The posts went out, being hastened by the king's commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed.
Ver. 15. The posts went out, being hastened by the king's commandment] As if the enemy had been at the gates, and his crown had hanged on the one side of his head; he could not have been more earnest and diligent in such a case than he now is. So much set upon it are God's enemies, to bring their evil purposes to pass that till then neither themselves nor others can be suffered to rest for them. Quicquid volunt, valde volunt, bearing down with crest and breast whatsoever stands in the way of their sinful lusts. What a shame is it, then, for saints not to be zealous of good works, valiant for the truth, and violent for the kingdom.
And the decree was given in Shushan the palace] Pependit, saith the Vulgate, it hung up upon the posts to be read by all, the king not shaming to have his privities seen (as the phrase is, Ezr 4:14), to traduce himself (as it were) in a public theatre, for a foolish and oppressive prince; neither caring what might be the evil consequents thereof, so that he may satisfy his own lust, and gratity his minion.
And the king and Haman sat down to drink] So to drown the noise of conscience (if not altogether dead and dedolent), and so to nourish their hearts as in a day of slaughter. Thus Joseph's brethren, when they had cast him into the pit, sat down to eat bread, Genesis 37:25, when it had been better for them to have wept for their wickedness. So did the Israelites when they had made them a golden calf, Exodus 32:6. Herod feasteth when he had cast the Baptist into prison, Matthew 14:6. The antichristian rout, revel, and riot, when they had slain the two witnesses, Revelation 11:10. The pope proclaimed a jubilee upon the Parisian Massacre. The king of France swore that he never smelled anything more sweet than the admiral's carcase, when it stank with long lying. As for his head, he sent it for a present to the queen mother. And she, embalming it, sent it to her holy father the pope for an assurance of the death of his most capital enemy. Thuanus writeth that the pope caused that massacre to be painted in his palace. Had the gunpowder plot succeeded it should have been portrayed, surely, in his chapel or oratory. Fawkes was to get into the fields to see the sport; for they made no other reckoning, but that all was their own. No more did the king and Haman here, and hence their jollity, but it proved somewhat otherwise. God oft suffereth his enemies to have the ball on the foot till they come to the very goal, and yet then to make them to miss the game. He loveth to make fools of them, to let them go to the utmost of their tedder, and then to pull them back with shame to their task.
But the city Shushan was perplexed] That is, the Jews that dwelt there; together with the rest that loved them, and wished well to them. These wept, saith the Vulgate Latin; were in heaviness, say others; they were intricated, ensnared, at their wit's end, so that they knew not what to do (as the word here signifieth), only their eyes were toward the hills, from whence should come their help. Their comfort was to consider, that melior est tristitia iniqua patientis, quam laetitia iniqua facientis (August.). Better is the perplexity of him that suffereth evil than the jollity of him that doth evil. Deliverance would come, they believed, Esther 4:14, but whence they knew not. Hard things may be mollified, crooked things straightened. Non omnium dierum sol occidit, While there is a sun to set I will not despair of a good issue, as Queen Elizabeth said when she was most perplexed, as being to be sent prisoner to the Tower, than the which never went anything nearer to her heart.