Esther 2:4

And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.

Ver. 4. And let the maiden] Herein unhappy that she got her honour with the loss of her honesty; and that so many maids are made miserable for her sake.

That pleaseth the king] Heb. That is good in his eyes. The eye is the lamp and ornament of the whole body; and yet that most lightsome part doth ofttimes draw the soul into utter darkness; while by those windows of wickedness and loopholes of lust Satan windeth himself into the heart, and maketh it impudicitiae cloacam (as Venus's temple on the top of Lebanon is called by Eusebius), a very sink and sewer of all lewdness and abomination.

Be queen instead of Vashti] This was held a great business, and a sufficient recompense. The bramble held it a goodly thing to reign over the trees: not so the vine and fig tree, Judges 9:15 .

And the thing pleased the king] Because it added more fuel to the fire of his lust, and that he may lengthen out his days in dalliance and wantonness: ut libidine libidinem provocante, nihil nisi muliebris fiat, saith an expositor here, that he might be the right successor of Sardanapalus, who buried himself in the bos oms of his harlots, and left behind him this infamous epitaph: πα φι λι πα λι \\φι-Tαυτ εχω οσσ ' εφαγον και εφυβοισα και μετ ερωτος, πα λι φι Tεοπν επαθον τα δε αλλα και ολβια παντα λελειπται

An epitaph fit for an ox, saith Aristotle. The kings of Persia are noted for effeminate, fitter for a canopy than a camp; and affecting such sights, ubi Imperator Apparator, lanx phalanx, acies facies, bella labella, spicula pocula, scutum scortum, &c.

And he did so] According to the counsel of those court parasites (whose word is that of Stratocles, Mihi placer quicquid Regi placet), he walked in the ways of his heart, and in the sight of his eyes, little thinking that for all these things God would bring him into judgment, Ecclesiastes 11:9. But such governors the wicked world deserveth, as being itself totus in maligno positus, 1Jn 5:19 When Phocas, that filthy traitor, reigned at Constantinople, Cedrinus saith that a certain honest poor man was very earnest with God to know why such a man, or rather monster, was set up; he was answered again by a voice, that there could not be a worse man found, and that the sins of Christians did require it.