ESTHER CHAPTER 4

Esther Chapter 4

Esther 4:1 Mordecai mourned when he found out what had happened. He ripped his clothes, put on sackcloth, and wiped ash onto his body. Then he went through the city, weeping loudly in anguish. 2 When he came to the king’s gate, not far from the palace, he stopped since those wearing sackcloth were not permitted to enter it and disrupt the mood of the court.

Mordecai goes into extreme mourning which may also reflect the idea that he knew his refusal to bow to Haman was at the center of this edict. He tore his clothes, put on the clothing of the poor, and put ashes on his body symbolic of death. He wailed in public! We do not often see men in the type of anguish expressed by Mordecai. I have observed it once. A dear friend of mine developed extreme complications a few days after giving birth to her first child. She had been married about a year to a man who had lost his first wife to a terminal illness. The doctor came into the ICU waiting room to tell her husband nothing else could be done, and he needed to know whether to remove her from life support. This poor man curled into a fetal position on the bench and wailed loudly amid profuse tears that he could not possibly make this decision again. I had never witnessed such intense emotion in a man. Mordecai was faced with the annihilation of ALL of his people and felt himself to be the cause! Mordecai saw himself as the source of the cloud of anguish that had enveloped his people. He took his mourning to the place where he had sat as one of the king’s officials, the king’s gate. Mordecai may have been hoping that Esther would hear the cries of his distraught and heavy heart. However, he could not enter in his mourning attire. There was a law that you could not appear in such a state in the court. No one could show a sad face in front of the king or disrupt the party spirit of the court. Nehemiah encountered this same rule when he approached the king of his day about returning to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall (Nehemiah 2:1-6).

Esther 4:3 In the meantime, as word of the king’s decree began to spread throughout all of the provinces, terrible distress grew among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and screamed out in misery. Like Mordecai, many put on sackcloth and ashes.

Mordecai was not the only Jew responding to the news of their coming destruction in this way. The entire populace of Jews “fasted, wept, and screamed out in misery.” What Mordecai and many of the Jews did was a demonstration of the intense helplessness that they felt. They feared they had no advocate to turn to. Once something was set down as a law in Persia, it could not be repealed or revoked. A seamingly hopeless situation. Many of them, like Mordecai, were assimilated into the Persian community. No wonder Susa was thrown into confusion. Their Persian neighbors may have been quite distressed by this edict as well. They had become friends with Jews and may have not even realized who among them were of this nationality. Now they were being told on a certain day in the future they were to kill these neighbors and their children!

Q – This is a historical account, so there is not a direct application to our lives. However, there are now Christians who are threatened with death in many countries. How might you react if you were given the choice to abandon the Lord Jesus or be killed?

Esther 4:4 Back in Susa, Esther’s maids and eunuchs witnessed Mordecai mourning outside of the king’s gate. They went and reported to the queen all that they saw.

Since Mordecai displayed his grief publicly, the maids and the eunuchs in charge of the king’s harem reported his distress to Esther. Mordecai knew that Esther could not see him because as queen she was protected. But he also knew her maids and the keepers of the harem would report his seemingly bizarre behavior to Esther.

Esther: What is wrong? Why is he doing this? It breaks my heart to think of him like this. Take these clothes to Mordecai so he can put them on instead of wearing sackcloth.

At this time, the queen had no knowledge of what had taken place. She must not have seen or heard of the edict, or she would have been able to figure out why Mordecai was mortified. Esther sent nicer clothes to Mordecai. Some propose that she wanted him to be fit to enter the court so she could speak with him in person and hear his explanation.

Esther 4:4b But when the servants arrived, Mordecai refused to wear the clothes Queen Esther had sent. 5 So Esther sent for Hathach, who was one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to serve her.

Esther: Hathach, go to Mordecai at once. Find out why he is mourning, and report back to me all that he says.

Since Esther did not know about Haman’s order, she did not understand Mordecai’s refusal to accept the appropriate court attire. Esther sent a representative to find out the cause of Mordecai’s wailing and wearing sackcloth and ashes. She charged him to report everything he found out to her.

Esther 4:6 Hathach went to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told the queen’s servant everything that had happened and how much money Haman had pledged to place into the royal treasury in exchange for the destruction of the Jews. 8 Then he gave Hathach a copy of the order for mass murder of the Jews, the same order issued in the city of Susa.

Mordecai: Show it to Esther. Tell her everything I have told you. Convince her to go before her king and plead for his favor, not only for her life, but also for the lives of her people.

