Then said his wise men, &c.— As Mordecai had declared himself a Jew, to satisfy the people at court that he could not with a good conscience comply with the king's command relating to the reverence which was to be paid to Haman; and as the interposition of Providence in behalf of the Jewish nation, even during their captivity, had been very conspicuous; the wise men about Haman might from experience form a conjecture, that if their God was become their friend, as seemed to be the case by this strange turn of affairs in favour of Mordecai, no weapon forged against them would prosper; because they had seen so many plots, which would have crushed any other nation, turn to their advancement as well as to their enemies' destruction. See Jdt 5:20-21. Considering, then, that Mordecai was of the seed of the Jews, a people whom God had wonderfully raised from great oppressions, and that at this time there was a desperate design, by Haman's management, carrying on against them; his wise men might easily and without the spirit of prophesy divine, that as Mordecai, whom they knew to be a man of great courage and wisdom, was got into the king's favour, it would not be long before he would find an opportunity of applying to him for a revocation of Haman's bloody decree, and consequently his ruin in the king's good graces. The known instability of court favour, and the little quarter there given to rivals or enemies, made it no hard matter, from Mordecai's advancement, to read Haman's destiny. See Patrick and Poole.
REFLECTIONS.—With very different sensations these two returned; the one to his place at court, the other to his house in the city. Mordecai, thankful and comforted, receiving the favour done him as a token for good, that God would blast the designs of his inveterate enemy: Haman, covered with confusion, stung with envy, and mourning as under the bitterest affliction. Thus will God render tribulation to those who trouble his people; but, to us who are troubled, rest with him.
1. Haman unbosoms his griefs to his wife and friends. The communicating of our afflictions is usually a relief; here it tended to aggravate their burden. For,
2. They prove miserable comforters, and read his doom instead of soothing his complaints. They foresee the disappointment of all his schemes: Mordecai is of the seed of the Jews, and no weapon formed against them can prosper; they predict his own fall in the struggle, and heighten his distress into despair: what had happened was but the earnest of what would ensue. Note; (1.) It is vain fighting against those whom God protects. (2.) Falling favourites descend rapidly. (3.) Sad presages of approaching ruin often seize the sinner before destruction comes upon him to the uttermost.
3. Haman's grief probably made him dilatory, and he foreboded now no good from the banquet in which he had so lately gloried. The eunuchs are sent to hasten him, and he goes; where we shall find him, in the next chapter, receiving the judgment that he had so well deserved.