And Esther said, The adversary and enemy [is] this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.
Ver. 6. And Esther said] Now she found her time to strike while the iron was hot; she therefore layeth hold upon the opportunity that God had even thrust into her hand, and laying aside all base fear, pointeth out the enemy present, and painteth him out in his proper colours. A well chosen season, saith one, is the greatest advantage of any action; which as it is seldom found in haste, so it is too often lost in delay. It is not for Queen Esther now to drive off any longer. The negligent spirit cries, Cras, Domine. Tomorrow thou shalt pray for me, said Pharaoh to Moses. Fools are ever futuring, semper victuri, as Seneca hath it, but "a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment," Ecclesiastes 8:5. The men of Issachar in David's days were in great account, because they had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, and when to do it, 1 Chronicles 12:32 .
The adversary] Heb. The man adversary, the Lycanthropos, the man of might that distresseth us, angustiator, that is, our calamity; as the people of Rome once, by an elegant solecism, cried out, Calamitas nostra Magnus est Our distress is great, meaning of it Pompey, surnamed Magnus.
And enemy] That is, the utter enemy, that sworn swordman of Satan, the old manslayer, from whom Haman hath drawn this ancient enmity, Genesis 3:15 .
Is this wicked Haman] Pessimus iste, such a most wicked one, this homo hominum quantum est, pessimus, homo post homines natos nequissimus, as wicked a man as goes on two legs, Bipedum nequissimus, a merum scelus, a man made up of mischief, a very breathing devil. Cicero telleth of one Tubulus, who was praetor a little before his time, so wicked a wretch, ut eius nomen non hominis sed vitii esse videretur, that his name seemed to be, not the name of a man, but of vice itself. And Josephus saith of Antipater, that his life was a very mystery of iniquity, Kακιας μυστηριον. Think the same of Haman, so portentously, so peerlessly wicked and malicious, that Esther can find no word bad enough for him, unless it be Harang, that naughtiest of all naughts; as St Paul could call sin no worse than by its own name, sinful sin, exceeding sinful, Romans 7:13. Tiberius was rightly characterized by his tutor Theodorus Gadareus, dirt kned with blood. Pηλος αιματι πεφυραμενος. Haman was such another, if not worse, and now he hears of it; for never till now did the man adversary hear his true title. Before some had styled him noble, others great; some magnificent, and some perhaps virtuous; only Esther gives him his own, wicked Haman. Ill deserving greatness doth in vain promise to itself a perpetuity of applause. There will be those that will deal plainly, and call a spade a spade. Thus Jeremiah dealt with Jehoiakim, and Ezekiel with Zedekiah, whom he calleth naught and polluted. Go, tell that fox, saith our Saviour, concerning Herod; and God shall smite thee, thou whited wall, saith Paul to Ananias. But what a courage had Esther to speak thus to the king, and of his favourite, and before his face! This was the work of her faith, and the fruit of her prayer.
Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen] He was amazed and amated, troubled and terrified.
Obstupuit, steteruntque comae, vox faucibus haesit (Virg.).
In the fulness of his sufficiency he fell into straits, Job 20:22. So that being convinced in his own conscience that the queen's accusation was very true, and that the king knew it to be so, he had nothing to say for himself, he was even gagged, as it were, or muzzled, as Matthew 22:12,13, according to that of David, Psalms 63:11, "the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped." And again, Psalms 12:3, The Lord shall cut off lying lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things. Here we see how suddenly wicked ones may be cast down upon the discovery of their wickedness, in the height of their pride, in the ruff of their jollity, as was Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Herod, Haman. Surely as thunder commonly is heard when the sky seemeth most clear; so this man saw himself enveloped in a storm in one of the fairest days that ever befell him.