And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told [it] unto Esther the queen; and Esther certified the king [thereof] in Mordecai's name.
Ver. 22. And the thing was known to Mordecai] How he came to know it is uncertain. Josephus saith that it was revealed to him by one Barnabazus, a Jew, who was servant to one of the conspirators. R. Solomon saith that the eunuchs talked of the plot before Mordecai in the language of Tarsus, supposing that he had not understood them; and so it came forth. Others conceive that they solicited him, being one of the keepers of the king's door, also to join with them. Howsoever it was that he got inkling and intelligence of their bloody purpose, God was in it, and good men are of his privy council; "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him," Psalms 25:14. Their apprehensions of things are deep, and their observations right, their knowledge rare to bolt out mischiefs, their experience leads them oft to guess shrewdly at men's purposes by their looks and gestures. "I, wisdom, dwell with prudence" (or subtilty), "and find out knowledge of witty inventions," Proverbs 8:12 .
Who told it unto Esther the queen] Haply, as holding himself a mean man, unworthy and unfit to speak to the king. Or, as fearing lest he should not be believed, or should be outfaced by the traitor, or, as conceiving that it would be better taken from Esther, whom the king so dearly loved; and might prove a good means to win her further into his favour. Yea, Mordecai himself, saith an interpreter, might safely have also a further reach herein, namely, to try the sincere affection of Esther towards him, whether she would make this an occasion to his good and preferment, or rather take the glory thereof unto herself.
And Esther certified the king thereof in Mordecai's name] She doth not conceal the treason, or further it, as some ambitious Semiramis would have done, or adulterous Livia. For although she was wont to boast that she ruled her husband Augustus by obeying him, yet Pliny and Tacitus tell us that she was overly familiar with Eudemus, her physician. And whereas Augustus's last words to her were, O Livia, remember our marriage; and, Adieu. She did so, and, it is thought, had a hand in setting him going. And the like is reported of Clytemnestra, Olympias, Queen Isabel, wife to our Edward II. But holy Esther was none such; she, as a loyal and faithful wife, revealed to the king the danger he was in, and so saved his life. So did Michal, David's wife, though she had no great goodness in her. The like is reported of Cleopatra, daughter to Antiochus the Great, who gave her in marriage to Ptolemaeus Epiphanes, thinking by her to destroy him, but he was deceived, according to Daniel 11:17. Valerius Maximus and Fulgosius speak much in the commendation of Thuria, Sulpitia, Chilonia, Antonia, Egnatia, &c., for loving and faithful wives. Valerius Maximus Christianus also, for like cause, celebrateth Irene, wife to Philip, the emperor; and Mary, wife to Sigismund, king of Bohemia and Hungary, &c.
Verum haec (Esther) tantum alias inter caput extulit omnes,
Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi.