John Trapp on Esther 4:5

Verſe 5. Then called Eſther for Hatach] She ſnuffeth not at Mordecai's refuſal of her courteſie. She ſaith not, Let him chuſe, the next offer ſhall be worſe, Rerum ſuarum ſatagat, ſi velit, & valeat, &c. Solomon reckoneth among thoſe foure things that the earth cannot bear, an handmaid advanced to the ſtate and place of a Miſtreſſe.Prov. 30. Sen. epiſt. But Eſther was none ſuch. In her you might have ſeen magnitudinem cum manſuetudine, as Seneca hath it, ſingular humility in height of honours. She calleth here for Hatach a faithful ſervant, and perhaps a Jew, a Jew inwardly. Honeſty flowes from piety.

One of the Kings Chamberlaines] Heb. Eunuchs or gelded men; ſuch as uſed to keep their women in Kings Courts. The Chaldees call them Rabrebanim, that is, Grandees. The Perſians call them Spadones, ſaith Stephanus. The Greeks, Eunuchs; [non-Latin text not transcribed]. either becauſe they were Princes Chamberlaines, and had the cuſtody of their beds: or becauſe they were egregiè cordati homines, well-minded men: for they generally proved (as likewiſe now they do among the Turks) ſubjects, though not of great courage, yet of the greateſt judgement and fidelity, their mindes being ſet on buſineſſe, rather then on pleaſure.

Whom he had appointed to attend upon her.] Heb. Whom he had ſet before her, in obſequium & ſervitium, to be at her beck and obedience: probably, he was happy in ſuch a ſervice, for goodneſſe is communicative, and of a ſpreading nature. Plutarch ſaith of the neighbour-villages of Rome in Numa's time, that ſucking in the aire of that City, they breathed [non-Latin text not transcribed], righteouſneſſe and devotion: ſo it might very well be here. It was ſo with Abrahams ſervants, and Solomons, and Cornelius's, Acts 10.7. Nero complained (and no wonder) that he could never finde a faithful ſervant. What could they learn from him, but villany and cruelty?

And gave him a commandment to Mordecai] i.e. She commanded him to deliver her minde to Mordecai. A ſervant is not to be inquiſitive, (John 15.15. he knoweth not what his Lord doth but executive, ready to do what is required of him. He is the Maſters inſtrument, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and wholly his, ſaith Ariſtotle. The hands muſt take counſel of the head, and be ſtir them.

To know what it was, and why it was] Some great matter ſhe well knew it muſt needs be, that put him to thoſe loud laments. Wiſe men cry not till they are ſorely hurt. Jobs ſtroak was heavier then his groaning, Job 23.2. He was not of thoſe that are ever whining: like ſome mens fleſh, if their skin be but razed with a pin, it preſently rankleth and feſtereth; or like rotten boughes, if a light weight be but hung on them, they preſently creak and break. Mordecai ſhe knew was none ſuch. She therefore ſendeth to ſee what was the matter, that ſhe might help him, if poſſible. The teares and mones of men in miſery are not to be ſleighted, as if they were nothing to us. Who is afflicted,2 Cor 11. Rom. 12. and I burn not, ſaith Paul? Weep with thoſe that weep, elſe you adde to their grief; as the Prieſt and Levite did, by paſſing by the wounded man: Is it nothing to you, O ye that paſſe by the way, Lam. 1.12? Are not ye alſo in the body, Heb. 13.3. that is, in the body of fleſh and frailty, ſubject to like afflictions? And may not your ſins procure their ſufferings, as a veine is opened in the arme, to eaſe the paine of the head?