And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath.
Ver. 5. And when Haman saw] Stirred up by these pestilent flatterer, qui crabronem furiosum magis irritaverant, as one saith, he took special notice of Mordecai's irreverence, which with more discretion he might have dissembled. When an inconsiderate fellow had stricken Cato in the bath, and afterwards cried him mercy, he replied, I remember not that thou didst strike me. It is a sign of weakness to be too soft and sensible of an indignity; "I was as a deaf man that heard not, and as one dumb, in whose mouth is no reproof," Psalms 38:13,14. The best apology to words and carriages of scorn and petulance is that of Isaac to Ishmael, viz. patience and silence.
That Mordecai bowed not, &c.] A great business to enrage him so much, but that he was set on by that old man slayer.
Sic leve, sic parvum est, animum quod laudis avarum
Subruit, aut reficit -
So trivial, so small is it, the spirit because greedy of praise, will be undermined or restored. A small wind raiseth a bubble, ambition rideth without reins, and hath inhabitatorem Dracohere Apostatam, the devil at inn with it.
Then was Haman full of wrath] He swelled like a toad, glowed like a devil; being transformed as it were into a breathing devil, he seeks the utter extirpation of that people, of whom, concerning the flesh, Christ was to come, Romans 9:5, wishing the same to them which Caligula in a rage did to the people of Rome, I would ye had all but one neck, that I might cut you all off at one blow, Eιθ ενα αυχενα ειχετε. Josephus tells us, that he brake out into this blustering speech, Liberi Persae me adorant. Hic autem, servus cum sit, tamen hoc facere dedignatur: The Persians, though free men, reverence me, and yet this slave thinks himself too good to do it. This he uttered no doubt with a very harsh and hateful intention of the voice, such as was that of the two brethren in evil, whose anger was fierce and their wrath cruel, when, Genesis 34:31, they answered their aggrieved father, Should he deal with our sister as a harlot? Genesis 49:5; Genesis 49:7; where the word Zonah (harlot) hath a great letter, to note their vehemency, rage, and rudeness.