Esther Four

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

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Esther 4:1 When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;

Esther 4:2 And came even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.

Esther 4:3 And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Esther 4:4 So Esther's maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not.

Esther 4:5 Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was.

Esther 4:6 So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king's gate.

Esther 4:7 And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them.

Mordecai told him. Mordecai had even learned of the large fortune that Haman had offered the king (probably hoping to recover much of it from the Jews he proposed to kill). Mordecai may have learned this from acquaintances among the chamberlains at the king's gate (Esther 2:19, 21).

Esther 4:8 Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to show it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people.

Esther 4:9 And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

Esther 4:10 Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai;

Esther 4:11 All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.

Esther 4:12 And they told to Mordecai Esther's words.

Esther 4:13 Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews.

Esther 4:14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

from another place. Mordecai was confident that God would preserve the Jewish people, for He had made an unconditional promise to Abraham, and also to David (Genesis 22:15-18; 2 Samuel 7:4, 16).

such a time as this. This familiar verse expressed clearly the strong confidence held by Mordecai not only in the divine calling and everlasting covenant of God with the Jews but also in His providential control of the circumstances surrounding them. In order to provide deliverance to God's people in their hour of greatest need, an obscure Jewish orphan girl had been made queen of the greatest pagan empire in the world. By the same token, each one who receives God's salvation is also called and equipped by God for some particular service, if he or she will only do it.

Esther 4:15 Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,

Esther 4:16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

will fast likewise. Even though prayer is not mentioned (probably a deliberate omission—see Introduction), there is no doubt that the three days of fasting were really days of fasting and fervent prayer.

Esther 4:17 So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.