, who renounced and reverſed it. So might Ahaſhuerus haply have done this bloody Edict, had his officers ſhewed him the iniquity of it. But they took not this to be any part of their buſineſſe: Or if any one of them ſhould be more conſcientious, yet he might be ſurprized by a ſudden onſet, as the Lord Cromwell, when by the inſtigation of Gardiner, he was commanded by King Henry the eighth, to reade the ſentence of death againſt Lambert the Martyr, whereof he repented afterwards, ſending for Lambert, and asking him forgiveneſſe, as Mr. Fox relateth.

And to every people after their language] See chap. 1.22.

In the name of the King Ahaſhuerus] For more authority ſake, and that Hamans malice and cruelty might lie hid under the Kings cloak. So Jezabel wrote letters in Ahabs name againſt Naboth; ſo the Egyptians oppreſſed the Iſraelites in the name of their King; the Jewes pretended to be all for Caeſar, when they ſought and ſuck't our Saviours blood. The Popiſh Perſecutours here did all in Queen Maries name, when as it might be ſaid of her, as Joſephus doth of Queen Alexandra among the Jewes, Ipſa ſolùm nomen regium ferebat, &c. She had the name only of Queen, but the Phariſees ruled the Kingdome, ſo did the Biſhops in thoſe dayes: and ſome of them would have done the like in ours, and that was their downfal; after that, as rotten teeth, they had put the King and Kingdome to a great deal of miſery.

And ſealed it with the Kings ring] Leſt it ſhould by any meanes be reverſed, Dan. 6.8, 12, 15. Of the right antiquity, uſe and matter of rings, let them that will, read Plin. lib: 33. cap. 1. & 37.1. Macrob. lib. 1. Saturn. cap. 13. Alexand. ab Alex. lib. 2. genial. dier. Rhodig. lib. 6. cap. 12.