John Trapp on Esther 9:2

Verſe 2. The Jewes gathered themſelves together] They were laeti in Domino, ſed non ſecuri, as Bernard hath it. They had prayed, but yet provided for the thirteenth of Adar, which by many was meant ſtill to be a bloody day, notwithſtanding the knowen favour of the King, and the patronage of Mordecai. The Hamaniſts would joyn together to perform that ſentence, whereof the Authour repented and had rued it. (That old enmity, Gen. 3.15. will never out of the Serpents ſeed,) the Jewes therefore well and wiſely get together, and unite their forces, that they may make a powerful reſiſtance. They are noted by Tacitus to be a nation at great unity amongſt themſelves; and to hate all others. On of the main ſcandals they do at this day take from Chriſtians, is, their diſſenſion,Camer. med. hiſtor. cent. 2. c. 23. that mother of diſſolution, as Nazianzen calleth it. The Turks pray to God to keep us ſtill at variance, and ſay that their fingers ſhall ſooner be all of one length▪ then we be of one minde. What a ſhame's this? If nothing elſe will, yet our common miſery, and the hatred of our enemies ſhould unite us, as it did theſe exiles, and it was foretold by Jeremy, chap. 50.4. that Judah and Iſrael, that could not agree at other times yet when they ſhould be both in a weeping condition, they ſhould better agree. So did Baſil and Euſebius againſt the Arrians: Ridley and Hooper againſt the Papiſts, &c. And it is high time for us now to ſet aſide our private emulat[illegible: 1 letter]ons and exceptions; as the creatures in the Ark laid by their Antipathies within, becauſe of the common danger of an inundation without.

To lay hand on ſuch as ſought their hurt] To repel force with force, to kill and ſpoil thoſe that ſought to do ſo to them. This, nature prompted them to, (as was forenoted) and they had alſo the Kings warrant for it, and they kept themſelves within compaſſe thereof, by not medling with any, but only thoſe that moleſted them. See, chap. 8.11.

And no man could withſtand them] Tantum poteſt bona cauſa bonis uſa conſiliis & mediis, ſaith an Interpreter here. A good cauſe, a good conſcience, and a good courage, what cannot theſe three do where they meet? How ſhould any ſtand before thoſe who are Deo armati,Eph. 610. ſtrong in the Lord, and in the power of his might? Pilates wife could warne him of medling with ſuch: and Hamans wife could tell him, that a Jew might fall before a Perſian, and get up again and prevaile. But if a Perſian, or whoſoever of the Gentiles begin to fall before a Jew, he can neither ſtand nor riſe, chap. 6.13. There is an inviſible hand af Omnipotency, that ſtriketh in for his owne; and confounds their oppoſites.

For the fear of them fell upon all the people] This was the work, not of ſome Pan Deus Arcadiae, (as the Heathens fancied;) but of God the ſole giver of victory, who when he pleaſeth affrighteth the Churches enemies, as he promiſeth to do in many places. See Exod. 23.27. Deut. 11.2, 5. Jer. 46, &c. And as accordingly he did it on the Egyptians, Midianites,Bapt. Egnat. l. 3 Philiſtines, Syrians, &c. And the like he did for Baldwin King of Jeruſalem againſt the great Calyph; for the Huſſites againſt all the force of Germany; for the Angrognians againſt the Popes army that came againſt them. The ſouldiers told their Captains, they were ſo aſtoniſhed they could not ſtrike, and that the Miniſters with their prayers,Act. & Mon 883. conjured and bewitched them. So at the ſiege of Mountabone, whenſoever the people of God began to ſing a Pſalme, (as they uſually did before their ſallying forth) the enemies coming, acquainted with their practice, would ſo quake and tremble,Spec. bel. ſacr. 282. crying, they come, they come, as though the wrath of God had been breaking out upon them. What was this handful of captives to the whole Perſian Empire, that they ſhould now become no leſſe formidable to them,Herodo[illegible: 1 letter]us. then not long after thoſe few Grecians were to this Ahaſhuerus or Xerxes? who having covered the ſeas with his ſhips, and with a world of men paſſed over into Greece, was afterwards himſelfe alone, in a ſmall Fiſher-boat glad to get back into Aſia, to ſave his owne life.