John Trapp on Esther 6:13

Verſe 13. And Haman told Zereſh his wife, and all his friends] Expecting comfort and counſel from them, but they read him his deſtiny, and adde to his grief and deſparation: letting him know, that his ſtate was ſuch, as that there was neither hope of better, nor place of worſe: a juſt hand of God upon ſuch an hard-hearted wretch, that had plotted the ruine of ſo many innocents. And this his wife and friends, had they done well, ſhould have minded him of, and ſtirred him up to repent of his wickedneſſe againſt God, the cauſe of his preſent wretchedneſſe, to be reconciled to Mordecai, whom he and they plainly ſaw to be Gods Favourite, and now the Kings alſo) to take down that ugly Gallowes, (that there were no further notice taken of it) the evidence and enſign of his inſufferable pride, and their unſavoury counſel, to get the decree for the Jewes Maſſacre reverſed or countermanded, &c. But not a word find we of any thing this way tending. Graceleſſe people neither have God in their heads, Pſal. 10.4. nor hearts, Pſal. 14.1. nor words, Pſal. 12.4. nor wayes, Tit. 1.16. but ſtand in a poſture of diſtance, nay defiance: walking contrary to him, and therefore he alſo to cry quittance, walketh contrary to them, Lev. 26. ſhewing himſelf as froward as they for the hearts of them, Pſal. 18.26.

Every thing that had befallen him] The ſad accidents of that day, nothing now (as once, chap. 5.11.) boaſteth he to them of the glory of his riches, and multitude of his children, and how the King had advanced him above all his other Courtiers. Hamans [illegible: 1 letter]rowing was now turned into crying, &c.

Then ſaid his wife men] Wizards haply, ſuch as he made uſe of when he caſt Pur for a luckie day, and into whoſe mouthes the devil might put this anſwer. It is his uſe to bring his impes into the briars, and there to leave them, as he did Saul, (whoſe Funeral Sermon he preached, and Judas, Julian, Valens and others.

And Zereſh his wife ſaid unto him] She is noted for a prudent woman; but here ſhe proves as cold a comforter, as before ſhe had been an evil counſellour.

If Mordecai be of the ſeed of the Jewes] A Nation noted for dear to God, often delivered by him, and that had alſo the faculty of gaining the good-will of Princes, by their excellent vertues, as it had been ſeen in Daniel and his companions, in Jechoniah, Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the whole Nation, ſo graciouſly licenſed by Cyrus to return into their own Countrey. It is a good Note that one gives here, A Jew may fall before a Perſian, and get up and prevail: but if a Perſian, or whoſoever of the Gentiles begin to fall before a Jew, he can neither ſtay nor riſe, &c.

Thou ſhalt not prevaile againſt him] But why did they not tell him this before, ſith they knew as well as Haman, that Mordecai was of the ſeed of the Jewes, and therefore adviſed him to prepare ſuch a huge Gallowes? Surely, he that had ſo flattered himſelf, deſerved to be ſo flattered and undone by others: he that had given ſo evil counſel to the King againſt the Jewes, deſerved by ſuch evil counſellours to be caſt into ſtraits, and have no hand to help him out; they lead him to his bane, and there leave him: as familiars do their witches, when they have once brought them into fetters.

But ſhalt ſurely fall before him] Thus is Haman judged of all, condemned by all, and this with ſo great aſſurance of ſuch an event, as if they had ſeen it. Ʋtique coram eo concides. Thou ſhalt ſurely fall before him, and that irrecoverably: as Eli fell, and as thoſe idolaters are threatened, Amos 8.14. The Hebrew is, falling thou ſhalt fall, viz. to the loweſt and utmoſt ebbe of diſgrace and miſery, [non-Latin text not transcribed].