So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which [was] before the king's gate.
Ver. 6. So Hatach went forth to Mordecai] He was obedient to his queen mistress, pleasing her in all things, not answering again, Titus 2:10, unless it were, I will, or the like. Servus sit monosyllabum Domino. Let the servant be the word of his master. Apelles painted a servant with hinds' feet, to run on his master's errands; with ass's ears, and with his mouth made fast with two locks, to signify that he should be swift to hear, slow to speak.
Unto the street of the city] The broad street, as the word signifieth; Rechob, πλατεια : there Mordecai kept him, and might not come nearer the court, because a mourner. See Esther 4:2. Tiberius the emperor, counterfeiting grief at the funeral of Drusus, there was a veil laid between the dead and him, because being high priest forsooth, he might not see any mournful object. The statues of the gods were transported or covered (for like cause) in those places where any punishment was inflicted. But what saith the wise man? "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning" (whereby we must understand any place or object which occasioneth mourning), "but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth," Ecclesiastes 7:4 .