John Trapp on Esther 3:13

Verſe 13. And the letters were ſent by Poſtes] Theſe, the Perſians called Angari, or (as Ruffin writeth it) Aggari. But why was this done in ſuch poſt-haſte, ſo long before the day of execution? was it not to hold them all that while on the rack, and ſo to kill them peece-meale, (as Tiberius uſed to do by his enemies,) whileſt through feare of death, and expectation of that doleful day,Heb 2.15. they were all their life-time ſubject to bondage?

To deſtroy, to kill, and to cauſe to periſh] Words written not with black, but with blood; and therefore multiplied in this ſort, to ſhew, that it mattered not how, ſo they were made away by any meanes, and the world well rid of them. Reade the Hiſtory of the French Maſſacre: and heare Reverend Merlin, (who narrowly, and indeed miraculouſly eſcaped thoſe bloody Villaines, as being Chaplaine to the Admiral, and praying with him in his Chamber a little before he was murthered,) heare him, I ſay, commenting upon this text; Sic noſtro ſaeculo, ſi ſcribenda fuerint edicta adverſus Religionem, non potuerunt ſibi Scribae ſatisfacere in excogitandis verbis ſignificantibus, quibus atrociora & magis ſanguinaria redderentur, &c. that is, in our age alſo, if any edicts are to be written againſt Religion, the Secretaries cannot ſatisfie themſelves in deviſing ſignificant words, whereby thoſe edicts may be rendred the more cruel and ſanguinary.

All Jewes, both young and old, little children and women] All ages, ſizes, and ſexes. What could the devil himſelf have added to this abhorred cruelty, if it had gone on? ſuch a ſlaughter made Doeg at Nob; the Sicilians at their bloody veſpers; the King of France with the Templars throughout his Kingdom; Minerius the Popes Champion, with the Proteſtants of Merindol and Chabriers, (beſides that of the Pariſian Maſſacre before-mentioned, and by Merlin upon this verſe graphically deſcribed, like as that of Babylon is by Jeremy, chap. 51.34.) what a woful ſlaughter had here been made, had Faux but fired the powder? What an Acheldama had this whole Land been turned into in a few dayes ſpace? Necdum interiit ſaevus Hamani animus. Neither yet is Haman dead, but reviveth daily in his bloody and blaſphemous ſucceſſors. That like as one ſaith of Cain, the devils Patriarch, there are not a few that ſtill carry about, adore and worſhip as a ſacred thing, Cains club,Bucholc. red with the blood of Abel: ſo it is here.

Even upon the thirteenth day] that it was to be no ſooner done, was by a ſpecial Providence of God, that ere that time came, it might be happily prevented, as was afore noted. See verſe 7. Hamans folly alſo was not a little ſeen in deferring the execution ſo long: for how knew he what a day might bring forth? it was indeed mirabile ſimulque miſerabile dictu, as one ſaith, a wonderful, and withal a miſerable thing, that none ſhould be found among the Perſians, Medes and Chaldees, to pity this poore people, and to intercede for them. To have ſpoken to Haman for them, might likely have been as bootleſſe, as once it was to Minerius in the behalf of the Merindolians. Of whom when a few had eſcaped his all-devouring ſword, and he was intreated to give them quarter for their lives, he ſternely anſwered, I know what J have to do,Act. & Mon. 869. not one of them ſhall eſcape my hands; I will ſend them to dwell in hell among the devils, But if Haman reſolved no better, yet what knew he, but that in time the King might relent and repent of that raſh and wretched edict, as he did?

Nam faciles motus mens generoſa capit.Ovid.

We reade in our Chronicles, that when King Henry the third had given commandment, for the apprehending of Hubert de Burgo Earle of Kent, he fled into a Church in Eſſex. They to whom the buſineſſe was committed, finding him upon his knees before the High-Altar, with the Sacrament in one hand, and a Croſſe in the other, carried him away nevertheleſſe unto the Tower of London. The Biſhop taking this to be a great violence and wrong to the Church, would never leave the King, until he had ca[illegible: 1 letter] ſed the Earle to be carried to the place whence he was fetch't. This was done: and although order was taken he ſhould not 'ſcape thence; yet it gave the Kings wrath a time to coole, and himſelf leiſure to make proof of his innocency. By reaſon whereof he was afterwards reſtored to the Kings favour and former places of honour. And the like befel theſe Jewes, are the thirteenth of Adar: but Haman, blinded with pride and ſuperſtition, could not foreſee it.

And to take the ſpoile of them for a prey] To be ſure that none ſhould 'ſcape, the goods of the ſlain are propoſed for a reward to them that ſhould ſlay them, and how far that would prevaile with many covetous wretches, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. who knoweth not? Covetouſneſſe is daring and deſperate: how much more when it is encouraged, as here, by a Permiſſion, nay, a Precept from the King, and his chief Favourite? where we may be ſure, the wealthier any man was, the ſooner he ſhould have been ſent out of the world, as a tree with thick and large boughes is moſt likely to be lopped. Trithemius telleth us, that the Templars above-mentioned were maſſacred by Philip the Faire, King of France, upon pretext of hereſie: but indeed, becauſe they were rich, and Philip ſore longed after their poſſeſſions. The Cyprians for their great wealth became a ſpoile to the Romanes.

— Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, Auri ſacra fames?