Mordecai explained the entire situation to Hathach. Mordecai provided evidence in the form of a copy of the edict proclaiming that the Jews were to be annihilated on a certain date. He asked the eunuch to relay the story to Esther and be sure she understood the order. He wanted Esther to understand the full magnitude and weight of this order written by Haman and approved by the king. Hathach was instructed to persuade Esther to beg the king for the lives of the Jews and her own life as well.

Esther 4:9 Hathach returned to Esther and told her everything Mordecai had said. 10 Esther ordered Hathach to return to the city gate and reply to Mordecai.

Esther: 11 How am I supposed to see the king? It’s known throughout the land, from the greatest of the king’s officials to the common folk who live in the provinces, that any person who approaches the king in the inner chamber without being invited is sentenced to death. That’s the law! There’s only one exception, and that’s if the king were to hold out the gold scepter to that person and spare his or her life. It’s been 30 days since the king last summoned me!

Esther sent back a reply explaining the difficulty of meeting with the king. She had not been called into the king’s inner room in a month’s time. The king had commanded that anyone who entered uninvited was to be put to death unless he held out his scepter to them. Esther knew that if the king did not hold out the gold scepter to her, that she would be instantly executed. Guards were posted to make sure this rule was obeyed.

Esther 4:12 Hathach and the other servants took Esther’s response to Mordecai.

Mordecai: 13 Tell Esther, “Don’t be fooled. Just because you are living inside the king’s palace doesn’t mean that you out of all of the Jews will escape the carnage. You must go before your king. 14 If you stay silent during this time, deliverance for the Jews will come from somewhere, but you, my child, and all of your father’s family will die. And who knows? Perhaps you have been made queen for such a time as this.”

The Voice Bible Comments:

Of all the books in the Bible, Esther is unique because God is never once mentioned explicitly. Still, for those who know God and who know history, God is in the story, behind it, above it, beneath it. He is the main actor in history, even if He is not acknowledged. Here, Mordecai shows great wisdom. The Jews, God’s chosen people, will be delivered whether Esther involves herself or not. Divine Providence has ways and means that go beyond human understanding. Still Providence has made Esther queen for a purpose, a purpose she cannot easily escape.

Mordecai reminded Esther that her position as queen would not spare her from the edict because the order was to kill ALL the Jews. Mordecai expresses his faith that God would deliver the Jews with our without Esther’s help. He tells her that the Jews would be saved even if she chose not to be the instrument of deliverance. He also prophesied that if she refused, she and her family would NOT be delivered but would die. Then he made the most often quoted statement of the book of Esther, “And who knows? Perhaps you have been made queen for such a time as this.” God’s providence had arranged for her to find favor and be queen for this specific purpose.

Q – Do you believe our God is still sovereign over history in the making today? Does He still providentially place His people where they need to be?

Esther 4:15 Once again, Hathach returned to Queen Esther with Mordecai’s message. In turn she sent a reply back to Mordecai.

Esther: Tell Mordecai, 16 “In preparation for my audience with the king, do this: gather together all the Jews in Susa, and fast and pray for me. Intercede for me. For three days and nights, abstain from all food and drink. My maids and I will join you in this time. And after the three days, I will go in to the king and plead my people’s case, even though it means breaking the law. And if I die, then I die!”

17 Mordecai left the king’s gate and put all of Esther’s instructions into action.

Esther sent word to Mordecai to organize a fast on her behalf. Most translations of the Bible do not use the words “and pray” or “intercede”. However, prayer always accompanied Jewish fasts in the Old Testament. This was to be longer than the usual one day fast which denotes the gravity of the situation. She and her maids would also fast for three days. When Esther would go before the king this time, she definitely would not be donning her fashion face but her fasting face. After three days of fasting, she would look tired and weak; and Persian kings wanted healthy women. She determined that after this time of fasting and prayer, she would take the risk of entering the king’s presence without being summoned. She fearlessly resolved within her heart to obey Mordecai even though that meant disobeying the king and the possibility of her own eminent execution if she did not find favor with the king. She courageously stated, “And if I die, then I die!” She made this declaration despite her fear to show that she was willing to risk her life to save her people. When Mordecai received this message from Esther, he left the king’s gate to gather the people and do as Esther had instructed him.

APPLY THIS IN YOUR LIFE:

1.      Pray for persecuted believers and for the strength to stand should you be faced with persecution in the future.

2.      Meditate on the sovereignty of God. Reflect on ways He has used even “negative” situations to bring you to this point in your walk with Him.

3.      Pray for the strength to stand firm when your faith is challenged.