Here was a mighty preference of God in raising Esther's heroical courage and resolution above all those visible dangers that did attend her attempt of going in to the king against the known law of the land. And the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre, chap. v. 2. He did not kick her out of his presence, as some Cambyses would have done ; neither did he command her to the block, as Henry the Eighth did his Anne Boleyne, upon a mere misprision of disloyalty ; neither yet did he cashier her, as he had Vashti for a less offence, but by holding out his sceptre, shews his gracious respects unto her. This was the Lord's own work, and a great demonstration of his signal presence with her, in giving her favour in the eyes of the great king. ' So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre' with her hand, saith the Chaldee, with her mouth, saith the Vulgar transla- tion. This she did either in token of submission, or as a sign of reverence and subjection, or for the avoiding of danger ; for, as Jose- phus saith, ' He that touched the king's sceptre was out of the reach of evil,' or, according to the custom of the times, God's favourable presence is transparent, in the king's extended favour to her. ' On that night could not the king sleep,' Heb. , ' the king's sleep fled away,' Esth, vi. 1; and like a shadow it fled away so much the faster, as it was more followed. Crowns have their cares, thistles in their arms, and thorns in their sides. Lo ! he that commanded one hundred and twenty-seven provinces cannot command one hour's sleep. The king's head might perhaps be troubled with thinking what great request it should be that Esther had to make, that was so hardly drawn from her ; but herein appeared the signal presence of God in keeping the king awake ; for Mordecai might have been hanged before Esther had known anything of it — Haman being come early the next morning, ver. 4, to beg this of the king — had not God kept him from sleep, and directed him to read in that place of the Chronicles where Mor- decai's service was recorded, and so made way to his advancement and Haman's ruin. God's favourable presence shined upon his people in keeping the king from sleep, for excellent ends, and in putting small thoughts into his heart for great purposes. God will appear for his poor people, ev rw Kalpo), in the nick and opportunity of time, when there is but a step between them and death ; and further, the power, providence, presence, and goodness of God was made evident, in the behalf of his people, in directing the reader to that very place where Mordecai's singular service, in discovering the barbarous and murder- ous plot that was laid against the king's life and crown, was recorded, Esth. vi. 2. That Mordecai should have no present reward, but that it should be deferred till a fitter opportunity, when God might be more glorified in the signal preservation of his people, and in the famous overthrow of their enemies, was from that mighty hand of God, that was stretched out for the good of his people. In this great story we may, as in a mirror, see how the Lord, by his wisdom, provi- dence, presence, and grace, brings about and overrules the wills of men, the affairs of men, the counsels of men, the designs of men, the words and speeches of men, to the fulfilling of his own will and decree, and the promoting of his own honour and glory, and the good of his people, when vain men think least of doing his will, or serving his
486 THE SIGNAL PRESENCE OF GOD
providence. Here you may see the wisdom, prudence, and courage of Esther, striking whilst the iron was hot, charging the bloody de- cree upon Haman to his face, and that before the king, that things might the better stick and work, and painting him out in his own pro{)er colours. ' The adversary,' Heb., * the man adversary,' the Ly- canthropos, the man of might that distresseth us. ' And enemy,' that is, the cruel enemy, the bloody enemy, the utter enemy, the worst enemy, that sworn swordman of Satan, from whom Haman hath drawn his ancient enmity, Gen. iii. 15. ' Is this wicked Haman,' that is, as wicked a wretch as goes on two legs, a man of blood, a man made up of mischief and malice, a sink of wickedness, a very mystery of ini- quity, a breathing devil. Tiberius was rightly characterised by his tutor Theodorus Gadareus,! dirt knead ^ with blood. Haman was such another, if not worse. And now Queen Esther is; plain and round with him, and calls a spade a spade. Though others styled him noble, great, serene, magnificent, &c., Esther gives him his own with a wit- ness. ' The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.' But what a mighty courage had Esther to speak at this rate before the king, and of his grand favourite, and before his face. Surely all this was frorti the signal presence of God with her soul. This was a great work of faith, and a singular fruit of prayer. ' And now Haman stood up to make request for his life.' Oh, what a strange turn of things is here all upon a sudden ! He that a little before was bowed unto by all men, is now upon his knees before a woman ; he that was, the very day before, a professed enemy of the Jews, is now suppliant to a Jewess ; he that a few weeks before had contrived the death and ruin of the Jews, is now begging hard for his own life ; he that had provided a gallows for Mordecai, fears nothing more now than that himself should be hanged on it. Yesterday, oh the caps, knees, and bows that Ha- man had, and now the same man covers his face, in token of his irre- coverable ruin, Esth. vii. 8. The Turks cast a black gown upon such as they sit at supper with the great Turk, and presently strangle them. Many of their viziers or greatest favourites die in this sort, which makes them use this proverb, ' He that is greatest in office, is but a statue of glass.' Plutarch wittily compareth great men to counters, which now stand for a thousand pounds, and anon for a farthing. This was Haman's case.3 And so Sejanus, the same senators who ac- companied him to the senate, conducted him to prison ; they which sacri- ficed to him as to their god, which kneeled down to adore him, scoffed at him, seeing him dragged from the temple to the gaol, from supreme honour to extreme ignominy. When once the emperor frowned upon him, they shewed themselves most passionate against him, saying that if CjBsar had clemency, he ought to reserve it for men, and not to use it toward monsters. This is courtier's custom, to adore the rising sun, and
^ GeiSwpos Ta^apev% : on his connexion with Tiberius, see Quint: Instit. Orat.,lib. iii. c- 1, §§ 17, 18. Seneca, Suasoria iii., sub fin. The particular saying quoted by Brooks is found in Suetonius, (Tiber., c. 57,) and is as follows: infkhv cufiari Tre^vpfx^vov, 'clay tempered with blood.'— G. « Spelled ' knod.'— G.