Esther 6:13

And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends every [thing] that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai [be] of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.

Ver. 13. And Haman told Zeresh his wife, and all his friends] Expecting comfort and counsel from them; but they read him his destiny, and add to his grief and desperation; letting him know, that his state was such as that there was neither hope for better nor place for worse; a just hand of God upon such a hard-hearted wretch, that had plotted the ruin of so many innocents. And his wife and friends, had they done well should have reminded him of, and stirred him up to repent of his wickedness against God, the cause of his present wretchedness, to be reconciled to Mordecai, whom he and they plainly saw to be God's favourite, and now the king's also, to take down that ugly gallows, that there were no further notice taken of it, the evidence and ensign of his insufferable pride, and their unsavoury counsel, to get the decree for the Jews' massacre reversed or countermanded, &c. But not a word find we of anything this way tending. Graceless people neither have God in their heads, Psalms 10:4, nor hearts, Psalms 14:1, nor words, Psalms 12:4, nor ways, Titus 1:16, but stand in a posture of distance, nay, defiance, walking contrary to him; and therefore he also, to cry quittance, walketh contrary to them, Leviticus 16:1,34, showing himself as froward as they for the hearts of them, Psalms 18:26 .

Everything that had befallen him] The sad accidents of that day. Nothing now (as once, Est 5:11) boasteth he to them of the glory of his riches and multitude of his children, and how the king had advanced him above all his other courtiers. Haman's crowing was now turned into crying, &c.

Then said his wise men] Wizards haply, such as he made use of when he cast Pur for a lucky day, and into whose mouths the devil might put this answer. It is his use to bring his imps into the briars, and there to leave them, as he did Saul (whose funeral sermon he preached), and Judas, Julian, Valens, and others.

And Zeresh his wife said unto him] She is noted for a prudent woman, but here she proves as cold a comforter as before she had been an evil counsellor.

If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews] A nation noted as dear to God, often delivered by him, and that had also the faculty for gaining the good will of princes, by their excellent virtues, as it had been seen in Daniel and his companions, in Jechoniah, Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the whole nation, so graciously licensed by Cyrus to return into their own country. It is a good note that one gives here, A Jew may fall before a Persian, and get up and prevail; but if a Persian, or whosoever of the Gentiles, begin, to fall before a Jew, he can neither stay nor rise, &c.

Thou shalt mot prevail against him] But why did they not tell him this before, since they knew, as well as Haman, that Mordecai was of the seed of the Jews, and therefore advised him to prepare such a huge gallows? Surely, he that had so flattered himself deserved to be so flattered and undone by others; he that had given so evil counsel to the king against the Jews deserved by such evil counsellors to be cast into straits, and have no hand to help him out; they lead him to his bane, and there leave him, as familiars do their witches, when they have once brought them into fetters.

But shalt surely fall before him] Thus is Haman judged of all, condemned by all, and this with so great assurance of such an event, as if they had seen it. Utique coram eo concides Thou shalt surely fall before him, and that irrecoverably; as Eli fell, and as those idolaters are threatened, Amos 8:14. The Hebrew is, falling thou shalt fall, viz. to the lowest and utmost ebb of disgrace and misery, προν τ αιχεσιν αλγεα πειση .