John Trapp on Esther 6:11

Verſe 11. Then took Haman the aparel, &c.] Full ſore againſt ſtomack be ſure, But how could he help it? Thus God compelleth the devil and his limbes ſometimes, though againſt their wills, to ſerve him and his ſervants, Canes lingunt ulcera Lazari: Saul pronounceth David more righteous then he; Judas and Pilate give teſtimony to Chriſts innocency. Theſe are the ſervants of the High God, which ſhew unto us the way of ſalvation, ſaid the Pythoniſſe concerning Paul and his companions, Acts 16.17.

And arayed Mordecai] Whoſe heart he could rather have torne out, and eaten it with ſalt. But Courtiers are uſually notable Diſſemblers, cunning Politicians, &c. How buſie is Haman now about Mordecai to aray him, to mount him, and to attend upon him, whom yet he hated and inwardly curſed to the pit of hell? Cavete ab oſculo Iſcariotico, ab officio Hamanitico. Beware of men, Matth. 10. Joſephus telleth us, that when Haman came to do theſe things to Mordecai, he (thinking that he had mocked him) anſwered with indignation, Thou moſt wicked man, doeſt thou thus inſult over the miſerable. But when he had told him, that indeed it was the Kings pleaſure, he ſuffered him to do it. But what ſhall we ſay to reconcile thoſe croſſe paſſions in Ahaſhucrus? Before he ſigned that decree of killing all the Jewes, he could not but know that a Jew had ſaved his life: and now after that he had enacted the ſlaughter of all the Jewes as rebels, [illegible: 1 word]. Hall. he giveth order to honour a Jew as his Preſerver. It were ſtrange (ſaith a right Reverend Writer hereupon) if great perſons in the multitude of their diſtractions, ſhould not let fall ſome incongruities.

And brought him on horſeback] Whom before he could not endure to ſee ſitting at the Court-gate. A great trouble it was to Haman to lead Mordecai's horſe, which another man would not have thought ſo, the moving of a ſtraw troubleth proud fleſh, &c.

Thorough the ſtreets of the City] Where all men were now in an amazement at that ſudden glory of Mordecai, and ſtudy how to reconcile this day with the thirteenth of Adar.

And proclaimed before him] Not without an honourable mention made of his loyalty and fidelity to the King, the cauſe of that great honour. This Haman was forced to proclaim, and that on foot as a ſervant: when Mordecai as a Prince in his ſtate was on horſeback. It is probable, that Haman thought within himſelf, that he ſhould ſhortly have his penniworths of that vile varlet, whom now he thus far honoured, and that haply ere night yet, at the feaſt, he might prevaile with the King to do by Mordecai, as once he did by his Steerſman, when he came back with ſhame and loſſe from his warres with Greece. He was forced, ſaith the Hiſtory, to flie back in a poor Fiſhers boat: which being over-burdened had ſunk all, if the Perſians by caſting away themſelves had not ſaved the life of their King: the loſſe of which noble ſpirits ſo vexed him, that having given the Steerſman a golden Coronet for preſerving his own life, he commanded him to execution as a Co-Authour of the death of his ſervants.