Synopsis of the Chapter
The copy of the letter of Ahasuerus sent by Haman for the common slaughter of the Jews, which in historical order should be inserted at chapter 3, verse 14, as the Roman Greek text inserts it there. Then, at verse 8, is added the prayer of Mordecai for averting this slaughter, which in historical order should be placed after chapter 4.
Verse 2: Passing Their Lives in Quiet ¶
2. PASSING THEIR LIVES IN QUIET (that is, in calm without disturbances and tumults) — in peace and tranquility, as the Greek text has it.
Verse 6: Destroyed on the Fourteenth Day of Adar ¶
6. LET THEM BE DESTROYED ON THE FOURTEENTH DAY OF THE TWELFTH MONTH ADAR. — For on the 13th day they were ordered to begin the slaughter, but to complete it on the 14th, just as it is clear from chapter 9, verse 17, that the Jews, with the lot reversed, did the same. Therefore this apparent contradiction has no force to make the authority and trustworthiness of these chapters suspect, as the Innovators wish.
Verse 8: The Prayer of Mordecai Recited ¶
Moreover, this prayer of Mordecai is pious, vigorous, and fervent, which the Church accordingly uses in the Mass of Wednesday after the second Sunday of Lent, from which it is clear that it, like the rest of these chapters, is Canonical Scripture according to the decree of the Council of Trent, session 4.
8. In this verse the prayer of Mordecai is recited, before which St. Jerome prefaces thus: These are not found in the Hebrew — namely that shorter version which St. Jerome used — nor are they reported in any interpreter, namely Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, the fifth and sixth editions, and similar ones. For the Septuagint must be excepted, because from them St. Jerome translated these passages; for before him the Septuagint version was the Vulgate which the Church used; and St. Jerome acknowledges in his Prooemium, chapter 15, that he translated these from the Vulgate.
Verse 13: Even to Kiss the Traces of His Feet ¶
13. FOR I WOULD WILLINGLY HAVE BEEN PREPARED EVEN TO KISS THE TRACES OF HIS FEET, FOR THE SALVATION OF ISRAEL. — 'Traces' may be taken either properly, as the marks imprinted by the foot on dust or earth; or metonymically, as the feet themselves and the soles of the feet, by which these traces are imprinted on the earth. Whence Josippus Gorionides has: I would have been ready to lick the shoe that is on his feet, and the dust that he himself had trodden. This alludes to Isaiah 49:23: 'With their face bowed to the ground they shall worship you, and lick the dust of your feet.' And to Psalm 71 [72]:9: 'Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down, and his enemies shall lick the earth.' So Serarius and Sanchez, who shows with many examples that 'trace' is often taken for the foot that imprints traces on the earth.
Verse 14: Lest I Transfer the Honor of My God ¶
Verse 14. But I feared lest I should transfer the honor of my God (namely the worship of latria owed to God alone) to a man. — For Haman wished to be adored as God, as I showed in chapter III, 2.
Verse 16: Do Not Despise Your Portion ¶
Verse 16. Do not despise Your portion, — namely Your hereditary portion, that is, the people of Israel, whom You chose for Yourself as an inheritance and a possession, as Your own special and particular people out of all nations.
Verse 17: Do Not Close the Mouths of Those Who Sing ¶
Verse 17. And do not close (in Greek, do not destroy, that is, do not allow to be closed and destroyed) the mouths of those who sing to You. — For they will no longer be able to sing to You; and so Your praise will perish both for You and for us.